Sesame Pasta Salad

I got this recipe from the lovely Lexi Brown and I love it. I make it a lot, sometimes with chicken for an easy dinner. I love that you can make it ahead and be done with it. I have never used that much spinach, I usually just throw in a couple handful's. The Veri Veri Teriyaki sauce is in the Asian section of the grocery store and sooo good. I use it on everything. Enjoy!

16 oz bowtie pasta

2 cans mandarin oranges

1 cup sliced cashews

2 bags baby spinach

Dressing:

1/3 cup of red wine vinegar

1/3 cup of olive oil

1½ cup Veri Veri Teryaki sauce

2 Tbl white sugar

Blend dressing in the blender. Cook the pasta al dente and rinse with cold water. Put pasta in large ziplock bag and add dressing. Place in fridge and let soak in overnight. Right before eating it, add in the oranges, cashews, and spinach. Serve chilled.

Buttermilk Banana Bread

I made this bread yesterday, and I thought it was really good.

Buttermilk Banana Bread

1/2 c butter, softened
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c mashed bananas, about 2-3 bananas
4 T buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour your pan. I actually used 3 small loaf pans. This recipe will make enough for one large loaf pan, one med sized loaf pan and one small, 3 small loaf pans, or muffins.

Cream softened butter and sugar. Add eggs, bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla. Mix well. Combine dry ingredients and add gradually to banana mixture. Just mix till combined. Put in pan(s) of choice.

Bake at 350 for 30-50 min. depending on the size of your pan. The larger the pan the longer you'll cook it. For the 3 small loaf pans I cooked them 30 min. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 15 minutes. Take out of the pan and cool on a wire rack.

"Puff" Pancakes

These bring back so many memories for me. I used to love it when Mom would make these for us when we were little. I made them one night for my kids. They were a hit!! My girls loved them and I loved them because they were so easy!!!

Puff Pancakes aka German Pancakes

1/4 c butter
6 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 x 13 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. While oven is heating up melt your butter in the pan (careful it will burn easily.) Mix the remaining ingredients together until smooth. (I use my hand blender.) Pour egg mixture into the pan over the melted butter. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. Sift powder sugar over the top. Serve with maple syrup, fresh fruit, or I really like jam on mine.

Creamy tomato basil soup

I got this recipe from Lexi and I have made it once a week since then. I love it. I cut down the sugar by about half and add more basil and less cream, but it is great as is.

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

1 medium onion finely chopped

1/2 cup butter

3-14.5 ounce cans stewed tomatoes (or fresh)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. basil, or to taste

1 Tbsp. Chicken bullion

2-14.5 ounce cans chicken broth

1 cup whipping cream

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add onion, bullion, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer on a low heat until onion is tender. Add tomatoes with juice and heat until warm. Place these ingredients into a blender, blending thoroughly. You’ll probably have to repeat this step 2 or 3 times as it’s not possible to fit it all in the blender. Return mixture to saucepan adding chicken broth and cream or milk. Heat and serve with garnish of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Serves 6-8.

Apricot-Glazed Pork

This is the recipe I made at Mom and Dad's. It is super easy and delicious. I use soy sauce instead of tamari sauce and dried ginger instead of pickled. I use more like a teaspoon. I also tried this without the sesame oil and it is not as good. This recipe is supposed to feed 4, so for Andrea's family, I would double or triple this.

• 1 pound pork tenderloin, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch thick rounds
• Salt
• Ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 1/4 cups apricot preserves
• 1/4 cup tamari sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped pickled ginger

Season both sides of pork with salt and black pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork and sear 2 minutes per side. Add apricot preserves, tamari sauce and ginger and bring to a simmer. Simmer 5 minutes, until pork is cooked through and sauce reduces.

Slow cooker Carne Guisada

My friends Caitlin and Hugh got this recipe from a Martha Stewart magazine, made it and invited us over for dinner. It was so good. The meat was so tender and flavorful. You have to serve it with cheese and cilantro, that makes it. Try this!

2 1/2 lbs beef chuck roast or bottom round, cut into 1-inch pieces
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 TB vegetable oil
1 medium white onion, diced medium
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and diced medium
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp dried oregano
6 TB flour
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
flour tortillas, grated cheddar and cilantro, for serving

Season beef with salt and pepper. In large skillet, heat 2 tsp oil over high. In two batches, cook beef until browned on all sides. 5 mins per side. Transfer to a 5-6 quart slow cooker.

In same skillet, cook 2 tsp oil, onion, bell pepper and garlic over medium, stirring and scraping up brown bits with a wooden spoon, until vegetables are tender, 5 minutes. Add cumin, chili powder, oregano and flour and cook 1 minute. Slowly pour broth into skillet, stirring until liquid is smooth. Simmer 2 minutes, then transfer mixture to slow cooker, along with tomatoes and bay leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cover and cook on high 6 hours. Serve in tortillas with cheese and cilantro.

Amazing Chocolate Frosting

I found this awesome new website called Our Best Bites that has a ton of good recipes. I made the candy corn cupcakes that I found on this site and then I made chocolate cupcakes and put this frosting on them, and I almost died they were sooo good. Seriously. The semi-sweet chocolate gives it such a great flavor, you must use semi-sweet chips. It sounds weird to put flour in a frosting, but it turned out really good. I only added 1 TB of extra cocoa at the end, but taste and add what you want. I used a disposable piping bag and the largest star tip I had and they turned out beautiful, sorry no picture.

Chocolate Frosting
Recipe adapted by Our Best Bites from Sugar Plum

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup milk
1 cup real butter, softened
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
Optional: Additional cocoa powder as needed

Melt your chocolate chips if you haven't already and set aside to cool. You obviously don't want it so cool that it hardens, but you can get it close to room temperature and still have it be soft and stir-able.

In a small saucepan, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, and milk; bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Boil 1-3 minutes or until thickened like a thinned pudding. Remove pan from heat and strain mixture into a small bowl. Cool completely in the refrigerator or freezer.

When chocolate flour mixture is cooled, beat the butter until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in the cooled chocolate mixture until well combined fluffy, about 1 minute. Finally add in melted chocolate and beat again until well combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes. If desired, add additional cocoa powder to taste, up to 4 tablespoons more. Spread or pipe frosting on to cupcakes or cake.

Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes.

Storage: Store unused frosting in fridge and bring to room temperature before using again. If needed, beat with an electric beater before using.