Cranberry-Jalapeno Cream Cheese Dip

Don't judge this dish based on the name... because it sounds, to be honest, like a gross combination. It's not! I told Doug I wanted to make this for the party we had last night, he wasn't a believer. After some convincing, he reluctantly agreed. From his first taste, he became a believer. He said that we shouldn't take it to the party but keep it all for ourselves! Alas, we did take it and it was a HUGE hit. It's a sweet fruit salsa, on top of cream cheese, served on crackers or chips... yum! It's better than a cheese ball!

Another recipe... as promised :)

Cranberry-Jalapeno Cream Cheese Dip

12 ounces fresh cranberries
5 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 cup sugar (more or less to taste)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from about 1 large lemon)
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 (8 ounces each) packages cream cheese, light or regular, softened
Crackers, for serving

Directions:
Pulse the cranberries in a food processor or blender until coarsely chopped (you can also do this by hand). Add the green onions, cilantro, jalapeno, sugar, cumin, lemon juice and salt and pulse until the ingredients are well combined and finely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a covered bowl or tupperware and refrigerate for 4 hours (or up to overnight) so the flavors have time to develop and the cranberries lose a bit of their tartness.
When ready to serve, spread the cream cheese in an even layer on a serving plate or 9-inch pie dish. Top with the cranberry-jalapeno mixture, spreading evenly over the top of the cream cheese.

Refrigerate for up to an hour before serving. Serve with crackers or tortilla chips.

Recipe Source: MelsKitchenCafe

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Found this recipe on pinterest, and this was the picture that influenced me to make it. YUM! Do not try the batter, you won't be able to stop eating it... :) This was perfect. Simple and delicious, it doesn't have a strong cheesecake flavor but is so moist and, just perfect.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Southern Living November 2001

Yield

1 (10-inch) cake

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened at room temp
  
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened at room temp
  
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preparation
Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy (do not over beat). Gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until combined. Crack eggs into a bowl first before adding to the mixture to make sure you avoid shells in the cake mix (if you want, I didn't...because I'm that good). Sift 3 cups of flour. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch Bundt pan. Smooth the top of the cake or bottom of the cake (depending how you look at it) with a spatula to even it out. Bake at 300° for 1 hour and 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes; remove from pan, and let cool completely on wire rack.

Here is my picture :) My kitchen has yellowish lighting

Garlic Sirloin

You need to put this one your grilling to-dos before summer over!!

Garlic Sirloin
1 lb sirloin steak
1/2 cup butter
2 TBS minced garlic
1 TBS garlic salt
1 tsp salt

 Melt butter. Mix together butter, garlic, garlic salt and salt. Cut steak meat into about 1.5 inch pieces (cubes).
 Baste butter mixture onto steak pieces. (We put meat and butter mixture in a large ziploc and coated)

Stick steak pieces onto kabob sticks. Grill for about 15 minutes.

 Rotate skewers every couple of minutes, cooking evenly on each side.  Re-baste meat throughout grilling process, because a lot of the flavor will cook off. Check steak temperature when you are done grilling, meat should be 150 for medium well/ or cut one piece open to check the color inside, should be light pink for medium well steak.

You could also use this recipe for cooking steaks this way.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

We had a lot of bell peppers and wanted to use them so we found this recipe! So good!!!!

Makes 6 servings

• 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/8 cup minced carrots
• 1/8 cup celery
• 6 bell peppers (any color) stems and seeds removed, cut in half lengthwise
• 1 pound ground beef (*used ground turkey)
• 1/4 pound pancetta or lightly smoked bacon, diced (*used turkey bacon)
• 1 1/2 cups prepared marinara sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine (*used apple juice)
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a saucepan bring water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until tender and fluffy; set aside. (Or use rice cooker!)
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook and stir carrots and celery until tender. Add ground beef and pancetta, and cook until browned and crumbled; drain off any excess liquid, and return to heat. Add marinara sauce, wine, and red pepper flakes, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in cream, half of the Parmesan cheese, and rice. Simmer 5 minutes more, or until most liquid has absorbed.
4. Place peppers in a shallow baking dish, and fill with beef mixture. Drizzle with remaining olive oil and top with remaining Parmesan cheese.
5. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Serve hot.

 We just cut up out cooked peppers when they came out to make it easier to eat!

Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have tried many different chocolate chip cookie recipes but I always go back to this one. The Russell's have used this recipe for as long as I can remember.

Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cup chocolate chips - one whole bag
Additional options - nuts of any kind

Oatmeal - if you add oatmeal, subtract the same amount from your flour. My sister, Tyre recommends 1/2 cup. (I have also seen some odd people blend their oats before adding them)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine flour, soda, salt - mix together, set aside. In a bowl combine sugars, add butter - mix until creamed together. Add eggs and vanilla - mix. Add flour to sugar mixture - mix. Add chocolate chips - mix. Bake for 22-24 min.

