"Fried Ice Cream"

Thank you to Kamille Cannon for sharing this recipe with my family! By the way, they all loved it!!

1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. coconut
2 c. Rice Krispies cereal

In a small saucepan, melt 1/2 c. butter with 3/4 brown sugar, mix together. Add 1 c. coconut and 2 c. Rice Krispies to mixture and stir to combine. Spoon 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of a 9x13-inch pan. Press in slices (or spoonfuls) of vanilla ice cream over top of mixture. Smooth over top with the back of a spoon that has been heated under hot tap water. Sprinkle the remaining mix on top. (To cut calories, I halved the butter and brown sugar. Of course, it still tasted amazing!)

Freeze for several hours, or overnight.

Strawberry topping:
    
1 pkg. danish dessert
1 1/2 c. water
2 c. cut-up strawberries

In a small saucepan, mix in 1 pkg. Danish Dessert into 1 1/2 c. cold water. Mix well. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in cup-up strawberries. Serve warm over Fried Ice Cream. My family seriously loved this!

P.S.- Sarah was the one who came up with drizzling dessert with Hershey's chocolate sauce...now it's complete! :)

Chicken Enchiladas

This was a last minute creation but the family loved it so I'll create a recipe for it so I can do it again. Justin texted me from work today and asked for hot dinner when he came home...haha. His request: something Mexican. So, here is what I came up with. :)

1-2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 rotisserie chicken, pulled apart (I used Costco's)
1 packet Taco Bell Fajita seasoning
1 1/2 cans El Paso Enchilada Sauce, medium
8 oz. can tomato sauce (low sodium)
1 small can green chilies
corn tortillas
1 small can sliced black olives
1 c. shredded cheddar/jack cheese
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream

In a large fry pan, saute garlic in vegetable oil until tender. Add rotisserie chicken, fajita seasoning mix, 1/3 c. water, tomato sauce, green chilies. Simmer together for about 5 minutes. Heat corn tortillas in microwave so they don't break apart when filling. In a 9x13 rectangle pan, pour about 1/4 can of the enchilada sauce into the bottom and rotate pan to coat it. Dip each tortilla into a bowl with remaining enchilada sauce. Fill with chicken mixture, and sprinkle inside with cheddar/jack cheese, roll up, tucking loose end underneath. Repeat until baking dish is full. (Makes about 14-16 enchiladas) Spoon enchilada sauce over the top of each enchilada, sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese and sliced black olives.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, uncovered, until cheese is melted and looks amazing. ;) If the edges are getting too crispy, use a basting brush to moisten dry spots with water. (It will steam it as it cooks) Cover with foil last few minutes, if necessary. My family actually preferred it with the crispy edges, go figure. If you want it softer, cover it with foil and cook at a lower heat.

Serve with sour cream. Yummy stuff.

Homemade Syrup

In a small pot, combine:

1 c. water
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. brown sugar

Boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly; let cool. Stir in 1 tsp. maple extract. My son Justin likes to add 1 tsp. Root Beer extract! If Root Beer syrup on pancakes is too much for you, then try it over vanilla ice cream. :) I used just an imitation maple extract and it still tasted very good.

Mexican Flan (Tastes more like Tres Leches cake to me)

  

I got this recipe from a favorite local Mexican restaurant that my family frequents. Just recently, I went there with my parents and as full as they were after the meal they decided to order the flan for dessert. I have never really liked flan but I told my mom I would just have a bite of hers, knowing that I wouldn't be tempted to have more than that. Well, I was wrong. One bite led to another and soon I had probably eaten a third of it. Yes, I was a little embarrased. :) My parents complimented our waiter on how good the flan was, yeah, the waiter...not the cook. I thought that was funny. Of course, usually the waiter has little interest in that sort of thing, they just bring you the food. Anyway, this waiter was pleased and he proceeded to tell us how easy the flan was to make and tried to explain how to make it in his broken English. It was a little hard to understand and follow him. So, I actually learned to make it using You Tube, I just replaced the ingredients with the ones the waiter told me.

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In a small sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add 3/4 c. granulated sugar (the waiter actually said to use brown sugar...oops, I'll have to try that next time.) As you heat the sugar, stir constantly. In the beginning, it will start to clump together and crystallize a bit. Gradually, it will turn to liquid and when it reaches a light-medium golden color remove from heat. Pour immediately into a 10 inch glass pieplate, and carefully rotate the sugar mixture to coat the bottom (without burning yourself.) ;) Set aside.

Then, mix together:
8 eggs
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk- (low-fat)
1 can Evaporated Milk (low-fat)
1 tsp. vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour egg mixture over the sugar in the bottom of a 10" glass pie plate. Place pie plate on a rimmed jelly-roll pan, put in oven. Add  tap water into the jelly-roll pan (or rimmed cookie sheet) enough to leave a layer of water in the bottom of the pan. The water will help steam the flan as it cooks. Bake for 1 hour or until top is golden brown and middle is set. It will still be a little jiggly. (I ended up baking mine for 1 hour and 20-30 minutes. It looked a bit dark on top but was perfectly cooked inside. I will have to try this a few more times to get it down.) Toward the end of the baking time, you may need to add more water to the pan if it has all evaporated.

Let cool, and then refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.

