Our Best Bites (recommended by my Mother)

My mom told me to check out this site.  I havent made anything yet but I have found a lot of things I would love to try!  Thought I would share with my readers.

Here is the link:
ourbestbites.com

Hope you find something cool!  If you find something you really enjoy..share it with me.  Would love to know what my readers are making too!

Paula Dean's Chocolate Pecan Pie

I made this for Charlie's dad. It's his favorite dessert and it was his birthday.

I am not a huge Pecan Pie fan but this was pretty good. The only thing that Charlie (who is a huge Pecan Pie fan) said to do was to lessen the sugar and add more chocolate.

Here is the link to the recipe:

Chocolate Pecan Pie on the Food Network

Cheeseburger Soup

I love making this soup for company during the fall and winter months.  I made this for Charlie's family last weekend with homemade bread and pecan pie.  Yumm-O! (As of course Rachel Ray would say =) )

I always double this recipe, but here is the original:

Cheeseburger Soup

1/2 lb ground beef
3/4 C chopped onion
3/4 C shredded carrots
3/4 C chopped celery
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp parsley flakes
4 Tblsp butter, divided
3 C chicken broth
4 C diced and peeled potatoes
1/4 C flour
8 oz American Cheese
1 1/2 C milk
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 C sour cream

Brown beef and drain. Set aside. In large sauce pan saute onion, carrots, celery, basil, and parsley in 2 Tblsp butter...about 10 min.  Add broth, potatoes and beef, bring to boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  Meanwhile in a small skillet melt remaining butter, add flour.  Cook and stir about 3 to 5 minutes.  Add to soup, bring to boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to low.  Add cheese, milk, salt and pepper.  Cook and stir until cheese melts.  Remove from heat and add sour cream.

Quick Sesame Chicken

I was in a huge hurry for dinner tonight...so I stopped and picked up some popcorn chicken from the local supermarket and turned it into sesame chicken in a real hurry!  I made rice to go along with it and the kids loved it!

Sesame Chicken Sauce:

1 C. Chicken Broth
1 C. Sugar
2 Tbl Lemon Juice
2 Tbl Soy Sauce
2 Tbl Sesame Oil
1/2 tsp Chili Paste (you can add more to make it spicier)
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1/4 C. Cornstarch
1/2 C. Water

Bring broth, sugar, lemon juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili paste, and garlic to boil.  Dissolve cornstarch in water and add to boiling sauce.  Simmer until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. 

Then I just added my cooked popcorn chicken to the sauce and served over rice.  Super easy!

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Having friends over for dinner tonight and this is what I am making.  I have made this several times out of my Taste of Home Cookbook and it always seems to be a hit!

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
2 Tbl water
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
5 C diced cooked chicken
20 flour tortillas (6 inches) at room temp
2 10 3/4oz cans condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
2 C sour cream
1 C milk
2 4oz cans of chopped green chillies
2 C shredded cheddar cheese

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, water, onion powder, ground cumin, salt, and pepper until smooth.  Stir in chicken.
Place 1/4 cup down the center of each tortilla.  Roll up and place seam side down in two greased 9x13 pans.  In a bowl, combine soup,  milk, sour cream, and chillies; pour over enchiladas.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until heated through.  Sprinkle with cheddar cheese, bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.
Yields 10 servings

Not Lackin' on the Blackenin' Catfish on the Food Network

Not Lackin' on the Blackenin' Catfish on the Food Network

Our Keurig

We have a Keurig Machine and I just wanted to share with you a product that we got on Monday that might help your wallet.  We love the convenience and the flavors of the K-Cups but there are some days (weekends) that we drink too much coffee and the expense of the K-Cups seem a little unreasonable.  We decided last week that we should try the reusable filter and start using our own ground coffee.
We tried the "My Keurig K-Cup" but Charlie didn't like it.  So we decided to get on Amazon and order the "EkoBrew Refillable K-Cup".  We love it!  It took us several tries to figure out what was going on with it at first because the water was coming over the sides and making a huge mess.  Well I finally figured it out yesterday that our coffee grounds were too small.  It wasn't letting the water through like it was supposed to. Now that we have that figured out, it's been fantastic!