Salsa

I was at Macey's one day and they were handing out samples of this nummy salsa. I grabbed the recipe and thought I'd share.

5-6 medium tomatoes
1 bunch of green onions
1 small can tomato sauce
2 chopped jalapeno (3-4 if you like it hot)
3-4 fresh yellow banana peppers
1 bunch cilantro finely chopped
1 teaspoon garlic salt
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Cut tomatoes in halves and grate with a cheese grater down to the skin. Discard the skin. Chop peppers, onions and cilantro. Add to grated tomatoes. Add tomato sauce. Season to taste, chill and enjoy. May add diced avocados just before serving.

Crepes

Crepes
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. melted butter
2 eggs
1 c. milk
pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Pour 2 Tbsp batter into pan and quickly tip so batter covers the bottom. Batter should be thin, add extra milk if too thick. Cook one minute and turn.

Fill with favorite toppings an enjoy!


Chicken crepes

Crepes (see recipe above)

Chicken filling
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) cream of mushroom soup
1 can (4 oz.) mushrooms
1 tsp. minced onion
1/2 c. sauted celery
2 c. chopped cooked chicken
1/2 c. chopped stuffed olives (optional)

Combine all ingredients. Spread 2-3 Tbsp. onto each crepe. Pour over the top a mixture of 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 c. sour cream. Sprinkle 1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese over top. Bake at 375F for 20 minutes.


Dessert Crepes

Crepes (see recipe above)

Toppings:
strawberries & whipped cream
nutella
powdered sugar
butter & cinnamon sugar

Frostings

My favorite frosting for anything is cream cheese frosting.  It's super easy to make.

Cream cheese frosting
Did you know you can soften cream cheese in the microwave too?  If you need to soften the cream cheese and butter in the microwave.  Just don't melt them.  It will change the texture of your frosting.

1 cube butter, softened
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
powdered sugar

Mix butter and cream cheese together until smooth.  Add vanilla.  Mix in enough powdered sugar to get the consistency you want.  Usually around 4 cups but you can add whatever.  If you need more moisture you can add a tsp. of milk at a time until you have the right consistency.

Basic frosting

1/2 bag powdered sugar
2 TB melted butter
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 TB milk (add a little at a time)

Stir until smooth.  Add food coloring to make fun colors.


Lion House chocolate frosting
Nice semi-rich frosting.  Tastes like fudge to me.

4 TB cocoa
3 c. powdered sugar
4 TB soft butter or margarine
2 to 3 TB milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix cocoa and powdered sugar in mixing bowl.  Add softened butter, milk, and vanilla.  Beat until smooth.


Other frosting ideas:

You can color corn syrup with some food coloring and paint cookies with it.  It makes the cookies shiny and is really fun for kids to paint.  It tastes alright too!  The syrup will dry pretty fast so they won't remain sticky.

You can make a thin glaze with powdered sugar and water/milk and drizzle over cookies.  You can also make a chocolate glaze by melting chocolate chips (add some butter or shortening if you need to thin out) and drizzle that over the top of the cookies.

Before you bake the cookies, you can add sprinkles or broken lifesavers and they will bake into the cookie.  That way you don't have to frost at all!

Sugar cookies!!!

Hey Valentines day is kind of the season for sugar cookies for us.  I don't know why.  Maybe we are feeding our winter depression. :)  Anyway, here's my favorite sugar cookie recipes.

Melissa's sugar cookies
Especially good cookies and you don't roll and cut them out.  They taste kind of like dough even after cooked.

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix together first 4 ingredients.  Add egg and mix.  Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Roll walnut size pieces into sugar or sprinkles.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 for 7-8 minutes or until the cookie starts to crack on the surface.

Sugar cookies
The kind you roll out and cut and then usually frost.

1 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. milk
2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda

Cream shortening and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in eggs, milk, and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients until well blended.  Roll out on floured surface and cut.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  For soft cookies, roll dough out thicker and watch your baking time.  For crispy cookies, make dough thinner and bake until starting to slightly brown.

Pan sugar cookies 
Easy because you just spread into a pan - no cookie cutters!

1 1/2 c. sugar
2 1/2 cubes margarine, softened
2 TB milk
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream sugar and margarine.  Add eggs, vanilla, and milk.  Mix in dry ingredients.  Spread into a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Frost and cut into bars.

Crockpot Italian Chicken

This a recipe that was recommended to me by my daughter for a
good Sunday crockpot meal. It is super easy to make and soooo
good.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts (boned & skinned) - I used two large ones
1/3 c. water
half pkg of dry Zesty italian dressing - (used regular and it turned out great)
3 Tbsp. butter or marg.
4 oz. cream cheese
1 or 2 cans cream of chicken soup
rice or noodles (cooked) - I did mashed potatoes

Directions:
Cook Chicken, water, Italian dressing and marg on high till
chicken shreds easily (about 4 hrs or so). Add cream cheese
and cream of chicken soup. Serve over rice or pasta.

Enjoy!!!