Jessamy's Delish Guacamole

(i need to work on my presentation... no shmeary bowls allowed.)

i know, i'm horrible. start a food blog, never post anything. i really do try new recipes weekly, and take pictures... i just obviously can't follow through.

well, here is a quick one from my friend jess (for those of you who don't know her... they are second year dental students, and she has kind of saved me in my last year surviving with kiddos in the barren wasteland of boston. and she is a good cook with a grill... win win.Ü)

guac is kind of one of those "throw it together" dishes... so these are approximate amounts, and can of course be adapted after tasting.

1 lg avocado
1/4 c diced tomatoes (let the tomato juices drain off first)
1/4-1/2 small onion, finely diced (use whatever onion you have on hand, it's good with all kinds even sweet)
juice of 1/2 small lime
1 1/2 T finely chopped cilantro (i didn't have this on hand, but it was still good without)
1 t garlic powder (you can use real garlic too but it takes a while for the guac to absorb the flavor of the garlic)
1 t salt

mash avacado with fork and mix in additional ingredients. so yummy. we had this with mexican rice/black beans/sour cream/cheese in a tortilla... aka "burrito form." it was so good. new fav.

cheddar and herb biscuits

ummm... we made these twice last week. that should tell you how good they are... or how obsessed i am with any kind of cheesy bread.

cheddar and herb biscuits
adapted from here (along with picture above)

Biscuits:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons shortening
3 tablespoons butter, cold (or room temp works too)
1 cup buttermilk (i never have buttermilk so i use 1 c milk and 1 1/2 tsp vinegar... let them sit together until little bubbles appear on the top, about ten min.)
1 1/4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (i pretty much do 2 cups)

Buttery Topping:
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes (not necessary... just pretty)
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, garlic powder and salt. Cut in shortening and butter until coarse crumbs are formed. Lightly mix in grated cheese. Mix in buttermilk just until moist (dry spots here and there are ok - the biscuits will be tough if they are overmixed). Drop the biscuits onto a greased or lined baking sheet (i use my cookie scooper). Bake for 12-14 minutes, until browned and golden. While the biscuits are baking, in a small bowl combine butter, parsley, garlic powder and salt. Right when the biscuits come out of the oven, brush the butter/herb mixture over the biscuits evenly (alternately, you can dip the top of the biscuit into the butter mixture). Serve immediately.

cranberry salad

wow. thanksgiving is really already here! love, love it. can't wait to stuff my face. i just wish we were all stuffing our faces together! james, here is what i am making this year. i think i've had it with my thanksgiving meal as long as i can remember.



1 pkg. fresh cranberries, grind in blender, cover with 1 cup sugar and refrigerate 1 hour.
1 pint whipping cream-whip until very thick. add sugar and vanilla to taste.
Add: cranberries after standing 1 hour
1 bag mini marshmallows
1 large can crushed pineapple, drained

i just realized there's no jello, but it definitely fills that category, haha!

pretzel jello

this stuff is so good it kind of doubles as dessert! (kind of like our bavarian dessert in layers)

2 C. crushed pretzels
1/4 C. sugar
3/4 C. melted butter
8 oz. (1 block) cream cheese, softened
1 C. powdered sugar
9 oz. cool whip
16 oz. strawberry jello (lg. box)
2 C. boiling water
10 oz. bag frozen strawberries/raspberries

combine first three ingredients as the crust and press into a 9x13 pan. bake at 400 degrees for 6 min. cool to room temp.

blend the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth, then add the cool whip and spread over cooled crust.

dissolve jello in boiling water and stir in frozen fruit right after. chill until partially set (about 45 minutes). spoon over cream cheese layer. cool until firm. cut into squares and serve!

jello salad

this is what i'm making for thanksgiving james!

1 lg. box raspberry (or strawberry... both are yummy) jello
about 1 1/2 C. frozen raspberries, mostly thawed
about 1 C. cool whip

make jello as directed on box (you can put the raspberries in the jello while it's setting up, but i just throw them in at the end)

once jello is set up add the raspberries and cool whip (i just add both until it's the right consistency) and blend everything together with your beaters.

YUM!

sorry for the nasty picture that i found on the internet, but this is what it kind of looks like. no i do not put my jello salad in the plastic part of a longaberger basket, nor do i recommend it.

ooo that just reminded me of pretzel jello... do we have that on here?

