Dip for Steamed Artichoke

From: I was online searching for something different to serve with steamed artichoke one day and decided to take a few ideas from this site to make my own dip.  Here you go!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of mayonnaise
1 tsp of thyme
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 heaping Tbsp of blue cheese

How to:  

Mix all ingredients well and serve.

Side notes: You can also melt half a stick of butter and dip in both.  Yummmm!

Iced Coffee

From: This is the Pioneer Woman's perfect iced coffee.  It is fantastically delicious.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground coffee (make sure it's a good rich roast)
8 quarts cold water
Half-and-half (a healthy splash per serving)
sweetened condensed milk (2-3 Tbsp per serving)

How to:  Just click here.

Lettuce Wraps

From: I fell in love with Chili's lettuce wraps years ago and was heartbroken when they stopped serving them.  Then when I found this recipe online recently, I jumped for joy and knew I had to try it immediately!  It's definitely one of our favorites.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts and 1 Tbsp oil
2 carrots
1/4 cup minced water chestnuts (optional)
1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)
about half of a bunch of romaine lettuce leaves

Stir Fry Sauce
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional - add only 1/8 of a tsp if you don't want the sauce to be spicy)
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger

Peanut Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional - add only a pinch if you don't want the sauce to be spicy)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar

How to: 

Start by preparing the stirfry sauce. Combine water and cornstarch and stir until cornstarch is dissolved. Add this to the other stir fry sauce ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer till thick. Set aside.

Now prepare the peanut dipping sauce. Combine ingredients in a pan over medium low heat. Heat while whisking until sauce becomes smooth.  Remove from heat when done.

Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook chicken breasts until done, turning every couple of minutes. Keep the pan hot, but on a cutting board, chop into small pieces. Put chicken back in the same pan over medium/high heat and add water chestnuts. Heat for 1 minute. (Water chestnuts are not shown.) Add 5 Tbsp of stir fry sauce to the chicken and heat for 2 minutes, stirring often.  The sauce should be bubbly.  Now the chicken is done.

Shred the carrots.  I use a carrot peeler and peel until I have a whole bowl of carrot peels.

Put it all on the table.

Pile it into a lettuce leaf and roll it to eat it!

Yummmm...

Pasta with Wine and Mushrooms

From: This recipe came from the Pioneer Woman's cooking website.

Ingredients:

24 ounces, weight Thickly Sliced Mushrooms (baby Portobellos Are Best)
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Kosher Salt (I used regular salt)
Black Pepper
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Large Onion, Peeled And Sliced (I used half an onion, chopped)
1 cup Dry White Wine
3/4 cups Whiskey (Jack Daniels Is Good - but I don't keep whiskey in the house, so I used red wine)
1/2 cup Chicken Broth
1 cup Heavy Cream
Salt And Pepper, to taste
12 ounces, weight Mostaciolli, Cooked Al Dente

How to:  Just click here.

Side notes: Serve this one with your favorite glass of wine and serve it on date night!  The sauce for my recipe never thickened...  I'm not sure why that is, but it tasted good, just the same.  Next time I might try thickening it in the pan with a little bit of arrow root powder (because it's tasteless).

French Toast

From:  I created this one.  :)

Ingredients:

2 or 3 slices of bread
1 egg
2 Tbsp pancake mix (from scratch or store-bought)
2 Tbsp milk
butter
1 Tbsp oil
honey

How to:  In a bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and pancake mix.  Soak a piece of bread on both sides in the mix.  In a skillet, heat oil on medium high heat and spread over entirety of skillet to prevent sticking.  Place the soaked bread slice in the pan and cook until golden brown.  Turn.  Serve and top with butter and honey (or any combination of typical toppings that you like).

Side Notes:  If you don't have pancake mix in the house, mix together:
1 cup of flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Chile Relleno

From: My husband learned this one from his mom and has fond memories of her making them when he was a kid.

Ingredients:

2 green peppers
1 lb of ground beef
-spices for ground beef
Costa Rican white rice
1 small sweet potato
cheese (optional)
salsa (optional)
canola oil

How to:  

First prepare the white rice so it can be cooking in the rice cooker while you prepare the sweet potatoe sauce, the peppers and the meat.

Then cut the sweet potatoes into halves or thirds and boil until soft.  Peel the cooked sweet potatoes and place in a blender or food processor.  Add a small amount of water so it makes it into a sauce (much like the consistency of baby food).

While the sweet potatoes are boiling, start on the peppers by carefully carving out the stems of the green peppers and the insides, like a pumpkin.  Coat the outside and inside with canola oil.  Set them in a baking pan and bake at 350°F until soft (about 15 minutes).  The exterior of the peppers will become sticky and paper-like.  Peel this exterior.

While the peppers are baking, the rice is cooking and the sweet potato is boiling, brown the ground beef with the spices listed.  Set aside.

Once all of these parts are ready, place the peppers in a short glass.  (This just makes it easier to fill.)  Fill the pepper with the meat. On a plate, spoon about 1/2 cup of rice. Covering the opening of the pepper with your fingers to keep the meat from coming out, turn the glass over and remove the pepper from the glass. Place the pepper in the the middle of the rice.  Top with cheese if desired.  Pour sweet potato sauce around the outside or over the top as desired.  Add mild salsa to make it pretty.  There you go!!

Side notes: Makes two generous servings.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

From: This was one of my favorite cookie recipes that my Mom used to bake when I was growing up.  The best thing about it? It involves such basic ingredients, almost everyone has them in your kitchen.  I'd be willing to bet you could whip up a batch of these tonight!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs

2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

How to:  Mix the first four ingredients in one bowl. Mix the second four ingredients in another bowl.  Blend the dry ingredients into the wet ones gradually.  Refrigerate dough at least one hour.  Can be overnight.  Scoop out small spoonfuls of dough into your hands and round them into balls (about 1 inch in diameter).  Roll the balls into a mixture of sugar and cinnamon (last 2 ingredients) until they are fully coated.  Places 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 400°F for 8-10 minutes (or closer to 20 minutes in high altitude).  Immediately remove from baking sheet.