Drunken Noodles

I could not find the Thai Chilies so I used 1/2 of a large jalapena. Again, I forgot to take a picture until the dish was almost totally gone. Here is what was left of a large wok filled with pure goodness.  My daughter-in-law loves Thai food so for her birthday I tried to make one of her favorite dishes. I was a little uncomfortable so my daughter came and helped me with the dish. She is the real cook of the family.  Love cooking with that girl. Find the recipe Here

Ingredients

• 1 package chinese noodles
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• ¼ cup tequila
• 2 tbsp black soy sauce
• 4 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 chicken breast cut in small thin pieces
• ½ green bell pepper, cut in thin long pieces
• Thai Chiles to taste, chopped
• Thai basil leaves, for garnish
• 2 small tomatoes cut in wedges
• green onions for garnish

Instructions

1. Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender, stirring frequently. Drain.
2. In a small bowl whisk together black soy sauce, tequila, light soy sauce, fish sauce and brown sugar.
3. In a large skillet melt the butter then add sesame oil. Add garlic and Thai chiles and saute for a few seconds. Add raw chicken and cook until no longer pink. Then add green bell pepper and the soy sauce mixture and cook for a couple minutes.
4. Add cooked noodles, tomatoes and toss to coat noodles. Transfer to a big bowl or plate and garnish with green onions, and basil. Serve warm. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Layered Italian Sandwich

This is a combination of two recipes that I found. 1st one was in a sandwich cookbook that I downloaded. It is called"Sandwiches."  It is gooseberry Patch classic by Vickie and Jo Ann.  Since it is a download, I'm not able to give you the link.  They make their own bread, but I just used sandwich bread.  I also found a recipe in the Austin American Statesman for grilled cheese sandwiches. The writer used mayonnaise instead of butter to put on the outside of the sandwiches.  Never would have thought of that, but it was great.
Ingredients:
3-4 thin slices of homemade salami (recipe here)
2-3 thin slices of ham
2 slices of your favorite cheese (the recipe calls for provolone)
5 slices of pepperoni
mayonnaise for the outside of the bread
1. With a knife or spatula, put a thin layer of mayonnaise on one side of the bread -- save it to the side with the mayonnaise side facing up.
2. On the other slice layer the above ingredients, placing cheese on the bottom and top of the layers.
3. With the grill on high, place the bread with the mayonnaise on top with the mayonnaise facing you. Place the mayonnaise side down on the grill.  While that is cooking, put a thin layer of mayonnaise on the side facing you. Cook 3-4 minutes per side until the cheese is melted and oozing goodness out the sides.

Contessa's Shrimp Salad

I took this picture before I added the capers. I took another picture, but the food was 1/2 gone and didn't look very good. Trust me, the capers are a great addition.  I copied this recipe out of a magazine, but when I went on Foodnetwork.com, I couldn't find it.
I just bought 1 pound of shrimp and cut the other ingredients to match the amount of shrimp.  Now I wish that I had bought 2 1/2 pounds because left-overs would be appreciated.


Printable Version
Ingredients for Shrimp:
2 1/2 pounds shrimp (peel and devein)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Ingredients for the Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh dill, minced
2 tablespoons drained capers
2 tablespoons red onion
Directions for shrimp:
Peel and devein shrimp. Place on a sheet pan with olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Toss the ingredients and spread shrimp in a single layer. Roast 6-8 minutes. Cool 3 minutes.
Directions for sauce:
Whisk together mayonnaise, orange zest, orange juice, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Add cooled shrimp to sauce. Add dill, capers, and red onion. Toss well. Set at room temperature 30 minutes. We did not wait 30 minutes. We waited about 3 minutes. 

Countdown to School

I made this countdown calendar for the start of school for 2 grandsons.  There are 23 pockets, but I think next time I will cut it in 1/2 and put grommets in the bottom half and have two. I bought the over-the-door shoe holder at Target for about $8. Then I found some things that I thought they would like. Many of them came from Below 5 and Target's cheap isle. 

Cherry Pie Bars

• Cherry cloud bars are light, fluffy cloud-like cakes bursting with delicious cherry pie filling and lightly glazed. These bars are simple to throw together. We dished it into bowls and made it more like a cobbler than bars.

Printable Version

• Ingredients
  1 cup of butter, softened (but not completely melted)
  2 cups of sugar
  4 eggs
  1 tsp vanilla extract
  1/2 tsp salt
  1/4 tsp almond extract
  3 cups all purpose flour
  2 cans of cherry pie filling (can use just 1 if you need to)
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  
• Method:
• In a mixing bowl, cream your butter, sugar- add eggs and almond extract, beating well to mix. Add flour & Salt, Mixing Well.
  
  Spread half of the batter in a greased 9x13 pan, Spoon the Pie Filling over the batter Randomly drop tablespoons remaining batter over the pie filling (*do not mix the pie filling INTO the cake)
  
  Bake for 35 min or until your toothpick comes out clean
  
  If you wish to add a glaze mix 1 c. Powdered sugar, 1 tsp almond extract, 2 tsp milk and drizzle over the baked bars after they have completely cooled.

Warren's Chicken Bites

I found this recipe Here.  Fortunately, I started these really early because I was going to take them to an outdoor concert. I found that they need to cook more like 1 hour, turning them after 30 minutes.

Ingredients

• 8 chicken tenders or breast cutlets, flattened and cut in half
• Two 3-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 16 slices bacon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Top each piece of chicken with 1 teaspoon cream cheese and 1/4 teaspoon chopped jalapeno. Roll up each filling-covered chicken piece and wrap with 1 slice of bacon, securing with a toothpick. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in the oven for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Cook Notes: You can also cook these on an outdoor grill: Grill for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once.

---

Patty Melt

OMG this will not be the last time I make these.  Jud was smoking our brisket for our July 4th celebration and he made-up some hamburger patties. We had seen this on Pioneer Woman and decided we wanted some. You can find that recipe Here.  At the time, I was pretty sure I didn't need a recipe.  Now that I look, I did fine. We had two slices of Monterey Jack cheese and I used that instead of Swiss Cheese. Other than that, it was pretty much the same.  I did use my new pannini press that I got for Christmas. These were awesome.

Stuffed Salmon

This is so easy and delish.  We went to H.E.B. today and they were offering this salmon as samples. We loved it and decided that we wanted this for dinner. It couldn't be easier.  You put it in a 400-450 degree oven for 15 minutes, I think.  You just buy a package and it tells you the directions on the package. It is salmon stuffed with crab stuffing. Those tomatoes were from the Farmers Market at Lakeline Mall. They were THE BEST TOMATOES I HAVE EVER HAD. Oh how I would love to be able to grow tomatoes like these.

Peach Snack Cake

I found this recipe on Pinterest Here. Jud liked it better than me.  I thought it was good, but not great. I was looking for great.











Printable Version

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup granulated sugar plus 3 teaspoons, divided
2. 2 1/2 cups sliced peaches
3. 1/2 teaspoon corn starch
4. 2 cups flour
5. 1/2 teaspoon salt
6. 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
7. 1 1/2 cups whole milk
8. 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Method:

1. Spray an 8-x-8-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. 1. In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons sugar and corn starch. Toss peaches in the mixture and coat evenly. Set aside.
3. 2. In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup sugar, flour, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, whisk together milk and butter. Slowly pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until incorporated.
4. 3. Pour cake batter into prepared baking dish. Press sliced peaches into the cake batter and place some on top. Put in the oven and bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Notes

1. Peach Cobbler Snack Cake will keep up to 3 days stored in an airtight container.