Fried Zucchini

Nick was in charge of dinner tonight.  He always comes up with really neat ideas.  We weren't hungry since we had a big, late lunch.  We wanted beer and munchy type food.  His idea: fried zucchini in a beer batter.  I was  skeptical...until I tried my first bite.  It was SO good!!!  And we were stuffed.  Partly because of how much zucchini it made (see picture below of how big this zucchini from my parents garden was).

Ingredients:
4-5 Regular zucchini's (or one of my parents garden ones LOL)
2 Cups flour
1 Bottle beer (we used a miller lite)
2 Tbsps pepper
2 Tbsps garlic salt
2 Eggs

Directions:
*Mix the flour, beer, pepper, garlic salt, and eggs in a large bowl.

*Cut the zucchini's lengthwise into 4 long slices each (cut off the ends of course).

*Put 4-5 pieces of zucchini into the batter.

*Heat the oil on medium-high heat for about 6-8 minutes.  If you drop one single droplet of water into the oil it will sizzle/pop when ready.

*Put the 4-5 pieces of zucchini into the oil and cook until lightly browned.  It will take 4-5 minutes for this to happen.

*Remove the zucchini with tongs and place on a place that has a couple of pieces of paper towels lined on it.

*Do the rest of the zucchini the same way.

*Be careful of how hot they are.  They will stay super hot for quite a while after too!

*Serve with ranch, ketchup, or any other sauce you might like.  These were SO SO SO good!  Perfect appetizer if you have friends over!

And now...me being silly with one of them... And to show just how HUGE it was!

Veggie Pasta

I saw a recipe that was basic spaghetti with a can of black beans in it.  It got me to thinking (dangerous, I know), and here is what I came up with!  It was Delicious!  And my house smelled amazing!

Ingredients:
2 Green zucchini's
1/2 Green pepper
1/2 Small onion
3/4 Box Rotini pasta
1/2 Jar spaghetti sauce (or more if you like)
1 Pkg mild italian sausage
1 Can black beans

Directions:
*Cut the zucchini into small bite sized pieces.  Put them into a skillet with a bit of oil and cook until done (flip them as needed.  Takes about 7-10 minutes cooking on medium heat).

*Take the zucchini out of the pan and set aside.  (I just put mine in a small bowl).

*In the skillet, put your meat and onion (cut the onion into tiny pieces).  You can buy the italian sausage ground or in casings.  I only had the pack of 5, in casings, in my freezer.  If you use the casings one, cut a long line on them, the pull out the meat and then throw  the casings away.  It will chop up like ground meat easily.

*Cook the meat and onions until cooked through.

*Add the green peppers (which you have cut into small pieces) and spaghetti sauce and continue to cook for a few minutes.

*Add the black beans and zucchini to the mixture.  Cook through.

*Cook your pasta as directed on box.

*Drain pasta, then throw all the meat mixture into the pasta pot with the drained noodles.  Mix it all well.  Serve on plates with parmesean cheese and shredded cheese.  YUM!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

I had never heard of sopapilla's until I moved to the South.  If you don't know what they are, they are a mexican dessert.  They are tortilla's that are cut up, fried, then sprinkled with cinnamon, sugar, and honey.  Anyways, this cheesecake caught my attention because of how many great reviews it had.  They were all good (and that never happens on a recipe!).  So, we tried it today and liked it.  It has an extreme cream cheese flavor, so if you don't love cream cheese...you probably won't like this!  Store it in your fridge and it will keep for a few days!

Ingredients:
2 Cans crescent rolls (I used regular, non-buttery, less fat ones)
2 Pkg's cream cheese (I used 1 cream cheese and 1 neufatchel)
1 1/2 Cups white sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 Cup melted butter
1/2 Cup white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4-1/2 Cup sliced almonds

Directions:
*Pre-heat your oven to 350*F

*Mix your cream cheese's, 1 1/2 cups white sugar, and vanilla extract until well mixed.

*Open your first container of crescent rolls.  Flour your counter really well (these things are SO sticky!).  Now lay out your sheet of crescent rolls trying to keep them all attached.  Flour a rolling pin (or wine bottle!) and flour the top of the crescents.  Roll out until it fits flatly on the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish.  Make sure to spray your baking dish before putting your crescent roll sheet down in it.

*Once you have put down the crescent roll sheet, pour all of your cream cheese mixture down on top and spread it out.  Cover the whole thing in an even layer.

*Now flour everything again and roll out your second can of crescent rolls.  Do the same thing you did with the first container, and lay it on top of your cream cheese mixture.

