Tag: onion

Mother’s Day Luncheon

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The older I get, the more that I realize that all of those times that Mama said: “don’t spend your money on me,” she meant it. She wanted then what she still wants, time spent together. Time is something we can never get back, and the older my mama gets, time becomes more precious to me.

In comparison to many families today, my mother’s family was a big one. She had six brothers and sisters.  Today, my mother and her sister are the only siblings that remain. I decided that my mama would like nothing better than a little family time for Mother’s Day. So on a recent visit, I invited my aunt and a couple of cousins to a luncheon at mama’s house.  I kept the menu simple with homemade chicken salad, pasta salad made with fresh vegetables and purchased Italian dressing, cucumber sandwiches, purchased cheese straws, and I bought a fruit tray, cut up and ready to eat and made a poppy seed vinaigrette dressing.  The table was elegantly set with mama’s best china and crystal and the memories we made are priceless.

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As you struggle to come up with a gift for mom this Sunday, keep in mind that time spent with you is something she will always treasure!

5.0 from 2 reviews
Simple Pasta Salad
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 lb. pasta
  • 2 c. cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • ¾ c. sliced black olives
  • sliced red onion
  • crumbled feta cheese
  • chopped bell pepper
  • 1 to 1½ c. Italian dressing
Instructions
  1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
  2. Toss pasta, cherry tomatoes, olives, red onion, feta cheese, and bell pepper with Italian dressing.
  3. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.
Notes
You may need to add a little more Italian dressing to salad just before serving.

 
5.0 from 2 reviews
Fruit Salad with Vinaigrette Dressing
 
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Ingredients
  • 4 cups fresh fruit
  • 2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp. sugar
  • ¼ tsp. poppy seeds
Instructions
  1. Wash and cut up fruit, set aside. In a small bowl whisk vinegar, oil, sugar and poppy seeds. Pour over fruit an gently toss. Serve immediately.

5.0 from 2 reviews
Cucumber Sandwiches
 
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Ingredients
  • 12 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cucumber, peeled & seeds removed
  • 1 medium onion
  • dash salt
  • dash hot sauce
  • mayonnaise on bread, if desired
Instructions
  1. Grate cucumber and onion and squeeze dry. (I do this using a clean dish towel. Put in the center of a towel then roll towel and twist.) Set aside.
  2. Blend cream cheese with an electric mixer. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Store in refrigerator for 24 hours.
  3. If using mayonnaise, spread on desired bread. Top with cucumber spread and another slice of bread.

5.0 from 2 reviews
Perfect Chicken Salad
 
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Ingredients
  • 4 lg. chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
  • 1 to 2 c. mayonnaise, depending on how you like it
  • ½ to ¾ c. chopped celery
  • 1 tbsp. yellow mustard
  • ¼ tsp. poppy seeds
  • ½ tsp. salt
Instructions
  1. Mix shredded chicken, mayonnaise, celery, mustard, poppy seeds, and salt in a large bowl and refrigerate.

 

Amye’s Smoky Cheese Dip

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If you visit Not Just Sunday Dinner often you know that my new obsession is chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  I believe I could add chipotle peppers to just about anything and love it!

Cheese dip is one of the first things I made as a young cook.  Everyone loves cheese dip.  Over the years I have used a total of three different recipes.  My first recipe was pretty simple, some Velveeta, some sharp cheese, a can or Rotel, ground beef and sausage.  A few years back I switched up my recipe to the Queso dip that you’ll find here on NJSD.  I still love that dip but there can be picky eaters that don’t like the spinach.  They drive me crazy, but they do exist!  Not that the Queso dip needed any improvement,  it is perfect just they way it is (to me).  However, I was really craving the smoky flavor of chipotle in a cheese dip, so I started experimenting.

What I have come up with is a huge hit at our house!  The number of chipotle peppers is totally up to your taste.  If I were not feeding others I might possibly add more than this recipe suggest.

