Onion Soup Mix

I needed some onion soup mix for a recipe tonight. I didn't have any on hand so I found a recipe where you can make your own mix!

1/2 cup beef bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup dry onion, minced
1/4 cup onion powder
1/4 cup parsley flakes
1/8 cup onion salt

Makes 2 cups of onion soup mix. 1/4 cup of the mix is equivalent to one package of onion soup mix.

Quiche Lorraine

This was served at the senior sisters' luncheon last week - it was wonderful!

1 pie shell
8 oz. (about 8 slices) bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces - or use the precooked bacon from Costco
2 large eggs, plus 2 large yolks
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
pinch of grated nutmeg
4 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 cup)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Partially bake pie shell.

2. Meanwhile, fry bacon until crisp and brown (or use precooked bacon). Transfer to paper towel lined plate. Whisk all remaining ingredients except cheese in medium bowl.

3. As soon as the pie shell comes out of the oven, spread cheese and bacon evenly over bottom of pie shell and set shell on oven rack. Pour in custard mixture to 1/2 inch below crust rim. Bake until lightly golden brown, a knife blade inserted about one inch from the edge comes out clean and center feels set but soft like gelatin. 32-35 minutes

4. Transfer quiche to rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Taco Bowls - Make Your Own

April sent me this link at the blog, My Kitchen Cafe, for making homemade taco bowls and there is this recipe that I had found in my Kraft magazine (instead of using a jar, they use a ball of tin foil to let the tortilla drape over).

6 burrito-size flour tortillas
Olive oil or Canola oil
6 oven-safe cups or canning jars

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, place the cups or jars upside down, evenly spacing them to make room for the tortillas that will be draped over them.

Microwave the tortillas for about 30 seconds, until they are soft and pliable. Rub a teaspoon or so of oil on the front and back of the tortilla. I used my fingers so that I could make sure to coat the entire surface of the tortilla. It doesn’t need to be a heavy coating of oil, just enough to help the tortilla crisp up and not stick to the jar or cup. Drape each tortilla over a cup or jar.

Tiff's tips - I used qt. jars and took one rack out of my oven because the jars were so tall and it worked great. You could use smaller sized tortillas for smaller bowls. My kids thought these bowls were cool.

Free Digital Recipe Cards

Since I am all about digital AND freebies, I thought I would do a post on the many awesome digital recipe cards you can download for free!

Just download, unzip the files and edit in any photo editing software and you can have some super cute recipes to post on blogs or print out for your files. Here is one I posted back in December:

Here are a few links that I found right now. I personally have downloaded A LOT of different digital recipe cards in the past few years from different sites for free (including the one above), but I can't find the links or the links are no longer valid. I need to find out how to share them with you.

Shabby Princess recipe cards holiday collection
Recipe Card Template (this one is fun because you can make your own creation with digi papers and elements)
Template (this one has spots for photos which would be fun)
Let's Eat cards
Crisdam Designs (scroll to the bottom of the post)

OR....if you aren't into digital scrapping or photo editing, try some of these printables:

Skip to My Lou
Lots of Options
Belly Bytes
Graphic Garden
Tons of Options

Cinnamon Honey Butter

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It is very good! The recipe author says, "This is a creamy honey-cinnamon treat, and is absolutely wonderful on toast, bagels, muffins, pancakes, waffles."

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a medium bowl, combine butter, confectioners' sugar honey and cinnamon. Beat until light and fluffy.

Vanilla Icecream with Vitamixer

I saw the Vitamixer person at Costco doing demonstrations, so I have been trying new recipes. We made this last night. I like using creamer because there are so many yummy flavors! These directions are from the vitamix website. 1 cup (240 ml) half and half or whole milk (I used french vanilla creamer)

1/2 cup (100 g) sugar (can cut down sugar because creamer is sweetened, if you want)

1/4 cup (20 g) nonfat dry milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups (960 ml) ice cubes

1. Place all ingredients into the Vitamix container in the order listed and secure lid. 2. Select Variable 1. 3. Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to Variable 10, then to High. 4. Use the tamper to press ingredients into the blades. 5. In about 30-60 seconds, the sound of the motor will change and four mounds should form. 6. Stop machine. Do not overmix or melting will occur. Serve immediately.

