Jay's B-day dinner: Frozen Coconut Caramel Pie, Cajun Shrimp and Asparagus

Here's three recipes in one post! I'll just provide links to them, though. Wednesday was Jay's birthday (the big 2-9), and so I cooked a kind of special occasion meal. Of course, it consisted of all new recipes, because I don't have many special occasion meal recipes up my sleeve. I can't very well cook Beef-Vegetable Stew or Cornbread Ranch Chicken on his day, no matter how great they taste on a weeknight! Luckily, everything turned out delicious, despite a few errors I thought I made in the process!

The main course was Cajun shrimp and steak, and I got the recipe from Taste of Home. I just marinated some sirloin steak in the shrimp marinade. This is a great way to make shrimp kind of fun and fancy, as you make a special Cajun butter to dip it in! Jay loved the butter, and he dipped his steak and asparagus in it, too! I also got a great, easy spicy asparagus recipe from Taste of Home, and it was definitely a recipe I will use again when I'm cooking a spicy kind of meal. Jay absolutely loved it.

Jay's birthday dessert was this fantastic Frozen Coconut Caramel Pie, which he first tasted just a couple weeks ago at my mom's family's Christmas/New Year's get-together. Aunt Michelle, the perennial knock-your-socks-off dessert maker, brought this little doozy. It's kind of like an ice cream pie meets a cheesecake, with a scrumptious topping of caramel ice cream sauce and toasted coconut and pecan. I don't even like coconut, and I loved this pie! Jay loves coconut, so he practically swooned over it! When he first tasted Aunt Michelle's, he had this kind of dazed expression on his face, and I asked him what was up, and all he could say was, "You gotta try this," and point at his saucer with only the tiniest traces of caramel on it.

If you're ever looking for a good recipe, my favorite way to search is to go to Taste of Home and search their Contest-Winning recipes. That's what I did for the shrimp and asparagus recipes. I believe this is a subscriber-only function, though, so you gotta pay to play!

Easy, yummy Chicken Alfredo

I got this recipe from a Christmas gift: a Creative Cuisine cookbook from Diane, signed by the author herself, a lady who owns a restaurant in Pottsboro and cooks on the noon news once a week. The secret ingredient: booze! Don't worry, I brought it to a boil after adding the liquor, so the alcohol content was greatly diminished, if not erased. Here it is, from memory:

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, thawed and cut into bite-sized pieces
4 T. butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 jar Alfredo sauce: I used Bertolli garlic Alfredo
1/2 t. minced garlic
1/2 cup Chardonnay (you might could substitute chicken broth)
2 cups cooked fettucine noodles: I used whole wheat, and they were great, very flavorful!

Cook chicken in butter until lightly browned, about five minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic. (I drizzled it with EVOO b/c the butter was mostly gone.) Saute for about two minutes, until mushrooms are tender. Add sauce and wine; let simmer for about five minutes. Pour over noodles and let stand for 5-10 mins, until sauce has thickened. Sprinkle with parsley flakes.

Serve with garlic bread (I use Peppridge Farm frozen five-cheese Italian bread--yum!) and salad!

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

I made this last night for dinner and it was super good. It is Kristin Burton's recipe from our church cookbook.

2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 large cans of white chicken meat
1 (16oz.) sour cream
1 small can diced chilies
1/2 t. salt
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/2 chopped green onions
8 lg. flour tortillas

Mix together chicken soup, chicken, 1 3/4 cup sour cream, green chilies, salt, and onions. Soften tortillas in a little oin in a skillet for a few seconds. Drain on a paper towel. Pour a small amount of the filling, just enough to cover the bottom of the 9X13 pan. Fill the tortillas with the filling and some cheese. Roll up and place in pan seam side down. Repeat for remaining tortillas. After all of the enchiladas are assembled, pour the remaining sauce on the top. Top with cheese and remaining sour cream. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

I had never used canned chicken for anything. It was surprisingly good and much faster.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Here's a yummy, easy, festive-looking Christmas side dish, courtesy Paula Deen from Food Network! I took it to my office Christmas party today, and everyone loved it! The saltiness of the pretzel crust, mixed with the melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese/Cool Whip mixture, plus the sweetness of the strawberry mixture, is delicious!


Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
See this recipe on air Sunday Dec. 17 at 7:00 AM ET/PT.
Show:
Paula's Home Cooking
Episode:
Christmas

Ingredients
2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 cup melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar, plus 3/4 cup sugar
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1 (8-ounce) container whipped topping
2 (3-ounce) packages strawberry gelatin dessert mix
2 cups boiling water
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen strawberries
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple
Whipped topping or whipped cream, to garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. For the crust, mix the pretzels, butter, and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Press this mixture into a 9 by 13-inch pan and bake for 7 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool. In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and 3/4 cup of sugar. Fold in the whipped topping, and spread over the cooled crust. Refrigerate until well chilled. In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water, and allow to cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pineapple, and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until serving time. To serve, cut slices and serve with a dollop of whipped topping.

Next party, I'm bringing stuffed mushrooms, which are lots of fun. I'll post on that next week when I decide what recipe I'm going to use.

Secret ingredient Waffles

These are seriously the best waffles I've ever eaten: so light and crispy! I got it from Simple and Delicious. The secret: club soda instead of milk!

Light 'n' Crispy Waffles

2 cups Bisquick
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup club soda

Mix all ingredients except club soda well. Add club soda and stir until smooth. Bake in waffle oven!

Broccoli Cheese Rice Casserole!

I also had many requests for this recipe. It is Leeanne Paris' recipe from our church cookbook. This is the same recipe I took to our class Thanksgiving party.

2 c. uncooked rice
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can broccoli cheese soup
1 lb. broccoli
1 lb. velveeta

Cook rice according to directions. Steam broccoli or cook according to package. Mix cooked rice, broccoli, and soups together. Cube velveeta and melt in microwave, stirring every minute. Add velveeta to soup mixture until thoroughly mixed. Pour into a 9X13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge, but will take longer to cook. ENJOY!

Christmas (Or Anytime) Toffee

I had many requests for this recipe over Thanksgiving, especially the two Kim Mauck's so, here it is. I hope you aren't on a diet!

1 lb. butter
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 oz. slivered almonds
2 giant Hershey bars
chopped nuts (pecans)

Melt butter and sugar in a saucepan stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until it reached 265 degrees. Add slivered almonds and continue cooking until it reaches 300 degrees. Pour onto a greased jelly roll pan and immediately put broken up Hershey bars on the top. When it is melted smear it all over. Top with chopped pecans. YUM!

Pumpkin dump cake

I'm also thinking about bringing this recipe to Thanksgiving: super-easy and a yummy alternative to pumpkin pie (which I've never been a big fan of). I copied and pasted from allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup margarine, melted
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Mix well, and spread into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle cake mix over the top of the pumpkin mixture, and pat down. Sprinkle chopped pecans evenly over the cake mix, then drizzle with melted margarine.
Bake for 60 to 80 minutes, or until done. Top with whipped topping when ready to serve.

Corn Casserole

At Kerri's request, here is my Corn Casserole. Kim, you could make this for T-giving. It is super easy. I made it for life group on Sunday and had many compliments.

1 Box Jiffy Cornbread mix
1 can corn
1 can creamed corn
1 egg
1/3 cup milk

Stir and pour into a greased 8X8 pan and bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes until golden.
Easily doubled for a 9X13 pan. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Kim's [higher calorie] family recipe:

1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
1 can creamed corn
1 can whole-kernel corn
1 egg
8 oz. sour cream
1 stick butter

Stir and bake in a greased 9x13 pan at 350 degrees for 50 mins to 1 hour.

Easy Crock pot Roast

Here is mine...........
It is from the top of my head and my memory so, forgive me.

