Susan's Sunday Surprise

Sunday Leftovers

I've really started looking forward to cooking brunch on Sundays.  I take my inspiration from a woman I used to work for who has a cooking blog. She is the most amazing fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of cook I've ever run into.  She hasn't posted in a while but if you are an adventurous cook, you ought to check out her site at CSA Mom. 

 

Today I needed to use up a few things in the fridge so I decided to make it all worthy enough to sit on a tortilla shell.  I like flour tortillas and my hubby likes corn, so we keep both in the cupboard.

 

I made a homemade salsa with my ripe cherry tomatoes.  Now you gotta know there is love in that salsa if I'm standing there cutting cherry tomatoes into quarters. Hubby said maybe I should use the food processor next time. No. I wanted it chunky.

 

So the protein here is two hamburgers I had cooked a couple nights ago. I chopped them up and added them to some already sauteed mushrooms and some chopped up red pepper that was hanging out in the fridge.  If I had not had the burgers, I would have scrambled a couple of eggs or perhaps taken some hot links out of the freezer.  Or perhaps it would have been a vegetarian breakfast.

 

The hash browns were the only non-leftover item here.

 

Mmmmm!  My hubby loved breakfast today.  That's just what I was shootin' for!

 

What would you put in your leftover surprise?

Taco Party Menu

Recent taco party for our friend Cheryl (she's a Sea Hawk fan)

Tacos are an easy crowd pleaser and you can pretty much do everything the day before and enjoy the party. The only cooking to do is heating up the tortillas.

Here's what I had to make my party a big hit.

Hamburger (browned and seasoned the night before)
Taco Seasoning
Refried beans (Taco Bell fat-free)
Spanish Rice (will post recipe later)
Tomatoes
Onions
Lettuce
Avocado
Salsa (green, red and homemade cabbage salsa)
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Tortilla chips to dip in cabbage salsa
Tortilla shells (corn and flour)
Parmesan cheese (to sprinkle on fried flour tortillas)

Dessert:
Ice cream or sherbet

Drinks:
Root beer, Sprite and Cola (remember to pick up ice)
Always have a fresh pot of coffee on

When I'm having friends over for a party, I do ask each to bring something to contribute. My friends brought the tomatoes, homemade cabbage salsa, cheese, chips, ice cream and soda. I placed the meat, beans, and Spanish rice in my 3-pot crock pot to serve buffet style. I will definitely do this theme party again. It was easy and everybody loved it. I always keep all the ingredients on hand just in case a guest can't make it to the party unexpectedly or arrives late. I've learned from experience that missing an important element of the meal can really make for an anxious cook. 

 

Notes: I prepared the meat the night before, adding the seasoning and placing it in the crock pot in the fridge overnight. I also made the Spanish rice and it went into the crock pot. The night of the party, I opened up 4 cans of refried beans into the third crock pot. I got home from work and heated each crock pot in the microwave for about 10 minutes and placed them on the warmers. Everything was piping hot when my guests arrived. A friend helped me fry up the corn tortillas and we warmed the flour shells in the microwave for a minute. Instant party!

 

 

 

Easy Peazy Hawaiian Chicken

You'll need:

Chicken pieces
Flour for dredging chicken
Butter or oil for frying
Garlic (a clove or two, minced)
Bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
Can of pineapple (crushed or pieces)

This recipe is so easy.

First, rinse your chicken pieces (I like boneless breasts or thighs). Dredge them in flour and brown in a large, oven-safe pan in either butter or oil or a mixture of both. I add the minced garlic before I turn the chicken over. You may have to add butter or oil as the chicken browns. No worries.

 

Once you're satisfied with the degree of browning, simply pour the entire bottle of BBQ sauce and entire can of pineapple, including the juice, into the pan and gently stir the two together. You can mix the bbq sauce and pineapple in a separate pan and heat it before adding but I skip that step in an effort to make this much easier.  

 

Place the pan in the oven at 350 for approximately one hour. I don't cover it because I like some of the liquid to evaporate. You'll want to watch this dish as it can easily burn if your oven cooks a little hot. Since the chicken is mostly cooked when you place it in the oven, you can get away with 45 minutes. 

 

If you don't have an oven-safe pan, simply place your browned chicken in a large baking pan and pour the bbq sauce/pineapple over the top.

 

Serve with rice. There will be plenty of yummy sauce to pour over the rice.  Enjoy!

Notes: I wish I could remember who gave this recipe to me some 20+ years ago. I suspect it was my wonderful mother-in-law but I wouldn't make a bet on it.  Regardless, it is a winner!


