Taquitos

Thanks Jenn for taking pics of the food! My camera is broken and I haven't been able to take pictures of what I've been making lately. I found this recipe at Camille's Casa... ok, really I just followed her instructions on the assembly and I used the filling of the Honey-Lime recipe I posted. I like that recipe, but I'm not a huge sweet eater when it comes to dinner foods. I prefer savory, but paired with the Texas Caviar (I'll post next) it was really good. Jenn ate some, what do you think??



Ok, so here it is:

Taquitos

• 1 pkg corn tortilla's (Any amount you feel like getting, the more you have the more you can make to eat then or freeze later!)


• Cooked Shredded and Seasoned meat (Pretty much whatever you want. I did chicken)


• Hot frying pan with oil at about med-hi range
  


• On a large plate, line it with tortillas stacked and kinda fanned. Microwave for about 45 sec to a minute. (I didn't know exactly, so I just kept checking) They should be just steamy.
  


• Take a little shredded meat and place at the top of the tortilla; roll tightly. (If your tortilla keep breaking, it wasn't steamy enough. Put them back in the microwave for a few more seconds.)

• Hold the taquitos together with toothpicks. Fry until golden.
• Just a note: I also tried baking some in the oven at 425F for about 5-6 minutes, I sprayed mine first with a little cooking oil. They weren't as good as the fried, but definitely still tasty!

• Eat what you want and then freeze them in freezer bags for later!
  

Rhubarb Blueberry Muffins

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. I was looking for something to use up my rhubarb with that was a little healthier than rhubarb crisp or pie (although, I'm not altogether against that!). But since I had an abundance of both blueberries and rhubarb, I had to give this a try. In my opinion it was really good. I liked that there isn't a lot of fat and that it still was soft and had a good flavor. A lot of m y "test-ees" didn't care for rhubarb, but the ones who did thought it was pretty good, too.

So here it is:

• 1/4 cup butter softened


• 3/4 cup sugar (I might try and up it a smidge next time)


• 1 egg


• 1/4 cup sour cream


• 2 tsp baking powder


• 1 tsp salt


• 1/3 cup milk


• 1 cup fresh/frozen blueberries


• 1 cup chopped fresh/frozen rhubarb

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar; add egg & sour cream; mix well.

In a seperate bowl combine dry ingredients adding to the creamed mix alternating with the milk.

Fold in the fruit and scoop into a lined cupcake pan.

Bake @400 for 20-25 minutes

White Chili

White Chili

1/4 cup butter (I used olive oil. It's just to saute' the onions and garlic)

1 large onion chopped

1 clove garlic finely chopped

4 cups cooked chicken, chopped

3 cups chicken broth

2T chopped fresh cilantro

1 T dried basil

2 tsp. ground red chillis or chilli powder

1/4 tsp ground cloves (It gives it a really nice spice flavor to it, but Charlie didn't like it so I reduced it to an 1/8 and it tasted better.)

2 cans great northern beans, don't drain.

Topping: 1 medium tomato chopped, more fresh cilantro (I love that stuff!), shredded cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips.

Directions:

Saute' the onion and garlic in a medium-large pot until tender. Stir in remaining ingredients except topping. Bring it to a boil and your done!

It's so good!!

Mini Brownie Turtles

Once again, I found this in my nifty dessert book that nearly found it's way to the thriftstore. I made these for the family BBQ we had for when Scarlet's bone marrow donor, Ralf, was here.
Super easy and very yummy!

What you need to do:

1. Prepare a package of brownie mix; toss in a handful of chopped pecans/walnuts-fold in.
2. Fill mini muffin liners in a pan 2/3 to the top- Bake @350 for approx. 18 minutes (watch them)
3. Let them cool, spread with dark chocolate frosting. (make it or buy it, I bought it)
4. On the stovetop, melt 12 caramels and 1T of whipping cream on low heat until completely melted.
5. Drizzle a bit on the cupcakes and put a piece of pecan on top...or you can make it fancy and decorate them nicely.
6. Cool in the fridge to let the caramel set-up-I didn't do this and totally regret it, most of the caramel slid off the sides- thus, no pictures. They weren't pretty, but they were tasty!

