Found another "keeper" recipe tonight!

These oven baked zucchini fries remind me of the ones we used to get at a restaurant that went out of business a few years ago.  It was always a treat to get a big basket of Bandana's fried zucchini strips and a dish of their Ranch dressing for dipping them.

This recipe is based on one that appeared in a Weight Watchers handout from last Monday night's meeting.  I had to try it since we have had a continuous supply of wonderful grey zucchini squash from the local farmer's market.   Unfortunately, we're having an extreme drought as well as temperatures well above normal so the local produce season is ending about two months early this year!

If you've never tried the grey zucchini, you should!  It's a lot better than the dark green variety. 

Zucchini Fries

2 medium zucchini

Mix together:
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 ½ T. flour
1 tsp. Salt

2 large egg whites, beaten to a froth
¾ cup dry Italian bread crumbs



Preheat oven to 425°.  Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with Pam.

Cut zucchini into strips about the size of French fries.

Dredge them in the flour mixture.

Dip strips into the egg whites and then coat with the Italian bread crumbs.

Place on cookie sheet and bake about 12 minutes or until browned, turning once
during baking.

Serve with Ranch dressing.

Patty Melt Recipe

Okay, I'm trying to expand my variety of recipe layouts and include some that don't have a lot of food or kitchen images on them.  I grabbed a box of paper out of my Jetmax cubes and found this:

There were two sheets of this large scale printed paper in a package.  As a cardmaker who makes A2 sized cards, I've pulled it out a couple of times and just put it back.  The pattern is just too big for that sized card.

Now, don't ask me what a French themed paper has to do with a patty melt sandwich done on rye bread, but that's what I picked to use!  LOL!  Since the sandwich is grilled and has gooey melted cheese on it (love that!), the Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch seemed like a good idea too. 

At this point I just had the recipe and the melty borders and thought, why not add some French words?  I don't speak French, well, I can say "french fries"  LOL!  So, I used an online translator to pick a couple of words and printed them in my cardmaker software.

So, if I've got a drippy goo punch, some words in French and a recipe, why not add the Eiffel tower and some travel labels?  What a combination!  The colors work well, but I'm not too sure about the concept!  LOL!

The Eiffel tower photo was found online and the travel labels came from the clip art in my cardmaker software.

Don't let my funky layout discourage you from giving this recipe a try.  It's a really hearty sandwich that would be great to feed a teenage son!

Cheeseburger Soup Recipe Layout

http://lindas-nothinfancy.blogspot.com/2011/01/cheeseburger-soup-and-peachy-keen.html

That link will take you to the page with the recipe on it.

Almost every page in my recipe album has "kitchen-y" items on it.  So, I wanted to do one without anything food related today and ran across these flowers I've had quite some time. 

Then I challenged myself to put the flowers on paper that didn't match them.  It turned out pretty good IMHO.

Yesterday would have been a good day to prepare this soup since we had a little touch of Blackberry Spring and the temperatures were pretty low all day. 

Patty Melt Sandwich Recipe

 Cook's Country magazine is a great source for new recipes.  The chefs from American's Test Kitchen take standard recipes, test them and find the best way for them to be prepared.  Part of the reason I enjoy the magazine so much is that they explain the different ways they test the recipe and describe the results.  After multiple testings and tastings they print the best recipe.

Around here, a patty melt is a hamburger patty with a slice of American cheese on top.  I've never ordered one in a cafe because I thought, "why?".  This recipe may be more like a patty melt that's prepared in a diner back east.

GRIDDLED PATTY MELTS

Adapted from a recipe in Cook’s Country magazine May 2011

5 slices light rye bread
2-3 T. milk or half & half
½ tsp. Dried minced onion
¾ lb. Lean ground beef
salt
pepper
3 T. butter
1 onion, sliced thin
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

In a large bowl, combine 1 slice of rye bread that’s been cubed
with the milk and dried onions.  Add beef and mix until smooth.
Shape into two patties.

Brown patties on one side, about 5 minutes.  Remove from skillet.
Melt 1 T. butter in skillet and cook onions until golden brown.

Put patties, browned side up, on top of the onions, lower the heat and
cook, uncovered, until patties are done.

Divide ½ cup of shredded cheese among two slices of bread. Top
with patties and onions, remaining cheese and other two slices of
bread.

Wipe skillet out.  Melt 1 T. butter and brown sandwiches on both sides.

