Season 2; Week 6; Ashley's Jalapeno Popper Dip

Jalapeno Popper Dip - everyone will ask for your recipe!

Ingredients:

6-8 slices of bacon, diced and cooked crispy
2 8oz cream cheese, softened
4-6 jalapeños, chopped and deseeded, The seeds will make it fiery hot!
1 cup mayo
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup mozzarella , shredded
1/4 cup diced green onions

Topping:

1 cup crackers crusted up( I used Ritz)
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 stick of butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375, I used my ninja to finely chop all the jalapeños. Mixed all ingredients together, except topping. I put it in a round 12" stoneware dish, so it was about an inch of dip. If you use a deep dish you will need to bake it longer..  Mix all your toppings and  sprinkle them on top of your dip. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until bubbly.. That's it, enjoy with chips or crackers your choice.

Enjoy, Ashley

Mixing The First Layer Ingredients

Before Adding The Topping

Jalapeno Popper Dip Completed!

Liz mixing it up

Liz's Dip

Cindy's Jalapeno Popper Dip

Season 2; Week 5; Carla's Banana Bourbon Bundt Pound Cake

Carla's Banana Bourbon Bundt Pound Cake

Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 - 8oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
3 sups sugar
4 eggs
2 medium bananas mashed
1/4 cup bourbon
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup pecan pieces

Directions:

Generously grease and flour Bundt pan.  Preheat oven to 325.  Mix flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.  Beat cream cheese and butter until creamy.  Add sugar gradually beating with standing mixer 7 minutes.  

Add eggs one at a time beating 1 minute after each egg.

Put bananas, bourbon and vanilla in bowl.  Add bananas and bourbon mixture alternately with flour mixture into egg mixture.  Stir in pecans.  

Spread evenly into pan and bake for 80 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  I start checking it at 60 minutes.  

37 y/o Sunbeam Mixmaster she calls her Work Horse

Before it goes in the oven

This cake is good as a coffee cake in the morning or served with whipping cream at night.  It also freezes well but it has never made it to the freezer at my house.  I hope you all enjoy this cake, it will be great for Memorial Day weekend to snack on.

Banana Bourbon Pound Cake!

Cindy's Mini BBB's with a "Liz" twist

Cindy's BBB Minis

Julie's BBB Cake

Ryno having a slice!

Liz's pound cake with Bourbon butter sauce and ice cream 

 

Season 2; Week 4; Cindy's Spinach Lasagna Rolls

I love lasagna, so when I found a way to make it a little different, and more server-friendly I wanted to give it a try. This was fun to make and is great for entertaining because it is "pretty" and great for portion control.  Can't wait for you all to try it:

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 pound of ground Italian Sausage (whatever kind you like)
1 10-ounce package frozen leaf spinach, thawed, drained, chopped
1 15-oz container ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 egg, beaten to blend
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley (I used dried)
salt and pepper
1 jar of your favorite prepared spaghetti sauce (I use Kroger's Marinara, it's $1 and taste great)
8 lasagna noodles, freshly cooked (do not overcook, al dente for handling). You will only use 6, but 2 extra just in case you have any that break
1 1/4 cups grated mozzarella

You'll also need:
A roll of wax paper if you don't have it (it's about $1-2 and in the aluminum foil section of the store)
An 8 x 8 square baking dish

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Cook the Italian sausage in a frying pan until thoroughly cooked and in small pieces. Remove from pan, add a little more oil to pan and add spinach and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Cool. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg and parsley in large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Spread 1 cup of spaghetti sauce over bottom of 8-inch square baking dish.
Remove the al dente lasagna noodles from the pot individually and place on wax paper for drying and easy handling (the wax paper keeps them from sticking to the counter). Spread about about 1/3 cup ricotta mixture of each noodle. Sprinkle the cooked sausage (you will have some sausage left over, this will be added to the remaining sauce later) over the ricotta mixture, carefully roll up noodle, starting at 1 short end, to enclose filling. Arrange seam side down in prepared dish. Repeat with remaining noodles, 6 fit just right. Add remaining sausage to remaining spaghetti sauce then pour over noodles. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake until cheese melts, about 45 minutes.  I hope you love it!

                                                          Cindy's Lasagna Process

                                                             Garrett's Lasagna

                                                   Garrett's Lasagna....looks Delish!

                                                     Carla's Lasagna

                                                             Julie's Lasagna

Liz's Rolls. Yummmmmmm!