*Melt your butter in a bowl.  Pour your 1/2 cup of white sugar and cinnamon into it.  Stir well.  Stir in your almonds.  Mix well again.  Now pour this whole mixture on top of the crescent sheet and spread it out to cover the whole thing.

*Put into the oven and bake for about 40-45 minutes.  When it is lightly browned and has risen some it it finished.  Let it cool completely so it is easier to cut and not so runny!

(NOTE:  If you have a can of cherry pie filling, add it to the cream cheese mixture.  I am going to do this next time.  I think it will give it an AMAZING taste!!!).
(I got the basics of this recipe from allrecipes.com...but of course, I changed it up.)

Fiesta Nacho's

Yesterday our fridge died.  Good thing we have a beer fridge and a full sized deep freeze in the garage so we could save some of our things.  Today I had a package of ground beef thawed and had no idea what to cook with it.  We finally decided on nacho's...the same kind we have been cooking since we have been in college.  I started cooking them and guess what...I didn't have one of the items needed.  So I created this.  It was super yummy, we will absolutely make it again!  Nick called them fiesta nacho's...

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
3/4 Bag of tostito chips
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 Can corn, drained
1 Can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 Can rotel, drained
1-2 Cups shredded cheese
(any toppings you would like: salsa, sour cream, jalapeno's, black olives...)

Directions:
*Cook ground beef in a large skillet on the stove.

*Pre-heat oven to 350*F.

*When meat is cooked, add taco seasoning to the meat.  Stir well.

*Add the corn, black beans, and rotel to the meat mixture.  Stir and cook until hot.

*On a baking sheet lined with tin foil (also sprayed with baking spray), layer your tostito chips.

*Pour all of the meat mixture onto the tops of the chips and spread it out to cover the chips.

*Pour the cheese onto the top of the meat mixture.

*Put in the oven until the cheese melts (3-5 minutes)

*Serve with any toppings you would like.

Stained Glass Cookies

I'm not going to lie...the hippie in me TOTALLY came out today!  These tie-dyed cookies are so much fun to make!  Cooper and I had so much fun making them, they truly were an art project in themselves.  The probably won't get an award for best tasting cookie, but they are worth making (especially if you have kids).  There are only 5 ingredients so you can't go wrong! 

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup softened butter
1/2 Cup powdered sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 Cup flour
food coloring

Directions:
*Combine butter, sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl with an electric mixer until all ingredients are mixed.

*Now add the flour and mix until soft balls of dough form.

*Separate the dough pieces into 4 different bowls.  Make sure there is the same amount in each bowl.

*Add about 20 drops of food coloring to each bowl, making sure each bowl is a different color.  I used a red, a yellow, a green, and a blue.

*Using a spoon or a spatula (making sure it is clean each time you change it from bowl to bowl), mix up the dough a bit so that the dye is somewhat mixed before handling it.

*Once you have somewhat blended the color into the dough, give one bowl at a time to your kiddo and have them mix the dough until no white dough remains.  Wash hands, then do another color until each bowl has been thoroughly mixed.

*Once you have your 4 different colored doughs, lay them on a piece of parchment paper on top of one another like this:

*Push down on the dough and mash it a few times to blend it up a bit. 

* Then roll it into your parchment paper.  When you roll it into the parchment paper it makes it so easy to roll it into the 8 inch log that you need.

*Put your dough into the fridge for 20 minutes.

*Pre-heat your oven to 350*F.

*Take the parchment paper off your dough and place the parchment paper onto a baking sheet.  No need to spray the parchment paper with oil (I love this stuff because of that reason!)

*Cut your dough into 1/4 inch thick circular slices and place them on the baking sheet.

*Once all the pieces are cut and on a baking sheet (or two), put them in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes.  I did mine for 10 minutes...but will probably do them for 11 next time.  They don't expand at all so don't expect very big cookies!  Nice as a small snack!  Enjoy!

Skillet Mexican Chicken

I would love to tell ya'll where I got this recipe...but I don't know WHO gave it to me.  I am pretty sure this one is from my friend Katie though...  I changed it up some too, hope you like it!

Ingredients:
3-4 Chicken breasts
1 (16 oz) can salsa (we used On the Border's Medium and it was perfect)
1 Can corn (drained)
1 Can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 TBSP oil
1 Cup shredded cheese

Directions:
*Put the oil into a large skillet.  Now put your chicken pieces into the oil and coat them all. 

*Cook the chicken until it is done, flipping halfway through (cook it covered).  You will want to cook them on a medium temperature.  They will brown and sizzle as they are finishing up.  Cut a piece down the center to make sure no pink is left.  It will take about 15 minutes or so.

