Basic Crepe

Apparently it's not a real meal without a dessert! One of my blogs that I read had done a Chocolate Crepe with Raspberries and Mom thought that it sounded so good and it for sure needed to be what we made for dessert, but the more we talked about it we both realized that we weren't too excited about the Chocolate part (and I'm not the hugest fan of Raspberries) so we decided to just go with a regular crepe and do add some of the Strawberries that we had just purchased at Costco.
Now to be honest I was a little afraid at first to be doing crepes, they seemed like they were really hard to make and it would be easy to mess them up---no sir, super easy and delicious (and not easy to mess up, if they aren't big enough to roll just top them like a pancake!). The only thing we did different was that we used Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix instead of flour.

Basic Crepe
Recipe came from allrecipes.com
Basic Crepe

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour 2 eggs 1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

1.	In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.
2.	Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
3.	Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.

Filling:
3 cups Cottage Cheese
3/4 cup Sour Cream (just enough to give a little flavor)
Strawberries, sliced and sugared
Powdered Sugar

Spoon cottage cheese/sour cream mixture onto hot crepe, spoon sliced strawberries on top. Roll up, top with some more strawberries and powdered sugar...Yum!

Lemon-Dill Rice

My Mom wanted to add Lemon-Dill Rice as a side for the quiches but couldn't find her original recipe that she really likes so we went to the trusty google and found one that sounded good. I'm not the biggest fan of dill and was a little hesitant about this recipe, but it ended up being really good--just add or take away dill depending on your preference.

Lemon-Dill Rice
Recipe came from About: Mid East Food
Lemon-Dill Rice

Ingredients
2 cups uncooked White Rice
1 1/2 cups chopped Fresh Dill (or about 4 tablespoons Dried Dill)
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 cups Water or Chicken Broth
1 teaspoon Chicken Bouillon
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Directions:
1. Bring chicken broth to a boil and add bouillon.
2. Add rice, lemon juice and stir.
3. Add dill and salt. Stir and cover.
4. Reduce heat to low and allow to cook for 25 minutes or until rice is done.
5. Fluff with fork and serve immediately.

Crustless Quiche

For Easter Mom and I volunteered to make dinner and take it down to my Grandma's. My Grandma is Celiac or more simply put she can't have Gluten. When trying to decide what to make we wanted to have something rather simple but still a little on the nicer side than just a normal Sunday afternoon sandwich. We decided to on a Crustless Quiche, and to make it a little more special we did them individually in the muffin tins. A quiche recipe is kind of basic and then what you add is where it becomes more exotic, so have fun with your additional ingredients.

Crustless Quiche

Recipe came from Food Network
Crustless Quiche

Ingredients

Custard: 2 cups Half-and-Half (we used 1 cup Whipping Cream and 1 cup Skim Milk)
3 Eggs
1/2 teaspoon Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg
Red Pepper

Fillings:
2 to 3 cups Veggies (we used onions and red peppers)
4 ounces (or about 1 cup) grated Cheese
1 to 4 tablespoons minced herbs (such as parsley, chives, tarragon, basil, dill, rosemary, etc.)
3 /4 cup chopped Bacon or Ham

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. If doing mini quiches fill cups with cake liners or spray with cooking spray.

Whisk the half-and-half, eggs and yolks in large glass measuring cup. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, cayenne or paprika to taste. Spread half the desired filling evenly in the pan, top with about half the cheese; repeat with remaining filling and cheese. Pour the custard over the fillings. Top with more herbs or cheese as desired.

Bake until the quiche is just set in the center, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool completely on a rack before serving.

Carrot Cake Cheesecake Bars

I read a LOT of cooking blogs, I just can't seem to get enough of them. I see lots of things that I like but every once in awhile I see a recipe that I just KNOW that I'm going to have to try--the picture looks too good, the description is making me salivate and it just sounds fun/different. This recipe was one of those, I love Carrot Cake and am liking Cheesecake more and more (plus I've only tried making a baked cheesecake once and am still learning the benefits of them-aka DELICIOUS!). So when someone has the genius idea to combine the two of them I couldn't see where they could go wrong :)
Mom and I really liked these, but we've decided that they get better the "older" they get (best to let them cool completely) and now that we've made it once next time we will try making it with our own carrot cake recipe rather than the box.

