Broccoli Cauliflower Salad

This is a family favorite recipe.  We have been making this recipe for about 15 years.  It is simple, delicious, and has healthy vegetables.  It is good anytime of year.  It would be great for the upcoming Easter or Mother’s Day dinners.

Salad

1 head broccoli

1 head cauliflower

Dressing

2 cups miracle whip

½ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup sugar

2 Tbs. red wine vinegar

Toppings

1 pkg. cranraisens

½ cup sunflower seeds (shelled, honey roasted)

½ lb. bacon (cooked and crumbled)

Finely chop equal parts broccoli and cauliflower.  Mix dressing ingredients together, then mix with vegetables.  Stir in toppings ingredients.

*This recipe makes quit a bit, it is very easy to cut in half.  
Posted by Jen!!

Hashbrown Casserole

I found this on Pinterest and it had great reviews! It seemed easy enough so, I gave it a try and we loved it! It has become a new favorite for my husband and I. Also it was very easy to make.

Ingredients:

1 bag (2 pounds) frozen hash browns, thawed
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup finely chopped onion (I just used a whole small onion)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups of shredded colby jack cheese


Directions:

1). Preheat oven to 375* F. Spray a 9x13 glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2). In a large bowl, combine the cream of chicken soup, diced onion, melted butter, sour cream, milk, salt, pepper, and 2 cups of the shredded cheese. Mix well!
3). Add the hash browns to the mixture and mix well!
4). Pour into the prepared 9x13 inch baking dish.
5). Sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of shredded cheese.

6). Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour until hot and bubbly and it begins to brown on top. Allow to sit for 10 min. before serving.


Posted by: Whitney

French Toast Bake

          

This is a great recipe for Easter morning or really for any morning.  I love that it is prepared the night before, and cooked in the morning.  Jess and I have both made this delicious recipe for our families a couple of times.  I like making it when we have guest staying with us.  I thought it was weird that the recipe called for sourdough bread.  The dense bread helps soak up the egg mixture.  It is too soggy if regular bread is used.  

Ingredients:

1 loaf sourdough bread (cannot use regular bread, must be sourdough)

8 eggs

2 cups milk (I used skim)

1/2 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. vanilla

Topping:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1 stick cold butter

Cut bread into bite size chunks and place in a greased 13x9 baking dish.

Mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla.  Pour evenly over bread.  Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours (Mine was in overnight, about 15 hours).

In a bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the butter with a *pastry cutter until it all looks nice and crumbly (about pea size), store in fridge.

When ready to bake, sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over the top of the bread mixture in pan.  Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

I serve this with a powdered sugar/milk glaze.  Mix together powdered sugar and milk together until you get a syrup like consistency.  We have tried this with regular syrup and Buttermilk Glaze and do NOT like them as much.  Jess serves this bake with not syrup or glaze.

This recipe can easily be halved and cooked in a 8x8 baking dish.

* If you don't have a pastry cutter buy one, it always comes in handy, or use two 

knives and cut away from each other.

Enjoy!!

Posted by Jen

Lemon Crackle Cookies

Ingredients:
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 Tbs. lemon juice
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking powder
⅛ tsp. baking soda
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  Slowly mix in salt, baking powder, baking soda, and flour until combined.  Pour powdered sugar onto a plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on lightly greased baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until bottoms are barely light brown. Remove from oven, let cool a couple of minutes before transferring to a cookie rake to cool completely.

Makes 2-3 dozen

• I think the key to good baking in do NOT over cook your food

I’m glad you love these cookies Madi S.

Posted by Jen

Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake

 I saw this recipe on Pinterest but when I clicked on it I could't find it on the persons blog. I wanted to make it so bad that I searched for it on the internet. I made a few changes but man it's good. I think this would be a great dessert for any night but I think I'm going to make it again with my Valentines dinner. I just love the fresh strawberries in it.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 T. lemon juice, divided

Zest of 1 lemon

2 1/2 cups flour, divided

1/2 tsp. salt 

8 oz. plain, vanilla or strawberry Greek yogurt

12 oz. fresh strawberries, diced

1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Mix together 2 1/4 cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the zest of the lemon and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 T. lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.

Toss together the strawberries with the remaining 1/4 cup flour.

Gently mix them into the batter.

Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Place in the oven and reduce temperature to 325. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserts into the center of the cake and comes out clean.

