Mexican Street Corn Casserole

Mexican Street Corn Casserole

24 ounces frozen corn, thawed (if you use canned corn, please ensure you drain well)
1/4 cup mayonnaise (don't use that Miracle stuff...it's gross)
1/3 cup sour cream
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon chili powder (or more if you are like us and like a little more spice to your life)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (or more if you are like us)
Salt & Pepper, to taste
4 ounces of cojita cheese (if I can find it in Walmart in the middle of Missouri, I think everyone else can find it, but if you can't, you can use queso fresco or as a last resort, feta, but try to find cojita)
2 Tablespoons of cilantro (if you are one of those people who like, it, I don't like it, so we leave it out)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, lightly grease a 2-3 quart casserole dish.

In a large bowl, mix together corn, mayonnaise, sour cream and lime juice.  Add chili powder, garlic salt, cayenne and mix well.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir in half of the cheese.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, making sure it's heated through and bubbly.  Before serving sprinkle with the remaining cheese and sprinkle with a little more chili powder and if you want to make it pretty and like cilantro you can throw some on there too.

Yummy Asian Chicken Wing Marinade

Everyone needs a good chicken wing marinade and this is a family favorite.  I always try to keep chicken wings in the freezer for a quick dinner.  Obviously with any marinade the longer you leave your chicken in the better but this marinade is so flavorful that if it's a last minute thing, it's still yummy!

Asian Chicken Wing Marinade

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup chili garlic sauce
juice of 1 lime
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 lbs chicken wings

Mix in a large bowl, set aside 1/2 cup of mixture.  Add chicken wings, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 and place a wire rack if you have one over a baking sheet.  Remove wings from marinade and place on wire rack.  Bake until golden and crispy from 45-60 minutes, flipping wings halfway through.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, add reserved marinade.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until thickened, 10 minutes.

Turn oven on broil.  Brush sauce over wings and broil until caramelized, 2-3 minutes.

Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup

This quickly became a family favorite after a sweet friend had me over for lunch and served this soup.  It's quick and easy.  This is a recipe that can be put together in an afternoon and still be full of flavor by dinner time.  (I don't have the link to the site I got this recipe from as I wrote it down on a note card, so I can't give credit but I will put this disclaimer that this is not my original recipe.)

Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:

1 pound ground Italian sausage (we like to use hot)

24 ounces of spaghetti or marinara sauce

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

8 ounces cream cheese

8 ounces sliced mushrooms

16 ounces frozen cheese tortellini

2 ounces fresh spinach leaves

Instructions:

1.  Brown and crumble sausage until cooked through.  Drain fat.  Place cooked sausage in slow cooker.

2.  Add spaghetti/marinara sauce, broth, cream cheese and mushrooms in the slow cooker.  You can just drop the whole block of cream cheese in, no need to worry about stirring or cutting it up.

3.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 2-3 hours

4.  20 minutes before serving turn heat to HIGH if not already done so and stir in frozen tortellini and spinach.  Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until tortellini is tender and hot.

5.  Serve topped with parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

 

Pear Jam

Pear Jam

Ingredients:

4 cups pears, peeled, cored and diced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 box or 6 tablespoons fruit pectin, (I use powered pectin)
4-5 cups of granulated sugar*
1/2 teaspoon butter

Steps

1. Prepare water bath canner, sterilize jars, lids and rings.

2.  Using a heavy 6-8 quart sauce pan add pears, lemon juice and pectin.  Add butter to reduce foaming.  Bring to a rolling boil.  Add sugar.  *if your pears are very ripe, you may need less sugar.  Bring to a rolling boil and boil for one minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Skim any foam off.

3.  Pour into prepared jars, ensuring the rims are clean and place lids.  Process for 10 minutes and let rest.

Banana Bread

 

 Banana bread is glorious.  Whenever bananas get a little too ripe, we throw them in the freezer.  I love that I have a freezer full so that when I need to whip something up (like at 5 a.m. this morning as a thank you for someone), I can pull some out and create these beautiful loaves.  I don't often make regular size loaves of any sweet bread.  I typically use my mini loaf pans or my square brownie pan to make smaller versions that I can give out or freeze for my boys.  

This recipe is my favorite for just regular banana bread, I have a different one for one with chocolate chips.  I don't enjoy nuts in my sweet breads but you could add any type of nut if that's what you like.

I think the key for this recipe is super ripe bananas and actually whisking the wet ingredients together to get a good mixture of all the sweetness from the sugar and bananas.  Oh..yeah...its not the healthiest of recipes with 1.5 cups of sugar!

I typically double this recipe.
 
 Banana Bread

• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large), if it's a little more or less it's fine...I tend to use a little more
• ¾ cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat loaf pans with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk eggs, sugar, bananas, and oil in a large bowl until smooth. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture and stir just until combined. Scrape batter into prepared pans and smooth top.

Bake until a tester inserted into the center of bread comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let bread cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around inside of pan to release the bread. Turn out onto rack and let cool completely.

If you want to just bake one big loaf (9x5x3), spray pan and bake for 60-70 minutes.

I can get 8 mini loaves with this recipe.

Fair warning, this bread is delicious and addicting!!!

Stove Top Mac & Cheese

 

 

My kids really enjoy mac and cheese  Me...not so much.   I have tried a few different recipes but my boys were never really impressed by all the fancy cheeses I used to upgrade a childhood favorite.  Yesterday after my husband and middle son were stuck in traffic for hours because of bad weather and accidents, I wanted to have something for them that was comforting and warm.  Alton Brown has rarely let me down and he didn't yesterday.  This was surprisingly easy and delicious.  Even I ate some and that is saying a lot!  Of course, like most of my recipes, I had to double this.  It was very cheesy and delicious.

 

Stove Top Mac & Cheese

 

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
6 ounces evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
10 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded  (It's always best to shred your own cheese as it melts much better than the already shredded cheese in the bag)

n a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente and drain. Return to the pot and melt in the butter. Toss to coat.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard. Stir into the pasta and add the cheese. Over low heat continue to stir for 3 minutes or until creamy.

Zucchini Bread

This is my favorite Zucchini recipe.  I make lots of mini loaves and freeze them for my kids.  It's not the healthiest recipe but it's sure yummy!


Zucchini Bread

• 3 cups of flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 cup of vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups of grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans or coat with cooking spray. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg and mix thoroughly. Beat together, oil, eggs,white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy. Add flour mixture to the creamy mixture and mix well. Gently add the zucchini and walnuts until well combined. Pour into greased bread pans and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a knife is inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for a few minutes moving to a rack. Enjoy.