Easy Sunday Roast

Get a roast, (Say, 4 lbs.).
Brown it in the skillet on all sides.
Put in the bottom of the crock pot.
Add potatoes (halved), carrots (baby, so you don't have to peel then), and some onion, chopped.
Pour one can of Cream of Mushroom soup over roast and veggies, then add one can of water.
Don't stir.
Sprinkle one envelope of Lipton onion soup on the top.
Don't stir.
Cook on low on Saturday night for 12-14 hours and it will be ready for Sundee lunch.
OR cook on high for 6-8 hours for weeknight dinner.
YUM!

My first roast!

So any meat besides chicken breasts, steaks, pork chops, and ground beef is generally a little frightening to me. Whole chickens, big roasts or hams, no way. Too high maintenance! All that basting and gravy-making and stuffing--not for me. So I took a baby step this weekend to making a roast: I took a small arm roast (cows have arms?) and made a gravy of water, soy sauce, onion soup mix, garlic, and sauteed onions, and cooked it for a couple hours after browning the meat on the stove. Then I put the meat and onion mixture on French bread, put mozzarella cheese on top, and used the juice for au jus! Roast beef sandwiches! They were delicious. The recipe is on Taste of Home, but it's a subscriber-only recipe, so I don't think you'll be able to see it. Here's the link, nonetheless, and I pasted the recipe here:


INGREDIENTS
1 boneless beef rump roast (4 pounds)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large sweet onions, cut into 1/4-inch slices
6 tablespoons butter, softened, divided
5 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon browning sauce, optional
1 loaf (1 pound) French bread
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese

DIRECTIONS
In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, brown roast on all sides in oil; drain. In a large skillet, saute onions in 2 tablespoons of butter until tender. Add the water, soy sauce, soup mix, garlic and browning sauce if desired. Pour over roast. Cover and bake at 325° for 2-1/2 hours or until meat is tender. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing. Return meat to pan juices. Slice bread in half lengthwise; cut into 3-in. sections. Spread remaining butter over bread. Place on a baking sheet. Broil 4-6 in. from the heat for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Top with beef and onions; sprinkle with cheese. Broil 4-6 in. from the heat for 1-2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with pan juices. Yield: 12 servings.

Audrey or readers, if you have a great recipe for roast that actually keeps the meat moist and flavorful, please post it!

Corn bread Ranch chicken

This one came from Taste of Home somewhere...

Mix one box Jiffy cornbread mix and one packet of Ranch seasoning in a big Ziploc. Dip chicken breasts in milk, and then toss in Ziploc bag. Cook in olive oil four minutes on each side, or until juices run clear.

Very fast, and tastes sweet and tangy at the same time! I do this recipe or a similar one about once a week; Jay calls it my specialty. The other way to do it is to mix 2/3 Italian or plain bread crumbs and 1/3 Parmesan cheese (these are ratios, not amounts), and dip your meat in egg, then this mixture, then cook the same as above. It would probably be healthier to bake it, but I've never tried that.

Believe it or not, my first beef-vegetable stew!

That's right, I'd never made beef-vegetable stew on my own before now! I have great taco soup, potato soup, and chicken tortilla soup recipes, and had never gotten around to fiddling with beef-vegetable. But the wind had a bit of a bite to it Tuesday, so I tried my hand at--and it was great! Here's what I did:

1 lb hamburger meat
1 lb frozen corn
2 sm. cans tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes (mine were basil and oregano flavored)
3 cups diced potatoes
2 cups frozen green beans
1 packet Lipton onion soup mix

Brown hamburger meat while you bring all the other ingredients to a boil in a soup pot (add water until soup reaches desired consistency). Then add hamburger meat, cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 30mins or so. Meanwhile, bake a pan of cornbread.

YUM!

Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It's melt in your mouth delicious with tortilla chips, and I don't even really like artichokes!

UPDATE: Make the dip in a smaller pan than 9 x 13; it got a little dry in such a thin layer. Also, it needs a bit more of tangy flavor or spice to it--perhaps more garlic? Some chopped onions? Chopped green onions on top, maybe? Must consider...

UPDATE: Frozen spinach! You can't find the fresh stuff anywhere, although I hear it's safe again now.

