Super Skins

A favourite appetiser to share when the wife and I go out.

Ingredients:

• 6 baked baking potatoes
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 1 cup Cheez Whiz Jalapeno Tex Mex Cheese Spread
• 1/4 cup Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 green onions, sliced

Directions: 

• Heat oven to 375°F.
• Cut potatoes lengthwise in half; scoop out centres, leaving 1/4-inch-thick shells. (Reserve centres for another use.)
• Cut shells crosswise in half.
• Place shells, skin-sides down, on baking sheet; brush insides with oil. Bake 15 min. or until golden brown.
• Microwave Cheez Whiz in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 3 min., stirring after 1-1/2 min.
• Pour into potato shells; top with remaining ingredients.

Dreamy S'more Pie

A camp fire favourite comes home.

Ingredients:

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1-1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 jar (13 ounces) Nutella
• 1 graham cracker crust (9 inches)
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows

Directions:

• In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and cream until thickened.
• Add Nutella; beat just until combined. 
• Spoon into crust. 
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
• Just before serving, top with marshmallows; press gently into filling.
• Broil 6 in. from the heat for 1-2 minutes or until marshmallows are golden brown. 

Return of the BBQ Rubs

In my post Home Made Christmas (December 2, 2013), I referred to my contribution to our Christmas gifts.  I prepared a trio of BBQ rubs (beef, pork, and poultry) which went to the men on our Christmas list along with their BBQ aprons.

Tonight, I am cooking pork chops on the BBQ, and my wife suggested mixing up a batch of the pork rub.  As I mixed up the rub, I realized that when I wrote the post on December 2, I had not listed the recipes for the three rubs because my Father reads my blog, and I did not want to give everything away.

So, in honour of Victoria Day - the unofficial start of summer, here are the spice combinations for my rub trio.

BBQ Beef Rub (1 Cup)

• ¼ cup paprika
• ¼ cup chili powder
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup  black pepper
• 1 tbsp cayenne
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp salt

BBQ Pork Rub (¾ Cup)

• 1/3 cup paprika (for some reason my Open Office will not do 1/3 in the smaller font)
• ¼ cup sugar
• 3 tbsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 tsp dry mustard
• 2 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp white pepper

BBQ Poultry Rub (3 Cups)

• ¾ cup paprika
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup salt
• ¼ cup black pepper
• 3 tbsp cayenne
• 2 tbsp dry mustard
• 2 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp sage

Macaroni Coleslaw

This recipe is from "A Taste of Home".  I am now on their recipe e-mail list, as well as Krafts.  I think that this is the new forerunner as the dish for the Choir potluck/BBQ next month.

Ingredients:
Salad

• 1 package (7 ounces) ring macaroni or ditalini
• 1 package (14 ounces) coleslaw mix
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 2 celery ribs, finely chopped
• 1 medium cucumber, finely chopped
• 1 medium green pepper, finely chopped
• 1 can (8 ounces) whole water chestnuts, drained and chopped

Dressing

• 1-1/2 cups Miracle Whip Light
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

• Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain and rinse in cold water. 
• Transfer to a large bowl; add the coleslaw mix, onions, celery, cucumber, green pepper and water chestnuts.
• In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients. 
• Pour over salad; toss to coat. 
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. 

Mediterranean Bean Salad

As summer moves in, this would make a nice potluck dish, go nicely with BBq'd burgers, or stand on its own as a tasty lunch.

Ingredients:

• 1 can (19 fl oz/540 mL) white kidney beans , drained
• 1 can (14 fl oz/398 mL) artichoke hearts , drained, quartered
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup Kraft 4 Cheese Italiano Shredded Cheese
• 1/2 cup pitted black olives
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion s
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
• 1/3 cup Kraft Extra Virgin Olive Oil Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing

Directions:

• Combine ingredients.

Make it your own:

Perhaps it is the over simplistic directions, or I am starting to get a hang of this cooking thing but...

