Chicken Pasta Salad

This is the pasta salad that we had the other night for our family dinner. I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of it, but you all saw it, so hopefully you’ll remember it. We have made it with any kind of pasta, grapes and the pineapple. It also works well in pitas. You can also leave the chicken out.

Chicken Pasta Salad

1 8 ounce Faralle (bow tie macaroni)
1 8 ounce tri-colored spiral macaroni
1 cup cashews
2 cups red grapes sliced in half
2 cups chopped celery
1 small package raisins
2 chicken breasts cubed
3 green onions, chopped
1 can pineapple tidbits (drained)

Cook the pasta and drain well.
Cook the chicken thoroughly.
Then mix all ingredients together well.

COMBINE

1 16 ounce bottle Kraft coleslaw dressing
1 cup mayonnaise (Do not use salad dressing. It is not the same thing.)

Pour over salad.

Enjoy!

Texas Waffles

The hotels we stayed in on our trip served waffles shaped like this. (I've heard they do mickey mouse shaped waffles around Disneyland.)

Where's the recipe? Well, after eating these for 10 days straight.......I would be fine not to eat one for a really long time. I thought I would share a breakfast you would only eat in Texas.

Sloppy Joe's

We have found a very good recipe for Sloppy Joe's. It is really very good.

First, chop a red bell pepper and an onion.

Pour two tablespoons of olive oil into a large skillet and turned the heat to medium. Next, add the onions and red bell peppers. Cook the onions and peppers over medium heat, stirring regularly.

After the onions are just slightly brown and the peppers are getting soft, add two cloves of garlic (I just use my garlic press, but you can chop it if you don't own a garlic press...and you will probably soon buy a garlic press because your hands will smell like garlic for a few days after handling it while chopping) and stir for about a minute.

Then add one 15 oz. can of tomato sauce, one 6 oz. can of tomato paste, one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a dash of cinnamon and stir it all together. Let the sauce cool slightly then spoon it into the blender and puree it until it is fairly smooth.

Then cook the meat and season it to taste. Add the sauce and one cup of shredded cheese. Heat it up and stir until smooth.

Link to original recipe at Pinch My Salt.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

We have been wanting to make some BBQ Chicken Pizza for a while. Scott found a recipe recently that we thought we'd try. It was very, very good. We will definitely make it again.

Pizza before we baked it.

Our baked pizza.

We used the pizza dough recipe that we got from Scott's mom. We cut the following recipe in half to fit on a normal sized pizza stone. You can use the recipe as is for a larger pan or for a thicker crust.

Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar

Mix together until yeast is softened.

Add:
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

Mix well. Knead. Can roll into shape or just push it with your fingers.

Now for the rest of the pizza.

For the sauce, mix together a 1/2 cup BBQ sauce and added 1 1/2 tablespoons of honey. We like honey, so we added a lot. Spread this sauce on the pizza dough.

Cook 1 chicken breast and dice or shred it. That seemed to be plenty of chicken.
To make caramelized onions, sauté the onions in the olive oil.

1 to 2 tbsp olive oil and
1/3 red onion, sliced (we used yellow onions, which was fine)

Top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (optional) (We would have put it on, but we didn't have any.)

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for around 14-15 minutes.

Link to original recipe from Good Eats and Sweet Treats

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

When we saw the recipe for this ice cream cake on our favorite food blog, we thought it might be fun to make one for Milo's birthday. It tasted really good.

For some guidance in making an ice cream cake, you can check out the Baking Bites tutorial here. The original recipe was for a huge cake (three 10×15-inch layers). In our recipe below, I'm going to cut it in half. It made three 9x13-inch layers.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

Ice Cream Layer
1/2 gallon high-quality mint chocolate chip ice cream

Line a 9x13-inch pan with plastic wrap. Soften ice cream until it is easy to scoop, then spread it into an even layer in the prepared pan. Freeze for at least 6 hours, or until very firm. Once it is firm, the pan can be removed and the layer can be stored in the plastic wrap.

Chocolate Cake (make 2)
1 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray. Leave some paper overhanging the edges of the pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Pour into flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Pour hot water (not quite boiling) over batter and stir until smooth. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until cake springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes, then use the parchment paper to transfer cake to a wire rack to cool completely. Do not remove parchment paper.

Repeat recipe to make a second cake.

Assembly
2 cake layers
1 ice cream layer
2 batches* vanilla buttercream frosting

Place one cake layer on a large serving platter or cake board, using parchment paper to help move the cake without breaking it. Peel off parchment once cake is in place. Top cake with ice cream layer and top ice cream layer with remaining cake layer.

Freeze for at least an hour, until firm and cold. Meanwhile, make buttercream frosting.

Frost chilled cake with a thin layer of frosting and freeze until ready to serve.

* We ended up making 2 batches of buttercream frosting which resulted in a thick, rich layer of frosting. We had trouble spreading the frosting because we were spreading it on a frozen cake and the frosting froze. You might want to try frosting the cake before it is frozen to help avoid this problem. Or just be more adept at frosting cakes...