Susan's Sweet Spaghetti Sauce

While I love the idea of cooking from scratch, sometimes it's just not practical and it's really more about having friends over and enjoying their company than trying to impress them with something that I really think can be just as good from a jar. 

ITALIAN SAUSAGE SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Brown:
1 lb. Italian sausage (mild or hot, depending on your taste)
1/2 lb. ground beef
2 cloves minced garlic.
Drain off any grease.

Pour in:
Prego (or whatever kind you like) spaghetti sauce
1 tsp. basil (adjust to your liking)
1 tsp. Rosemary (adjust to your liking)
1 tsp. oregano (adjust to your liking)
2 Tbsp. sugar (try just 1 T and see if it needs more. Trust me, it needs it)

Place the sauce in a crock pot and leave it on high until it almost simmers and then turn it down and let it cook for a couple of hours.

SPAGHETTI SAUCE AND MEATBALLS

Prego spaghetti sauce
basil (adjust to your liking)
rosemary (adjust to your liking)
oregano (adjust to your liking)
sugar (adjust to your liking)

Place your sauce in the crock pot, add the spices and then add your meatballs. I buy the frozen meatballs for convenience.

Bring to almost a simmer and then turn down and let it cook for a couple of hours until your guests arrive.

Serve with grated Parmesan & Romano cheese and garlic bread.

Enjoy!

Simple Salads

Salad for Lunch

Obviously there's no recipe to throw together a salad but I wanted to post up this photo to remind myself how easy it is to package a week's worth of lunch salads and snacks to throw in the fridge. In the morning, I just pick what I want to throw in my bag and go. I have saved so much time doing this, I hope someone else can benefit from this tip. I've found my salads stay fresh even at 5 days. There's no excuse for me to eat bad lunches.

I use a mixed green lettuce that comes in a plastic box. It's very dry so it stays well when packed up with other veggies. Here is a list of some of the things I throw on my salads, or whatever happens to be in the fridge:

Carrots, red & yellow pepper, cucumber, zucchini, celery, garbanzo beans, black beans, gargonzola or feta cheese.

I keep a couple of different salad dressings in the fridge at work along with some crunchy stuff to add to my plate in case of sheer boredom. Crunchy stuff: chinese noodles, almonds, Fiber One cereal (try it! you'll be surprised), sunflower seeds, home-made croutons, etc.

I've found that cutting up oranges and strawberries and adding them to my grapes kicks it up a notch. I am a grape lover and eat them every day of the week. 

What do you eat for lunch?  I love new ideas so please leave a comment!

love, susan  

Firecracker Shrimp

Firecracker Shrimp
(adapted from The Pioneer Woman's recipe)

2 tablespoons hot chili sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 minced garlic cloves
pinch of salt
fresh ground pepper
2 teaspoons sugar (optional)

Mix marinade and pour over shrimp in a ziplock bag and place in the fridge at least 30 minutes.

Place shrimp on skewers and grill on bbq or any hot surface about 2 1/2 minutes on each side. Make sure to turn your overhead fan on ~ this is a very hot, spicy aroma! It'll set off your firm alarm.  Serve with rice and fresh grilled veggies.

I am including the link to The Pioneer Woman's recipe here:  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/07/firecracker-shrimp-part-1/


NOTES:  I liked this so much I tried it with the chicken the next night. Yummy!!!  I will definitely be making this again in 2012.

Ideas for Dishes to Take to a Potluck

Whether I am going to an office potluck, birthday party, or a wake I always scrambled around trying to figure out what to take.  A long time ago I started a list of ideas and want to share it with you here. I'm hoping to add recipes and photos as I make these items this year. I'll try to come back and link them in here.  I'd love to hear what favorite dish you like to take to potlucks.

Three Bean Salad
Shrimp Cracker Spread
Chips & Salsa
Green Bean Casserole (note: Gene hates this dish)
Scalloped Potatoes
Deviled Eggs
Shrimp Fondue
Watergate Salad
Shrimp and cocktail sauce
Ham Rolls Ups
Cheese & Crackers (fun cut outs for the cheese)
Brownies (easy recipe for homemade brownies)
Cake
Hashbrown Potato Casserole
 

Shrimp Quiche

Shrimp Quiche (recipe given to me by Lenora "Tobey" Smith on April 25, 1983)

1 pie shell (store-bought or make your own)
1 can drained shrimp
1/4 cup diced  green onion
4 oz. shredded Swiss cheese

Put the above ingredients in the pie shell.

MIX:  2 eggs with fork, add 1/3 cup of milk or cream, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, mix together until smooth. (Salt & pepper to your taste) Pour mixture over shrimp.


Bake at 400 degrees fro 30 to 40 minutes until knife comes out clean.