Carrot Cake Cheesecake Bars
Recipe came from Sweet Treats and More
Carrot Cake Cheesecake Bars

For the Carrot Cake Bar:
1 box Betty Crocker Carrot Cake Mix
1 egg
1 stick butter, soft

Preheat oven to 350 degrees*F

Beat the cake mix, egg, and butter until it turns into a thick dough. Press dough into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Set aside while you make the cheesecake layer.

Cheesecake Layer:
16 oz. cream cheese, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

1. In a medium sized bowl beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla and continue beating until creamy and smooth.

2. Pour the cheesecake layer over the carrot cake bar in the pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the edges start to pull away from the pan. Let cool completely.

3. Cut into squares and top each square with a dollop of Betty Crocker's Rich and Creamy Cream Cheese Frosting. I used a plastic sandwich bag and cut a hole in one of the corners to pipe my frosting. You will only need about a 1/2 cup of frosting.

Oven Fries

I love making oven fries, they are so simple, delicious and the healthier route to go (as compared to deep fried or battered). I searched for a fry recipe several years ago and found one (now whenever I look I can find hundreds all just different variations of the same thing) that sounded really good, so I made them and haven't stopped making them since (picture me in Taiwan cooking them every other Sunday on a teeny tiny toaster oven).

Oven Fries
Potatoes
Vegetable Oil
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Garlic Salt, Mrs. Dash, Johnny's Seasoning, or something similar

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Scrub potatoes well and cut into 1/2 inch thick fries.
2. In a large mixing bowl, toss potatoes with oil, salt, pepper, and other seasonings. Spread on baking sheet in one layer.
3. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven (turn once about half-way through), until potatoes are tender and browned. Serve immediately.

These fries are great served by themselves but added fry sauce makes them even better.

Fry Sauce
(all of these measurements aren't precise, add a little here and there until you get a taste that you like)
1/3 cup Ketchup
2/3 cup Mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip works too)
1/8 cup BBQ Sauce

Empanadas de Horno

This is one of the recipes that I grew up eating, it was something that wasn't too hard for my Mom to make and they weren't too messy so we could take them on road-trips with us. The original recipe that my Mom sent includes the directions to make your own crust, I was feeling lazy and was a little low on time so I cheated and used store-bought pie crust. Feel free to do whatever suits your needs. I also grew with my Mom using ground beef instead of the steak, I didn't have ground beef so finished up the package of ground turkey from the freezer. My roommates do not like raisins so those were not included, neither was the hontaka chili.

1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 pound boneless beef sirloin steak , cut into 1/4-inch cubes
2 tablespoons seedless raisins , soaked in 1 cup boiling water for 10 minutes and drained thoroughly
1 teaspoon dried hontaka chili , seeded and crumbled, or 2 small pequin chilies, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 pound plus 2 tablespoons butter , cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/3 cup water
2 hard-cooked eggs , each cut into 8 wedges lengthwise
6 pitted green olives , quartered

First prepare the filling in the following fashion: In an 8- to 10-inch skillet, combine the onions, oilive oil and 1/2 cup water, and boil over high heat until the water is completely evaporated. Add the meat and cook, stirring constantly, until it is browned on all sides. Stir in the raisins, chili, paprika, cumin, salt and a few grindings of pepper. Set the filling aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 deg. To make the dough, combine the flour, salt and butter in a large bowl. Use your fingers to rub the flour and butter together until they blend and look like coarse meal. Pour the water over the mixture all at once and gather the dough into a compact ball.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, making a rough circle about 1/8 inch thick. As you roll, lift up the dough from time to time and sprinkle a light dusting of flour under it to prevent the dough from sticking. With a cookie cutter 5 inches in diameter or an empty can of similar size, cut out 5-inch circles. (Or using a plate or saucer 5 inches in diameter as a pattern, cut out the circles with a knife or pastry wheel.) Gather the scraps of dough together into a ball and roll out again. Cut out similar 5-inch circles.

Place about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the meat filling in the center of each circle, leaving at least 1/2 inch of dough exposed around it. Top the filling with 1 piece of egg and 2 pieces of olive, and moisten the exposed dough with a finger dipped in water. Fold the empanada in half to form a crescent, and press the edges firmly together. Following the pictures opposite, shape the edges of the empanadas. Arrange the finished empanadas on an ungreased baking sheet. If they must wait, cover them with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate them.

