Monday, February 23, 2009

Biscuit BBQ Cups

from my friend, Leslie

1 pack of Grands biscuits (8 count)
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoon brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 350. Put your ground beef in the skillet to brown. While it's cooking, spray your muffin pan with Pam. Open your Grands pack, pull out a biscuit, tear off about a quarter of it to use later, then spread it into and up the sides of a muffin pan cup to make a cup/bowl shape with your dough. Be sure to remember to stir your beef every once in a while. Keep doing this until you've filled eight muffin cups. Then, use the extra little bit of biscuit dough to fill up two more muffin cups, which will give you ten in all. Now that your beef is brown, drain it and return it to the skillet. Then, pour in your BBQ sauce and your brown sugar (and your onion, if that's your thing) and mix. Let it heat up a bit. Now you just put some of your ground beef mixture in each little dough cup. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake about ten minutes or so.

Blackberry Cobbler

from The Stickles Family


4 cups fresh blackberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 large egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons butter, melted
Whipped cream (optional)
Garnish: fresh mint sprig


Preheat oven to 375°. Place blackberries in a lightly greased 8-inch square baking dish; sprinkle with lemon juice. Stir together egg, sugar, and flour in a medium bowl until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle over fruit. Drizzle melted butter over topping. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream, if desired. Garnish with fresh mint sprig, if desired.

For a neat presentation, bake for the same amount of time in 6 (8-oz.) ramekins on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.

Beach Shrimp

from Southern Living
Makes 6 to 8 servings

3 lb. unpeeled, large raw shrimp
1 (16 oz.) bottle Italian dressing
1 1/2 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 lemons, halved
1.4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup butter, cut up

Place shrimp, Italian dressing, pepper and garlic cloves in a 13- x 9- inch baking dish, tossing to coat. Squeeze juice from lemons, over shrimp mixture, and stir. Add lemon halves to pan. Sprinkle evenly with parsley; dot with butter.

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes, stirring after 15 minutes. Serve in pan.

*We had this fabulous dish at my aunt's last night. She served this with a salad, Uncle Ben's wild rice and warm, French bread. It was delicious!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Dinners Made Easier

My friend, Anca, just sent me this site and I'd love to share it with you. It's www.supercook.com. Just enter what ingredients you have in your fridge & pantry and voila, you have dinner. Then the site will give you a list of recipes that will use those ingredients and also what else you might need to complete that recipe--makes the cooking process a bit more simplified.

I hope this helps! I know that I'm going to use it!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Sweet and Sour Chicken

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil


Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients (below) together and pour over chicken.

Sauce:

¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes. If you like extra sauce, make another batch of sauce and bring it to a boil on the stove top. Stir constantly and let cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced - about 6-8 minutes.

*I did not like breading the chicken and the sauce wasn't the best, but it was easy.

Easy Fried Rice

Ingredients:
1 - 2 green onions, as desired
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
4 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, or as needed
4 cups cold cooked rice (I used brown rice)
1 - 2 tablespoons light soy sauce, as desired

Preparation:
Wash and finely chop the green onion. Lightly beat the eggs with the salt and pepper. Heat a wok or frying pan and add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the eggs. Cook, stirring, until they are lightly scrambled but not too dry. Remove the eggs and clean out the pan. Add 2 tablespoons oil. Add the rice. Stir-fry for a few minutes, using chopsticks or a wooden spoon to break it apart. Stir in the soy sauce as desired. When the rice is heated through, add the scrambled egg back into the pan. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the green onion. Serve hot.


*Super easy and very delicious!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Slow-Cooker Sweet and Spicy Chicken

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 (14 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, undrained (I used a can of Rotel)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I used 1/4 teaspoon)

Coat the inside of your crockpot with non-stick cooking spray. Place all ingredients in the crockpot. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 8-10 hours, or until chicken shreds very easily with a fork. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Chicken will absorb liquid after it is shredded.)

*I used 6 very thin chicken breasts and they only needed to cook on LOW for about 4 hours.