*Once the chicken is cooked, pour the beans, corn, and salsa into the skillet with the chicken.  Cook for an additional 3-5 minutes until it is hot.

*Put your shredded cheese on the top now (I forgot to put mine on until after I had served it...oops!).  Let the cheese melt.

*I cooked some instant brown rice up and served the chicken on top of the rice.  It worked out perfectly!  You could also do white rice if you wanted.

Summer Strawberry Pie

I found this recipe this morning...about 4:30 am to be exact (I couldn't sleep so I decided to do some recipe surfing online).  As soon as I  saw this one I knew I had to make it!  I found it at www.mommyskitchen.net.  Anyways, I did change it slightly.  I did not add strawberry extract to my sauce like she did (basically because I didn't have any, and didn't want to spend the 3-4 dollars for a dash of something I may never use again).  It turned out amazing without it.  So...if you have strawberry extract, add a dash to your sauce when you are cooking it.  If you don't have any, don't worry (come on people, my recipes are the kinds that you can almost always add something or leave something out!).  This is awesome for summer because it is a cold pie.  So pretty too!!!

Ingredients:
1 Deep dish frozen pie crust
1 Cup white sugar
1/4 Cup corn starch
1 Box strawberry jello (8 1/2 cup servings...the bigger sized box)
1 1/2 Cups water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
(1/2 tsp strawberry extract if you want)
3 Cups strawberries, cut and cleaned

Directions:
*Turn your oven on to 350*F.  Remove your pie crust from the freezer.  Using parchment paper or foil, draw then cut a circle the size of the inside bottom of the pie crust.  You want the inside bottom to be covered so it doesn't burn while cooking.  I traced my pie with an orange crayon then cut it out.  I used parchment paper.

*Once you have cut it out, put it inside your pie crust and put pie weights (I don't have these so I used dried peas/beans instead).

*Put the pie with the weights/beans into your oven and bake for 15-20 minutes (until it lightly browns).

*Take the pie crust out of the oven, remove the beans/weights and parchment paper.  Let cool on a wire rack.

*While the pie is cooking (or cooling), mix the water, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and jello together.   Cook over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken (it thickens pretty quickly after it starts to boil).  Make sure to stir it often (if not constantly).

*Remove from heat once it thickens and let cool for about 45 minutes (you don't want to put it hot over your pie).

*While your sauce is cooling, arrange your strawberries in your pie.  I flipped most of them on the top so that the cut part of the berries didn't show (it made it look prettier).

*Once the filling has cooled, pour it over all of the berries in the pie making sure to coat them all.

*Put pie in your fridge for at least 2 hours to set.  You can keep the pie in the fridge for up to 3 days.  :)

French Toast

A few years ago I wanted to make a fancier french toast (better than your typical just eggs, milk, and bread).  This is what I came up with, and we love it!

Ingredients:
5 Large eggs
1/4 Cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar mixture (read bottom for directions)
8 Slices white or cinnamon raisin bread

Directions:
* Mix your eggs, milk, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.

*Spray your griddle (or pan if you don't have a griddle) with PAM.

*Place one piece of bread into the egg mixture and coat it well on both sides.

*Sprinkle cinnamon/sugar onto one side of your coated bread.  Now put this coated side DOWN on your griddle.  Sprinkle cinnamon/sugar onto the other side.

*Do this to all the pieces of bread.  Cook each side 3-4 minutes until done.

*Serve with butter and/or syrup.

(NOTE: The other day I gave you all a recipe for cinnamon/sugar chips (to go with the dessert salsa).  In that recipe I said to just mix your cinnamon sugar together until you found a taste you liked.  Today I needed to make more of mine because I ran out.  Anyways, I measured how much of each I use to give you all a better hint.  I use 1/4 cup of white sugar, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  Its super simple, and I use this stuff all the time!)

Dessert Chips and Salsa

This is by far the neatest "dessert" I have made.  It's healthy, but oh so clever!  It's a fruit salad with homemade cinnamon sugar chips.  I promise, its worth trying!

Chips:
1 pkg flour tortillas (smallest sized one's...)
1/2 Cup white sugar
2-3 Tbsp's cinnamon
Pot of vegetable oil, or frying oil...whichever you prefer

Directions:
*Put your oil into a pot on the stove and turn onto medium.  Let the oil heat up until bubbles begin to rise.

*While your oil is heating up, cut your torillas in half.  Now cut each half into 3 pieces (so you have 3 triangles per half slice).  You are cutting each tortilla into "pizza" slices pretty much...

*Now drop 4-6 tortilla pieces into your oil and cook for a couple of minutes until they begin to darken.  If they are still the white color they won't be crunchy...just be careful not to overdo them...

