Seriously the Best Cheeseball Ever!

I found this recipe (sorry no pictures) in the Costco Connection Magazine. I served this cheese ball as a spread for Wheat Thins and veggie crackers at our annual VDG Smash (our family Christmas party), and it was a hit!


16 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 10-oz. pkg. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 T. chopped red pepper or pimiento
1 T. finely chopped onion
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
4 tsp. lemon juice
dash of ground red pepper
dash of salt
chopped pecans, for garnish

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and Cheddar cheese with an electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add bell pepper, onion, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, red pepper and salt; mix well. Chill for several hours or overnight. Shape the cream cheese mixture into a log or ball. Garnish with pecans. Serve with crackers.

Three Cheers for Homemade Pizza!

Jenna and I love to make homemade pizza together, and she's quite the little helper. Because we enjoy pizza so much (and it's fast!), I've put together three different pizza recipes here. The sauce and toppings are the same for each recipe. Just pick the crust that matches your taste and time frame. The recipes are in order based on the time it takes to make them, longest to shortest. Happy eating!
My mom's pizza crust 

2 c. warm water
2 T. yeast
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. oil
4 c. flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Sprinkle sugar on after o

ne minute. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes, or until bubbles form. Add remaining ingredients. Roll out into two rectangles, and place on cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Allow dough to rise about 15 minutes. Add sauce, cheese, and desired toppings. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. This dough also makes good breadsticks.

For a crispy crust that's easy, and my favorite actually, I use Rhodes Rolls.  Just follow the directions on the bag.  When the rolls have risen (usually about 3 hours) flatten them with your hands until they reach the desired thickness.  We like thin crust pizzas the best, so we stretched the dough 6-8 inches across.  Place sauce (Prego is my favorite), cheese, and toppings on top of crust, and bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.  

Cooking Time: 20 minutes, start to finish
Ingredients:
4 pitas
1 sm. can tomato sauce
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Cheese
Your favorite pizza toppings—pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, peppers, pineapple, ham, etc.

Instructions:
Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray, and place pita bread on trays. Season tomato sauce with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder. Spread ¼ of sauce on each pita bread. Sprinkle with cheese and other toppings. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and pita bread is lightly browned.
Serves 4

Creamy Potato Soup and Mom's Homemade Breadsticks

This soup is fabulous for cold winter nights.  The extra veggies make it really yummy too.  If desired, frozen broccoli and/or cauliflower can be added.  

Tip:  To make this soup faster, look for bags of frozen, diced onions and sliced carrots at the grocery store.  Also, some stores carry "soup starters" which contain all the veggies you need for this soup.  

Ingredients:

7 c. diced potatoes (add any extra)

1 ½ c. chopped celery

1 ½ c. sliced carrots

1 c. chopped onion

Cut up vegetables.  Cook in 4 cups water and 4 bouillon cubes.  Cook until vegetables are tender (12 to 15 minutes after vegetables start to boil).  Add undrained vegetables to white sauce.  Heat thoroughly.

White Sauce:

1 c. butter or margarine

7 c. milk

1 c. flour

2 tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

Melt butter.  Blend in flour, salt and pepper.  Add milk.  Cook over medium heat until it thickens and boils.  Continue stirring to desired consistency.  Remove from heat until undrained vegetables are added.

Makes 16 servings (1 cup each).

Breadsticks:

This recipe comes from my mom, who is the queen of speedy breadsticks.  I remember helping her roll out the breadsticks for dinner and having so much fun cooking together when I was growing up.

2 c. warm water

2 T. yeast

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. salt

2 T. oil

4 c. flour

Stir yeast in warm water and dissolve.

Let sit for 1 minute.  Add sugar.  Let it sit until it starts bubbling (5 minutes).  Add salt and oil.  Add flour one cup at a time, stirring after each addition.  Roll into breadsticks or pizza crust.  Let rise for 10-15 minutes.  Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Variation:  Roll dough into a rectangle, about ½ inch thick.  Using a pizza cutter or knife, cut the dough into inch-wide strips.  Dip each strip in melted butter; place on cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with garlic powder.  Let rise.  Bake as directed above.

This dough also makes wonderful pizza crust.  (Yields two large rectangles.) 