Season 2; Week 3; Garrett's Walnut Chicken with Brown Butter Sauce

Walnut Chicken

(Makes 4 Servings)

8- 3oz Chicken Breast 

3/4 Cups Italian Bread Crumbs

1/4Cup Panko Bread Crumbs

1/2 Cup Cornmeal

1/2 Cup Finely chopped Walnuts

Salt, Pepper, Garlic powder, Oregano to taste. The Italian Bread crumbs have a fair amount of flavor in them. If you use plain bread crumbs, add more seasoning.

1 Poblano Pepper

1 Red Bell Pepper

1 Red Onion

1 Yellow Bell Pepper

1/2 Cup Soy Sauce

2 Packets of Instant Garlic Mashed Potatoes... You could make your own if you wish. I'm lazy.

Brown Butter Sauce

1 1/2 Sicks of Unsalted Butter

1/2 Teaspoon Tabasco sauce ( I like a lot of it personally)

1/2 cup Toasted Chopped Walnuts

Salt, Pepper to Taste

1/2 Tablespoon Brown Sugar

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan on med-high heat. Toss the Walnuts in after the butter melts.

Turn heat down to low-medium and cook until the butter browns and cooks down. Sauce is pretty light in texture though. Thickens slightly as it cools. Stir often.

Set Aside.

Directions

Chop Veg julienne and marinate in Soy.

Set Aside

Combine Dry ingredients.

Place each individual Chicken Breast between saran wrap and beat until roughly 1/4- 1/2 in thick.

Coat chicken in dry mix. Pressing firmly on all sides to ensure that coating will not fall off during cooking process.

Preheat oven to 375 allowing the chicken to sit for a short period of time.

Generously coat a saute pan with Olive Oil over Medium-High/ High Heat.

Saute The Chicken Breasts for 2 Minutes on each side.

Place Chicken in the oven for 5 minutes. Adjust cooking time if you couldn't quite pound the meat as thin as the recipe calls for.

In your saute pan, Cook your veg mixture over medium-high heat until peppers begin to char.

Cook Instant Mash.

Scoop of Mash Potatoes, Veg Mixture on top of that, and two pieces of Walnut Chicken on the top of the pile. Smother in Brown Butter sauce.

Enjoy. Will post pics tomorrow.

Garrett

                                 Garrett's Walnut Chicken with Fried Onions on top

                                       Cindy Walnut Chicken
                                                     

                                  Cindy Saute'd peppers and Onions

                                                      Julie's Walnut chicken

                                                                    Liz's Bird.  It was delish!
 

Season 2, Week 2: Julie's Frozen Key Lime Pie

Perfect for Cinco De Mayo Weekend, this pie is so great.  It's cold and tart, Julie will send the picture later, but here are the instructions/recipe:

Please make sure to add that this pie does take several hours to freeze.  I just don't want anyone to make it, and expect to eat it right away.  Could be made in the morning and eaten that night.

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

6 tbsp butter- melted

Filling:

6 Extra Large egg yolks- make sure they are at room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

sweetened condensed milk - 14oz can

2 tbsp grated lime zest

3/4 cup fresh lime juice - you can use regular limes or key limes

Whipped Topping:

1 cup cold heavy cream

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350

Combine crust ingredients and form into a pie plate, bake for 10 minutes.

Beat egg yolks and sugar with a paddle attachment until thick (5 minutes)

With mixer on medium speed, add condensed milk, lime zest and lime juice.

Pour into baked pie shell and freeze....for about an hour.

Beat the heavy cream with a whisk attachment until soft peaks form, add sugar and vanilla, beat until firm.

Spread over pie, freeze for several hours.

Enjoy!

                                                       Carla's Key Lime Pie (naked)

                                                           Carla's Key Lime Pie with WC                                  

                                          Cindy's KLP not quite frozen enough, but still delish!

                      Liz's Pie.  She got fancy and topped it with candied limes

Candied Limes

                                              

1 cup sugar

2 limes                                                  

2 tablespoons sugar                                                  

1 cup water

Directions

1. Slice limes into thin wheels(the thinner the better without falling apart). The next time I try this I will probably use my mandolin so that the slices are uniform.   Blanch in a pot of boiling 1 cup of water for 2 min & scoop the lime slices out with a slotted spoon.
2. In the same pot, combine the 1 cup of water from blanching & 1 cup sugar. Bring to a simmer & add lime slices back into the pot. Simmer for 10-15 min, till white pith of limes looks translucent (May take longer if pith is esp thick or dense).
3. Drain & spread out on a cooling rack to dry (I didn't feel like these got completely dry) for at least 1 hour.
4. Put 2 tbsp sugar in shallow bowl or saucer. When limes are dry, coat both sides of the lime slices by pressing them into the sugar (May need more sugar for good coverage).
5. Store in an airtight container & layer between parchment paper or plastic wrap till ready to use.
   
   

   

                                                              Garretts Lime Pie