Sopapilla Cheesecake

I saw this recipe over at Real Mom Kitchen. It looked fantastic and I knew that I had to try it. Laura has a WONDERFUL food blog. Check it out!!

I REALLY enjoyed these!! Maybe a little too much! I gave about half away to keep myself from eating them all. I would suggest sharing these with family and friends:)

Unfortunately, the picture I took of this 'plated up' was very blurry, so this is what I have.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
• 2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup real butter, not margarine)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9x13" baking dish. Unroll 1 can of crescent rolls and place in the baking dish. Press the seams together, or buy the crescent roll sheets(that's what I did:)). In a separate bowl beat together the cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the crescent rolls sheet in the baking dish. Top the cream cheese mixture with the other can of crescent rolls, press seams together. Melt butter and pour over the top layer of crescents. Mix 1/2 cup sugar with 1 t cinnamon and sprinkle on top of butter. You can add more or less of the cinnamon sugar depending on your taste. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly and the bottom crust is slightly brown. Allow to cool then slice and serve.

Turkey Marinade ...or chicken

Have I mentioned that my husband is a hunter? He is in fact a darn good hunter. My freezer is full of yummy, lean, wild, red meat and until this past week...a wild turkey. This turkey has been in my freezer for quite awhile and since he is hoping to bring another one home soon, I decided it was time to cook the one we had.

I got this recipe from my Mom and it is SO good! When I cooked this up for my husband he couldn't believe that it was his wild turkey we were eating! Of course, it is equally wonderful on chicken or turkey you buy at the grocery store:)

Turkey or Chicken Marinade

Ingredients:

• 1 can lemon lime soda (like sprite, or generic brand works too)
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 t garlic powder

Directions: Combine all ingredients, add chicken or turkey pieces, cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours or overnight. Discard marinade, grill chicken over hot coals or on your BBQ grill.

*I like to reserve a little of the marinade before I add the meat to brush the meat with as it cooks. The meat is SO moist and SO flavorful!!

Fish Tacos

My husband went fishing and brought home some wonderful crappie. I LOVE crappie!! I can't wait to send him fishing again:) He put all of it in one bag before putting it in the freezer, so when we got it out to cook it...we had A LOT of fish to cook.

First we battered up some fish and fried it. We ate that with homemade french fries and homemade tartar sauce. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of that. I will be making that again soon...SO...when I do, I'll share photos and recipes here! It was SO good.

The second day we used up the rest for fish tacos. I had never eaten fish tacos before, but I will be eating them again!! These recipes are adapted from PBS Foods and about.com:Busy Cooks.

Fish Tacos

Ingredients:

• 12 corn or flour soft taco shells
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 1/2 t paprika
• 1/2 t cumin
• 1/4 t pepper
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 lb. fish fillets

Directions: Combine flour, salt, cayenne pepper, paprika, cumin and pepper in a shallow dish. Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Dip fish fillets in flour mixture, then place in hot oil and cook 10-12 minutes until browned and fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, turning once. Cut fish into 1" strips and serve in heated taco shells with salsa, cheese, and the red cabbage slaw(recipe below). Serves 6.

Red Cabbage Slaw

Ingredients:

• 1/4 head of red cabbage, finely shredded
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 T fresh lime juice
• 4 scallions thinly slices
• 1 jalapeno, finely chopped, seeds and ribs removed
• coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions: Combine sour cream, lime juice, scallions, jalapeno, salt and pepper. Mix well. Reserve 1/2 of the mixture to top the tacos. Mix the other half with the cabbage.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

I have been looking for a GREAT hamburger bun recipe for awhile. I have tried a couple of different ones and found one that is REALLY great!! I have made these twice and both times they turned out perfect! I got this recipe from Rosa's Yummy Yums. If you want to see some really great hamburger buns, check hers out here.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Ingredients:

• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 T unsalted butter, room temperature, creamed
• 1 egg
• 3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup Castor sugar (very fine sugar, I put regular sugar in my food processor)
• 1 t salt
• 1 T instant yeast
• 1 egg yolk (+1 T water)
• sesame seeds (optional)

Directions: Sprinkle the yeast into the water and leave for 5-10 minutes, until frothy. Stir to dissolve. Add remaining ingredients and mix well(I do this in my kitchen-aid). I let this knead in my Kitchen-Aid for ~10 minutes, until it is a soft, smooth dough. You could knead by hand on a lightly floured surface. I leave it in my mixer bowl, cover and let rise for 1 - 1 1/2 hour, until doubled in size. Divide dough into 8 pieces and shape into a flattened ball. Place the buns on a greased baking sheet, cover and let rise again for 30-40 minutes until puffy and doubled in size. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Glaze the buns with egg yolk and water mixture(my helper likes to do this:)), then sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired. Bake the buns for 12 - 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove them from the oven and cool them on a wire rack.