Makes 2 generous sandwiches!


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I fixed these sandwiches for our dinner this evening and they turned out great!  Definitely a recipe that I'll be cooking again in the near future.  We think that the patties were too much meat for one person though!  I believe that I could have made the meat mixture into three or four servings since you have the onions and all the cheese to eat along with two slices of bread. 

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Swirled Brownies.

 I really, really need to quit finding new recipes to try out!  Just pulled these out of the oven and they're going into my recipe book for sure.  Even though they're called brownies, this has a more soft cake-like texture than a regular brownie.  The peanut butter/cream cheese filling is delish!

You do know, in Oklahoma, cream cheese is considered its own food group, right?  LOL!

In my oven, using an aluminum 9 x 13 pan, these were done in only 20 minutes.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Swirled Brownies

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 1/4 c. flour
1 c. + 6 TB sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla, divided
1/4 tsp baking soda
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2/3 c. creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 baking dish and set aside.
In a heavy-duty saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate chips and butter.
Remove from heat. Stir in eggs. Add flour, 1 c. sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, and baking soda.
Pour into prepared pan.
 In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cream cheese and peanut butter. Beat on medium-high heat until completely smooth. Add in 6 TB sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla, scraping the bowl as needed.
Drop spoonfuls of the peanut butter mixture onto the brownie batter, creating a cobblestone appearance. Using a wooden skewer or knife, swirl peanut butter mixture into brownie batter to create swirls.

 Bake 25-30 minutes, until set. Let cool to room temperature before cooling in the refrigerator. Once cooled, cut into bars. Makes 2 dozen large brownies.

Reuben Casserole

REUBEN CASSEROLE

5 cups uncooked egg noodles        3 T. prepared mustard
2 cans kraut, drained & rinsed        ¾ lb. Sliced deli corned beef
2 cans cream of chicken soup        2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
¾ cup milk                                    2 slices light rye bread
½ cup chopped onion                    2 T. butter, melted

Cook noodles according to package.
In large bowl, combine kraut, soup, milk, onion and mustard.
Add drained noodles and mix well.
Transfer to a 13 x 9 baking dish.  Sprinkle with corned beef
and cheese.
Place bread in food processor and process into crumbs. Toss
with melted butter; sprinkle over top.

Bake, uncovered at 350° for 40-45 minutes.

I think next time I make this that I will mix most of the meat into the
noodles so the flavor will spread throughout while cooking.
I also downsized the recipe since there's just me and DH to eat it all!


This recipe is going into my album so I'll be posting a recipe page featuring it later.

I found the corn stalks on Paperdoll Dress Up.  That cartridge has a ton of images on it other than the little dolls!  The cow came from From My Kitchen.  I printed the words with my cardmaker software and punched them out.  I added a little pen work with my Promarkers too.

Soup Recipe Layout

The pot is on From My Kitchen, letters from Micky Font the mouse was a scrap from the Farmer's Market stack.

If you want the recipe I posted it earlier today.

Potato Leek Soup

Last night my sister and I attended a Taste of Home cooking school.  This is one of the many recipes we watched the demonstrator prepare.  It's really very simple to make and the Alfredo sauce gives it a little different twist.

POTATO LEEK SOUP

¼ cup butter                               4 tsp. Chicken bouillon granules
2 leeks, cut into ½” slices            1 jar Classico Alfredo sauce
¼ cup finely chopped carrot        2 T. chopped fresh chives
5 medium potatoes, cubed

Melt butter in large saucepan and cook leeks and carrots about 5
minutes.

Add 4 cups of water, potatoes and bouillon granules.  Cover, reduce
heat and cook for about 25 minutes.

Stir in alfredo sauce and simmer for another 5 minutes or until hot.
Top with chopped chives to serve.
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She showed us to cube the potatoes and pre-cook them in the microwave without the water while you’re doing the other prep work.  That cuts the cooking time down to about 10 minutes.

The recipe calls for Classico Light Creamy Alfredo Pasta Sauce.  It's a new reduced fat version of Alfredo sauce that they just came out with.  Our local stores don't have it in stock yet so I used regular Alfredo sauce.


It's almost 90° here today so it wasn't what I'd call "potato soup weather"!  LOL!  But we still enjoyed it!