Note: If mixture has the consistency of a milkshake, firm it up quickly by adding another cup of frozen ice cubes. Process until smooth. Yield: 5 cups

Kelloggs Chocolate Scotcheroos

I got this recipe off of allrecipes.com
Good one!

Ingredients
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups Kellogg's® Rice Krispies® cereal or Kellogg's® Cocoa Krispies™ cereal
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions
1.Place corn syrup and sugar into 3-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter. Mix well. Add Kellogg's® Rice Krispies® cereal. Stir until well coated. Press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Set aside.
2.Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over cereal mixture. Let stand until firm. Cut into 2 x 1-inch bars when cool.

Chinese Chicken Salad

Recipe from MakeItAndLoveIt.blogspot.com
I really like this one!

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast (grilled and chopped)
1/2 head of lettuce
2 stalks of celery
1 stalk of green onion
2 8 oz. cans of mandarin oranges
1 8 oz. can of water chestnuts
4 oz. of slivered or sliced almonds
1/2 cup of sugar

Dressing:
1 cup of canola oil
2/3 cup rice vinegar
2 T soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar

Directions:
Heat almonds and sugar at medium heat in a small pan. Stir continuously until the sugar has heated through and coated the almonds with a nice caramelized coating. (Don't worry if the sugar gets all clumpy and seems to not be working. Just keep stirring.....it will melt.) Then spread over foil and let cool completely. Chop up all of the remaining salad ingredients and mix together in bowl. In a cruet, mix in all the ingredients for the dressing. Shake until completely blended. The dressing isn't soluble so you'll have to shake again right before pouring over your salad.

One last note: The dressing made is a bit too much for the amount of salad. So I always pour the dressing over individual portions of salad. But if you'd like to pre-mix your salad if you're headed to a pot luck, make sure to watch how much you're using in the salad. Sample it before serving.

Enjoy!

Fried Rice

Recipe by Our Best Bites, adapted from Disneyworld's Ohana Restaurant

2 c. white rice + 4 c. water (OR 4 c. cold, leftover rice, which is actually better)
3 Tbsp. butter
1/4 c. minced red onion
2 Tbsp. chopped green onions
1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1/4 c. chopped carrots
1/2 c. chopped mushrooms
8 oz. (1/2 bag) of coleslaw mix
3-4 generous Tbsp. soy sauce

SEASONING:
1 Tbsp. dried onion
1 Tbsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 ½ tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. celery salt
1 ½ tsp. sugar


Boil water and add rice. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. This step can be done even up to 2-3 days in advance (and for some reason, fried rice tastes better when the rice is cold). Heat butter over medium heat and saute onions, carrots, and cabbage until carrots are tender. Add cooked rice, soy sauce, and seasoning to taste (you won't even come close to using all of it; save the rest for future fried rice or use as you would seasoning salt.)

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Recipe by OurBestBites.com

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepperjack cheese
small corn tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or come unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

Dip 'em in salsa, sour cream, guacamole, or this dressing.

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

This is from OurBestBites.com, our family likes it!

3 lb. boneless pork shoulder
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Smoked paprika or liquid smoke
1-1 1/2 bottles BBQ Sauce (I obviously prefer Country Bob's All-Purpose Sauce)
About 12 high-quality rolls
Memphis-Style Coleslaw
Thick-cut dill pickle slices


Rinse pork roast well in cold water and trim of excess fat. This is important because sometimes, boneless pork shoulder (and bone-in pork shoulder, for that matter) can take on kind of an icky fishy odor and a lot of that smell is in the juices and the fat. Pat dry. Sprinkle roast with seasonings and place in your slow cooker. Add about 1/2 inch of water and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
When the roast has cooked, drain liquid and then return to the slow cooker and shred. Pour enough sauce over the meat so it's well-incorporated but not soupy. Return the lid to the crockpot and heat through.
When ready to serve, slice rolls and add meat. Top with coleslaw and a few slices of dill pickle.

Nearly die of sheer happiness.


FREEZER INSTRUCTIONS: Prepare meat through the seasoning step. Instead of placing in the crockpot, place seasoned meat in a freezer-safe container. When ready, follow the same cooking instructions. Just make sure that you have BBQ sauce, pickles, and rolls on hand. Because coleslaw isn't freezer-friendly, if you're not up to making homemade coleslaw, just pick up a container from KFC or your favorite BBQ restaurant.