Carefully loosen sides of the flan with a spatula. Once all sides are loose, turn over Flan onto a cake plate, preferably one with a little lip to catch the syrup that drips down. Slice into 12-16 pie-shaped wedges. Serve with a little whipped cream on top. Even better, a couple of sliced strawberries! Mmmm...azing! :)

Surprisingly, most of my kids really liked this. It was better than they expected, 2 of them went back for seconds. I'll let you guess which two. ;)

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Waiter's directions: "brown sugar in a bowl, mix everything into the sugar." That doesn't quite work, so I'm guessing he meant to pour the contents over the sugar. ;) Some things must get lost in translation. :)

Cheesy Potato Casserole-- aka "Funeral Potatoes"

Saute: 1 bunch sliced green onion in 2 Tbsp. butter, and stir into the following ingredients.

Combine the following in a large bowl:

1 pkg. frozen, shredded hash brown potatoes
2 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 can Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup
1 pt. Daisy low-fat Sour Cream

Corn Flake Crumb Topping:  (I crush the Corn Flakes and combine the mixture in a Ziplock bag.)

2 c. crushed Corn Flakes (not frosted)
2 T. melted butter

Spread potato mixture into the bottom of a 9x13" pan. (I prefer a disposable one) Sprinkle Corn Flake topping over the potatoes and Bake at 375 degrees about 45 minutes until potatoes are hot and crumbs are golden.  :)

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Candy supplies:

Snyder's Pretzel Rods
Kraft Caramel Bits
Almond bark- white or
  chocolate
Candy sprinkles




This is one of my favorite treats! When I don't want to go to the trouble to make them myself, a bag of Flipz pretzels will do just fine. :) Yum, yum! Sarah and I made these to share with some of her school friends before Christmas. She made lots of friends that day!

Line rimmed cookie sheet with waxed paper.

Heat caramel as directed. If caramel is thick enough, pull piece of caramel into a thin rope and twist around pretzel, leaving a 2 inch base. If caramel is more liquidy, use a spoon to drizzle caramel  over the pretzel rod in stripes while twisting.
Dip the caramel wrapped rods in melted chocolate. The white chocolate bark was our favorite.

Drizzle with melted chocolate in a contrasting color. Immediately sprinkle over chocolate with candy sprinkles. 

Place pretzel on waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer to chill for a few minutes until chocolate is set. Put in plastic pretzel bags and tie of with a ribbon bow.

Island Terriyaki "Winger's" Burger

I forgot the details of how we made this but it sure tasted "Freaking Amazing"--it must have been the Winger's sauce. Okay, first I have to tell you that since Auntie Julie gave Justin a few bottles of Winger's Amazin' Sauce for Christmas, I don't think we can imagine ever living without it again. (And yet, currently we are out of it) :'(

Anyway, what I do know is that I sauteed chopped onions, an red and green bell peppers and then mixed the veggies into some ground beef. I believe I also mixed in some Yoshihida's Gourmet Sauce. Also heated up a can of pineapple chunks in a little of the Yoshihida's sauce. Then, drizzled over burger with the Winger's Sauce! Serve with sliced celery and ranch dressing. Rice would have been nice, but we were in too much of a hurry this night...maybe next time. Worth trying.

Justin's Reese's Fudge

This recipe was adapted from "101 Gourmet Cookies for Everyone" and an old, worn, favorite BYU cookbook.

Justin made this treat this past week for Jared's birthday and once more...just because. This threatened to bring my diet to a crashing halt-- Ugh! Thankfully, even after over-dosing on this "fudge," I still managed to lose the last of 20 lbs! :) I still have a long way to go! Hopefully Justin won't keep making this or I'll be spending my day on the treadmill! Warning: This is definitely not a diet food! Make at your own risk!! But, ohhh, sooo good!! haha.

1/2 c. butter, melted
2 c. chunky peanut butter (I use Jif Natural)
1 lb. powdered sugar (3.75 cups)
1 1/2 c. Nestle chocolate chips, melted
3 sheets of Honey-Maid graham crackers, crushed into crumbs

Cream together above ingredients until well combined. Pat mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13" baking pan or glass dish using a large piece of waxed paper. Melt chocolate chips in microwave on low power, stir. Spread melted chocolate over peanut butter using the back of a spoon. Chill until firm. Cut into 24 squares. Each square is 250 calories! (Or, better yet, cut each piece into fourths--and have only 2 pieces. Good luck with that!)

*If this recipe isn't decadent enough for you try Justin's latest adjustment: Pat the crumbs of an chocolate pie crust into the bottom of a pan before the rest of the ingredients.

Chicken Noodle Soup w/ Broccoli

Here is the soup I created for my family today:

Slice 1/2 bunch of green onions, saute in 1 tbsp. butter.

In a large pot, bring to boil:

2 cartons of Pacific-Organic- Chicken Stock (I wish it was low-sodium)

sauteed green onions

3 cups broccoli florets- broken into smaller pieces

1/2 bag Matchstix carrots
dash of onion powder
dash of garlic powder
lots of fresh cracked, black pepper

1 chicken bouillon cube, optional

Simmer for 30 minutes, then add:

breast from 1 rotisserie chicken, cut into small pieces (I prefer the garlic one at Wal-mart, even over   

   Costco's)

1/2 package small elbow macaroni (I actually pre-boiled mine in a separate pot but I don't think it really

   matters.)

*Serve with Rhode's Rolls.

**Sarah and Jordan both said that Chef Ramsey would approve. ;) I'm not sure about that, but they really liked it, so those are the only critics that I'm concerned with. :)