French Toast "attempted Pancake Pantry style"

So my BFF is on "house rest" (house arrest..hehe) until sweet Adeline is born. I had a day off and took the opportunity to come over and cook her breakfast and keep her company. I haven't updated this and probably only have one follower left (hi Angela) so here it is. This french toast is wonderful!!!

French Toast adapted from Food Network.com Alton Brown

Ingredients

1 cup half-and-half
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 (1/2-inch) slices day-old french bread

4 tablespoons butter

(I also added some Cinnamon to taste and confectioners sugar for looks, well and taste too)

Directions
In medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the half-and-half, eggs, honey, and salt. When ready to cook, pour custard mixture into a pie pan and set aside.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side, and then remove to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan, and allow to sit for 1 to 2 minutes.
Over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch nonstick saute pan. Place 2 slices of bread at a time into the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and place on rack in oven for 5 minutes. Repeat with all 8 slices.

Enchilada Roll-Ups...mmmmmm

I also saw these on Stephanie's blog, I just absolutely love her blog. She makes stuff that Jason would eat. I improvised this a little, just left some stuff out, that's all. But they were just as good. I will be making these again. I am going to post her recipe and put to the side what I omitted.

Enchilada Roll-Ups

Source: Macaroni and Cheesecake

Ingredients:
2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/3 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 teaspoon garlic, finely minced
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
cayenne pepper to taste
salt to taste
1 large can chunk white chicken breast, shredded
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped (I omitted)
4 green onions, chopped (I omitted)
10-oz. can Rotel tomatoes
1 package jalapeno cheddar tortillas (I used regular, that is what I had on hand)

Directions:
Mix cheeses together until well blended.
Add all remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.
Place one heaping spoonful onto tortilla.-Spread to edges using a metal spatula.
Roll and cut into slices.

See that's all, easy as pie, and soooo good too.

Laughing Cow Chicken

I saw this recipe a Looooong time ago on Stephanie's blog and have been wanting to make it forever. This is such a great easy chicken recipe and healthy too. I highly suggest you go laugh and get some cheese slap it on some chicken and gobble it up!

Laughing Cow Chicken

Source: Macaroni and Cheesecake

Ingredients6 Tyson thinly sliced chicken breasts (or 3 regular sized chicken breasts pounded thin & cut in half)
6 wedges laughing cow light cheese
1/4-1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning(to taste)
1/4-1/2 tsp. garlic powder (to taste)cooking spray
1/2 cup bread crumbs
dash dried parsley flakes
dash grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Lay each chicken breast flat. Combine the laughing cow, garlic powder, & Italian seasonings (if you prefer you can just use garlic & herb laughing cow instead of the light).
Spread mixture evenly over one side of the chicken breast(feel free to adjust amount of cheese used per your taste).
Roll up and seal with toothpicks.

Meanwhile, mix together bread crumbs, parsley, and Parmesan cheese in a shallow dish.
Spray the chicken with cooking spray and cover with bread crumb mixture. Place on baking sheet.

Bake on 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, and then broil until crust is golden brown. Remove toothpicks & serve.

Pioneer Woman's Quick Apple Tart

This was one of the easiest little desserts to make. I happened to have some Pastry Puff around so I got to make this for our Youth 2:42 group one night, I think they liked it. I gave the other to my neighbor and it was a hit over there.

Quick & Easy Apple Tart

source: The Pioneer Woman

1 sheet puffed pastry, cut into half OR thirds

3 to 4 apples, cored, halved, and sliced (but not peeled)

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 415 degrees.

Place puffed pastry rectangles onto a baking pan that’s been sprayed with nonstick spray.
Add sugar and salt to apples. Stir to combine. Allow to sit for a few minutes.
Arrange apple slices on the pastry rectangles in a straight line, overlapping as you go.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until pastry is puffed and golden brown.
Remove from pan immediately and place on a serving platter. Serve plain, with caramel topping, whipped cream, or a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

Sorry it's been soooo long!

I have three recipes I need to blog. I went to upload pictures just the other night and it didn't load my pictures right. I haven't cooked too much, but I just wanted to let everyone know that all is good and I have some recipes to give ya.

