Devilishly Delightful Deviled Eggs

Everyone has a recipe for Deviled Eggs - this is mine:

Devilishly Delightful Deviled Eggs

6 hard boiled eggs

1/4 c mayonnaise

1 t prepared mustard

1 t vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

green onions, diced very small

paprika

Peel your eggs and cut them in half lengthwise - remove the yolks. Put the yolks into a bowl and mash them with a fork - then add all other ingredients except paprika and combine. Use a small spoon to spoon a dollup of the mixture into each egg half.

Sprinkle with fresh cracked pepper and paprika. Chill before serving.

*If you like your filling a bit thicker - use less mayo

Cream Cheese Frosting

My foodie daughter will turn 5 next month and is absolutely obsessed with the "Big Top Cupcake" mold (as seen on TV) she has been begging me to get one for her birthday party - walking around the house quoting the infomercial "it's not just a boring old cupcake - it's 25 times bigger - for more fun!"

So, we went to Hobby Lobby today (with our 40% off coupon - b/c have you ever noticed that their baking stuff NEVER goes on sale?) Anyway... I wanted to try it out before Halloween and her birthday a few times (as you can plainly see - I have no decoration skills either - I'll need to work on that too!)

Today we made Pumpkin Spice sweet bread and decorated it with Cream Cheese Frosting - so delicious - I especially love that today just happens to be the coldest day yet - perfect!


Cream Cheese Frosting
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a small bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.
In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth, then fold in whipped cream.

Go To Appetizer

No question. My go to appetizer is this delicious Texas Caviar I posted the recipe previously here - but didn't include a picture.

If you haven't made this yet - do it - your friends and family will love you!

Outback Steakhouse Ranch Dressing

My copycat of Outback Steakhouse Ranch Dressing:

1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch dry mix (buttermilk recipe)

2 c mayonnaise

1 c buttermilk (*or sour milk)

1/2 t fresh cracked pepper

1/4 t cayenne pepper

1/4 t garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, mix well. refrigerate for at least an hour before serving - it needs time for all the flavors to marry.

*Sour milk. If you don't have buttermilk on hand (for any recipe) you can substitute the same measurement of buttermilk called for (in this recipe 1 c) regular milk and add 1T lemon or lime juice to it. In some recipes, using this substitute can make it a little tart - just balance that with a bit of sugar.

Food Allergies

I just thought I would share an awesome website I just ran in to. It is called Spewd Free http://www.spewdfree.com/. It stands for Soy,peanut,eggs,wheat and dairy free. The website has some great alternative recipes for every day normal meals for those with food allergies. I hope it helps. I am for sure trying some of them this weekend. My little 3 month old was just diagnosed with a milk-protein allergy. I am a newby to the whole food allergy concept so if you all have any dairy free recipes, suggestions and substitutions PLEASE SHARE!

Roasted Butternut Squash

I posted this a while ago - but I grouped it in with a bunch of roasted veggies - this one is so good, I thought I'd give it a post all by itself.
Roasted Butternut Squash
2 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into bit sized pieces
4 t butter
4 t brown sugar
Kosher Salt
Fresh cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°. Place butternut squash on a large baking sheet. Melt butter and mix with brown sugar. Drizzle that mixture over each squash. Season with salt and pepper – roast for 40 minutes, until fork tender.

*You want to make sure that even the biggest pieces are fork tender - the more tender - the better the taste.

Char's Roasted Potatoes

I found this recipe through fellow blogger Char she said that this is the 'most requested recipe' in her arsenal - for good reason...
Char's Roasted Potatoes

Potatoes

Johnny’s Garlic Spread
Lawry’s seasoned salt
Dill weed
1 stick of butter

Quarter potatoes and boil them for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Melt butter add more seasoning than you think you’ll need. Roast for 2 hours – stirring every 30 minutes.

That's the recipe!

To those of you that need more specific measurements - I'll tell you what I did.

I used a 5 lb bag of potatoes (I split this recipe with another family of 4) I used Gold potatoes- they are a fav. I cut them down into big bite size pieces. Some of my potatoes could easily be quartered - others needed to be cut down a bit more. Just try to get a uniform size.

Since she didn't give measurements on the seasonings - I just sprinkled the seasonings over the potatoes until they looked 1/2 to 3/4 of the way covered (on top) then I mixed them with my hands to get all that delicious seasoning all over those potatoes.

I don't have a roasting pan so I just used a cookie sheet - worked great. The other family I shared these with RAVED about them and asked for the recipe!