Amye's Smoky Cheese Dip
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1 lb. sausage
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. minced garlic
  • 1-2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 lb. Velveeta, cubed
  • 1 lb. Pepper Jack cheese, cubed
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. paprika
  • ⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 2 c. milk
  • 1 can Rotel, undrained
  • 2 - 3 chipotle peppers (or to taste) in adobo sauce, seeds removed and chopped fine
  • ½ tbsp - 1 tbsp. adobo sauce from the can of chipotle peppers, or to taste
Instructions
  1. Brown ground beef and sausage in a skillet. Drain and pour the beef and sausage into a slow-cooker.
  2. In the skillet, add oil and saute onion until soft. Add garlic during the last minute of cooking. Add to the slow-cooker. Add the Velveeta, Pepper Jack cheese, cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, milk, Rotel, and chipotle peppers. Stir to combine.
  3. Cook on low, stirring occasionally, until melted.
  4. Serve with corn chips.

 

Smoky Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches

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Like most southerners, we enjoy us some good barbecue around our house. Greg smokes a Boston butt that would win first place at barbecue cook-offs everywhere. Wes enjoys smoking ribs, and his method is flawless. Savannah and I have several homemade barbecue sauce recipes that we keep on hand too.

Barbecue chicken is not one of our specialties, though. That is, until recently when I tried a new barbecue sauce recipe. It’s a smoky sauce with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce that tastes amazing! It is the number one flavor that I am craving these days.

We have been eating this sauce on everything since I saw Valerie’s Home Cooking.  We have had it on Barbecue Nachos, barbecue burgers, barbecue shrimp, and on these delicious Barbecue Grilled Chicken Sandwiches.

Another important step, not to be skipped, in making these mouth-watering sandwiches is the brining of the chicken. In my opinion, there is no better Thanksgiving turkey than a brined turkey. I don’t fry chicken often but when I do you can bet I will brine it first.

The salt in a brine allows the chicken to retain moisture. A couple of things to remember when you brine chicken are first, try to use kosher salt or sea salt. Also, do not brine the chicken over two hours. It can get rubbery when overbrined.

 

Smoky Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches
 
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Ingredients
  • Brine:
  • ¼ c. coarse salt
  • ¼ c. firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • 20 whole black peppercorns
  • 1 c. hot water plus 3 c. cold water
  • 1 lemon, thinlhy sliced
  • 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed with the side of a cleaver
  • Smoky Barbecue Sauce:
  • 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
  • ½ small onion, chopped
  • 1 lg. or 2 small cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 c. ketchup
  • ½ c. molasses
  • ⅓ c. apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 chipotles in adobo sauce, seeded and roughly chopped
  • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Grilled Chicken:
  • 2 lg. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half vertically, then cut into thin cutlets, horizontally
  • 4 lg. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Buns
  • Lettuce leaves
  • Sliced tomatoes
  • Sliced red onion
  • Sliced Colby Jack cheese
  • Additional Barbecue sauce, if desired
Instructions
  1. To make the brine: Place the salt, brown sugar, and peppercorns in a large glass bowl and add hot water. Whisk until the salt and brown sugar are dissolved. Stir in the cold water and let cool to room temperature. Pour the brine over the chicken and stir in the lemon slices, onion, and garlic. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and let stand in the refrigerator for 2 hours, turning the chicken once of twice.
  2. To make the barbecue sauce: Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook about 30 seconds. Add ½ c. water and the ketchup, molasses, vinegar, Worcestershire, chipotles, a pinch of salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. Store the sauce in the refrigerator.
  3. To grill the chicken: Preheat the grill to high. When ready to cook, brush the grate with oil. Arrange the chicken on the hot grate and grill for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165° F. During the last 2 minutes or so, start basting the chicken on both sides with barbecue sauce. Remove chicken from grill and assemble sandwiches right away.

 

 

Huevos Rancheros for One

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Finding a low-carb breakfast, that I enjoy, has been a struggle for me. I tend to crave everything that I’m told I shouldn’t eat…French toast, scones, and muffins. I’ve never been a big fan of eggs, even though I will eat cheese eggs occasionally. Omelets aren’t my thing, and bacon or sausage is just an occasional indulgence for me. What to do, what to do?

I have been on a mission to find a way to eat eggs that I actually enjoy. Even better, it was a bonus if my family liked them too. I have tried recipe after recipe. One recipe that I hit on early was Huevos Rancheros “rancher’s eggs”. After tweaking the recipe, I now make this easy and delicious dish at least twice a week.

