Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad

Dressing:

·        1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

·        2/3 cup light sour cream

·        1 tablespoon minced chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce

·        1 teaspoon ground cumin

·        1 teaspoon chili powder

·        4 teaspoons fresh lime juice

·        1/4 teaspoon salt

·        1 spoonful Adobo sauce (optional) for an extra kick

Combine ingredients and stir well.

Salad:

·        4 cups shredded romaine lettuce

·        2 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 2 breasts)

·        1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

·        1/2 cup diced peeled avocado

·        1/3 cup thinly vertically sliced red onion

·        1 (15-ounce) can black, Kidney, or Pinto beans, rinsed and drained

·        1 (8 3/4-ounce) can no-salt-added whole-kernel corn, rinsed and drained

Be sure to use romaine lettuce as it is sturdy enough to stand up to the moist ingredients and won’t wilt as quickly. Combine lettuce and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over salad; toss gently to coat. Serve immediately, but salad is still good the next day.  

Panera’s Stove Top Macaroni and Cheese

16 oz shell pasta or other small pasta shapes

4 tbsp butter (1/2 stick)

¼ to 1/3 cup flour

2 1/2 cups milk, cream, or half-and-half

4 oz American cheese, chopped or torn into pieces

8 oz extra sharp Vermont cheddar, shredded

2 tsp – 1 tbsp Dijon mustard (adjust according to your tastes)

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp hot sauce (like Frank’s)

In a large stockpot, cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain well.

While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a 4-quart sauce pan over medium heat.  When the butter has melted and has started to bubble, whisk in the flour; cook for 1 1/2 minutes whisking constantly.  (If you use the lesser amount of flour, you’ll need to cook it a little longer, but it’ll taste less “floury.”  Sauce will be a little thinner, but will be just a cheesy.)  Gradually whisk in the milk/cream until no lumps remain.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook milk mixture, whisking frequently, until it thickens and bubbles, about 8 minutes. Remove sauce pan from the heat and by the handful, stir in the cheeses allowing all of the cheese to melt into the sauce before adding more.  Stir in the mustard, salt, and hot sauce.  Return the sauce pan to the heat and stir in the pasta.  Be sure to stir up the sauce from the bottom of the sauce pan and thoroughly coat all of the pasta with sauce.  Cook for 1-2 minutes over medium-low heat until heated through.  Serve hot in bowls with spoons.   (You can use white american cheese and white cheddar cheese to make white macaroni and cheese.)

Fruit salad dressing

This makes enough dressing for a big bowl of fruit salad.  Bridget got the recipe online somewhere and made it for her "break the fast" today.  It was delicious.

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened  (the recipe called for strawberry cream cheese but we didn't have that)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup crushed pretzles or nuts (optional, she didn't use this) to give a little crunch

Mix all ingredients together, pour over bowl of cut up fruit.  (Bridget's fruit salad was cut up fresh pineapple, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, and grapes.)  Serves at least 8.

Clotted Cream

Yield:  about 1 c. clotted cream

Ingredients: 2 pints heavy cream, preferably with a high fat content and not ultra pasteurized (try to find Cedar Summit Farms or similar.)

Method: Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Pour the cream into an oven safe pan or dish such that the cream rises one to three inches deep. Cover the pan or dish, and bake for eight to 12 hours, or until the cream has formed a thick, yellow skin. Cool the cream at room temperature, and then refrigerate it for eight hours. Skim the yellow clotted cream from the top and serve. You may use the cream that remains below for baking.  When you serve the clotted cream with your scones, split the scone, dollop the clotted cream on the scone and add a smaller dollop of jam (strawberry is traditional) on top.

Cream Scones

Yield: 8 scones

·         2 c. all purpose flour

·         ¼ c. sugar

·         1 T. baking powder

·         ½ t. salt

·         1 pint (2 c.) very heavy cream

·         2 T. butter, melted

·         1 T. sugar

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients with a fork. Pour in the cream and stir it in with a fork. Give the dough a few gentle kneads with your hand. Transfer the dough to your baking sheet and pat it into a circle roughly 10” in diameter. Cut the circle into eight equal triangles and separate them. Brush the scones with the melted butter and sprinkle them with the sugar. Bake for 17 minutes, or until they spring back a bit when pressed. These scones are best the day they are baked. Serve warm or at room temperature.  Recipe note:  The proportions of cream to flour are correct.  Measure your flour by scooping and leveling.  I use an exceptionally thick cream.  If your cream is thin, begin with 1 ½ cups and add additional cream as needed.  The dough should be very soft.  You can increase sugar to ½ cup and add 1 cup blueberries (fold in very gently); or increase sugar to half a cup and add ½ cup dried cranberries with 1 tbs. grated orange zest.  Top with the tablespoon of sugar and bake as directed.  Serve with clotted cream and jam, recipe to follow.

Coffee Cake in a Mug

I haven't tried this yet but it gets excellent reviews (unlike the chocolate cake in a mug, which gets mixed reviews) and I wanted to put it down here with all of the little additions and options that I've found.

• 1 mug (small if you want it to puff up over the top, large if you don't.) Add the following:
• 1 Tb. butter (soften in mug, try not to melt it)
• 2 Tb. sugar (stir into butter till it's fluffy)
• Egg (break one into a small bowl and beat it, use half an egg for each mug.  If you are only making one you can use the whole egg, or you could actually leave it out but it will be less cake-y.  You could also use 1/8 cup egg product.
• 2 Tb. sour cream (can sub. yogurt, greek yogurt, buttermilk, or even regular cream.)
• Few drops vanilla
• Pinch salt
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda

Crumb topping:
In separate bowl, mix 1 Tb. softened butter, 2 Tb. flour, 1 Tb. brown sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon.  Mix together with a fork or with your fingers till it's crumbly and add to the top of your mug full of batter.

Microwave for 1 minute, then microwave for 10 second intervals till it's done to your liking.  (Careful, it'll be very hot when it first comes out of the microwave.)

Some of the reviewers said they used pumpkin instead of the egg, but that got mixed reviews.  Some added raisins, some added cocoa to make it chocolaty.  I was thinking that if you use regular cream instead of sour cream you'd need to use about half a tsp. of baking POWDER instead of baking soda to make up for the loss of the acid.

Anyway, nice to have an individual sized dessert when you crave something.  :)

Guatemalan Rice

I made this for the family while we were visiting over Christmas and it was well received so I'll put it up for everyone to enjoy. It's very easy and healthy and you can really top it with whatever you like.

1/4 c olive oil
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 c chopped carrots
1/2 c corn
1/2 c peas (or you can leave these out if you aren't a fan of them :)
1 c rice
2 c water
1 can black beans
Cheese
Tortilla chips
Toppings ex: sour cream, guacamole, salsa, cilantro, limes etc.

1. Saute onion in the olive oil.
2. Add rice and brown, stirring occasionally.
3. Add vegetables and water. Cover and let simmer until rice is cooked through.
4. After the rice is cooked turn off the heat, top with black beans and cheese and tent so that the cheese melts.
4. Top with your preferred toppings, serve up with tortilla chips and enjoy!