Mom VDG's Incredible (and easy!) Salsa

My mother-in-law came up with this wonderful recipe for a fresh-tasting salsa without all the cutting, chopping, and prep time.  It's the best!

Here are the ingredients:

Your favorite store-bought salsa (I use Pace brand, medium heat)

Fresh pico de gallo (the refrigerated kind found in the salad section of the grocery store)

Cilantro

Basically, you make the salsa to your individual taste and how much salsa you need (it only keeps in the fridge for a day or two).  Roughly, the measurements are 1 cup salsa to 1-2 big spoonfuls of pico to 1 T. cilantro.  Put ingredients in the blender, and blend for just a couple seconds (just 'til cilantro is chopped up).   You still want chunks of tomato, onion, etc. in the salsa. You can always add a little more pico de gallo if you blended it too much.  

Enjoy with your favorite tortilla chips!  Thanks Mom!

Chicken Wraps

6-8 flour tortillas

1-2 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into strips

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Avocado

Cheese

Bacon

Mandarin oranges

Pineapple

Almonds

Salad dressing

 

All wraps use tortillas, chicken, and dressing.  Add or omit ingredients to create any combination!

 

BLT Wrap-  Use lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, bacon, and ranch dressing.

Oriental Wrap-  Use lettuce, Mandarin oranges, almonds, and honey mustard dressing.

Cowboy Wrap-  Use lettuce, bacon, cheese, pineapple, and BBQ sauce.

California Wrap- Use lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, cheese, and Caesar or ranch dressing.

 

Warm tortillas to room temperature so that they are easy to fold.  Spread a thin layer of dressing on each tortilla.  Fill with desired toppings.  Fold and enjoy!  (You may need to add more dressing depending on how many toppings you add.) 

Freanch Toast with Cinnamon Syrup

Sorry I don't have a picture for this one.  We enjoyed it so much we forgot to take one!  The cinnamon syrup really makes this yummy.  It's not too thick or too sweet, just delicious!

For the French Toast, I used 6 eggs, about 1/4 cup of milk, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp. baking powder.  Mix the ingredients thoroughly before dipping the slices of bread in and placing them on the griddle.  

Cinnamon Syrup:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup dark corn syrup (I only had light corn syrup, and it still worked) 
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup water

1/4 cup evaporated milk

Combine sugar, dark corn syrup, cinnamon, and water in a small saucepan, stirring until well-mixed. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and stir in evaporated milk.  Serve warm with French Toast.  

Marinated Southwestern Grilled Chicken

So, I found this recipe on Familyfun.com and thought I'd try it out. It turned out very moist and flavorful. The original recipe says to grill the chicken, but since we don't have a real grill, I just used my good ol' George Foreman. I think it would be even better on a real grill (hmmmm, maybe I can pick one up for Joe for Father's Day ;) ), but it was still yummy.

After grilling, let the chicken rest for 5 minutes, then slice and serve tostada-style with tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes, rice, etc.

Marinade:

1/2 c. fresh lime juice (about 3-4 limes)
Hint: (Roll the lime back and forth on the counter before squeezing to get the most juice out of each one.)
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 T. honey
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1-2 T. fresh cilantro, chopped

About 6- 40z. pieces of chicken, (I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut in half)

Combine all ingredients in a ziploc bag. Pierce chicken with a fork, and put in marinade, squeezing all the air out of the bag before sealing. Rotate the bag so all the chicken is coated. Place bag in a bowl, and let it marinate at least 4 hours (or overnight) in the fridge. Take chicken out of the fridge 20 min. before you want to start grilling. Grill until no longer pink inside. (Time varies depending on what method of grilling you use.) FYI: I did try baking this once too, and it did not turn out nearly as good.

White Chicken Chili

This recipe is from my sister-in-law, Tiffany, with a few of my own additions. If you haven't tried white chicken chili, it's a fun spin-off from your everyday beef variety.

Recipe:

1 McCormick white chicken chili seasoning mix

Follow the directions on the seasoning packet, adding both variations (corn and tomatoes) found at bottom of the packet.

Then add one can western style chili beans and one extra can of Great Northern White Beans.

Enjoy with chips, cheese, sour cream, etc.