I have a rather unique ice cream recipe mixed up and in the fridge cooling down right now.  I'll get out my ice cream freezer in a couple of hours and test it out.  If it's as good as I think it's going to be, it will probably be my next recipe that I post!

One Hour Challenge Recipe Layout

The olives were made using the George cartridge and the loaf of bread is on From My Kitchen.  I just had to set it to cut at real size to get it this large.  Used an old MS punch for the red strip and a SU punch on the blue.

After the photo was taken, I decided to round the corners of the page and inked it with Chestnut brown chalk ink.  Now it looks a little more finished.

This is the first page I've done for my recipe album with a pocket for the recipe to slide into.  It's not going to be handy because all the pages go into plastic sleeves but it does give a little variety to what I've done so far.


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I fixed this bread for dinner tonight.  Had my all-time favorite Italian meal:  olive medley, rosemary bread and a glass of Black Gold wine for an appetizer, then penne pasta with Italian sausage and marinara sauce and a tossed salad with homemade Italian dressing.  Yumm-O !  The only way it could have been better was if I had been at Macaroni Grill so that I could have ordered Penne Rustica!  LOL!

Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

Romano's Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

 Yield: 2 loaves
       
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons rosemary
2 tablespoons butter

Directions

   1. Place yeast, sugar and water in large bowl and allow mixture to become bubbly.
   2. Mix in 1 T butter, salt, and 2 cups of flour.
   3. Add one tablespoon of the fresh chopped rosemary.
   4. Knead for about 10 minutes about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
   5. Add more flour if necessary.
   6. Oil a bowl, put dough in it and cover with a towel.
   7. Let dough rise in a warm place for one hour until doubled.
   8. Punch down dough and divide in half.
   9. Let dough rest about 5 minutes.
  10. Spray baking pan or cookie sheet with cooking spray.
  11. Shape the dough into 2 small rounded oval loaves.
  12. Sprinkle remaining 1 Tablespoon of rosemary over the loaves and press     lightly into the surface
  13. Let loaves rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes.
  14. Preheat oven to 375°F.
  15. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned.
  16. Carefully remove from oven, brush with remaining butter (and salt if desired.).

Mexican Meatloaf

My momma could make a meatloaf to die for; my meatloaf just pretty much sucks!  I use the same ingredients she always did but mine just doesn't taste as good.

One of my all time favorite meals as a kid was meatloaf, mashed potatoes and English peas.  And once in a while I do attempt to cook a meatloaf just so I can have that menu, it just never works out very well!

Since I love to cook, I read cookbooks like a vampire fan reads the Twilight series.  I can't wait for a new cookbook to show up on the book aisle at the grocery store or Wal Mart.  Once I find one that looks interesting, I bring it home and read it front to back.

Fred used to tell people that he was afraid to come home for dinner when he saw me with a new cookbook because he never knew what to expect!

This recipe is based on one I found in a recent Taste of Home magazine.  It turned out really delicious, very moist (in fact, next time I won't use so much tomato sauce in the mix).  The addition of the Greek yogurt, which I forgot to tell Fred was in it, must be what contributes to the unique flavor.

I like it well enough that there will be a recipe layout done and included in my Cooking with the Cricut recipe album.

MEXICAN MEATLOAF

1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 tsp. Olive oil
2 garlic gloves, minced

Saute onion and pepper in olive oil until tender.
Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer.

Transfer to a large bowl and add:

¾ cup Panko bread crumbs
¾ cup grated cheddar cheese
½ cup tomato sauce
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
2 T. minced parsley
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Chili powder
1 lb.  Ground beef

Mix thoroughly.  Place in 8” square pan and bake at
350° about 25 minutes or until center tests at 165°.

Top with:
¼ cup tomato sauce
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp. Chili powder
¼ cup grated cheddar cheese

Return to oven and bake about 15 minutes longer.

Here's the layout I threw together!

Jewish Apple Bread

Ddscrafts –Debbie Wilson mentioned this cake on Facebook yesterday.  It sounded so good that I ran to the store and bought the apples to make it myself.  It's a dense, moist cake and tastes better after it sits overnight. 

As soon as it came out of the oven I tried a slice and it was really good.  After sitting overnight, the flavors developed more from the cinnamon and the apples.  Delicious with a cup of good coffee!

Since the recipe calls for so much sugar, I was afraid the cake would be too sweet but the tartness of the apples takes care of that. 

