Shrimp Tarts

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Digging through my recipe box the other day, I found an old one that I hadn't made for YEARS and funny thing is hubby loves shrimp and these are shrimp tarts!

 

 

If you enjoy the taste of shrimp, I can almost guarantee that you will love these.  Such easy appetizers to whip up when you are expecting company or just for the family.

 

 

These make a large batch....24 tarts....if not more.

 

Ingredients

 

1 1/2 - 2 loaves of white or whole wheat bread

1 cup melted butter

 

Brush the bread with 1 cup of butter and push into the muffin tins.  Bake for 5 minutes at 425F.

 

                                      

 

 

2 tablespoon of butter

1/4 cup of flour

1 1/2 cup of milk

 

Cook over low heat until thick.

 

2 cups broken shrimp

1 cup medium cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon of prepared mustard

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

1 teaspoon onion flakes

3 drops of tabasco sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Combine the above with the flour/butter/milk mixture.  Mix well and fill shells. 

***at this point you can freeze some if you wish***

 

 

I sprinkle a little extra cheese on the top.

 

 

Then bake at 425F for 10 to 15 minutes.

 

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Happy cooking and remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Stuffed Peppers

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The other day, the local grocery store had large, organic, beautiful peppers on sale.  They were the perfect size to be stuffed!  Since we will have to wait quite a while for our own peppers to be planted, grow and be picked, I wanted to have that 'garden grown' flavor now.

 

Our method of stuffed peppers is pretty basic and the recipe is never the same.

 

Ingredients  - give or take

 

1 pound of hamburger

3 gloves of garlic, minced

1 onion, diced

1 (15.5 ounce) can Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

smidge of brown sugar

splash of Worcestershire sauce

small can of tomato paste

1 1/2 cups of chicken broth

4 green bell peppers

 

 

 

Directions

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

 

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add ground beef, stirring constantly, cook until brown and crumbly.  Pour off the grease, , then stir in the garlic, onions, tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce.  Cook and stir until the onions are soft, about 4 minutes.  Stir about 1/2 of the cheese into the mixture, set aside.

 

Cut the top of the peppers and remove the veins and seeds.  Rinse well.  Fill each pepper with the ground beef mixture and then carefully pour some of the chicken broth over the hamburger mixture.  Place in muffin tins or a bread pan so they stand upright while baking and replace the tops.

 

Bake for approximately 30 to 45 minutes or until peppers are soft. 

 

they were steaming hot out of the oven

 

Remove peppers from the pan.  I then take off the top and sprinkle the remaining cheese.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Just a note:

 

The Rotel tomatoes it adds quite a bit of 'heat'.  If you prefer a 'cooler' pepper just use regular diced tomatoes.

 

 

I hope you have a great day and remember to give your loved ones a hug!

 



Mozza Bombs

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Cheese.  I LOVE cheese.  Any cheese but Blue and Limburger ..... too smelly for me.  Gouda is my all time favorite, sliced thin and served with hot, homemade bread. 

 

 

Browsing recipes the other day I came across a recipe from Pinterest .... unfortunately the link now does not work so I can't link back but I decided to give it a try.  I mixed mine up a little though.

 

I call them Mozza Bombs.

 

Ingredients

 

2 containers of Pillsbury Flaky dinner rolls

2 - 3 mozza string cheese

little olive oil for brushing the tops

Italian seasoning

parmesan cheese

 

 

                

 

Directions

 

Take apart the flaky dinner rolls and carefully separate each one.  Cut or tear the mozza string cheese into small pieces and lay in between dinner rolls.  Pinch the edges so each roll is sealed. 

 

 

Lightly brush to top of each dinner roll.  Sprinkle the Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese over the olive oil.

 

 

Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Cook according to the direction on the container of dinner rolls.  I watched them carefully and they only had to bake a little bit longer. 

 

                

 

These turned out DELICIOUS!!  So easy and quick.  Perfect for when I need something whipped up at the last minute for unexpected company .... or just when I need a cheese fix.

 

                    

 

Happy baking and remember to give your loved ones a hug!



Two-Ingredient Lemon Bars

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Some of you know how much I love lemon and when I found a new recipe that involved lemon pie filling, well I just had to try it and it is oh so very easy!

