Saute`d Mushrooms

A simple but yummy recipe for mushrooms!  Even my picky eaters like these.  Perfect for steak or just as a side dish.

INGREDIENTS:

2 Tbsp. butter

1/2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1/2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

1/8 tsp. dried oregano

1 Lb. Button mushrooms, sliced

DIRECTIONS:

Melt butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Stir in balsamic vinegar, garlic, oregano, and mushrooms.  Saute for 20-30 minutes, or until tender.

Brown Sugar Pound Cake

This Makes TWO 8×4-inch loaves
(The caramel frosting itself, is divine!  My hubby was trying really hard to eat it by the spoonful)

You can make this cake in one 9 or 10-inch bundt pan, but I love the idea of having two cakes out of one recipe.  I served one cake the day I made it and wrapped and froze the other one.  The cake should be frozen unglazed, so if you do this, be sure to cut the glaze recipe in half.

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup whole milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325ºF.  Butter and flour two 8×4-inch loaf pans, knocking out excess flour.  Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.  Set aside.

Beat the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes, until whipped looking.  Slowly add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes, increasing the speed to medium-high.  The mixture should look very light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beat well after each one.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat again.

Combine the milk with the vanilla.  Add the flour in 3 portions alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour.  Fold the last flour addition in by hand with a rubber spatula.  Turn the batter into the prepared pans.  Bake for 1 to 1½ hours, checking after 55 minutes and every 5 to 10 minutes thereafter, until a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out with just moist crumbs attached.  If the cake is very brown after 55 minutes but not yet fully baked, cover the top with a sheet of aluminum foil.  When done, the cake will be springy to the touch and pulling away from the sides of the pan.  Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.

Brown Sugar Glaze

Remember, this amount will glaze both cakes.  If you are only glazing one, cut the recipe in half.

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

½ cup firmly packed ligbrown sugar

¼ cup whole milk

¼ tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 to 1½ cups confectioners’ sugar

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat, then add the brown sugar and raise the heat to medium.  Boil, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.  Add the milk and return to a boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in the salt and vanilla.  Let cool for 10 minutes.

Sift 1 cup of the confectioners’ sugar over the mixture, stirring with a whisk until smooth.  If the glaze is thick enough for your liking, you can stop there.  If not, sift the additional ½ cup sugar in.  Place the cake (still on the wire rack) over a wax paper lined baking sheet.  Pour the glaze over the cooled cake and allow it to drip down the sides.  Allow the glaze to set completely before slicing and serving.  Wrapped carefully, this cake will keep for several days at room temperature.  If you happen to have some homemade caramel sauce on hand, it is amazing poured over top.

Coconut crusted chicken w/ orange dipping sauce

I am such a saucy girl! I love a sauce with a side of entree! :) This was SO easy and so tasty!

Ingredients for 6 chicken breasts:

1 egg
1.5 C sweetened coconut flakes
3/4 C flour
3/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp salt
a little less than 1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 C melted butter
3/4-1 C orange marmalade
3-4 Tbs Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Beat egg in medium bowl; set aside. Mix the coconut, flour, garlic powder, salt and peeper in a shallow bowl. Working with one chicken breast at a time, dip the chicken in the bowl with the beaten egg and then coat with the coconut mixture.

Place on the baking sheet. Once all the chicken breasts are coated and on the baking sheet, evenly drizzle with the melted butter. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked through.

Prepare the orange sauce by combining the marmalade and the mustard together. Serve with rice or quinoa.

GRANDMA'S EASY CHICKEN POT PIE

Ingredients:
1 2/3 C. frozen mixed vegetables
1 C. cut up chicken (or canned)
1 can cream of chicken soup
milk or broth
garlic powder, poultry seasoning, rosemary to taste

1 C. baking mix (like Bisquick)
1/2 C. milk
1 egg

Directions:
Heat oven to 400*. Mix veggies, chicken, soup and seasonings of choice in an ungreased pie pan or baking dish. Add a bit of milk or broth to thin it to the consistency of a thick chowder. Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over the top. Bake 30 minutes until golden brown. Serves 5-6.
This is a super easy dish and takes about 40 minutes to make and bake. You can substitue whatever veggies you might want to use from the fridge, but chop and saute' for 5-10 minutes. This is a good "whatever you have on hand" recipe.
Linda Hicks

Easy Fried Ice Cream

Ingredients

• Container Vanilla Ice cream (I am using 48 oz size)
• 3 Cups Honey bunches of Oats Cereal or a mix of this and corn flakes
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 Tablespoons cinnamon

Instructions

1. Scoop frozen ice cream (abt tennis ball size) out onto waxed paper lined baking sheets and place in freezer for at least an hour, or until hardened.
2. During that time, place cereal in gallon zipper bag and crush. Melt butter in microwave and stir in sugar and cinnamon, pour into bag with cereal and seal. Knead with hands until well mixed. Pour out onto lined baking sheet and place in oven at 350 just until toasted, about five minutes. Keep close watch as cereal will burn easily.
3. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Roll hardened ice cream balls in mixture, pressing lightly as you do so. Place coated ice cream in 9x13 dish and return to freezer or serve immediately.
4. For serving, drizzle with chocolate syrup and caramel sauce and top with whipped cream and a cherry.
5. Yields about ten scoops of ice cream.

