Waffles

These are the waffles we had on Sunday that everyone has been asking about. I feel a little silly posting them, they are from the Betty Crocker Big Red Cookbook--which pretty much everyone in the whole world has. But here it is anyway.

2 large eggs

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil (I typically use canola oil)

1 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Beat eggs in large bowl with whisk until fluffy. Beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth. Bake in waffle iron.

Cream Puffs

Cream Puffs (Jackie Behning)

Heat to rolling boiling point in saucepan…
1 cup water
½ cup butter
Stir in all at once…
1 cup sifted flour
Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture
Leaves the pan and forms into a ball (almost 1 min.).
Remove from heat.
Beat in, one at a time…
4 eggs
Beat mixture until smooth and velvety. Drop from spoon onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake until dry, puffed, and golden brown. Allow to cool slowly, away from drafts.

Cut off tops with sharp knife. Scoop out any soft dough. Fill with sweetened whipped cream, or custard. Replace tops, dust with confectioners sugar
Temperature: 400 degrees (mod. Hot oven)
Time: Bake 45 to 50 min.
Amount: 8 large puffs

Variations:

Chocolate Eclairs: Follow recipe except put dough in pastry tube or shape with spatula into 12 fingers 4” long and 1” wide. Fill with Rich Custard Filling and frost with Thin Chocolate Icing. Amount: 12 eclairs.

Fruit Filled Cream Puffs:
Fold stiffly whipped cream into sweetened cut-up fresh fruit )strawberries, raspberries, sweet cherries, peaches, etc). Use ¾ cup fruit, ¼ cup sugar, and ¾ cup whipping cream. Fill Cream Puffs with mixture.

Petits Puffs
Follow recipe except make 18 tiny puffs the size of a walnut. Bake 30 min. Fill with filling. Frost with chocolate icing.


Custard-Filled Puffs – Rich Custard Fillling
Mix together in saucepan….
½ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
6 Tbsp. flour
Stir in…
2 cups top milk (or milk and cream)
Cook over low heat, stirring until it boils. Boil 1 min. Remove from heat. Stir a little of this mixture into…
4 egg yolks

Blend into hot mixture in saucepan. Bring to boiling point. Cool and blend in…
2 tsp vanilla or other flavoring

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

These are awesome!  Everybody in the family love them.

They are from this website which has lots of good recipes.  I just copied and pasted here so it has the photos too--hope it's legal :)

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, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken (for extra yumminess, use grilled taco chicken!)
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

flour 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 are coming 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.

The ones pictured below are actually flour tortillas- which I found out I like just as well (maybe even better!) than corn ones.


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

I forgot to write down how many this recipe makes, but I remember being happy that it made exactly the amount of tortillas I had and I think that was 16. I'll make sure to double check next time I make them!

Chopped Salad

My favorite summer salad!

4 oz. ditalini pasta, cooked
1 pkg. romaine lettuce, chopped
2 cups diced cooked chicken (I like grilled or baked seasoned chicken breasts)
1 tomato diced
1 avocado, diced
1/2 cup sliced green onions
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/4 cup blue cheese

Toss together and coat with dressing of your choice.  I like a ranch

Favorite Ranch Dressing for Chopped Salad

1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 t. white wine vinegar
2 green onion, minced
1/2 tsp. dill (or to taste)
salt and pepper

Whisk all together.  Can use low fat versions of mayo and sour cream an is awesome.

Penne with Five Cheeses

Kosher salt
2 cups Heavy cream
1 cup crushed tomatoes or your favorite marinara sauce
1/2 cup romano cheese
3/4 cup grated fontina cheese
1/4 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
2 T. ricotta cheese
1/4 lb. fresh mozarella cheese, cubed
6 fresh basil leaves (optional if you use the marinara sauce which is already seasoned)
1 box penne pasta
2-3 T. butter sliced thinly
parmesan cheese to garnish

Preheat oven to 450.  Bring salted water to a boil and par boil pasta for 5 minutes.  Drain well.  Combine all ingredients except pasta, butter and parmesan cheese in a very large bowl--large enough to hold the pasta too.  AFter pasta is well drained add to cheese mixture and combine well.  Place in a large pyrex baking dish (I spray lightly with oil).  Dot with butter on top to taste and sprinkle with parmesan.  Bake until bubble and brown on top--20-30 minutes.

This make a huge dish and is rich and filling so it's great for company or when you need to make a dinner to take somewhere.  One pan would easily serve 8.  The cheeses are pricy, but there is not any meat to that helps with cost.  If you make two batches then you use all the cheese you bought.  Also, to help with cost I have done it with the combination romano, parmesan, asiago instead of the plain romano and fontina combination and it was awesome.  You could totally play with the cheeses.  When I did the blend I just used the whole container, about a half a container of gorgonzola-which you could use the other half on a green salad to go with this and be done.  You can also use regular mozarella too.  

Cafe Rio Salads

Café Rio Salad (serves 5-6)
6 Cups Water 4 t. minced garlic
1/2 clilantro 1 can green chilies chopped
1/2 onion 3 cups rice

*Instructions: Mix in a blender cilantro, green chilies and onion. Bring water to a boil and add all ingredients, simmer covered 30 min.

Cafe Rio Dressing
1 Package Ranch dressing 1 Cup Mayonnaise
1 Cup Chopped Fresh Cilantro 2 Cloves or 2t. of minced garlic
4 T. Green Taco Sauce 1/2 Cup buttermilk

*Instructions: Mix in blender add buttermilk until desired consistency.

Cafe Rio Chicken (Pork)
3 pounds of chicken 16 oz. salsa
1 can coke 1 1/2 cup Brown Sugar

*Instructions: Place chicken in crock pot and fill it 1/2 way up the chicken with water. Cook on low for 6 hours. Drain off water. Min together sauce ingredients and put on top of chicken. Cook and additional 1 hour on high. Shred with forks. Put back in juice until ready to serve.

Roasted Asparagus with Garlic and Lemon

1 bunch of asparagus (look for firm, green, & pencil width)
1 lemon
1 large garlic clove, minced
2-3 T. extra virgin olive oil (possibly more)
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400-425 (depending on the thickness of the asparagus). Trim off the woody ends of the asparagus, rinse, dry and lay out in a single layer on the bottom of a baking dish. Drizzle with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Zest the lemon and add the garlic. Toss the asparagus until well coated. Add more oil if needed. Then roast in the oven for 10-15 mins. or until the asparagus is tender and the edges are slightly browned. Serve hot or room temperature. (I have made this several times and it is always a hit and it's super easy. It is one of my favorites.)