 

 

I found the recipe through Pinterest of course and having the ingredients in the pantry, I set right to work.  The original pin was from Jessie over at Living Practically.

 

 

Ingredients

 

1 box of angel food cake mix

1 can of lemon pie filling

 

Directions

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spray a 9 x 13 inch cake pan with cooking spray

 

Combine the angel food cake mix and the can of lemon pie filling in a large bowl.  Stir by hand just until moistened.  Do not over stir.

 

 

 

Pour batter into cake pan and spread evenly.

 

Place in oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes.  Mine took 25 minutes.

 

Remove from oven and lightly dust top of the lemon bars with powdered sugar.  Let cool, slice and serve.

 

 



 

The texture was that of an angel food cake, not gooey and juicy as I like my lemon bars to be.  It did have a wonderful subtle lemon flavor and I will definitely make it again when I need something quick for company.

 

 



Have fun baking and remember to give your loved ones a hug!

 

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

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Leftovers.  We all have them and some of us throw them out.  Nothing goes to waste around here.  I try and find any type of recipe that will use them up in a new way.  If there is only 1/2 cup of vegetables left over, I will bag those up in a baggie and put them in the freezer for future stews and soups.  The other day we had a great chunk of ham left over from our dinner a few days before.  We had ham sandwiches already so something different needed to be made and the rest will be put in the freezer.

Looking for something that will be the main part of our meal, I found a Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes and Ham recipe.  Yummy!  Just the sounds of it made my tummy rumble.

Ingredients:

4 cups of peeled, sliced  potatoes

2 cups of diced ham

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cups milk

1 cup frozen peas

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1/4 pound cheddar cheese, diced

a pinch paprika, to taste, if you wish

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.  Layer half the potatoes, half the ham, and half the onion to a 2 quart baking dish; then repeat the layers until everything is gone.

3.  Heat the milk, peas, flour, butter, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, it took me about 10 minutes.

4.  Stir the cheddar cheese into sauce until cheese is melted.

5.  Pour the sauce over the potatoes and ham mixture then sprinkle with paprika.

6.  Place the lid on the casserole dish. If you don't have a lid cover with aluminum foil.

7.  Bake in the oven for approximately one hour or until potatoes are tender.

8.  Remove the lid or the foil and continue baking until the potatoes are nicely browned, which took me approximately 15 minutes.

This recipe was easy and oh so delicious!  Sorry I don't have a picture of the final product ..... everyone devoured it too quickly.  Perfect for using up the leftover ham we had in the fridge.  If you ever have some, give the recipe a try ..... I don't think you will be disappointed!

Have a great day and remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Kale, Banana and Orange Smoothie

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I have been wanting to work more greens into my daily diet and wishing to learn how to make some smoothies so what better way than to combine both?!

I hunted and read reviews on so many different smoothies that finally I just gave up and tried my own concoction and I have to say ..... I LOVE smoothies!!

Many recipes I had found included soy milk which I never have on hand and I really didn't want to add milk .... I wanted to include yogurt instead.  The probiotics in yogurt work well for my system.

So here is my version of a green/yellow/orange breakfast or anytime smoothie .....

Ingredients - 

1 orange (juice and pulp)

1 cup chopped kale

1 5oz container of yogurt ( I used low fat banana cream pie flavor )

1 medium sized banana

1 tbsp flax seed

Method - 

I sliced the orange in half and squeezed all the juice into my blender and added the pulp.  Then I added one sliced banana, 1 cup of chopped kale, the container of yogurt and 1 tbsp flax seed.

Mix well on high for approximately 2 minutes.Pour into glass/cup and enjoy.  

The consistency is similar to a thin pudding so not possible to drink through a straw.  If milk was added that would most likely help it to become thinner but as mentioned, I really didn't want to add any milk.  

This turned out just right for me and I loved the taste!  The bitterness that can sometimes be found in kale was non-existent.  I am sure the banana and the orange helped with that.  It is a pretty color too!  

Do you have any smoothie recipes to share?  I would love to try them!  Always remember to give your loved ones a hug.

Wild Rice Pilaf

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We are big wild rice eaters in this house.  Living so close to wild rice paddies helps quite a bit as well.  Our local reservation harvests wild rice less than 10 miles from our home.  We have friends who harvest each year and although there is some concern about the five lakes that supply the local wild rice, restoration is currently being implemented to save this great natural resource.   Wild rice needs to be washed repeatedly before cooking.  It is a very dirty rice.  With the following recipe, I washed the wild rice is cool, clean water four times before I added it to the casserole dish.