Let quiche set for 10 minutes before serving.

This may be the best thing my sister-in-law, Tobey, ever made!  I haven't made it in a long time. Gene doesn't like quiche but I might make this just for myself!!  Enjoy with a tossed green salad. 


NOTES: I might add just a little fresh jalapeno to this.

Lasagna - The Easy Way

A long time ago, someone taught me that you don't have to boil the lasagna noodles when you make lasagna. Ever since then, I have used raw noodles in my dish and it comes out perfectly every single time. This one less step makes putting together a lasagna dish so fast & easy that I can't believe I don't do it more often.

You can use whatever recipe you want for making the meat sauce. 

This time I cooked up a couple of Italian Hot Sausages and cut them up into bite size pieces and added it to my hamburger mix. I also threw in a couple of sliced mushrooms, a tiny amount of onion, added my spaghetti sauce from a can and went to work building my dish. So, for new cooks, brown your meat first, add onion and mushrooms (optional) and cook about 4 or 5 minutes until onions are cooked. Add your tomato sauce. You can use a jar of Ragu or a can of Hunts spaghetti sauce.

Spray your pan with a non-stick spray. Start with a thin layer of your meat/tomato sauce first, lay down some uncooked lasagna noodles, add a layer of fat-free cottage cheese, meat sauce, grated mozzarella cheese. 

Usually there is enough room for 2 layers.  End with sauce and cheese on top.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake about 45 minutes at 350. 

Let the dish cool before serving.  We actually like it better the next day.

This casserole dish fed us almost the entire week between lunch & dinner.

You can substitute ricotta cheese for cottage cheese but I personally don't care for it.  I use fat-free cottage cheese and it works just fine.

You could add chopped olives to this and it would probably be just wonderful.

This dish is easy to make but it takes practice to learn how your family likes it.

Hope you'll try it!   



Ingredients:
1/2 lb. hamburger (more or less, depending on how you like your lasagna)
1/2 lb. sausage (spicy if you like) (optional)
1 can of spaghetti sauce (Ragu or Hunts)
A little chopped up onion (optional)
A couple of sliced mushrooms (optional)
1 clove of garlic (optional)
1 container cottage cheese
1 16-oz. ball of mozzarella cheese, grated

Potato Crepes

Potato Crepes (made with leftover mashed potatoes)

1 cup leftover mashed potatoes
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 eggs

Pour milk into mixing bowl. Add two eggs. Add flour, salt, onion powder & pepper. Mix. Add mashed potatoes last. You can mix this with a whisk. Mixture should be thin.

Pour onto a hot griddle and cook like a pancake. The thinner they are, the better! NOTE: If you are going to make them with any sweet fillers, SKIP the onion powder. I skip the onion powder anyway ... I don't like it!

We filled ours with raspberries & sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top. Gene made a mixture of jam & sour cream to fill his. This is a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes.

 

Yum!

Hopped Up Turkey Sandwich

I love lunch time. It's the hour I live for during my work day. Everybody in my office knows it, too! It means half the work day is over and at 1:01 p.m., we're on the down slide to 5 o'clock.


This is my favorite sandwich in the whole world!  Today, I made it on a couple of slices of home-made English Muffin bread.


Spread a little fat free cream cheese on the bread, add thinly sliced cucumbers and jalapenos, add the turkey.  Throw some green olives in a container on the side.  Mmmm ...


I can hardly wait til lunch!

Cathy Jean's Deep Fried Chicken Legs

I wish I had a photo to post of the delicious mess we made in my kitchen last weekend while making this recipe Gene's daughter brought to my home. I couldn't help saying "beautiful" about a million times after seeing the big pile of deep fried chicken legs we produced with a deep fryer and my dutch oven filled with oil on the stove. This is so easy, I don't know how I've known Gene for 9 years and never had this before but I can tell you we'll be having it again if I have my way about it.

DEEP FRIED CHICKEN LEGS

You'll need:  Chicken legs, buttermilk, flour, and oil. Use a deep fryer or a dutch oven filled with enough oil to at least cover 3/4 of the chicken.

1)  Chicken Legs: wash 'em up and place them in a big pan of water and bring to boil. Simmer for a good 20 minutes to cook the legs thoroughly. Drain water from chicken. (Note: you gotta cook the chicken before you deep fry it or you will have raw chicken in the middle.)

2)  Place buttermilk in a pie pan and coat the drained chicken in buttermilk and then place in a zip lock bag full of flour & seasoning and shake it up.

3)  Using tongs, place the coated chicken in hot, hot, hot oil and watch it turn to a golden brown.  Place it on a paper towel to soak up excess oil and serve it to a hungry crowd.