You can store these for several days. The book even said you can freeze the muffins after you've baked them and before you've topped them for 3 months in the freezer!

Give these babies a try!

Not sure the actual name of this recipe... It's kind of Indianish.. maybe? lol

Derek saw this recipe on Rachel Ray. I tried to look it up and couldn't find it anywhere on her site. He didn't write down the exact measurements. This is one of our favorites!

Ingredients:

Olive oil
Chicken (uncooked, cut into chunks)
Fresh garlic (5-6 good sized cloves, diced)
Salt & Pepper
6-8 Carrots (sliced not too thin but not too thick)
Red onion ( Chunky cubes)
Chicken stock (I buy the ones in the little cartons)
bay leaf
1-2 lemons (zest of 2 lemons, juice of one separated)
Cumin (1 HEAPING tbsp)
Coriander (1 HEAPING tbsp)
Paprika (1 HEAPING tbsp)

**Pour a very generous amount in the bottom of a large pot (make sure you have a lid that fits). You want it to coat the bottom of the pot. Heat to about medium heat. Add raw chicken and brown. Add in garlic, salt & pepper (about 1 tsp each). Add Cumin, Coriander, Paprika and Bay leaf. Add the lemon zest. Add the carrots and onion. Add the chicken stock so that it covers everything in the pot. Cook over med/high heat until the mixture reduces down and becomes the thickness of a curry. Just before serving add the lemon juice to the mixture. Serve over rice. This is seriously so yummy!!

Chocolate Macaroon bars

I got this recipe from a cookbook my mom got from the thriftstore. I de-junked my millions of cookbooks I haven't used awhile back and very nearly threw this one into the pile. Thank goodness I didn't! It's got lots of yummy desserts that I am pretty anxious to try! I made these macaroons when my mom was here because I know she and Debbie both love coconut (maybe because they both lived in Hawaii??) I made a change to how they reccommended making it and would suggest a couple more. Overall they were very good, despite my bad photography!

Mini Kisses Coconut Macaroon Bars


3 3/4 c. sweetened coconut flakes
3/4c. sugar
1/4 c. A.P. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3 egg whites
1 whole egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp. almond extract
1 cup mini kisses

*I couldn't find any mini kisses, so I used milk choc. chips instead
**I didn't like using a whole tsp of almond extract; it was a bit too strong for my taste.
1- Pre-heat oven to 350F; grease a 9-inch square baking pan. (i used a 7X11 and it worked fine)

2- Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl; add egg whites , whole egg and almond extract; stir until well blended.

3- At this point you add the chips...but I thought it would taste better to leave the chips out of the mix and melt the chocolate at the end and spread over the macaroons. I did that for mine but left the chips in the mix and I felt it would have been better the other way with some whole almonds on top of each cut out bar.

4- Press into greased pan.

5- Bake 35 mins. or until lightly browned. Cool completely, spread chocolate on top and refrigerate overnight or for 8 hours.

Melting the chips: Using a microwave safe bowl pour the chips in and microwave for 30 secs. at a time stirring after each interval.

Yummy Beans

Beans

8 Bacon strips, diced.

2 Medium onions, halved and thinly sliced.

1 cup packed brown sugar,

1/2 cup cider vinegar,

1 tsp salt,

1 tsp ground mustard,,

1/2 tsp garlic powder,

1 28 ounce can Baked beans, [ I use Bushes original], undrained,

1 16 ounce can kidney beans, drained,

1 15,1/2 ounce pinto beans,

1,15 ounce lima beans,

1,15,1/2 ounce black eyed peas, (I use a can of black beans instead because I'm not a fan of the black eyed peas)drain all beans, except baked beans,

cook bacon until crisp, drain, save 2tbl spoons drippings, sauté onions until tender,add brown sugar, vinegar,salt, mustard and garlic powder, bring to a boil.

in slow cooker mix everything, stir, and cook for 3 to 4 hours on high, makes

15 to 20 servings.

I cook this on low all day long. I put it in the crock pot in the morning and just cook it on low until dinner time. It's wonderful!!! :o)
I got this recipe from my cousin-in-law Katina Pearce. I LOVE these beans. They are sooo yummy!