Roasted Corn Quesadillas

Okay so the original recipe is from Cooking Light and calls for goat cheese. I just use shredded mozzarella or provolone sheese, a whole can of corn, drained (most of the time I don't even roast the corn, I just mix it with the cheese and dump it on the tortilla!), and I've used flour or corn tortillas and both were good. The salsa verde gives it the good flavor so don't cut that out. This is such a quick and easy recipe I just love it. I like to pair it with black beans, simply rinsed straight out of the can, as a side.

Ingredients

1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 1 large ear)

2/3 cup shredded mozzarella OR (5 ounces) goat cheese, softened

8 (6-inch) corn tortillas

1/4 cup chopped green onions (about 1 green onion)

10 tablespoon bottled salsa verde, divided

Preparation

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add corn; sauté 2 minutes or until browned. Place corn in a small bowl. Add mozzerella/goat cheese to corn; stir until well blended. Divide corn mixture evenly among 4 tortillas; spread to within 1/4 inch of sides. Sprinkle each tortilla with 1 tablespoon green onions. Drizzle each with 1 1/2 teaspoons salsa; top with remaining 4 tortillas.

2. Heat pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Place 2 quesadillas in pan; cook 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove from pan; keep warm. Wipe pan clean with paper towels; recoat with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining quesadillas. Cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges. Serve with remaining 8 tablespoons salsa.

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

This is too delicious. Seriously. It's not a normal chocolate cake. It's the most moist, succulent bite of chocolate topped in a caramel icing that melts in your mouth. You'll die.

1 3/4 C. flour
2 C. sugar
3/4 C. cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 C. milk
1/2 C. veg. oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 C boiling water

1. Combine dry ingredients in large mixing bowl.
2. Add remaining ingredients.... EXCEPT boiling water! Mix well.
3. By hand, stir in boiling water. (Batter will be thin.)
4. Pour into greased pan.
     9x13 for 35-40 minutes
     2 9x9's for 30-35 minutes
4. Bake at 350 degrees for given time.

Crispy Coconut Chicken Fingers

We just found another Elvidge Family Favorite.  These are sooooo delicious!!

Hope you love it as well!!!

Crispy Coconut Chicken Fingers
Recipe by Our Best Bites
12 chicken tenders (ya know, more or less…)
1-2 eggs (start with one and crack another if it runs out)
1/2 C flour
1 C sweetened coconut flakes
1 C panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp table salt
3/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (you can leave this out if you want to skip the spice for the kiddos)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Give coconut a rough chop so it’s about the same size as the panko pieces. Combine it with Panko and spices in a shallow dish. Mix well to distribute all of the spices. Place the flour in another shallow dish, and the egg in another. Give the egg a quick beating. Working with one chicken tender at a time, dredge in flour and then dip in egg, and then finally coat in the coconut Panko mixture. Press in with your fingers to make sure the entire thing is well coated.
Place chicken tenders on a foil-lined baking sheet (for easy clean up!) that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. I give mine a teeny drizzle of olive oil on top to help them crisp nicely, but it’s optional.
Bake in your 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until juices run clear. Try not to overcook them because chicken tenders go from perfect to overcooked really fast! If your tenders are on the small side, they could even be done in about 15 minutes so keep an eye on them. If they’re big they can take more like 25. The coconut will be nice and golden and the panko crisp, but light in color still.

DIPPING SAUCE:

Whisk together
1 c apricot pineapple preserves (I used apricot jam and added crushed pineapple)
2 t soy sauce
1/2 t Dijon mustard
1/8 t curry

Baked Potato Soup

Very, very tasty!  Made this last night and everyone loved it!  It's from allrecipes.com.  Enjoy!

6 bacon strips, diced

2 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon pepper
6 cups chicken broth
4 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups half-and-half cream
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (I omitted this)
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Minced fresh parsley

Directions

In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. Garnish with bacon, cheese and parsley.

Stuffed Mushrooms

 

Ingredients

• 2 pounds large mushrooms, stems removed and reserved
• 1 pkg. Jimmy Dean® Regular Flavor Pork Sausage Roll
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 4 ounces cream cheese, cubed, softened
• ¾ cup dry Italian bread crumbs, divided
• ½ cup (2 ounces) grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely chop enough mushroom stems to measure 1 cup; discard any remaining stems. Place mushroom caps, rounded-sides down, in lightly greased shallow baking pans.

2. Cook sausage, chopped stems and garlic in large skillet over medium-high heat 8-10 minutes or until sausage is thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently; drain. Return to skillet. Add cream cheese, ½ cup bread crumbs, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese and parsley; mix well. Spoon into mushroom caps.

