Gooey Toffee Butter Cake

With all the healthy lunch recipes we should be posting right now, I tried to resist posting this wicked dessert. But it is the last recipe I have photos from to post and I will now be all caught up. So, I am sharing. This is a recipe from Paula Deen. So what does that mean? Well, besides the fact that it is totally NOT good for you, it is full of butter. I don't like butter on toast, etc, but I do cook with a lot of it. This recipe is no exception.

Gooey Toffee Butter Cake

Ingredients:
Cake
1 box yellow cake mix (mix only)
1 egg
1/2 c butter, melted

Filling
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
4 c powdered sugar
1/2 c butter, melted
1 c toffee bits (I use the Heath chips you can buy near the chocolate chips at the market)

Instructions:
For the cake: Mix the dry cake mix, egg and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a cake dish.
For the filling: Mix the cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time. Add the butter and mix. Finally add the toffee bits. Pour over the cake mix crust.
Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes. (I usually do 45 minutes.) Remember this is a gooey cake. Your toothpick or fork must come out of the center of the dish with a gooey covering.

You can see the gooeyness.
I cut into it warm so you can see this gooeyness,
it won't be quick this gooey when cooled.

Allow to cool completely and cut into squares, small squares. This is a super, super rich dessert.

Enjoy!

Pioneer Woman's Simple, Perfect Enchiladas

Who doesn't already have a gazillion recipes for enchiladas? I do, and I like all of them. So why would I try another one? Seriously, you can only have so many versions for the same item, right? Well, this is one worth trying. Pioneer Woman received this recipe from a family member from Mexico. So they may be more authentic than some of the other recipes you have.

This is another recipe that I looked at and thought I could show Rachel Ray a thing or two about quick food preparation. Um, nope. I had planned to make these to eat (by 6:30 at the latest) before we went to watch my cousin's Special Needs Mutual Roadshow. I got all the way to the assembly point and had to leave. I finished making them when we got home. When did we eat? At 10pm. Needless to say, we were starving. Needless to say, we ate the pan clean. And we were so anxious to eat, I didn't get a single photo. (thus the stock photos from the Internet...) But it isn't only because it was so late and because we were so hungry - these are really good enchiladas. We ate more than we should have, but they were too good to leave anything behind (plus I didn't make any veggies or anything for the side as planned because I was too tired, so all we ate was the enchiladas.) My additions and notes are in italics.

Simple, Perfect Enchiladas

Ingredients:
Sauce
1 T canola oil
2 T flour
1 can (28 oz) enchilada sauce (I used red enchilada sauce, I don't see why you couldn't use green if that is what you prefer.)
2 c (or one can) chicken stock
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
2 T Cilantro, chopped

The Meat
1 lb ground beef
1 onion
2 cans (4 oz) green chilies
1/2 t salt

The Rest
Corn Tortillas
Canola Oil, for frying
1/2 olives. diced
1 c green onions, chopped
3 c sharp cheddar cheese, grated (I used Pepper Jack Cheese and of course, used a lot more than 3 c)
Cilantro, chopped

Instructions:
Make the sauce: Whisk the oil and flour in a saucepan over medium heat for a minute (until starts to bubble.) Add the enchilada sauce, chicken stock, salt and pepper - do not add the cilantro yet. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer on lowest temperature while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

The meat: Brown the beef. She recommends cooking the onion with the meat while browning. I again don't like my veggies to absorb the fat. So I cook the meat, drain the fat, and then add the onions. Add salt and set aside. At this point, also turn off the heat on the sauce.

The rest: Warm canola oil in a smaller skillet, deep enough to fry the tortillas in. You aren't actually going to fry the tortillas as in to a crisp. Once the oil is hot enough, using tongs, set a tortilla in the oil, the max time I had a tortilla in the oil was five (5) seconds. Lift the tortilla and allow it to drip off excess oil. Set on paper towels. The recipe recommends doing this to all your set aside tortillas before proceeding. Because I do not know how many enchiladas I'll end up making, I went through the assembly process one tortilla at a time. Dip the tortilla in the enchilada sauce, I used my hands and quickly covered both sides. Set the tortilla on a cookie sheet, I lined mine with wax paper because the first stuck so badly. Place a spoon full of meat mixture on one side of the tortilla. The recipe recommends adding the olives and green onions as well, I sprinkle these on the top once everything was in the pan. Not everyone likes olives in our household (crazy, I know.) Top with a good amount of cheese and roll the tortilla around the filling. I don't know about you, but I am notorious for not adding a lot of filling because I worry I won't have enough. I was pretty good this time though. I think I added 2 T filling to each enchilada.