Hawaiian Haystacks

Sauce:

1 sml onion

4 cubes of butter

2 C flour

3 Quarts of 2% milk

1/4 C fresh lemon juice

1/3 C Yoshida Gourmet Sauce (found @ costco or sams club)

around 8 chicken breasts cooked (I usually boil them in water) and cut into cubes

Brown onion in a little bit of the butter, then add the rest and melt. Slowly add flour to make a RUE. Let RUE bubble for a minute then slowly add milk, lemon juice & Yoshida's sauce, constantly stirring. Stir for a while until it warms and thickens, then add chicken. Stir, salt to taste and add small amounts of more milk at a time, depending on how thick you want the sauce. This recipe makes a huge amount so I usually half the recipe. It's easier to control that way :)

Rice - I love sticky rice!

Toppings:

mandarin oranges

pineapple chunks

green peppers

chopped celery

shredded cheese

olives

Chinese noodles

shredded coconut (broiled for a min)

almond slivers (broiled for a min)

Swai Fillets with Strawberry salsa

Credit for this recipe goes to the cute Walmart sample lady. She sold me on these yummy frozen Swai fish fillets topped with this salsa (which I'm sure would be good with chips or other fish or even other meat). It was yummy and fresh and healthy!! Perfect for the up-coming swimsuit season (for me anyhow)!

Strawberry Salsa:

Dressing-
1/3 C zesty Italian dressing
1/4 C cilantro
2 1/2 T jalapeno
*blend well in a blender or food processor

Salsa-
2 lb. diced strawberries
1 med orange, diced
1/4 C chopped purple onion
1/4 C cilantro, chopped
*stir dressing in, let sit for 2-12 hrs. in fridge. This makes alot!

Swai fillets-
Thaw, pat dry, and pan sear with a little salt, pepper, & olive oil. Or you can coat with salt, pepper, egg wash and panko bread crumbs and pan sear in olive oil. Top with salsa.  I tested it w/o the bread crumbs but the sample lady says she does it w/ the crumbs at home, so that's how I will try it when I make it.

CHOCOLATE CHIP "SPECIALS" - COOKIES

These cookies are moist and chewy and can barely last fresh out of the oven! This recipe makes about 6 doz. 2-3" cookies.

Cream together:
1 C. sugar
1 C. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 C. (2 cubes) butter, room temp.
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together and add in:
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 C. oatmeal
1 C. shredded coconut
2 C. flour
2 C. milk chocolate chips (or semi-sweet)
1 lg. Symphony bar with toffee bits (or 1 C. toffee bits)

Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes until lightly brown around edges. Cool on the baking sheet for about 8 minutes, then cool completely on racks.

A little Hawaiian cake

I just had this yesterday and it is sooooooo dang good!  It is similar to BTS cake but a tropical version.

Cake:
6 egg whites
6 egg yokes
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
With electric beaters, beat egg whites until fluffy, then while beating add one egg yoke in at a time. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together in small bowl. slowly beat flour ingredients into egg mixture. Pour into buttered and floured 9x13 in pan. Bake 350 for 18-20 min.

Milk Mixture:
12 oz can evaporated milk
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
fill  emptied sweetened cond. milk can 3/4 full with canned coconut milk (about 1/2 can of coconut milk)
1/4 tsp almond extract
3/4 tsp coconut extract
3/4 cup sugar
When cake comes out of oven let cool and start your milk mixture. With electric beaters mix milks together then add sugar and extracts. With a fork poke holes over entire cake then pour milk mixture over cake. Let the cake soak up milk, and transfer to fridge when cooled enough. It takes about 2 hours for the milk to soak in. It can be quite wet, which I liked, but you can cut back on the milks by 1/4 if you want. To me, the gooier the better.  Before serving add a small well drained can crushed pineapple on top of cake then add cool whip on top of that with shredded, sweetened coconut and chopped macadamia nuts on top of the cool whip. Best if served cold and on beach in Hawaii with someone special, or on a Tuesday night!  Mmmmmm! Sorry no pic.