Cafe Rio Barbacoa Pork

If you've never made this YOU MUST MAKE THIS IMMEDIATELY!!  So Kindra's post got me motivated to take pictures this time.  Cafe Rio Pork has been my FAVORITE meal for about a year now. I make it in large quantities so I can enjoy it day after day for 3 meals a day. :)  We triple everything, except the dressing.  There's plenty of that in a single batch.

You can make this into a Cafe Rio Salad or Burrito(same basic ingredients). We make ours with tortillas, beans, rice, pork, cheese, and dressing. You may also include pico, guacamole, sour cream, lettuce, tortilla strips, and coijta cheese. I think the basic combination of flavors is so perfect, I like to keep it simple. We buy the raw tortillas from the grocery store. They are wonderful. If they aren't available in your grocery store(usually by the cheese and such) try this tortilla recipe.

Cafe Rio Pork

Feeds 4-6   Time: 5 hours + Marinade

2 lbs Pork*

1 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2 cans Coke

1 + 1/4 c light brown sugar

dash garlic salt

1/4 c water

1 can diced green chilies

3/4 (10 oz Can) Old El Paso red enchilada sauce

Marinate Pork, 1 1/2 cans coke and 1/4 c brown sugar in a ziploc bag for a few hours or overnight.

Drain pork and place in a crock pot on high with 1/2 can coke, water and garlic salt for 3-4 hours(or until it shreds easily).

In a blender combine 1/2 can coke, chilies, enchilada sauce, and 1 c brown sugar.

Drain pork again, shred, and place in crock pot with blended ingredients. Cook for 1 more hour.

*I have heard recommendations for several different types of pork. Boneless pork ribs for example, we tried it, tastes great. We've also tried several different types of pork roasts (whatever is on sale, picnic, sirloin, rump, shoulder). They ALL Worked great!! The only kind of pork that I have found that DOES NOT work, is the kind that isn't cooked enough. If your pork won't shred, cook it longer. If you're using a roast, cut it up into baseball sized chunks. It helps it to cook faster. I did about 6 lbs of meat. I cut it up into chunks and it cooked nicely in my crockpot in about 5 hours plus the additional 1 hour. Please keep in mind, I'm not a pork expert. If you're aware of a pork that wouldn't work, don't try it :) But feel free to leave a comment and save someone else the trouble :)





Black Beans

Makes 2 cups

1 T oil

1 t cumin

1 t minced garlic

1 can black beans

3/4 t salt

1 1/3 c tomato juice

3 T chopped fresh cilantro

Heat pan, add oil, garlic and cumin on medium. Heat until the cumin is fragrant. Add beans, salt and tomato juice. Bring to a boil. Simmer on med-low for 20 minutes. Add cilantro before serving.

Cilantro-Lime Rice

Makes 3 cups

1 t butter

1 t minced garlic

1 t + 1 T lime juice

1 c rice

1 1/2 c chicken broth
3 T fresh chopped cilantro

2 t sugar


Heat butter and garlic in pan. Add rice, 1 t of lime juice, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 15-20 minutes.  Combine sugar, cilantro and 1 T lime juice in a small bowl.  When rice is finished, add it to the rice and fluff.

Julie's Cooking Variation: Bring 1 1/2c chicken broth to boil. Add 1 c rice. When it comes back to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 20min. Combine garlic, sugar, cilantro and 1 T lime juice in a small bowl.  When rice is finished, add it to the rice and fluff. 

Cilantro Ranch Dressing

Makes 1 quart or 32 oz

1 pkg (3T) Traditional Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix (not buttermilk)

1 c mayo

1/2 c buttermilk

2 tomatillos, husks removed, diced

1/2 bunch cilantro

1/2 t minced garlic

juice of 1 lime (3 T)

1 jalapeno, diced (remove seeds, if you don't like spice)

Mix ingredients together in a blender.  Refrigerate.  Let it sit overnight, if you have time.

Yum!

Adapted Slightly From Favorite Family Recipes

Naan the Best so Far

Naan

submitted by Mom May 1, 2011

Naan is a type of flat bread, like pita, but softer. I have been looking for a good recipe for Naan for awhile. We love it at our favorite Indian restaurant "Seva".  Dad found this new recipe. July 6, 2019.
 Naan

1 t sugar 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 c warm water
2 1/4 t yeast
2 1/4 c flour

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 T oil
3 T melted salted butter

1.  In a small bowl, add the sugar, warm water, and yeast together.  Stir to combine well.  The yeast will be activated in about 10 minutes.
Add dry ingredients and mix.   Add yogurt, yeast and oil. Knead dough until shiny and smooth about 3-4 minutes.  Use bread mixer, ex.  Kitchen Aid.
Cover dough, let rise until double.
2.  Divide dough into 8 equal portions.  Roll dough into a 8" circle using a rolling pin.
3.  Heat skillet( preferably cast iron), over high heat and lightly grease skillet with oil so it won't stick to pan.  Put dough into skillet until it puffs up and browns, then flip and cook other side. Remove.
Brush melted butter on Naan while hot.