*I didn't make 'flattened balls' this last time, so they are a little tall, but still SO yummy!!

Boston Market Cornbread

This cornbread is SO yummy!! A friend of mine gave me this recipe years ago. I haven't ever tried Boston Market's cornbread, so I'm not sure how it compares, but I do know that this cornbread is YUMMY!! and EASY!!

Just when I am convinced the weather is warming up, it gets COLD and WINDY again. So, last night I made some Hearty Fiesta Bean Soup to use up the rest of my beans I made the other day. This cornbread is nice and sweet and is wonderful with the spicy beans. I made part of the batter in my mini-loaf pan and part in a glass baking dish. My 3 year old has a MAJOR fit when he is trying to eat his piece of cornbread with a fork and it is falling apart, so the mini loaves are good for him to pick up with his fingers and take a BIG bite:)

Boston Market Cornbread

Ingredients:

• 1 box Jiffy Mix Cornbread Mix
• 1 box Jiffy Mix Yellow Cake Mix
  OR
• 2 boxes Jiffy Mix Cornbread Mix
• 1 box regular yellow cake mix

Directions: Mix both boxes according to directions, and combine the batter. You can use a large mixing bowl and combine both boxes of mix together and add the other ingredients all at once. If you have only boxes of Jiffy Mix, use a brownie sized baking pan, 8x8", if you are using a box of regular cake mix, use a 9x13" pan. Spray pan with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees until done, approx. 30 minutes. Test for doneness: insert a toothpick, it should come out clean.

Edited to add:  Please note from the comments:  "If you can't find the Jiffy yellow cake mix, only use Duncan Hines, Butter Golden cake mix...It's the only one WITHOUT pudding in the mix."  I have made it with regular yellow cake mix and I liked it, but it may be too 'cakey' for some...if so...try the Duncan Hines, Butter Golden cake mix.

When I am taking this to a potluck, I love to make little individual muffins or loaves.  Actually I do this at home a lot too.  So easy to grab and go!

Hot Fudge Cake

I LOVE hot fudge cake! The steam really got to my camera lens:)

Hot Fudge Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 T cocoa, divided
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 3/4 cup hot water

Directions: In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, 2 T cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla until smooth. Spread in an ungreased 9 inch square baking pan. Combine brown sugar and remaining cocoa; sprinkle over batter. Pour hot water over all; do not stir. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm. Top with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired. Serves 9.

Smashed Pinto Beans

This is for Kali. Sorry it took me so long to post this. I finally made a batch of beans and actually measured the seasonings so that I could share. Usually when I make a pot(crock pot) of beans I puree most of the batch in my food processor for some yummy, creamy beans. This time I saved some to mash with the potato masher, for a little less creamy consistency, so that I could use them in this recipe. Well....they were SO good, we ate them all before I got around the the other recipe. Guess I'll try it again this week:)

So...here it goes...this is how I cook beans:)

I rinse and soak 3 cups of beans for ~ an hour or longer(depending on how much time I have). Then I rinse them again, put them in the crock pot with 3 T bacon grease and cover them with 3 inches of water. If I need to add more water later in the day, I bring it to a boil in the microwave before adding it to the crock pot. I cook the beans on high for 5-6 hours, or until I can easily smash one of the beans between my finger and the countertop...make sense?:)

When the beans have about 1/2 hour left to cook I add the following: 5 jalapeno rings(from the jar, you could use fresh jalapeno), 1/2 T seasoning salt, 1/2 T garlic salt, 1/2 t onion powder, 1/2 t cumin and 1 T chili powder.

After that cooks for about 1/2 hour, I scoop out the beans with a slotted spoon to the food processor and puree with ~ 1 cup of cheese. I add liquid from the beans as I puree until I get my desired consistency.

Appplesauce Brownies

I LOVE these brownies!! I love the crust that the sugar forms on top. I didn't have any applesauce when I made these, but I had some apples in the fridge that needed to be used up. I peeled, cored and sliced my apples. Then I boiled them in water until they were soft enough to mash. I think I used 8 small apples to make the 2 cups of applesauce. I thought I had a better picture of these, but I guess I ate them all before I got the picture:) I didn't actually eat all of them, but I did eat most of them:)

Applesauce Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 2 T cocoa
• 2 cups applesauce
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt

Topping

• 2 T sugar
• chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)
• chopped nuts (optional, I didn't use)

Directions: Mix ingredients well. Pour into large greased cookie sheet(I used a jelly roll pan). Sprinkle with sugar, chocolate chips and nuts. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.