Allow to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the remaining 2 T. lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Posted by Jess

Stuffed Pasta Shells

What You Need

8 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained
15 oz Ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
1 egg white
1 lb. Italian sausage (I use Jimmy Dean) cooked, drained and cooled
1 envelope of Italian Dressing Mix (I used Good Seasons brand)
20 jumbo macaroni pasta shells, cooked, drained and cooled (I cooked about 25 shells becasue 2 or 3 usually fall apart)
1 jar (13-1/2 oz.) spaghetti sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Mix spinach, Ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup Mozzarella, egg white, sausage, and dressing mix until well blended.

Spread half of the spaghetti sauce onto the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish.

Spoon mixture into shells, adding a heaping spoon full into each shell.

Arrange the shells, filled-sides up, into the baking dish.




Spread the rest of the sauce onto the shells.

Sprinkle the rest of the Mozzarella on the very top.



Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes


*I like to serve with garlic bread
* If you like meals with kick then you could substitute the Italian sausage for a pound of Hot sausage.  We have done that and it's super good!

Love, Madalyn

Cheese Biscuits

This is one of the easiest recipes I've ever made.  I make them when I have people over for dinner because they are so easy and it gives me time to spend on the other dishes I'm making. I also make them every Valentines Day along with lobster, crab or shrimp. I have been very clear with my husband that I NEVER want to go out on Valentines Day; I would rather he take me out the day before or the day after but not the day of, just too many people out for me. So that's why we always do a big seafood dinner that night. These are also as close to Red Lobster biscuits as I've ever had. Also great as leftovers, just heat up a few seconds in the microwave. 

Biscuit Mix                  

2 cups baking mix  (Bisquick or Jiffy baking mix)       

2/3 cup milk                  

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese      

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Toppings
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried parsley

Preheat oven to 450*.

Stir together baking mix, milk and cheeses until soft dough forms. 

Drop 10 to 12 spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.

Melt butter,  stir in garlic powder and parsley flakes. Spoon over warm biscuits. 

Posted by Jess

Blonde Brownies

These are a childhood favorite of my husband's! His dad used to make these growing up for him and his siblings. My husband has made them for me before but this is the first time I have been the one making them.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups (11.5 oz.) Nestle Toll House milk chocolate morsels


Directions:

1). Preheat oven to 375* F.
2). Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
3). In a large bowl beat together butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract, until creamy.
4). Add eggs one at a time, beat well after each egg.
5). Gradually beat in flour mixture.
6). Stir in chocolate morsels
7). Spread batter in a cake pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 20 min. Cool before serving


I doubled the batch and added 2 different kinds of chocolate morsels, white chocolate and milk chocolate. It is also good with butterscotch and milk chocolate or peanut butter and milk chocolate.

Posted by: Whitney

Parmesan Crusted Salmon

I have been looking for a new way to cook salmon for quite a while, so when I saw this on Pinterest I just had to try it. I was surprised at how easy it was to make!  I didn't have the exact ingredients that the recipe called for so I improvised a little, it still turned out great!

Ingredients:

16-20 oz. salmon fillets, skin on
kosher salt (to taste)
freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
3 tbs. mayonnaise
2 tbs. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
additions freshly grated Parmesan cheese
a few dashes of paprika


Directions:

1). Preheat oven to 425* F. Line a shallow roasting pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
2). Wash salmon fillets in cold water and dry off completely with paper towels. Place salmon in roasting pan and set aside.

3). Mix together: mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and paprika in a small bowl.

 

4). Spread mixture evenly over salmon. Sprinkle the rest of the Parmesan cheese and paprika (optional) on top of the salmon. 

5). Roast in oven for about 12-14 min (depending on the thickness).
6). Remove from oven. Using a spatula separate the salmon and serve.


Alterations I made:

I got my salmon fillets from Costco that come individually wrapped, and they don't have the skin on them.
I used regular salt and pepper since I didn't have kosher salt or freshly ground pepper.
I didn't have fresh Parmesan cheese so I used the container of ground Parmesan cheese I had in my fridge already.
I used miracle whip instead of mayo (my husband hates mayo).
I also cooked mine for about 10 extra minutes because mine were quite thick on one end and I didn't want to risk it not being cooked.



Posted by: Whitney