Jewish Apple Cake

Mix together and set aside:
1/2 cup of sugar
2 tsp. of cinnamon

Mix together:
3 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of veg. oil
4 eggs
1/4 cup of orange pineapple juice (I just used plain orange)
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 tsp. baking powder
4 large apples, peeled and sliced (I used Granny Smith)

Mix flour, sugar and baking powder in large bowl
Beat eggs.  Add oil, juice and vanilla and beat until smooth;
Add to flour mixture and beat until smooth.

Pour ½ of the batter into a greased tube pan, lay ½ of the apple
Slices on top of batter and sprinkle with ½ of the cinnamon-sugar
Mixture.

Repeat layers, cake batter, apples then cinnamon-sugar.

Bake @ 350 for 1hr and 25mins

 Thank you Debbie for sharing this.  It's going to become one of the recipes in my recipe layout book.                                                         

One Hour Challenge Recipe Layout

 The Old West cartridge was used to do this recipe.  I just thought it was appropriate for "Ranch" deviled eggs!

The only shape that I had to modify using Design Studio is the frame.  It got stretched a little bit to accommodate the size of the recipe.

I really do wish that there was a shadow feature for the words on this cartridge.  It's sometimes difficult to get a shadow cut even with Design Studio!  The images were shaded using Promarkers and Color Box Chalk inks.

Ranch Deviled Eggs

While sitting in the doctor's office waiting room I saw this recipe in a magazine and jotted it down. 

I tried to char the peppers in a skillet but found that it worked better for me to just hold them over a gas burner with a pair of tongs.  Charring peppers is something I'd never done before so I was surprised when they began to sizzle and pop!

The original recipe called for 3 tablespoons of olive oil but I cut it down to just 1 tablespoon.  I also didn't have the garlic stuffed olives so I used some pickled garlic that I had in the fridge and just some regular green salad olives for the garnish.

These turned out to be something we really like!  The combination of the acidity in the yogurt and the ranch dressing gives it a totally different taste than a traditional deviled egg.  Fred is eating the stuffed jalapenos, they're too hot for my taste.

If you're using these as an appetizer, I'd cut the tomatoes across rather than lengthwise so they can just be popped into your mouth for a single bite.  The tomatoes don't keep too well after they're stuffed.  This morning I got one out and it tasted just fine but a lot of the juice had accumulated under the filling.



RANCH DEVILED EGGS

4 jalapeno peppers
4 roma tomatoes
8 boiled eggs
½ cup plain Greek yogurt
1 oz. pkg. Ranch dressing mix
1 T. Olive oil
4 garlic stuffed olives, sliced

Char skin on peppers in skillet.  When cool, cut in half
Lengthways and scoop out seeds.

Cut tomatoes in half and scoop out pulp.

Boil 8 eggs.  Cut in half and remove yolks.
Mash 4 of the egg whites with the yolks and set aside
the remaining whites to be stuffed.

Mix yogurt, dressing mix and oil with egg mixture.
Spoon mixture into hollowed out peppers, tomatoes
and eggs.  Top with olive slices.  Chill before serving.





I'm putting this recipe into my recipe album, it's a keeper!

Yellow Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls

Yellow Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls


2 ½ cups lukewarm water
2 pkg. Quick rise yeast
1 yellow cake mix
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
3 ¼ cups flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 stick margarine, softened
sugar and cinnamon

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water (3 minutes). Add dry cake mix, 1 cup flour, 3 eggs, oil and salt. Beat with mixer until bubbles appear. Slowly add about 3 ¼ cups flour. Add more flour if dough is too sticky to work with – about 2 more cups may be needed to be added to make a soft dough.

Turn dough out onto floured board and knead for about 5 minutes. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. Separate dough into 3 pieces and roll out to about ¼” thick.

Spread with margarine. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Roll up jelly roll style and slice approximately 1 inch thick. Place each slice into greased baking pan and let rise until doubled in bulk. Bake at 350° for 20 – 30 minutes.
Ice with powdered sugar glaze while still hot.

Powdered Sugar Glaze

2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk

Place sifted sugar into a small deep bowl. Gradually add milk until glaze is formed.  Drizzle over hot cinnamon rolls.

This makes a really, really large batch of rolls.  It was given to me by an aunt years ago and it's become one of my favorites to make cinnamon rolls with.  The rolls are very fluffy, like a bakery, rather than having the texture of bread like most homemade cinnamon roll recipes.