This is DELICIOUS!

Wild Rice Pilaf

Ingredients

1 - (10.5 ounce) can of beef consomme (or 2 1/2 tablespoons of beef bullion with 10.5 ounces of water, mixed well)

1 - (10.5 ounce) can condensed French onion soup

1 - (2.5 ounce) package of slivered almonds

6 - green onions, chopped

1 - 8 ounce package of mushrooms (sliced)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup uncooked wild rice

3/4 cup uncooked brown rice

cooking spray

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees).  Spray a 2 quart oven safe baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  Melt butter in the baking dish over medium-heat.  Stir in the wild rice and brown rice.  Cook and stir for five minutes.  Stir in the onions; cook for five additional minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in the mushrooms and almonds.  Pour onion soup and consomme over the rice mixture.  Cover with lid or aluminum foil that has been coated with nonstick cooking spray.

3.  Bake until rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Stir before serving.

Recipe makes 15 - 1/2 servings.

If you like wild rice and have access to the cracked type that resembles popcorn when cooked, give this recipe a try ..... you won't be disappointed!  

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Homemade Hearty Hamburger Soup

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The other day, I had mentioned making homemade soup on a blustery, snowy day.  Well the soup turned out delicious and I thought you might like the recipe or file it away for a day when soup sounds good.

My recipe is easily adaptable and oh so many ingredients can be added or omitted.  This is one reason why I love homemade soup .... anything goes!  I believe any soup can be good when using good, wholesome ingredients.  Soup is a complete dinner or lunch in a bowl and one of my favorite meals to serve in winter.

Ingredients:

1 pound of hamburger, browned

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tablespoon of olive oil (for browning the onion)

3 celery stalks, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 bay leaf

2 cups of water

3 cups of beef broth, either homemade or from a can

1 can yellow or green beans

1 large can diced tomatoes (28 oz)

2 cans of condensed tomato soup

1/2 cup of Velveeta cheese, cut into cubes

1/2 cup barley

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon fresh or dried parsley

Optional: fresh mushrooms, peppers, pasta, diced cabbage, carrots or any vegetable you might have in your fridge!

Directions:

Saute onions in olive oil.  Add hamburger and brown until crumbled.  Drain well.  

Add all ingredients to a large stock pot and simmer on the stove for approximately two hours or to a large crock-pot.  If using a crock-pot leave on high for two hours then turn to low for approximately six to seven hours.  I use medium barley and the barley seems to take the longest.  If the soup tends to be on the runny side, add a small can of tomato paste.  Mix it in well. 

Serve with homemade bread slathered in homemade butter. (the 'slathered' butter isn't healthy but the soup makes up for it!) Oh so delicious!

This will generously serve 8 people.  

Enjoy and remember to give your loved ones a hug .... along with homemade soup!

Hot Mexican Dip

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I have a treat for you today.  Something to make during the holiday season to take to potlucks or for large family gatherings.  It can be made in advance and then re-heated.  This appetizer is just amazing ..... oh so very addicting.  Pop it in the crock-pot in the morning and it will stay warm enough to be dipped into all day, if it isn't all taken within a few minutes! A large four quart pot full just doesn't last long.

My niece Nicole brought it over during hunting season and I could not stay away from it.  It was an old family recipe and I can see why it was so popular for so many years.  

If you like Mexican .... you are going to LoVe this!

Hot Mexican Dip

1 1/2 pound lean hamburger

2 rolls of Jimmy Dean 'hot' sausage

2 pounds of Velveeta cheese, cut into cubes

2 - 4 oz cans of green chilies

1 - 15 oz can tomato sauce

1 - 6 oz can tomato paste

1 - 3.8 can of sliced olives *optional*

1 - 4 oz can of jalapeno peppers *optional*

Brown the hamburger and Jimmy Dean sausage, drain well.

Place the meat and cheese in the crock-pot.  

Once the cheese begins to melt, add chilies, tomato sauce, tomato paste, olives and peppers.  Mix very well.

Once it has heated all through, serve with tortilla chips .... I happened to have guacamole chips.

Oooh, la, la.  Delicious!

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!