Traditionally, these eggs are served over fried corn tortillas with refried beans. Adjust the spices and hot pepper to your taste. I like the look of the small skillet for individual servings. However, if you want to serve a family, and you don’t have several small skillets lying around, use a 10 to 12-inch skillet and increase the ingredients to your need.

 

Huevos Rancheros for One
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp. diced onion
  • Chopped serrano or jalapeno pepper, to taste (a tsp. or so)
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • ½ c. canned pinto beans, drained
  • 1 tbsp. water
  • ⅛ tsp. ground cumin
  • ⅛ tsp. smoked paprika
  • ⅛ tsp. ground ancho chili pepper
  • 1 egg
  • Queso Fresco
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Serve with: diced avocado, chopped tomato, chopped cilantro, sliced lime, additional Queso Fresco, sour cream, and hot sauce
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Heat skillet, add olive oil and heat.
  3. Add onion, pepper, and garlic to hot oil and saute for a minute or so, until tender. Add beans, water, cumin, paprika, and chili pepper. Stir to combine and heat just until the mixture starts to bubble.
  4. Crack the egg in the center, on top of the bean mixture. Place skillet in the preheated oven and bake until the egg is cooked to your liking and the beans and hot and bubbly. Usually about 5 to 7 minutes for a well cooked egg.
  5. Garnish and serve immediately.

 

“To Go” Breakfast Quesadillas

 

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For those of you who subscribe, I know you have already received a notification for one post today.  I am not a computer whiz. Far from it, so sometimes running this blog has me quite confused. I’ve been trying to make a few changes on here today. Probably nothing that you will even notice. However, to make sure that I have done everything correctly I am going to post a second recipe today.

School starts in our county on Monday. The reason I know this is because Wes has a job there this year! Those of you that have put a child through college will understand the pure joy of him having a job, making money, earning a living.  I wish I could stay young forever, with little kids forever, but that’s just not happening. College may possibly be the catalyst that parents need to push them to the point of “letting go”.  I mean, the thought of no more tuition makes me want to do a dance!! (Well, no more tuition for one child anyway.) Just knowing that he can pay for his own insurance and his own gasoline thrills me!  I could go on, but I think I’m getting a little too excited!

Here is an easy and very versatile recipe for the kiddo’s as they head back to school. Use this folding method with the ingredients you like and you’ll have a delicious and easy portable breakfast.  For convenience have a few packs of diced ham in the freezer for those rushed mornings.  You could also cook the bacon or sausage the night before and have the veggies chopped for easy a.m. preparation.  Cook the quesadillas while the kids are getting ready and keep in a warm oven.  Wrap in foil for easy traveling.

 

"To Go" Breakfast Quesadillas
 
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Serves: 4
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Ingredients
  • 4 (10-inch) flour tortillas
  • 8 lg. eggs
  • Butter
  • 1 med. onion, finely diced
  • 1 bell pepper, finely chopped
  • 1 jalapeno, finely chopped
  • 1 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled, drained OR
  • 1 lb. breakfast sausage, cooked and crumbled, drained
  • 1 lb. cooked ham, cubed
  • 8-oz. shredded Cheddar cheese
  • Salsa, if desired
Instructions
  1. Melt butter in a skillet and saute onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño until softened. Remove from skillet and set aside.
  2. Scramble eggs in the same skillet, set aside.
  3. Place a tortilla flat on counter. Add a little shredded cheese in the center of the tortilla. Keeping all ingredients in the center of the tortilla top with ¼ of the scrambled eggs and top with some of the onion and pepper mixture. Add crumbled meat of your choice. Top with some additional shredded cheese.
  4. Melt a pat of butter in your skillet while you assemble the quesadillas.
  5. With the tortilla in front of you, fold the bottom up over the filling to the center. Hold the folded piece in place and start working your way around the tortilla making folds around the quesadilla until you have completely covered the fillings. You will end up with a quesadilla that resembles a Taco Bell Crunch Wrap.
  6. Carefully place the quesadilla in the skillet, folded side down. Cook until lightly browned, then flip over and cook the other side until lightly browned. Serve with salsa, if desired.
Notes
Add chopped tomatoes, avocados, even cooked cubed hash browns to the filling, if desired.