*Johnny's Garlic Spread is available at Costco in Northern Utah or online here. It has a really unusual combination of flavors - garlicy, mediterranian, cheesy - hard to describe - worth ordering it online:)

** I have also used small red potatoes - super awes. If there are any left - I mash them and serve them with dinner the next night - always a hit!

Potato Ham Chowder

This one's a goody. I make a HUGE batch - have it for dinner the day I make it - then freeze a 'family sized' container of it for a future meal and I also freeze little 'single servings' for quick lunches or snacks. I just use a Texas sized muffin pan to freeze them into individual servings - you freeze 'em and then do a very quick dip into hot water to pop them out.
This recipe is so SUPER easy - anyone can make it and everyone will love it:)


Potato Ham Chowder
One package of 'Creamy Potato - Bear Creek Soup Mix'
8 - 12 cups water - depending on how chunky you want your soup - I do 12 cups
Diced Ham or Bacon (amount is based on preference)
15 oz corn (you can use either fresh, frozen or canned)
1 medium onion, diced
1 28 oz bag Ore Ida potatoes O'Brian
Cheddar cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste


I have made this two ways (because I'm crazy like that)
1. Make soup according to package directions - then add all other ingredients and let simmer for an hour or so (you need to make sure that the potatoes are soft and that everything is heated through).

2. While the water is coming up to boil, I put the potatoes, ham, corn and onions in a skillet and cook them until the potatoes are done. I can usually do this pretty close to the time it takes the water to boil. Then make the soup according to package directions and add in all other ingred and serve right away.

Just depends on your schedule - I usually make it the #1 way when I know I'll need time away from the stove but still need to have dinner ready at a decent hour (I'll make it and then head out to Scouts - when we come home dinners ready - don't worry - I don't leave the soup/stove unattended) but it can just sit there and get nice and yummy without anyone having to worry about it.

Southwestern Lasagna

This is SO good. I found the recipe for Southwestern Lasagna on Yummy Fun - and let me tell you - it was Yummy and Fun to see all the smiles at my table. Southwestern Lasagna – Yummy Fun8 small flour tortillas
3-4 chicken breast, cooked and shredded
1/2 sweet onion
1 can Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilies)
1 sm can diced green chilies (I puree these for the kids)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 C frozen corn
1 Can black beans
juice from 1/2 lime
1/4 C water (as needed)
1/4 or less chopped cilantro (to taste for garnish)
3 C monterey jack cheese - grated

Combine cooked chicken, onions, Rotel, green chilies and spices into a pan and saute. Let simmer until slightly bubbly. Then add corn, black beans and water if necessary to obtain an ever so slightly soupy consistency.

Lightly grease baking dish. In a 9x13" casserole dish (or 2 8x8's) Put a single layer of tortillas on the bottom. Scoop 1/2 chicken mixture on top of tortillas then with 1/2 monterey jack cheese. REPEAT. Then cut a couple of tortillas into small triangles, place on top of casserole and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Preheat oven 350, bake 20 minutes covered and approx 20-30 more minutes uncovered.

I was really curious how the 'triangle tortillas' would affect the dish. Would they be dry? Would they burn? Is that really a good idea? Turns out - the tortillas on top get nice and crispy and add a totally AWESOME layer of texture to the dish!

I served this with Avocado Dressing - as an homage to "Chili's Southwestern Eggrolls and Avocado Dipping Sauce" and it really hit the spot! I told my hubs where I got the recipe and the idea for the sauce and he had a great idea. Buy the smallest tortillas, fill them with the chicken mixture and cheese, wrap them up like little burritos - bake and serve as appetizers with the dipping sauce! BRILLIANT - I am definitely doing that for our next get together.

*I did a very few things differently. I totally spaced the lime juice - and it was still amazing - next time I make it I'll be sure to include it. I also didn't have frozen corn, so I just used 1 can of corn and I didn't add cilantro (my husband thinks it tastes like soap).

Avocado Dressing/Dip

I wanted to serve something on the side of the Southwestern Lasagna to as an ode to "Chili's Southwestern Eggrolls with Avocado Dipping Sauce" and this was the ticket baby! I sorta 'winged it' and didn't measure my spices - so tweak it to your preference. I was really pleased with how it turned out - the perfect compliment to the Southwestern Lasagna:)

Avocado Dressing/Dip
1/2 Avocado
1/4 c mayonnaise
1/4 c sour cream
1/8 t salt
1/8 t dried parsley
1/8 t onion powder
Dash dill weed
Dash garlic powder
Dash pepper

Blend all ingredients together (I use my immersion blender!) Refrigerate before serving to get it chilled and to allow the flavors to marry.