sweet potato fries

I am not a big sweet potato or yam fan...i just really don't like it when veggies taste sweet; unfortunately they are ridiculously good for you! so i was searching for a good recipe i would like when i stumbled onto this one in running magazine. These "fries" were delicious, good for you, and very easy to prepare.

1-2 tbps veggie or canola oil (depending on how many potatoes you use)
1 large diced sweet potato (this was plenty for one person, the original recipe suggests four)
seasoning (i used garlic salt, rosemary, and allspice...you can essentially use whatever you like, but the recipe called for rosemary and paprika)


heat oven to 375 F
coat diced potatoes in oil and seasoning
spread out on cooking sheet and cook for 20-30 minutes depending on size of fries

I flipped the fries periodically and they did stick to the pan a bit, so if you want to line the pan with foil, parchment paper or spray that would help.

Cafe Rio Chicken Burritos

Cafe Rio Chicken Burritos
-I've got to admit that I took this from another blog, but it is SO yummy!! It makes a ton, so you can freeze 1/2 off the chicken for later!!


Cafe Rio Dressing

1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (make as per recipe)
2 tomatillos
½ bunch of cilantro
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeño (I take out the seeds)

Use a food processor to blend all the ingredients well. Refrigerate.

Cafe Rio Chicken

1 small bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
3 cloves garlic—minced
5 lbs chicken breast

Cook all together in a crock pot for 4 hours, shred meat and cook 1 additional hour.


Café Rio Rice

3 c water
4 t chicken bouillon
4 t garlic –minced
½ bunch cilantro
1 can green chiles—or equivalent fresh
¾ t salt
1 T butter
½ onion
3 c instant rice

Blend cilantro, green chiles and onion together in food processor. Bring water to a boil and add all ingredients, simmer covered 30 minutes.

Turtle Bars

Such a delicioso indulgent...

1 German Chocolate Cake mix
3/4 cup butter softened
2/3 cup evaporated milk
Mix together and spread half of the batter in a greased 9x12 pan. Bake at 350 for 12-15 min.

Melt in microwave for 20 second intervals, stirring often until creamy;
1 bag caramels
1/3 cup evaporated milk

Pour caramel mixture over the baked layer and sprinkle on top;
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup of chopped pecans
Drop the rest of the batter on top and return to the oven for 20 minutes. Cool and have a HUGE icy cold glass of milk to wash it down.

Wraps anyone?

Hey ladies,

Do you any of you have a recipe for making wraps? I'm talking about the actual wrap itself here, not what goes inside. The quality ones at the store are always so expensive!

I've been searching and finally found a recipe, but it calls for some of the weirdest ingredients that I would be buying just to make the wraps. It seems like there must be a way to make them without all the weird ingredients.

Here're some of the ingredients:
sorghum flour
millet flour
potato starch (NOT flour)
tapioca starch
fennel

I found this on a gluten-free website so I'm thinking the weird ingredients just come from needing a substitute for flour. Maybe I should just try switching out all the starches and flours for regular flour?

Another idea I'm playing around with is making regular tortillas and playing with the dough to add flavors...

Ideas, recipes, thoughts anyone?

Awesome bread machine cinnamon rolls

Cinnamon Rolls

¼ c. warm water

¼ c. butter, melted

½ (3.4 oz) pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix

1 c. warm milk

1 egg (room temperature)

1 Tbsp. white sugar

½ tsp. salt

4 c. bread flour

1 (.25 oz) pkg. active dry yeast

¼ c. butter, softened

1 c. brown sugar

4 tsp. ground cinnamon

¾ c. chopped pecans

Frosting:

1 (4oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened

¼ c. butter, softened

1 c. confectioners sugar

½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 ½ tsp. milk

In the pan of your bread machine, combine water, melted butter, vanilla pudding, warm milk, egg, 1 Tbsp. sugar, salt, bread flour, and yeast. Set machine to Dough cycle; press Start. When Dough cycle has finished, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 17x10 inch rectangle. Spread with softened butter.

In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over dough. Roll up dough, beginning with the long side. Slice into 16 one inch slices and place in 9x13 inch buttered pan. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 min. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 min. While rolls bake, make frosting. Remove rolls from oven and top with frosting.

Buttermilk Syrup

This is soooooo good. It is similar to the syrup they serve at Kneader's (if you've never been, you must go for breakfast! Tomorrow! Order their french toast. You'll die of awesome flavor.)