Link to original recipe at Baking Bites.

Strawberry Lassi

I hadn't heard of a lassi until Scott told me about them. Scott has had them before and told me they were a great drink.

Here is some background on lassis. This text came from Baking Bites. You can find a link below. "A lassi is a traditionally Indian drink that is made with yogurt and a variety of spices, sweet or savory. I’ve noticed that fruit lassis are probably the most popular and are easily the most widely available type at the Indian restaurants I’ve been too. They are often smoothie-like in consistency and use yogurt, milk, fruit and a sweetener."

Photo courtesy of Baking Bites

Strawberry Lassi

2 cups fresh strawberries (about 12-oz.), roughly chopped
1 cup plain yogurt
2-3 tbsp honey (we add an extra tbsp of honey)
1 cup ice (or frozen fruit can be used as ice)

Process in food processor until no chunks of ice remain and drink is very, very smooth.
Pour into chilled glasses.

The original recipe can be found at Baking Bites here.

Coco-Flan Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350.

Spray bundt pan.

Sprinkle 2 tbsp. brown sugar in the bottom of the pan.

Place 9x13 pan 1/2 full of water in the oven.

2. In blender, mix for 2 minutes.

4 eggs

1 can evaporated milk

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tbsp. vanilla

3. Make cake mix according to directions. (My kids like the chocolate cake. I prefer a french vanilla cake mix then it is just a Flan Cake, which is fine by me.)

4. Pour the cake mix into the bundt pan. Gently pour the milk mixture on top. (The milk mixture sinks to the bottom and becomes the flan. The flan becomes a little discolored from the chocolate cake. With a light colored cake, it doesn't effect the color of the flan.) Place the bundt pan in the 9x13 with the water. Bake for 1 hour or till the toothpick comes out clean.

4. Cool completely. (There is some debate whether this cake should be made ahead of time, refridgerated, and served cold. I for one don't care. It's great either way!)

Smoothies!

I realized that our recipe blog needed our smoothie recipes. I have included both our "ice" smoothies as well as our breakfast smoothies.

“Ice” Smoothies (there is no ice included…but Milo is the smoothie boss and he named them)

2 large scoops of sherbet
2 cups of fruit (to remove the need for ice or additional freezing time it is best if at least 75% of the fruit is frozen)
1.5 cups of juice (or a juice/water mixture)
Blend it all up and eat! If you use fresh fruit you can put it in the freezer for a bit to thicken up.

We also have smoothies for breakfast which don’t require a spoon to consume. Milo “just” calls these smoothies.

Breakfast Smoothies

0.5 cups plain yogurt
1 scoop of whey powder
1 cup of juice (or a juice/water mixture)
1-1.5 cups frozen fruit
honey (optional…it makes the drink a bit sweeter when the fruit you are using may not be naturally sweet)
Blend it up and drink!

You can look at our original smoothie post on our blog here.

Cinnamon Chips

We recently found this Cinnamon Chips recipe. We tried them with some mango salsa and they are very good. Sorry, we forgot to get a picture. You can see a picture of them if you click on the link below.

Ingredients:
10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
butter flavored cooking spray
2 cups cinnamon sugar

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat one side of each tortilla with cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange on a large baking sheet. [I cut the tortillas first and then sprayed them after I put them on the pan.] Coat wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes.

Link to original recipe at Two Fat Als.

Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake

This cake is very good and is a favorite at our house. It is a great alternative to the big chocolate cake you can get at Costco. We thought that many of you might want the recipe. It is fairly easy to make.


A decadently rich and moist chocolate cake made with the ease and convenience of packaged mixes. Vanilla ice cream or lightly sweetened whipped cream compliments this cake perfectly.

Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake

Cake:

1 (18.25-ounce) package devil's food cake mix

1 (4-ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix

1 (12-ounce) semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

1 3/4 cups water

2 large eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 to 3 tablespoons hot water

1. Preheat oven to 350*F (175*C). Grease and flour a 12-inch Bundt pan; set aside.
2. In large mixing bowl combine cake mix, pudding mix and chocolate chips. In another bowl combine water,eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add egg mixture to dry mixture and mix by hand just until blended.
3. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until cake tests done when wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Take the cake out of the pan as soon as it comes out of the oven to prevent it from sticking to the pan.
   
4. When completely cool drizzle cake with Chocolate Glaze.
5. For Chocolate Glaze: Combine all ingredients in bowl and beat by hand until smooth.

Makes 12 servings.

Nutrition Facts (per serving 1/12 serving of cake with glaze): 387.9 calories; 39% calories from fat; 18.4g total fat; 40.3mg cholesterol; 507.6mg sodium; 196.4mg potassium; 58.1g carbohydrates; 3.5g fiber; 22.7g sugar; 54.7g net carbs; 5.3g protein.

Copyright Hope Pryor, please see Terms of Use.

Link to original recipe here