All I need is a mimosa

Berry 'n' Cream Stuffed French Toast

2/3 cup whipped cream cheese
1/2 cup chopped strawberries
2 Tbs. strawberry jam
8 slices cinnamon bread
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

In bowl, mix cream cheese, strawberries, and jam; spread onto 4 bread slices.  Top with remaining bread slices.  In pie dish, whisk eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.  Dip each sandwich in egg mixture, turning to coat.  In greased skillet over medium heat, cook sandwiches until golden, turning once.  Dust with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup, if desired.

To all of my loyal recipe followers, I would like to apologize for slacking and not posting anything new in a while.  All three of you mean the world to me and I will try to be better.  Luckily for all of us, my grandma has been busy cutting out recipes and taping them to index cards and I just got a new big batch of recipe cards last week.  This recipe is fresh out of the new batch!

One word comes to mind with this recipe . . . . BRUNCH!  Which is one of the best meals in existence.  You can have breakfast foods and booze all in the same meal while it's daylight outside.  And can you imagine this scrumptious delight with a mimosa next to it?!?  I sure can!  But seriously now, if you are looking for a quick breakfast/brunch recipe that will impress your friends, then this is it.  It's very tasty, but be warned.  It's very sweet and pretty rich, but if you have a couple of mimosas you probably won't care.  

Winter's almost here, get out the casserole dishes

Chicken 'n' Hash Brown Bake

1 package (32 ounces) frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 cups diced cook chicken
1 can (4 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
2 cups chicken broth or stock
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
2 teaspoons instant chicken bouillon granules
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped sweet red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
Paprika
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Thaw hash browns overnight in the refrigerator.  Layer in an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place chicken and mushrooms over the hash browns.  Stir together sour cream, broth, soup, bouillon, onion, red pepper, and garlic; pour over all.  Sprinkle with paprika and almonds.  Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until heated through.  Yield: 8-10 servings.

Since we are headed into winter, this was a good recipe to come out of the shoebox.  It is the time of year for casseroles.  This may not be the prettiest dish, but this recipe has good flavor.  I would cut down on the salt you add to the potatoes, it was a little salty.  And it turns out that Southern-style hash browns are really the little cubed potatoes, not the grated hash browns.  I used a rotisserie chicken I bought at Costco for the cooked chicken and that ended up being just about the right amount of chicken.  I also used a shallot instead of a regular onion and one small shallot is just about 2 tablespoons worth.  I also skipped the paprika and almonds because I didn't have any.  If I had to make any changes to this recipe, I would add some other vegetables.  Some frozen corn or green beans would probably taste pretty good.  This would be an easy recipe to alter and would probably turn out good.  Happy winter casserole cooking!

OMG!

Better than sex cake!

Step 1:
3 eggs
1/2 cup of oil
1 1/4 cup water
1 German chocolate cake mix
Combine all ingredients and cook in 9"x13" pan at 350 degrees.

Step 2:
Cool Whip
1 can Eagle Brand milk
3 Snickers candy bars
1 jar caramel topping
Poke holes in cake using handle end of wooden spoon.  Blend Eagle Brand milk and 1/2 jar of topping; pour over top of cake, filling holes as you go.

Step 3:
Spread Cool Whip over cooled cake.  Chop up candy bars into small chunks and cover Cool Whip with chunks.  Drizzle remaining caramel topping on top of candy.

I about fell over when I pulled this recipe out of the shoebox.  I cannot believe that my 91 year old grandmother ever cut out anything with the word sex on it!  HAHAHA!!! This recipe sounded terrible and way too sweet, but I had to make it based on the name alone.  Seriously, who's grandmother actually cuts out a recipe called "Better than sex cake!?"  It is just hysterical!  

Ok, so this recipe is insanely sweet.  Chocolate cake, sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand milk is a brand of sweetened condensed milk, by the way), caramel, Cool Whip, and Snickers bars.  Sugar overload.  It did not taste terrible like I was expecting it to.  Actually it was pretty good with all of the chocolate and caramel.  The sweetened condensed milk and caramel poured over the cake makes it a little soggy and hard to get a piece out of the pan, but that is really the only issue.  The recipe is quick and easy if you are looking for a desert to make and then laugh about when people ask you the name of the recipe.  I am not going to comment on whether this cake is in fact better than sex, but if anyone out there wants to run their own independent side-by-side comparison test, then go nuts!

