What's For Dinner?- April

Here's what's cookin' in April around here:

Michelle's Broccoli- Chicken Bake

Fish Tacos  I can't wait to make these again!

Fancy Chicken   I've waited a whole month to make this again!  Actually, I jumped the gun and made it yesterday.  I won't tell if you won't.

Lime Shrimp Scampi/ Spaghetti/ Easy Cheesy Rolls (if you haven't tried these, it's time!)

Blender Whole Wheat Pancakes/ Brown Sugar Bacon

Clam Chowder/ Bread

Ragu Bolognese over Pasta/ Salad/Shonna's Parmesan Pull-Aparts

Tacos with Adobo Tomatillo Sauce

Michelle's Sweet and Sour Chicken over Rice  Man, I love this recipe

Easter Dinner:  Glazed Ham/ Funeral Potatoes/ Asparagus/Strawberry Salad/ Carrot Cake

Kristen's Tandoori Chicken over rice

Apricot Chicken in the Crockpot/ Rice

New Recipes to Try:
Crockpot Cashew Chicken/ Rice
Ham Casserole with leftover Easter ham
Desserts and Treats:
Scotcharoos (Our Easter Tradition)

The Ultimate Carrot Cake - to entice the Easter bunny to our house

Andelin's Pot De Creme

Parmesan Pull-Aparts

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups warm water (I heat mine in the microwave for 30 seconds)

2 TBSP sugar

2 TBSP oil

1 1/4 tsp active yeast

1 tsp salt

3-4 cups white flour (I used about 3 cups white and 1/2 cup wheat)

Topping ingredients:

3-4 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP Garlic Seasoning --combine these 2 ingredients in a small bowl for dipping (The original recipe called for 2 cloves of garlic minced, but I like this seasoning mix personally with other spices as well.)

1/4 cup parmesan cheese on a plate to dip the dough in

Directions:

Combine water, sugar, yeast, oil, & salt in Bosch mixer. Let sit a few minutes until yeast starts to bubble. Then slowly add the flour until it pulls away from the sides. Knead it or continue to mix for 4-5 minutes. Put dough in glass bowl sprayed with oil and turn to coat. Cover with damp cloth and put in an oven warmed to 160 degrees and turned off. Let sit in there for 10-15 minutes to rise a bit. Punch down and  knead for a minute on an oiled surface. Cut into 25-30 pieces with a pizza cutter. Then dip each piece in the olive oil/garlic seasoning mix then in the parmesan and place in a greased 13x9 pan. Let it rise in the warmed oven for 10-15 minutes, then turn the oven on to 350 degrees. It will rise as the oven heats up. Turn on the timer for 15 minutes when you turn the oven back on. Watch them and take the rolls out when they are lightly browned on top. Enjoy! She sure did!

I got the original recipe from Foodapparel.com.

Disneyland's Monte Cristo Sandwich

When I was a child, our family went to Disneyland.  We ate at the Blue Bayou Restaurant and I ordered the Monte Cristo Sandwich.  I thought it was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten.  So when I saw this copycat recipe for that sandwich, I had to try it.  I never deep fry food.  So I don't know much about it, but I lucked out, I guess, because these sandwiches turned out really good.  I used homemade bread.  They were really yummy!

Disneyland Monte Cristo Sandwiches
12 slices bread
6 slices Swiss cheese
6 slices turkey
6 slices ham
vegetable oil for frying
Powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
1 egg, beaten
Jelly or jam.
  Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add the water and egg and blend thoroughly. Put a slice of cheese and a slice of each of the meats between the bread.  Cut the sandwich in half and toothpick each half.  Dip the sandwich in the batter, then fry in hot oil until golden.  It doesn't take very long.  Drain on paper towel. While sandwich is still hot, remove the toothpick and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Serve with Jam or Jelly (grape jelly is traditional.)

French bread rolls

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups bread flour

Directions:
In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand for a couple minutes.
To the yeast mixture add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes (or knead for 5 minutes with your Bosch). Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. (I heat my oven to 160 degrees then turn it off. Don't let it get warmer than that or it can kill the yeast. Then I put my dough in to let rise. It's way faster and my little trick.)

Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces (I cut it with a pizza cutter), and form into round balls. Place on lightly greased baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes (or 15ish minutes using my trick). Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Bake for 15-18 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. OR if you let them rise in the warmed oven with my special trick, just turn on the oven and they'll rise more as it heats. I turned on the oven (which was already at 135) and then turned on the timer for 18 minutes and they looked like this. Enjoy!

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com

Robyn's Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal Cookies: (It makes a ton, so I usually half the recipe or make the full one and freeze the cookie balls on a cookie sheet and then divide into bags of 12)

1 1/2 cups shortening (I used 1 cup shortening and 1 stick (1/2 cup) margarine)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 Tbsp water
3 cups flour
2 tsp soda
2 tsp salt
4 cups oatmeal
Chocolate chips

Cream shortening and sugar. Add wet ingredients, mix well. Combine dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients, then add oatmeal. Stir in chocolate chips. Roll into balls and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Again, I got this recipe from my great friend Robyn. She is the best cook and I love her recipes! These cookies were divine. My husband is a cookie conisseur, loves all types of cookies, and said these were a definite favorite.