Spaghetti Florentine

Candace made this dish tonight for dinner--super good! I think it would be even better with a little more seasoning, maybe something like Mrs. Dash or Garlic Salt; just to give it a kick. She sided it with garlic bread, my favorite!

Spaghetti Florentine

Recipe came from All Recipes

Spaghetti Florentine

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, crushed
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Healthy Request® Condensed Cream of Celery Soup
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
• 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 4 cups hot cooked spaghetti, cooked without salt
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1. Spray saucepan with vegetable cooking spray. Heat over medium heat 1 min. Add onion, garlic and Italian seasoning and cook until tender.

2. Add soup, pepper and spinach. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook 10 min. or until spinach is tender.

3. Add yogurt and tomato and heat through. Toss with spaghetti. Sprinkle with cheese.

Amish Friendship Bread

I'm sure that you've heard about Amish Friendship Bread...somehow in the last week or so our apartment has received the bread bag twice from people. The first time we didn't do too well and decided to just throw it away but the second time we succeeded and tonight we baked a yummy looking bread!

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

This is the Amish Friendship Bread Starter Recipe that you’ll need to make the Amish Friendship Bread (above). It is very important to use plastic or wooden utensils and plastic or glass containers when making this. Do not use metal at all!

Ingredients:

1 pkg. active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F)

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water for about 10 minutes. Stir well.

2. In a 2 quart glass or plastic container, combine 1 cup sifted flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or the flour will get lumpy when you add the milk.

3. Slowly stir in warm milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Loosely cover the mixture with a lid or plastic wrap. The mixture will get bubbly. Consider this Day 1 of the cycle, or the day you receive the starter.

For the next 10 days handle starter according to the instructions above for Amish Friendship Bread.

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe

Day 1 - receive the starter (the recipe for the starter is below)

Day 2 - stir

Day 3 - stir

Day 4 - stir

Day 5 - Add 1 cup each flour, sugar and milk.

Day 6 - stir

Day 7 - stir

Day 8 - stir

Day 9 - stir

Day 10 - Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Divide into 4 containers, with 1 cup each for three of your friends and 1 cup for your own loaves. Give friends the instructions for Day 1 through Day 10 and the following recipe for baking the bread.

After removing the 3 cups of batter, combine the remaining cup of Amish Friendship Bread starter with the following ingredients in a large bowl:

2/3 cup oil

3 eggs

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 to 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

Using a fork beat by hand until well blended. You can add 1 cup raisins and 1 cup nuts (optional).

Grease two loaf pans with butter, sprinkle with sugar instead of flour.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes to 1 hour (individual oven temperatures vary). Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans. Makes two loaves of Amish Friendship Bread.

Janet's Cornbread

Janet made cornbread to accompany the Spanish Rice, we ran out of white flour so she used whole wheat flour...so good. I don't think that I'm ever going back to making cornbread with white flour. This recipe is simple but de-lic-ious! (and yes the picture is the same for this and the Spanish Rice but I didn't really think about taking two different pictures)

3/4 cup yellow Cornmeal

2 1/4 cup Flour

1/2 cup Sugar

3 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 cup Milk

3/4 cup Vegetable Oil

3 Eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 400* F. In a large bowl, measure cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; blend well. Add milk and oil slowly. Pour in eggs and stir just enough to blend thoroughly. Pour into greased 9x9-inch pan. Bake 20 minutes or until lightly brown.

Beefy Spanish Rice

My roommate made this super yummy delicious Spanish Rice. The best part? She made it up herself! Her original recipe she used ground beef but today she used ground turkey---so so good! Try it soon!

2 tablespoons Oil

1 1/2 cups Rice

1/2 Onion, chopped

1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped

1 lb Ground Beef (or Ground Turkey)

1 can Corn

6 oz Tomato Sauce

1/4 cup Ketchup

1 cup Water

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Garlic Powder (to taste)

Tony's (to taste)

Cumin

In a large saucepan heat oil. Add rice, onions, and pepper; saute for 5 minutes. Add beef and brown. Add everything else and simmer on low for 20 minutes, covered. Stir occasionally. Serve warm.

