BlogCarnival: Tasty Tuesday Edition!

Well I am a little too late to add this to the carnival, but I was so excited to see the topic come up! I have no idea why I didn't post this sooner!

Your favorite food. What is it and why? If it's something you make please share the recipe.
Now if you read my blog, I do a Tasty Tuesday post pretty frequently with some of my favorite recipes. I love food, all different kinds, and choosing just one favorite is impossible. But lately it's been salads, wraps, and pizza featuring Buffalo BBQ chicken with blue cheese ranch dressing. Here's how we do it:

Buffalo BBQ Chicken Fritters

• Cook some frozen chicken strips (We buy Kirkwood frozen Crispy Chicken Strips, which are kinda like this.) as directed on the package.
• Meanwhile put some of your favorite BBQ sauce (mine is Kansas City style lately) into a plastic storage container (make sure it seals good!), add some Frank's Red Hot sauce (as much or as little as you like) and a bunch of fresh ground black pepper. No need to mix!
• When your chicken is done, pop it in the container and add a little more of the sauces to the top. Then shakeshakeshake... shakeshakeshake... shake your booty! Oh sorry... carried away! ^-^
• VOILÀ! Chicken is done! From here you can pop it into a wrap, or cut it into smaller chunks for pizza or salad topping!

Blue Cheese-Ranch Dressing

• Pick your favorite ranch dressing: Mine varies from week to week: sometimes is all about the bacon ranch, sometimes it's got to be Hidden Valley, other times I want a cheesy ranch...
• Pick your favorite crumbly blue cheese: some have a very strong bitter taste, others are quite mild. We found a brand we liked (buttermilk blue cheese), but the stores aren't carrying it now; Kraft is a milder version of that which suits us fine.
• Mix them together to taste! Now you can top your salad, wrap, or use as a pizza sauce!

You can see more posted over at Stormy Designs!

Tasty Tuesday: Braided Sesame Bread

This week's Tasty Tuesday is something Jacqueline is really the expert at making, but it is my favorite I think of all that she makes. So I will let her explain how...

Just click here and visit her new blog, Scrumptious!

Tasty Tuesday: Pfijit

This is something I came up with the other night as I drifted off to sleep. I was very FIDGETY and had a hard time getting comfortable. So in my sleep-deprived, grumpy state, I said I was going to make a dessert called a fidget, and it would be something like a trifle. Thus as I drifted off to sleep, the recipe came to me, and OMG! I remembered it when I woke up! ^o^ Of course I changed the spelling a little, so it goes with the ingredients, but it still sounds tasty to me!

Here's how it's made: Just like a trifle can be made in all different ways, but is basically the same, so can Pfijit be made in different ways. Start with a PRETZEL crust, and top that with a FUDGE BROWNIE. Next comes the fun part. Cut into squares (or not), and top with a scoop of ICE CREAM. Your preferred flavor of course! Then top that with JAM or JELLY that you have melted and thinned a bit. Finally you add INTERESTING THINGS, like toasted mini-marshmallows, coconut, M&Ms, chopped nuts, etc. And now the recipe...

PFIJIT
2 cups coarsely crushed pretzels
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 box brownie mix
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on brownie mix box
1/2 gallon ice cream (whatever sounds good to you, I'm gonna use vanilla the first time)
1-2 cups jam or jelly (again, whatever sounds good to you, I'm thinking about raspberry or cherry)
Interesting Things: shredded coconut, mini-marshmallows, chopped nuts, M&Ms, crushed pretzels, gummi bears, fresh raspberries... whatever sounds good to you!

1. Heat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with shortening and lightly flour (or spray bottom with baking spray with flour). In medium bowl, mix pretzels, sugar and butter. Sprinkle evenly on bottom of pan; press gently.


2. Make brownie mix as directed on box, using water, oil and eggs. Spread batter in pan. Bake as directed on box. Cool completely, about 1 hour.


3. Meanwhile, soften 1 quart of ice cream in microwave or on countertop. After crust has chilled, spread softened ice cream over fudge layer. Freeze 30 minutes.


4. While the ice cream topped brownies are freezing, melt your jam or jelly over low heat, or in the microwave for 1 minute, stirring frequently.


5. Spread thinned jam or jelly over the ice cream and sprinkle with your interesting things!

Here's how ours came out: We chose mini-marshmallows and coconut for ours, and found a low sugar strawberry jelly (ROTFL! Low sugar...). We made sure the ice cream was frozen quite solid and cut it into 8 slices which topped the brownies pretty well with only a little spreading needed, then popped it back in the freezer til we were just about to eat it.

Then before taking it out we melted the jam and got our Interesting Things ready, which for us included warming the broiler up. After topping the ice cream with the jam and our Interesting Things, we actually popped it under the broiler and TOASTED the mini-marshmallows and coconut!!! OMG... SO GOOD!!! So rich and sinful...

Tasty Tuesday: Cast Iron Cookie

Yesterday, as I was blog surfing, I came upon a recipe that looked tasty and sent it off to Jacqueline, as I usually do - and she said she would make it for me *today* (which was actually yesterday, but let's not confuse things) and she did!

Now I know this involves turning on your oven, but up here the weather has been considerably cooler than usual and having the oven on wasn't so bad.

And the cast iron comes not from the cookies texture (although I have had cookies like that, ew), it comes from the method of cooking them. The original recipe is for Cast Iron *Skillet* Cookies, but when we were talking about making them we accidentally left the skillet part out and confused the children... LOL!