• Add some rotini or penne and create a Mediterranean Bean & Pasta salad
• Switch out the Italian Shredded Cheese with feta to create a Greek Bean Salad

Parmesan Tomato Bites

A nice finger food snack

Ingredients:

• 2 Tomatoes, sliced
• 1 1/2 oz Parmesan Cheese
• 1 tsp oregano, dried
• 1 dash Salt
• 1 dash Black Pepper
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 450 F.
• Cut the tomatoes lengthwise into approximately 1/3-inch slices.
• Place them on a baking sheet. 
• Top with shredded Parmesan, fresh oregano, salt and fresh ground pepper (season according to your taste).
• Drizzle with some olive oil and bake until tomatoes are tender and the cheese is melted, for about 10-15 minutes.

Bonus Recipe

A little something that was posted and shared around on Facebook.

Crock Pot Beef Fajitas

It looks like it is going to be a dreary and grey spring.  Nothing like a little fiesta to boost spirits.

Ingredients:

• 1.5-2 lbs steak beef cut into thin strips (you could use chicken but may want to cut the cooking time a bit)
• 1 packet fajita seasoning mix
• 1 large onion sliced
• 2 bell peppers sliced
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1/2 cup of water (I substituted vegetable cocktail)

Directions:

• Cut your steak, and vegetables into thin strips.
• Put beef strips, seasoning packet and veggies into the crock pot.
• Combine ketchup and water, add mixture to crock pot.
• Put the lid on, and cook on low heat 6-8 hours (high heat for 4-6 hours) till desired tenderness.
• Eat on a tortilla, top with sour cream, guacamole (optional), cheese, tomato (or salsa), and lettuce.
• Served with Refried Beans and Mexican Style Rice

Farmer's Casserole

A great way to enjoy Easter brunch.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
• 3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 cup cubed fully cooked ham
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 4 eggs
• 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

• Place potatoes in an 8-in.-square baking dish.
•  Sprinkle with cheese, ham and onions. 
• Whisk eggs, milk, pepper and salt; pour over all. 
• Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
• Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. 
• Preheat oven to 350°. 
• Bake, uncovered, 55-60 minutes or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean. 

BLT Devilled Eggs

A twist on a personal favourite.

Ingredients:

• 8 hard-cooked eggs
• 1/3 cup Kraft Mayo Calorie-Wise Mayonnaise Type Dressing
• 2 Tbsp. Kraft Rancher's Choice Dressing
• 3 slices cooked bacon , crumbled
• 4 cherry tomatoes , chopped
• 2 Tbsp. shredded lettuce

Directions:

• Cut eggs lengthwise in half. 
• Remove yolks; place in medium bowl. 
• Mash with fork.
• Add dressings; mix well. 
• Stir in bacon and tomatoes.
• Fill egg whites with yolk mixture.
• Top with lettuce.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

Make a frozen chocolate-peanut butter dessert that's so easy, you may never buy ice cream cake from a store again!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup  Planters Crunchy Peanut Butter, divided
• 1/2 cup  cold milk
• 1 pkg.  (3.4 oz.) Jell-o Vanilla flavor Instant Pudding
• 1 tub  (8 oz.) Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed, divided
• 12  vanilla ice cream sandwiches
• 2 Tbsp.  chopped PLANTERS Dry Roasted Peanuts

Directions:

• Whisk 1/2 cup peanut butter and milk in medium bowl until blended. 
• Add dry pudding mix; beat 2 min. 
• Stir in 1 cup Cool whip.
• Arrange 4 ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on 24-inch-long sheet of foil
• Top with half the pudding mixture. 
• Repeat layers. 
• Top with remaining sandwiches.
• Mix remaining peanut butter and Cool whip until blended; spread onto top and sides of dessert.
• Wrap foil loosely around dessert.
• Freeze 4 hours or until firm. 
• Top with nuts before serving.