Whew! Got it done!

It took longer to make the layout than it does to make the rolls!  LOL!  I just threw this together since my kids will be here soon for dinner.  Cartridges used:  From My Kitchen, Preserves, Pooh Font, Ashylyn's Alphabet.

The corner bracket stamp is one that I picked up at the LSS garage sale on Saturday.  It's one I'm going to get a lot of use out of!

Chicken Carbonara Pasta

Today I ran across this recipe online.  It sounded so yummy that I had to try it out.  I did modify it just a little bit, or course!  We had it for dinner tonight and DH says it's a keeper!

CHICKEN CARBONARA PASTA

2 boneless chicken breasts
4 slices, thick sliced bacon
½ cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
7 oz. thin spaghetti, cooked and drained
8 oz. heavy cream


Brown chicken breasts well on both sides in a small amount of olive oil.  Lower heat and cook until done.  Cut into bite sized pieces.

Chop bacon into ½” pieces and cook until crispy.  Remove from pan and drain.

Saute onion and garlic in about 1 T. bacon grease for 2-3 minutes, or until onion is tender.

Add cooked spaghetti to onions and garlic.  Stir in cheese and cream.  Heat thoroughly.  Add bacon and mix well.

One Hour Challenge Recipes and Page

Both of these recipes have probably been posted on here before but I knew I'd get requests for them once I posted the recipe album page.

Mexican Fiesta Dip Mix

1 T. chili powder
2 tsp. Dried parsley
1 tsp. Sugar
½ tsp. Plus 1/8 tsp. Garlic powder
¼ tsp. Plus 1/8 tsp. Onion powder
¼ tsp. Plus 1/8 tsp dried cilantro
1/8 heaping tsp. Cayenne pepper
1/8 heaping tsp. Salt

Combine well.

To make dip, mix with 1 cup of
Mayonnaise and 1 cup sour cream.

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 This recipe was shared on the Cricut MB last year just before Christmas.  I believe it was called Reindeer Dipping Sauce.  I made some of it up for gifts.  Everyone raved about it!

Pretzel Dip

14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
8 oz. jar yellow mustard
2 T. grated horseradish**
2 T. worcestershire sauce

Mix together, Makes 3 cups.
Store in refrigerator.
Use as pretzel dip or for sandwich spread.

**Grated horseradish can be found in
the refrigerator section at the grocery.

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On the recipe page, I used Graphically Speaking for the sombrero, Old West for the cactus, From My Kitchen for the pretzel and a SU punch for the Rolodex edge.

The background paper is Kitschy Kitchen by Melissa Frances.

One Hour Challenge Recipes

Baked Zucchini

1 lb. sausage, browned
1 chopped onion
poultry seasoning
garlic powder
1 package Pepperidge Farms Seasoned Stuffing Mix
parmesan cheese
1 large zucchini

Cut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out center and fry with meat, onion and seasonings.
Put stuffing mixture into a large bowl, add mixture from frying pan and cheese.
Mix well.  If too dry, add a little hot water.
Fill both halves of squash with the stuffing mixture. 
Top with more cheese.
Wrap each half in foil and bake on a cookie sheet at 375° until squash is tender.

Here's how I usually make this:

I chop up smaller sized unpeeled zucchini and cook it with the sausage and onions.  Mix it with the stuffing, seasoning and cheese.  Place it into a greased baking dish and bake until hot throughout.  I even just cook this in the microwave.

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Susan St. James Casserole

1 cup dry barley
1 1/2 cups water
chopped onion
chopped tomatoes
chopped bell pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
pinch of oregano

Put barley in 2 quart casserole.  Add waater, salt, oregano and vegetables.  DO NOT STIR.
Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes; then stir and serve.  You can use almost any vegetable that you prefer in this.

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Brenda's Mac & Cheese

Footballmom shared this recipe with the One Hour Challenge.  I came up with this as my layout for it.

I used Mickey Font for the title; recipe cards, salt and pepper shakers and the cheese pieces are From My Kitchen, the mouse is from My Community.  Background paper came from Farmer's Market stack.  I added lots of doodledots and a little flower sticker to break up the large white area in the corner of the recipe card.

The title's letters are all shadowed with Promarkers.  The dimension doesn't show up well in the photo but it made a BIG difference; it makes the letters look like they've been pop-dotted off the Crushed Curry paper!