Basic Beer Bread

My friend Jan gave me this recipe. She said it's really easy to make,and very tasty!

3 cups flour, sifted (or spoon it into the measuring cup)

3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using self-rising flour)

1 teaspoon flour (omit if using self-rising flour)

1/4 cup sugar

1 (12) bottle of beer

1/2 cup melted butter (1/4 is fine)

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix together dry ingredients and beer.

Pour into greased loaf pan. For crispy crust, pour the melted butter over the top. For softer crust, pour the butter into the batter.

Bake 1 hour; remove from pan and let cool for at least 15 minutes.

Taco Bake

Taco Bake

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef

1 packet taco seasoning
* water as called for on back of seasoning packet
3 large flour tortillas (8-inch size)
1/2 cup Salsa Con Queso
1 1/2-2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

Directions:
Brown and crumble ground beef. Drain excess grease.
Add in taco seasoning and water (following directions on back of seasoning packet).
Once the taco meat is ready, turn off heat and add in 1/2 cup salsa con queso.
Give it a good stir until thoroughly combined.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Spray an 8-inch round baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Layer the bottom of the pan with a flour tortilla.
Now add about 1/3 of the ground beef taco filling on the the first layer.
Then add 1/3 of the shredded cheese.
Continue until you are done with all the layers: another tortilla, more taco mixture, more cheese.
Bake at 350F degrees for about 15-20 minutes.
Until cheese is melted and edges are slightly golden brown.
Allow to cool for a couple of minutes.
Then slice and serve.
Top with sour cream and diced tomatoes.

Crisp Cucumber Salsa

2 cups finely chopped seeded peeled cucumber
1/2 cup finely chopped seeded tomato
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and chopped
4-1/2 tsp minced fresh cilantro
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
1/4 c reduced-fat sour cream
1-1/2 tsp lemon juice
1-1/2 tsp lime juice
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp seasoned salt
Tortilla chips

In a small bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In another bowl, combine the sour cream, lemon juice, lime juice, cumin and seasoned salt. Pour over cucumber mixture and toss gently to coat. Serve immediately.

Recipe from My Fridge Food.

Hungry Girl's Triple-Chocolate Softies

Hungry Girl's Triple-Chocolate Softies

Big soft cookies are awesome. Guilt-free, cocoa-infused ones with TWO types of chocolate chips are exceptionally awesome! Preheat the oven, grab a baking sheet, and prepare yourself for the BEST SOFTIES EVER!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup brown sugar (not packed)
2 tbsp. sugar,
2 tbsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread(like Brummel & Brown), room temperature
2 tbsp. no-sugar-added applesauce
2 tbsp. fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
2 packets hot cocoa mix with 20 - 25 calories each (like Swiss Miss Diet or Nestlé Fat Free)
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
2 tbsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp. white chocolate chips, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk brown sugar, Splenda, butter, applesauce, egg substitute, and vanilla extract.

Add flour, cocoa mix, baking powder, and salt, and stir until smooth. Fold in oats, chocolate chips, and chopped white chocolate chips.

Spoon batter onto the sheet in 6 evenly spaced mounds. Use the back of a spoon to spread and flatten into 3-inch circles.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a softie comes out mostly clean, about 10 minutes. Eat up!

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

Serving Size: 1 softie (1/6th of recipe)
Calories: 164
Fat: 5g
Sodium: 164mg
Carbs: 27.5g
Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 17g
Protein: 3g

PointsPlus® value 4*

Slow Cooker Chicken Pineapple Teriyaki

Ingredients

Chicken Breast, no skin, 2.5 breasts

Pineapple, fresh, 2 cup, diced 
Pineapple Juice, .5 cup 
Soy sauce , low sodium, .5 cup
Pepper, black, 1 tbsp 
Brown Sugar, .3 cup, unpacked 

Directions

Combine pineapple juice, soy sauce, black pepper, and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir until combined. 

Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker, cover with pineapples and top with sauce.

Cook on low 6-8 hours. My chicken was frozen so I cooked for 8 hours. 

To thicken sauce, remove lid from slow cooker in the last hour of cooking. this will allow steam out and the sauce will thicken and condense slightly. If you prefer a thicker sauce, transfer sauce to pan and boil with flour or cornstarch until reduced to desired thickness.

Serve with stir fried veggies like bell pepper and sugar snap peas or over rice.

Number of Servings: 5

Slow-Cooker Sticky Wings

Found this on Pinterest and it looked super easy and the blogger said they're crazy good.


Ingredients
1 3" piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
4 lbs chicken wings, halved at joint and tips removed
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup tomato paste

Directions: 
Make Rub
Pulse ginger, garlic, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 Tbsp soy sauce and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper in food processor until finely ground. Add mixture to slow-cooker insert. Add chicken and toss to coat.

Cook and Cool
Cover and cook on low until fat is rendered and chicken is tender, about 3-4 hours. Using slotted spoon, remove wings from slow-cooker and transfer to clean large bowl (discard liquid in slow-cooker). Let wings cool about 20 min (or cool briefly and refrigerate up to 24 hours).

Sauce and Broil
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat broiler. Set wire rack inside rimmed backing sheet and spray rack with non-stick cooking spray. Whisk water, tomato paste, remaining sugar, remaining oy sauce, and remaining cayenne pepper in a bowl. Add half the sauce to a bowl with cooled wings and toss gently to coat. Arrange wings, skin side up, on prepared rack. Broil until wings are lightly charred and crisp around the edges, about 10-15 minutes. Flip wings, brush with remaining sauce, and continue to broil until well caramelized, about 3 minutes. Serve.

Note: In step 3, rack should be 10" to 12" from heating element. Don't wander off while the wings are in the oven.

Serves 12.