Quick and easy

Turkey, Bacon, and Guacamole Wraps

1 ripe avocado, pitted, peeled, and mashed
1 tablespoon taco sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
4 tortillas
8 oz. thinly sliced cooked turkey
8 slices precooked bacon
4 romaine lettuce leaves
1/4 cup drained roasted red bell pepper (from 7-oz. jar), large pieces cut up

In small bowl, mix avocado, taco sauce and garlic salt.  Spread about 1 tablespoon avocado mixture on each tortilla.  Top tortillas with turkey; spread with any remaining avocado mixture.  Top with bacon, lettuce and bell peppers.  Fold in sides of each wrap; roll up.  Cut each in half.  Serve immediately, or wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and refrigerate until serving or up to 24 hours.  Makes 4 sandwiches.

Ok, I know postings on the blog have been a little sporadic, grad school keeps me a little busy, but this is a quick one that I couldn't pass up.  I used a packet of mild sauce from Taco Bell for the taco sauce, already cooked bacon that you pop in the microwave, spinach instead of lettuce, and I always buy raw tortillas that I fry up myself because they taste way better than any pre-made tortillas.  They are called Tortilla Land if anyone is interested.  These were super easy and they tasted great.  Perfect for a quick week night meal or, if you are like me, any night meal because I don't like waiting more than 10 minutes to eat when hunger strikes.  

Easy but bland

Southwestern Chicken and Corn Dinner


Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.  Sprinkle 1 tablespoon flour inside a large foil bag (like Reynolds Hot Bags or another brand).  Sprinkle 4 bone-in, skinless chicken breasts and 4 thighs with 2 teaspoons Mexican seasoning blend.  Arrange chicken and 3 ears fresh or frozen corn-on-the-cob (cut into pieces), 1 each medium red and green bell peppers (cut into 1-inch pieces) and 1 medium onion (cut into eighths) in an even layer inside bag.  Sprinkle 2 more teaspoons seasoning blend over vegetables.  Double-fold end of bag and place in 1-inch-deep pan.  Bake 50-55 minutes.  Open away from your face to allow steam to escape.

As the heading of this post suggests, this recipe was super easy (for the most part), but pretty bland.  I cut the recipe in half because it's just me and I don't need that much chicken.  I made my own foil bag because I couldn't find any in the grocery store and when I opened it up after cooking, there was quite a bit of water in the bottom.  This could have contributed to none of the seasoning sticking to vegetables.  I am wondering if I should have cut slits in the bag to let steam out.  Maybe that would have helped.  Here is what my bag looked like.

I used fresh corn on the cob and the only hard part to this recipe was cutting the corn into pieces.  Do you know how hard the middle of the cob is?!?  You practically need a chisel to get it to break.  Or maybe I just need sharper knives.  That was by far the most difficult and longest part of the prep work.  If any knows of an easier way to cut corn on the cob into pieces, please let me know.  As for the Mexican seasoning blend, could not find anything with that name in the grocery store so I bought Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning blend.  Since most of it probably dissolved in the water in the bag, I couldn't really tell you what it tasted like, but it smelled really good.  If anyone has any ideas on how this recipe could be improved, let me know.  It was easy and has potential.  

Linda, this one is for you!

Ravioli with Mushroom Sauce


1 lb. frozen cheese ravioli
2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
2 Tbs. butter or margarine
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup dry sherry or chicken broth

Cook ravioli according to package directions, adding carrots during last 2 minutes of cooking time.  Meanwhile, in skillet melt better over medium-high heat.  Add mushrooms and scallions; cook until mushrooms begin to give off some liquid, about 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium.  Stir in flour and pepper; cook, stirring 1 minute.  Stir in broth, milk, and cheese.  Bring to a simmer.  Stir in sherry; cook until thickened, about 2 minutes.  Drain ravioli and carrots.  Gently toss with sauce to coat.

So, I haven't posted in a while.  Life has been little busy, so my apologies.  But I have been getting hassled by quite a few people about not having posted anything and since the latest has come all the way from Lincoln, Nebraska (and I'm on break from school), I decided I better get on it.  So Linda, since you were the last to ask about the blog, this recipe is for you!


If you like mushrooms, pasta, butter, and Parmesan cheese, then you need to make this.  Super easy and super tasty.  I used the chicken broth at the end instead of the sherry and I did not add any carrots because I'm just not a big carrot fan.  I added some extra Parmesan cheese on top at the end (because you can never have too much cheese).  Although I should have taken the picture first before adding the extra cheese so you could see the mushrooms. Oh well, you can make this yourself and see all the mushrooms you want.  Enjoy!

Perfect with a glass of milk

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Chip Cookies


2 1/4 cups Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour
1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy.  Add eggs; beat well.  Gradually add flour mixture, beating well.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired.  Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set.  Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.  About 5 dozen cookies.

Who doesn't love homemade cookies right out of the oven?!?  Especially chocolate cookies.  I did not add nuts, because why would I want to ruin a perfectly good chocolate cookie with nuts?  These were super easy cookies to bake and would be great for any chocoholic out there.  There is nothing else left to say besides, pour me a glass of milk!