Grilled cheese with avocado and tomato!

This is something I put together and I really love!  Very easy sandwich. 

Ingredients(1 serving): 

your favorite bread slices
avocado(about 1/2-1)
tomato(about 1/2)
american cheese

Spread butter on bread.  On the buttered side, top with cheese, avocado slices, and tomato slices.  Put butter on another slice of bread and put it on top of avocado stuff, buttered side down. 

Melt butter/margarine in the frying pan.  When spread enough to cover the pan, slice the sandwich on it and spread butter on top.  When brown, turn to the other side.  You can push it with lid to make it flatter.  When crispy, it is done!  Yum Yum
I have made it with cheddar cheese but I do like american the best with this. 

Hmmm sorry, I played around with pic too much and I kind of messed it up... haha!


 

Tortellini Tomato Spinach Soup

This is such a good soup that I didn't want to lose the recipe!  We had it for church gathering and everyone LOVED it.  I have made it a couple of times since.  Actually several times already! 
Ingredients: 
2TBS Olive oil
1 Onion-medium, diced
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 tsp Dried Basil
1 TBS Sundried Tomatoes, chopped
1 TBS Brown sugar
2 14oz. cans diced, crushed Tomatoes
2 quarts Chicken or Vegetable broth
1 lb pkg fresh or frozen tortellini
Salt & Pepper to taste
10oz. Fresh chopped spinach or bag frozen spinach
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

In a large heavy pot, heat oil over medium heat.  Saute onion and garlic, stirring often until onions are translucent, about 7 min.  Add basil, sun dried tomatoes & brown sugar and continue cooking 2 more minutes.  Add broth & canned tomatoes.  Turn heat to high & bring to a boil.  Add tortellini & cook according to the package.  When tortellini is almost done, add spinach.  Add salt & pepper to taste.  Garnish each serving with Parmesan Cheese. 

White Chicken Chili

1 can great northern beans

16 oz jar salsa

2 cups chicken broth

2 T cumin

1 can chicken with broth (I use Costco canned chicken)

8 oz Monterey Jack cheese grated - or any cheese you like

Combine all ingredients in crock pot 4-5 hours, can also heat in a sauce pan then add cheese before serving and stir.  Serve with sour cream, tortilla chips, lime, avocado, etc.

Blender Wheat Pancakes

1 Cup Milk (or 3T powdered milk and 1 Cup Water)
1 cup Wheat Kernels, whole and uncooked
2 eggs (2T powdered eggs and 1/4 Cup Water)
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 T oil
2 T honey or sugar

Put milk and wheat kernels in blender.  Blend on highest speed for 4-5 minutes or until batter is smooth.  Add eggs, oil, baking powder, salt, and honey or sugar to above batter.  Blend on low.  Pour out batter onto greased hot griddle/pan.  Cook, flipping pancakes when bubbles pop and create holes.  Enjoy!

My son was fascinated with the feel of the wheat:)

Wheat, up close.

After mixing wheat and milk together.

Batter with all the ingredients added and mixed.

Landan had fun helping me make "zoom-zooms" - it's what they called pancakes on an episode of The Backyardigan's:)

First batch, almost ready to flip.

Done.

Served with syrup and banana.  These pancakes were so light and delicious!

Green Smoothie

The possibilities and variations are endless but these smoothies taste so good. Here's what I put in mine today:

1 C milk
couple handfuls of spinach
package of yoplait frozen smoothie mix

Blend together and enjoy!

Mahi Mahi

1tsp- chopped garlic
1lemon juice
1/4 c. white wine
1oz unsalted butter, melted and cubed
salt and freshly ground black papper

Heat oil and cook mahi mahi till underside is golden brown.  Turn the fish over and add garlic, lemon juice, white wine.  When wine and lemon juice have cooked down, add the butter.  Season with salt and butter.

This was so good!  Partly because I ate it after fasting for a while...??  I remember Mahi mahi was really fishy last time I had one but this was mild and flavorful.  So yummy!

This is the first time I used wine in cooking.  I inherited it from my brother in law who used and left it here.  I made sure and boiled the alcohol out but I wonder if it will taste the same with water. 

Sorry, no pics!