Roasted Cauliflower

One head cauliflower, cut into florets; 1/2 tsp. each salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder. (I threw all the ingredients into a Tupperware container and just shook it up.) Roast at 400F for 10 minutes, stirring 1/2 way through.

Had this at a party and it was good - on the must try list!

Jim Beam Glaze

Got this recipe from Red Robin....YUM!

1 cup Jim Beam bourbon whiskey
1/2 cup brown sugar
Combine the brown sugar and bourbon in a 3 qt. sauce pot and bring to a boil. Simmer 2 minutes to burn off the alcohol.

Add to the pot:
1 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pinch dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste

- Whisk the ingredients together and bring to a simmer. Cook the sauce over low heat for about 5 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken slightly and the flavors have married.

- Remove the sauce from the heat and cool completely. Use to baste meat, especially chicken or salmon, while cooking

Oriental Salad

Oriental Salad:

1 lb. fresh spinach, washed (I used baby spinach - it looks nicer and doesn't have so many stems)

1 can water chestnuts, drained and sliced ( I buy the presliced ones)

3/4 cup drained bean sprouts ( I used fresh)

1/2 lb. fried bacon, crumbled

3 hard boiled eggs, diced

dressing:

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/6 cup catsup ( not the 1/2 cup I originally tried!)

2 T. vinegar

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

Toss salad ingredients together.  Mix dressing ingredients; add to salad.  Toss and serve. 

Eat immediately after adding dressing - not good the day after.

Asian Slaw Salad

Asian Slaw Salad:

2 pkgs. beef flavored ramen soup mix (3oz each)

16 oz cole slaw mix

1 cup sliced almonds (toasted - on cookie sheet in oven or toaster oven)

1 cup sunflower kernels/seeds (I used unsalted but the recipe says either)

1 bunch green onions - chopped

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup oil

1/3 cup white vinegar

Crush uncooked ramen noodles.  Layer noodles, slaw, nuts, seeds, and onions in a bowl.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl combine flavor pack from soup mix with sugar, oil and vinegar.  Mix well.  Pour dressing over salad and chill.  Serves 8-10 people ( if they eat a lot otherwise serves way more!).

Good the day after too.

White's Chili

Chili:

3/4 lb ground beef

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 16 oz. can tomatoes, cut up

1 16 oz. can dark red kidney beans, drained

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

2 to 3 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. dried basil, crushed

1/4 tsp. salt (optional)

1/4 tsp. pepper

 

    In large saucepan cook ground beef, onion, green pepper, and garlic until meat is brown.  Drain fat.  Stir in undrained tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato sauce, chili powder, basil, salt, and pepper.  Bring to boiling, reduce heat.  Cover, simmer for 20 minutes.  Makes 4 main dish servings.  (I had doubled the recipe)

Smokey Sweet Potato Souffle

I keep seeing recipes that I'd like to try, so I'm adding a "TO BE TRIED" label for those recipes. Once I try them, I'll update the pose and remove that label.

Saw this while I was watching 5 Ingredient Fix on Food Network with Little Lady #1 recently. Looks fantastic!

Ingredients

• 5 pounds sweet potatoes, pricked with a knife
• 1 pound sliced bacon
• 1 chipotle in adobo, chopped, plus 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
• 1/4 cup Grade B maple syrup
• 5 eggs, separated
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Roast the potatoes on sheet tray until fully cooked, about 1 hour. Set aside until cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile cook the bacon in large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels, reserving the rendered bacon fat. Chop bacon and set aside, reserving 1/4 cup for garnish.

Peel the sweet potatoes and mash. Add the potatoes to a large bowl. Stir in the chopped chipotle, adobe sauce, maple syrup, chopped bacon and egg yolks. Mix together until combined. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

In a separate large bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add 1/3 of whipped egg whites to sweet potato mixture and fold to create a lighter base. Fold in remaining whites until just incorporated, leaving some white streaks.

Grease a 2 quart baking dish with some of the reserved bacon fat and gently pour in sweet potato souffle mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped bacon. Put the baking dish on a sheet tray and bake 40 minutes.

Brownie Batter Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes with Outrageously Rich Chocolate Indulgence Frosting

I saw these on Pinterest and I have GOT to try them!!! Munchkin 2's 2nd birthday is in a few weeks - I think that's the perfect time to try them out! I try to only put recipes I've made on here, but this one is too good to skip!

Brownie Batter Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes
with Outrageously Rich Chocolate Indulgence Frosting

(Recipe from KevinAndAmanda.com)

BROWNIE BATTER

1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup milk
1 (18.25 oz) box devil’s food cake mix

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 mins until well combined. Using a small scoop (about 1.5 tbsp) drop batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze overnight.

CUPCAKES

1 (18.25 oz) box devil’s food cake mix
1 (3.9 oz) pkg Jello instant chocolate fudge pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and line with cupcake liners. Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips into a very large bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 mins until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Using a large scoop (about 3 tbsp) drop batter into the cupcake liners, filling about 2/3rds full. Remove brownie batter from freezer and press into the cupcake batter. Bake for 22-28 mins. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

FROSTING

5 sticks butter, softened
8 oz powdered sugar
1.5 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
a pinch of table salt
1.5 cups light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
16 oz milk chocolate chips

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring well every 30 seconds. Allow to cool for 5-10 mins. Combine butter, sugar, cocoa and salt in a food processor and process until smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl as needed. Add the corn syrup and vanilla and process until just combined, about 5-10 seconds. Scrape the bowl again, then add the melted chocolate and pulse until smooth and creamy, about 10-15 seconds. You can use a mixer for this too, if you don’t have a food processor, just don’t whip the butter too much! :) 

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated.

Makes & frosts 36 cupcakes.