Ground Turkey Burrito Filling

This recipe originally was a filling for egg rolls, but let's face it I'm too lazy to fill each individual roll and cook them---way too much work! So I decided to try it out for a burrito filling, delicious! It also works great over rice (or over rice in a tortilla).

Ground Turkey Burrito Filling

Recipe came from Nasoya

Original Recipe

1 (20 oz.) ground turkey
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained & washed
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper
1 can rotel, drained
1 (8 oz.) pkg monterey jack cheese
handful chopped cilantro, chopped

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cook ground turkey on medium heat. Mix together in a large bowl corn, black beans, rotel, spices, cheese, and cilantro

Taco Biscuit Bake

While at work I like to take the opportunity to look through my bosses recipe books and get ideas, she has several of the Taste of Home magazines and this is one that I picked up from it. The recipe suggests topping it with sour cream and salsa, my roommates preferred it without the toppings. I did use ground turkey instead of ground beef, my roommates said it was good and that they couldn't really tell the difference. The one thing that I might do a little differently is use a can of beans instead of chili, I am slowly liking the taste of canned chili less and less- my roommates liked it though.

Taco Biscuit Bake

Recipe came from Taste of Home

1 lb. lean Ground Beef

2/3 c. Water

1 envelope Taco Seasoning

2 tubes Buttermilk Biscuits

1 can Chili

1 cup Cheese

Salsa and Sour Cream, optional

Cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.

Stir in water and taco seasoning.

Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes until thick.

Quarter the biscuits; place in a greased 9x13-inch pan.

Layer with beef, chili, and cheese.

Bake uncovered at 375*F for 25-30 minutes until cheese is melted and biscuits brown.

Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Blondie Brownies

Last night my roommate had an assignment that was due that she really didn't want to do, I told her that if she completed it last night I would make her blondie brownies. I was kind of annoyed last night because I couldn't find the recipe that I used to make all the time, I found this one and I think that it's pretty close to what I used to make. Super yummy! They are sweet though so i would plan on cutting them a little smaller than normal brownies and having a good glass of milk with them (my roommates had theirs with ice cream)

Blondie Brownies

Recipe came from Betty Crocker

Blondie Brownies

BROWNIES

1 cup Sugar

1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Butter

1 teaspoon Vanilla

2 Eggs

1-1/2 cups Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Salt

FROSTING

1/3 cup Butter

2/3 cup packed Brown Sugar

3 tablespoons Milk

2 cups Powdered Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

1/2 cup chopped Pecans (optional)

Step 1: Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla and the eggs with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon, until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. In ungreased 13x9-inch pan, spread batter evenly.

Step 2: Bake 20 to 23 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 45 minutes.

Step 3: In 2-quart saucepan, melt 1/3 cup butter over low heat. Stir in 2/3 cup brown sugar; cook over low heat 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in milk; cook until mixture comes to a rolling boil. Remove from heat. Gradually stir in powdered sugar and vanilla, mixing well with spoon after each addition, until smooth and spreadable. If necessary, add more milk, a few drops at a time. Spread frosting over brownies. Immediately sprinkle with pecans. For brownies, cut into 6 rows by 6 rows.

Ice Cream Cake

This doesn't look the best but it was super delicious! Brea taught me how to do this when I went home to Oregon and I've already made it again since coming home :)

Ice Cream Cake

1-2 Cartons Ice Cream (your choice of flavor--I used vanilla)

Brownies, Cake, or Cookies (I used brownies)

Tub Whipped Topping

Hot Fudge

We used a springform pan but you can use any kind of dish. Line dish with wax paper and then spray with non-stick spray (like Pam).
Layer 1: Ice Cream---line bottom of dish with ice cream, place in freezer for 10 minutes or so until frozen.

Layer 2: Brownies---make layer of crumbled brownies (about 1/2 pan).

Layer 3:Hot Fudge---spread fudge over brownie crumbles, return to freezer until frozen again.

Layer 4: Ice Cream Mixture---mix the remaining brownies, whipped topping, and remaining ice cream together. Spread over hot fudge layer. Return to freezer until completely frozen (about 1-2 hours).

Slice (or spoon :D), serve and enjoy!