1 1/2 c sugar (I made it with white sugar, but I think I'll try it with brown sugar next time)
3/4 c buttermilk
1/2 c butter
2 T corn syrup
1 t baking soda
1 t vanilla

Combine all ingredients except vanilla and boil for 5 minutes. Add vanilla. Use larger sauce pan because the soda makes it frothy while cooking. You do not need to stir constantly. This is great over ice cream.

Chicken and Dumplings

Yum! This is a perfect cool-weather meal.

2-4 chicken breasts
2-4 T oil
1 small onion
4-6 T flour
2 cans chicken broth
1 c chopped celery
1 c chopped carrots
1 c corn (optional)
1 c green beans (optional)
1/2 t thyme
1 bay leaf
Salt & Pepper to taste

Dumplings

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons half-and-half

Heat oil and add chicken. Brown chicken on each side. Set aside (chicken will finish cooking later). Add diced onion, cook until transparent. Sprinkle flour over onion. Slowly stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil until slightly thickened. Add veggies. Cut chicken into halves or quarters, add to broth. Add more broth if it is too thick. Flavor with salt, pepper, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil.

Make dumplings while chicken is cooking: Into a bowl sift together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt and stir in dill. With a fork stir in half-and-half until dough is just blended.
With a large soup spoon scoop out 12 dumplings and arrange over chicken mixture. Simmer chicken and dumplings, covered, 9 minutes. Uncover and cook until dumplings are done, about 3 minutes more. (Dumplings are done when a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.) Discard bay leaf.

Pumpkin Apple Stuesel Muffins

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter or magarine

For Muffins: Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease or paper-line 24 muffin cups. Combine flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine pumpkin, eggs and vegetable oil in medium bowl; mix well. Stir into flour mixture just until moistened. Stir in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full.

For Struesel Topping: Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon in medium bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over muffin batter. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool slightly. Makes 24 muffins.

Orange Rolls

I posted this recipe on my blog last year, and then I made Orange Rolls again this year. A bunch of you requested that I post this recipe on here, so here it is! Better late than never, right? The rolls are a little time consuming (letting the dough rise), but a lot easier to make than I thought. I'm not sure how easy this recipe is to read if you've never made them, so I'm putting a few pictures of the process.

Orange Rolls

1 Tbsp Yeast
1 Cup Warm Milk
1/4 Cup Warm Water
3/4 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Sugar
2 Eggs Beaten
1/2 Cup Melted Butter
4 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar

Combine 1 Tbsp yeast, 1 Tbsp sugar, and 1/4 cup warm water in a small bowl. Mix; set aside for 10 minutes. In large mixing bowl, combine warm milk, melted butter, sugar, salt, and beaten eggs. Add yeast mixture; stir. Add flour, 1 cup at a time (if dough is too sticky, add a little more flour). Knead for 5 minutes. Let raise for 2 1/2 hours. Divide in half. Roll like cinnamon rolls using filling recipe. Place each roll in greased cupcake tin. Let rise until double in bulk. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Makes 24 rolls.

For Filling:

1/2 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Melted Butter
1 Orange Peel, grated fine

Note: I do not put any kind of topping or glaze on them after they are finished. They are sweet enough (in my opinion) with out one :)

The dough rolled out with the filling sauce spread on it.

The rolls all rolled up (roll them just like you would roll cinnamon rolls), and half way done cutting (tip: use a string to cut them, it's the easiest way!). Each roll (there will be 2 total) will yeild a total of 12 rolls, making 24 total.

These are the cut up rolls put in the pans to rise. Notice half of my rolls aren't in muffin tins... apparently I only own enough muffin tins to hold 12 rolls. More muffin tins are on my shopping list :) However, the rolls in the circle pan turn out just as good as the ones in the muffin tins.

The finished product... delicious. Pictures don't do them justice.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Does anything else sound more delicious this time of year? I think not. I was given this recipe from my friend Brandon's mom when I got married, and this was my first time trying it out. I should've tried it sooner because these were honestly the best pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I've ever tried before. And (bonus!) they were easy too.

1 can pumpkin (15 oz can)
2 tsp. soda
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
4 C flour
2 C sugar
2 eggs beaten
2 Tbsp. milk
1 C oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 C nuts (optional)
1 6 oz. pkg. chocolate chips

Mix the dry ingredients first (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon). Add all the wet ingredients (pumpkin, milk, vanilla, eggs, and oil) and mix well. Add chocolate chips (and nuts, if you are using nuts). Drop by teaspoonfuls on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes. These are very moist cookies.