Best fruit dip

1 8-oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
3 Tbs. brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbs. maple syrup

Whip it all together and chill for an hour or so. I find the whipped cream cheese to make the smoothest mixture. Feel free to adjust amounts to your taste. I always taste the brown sugar and maple syrup bit out. Serve with slices/chunks of apples, bananas, strawberries, and pineapples. This is what I'll be taking to the OU/Texas watch party this weekend, along with Hot Artichoke Spinach dip, which is AMAZING! Coming soon.

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

4 boneless chicken breasts, thawed
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chilies
1 C. frozen corn
1 C. enchilada sauce
4 green onions, sliced

Place chicken in bottom of crock pot. Sprinkle with taco seasoning and brown sugar, toss to coat. Add green chilies, corn, and enchilada sauce. Cover and cook on low 6-7 hours (Or high 3-4). Stir chicken mixture with fork until chicken breaks apart and shreds. Stir in green onions. Cook an additional 15 minutes. Serve in taco shells with desired toppings. Enjoy!

This recipe is from Heather Stone. Okay Kim, your turn!

Poppyseed Chicken

Poppy Seed Chicken
4 chicken breast (cooked and chopped)
1 Can cream of Celery Soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 small package slivered almonds
1 8oz Sour cream
1 Tbs. Poppy Seeds
1 tube Ritz crackers (crushed)
1 stick of Butter (melted)

Spray and 11 x 13 casserole dish with Pam. Place chicken on bottom of dish. Mix Soups almonds, and Sour cream. Spread mixture on top of chicken. Mix crackers, poppy seed, and butter. Spread on top of chicken mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

UPDATE by Kim: I've made this twice now, and we love it! One thing I tried this last time is to put cooked egg noodles underneath the chicken, and it was GREAT!

Pumpkin Banana Bread

Thanks Kim for letting me join your Kitchen Blog. Now for the first post!

1 1/2 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Shortening
2 eggs
2 large very ripe bananas
3/4 C. solid pack pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 C. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C. chopped nuts (optional)

In large mixing bowl, cream sugar and shortening. Beat in eggs, mashed bananas, pumpkin, and vanilla, mix well. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and nuts. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 9X5 loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes ir until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Now, what to do with the left over pumpkin in the can. Add 2 eggs, 1/2 c. sugar, some evaporated milk (about 1/2 cup), and some pumpkin pie spice and pour into a little dish (mine was about 5X7) lined with a Pillsbury pie crust and you have a mini pumpkin pie. Serve with cool whip. YUM!

Next up, Poppyseed Chicken!

Easy Chicken Parmesan

Okay, this recipe might be a no-brainer, but it is so easy and good that I wonder why I don't make it more often. All you do is thaw your chicken breasts, beat them down to uniform width, and then dip them into beaten egg and water. Then dip them into a one-third/two-thirds mixture of Parmesan cheese and Italian-style bread crumbs. Cook them in olive oil for about five minutes, or until light brown on both sides. Then put them into a baking dish, dump some spaghetti sauce on top, and sprinkle a good handful of mozzerella cheese on top of that. Cook it at 350 for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, cook your noodles and prep some sort of green side dish. (I made good ol' broccoli this weekend, what with the spinach scare and all.)

Rainy Day Baked Potato Soup

Here's a yummy, easy Baked Potato Soup recipe. Diane gave it to me, and she got it from Pat Duncan.

Ingredients:
3 baking potatoes (or five or six red potatoes--my preference)
5 strips of bacon
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup instant mashed potatoes (I use the loaded baked potato mix for a little extra flavor)
1 stick butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk
Salt, pepper, Garlic salt
Add-Ins: Cheese, chives

Bake potatoes in microwave or oven. Meanwhile, fry bacon crisp and mix broth and potato mix. Melt butter in large soup pot (while it's melting, cut baked potatoes into chunks) , add flour. Then add milk. Stir frequently so this is a smooth sauce. Add potatoes and broth mixture. Add desired seasonings. Let simmer for 20 minutes or so. Serve it up with cheese on top!