*Pull the tortilla chips out of the oil now and put them on a plate that has paper towels lined on it.  This will absorb the extra oil on the chips.

*You can sprinkle your sugar and then a dash of cinnamon on each chip individually, or you can pre-mix yours (I always have a pre-mixed cinnamon sugar container in my pantry because I actually use this combo all the time...which makes me remember that I have never put my french toast recipe on here...maybe I will do that this weekend!).  So if you have an empty spice container, pre-mix the two so that is is mostly sugar with a hint of cinnamon.  Cinnamon can be overpowering in flavor so test your mixture until its just right for you.

*Once you have sprinkled the cinnamon and sugar on your chips continue to cook the other chips a bit at a time.  Once you get into the hang of cooking in the oil it will go by fast, so don't get discouraged!

Dessert Salsa:

(This is just a basic fruit salad.  You can use or not-use any ingredients you want.  Here are what we used though).
Ingredients:
1 Cup green grapes
2 Golden delicious apples
1 Pkg strawberries
1 Small can pineapple pieces
2 Cups blackberries
1/3 Cup orange juice

Directions:
*Wash and peel any of the fruits that need to be peeled.

*Cut all of your fruit into smaller, biteable sized pieces.

*Put all of your fruit into a large bowl, and mix them all up.  We used orange juice and the pineapple juice that was inside of the can to coat the fruit so that the peeled apples didn't go bad.  It was delicious!  You can add so many other fruits too!

Other fruits (or one's I forgot to pick up and add to ours...)
Kiwi's
Oranges
Raspberries
Cantaloupe
Honeydew
Peaches
Plums

*Now, when you  serve the dish, use the chips to pick up your dessert salsa.  Its adorable.  My mom got giggly when she saw it.  She couldn't stop saying how good it was or how neat of an idea it was.

Sweet Potato Crisp

Do you hate sweet potatoes?  ME TOO!!!  Thats why you HAVE to try this one!  My entire family loves sweet potatoes, but I can't seem to get past the part of a potato being sweet...and having to eat it instead of a regular potato.  That's why this recipe is perfect!  This is like a sweet potato dessert, so it is TOTALLY allowed  to be sweet!  Its amazing!  Another recipe thanks to my friend Susan!

Ingredients:
1 Pkg Cream Cheese (8 oz pkg)
1 Can sweet potatoes (40 oz) or 2 Medium/large peeled, then cooked sweet potatoes
3/4 Cup firmly packed brown sugar, divided (or more if you want them sweeter)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Cup chopped/diced apples (peeled first).  I used 1 whole golden delicious apple
2/3 Cup chopped cranberries (I used craisins...found by the raisins at the store)
1/2 Cup flour
1/2 Cup old fashioned quick-cook oats, uncooked
1/3 Cup butter (cold or room temperature)
1/4 Cup chopped pecans (if you want...I didn't have any and it still turned out delicious!)

Directions:
*Pre-heat your oven to 350*F

*Beat cream cheese, sweet potatoes (if you are using canned ones, make sure you drain them first), 1/4 cup of the brown sugar, and ground cinnamon with an electric mixer until they are well mixed.

*Put this mixture into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish that has been sprayed down with cooking spray.

*Put your apples and cranberries on top of this mixture.

*Mix your flour, oats, and remaining brown sugar in a bowl until well mixed.  Now add the butter.  If you want a very crispy top, use room temperature butter (because it will coat the ingredients now while you are stirring).  If you want a lighter topping, use cut up pieces of cold butter.  The cold butter won't mix as easily now meaning all of the topping won't get super coated.  Its up to you how you want your topping.

*Stir the pecans into the oat mixture.  Now pour this mixture on top of the apple/cranberry mixture.

*Put your sweet potato crisp into the oven and bake uncovered for 35-40 minutes.  Remove and let cool at least 5-10 minutes because it will be super hot!

Onion Soup Mix Potatoes

We make these ALL the time!  Perfect as a summer side!  These are so incredibly easy and they are really, REALLY good!  I got the recipe on the back of a lipton soup mix box, but you can use any onion soup mix (it doesn't have to be liptons).

Ingredients:
2 lbs potatoes (I always use red ones with skins on.  Just enough to cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan)
1/3 Cup oil
1 Pkg onion soup mix

Directions:
*Pre-heat your oven to 425*F.

*Cut your potatoes up into bite sized pieces.

*Spray down a 9x13 glass dish with baking spray.

*Put your oil, potatoes, and onion soup mix into the baking dish and mix it all up.

*Bake for 35-40 minutes in the oven, stirring once halfway through.