Pi Day

Today is Pi Day.  You know, Pi- Pie.  Pi is 3.14 (the ratio of a circle to it's diameter) and so to celebrate on 3/14 - make a pie!  Here's some yummy pie recipes to try:
Lemon Meringue:   One of my husband's two favorites

Blueberry Turnovers:

Southern Pecan Pie

Dear Abby's Pecan Pie:

Ice Cream Pie:

Banana or Chocolate Cream Pie

Perfect Apple Pie   My husband's other favorite

Ken's Luscious Lemon Pie:

Double Layer Chocolate Pie

Fudgy Chocolate Silk Pie- my personal favorite:

No bake Key Lime Pie  A family favorite

Baked Key Lime Pie

Peaches and Cream Pie:

Rhubarb Pie - perfect for spring!

Need a good crust recipe?  Here's two:
Perfect Pie Crust

Flaky Pie Crust (made with oil)

Or try my favorite savory pie: Chicken Pot Pie

So, which one are you going to make today?  Choose one of these or your favorite recipe or go buy a pie, but be sure to celebrate Pi Day with PIE!

Crustless Zucchini Pie

This is basically a variation on Quiche. I got it from one of my favorite cookbooks, "The Essential Food Storage Cookbook."  It was tasty and easy.

·         ¼ cup butter

·         1 Tablespoon oil

·         4 cups zucchini, thinly sliced

·         1 medium onion, chopped

·         2 tsp dried parsley

·         ½ tsp salt

·         ½ tsp pepper

·         ½ tsp Italian Seasoning

·         ½ tsp garlic powder

·         3 large eggs, beaten

·         2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated

·         ¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a large skillet, melt butter with oil. Add zucchini and onion. Cook and stir over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until onion and zucchini are soft. Add parsley, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder.  In small bowl, combine eggs and mozzarella cheese.  Stir egg mixture into zucchini mixture. Pour into a greased 10 inch glass pie plate.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese evenly over top.  Bake for 20 minutes or until set.  Serves 4 to 6. 

Mary's Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

Soon after we were married some friends invited us over to play games one evening and they served these cinnamon rolls. They were de.li.cious. I have made this recipe ever since. We live 3 hours from the temple so we get to make a family day trip of it several times a year. We always start the day off with these yummy babies. It is a happy tradition.

Dough
1 T yeast
1 c warm milk
1/2 sugar
1 t. salt
2 eggs
1/3 c. melted butter or margarine (The original recipe called for margarine. I like to use butter.)
4 c. flour

Filling
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1 c brown sugar
2 1/2 t. cinnamon

Frosting
8 T butter or margarine
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. cream cheese (2 oz.)
1/2 t. vanilla
1/8 t. salt

Dissolve yeast and warm milk in a bowl. Let sit for about 5 minutes. Add sugar, salt, eggs, butter and flour. Mix well. Knead on counter for a minute (I let my Bosch knead it for a couple of minutes). Rise on counter for an hour.
Meanwhile:
Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and set aside.

Beat all frosting ingredients together until fluffy and until the color is more white than yellow.
Then:
After 1 hour roll dough out in a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. I find it is pretty sticky so I need to put flour on my counter and on my rolling pin. Spread 1/3 cup butter on dough with a knife (I do about half that and it still tastes amazing). Sprinkle brown sugar/cinnamon mix on top. Start on a long side of the dough and roll it up so it makes one long skinny roll. Use yarn, thread or floss and slide it under the roll about 3/4 inches down then hold both ends of the thread and pull up. It will slice through the dough. Put on a greased cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Repeat until it has all been sliced and put on the pan.

Bake at 400 for 10-14 minutes until light brown on top.

Frost and serve hot or cold. We like them nice and warm. Mmm.

Yummy Broccoli-Chicken Bake

I got this recipe from a friend in college when she had us over for dinner.  I remember being so impressed by how pretty and delicious it was. I have been making it ever since.  It is pretty quick and easy when you use the store-bought cans of crescent rolls. I have always wanted to try making my own dough for it, but I haven't yet.  Our family loves this one!

• 1 cup cooked chicken
• 1 cup cooked broccoli
• 1/4 cup green pepper, diced
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 cup shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1 tsp dill
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cans crescent rolls

Pre-heat oven to 375.  Bake for 20 minutes on sprayed cookie sheet.  Spread out 2 crescent rolls, short sides touching.  Finger press to combine.  Repeat process, overlapping large triangles to cover bottom o pan. Spread mixture out down the center of the dough.  Fold over side to enclose.  It's best not to overlap dough for more even cooking.

Can substitute with pie filling.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.  350 for 25 min. 

What's For Dinner? March

Here's what's cookin' for March:
 Grilled Steaks/ Potato Salad

 Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken over Rice

Crockpot French Dip Sandwiches

Easy Parmesan Chicken/ Spaghetti/ Breadsticks

Conglomerate Burgers/ Homemade Roasted Fries

Ham, Swiss, and Broccoli Roll Ups in Basil Cream Sauce/ Rice - I love this dish!

Chicken in Lime Butter Sauce/ Mashed Potatoes

Thai Beef Coconut Curry Over Rice  

I'll just make this recipe with beef bullion and steak strips.  You can do the same with chicken or whatever meat you'd like.

Chicken Pot Pie

Creamed Tuna on Toast/ Peas

Zuppa Toscana- my husband's birthday dinner request.  He loves this stuff!

Breakfast Vegetable Burritos

New Recipes to Try:

Pantry Pick of the Month:  Short Ribs/  Easy Slow-Cooked Short Ribs

Pork Stew

Wendy's Copycat Chili

Desserts:

Banana Bars with Browned Butter Frosting

Perfect Apple Pie - My husband's birthday request.  His favorite dessert.

Blueberry Turnovers

Lemon Cake