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Caroline celebrated her birthday today so this is what I made for our party up at the park:

Coconut Cake with Pineapple Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for pans

3 cups cake flour, plus additional for pans

1 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1 cup cream of coconut (found in the drink aisle by the mixers)
1/4 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 large whole eggs

3 large egg whites

12 ounces cream cheese, not whipped

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon finely grated fresh lime zest

2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup chopped, drained, canned pineapple chunks

5 1/2 ounces unsweetened or sweetened flaked coconut
Directions:

-Make cake: Preheat oven to 325° and line the bottom of 2 buttered 9×2-inch round cake pans with parchment. (I made cupcakes instead)

-Butter paper and dust pans with flour, knocking out excess flour.
-Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
-Whisk together cream of coconut, milk, and extracts in a bowl.

-Beat together butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
-Add whole eggs and egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, until combined well.
-On low speed, beat in flour mixture and cream of coconut mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, until just combined (do not overbeat).
-Pour batter evenly into the prepared cake pans (about 2-3/4 cups per pan) and smooth tops.
-Bake cake layers in middle of oven until golden and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. (I cooked cupcakes for about 18 mins)
-Transfer pans to racks and let cool for 5 minutes.

-Run a small knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Peel off paper, then invert layers right side up and cool.
-Make Frosting and Filling:
-Beat cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy.
-Beat in butter and lime zest until smooth.

-Slowly beat in confectioners’ sugar on low speed until smooth for frosting.
-Transfer 1 cup of frosting to a bowl and fold in pineapple for filling.
 (I left out the pineapple since I made cupcakes)
-Place 1 cake layer on a serving platter and spread top evenly with filling.

-Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.
-Top with second layer, then spread top and sides with frosting.

-Chill cake until frosting is slightly firm.


-Coat top and sides of cake evenly with coconut flakes.
Makes 8 to 10 servings. (Made 36 cupcakes)

Raspberry Diamonds

RASPBERRY DIAMONDS

Ingredients
For the cookies:
11-1/4 oz. (2-1/2 cups) allpurpose flour
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/8 tsp. table salt
8 oz. (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbs. confectioners’ sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. pure almond extract
6 Tbs. raspberry jam (I prefer seedless)
For the almond glaze:
1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
Pinch table salt
1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. water
1/4 tsp. pure almond extract

How to Make the cookies:
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the cream of tartar and salt until well blended. With a stand mixer (use the paddle attachment) or a hand mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract and beat until blended. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just blended.
On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into six equal pieces. If the dough is very soft, wrap each portion in plastic and refrigerate until firmer, about 1 hour.
Heat the oven to 350°F and have ready two large ungreased baking sheets (or line them with nonstick baking liners). If the dough is in the refrigerator, remove it and unwrap it. Using your hands or a rolling pin (or both), shape each piece into a flat 12x1-1/2-inch strip about 1/4 inch thick, dusting with flour if needed. Transfer the strips to the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 3 inches apart.
Using the butt end of a knife handle dipped lightly in flour, make an indentation down the middle of each strip (this will widen the strip to about 1-3/4 inches and make a depression about halfway down into the strip). Spread 1 Tbs. of the jam evenly down the indentation of each strip.
Bake until the cookie strips are lightly browned on the bottom and edges, about 20 minutes. Let the strips cool on the sheets on racks for 5 minutes before carefully transferring them to racks to cool completely (a long offset metal spatula is good for this). Before glazing, set the rack over a baking sheet or a sheet of waxed paper. If you plan to freeze these cookies, do it before glazing.
Glaze the cookies:
In a small bowl, mix the confectioners’ sugar with the salt, water, and almond extract. The glaze should be thick enough to hold its shape when drizzled; add more confectioners’ sugar or water if needed. Using the tines of a fork, drizzle the glaze over the tops of the cooled cookie strips. (Or transfer the glaze to a sturdy zip-top plastic bag, snip off a tiny bit of one corner of the bag and drizzle.) Leave the cookies on the rack until the glaze is set, about 30 minutes, and transfer to a cutting board. With a serrated knife, cut each bar on the diagonal into 1-inch-thick diamond shapes.
Store at room temperature or freeze (unglazed) in an airtight container, separating the cookie layers with waxed paper.