The Stuffing

Sorry for tiny-ness of the picture

It's turkey day this week!  We'll be out of town and sort of swapping the traditional dinner for grabbing some grub after the Macy's parade.  But you know I can never truly skip Thanksgiving dinner, especially the stuffing!  So I made a mini version before FHE last week with my own take on grandma's stuffing and a little help from Rachel Ray in the turkey department.  :)    And so, I now can give you:  Apple Sausage Stuffing, the recipe!

12 oz sausage, crumbled
 1 medium white onion, diced
4 ribs celery, sliced up
2-3 small apples, diced (I like golden delicious and I don't peel them but you can do whatever you want)
1 forkful minced garlic (I buy the pre-chopped but my best guess would be about a clove)
tiny pinch of nutmeg
2 T butter
2 bags croutons (I use "Fresh Gourmet" butter & garlic but again, just pick)
2 dried bay leaves
2 cups chicken stock

Brown and crumble sausage, transfer to plate w/ paper towel to drain.  In the same skillet saute onion, celery, apples and garlic, then add in nutmeg and salt n' pepper when everything's starting to get soft, set aside.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Put butter in a rectangle cake pan and let melt while oven preheats.  When butter is melted, pour in croutons and coat.  Then add in sausage and onion/celery/apple mixture and toss until evenly distributed, lay bay leaves on top.  Drizzle chicken stock over all of it until everything is pretty moist.  Bake 15-20 minutes.  I pull it out at 15 to fluff it a little and see how it's coming.  Pull out bay leaves and serve!

Whoops!  I forgot, I always toss in a couple handfuls of craisins before I bake it.  Just p.s.

"healthy" fried rice

this recipe comes straight out of parents magazine, so you know it's easy! and sophie loves the scrambled eggs in this one which makes me happy.

ingredients:

1 8.8-oz. uncle ben's package cooked brown rice (see picture)

1 16-oz. pkg. mixed frozen vegetables (peas, corn, green beans, carrots)

1 cup frozen peppers-and-onion stir-fry vegetables

4 tsp. canola oil, divided

3 eggs

3 Tbs. stir-fry sauce (i like the kikkoman brand)

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (optional)

lime wedges (i didn't like this though)

directions:

heat 2 tsp. canola oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium. whisk eggs and add to the skillet. cook, stirring occasionally to break up eggs, until set. remove from pan. add remaning 2 tsp. oil to the skillet and then increase the heat to medium-high. stir in the frozen vegetables; cook for 5 minutes or until tender.

add stir-fry sauce and crushed red pepper to the skillet. stir in rice and heat through, then mix in the cooked eggs. squeeze lime juice on for extra flavor (like i said, i didn't really get this flavor with everything else, but you might like it).

yum. yum. yum.

Popovers

So I made these last week and have been meaning to post. Most of you probably have no idea what these are as they are very British/Canadian. They are also known as yorkshire pudding. I grew up with these puffy, bread like things. They are soooooooo good with a roast beef dinner, filled with beef gravy.
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Put all ingredients into a blender, blend until smooth. Put in fridge until ready to use (for some reason they turn out better if the batter is cold). Heat oven to 400. Spray a muffin tin with pam or wipe well with oil. Pour batter evenly among all 12 cups and bake for 30 min. or until golden brown. Do not open oven while baking, they will flop!

Loaded Baked Potato salad

I haven't made this one yet but I can't wait, it looks so yummy and easy. It is suppose to serve 20 so you will want to cut back on the the servings sizes.

Ingredients
7 pounds baking potatoes
extra virgin olive oil fro brushing
2 pounds bacon, cut crosswise into 1 inch pieces
2 sticks (1/2 pound) butter, softened
2 pints sour cream
salt and pepper
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
1 pound cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pierce the potatoes with a fork; brush with oil. Bake until tender, 1 hour. let cool, then cut into bite size pieces.

In a skillet, cook the bacon until crisp about 10 minutes, drain. ( the microwave works just as well, about one minute for every piece.

In a large bowl, combine the butter and sour cream; season with salt and pepper, stir in the potatoes, bacon, scallions and cheese. Serve at room temperature.

Stuffed artichokes

One of my most favorite foods is a stuffed artichoke. It looks a little scary at first like a weird flower or something, but it really is very yummy. This picture I took doesn't make it look quite as delicious as it really is, but I wanted it to be authentic. I know most of you won't make this dish, but at least give Mr. Artichoke another chance.