Amazing Omelet

Last Christmas, the company Joe works for had its Christmas party at "Breakfast with Santa" at the Grand America Hotel in SLC. The food was fabulous, especially the omelets, which were made to order while you waited. I took the opportunity to observe their chef's omelet-making-techniques as he prepared my omelet. Here are a few things I learned that have made my omelets much tastier.
First, saute the vegetables and meat in a skillet before adding them to the omelet. (Maybe this is obvious, but I'd never thought of it).
As the egg begins to set in the pan, carefully slide the cooked part out of the way, and tip the pan so the runny portion fills the empty space.
(Unfortunately, I did not see how the chef solved the problem of having uncooked egg remaining on top of the omelet, so I carefully flip the entire thing over before placing the filling on and folding it. If you have any suggestions, let me know. :) )

Ingredients:

vegetables and meat of your choice such as . . .
mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, onions, ham, sausage, etc.

Saute the vegetables until crisp-tender. Set aside.

Heat a small skillet sprayed with cooking spray (if the veggies didn't stick to the pan too much, I use the same skillet that I used before).

In a small bowl combine
2 eggs
splash of milk

Whip the eggs and milk with a wire whisk or fork until well mixed. Pour eggs into skillet and cook as directed above. After egg is cooked through, place sauteed veggies/meat and cheese on half, fold over, and serve.

Tortilla Soup

Our Relief Society had a recipe exchange, and this was one of my favorite recipes of the evening. It's very healthy and very easy! Hooray for soup!

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 c. brown rice, cooked according to package directions
2 c. frozen corn, defrosted
2 zucchinis, sliced
1 can crushed or diced tomatoes, in juice
1 can tomatoes with green chilies
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 T. oil or butter
6 c. water
6 tsp. chicken bouillon
1/2 - 1 T. chili powder (I added this because I thought the soup needed a little kick!)

Saute the onions and garlic in the oil. Add the water, and bring to a boil. Add the bouillon, and stir well. Add the remaining ingredients to the broth. Heat through.
This soup is yummy with sour cream, avocado, tortilla chips, and/or cheese.

Kristin's Italian Sausage and Shells

So this dish is two recipes mixed together plus a few of my own ideas. Amazingly, it turned out fabulous and is now one of Joe's favorites! The zucchini makes it really good, so don't be tempted to skip it.

1 lb. hot Italian sausage (the kind that is packaged like ground beef, not the sausage links)
26 oz. jar Ragu Roasted Garlic pasta sauce
about 7 oz. shell pasta, medium size
1 medium zucchini, sliced, then halved
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 sm. can tomato sauce
1/3 c. water
3/4 c. onion, chopped

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, brown sausage and onion. Drain. Add pasta sauce, tomato sauce, water (rinse out Ragu jar with the 1/3 c. water and add), zucchini, 1 c. cheese, and cooked pasta to sausage. Stir well.
Spray 2 1/2 qt. casserole with cooking spray. Spoon pasta/sauce mixture into casserole. Bake, covered, at 375 for 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle 1/2 c. cheese on top, and bake 3 more minutes, uncovered.
Yummy!

Pasta Noodle Skillet

½ lb. uncooked pasta
2/3 c. Kikkoman Sweet & Sour Sauce
1 T. packed brown sugar
2 T. apple juice
1 lb. lower fat, mild Italian sausage, cut diagonally in ½-inch slices
1 small red bell pepper, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 small green bell pepper, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 large clove garlic, minced (I use garlic powder)

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and keep warm. Meanwhile, blend sweet and sour sauce, brown sugar and apple juice; set aside. Cook sausage in hot, large skillet over medium heat, 12 minutes, or until no longer pink in center and juices run clear, turning pieces over occasionally. (If using fully cooked sausage, simply heat through or lightly brown until hot.) Remove sausage. Add peppers and garlic to same skillet; cook and stir about 2 minutes, or until peppers are tender, yet crisp. Stir in sausage, pasta, and sweet & sour sauce mixture and cook just until ingredients are coated with sauce and heated through.

Rainbow Salad

Green salad with vegetables placed in strips over a bed of lettuce.

I used green onions, tomatoes, carrots, pepperjack cheese, olives, black beans, corn, and croutons.