After you have used up all your filling and have filled your dish, add the 2 T chopped cilantro to the sauce. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top of the enchiladas. Top with more cheese, I then sprinkled with the olives and green onions, and sprinkle with the remaining chopped cilantro.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I served with avocado. Also recommend, of course, serve with rice and beans.

We went to bed quickly with our nice full bellies that night.


Enjoy!

Our Best Bites Natchitoches Meat Pies

I actually answered that we were eating Sweeney Todd's Meat Pies when my family asked what was for dinner. Disclaimer: No humans were harmed in the preparation of this yummy meal.

Oh, and per the cookbook, natchitoches is pronounced: nack + it + esh


Filling
Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red pepper (I used 1/2 jar of roasted red peppers I had leftover from another meal), chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
2+ t Creole or Cajun seasoning (I used 4 t)
Tabasco sauce, to taste (I used 1/2 t)
1 can (14.5 oz) beef broth
Pie Crust, your favorite recipe or my favorite recipe follows the instructions
1 egg
1/4 c water

Instructions:
In a large skillet brown the sausage and beef. The cook book suggests cooking both together, halfway through to drain the fat and add the chopped veggies then. I didn't want the veggies to absorb the rest of the fat not yet cooked out. So I browned each meat separately as they don't cook at the same pace. I drained the fat and removed one from the pan and then cooked the second, drained. I then put both cooked meat and all the veggies back in the pan. Cook until the veggies are tender and onions translucent.

Add Creole or Cajun seasoning and Tabasco Sauce. Add beef broth, bring mixture to a boil and then cook for about 20 minutes, or until the liquid has all evaporated.


Divide pie crust into 4-8 sections (depending on how many meat pies you want and the size of pie you want.) Roll out each pie crust into a circle. Scoop about 1/3 c of the filling, if making 8 pies, onto one half of the crust. If you have counter space, you can lay out all the crust circles and use up all the filling before you start forming the pies. Fold the crust over and seal the edges. I pinched and then used a fork for a pattern.

Whisk the egg and water together and then brush over the pies.

Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes (until golden brown). I put tin foil on the cookie sheet to both avoid the pies sticking to the pan and to help in cooking a flakier crust.

These are best fresh from the oven, not so good reheated (they get soggy.) The cookbook says that once you form the pies, if you know you are not going to eat them all, skip the step of brushing the egg/water mix atop, place the extra pies in the freezer until frozen solid, then put into a freezer bag (I like to use my food sealer) and they can be cooked when needed at 400 for 40-45 minutes. Not a bad idea...

Flaky Pie Crust
***when I made this meal, I used the suggested recipe from their cookbook. I didn't like it so much - way too much shortening for me, I could actually taste the shortening. So this is my favorite pie crust recipe, plus it is from my Great Good Food cookbook which is one of my favorite cookbooks and it is full of healthy recipes (in fact, I think I am going to start experimenting with more recipes from that book next, watch out!***

Ingredients:
2 2/3 c flour
1/4 t salt
4 T sugar
1/2 c canola oil
6 T ice water
1 t skim milk

Instructions:
Mix dry ingredients
Add oil and mix with pastry blender (or your hands) until becomes crumbly mix
Sprinkle with water and milk and blend with pastry blender (or hands).
This will make two full pie crusts.


Enjoy!

Our Best Bites Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad

Well, the Pioneer woman isn't the only one with recipes that will feed the masses. The recipe also made a ton, two bowls full in fact (only one pictured above, and that bowl has already been served from by 5 people...) So the recipe below is as in the cook book, but I recommend halving it for sure. This is a great option for a healthy lunch.

Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad

Ingredients:
Salad
8 oz Linguine
6 c shredded greens (I recommend 2 c of each: green and red (purple) cabbage and spinach, cook book also suggests romaine lettuce)
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 carrot, julienned
1/2 cucumber, halved and sliced
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
3 c diced chicken
1/2 c honey roasted peanuts
1 Thai Peanut Salad Dressing recipe, as follows

Dressing
1/2 peanut butter, creamy
1lime, juiced and zested
2 1/2 t sesame oil
1 T rice wine vinegar
2 T soy sauce
3 T honey
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 T minced ginger
1/2 c chopped cilantro (stems and leaves)
1/4 t salt
2-3 t Sriracha chili sauce (I used 4 or 5 t, we like hot food)
1/2 c vegetable oil (I used canola)
2-4 T water (I just used 4)

Instructions:
Put all the dressing ingredients except the oil and water into a blender or food processor and mix for about 30 seconds. Slowly start to add the oil. Once all oil in blended in, add water.

Boil the pasta

Chop the veggies while the pasta cooks.

Drain the cooked pasta and rinse with cold water. Add a little bit of the dressing to the noodles and toss. (refrigerate until using if still chopping.)

To assemble, I didn't follow the cookbook (suggests noodles, then veggies, then chicken, then dressing.) I did multiple layers: greens, noodles, veggies, green, noodles, veggies and then tossed the salad a little. I put the dressing on the table so that we could add as much as we liked (plus that helps in storing the leftovers so they don't get too soggy, especially with the pasta in the bowl.)

We ate 2-3 plate fulls each. It is really yummy. And the dressing is delicious.

Enjoy!

Pioneer Woman's Sour Cream Noodle Bake

I know I have mentioned this before, but I do not believe that Rachel Ray's 30 minute recipes only take 30 minutes to make. Even with everything out on the counter, ready to go, yup, over 30 minutes. I am a pretty darn quick chopper of veggies and the like, but still, over 30 minutes. I look at a recipe and think, oh that will be a quick meal to prepare, nope, not the case. I hope you are better than I at preparing meals because this one looked quick. (I suppose in my defense, though I multitask and say chop veggies while pasta is boiling, being quite OCD, I clean up every little mess that I make and wash my dishes as I go. So that probably adds to my prep time, but really cuts down on the post dinner clean up.) This is a really simple recipe I found on the Pioneer Woman's website, with as usual, a couple of my alterations as seen in italics.

Sour Cream Noodle Bake

Ingredients
1¼ lb ground chuck (and I did use ground chuck)
1 - 15oz can tomato sauce
½ t salt
Freshly ground black pepper
8oz egg noodles (I used the whole bag, I think it was 12 oz)
½ c sour cream (um, the recipe name has sour cream in it and the recipe only calls for 1/2 cup? I just put the full carton - I think that is 2 cups worth.)
1¼ c small curd cottage cheese (like the sour cream, I just added the whole carton)
½ c sliced green onions
1 c grated sharp cheddar cheese (I used medium cheddar, and a lot more that 1 cup)
Basil leaves, I chopped up about 15 basil leaves I had left over from another meal

Instructions
Cook egg noodles until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Brown ground chuck in a large skillet. Drain fat, then add tomato sauce, basil, salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper. Stir, then simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a medium bowl, combine sour cream and cottage cheese. Add plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Mix with the noodles. Add green onions and stir.

To assemble, add half of the noodles to a baking dish. Top with half the meat mixture, then sprinkle on half the grated cheddar. Repeat with noodles, meat, then a final layer of cheese.
Spread the green onions a top the cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until all cheese is melted.

The picture at the top, well, I didn't read the last part of the instructions. So I did a layer of noodles, but didn't want too much noodle because I wanted the sauce to be on the noodles, so I added about half the sauce and cheese and then I just made a second dish. It would have fit in one dish if I'd read to layer it, like a lasagna. We ate up the first dish really quickly. I quickly snapped a photo of the second dish before we dug in. Yummy stuff.


Enjoy!