2 artichokes

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

1/4 cup EVOO

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tbs. fresh chopped parsley

2 cups chicken stock

Wash artichokes in cool water. Sometimes they have little sharp points on the edges of their leaves, cut those off with kitchen scissors. Place a steaming basket in the bottom of a pan filled with 2 inches of boiling water and steam for 35 minutes. Set artichokes aside and let cool. In a medium size bowl pour in half of the olive oil and lemon juice (reserve other half for topping before serving), all of the cheese, garlic, parsley and bread crumbs. Mix well. Set stuffing mixture aside. take the cooled artichoke and pull back leaves exposing the center of the artichoke. Remove inner leaves and 'choke' ( the stuff that looks like hair...I know I've lost some of you already :)). Divide the mixture evenly into two parts. Open the outer leaves and with a spoon put some of the mixture at the base of the leaves. When you get to the center, fill it with the rest of the mixture. Pour remaining lemon juice and EVOO on top of artichoke. Place in a glass baking dish and fill the bottom of the dish with chicken stock. Bake for 40 minutes covered at 350 and take foil off for last 5 minutes to brown.

So, pretty much you pull off a leaf and scrape the meaty part and stuffing off then work your way to the center. The heart of the best part!

cookie salad

{no i don't know this guy... but i think he says it all!}

so i'll be the first to admit i've been a major slacker on this blog! 100% my fault. how many blogs am i trying to run these days? maybe that was a bad idea... haha. but i love this food blog. so i dug through my recipe box, and low and behold... i actually have more than 10 recipes in there!

this one comes from my friend kalee. you might be thinking, cookies and salad in one dish? yes. it's fabulous. i sometimes crave this. and although i haven't made it for quite awhile, now that the recipe box has been dusted off, i think i might give it a try again this week! yum!

1 large carton cool whip (16 oz)

1 box vanilla instant pudding (large)

2 cups buttermilk (not kidding)

mix those first three together then add:

2 small cans mandarin oranges (drained)

1 large can pinnapple tidbits (drained)

1 pkg. Keebler fudge striped cookies (broken into bite sized pieces... this is the best part!)

mix and refrigerate!

Delmonico Potatoes

These potatoes are a tradition in my family and are usually served at special occasions like Christmas Eve with stuffed flank steak and at Easter with a spiral ham. They are so easy to make and taste amazing, really creamy and you'll HAVE to go back for seconds!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. Ore-Ida frozen Hash Browns (1 bag)
• 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup (10 3/4 oz.)
  1/2 stick of butter cut into small cubes
  1 bag Shredded Cheddar Cheese (8 oz)
• 1/3 cup Chopped Scallions
• 1 container Sour Cream (16 0z.)

In a large bowl mix defrosted potatoes, sour cream, soup, scallions and cheddar cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer ingredients into a casserole dish and place small cubes of butter over the mixture. Bake at 325 degrees for 1hr. 30min-1 hr. 45 min or until golden brown.

Rolls

OK ladies these rolls are so good, and they are pretty easy to make. I usually double or triple the batch cause they are so yummy we eat them for a week after.

dissolve 1 Tbs of yeast, 1 Tbs sugar, 1/2 cup of warm water and set aside.

Mix together:
1 cube of butter

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs beaten (at room temp)

1 tsp salt

1 cup scaled milk cooled (milk that almost boils)

-I usually scaled the milk then add everything but the eggs until the butter melts then add the eggs and mix everything together

- add the yeast mix to the mix above, mix together then add in 4 cups of flour mix with a wire whisk. the dough will be sticky.

-let rise until it has doubled about 2 hours ( stir it down a couple of times)

-after it has risen put a portion of dough in a ball on a floured surface then add four on top of the dough so it wont be sticky, (do not need the dough) then roll out the dough flat.

-brush melted butter on rolled out dough cut into triangles and roll up.

- put rolls onto a greased cookie sheet and let rise until doubled about 1/2 hour.

- bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes

( you can freeze when you have rolled out and cut the rolls before they rise again. then just take out thaw let rise about 30 minutes and cook)

Pico De Gallo!

This is one our family favorites! It's super easy and you can make it in less than 15 min. My mom used to make it every summer with fresh stuff from our garden. I do a batch pretty much every week and use it in everything from quesadillas to omelets :)

Pico de Gallo:

1 pint grape tomatoes
1 small onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon balsalmic vinegar
cilantro (1 handful if chopped fresh, 1/3 palmful if dried)
salt and pepper

dice tomatoes and onions up small. add olive oil, vinegar, cilantro, and salt and pepper. mix it all up and enjoy!