Review: time consuming but delicious.  Instead of almond glaze on all of them I used lemon glaze too which was tasty.  You have to be careful not to make too deep of an indention in the middle as that will be a weak spot and the cookies will just fold in half when you pick them up to eat.

Old-fashioned Gingerbread

Yields one 8x8-inch cake.

8-1/4 oz. (1-3/4 cups plus 2 Tbs.) flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
2-1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
Pinch salt
2-1/2 oz. (5 Tbs.) butter, softened at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup dark molasses
3/4 cup cold water

For the whipped cream:
1 cup heavy cream (not ultrapasteurized, if possible)
1/4 cup maple syrup

Heat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 8x8-inch cake pan. Sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until light and creamy. Add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and pour in the molasses in a slow, steady stream, beating all the while. Add half of the sifted dry ingredients and mix just until well combined. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Slowly pour in the cold water and stir until well incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 min. Let cool in the pan about 1 hour before serving.
Beat the cream until thickened. Slowly pour in the syrup and continue beating until the cream holds soft peaks. Cut the cake into squares; serve with the whipped cream.

Review:  Yummy cake - probably more suited for the fall or winter.  I dusted the cake with powdered sugar then topped it with regular whipped cream (didn't add the maple syrup) and it was delicious!!

Black and White Bars

Yield: 1/2 sheetpan

4oz Butter, melted
1lb 4oz Oreo cookie crumbs
 2 T Sugar

2 C shredded Coconut
2 C Chocolate chips
2 C White chocolate chips
2 C Chopped Walnuts
3 C Condensed Milk

1. For the crust: mix butter, crumbs, and sugar until it holds together well.  (Add more butter if needed)
2. Pour Crust mixture into a sheetpan (aka cookie sheet).  Roll evenly using a rolling pin on top of parchment paper.
3. Mix coconut, both chocolate chips, and walnuts together and spread over crumbs.  If this is too much, cut back to 1 1/2 C of each item.
4. Pour condensed milk evenly over entire pan.
5. Bake immediately at 350F.  Start to check at 15 mins, but will probably need more time.  Want to get them nice and golden brown over the top.
6. Allow to cool, then cut into bars.
7. Can also be frozen.

The first time I tasted these were at the Bearclaw at the top of the Sundance Ski Resort - delicious!!  My friend works there and I asked her one day if she could get me the recipe and she said she had it already!!!  I got a copy and they turned out just as good as they are at Sundance:)  Makes a huge batch so I ended up freezing most of them as individual bars in little plastic baggies and pulling them out when I wanted one. Enjoy!!

Steve's Lemon Cake

Our old neighbors, the Johnston's, would make this cake every year for Steve's birthday. Molly requested it for her birthday so I got the recipe from Jen and attempted to make it. It actually wasn't too hard - a little time consuming, but well worth the effort for the end product!

Bake a yellow cake in two 8” or 9” round pans.  Cool and set aside.
(It's fine to do a 9x11 if you want)

Whip and prepare real whipped cream.  Refrigerate.

Lemon Filling:

Have Ready:
1/4 c. + 1 T. Corn Starch mixed in 1/2 c. water
3 well beaten Egg Yolks
3 well beaten Egg Whites with 1/4 t. Lemon Extract and 1/2 c. Sugar
(Beat Whites 1st until stiff)



Boil:
1 1/2 c. Water
1/2 c.    Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice (I also used the lemon zest off the lemons)
1 c.       Sugar
1/4 c.    Butter
1/8 t.     Salt


Stir in corn starch mixture and cook 2 minutes.  Then fold in egg yolks.  Add whites last.

Cover (and fill) the cakes with the lemon filling then cover with real whipped cream.

This cake was so delicious.   My favorite part was the lemon curd:)

Creamy Chicken Chop Suey

Sorry, no picture.  My friend made this when they had us over for dinner one night.  It was very tasty that I asked her for recipe.  She hand written it for me and it still is in my recipe folder, 7yrs later. 

I made one yesterday for dinner and decided to copy it on the blog because I didn't want to lose this!

Creamy Chicken Chop Suey

1 c. celery slices (I never really measure this..)
1/4c. chopped onion (not measuring it either)
2 TBS butter
3 c. chopped cooked chicken (more or less)
1 (16oz) can bean sprouts(drained) -this, I never bought it canned.  If you grow your own mung beans, this is a good recipe to use it for.  I usually just buy them fresh at the store.  I don't think canned ones are as crispy.