Bacon & Onion Foil Packet Potatoes

Spring has now officially sprung, even though someone appears to have forgotten to tell Mother Nature. Time to start thinking about the old BBQ.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet onion soup powder
• 10-12 baby red potatoes, thinly sliced
• 12 slices of cooked and crumbled bacon
• 1 small onion thinly sliced and diced
• 1 cup cheese (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons butter
• Sour cream for serving (optional)

• 2 or 3 pieces of heavy duty foil

Directions:

• Spray each sheet of foil with cooking spray. 
• Top each piece with equal portions of potatoes, bacon, 1 packet onion soup powder and mix. 
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Add 1 tablespoon of butter to each serving. 
• Wrap securely.Grill for 20 to 30 minutes. (bake at 350° for about 35 minutes) 
• Let stand 10 minutes before serving. 
• Serve in foil, topped with cheese and sour cream if desired

Pub-Style Roast Pork With Vegetables

In honour of St. Patrick's Day.  Once again Kraft recipe, so Kraft ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 boneless pork loin (2-1/2 lb./1.1 kg)
• 1-1/2 lb. (675 g) baking potatoes (about 5)
• 2 carrots, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 parsnips , peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
• 1/3 cup Bull's-Eye Guinness Draught Beer Blend Barbecue Sauce

Directions:

• Heat oven to 350ºF.
• Place meat in roasting pan sprayed with cooking spray. 
• Toss vegetables with dressing; place in pan around meat.
• Bake 1-1/2 hours, turning vegetables and brushing meat with barbecue sauce after 45 min.
• Remove meat and vegetables from oven. 
• Cover meat loosely with foil; let stand 10 min. before slicing. 
• Serve with vegetables.

Crockpot Cashew Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thigh tenders or chicken breast tenders
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp ketchup
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup cashews

Directions:

• Combine flour and pepper in large Ziploc bag. 
• Add chicken and shake to coat with flour mixture. 
• Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. 
• Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. 
• Place chicken in slow cooker. 
• Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over chicken. 
• Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours. 
• Add cashews and stir. 
• Serve over rice.

If you want sauce to pour over the chicken and rice, double the sauce ingredients.

Black-Bottom Banana Cream Pie

Making a traditional cream pie with instant pudding

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter , divided
• 14 Golden Oreo Cookie s, finely crushed (about 1 cup)
• 4 oz. (1/2 of 225-g pkg.) Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate
• 2 large banana s, sliced
• 1 pkg. (4-serving size) Jell-O Vanilla Instant Pudding
• 1-1/2 cups cold milk
• 1 cup thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping

Directions:

• Melt 2 Tablespoons butter
• Mix with cookie crumbs, reserve 2 Tablespoons crumb mixture
• Press remaining onto bottom and up side of 9-inch pie plate.
• Microwave chocolate and remaining butter in microwaveable bowl on medium for 1 minute or until butter is melted. 
• Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended
• Spread onto bottom of crust. 
• Top with bananas.
• Whisk pudding mix and milk for 2 minutes.
• Pour over bananas. 
• Refrigerate 4 hours. 
• Top with Cool Whip and reserved crumb mixture just before serving.

Basic Bread

Today's recipe will bring the total posted on my blog to eight, with many more to come.

I have added a recipes page.  An easier way of displaying and accessing recipes, and a way for me to remember what recipes I have already posted.

As a sort of a bonus, I am adding an extra recipe to my blog this week.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast

Directions:

Add ingredients to the bread pan in the order required for your bread maker

For mine...

• Add Water
• Add half the flour
• Add salt
• Add remaining flour
• Make a small hole in the flour and and the yeast
• Follow machine's regular baking instructions

Pizza Spaghetti Casserole

I was having a hard time writing an introduction for this recipe.  Then I thought pizza and spaghetti together what else needs to be said.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Ground meat
• 1 16 oz. box uncooked spaghetti noodles
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon Oregano 
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ Cup Milk 
• 1 Egg
• 2 ounces sliced pepperoni 
• 1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce
• 1 16 oz. can diced Italian style tomatoes 
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Italian cheese blend
• Any other pizza toppings you like...
•  Black olives
• Sausage
• Onions
• Green peppers
• etc

Directions:

• Boil water & salt for Spaghetti noodles, once it starts boiling, add noodles. 
• Brown meat in a separate frying pan. 
• Once noodles are cooked, drain and put in a casserole dish. 
• In a separate bowl, combine milk & egg & whisk. 
• Poor over pasta & add jar of sauce, can of tomatoes, garlic powder, & oregano. 
• Mix all together well. 
• On top of pasta mixture, layer the ground meat, then add a layer of pepperoni. 
• Layer other pizza toppings
• Sprinkle Parmesan cheese, & Italian cheese. 
• Layer more pepperoni. 
• Bake in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

Bacon Cheese Potatoes

Once again, here we go with yet another potato recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 pound bacon, diced
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 4 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
• 1/2 pound cheddar cheese, thinly sliced
• salt and pepper
• butter
• Green Onions (optional)

Directions:

• Line crockpot with foil, leaving enough to cover the potatoes when finished.
• Layer half each of the bacon, onions, potatoes and cheese in crockpot. 
• Season to taste and dot with butter.
• Repeat layers of bacon, onions, potatoes and cheese. Dot with butter.
• Cover with remaining foil.
•  Cook on low for 10-12 hours

 If you would like to make these in the oven -- 400 degrees for an hour in a 9 x 13 baking dish, covered

Roasted Garlic Twice Baked Potatoes

Like my Father, I am a big fan of the potato, whether it be chips, fries, or mashed. Potato skins have become the common appetizer when my wife and I go out to dinner.  So, I like the look of this recipe and cannot wait to try it.  I think it will go nicely with our roast for Sunday supper.  Once again, the sole reason why this recipe calls for Kraft cheese is because it was one in one of my weekly recipe e-mails.

Ingredients:

• 1 head garlic
• 1 tsp. oil
• 4 large baking potatoes (2-1/2 lb./1.1 kg)
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1-1/2 cups shredded Cracker Barrel Light Cheddar Cheese , divided
• 1/4 cup Kraft 100% Parmesan Light Grated Cheese
• 4 slices reduced-sodium bacon , cooked, crumbled

Directions:

• Heat oven to 400°F.
• Cut thin slice off top of garlic head to expose cloves; discard top. 
• Place garlic, cut-side up, on sheet of foil; drizzle with oil. 
• Wrap garlic loosely with foil. Prick potatoes in several places with fork; bake potatoes and garlic 1 hour.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350ºF. 
• Cut small slice off both ends of each potato. 
• Cut potatoes crosswise in half; scoop out centres into medium bowl, leaving 1/8-inch-thick shells.
• Mash potato flesh. 
• Squeeze head of garlic to remove roasted cloves. 
• Add to potato flesh with sour cream, 1-1/4 cups cheddar and Parmesan; beat until fluffy.
• Spoon into shells, mounding as necessary to fit; place in shallow baking dish.
• Bake 30 min. 
• Top with remaining Cheddar; bake 5 min. or until melted. Sprinkle with bacon.

Lasagne Soup

There is nothing like a hot bowl of soup after walking the dog on a cold day.  The sole reason why this recipe calls for Kraft cheese is because it was one in one of my weekly recipe e-mails.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (28 fl oz/796 ml) can chicken broth
• 1 (398 ml) can tomato sauce
• 1 (398 ml) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 3 cups wide egg noodles, uncooked
• 3 chopped Tbsp. fresh basil, divided
• 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 1-1/4 cups Kraft 4 Cheese Italiano Shredded Cheese, divided
• 3 Tbsp. Kraft 100% Parmesan Grated Cheese, divided

Directions:

• Heat oil in large saucepan on medium heat. 
• Add garlic; cook and stir 1 min. or until fragrant.
•  Add broth, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, stir, and bring to boil on medium-high heat.
• Add noodles; simmer on medium heat 10 min. or until tender. 
• Stir in 2 Tbsp. basil.
• Mix ricotta, 1/2 cup shredded cheese, 2 Tbsp. Parmesan and remaining basil until blended. 
• Combine remaining shredded cheese and Parmesan.
• Top each serving of soup with 2 Tbsp. of the ricotta mixture. 
• Sprinkle with shredded cheese mixture.