Cast Iron Cookie

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (We discovered that ants managed to get into our brand new unopened bag, but none of the opened bags of nuts or coconut or confectioners' sugar right along side it; so we used all white.)
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream (or milk, half and half...) (We used 2% milk.)
• lots of chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk, and dark chocolate) (We just used 1/2 bag of semi-sweet.)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt.
3. In separate bowl, mix butter and sugars until light and creamed together.
4. Add egg, vanilla, and cream and stir to incorporate.
5. Combine with flour mixture until well mixed.
6. Stir in chocolate chips.
7. Press lightly into cast iron skillet.
8. Bake about 35-40 minutes or until edges are golden. Don't overbake! Cookies will continue to cook in skillet. (We baked ours for 30 minutes and let it sit for about an hour before we dug in.)

Many thanks to Brin for the fabu recipe!

Tasty Tuesday: Those "Little Cheese Things"

Yes, this is an actual scan of a recipe page I made up several years ago... I still love me some cheesy cheesy quesadillas! ^o^

Tasty Tuesday: BBQ Noodles

This past weekend, Jacqueline & I visited my mom for lunch and she made one of my favorite foods: BBQ Noodles. The recipe is super easy & versatile and so tasty!

BBQ Noodles

• 1 small pkg. elbow macaroni, boiled in salted water
• 1-1/2 lbs ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 (12-oz) bottle chili sauce (If you live near a Wegman's get a bottle of theirs)
• 2 Tbsp. vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. sugar (we have found this can be omitted)
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Brown beef with onion.
2. Add remaining ingredients.
3. Stir well and simmer about 20 minutes.

Tasty Tuesday: Homespun Clementine Cake

Yesterday we celebrated the Summer Solstice. Yes, it was on Sunday, but Father's Day took precedence... And this is the cake that I *so* wish we could have had, but sadly, clementines were no where to be found... Perhaps we can figure out a way to substitute canned mandarin oranges or something else... It is a totally yummeh cake! Golden yellow and firm, almost caramelly, with sweet & juicy chunks of real Clementines, topped with the yummiest fluffy frosting...

Homespun Clementine Cake

• 3 seedless clementines, peels and pith removed, cubed
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 egg
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:

• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 2 and 1/2 cups whipped cream or whipped topping

1. Peel clementines and remove skins. Cut into small pieces. Add orange juice, egg, sugar, flour and baking soda; mix. Pour into a lightly greased 8- or 9-inch pan. Bake in preheated oven at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes. Cool completely.
2. Stir together confectioners sugar, vanilla and salt. Fold in whipped cream or topping. Frost cake. Makes 1 (8 or 9-inch) cake.

P.S. I may have shared this recipe before, but I couldn't seem to find it in my archives, so maybe I didn't...

Tasty Tuesday

One of my favorite things to eat is guacamole; avocados are so yummy! Yesterday, after attempting (and failing) to take some leftover slices out of a bag to top my salad with, I discovered the easiest way to make it...


Fresh Guacamole (© Photographer: Graça Victoria | Agency: Dreamstime.com)

First of all you have to make sure your avocado is ripe; it should give a little when you gently squeeze it. Here's a great video on how to cut it: http://www.expertvillage.com/video/60547_chopping-fruit-avacado.htm I've never tried the *bath of water* thing, but I do know that the lime or lemon will help keep it from turning brown (which BTW, has no affect on the taste, only the appearance).

After you scoop it out and maybe slice or dice it a little smaller, stick it in a zip-lock bag with some garlic powder and lime juice; the measurements on this are to your liking. I also like to add some fresh ground pepper. Then zip up the bag and just mush the avocado up with your hands! The ingredients get mixed, the avocado gets mushed, and when you're done, you can snip the tip off a corner of the bag and squirt it on sammiches, individual chips or crackers, into hollowed out cherry tomatoes... whatever!

Obviously if your avocado isn't ripe enough, this won't work so well, and your best bet is to dice it for salads or slice it for your sammich... Also if you want to add other ingredients, like diced tomatoes & onions (traditional guac ingredients), you can squish your avocado out of the bag, into a bowl and add it then. Oh, here's another cute video and recipe! ^-^

Check out Jennifer's Balancing Beauty & Bedlam for more Tasty Tuesday tales!

Tasty Tuesday!

I must share this recipe I just whipped up! Oh man was it tasty! I wish I had made 2 so there would be more for me & the family...

California Squares:

• 1 tube of refrigerated crescent rolls
• 1 package of cream cheese
• 1 envelope of powdered ranch dressing mix (I used about 1/2, because it was all we had left after using it as popcorn topping several times)
• To taste: dill, garlic powder, onion powder, minced onion, pepper...
• 1 avocado (I used about 3/4 of one)
• 1 tomato
• 8 strips of pre-cooked bacon (I only used 6)

1. Take your crescent rolls out of the package and press them together in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. (I have a small cookie sheet that size, but you could use the more common kind with higher sides.) Make sure you press it together enough or you'll have problems cutting it later...
2. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, soften your cream cheese in the microwave. (I did it in 3 10-second intervals stirring it in between.) Then mix in the ranch dressing powder and the other spices to taste, and slice your avocado & tomato.
4. When your crescent roll dough comes out of the oven, let it cool to room temperature, or even pop it in the fridge for an hour or so. (I was impatient and had a hard time with the next step.)
5. Spread the cream cheese mix on the pre-baked dough; top with the avocado, then the tomato, then the bacon. (I added more pepper on top of that.)
6. Then pop under the broiler for a few moments just to warm up the bacon.
7. Cut into 8 pieces and enjoy!

I could also see separating each of the rolls and making 8 individual triangles or even cutting them smaller for appetizers... Oh, maybe shredded cheddar on the top? That might be going too far...