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 c. milk
2TBS soy sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 c. sour cream

Buttered rice (butter is optional.  I do not put butter on my rice)
Chopped cashews(optional)
chow mein noodle (dry sticks- optional)

Saute celery and onion in butter in 10inch skillet.  Add chicken and bean sprouts.  Combine soup, milk, soy sauce, and salt.  Pour it in the skillet and mix well.  Cover and simmer 15 min.  Stir in sour cream.  Serve over rice; top with cashews and chow mein noodle. 

I throw in frozen spinach to give more green sometimes.  I need to be careful not to overload it with veggies because then I will have a lot of left over and my 8yrs old will say "Ew, this taste weird.  I don't like this.  I am not eating this anymore" and take over an hour just to eat 10 bites... (happened yesterday)  Haha!

Stove-Top Pork Chops

6 pork loin chops(3/4 inch thick)

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

2Tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

2tsp. dried thyme
2tsp. salt
1/4tsp pepper

4 large potatoes(about 2-1/4lbs.)
5 medium carrots, sliced 1/4 thick
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
3 cups beef broth



Dredge pork in flour.  Heat oil in a large skillet; brown the chops on both sides.  Sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper.  Peel potatoes and cut into 3/4-in. cubes; add to skillet along with the carrots and onion.  Pour broth over all; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 40-50 min. or until pork and vegetables are tender.  Yield: 6 servings.

This is from Taste of Home Books. 
I make this dish often, for us and to give to others.  Very easy and tasty!  It's also easy to adjust to different amount.  I use the mini carrots this time but it's pretty to use the big carrots with fancy slicers.  

How I freeze spinach

I love this baby spinach I buy at Costco.  It is not too expensive and it's so useful!

There's NO WAY I can finish this in a few days though...  maybe until I start making spinach smoothies ;)

Here's what I do with the spinach.   First I spread them on the cookie sheet like the picture below.

Then, put it in the freezer for about 1 hour minimum.  They will be nice and frozen. 



I take out the sheet and quickly put them in the freezer bag.  QUICKLY is the key here since it melts fast.  If it melts, they tend to stick together more and will look soggy.  Doesn't matter much because it will get cooked anyway but when it's not sticking together, it's much easier to get as much as I need.   

I keep a couple bags of these in the freezer.  It comes in handy because I can just add them when I am making soup, quesadilla, omlet, casserole and so on.  Spinach has lots of nutritions.  Gotta love it!

Yo's Chicken Enchiladas

Tonight I decided to make chicken enchiladas with some leftovers I had on hand.  I had a rotisserie chicken that I pulled all the meat off of and I also had a chicken breast in the fridge that had been cooked in lime and cilantro.  I combined those two together in a bowl and added some sweet rice I had made the week before.  I also added some sour cream just to bind it together, a can of green chilies, about a cup of grated cheese, and also a half a can of corn.

I cooked up come flour tortillas then spread this mixture down the middle and rolled them up.  In a baking dish I poured enough red enchilada sauce to cover the bottom then placed the enchiladas on top.  Over the top I poured more enchilada sauce, grated cheese and cut up olives.  This actually made two large baking dishes - one went in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes and the other went in the freezer for another night.  Delicous and super easy!  Of course you could adjust the ingredients with whatever you have on hand:)

Mandarin Orange Jello

I am translating this recipe I got off of Japanese cooking website.
This is easy and light. My kids love them :)

2can(11oz) mandarin orange
1pk(7g) gelatin
1/3c. water
1 3/4-2TBS sugar

1. Add gelatin to water and mix a little.

2. Drain mandarin orange. Put the syrup in microwavable container and put orange in glass dish.
3. Add sugar to the syrup. Heat in microwave for about 1 1/2 min. until warm but not boil.
*If you boil, it might not set. I have done it before and it was juice, not jello...

4. Add gelatin mixture to the syrup and mix well. Pour into the glass cup that orange is in. Cool. When cool enough, transfer them to the fridge until firm.

If you prefer something more, some cool whip on top will make it creamy and good too!