3. Combine remaining bread crumbs, remaining Parmesan cheese and oil; sprinkle over mushrooms.

4. Bake 20 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and stuffing is lightly browned.

Yield:

Makes: about 50 servings (1 stuffed mushroom each)

Clam Chowder

 

Okay, ladies.  This clam chowder is not Dad's recipe, since I couldn't get that in time, but here's one that I adapted from myrecipes.com.  And I have to say, it turned out pretty darn tasty. Seriously. The original was all low fat and that sort of nonsense.  Hope you enjoy my rich, fatty version. :) 

 

2 bacon slices

2 cups chopped onion

Click to see savings

1 1/4 cups chopped celery

1/2 teaspoon salt

Click to see savings

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

2 garlic cloves, minced

6 (6 1/2-ounce) cans chopped clams, undrained

5 cups diced peeled baking potato (about 1 pound)

1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth, plus 1 can full of water  

1 bay leaf

 1/2 c butter

3 cups half and half 

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 teaspoon drippings in pan. Crumble bacon; set aside. Add onion, celery, salt, thyme, and garlic to drippings in pan; cook 4 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
2. Drain clams, reserving liquid. Add clam liquid, potato, clam juice, and bay leaf to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until potato is tender. Discard bay leaf.
3. Melt butter in pan.  Whisk in flour until smooth and boiling.  Slowly add half and half and stir constantly over low-medium heat until thickened, about 12 minutes. Add clams; cook 2 minutes. Add freshly ground pepper to taste.  Sprinkle with bacon.

Salted Caramel Cheesecake

Salted Caramel Cheesecake

Serves 2

Ha ha! Just kidding—I’ve served up to 20 people with one cheesecake. Ideally it probably serves about 10-12 people.

For the crust

About 15 graham crackers

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a food processor, grind graham crackers to crumbs. (If you’re using premade crumbs, you want about 8 oz or 2 cups, and you’ll want to do all these steps in a bowl.) Add sugar and pulse to combine. With motor running, add butter through feed tube. Process for another few seconds until combined.

2. Transfer the mixture to a 9” or 10” (I have a 10” myself) springform pan sprayed with cooking spray. Pat crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan, and up the sides about 2”. Don’t worry if it’s not perfectly even around the top; you just want to be sure it’s deep enough to hold all the cheesecake mixture.

3. Bake crust until slightly brown. You’ll just be able to smell it. This will take anywhere from 10-12 minutes. Remove crust from the oven and allow to cool on a rack. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

For the cheesecake

3 8oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1 can dulce de leche

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon  kosher salt

1 ¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1. In a stand mixture fitted with the paddle attachment beat cream cheese until smooth, add dulce de leche and beat to combine.

2. Add flour and salt, beat to combine, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary. Beat until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. There should be no lumps.

3. Add the sugar and beat to combine.

4. Add the vanilla, and then beat in the eggs one at a time until just combined, about 30 seconds each. Don’t overbeat once the eggs are added; the cheesecake will puff up too much while baking, and the top will crack.

5. Pour the cream cheese mixture into the cooled crust and smooth the top.

6. Bake at 300 degrees F for 55 – 65 minutes. The center will seem to be only slightly set, and will be wobbly if you nudge it. The sides will puff slightly.

7. Cool completely on a rack, then cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight (I have gotten away with a 5 hour cooling, but I was on edge that it wouldn’t turn out; overnight is really best). When I put it in the refrigerator to set up, I remove the ring from my springform, and put the cheesecake on a cake stand. You can leave it in the springform if you don't have a cake stand.

For the caramel

½ cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons water

½ cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon  kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar and water. Swirl to combine. All those warnings about stirring caramel and brushing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush to avoid crystal formation? I avoid all that by just never stirring it at all. If I need to move it around the pan, I just swirl it.

2. Continue cooking until the sugar turns golden brown, swirling occasionally. You’re looking for something that’s about the color of dark honey. The problem with caramel is that it goes from perfect to burnt in the blink of an eye, so just when you find yourself thinking, “Any second now…” pull it off the heat. It should take 3-5 minutes.

3. Off the heat, carefully add the butter, then the cream. Don’t wait until the butter is melted; toss in the butter, give it a whisk, then pour in the cream. It will foam up, seize, and otherwise look like a total failure. Persevere! Add the vanilla extract and salt and continue whisking.

4. Return to medium low heat and whisk until smooth. Allow to cool slightly, about 15 minutes.

5. Remove cheesecake from the refrigerator and pour caramel over the top. I try to encourage mine to pool in the middle, but if you’re more of a drip-down-the-sides type, you can go with that. I just think the drippy makes sort of a mess on my cake stand, but maybe that doesn’t bother you.

6. Return the cheesecake to the refrigerator to let the caramel set, about 30 minutes. To serve, cut in slices (it’s pretty rich) with a sharp knife, wiping the blade clean after every slice.