Hope everyone is having a great summer and sunburn free!!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ok this is some of the best stuff I've had. I got this recipe from Beth from church. She is awesome for bringing this to bible study that one night, I've made it like 3 times in a month. Mmmmmmm Good!

1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. Any flavor Frank's Redhot Sauce (I use "Buffalo")

1/2 c. Blue Cheese Dressing

1/2 c. Blue Cheese crumbles (I left this out)

2 c. Cooked Chicken, shredded



(I doubled everything except the redhot sauce)



Mix ingredients in deep baking dish or pie plate.



Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until hot (Serve with ritz crackers or tortilla chips)

Cupcakes...gone mini!

Bakerella's Cupcake Bites

Boy are these the cutest things ever! I had a blast making them, even though they took up most my day. They were so worth it! I was calling these a "Cake Ball in Disguise"

What you need....

1 box cake mix- whatever flavor you want to use for the filling (Cook as directed)(and I used strawberry)

1 can frosting (I used Cream Cheese frosting)

1 package of chocolate almond bark

Candy Molds

Colored Candy Melts

Squeeze bottle

Sprinkles and M&M's for decoration

Bake cake as directed on box and let cool. After the cake cools mix the cake and frosting together in a large bowl. I froze mine for about 30 minutes to an hour. Once firm roll cake mixture into balls and set aside. Freeze those up for a little bit, maybe 15 to 20 minutes. Get candy molds ready to set the cake balls in. Melt the almond bark and put in squeeze bottle. Squeeze about half to 3/4 full of the candy mold, then set a cake ball into mold. (it will form the bottom of the cupcake)

Let those freeze up just a bit. While those are freezing melt the Colored Candy Melts in microwave to the directed time. Then dip the bites into the colored candy molds and while they are still melted, sprinkle the sprinkles on top and then dollop with a M&M. They make the cutest little desserts that everyone will have a fit over. Time consuming but so much fun to make!

Check out Bakerellas website, she has some of the cutest things she does with little cake pops.

Enjoy!

PW Penne A La Betsy

Oh my Goodness! This is amazing...hear me...AH-MA-ZING! You must make this...and here is how.

Ingredients:

1 lb shrimp (I used half raw)

3/4 lb Penne Pasta

Butter

Olive Oil

1 small onion

2 clove garlic

1/2 Cup White Wine (I used white cooking wine)

1 8 oz. can Tomato Sauce

1 Cup Heavy Cream

Fresh Parsley and Basil (I did not use fresh)

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Cook pasta until tender-firm

Thaw out shrimp by running under cool water a few minutes. Then heat 1 T butter and 1 T Olive Oil in skillet. Add shrimp and cook a couple minutes until opaque. Do not overcook. Set aside and let cool for a few minutes. (Eat a couple too!)

Finely dice one small onion and mince two cloves of garlic. In a large skillet heat 2 T butter and 2 T of Olive Oil. Add garlic and onion and saute, stirring occasionally. Now put the cooked shrimp on cutting board and cut into bite size pieces. After saute put in white wine and let evaporate a couple minutes, stirring occasionally.

Now add tomato sauce, stir until well combined. Then add 1 Cup heavy cream, stir. Turn heat down to low, and while low if you are using fresh herbs, use that time to cut about a T of each. Add shrimp in sauce. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Then add the pasta!

Then devoure it...you will, it is soooo good!!!

You say Potato...

This recipe is adapted from Katie from Good Things Catered. Her website is so yummy so check it out. She used golden potatoes, but I just used red potatoes. We had our good friends Lindsey and Jeremy over and they seemed to like them a lot.

Accordion New Potatoes with Garlic

Ingredients:

8 medium sized red skinned new potatoes

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1 tsp olive oil

garlic salt and pepper

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

-Wash new potatoes and dry well.

-On stable cutting board, place new potatoes, wide side up, and slice a full inch down into the top in 1/4 inch increments (about 1/2 the width as slices in the picture above).

-Repeat with each potato and them place in a large bowl.

-Toss potatoes with the olive oil and a liberally sprinkling of garlic salt and pepper.

-Place slices of garlic clove in between every other slice in the potatoes you cut.

-Place the potatoes into a baking dish and sprinkle evenly with paprika.

-Place baking dish into oven and roast until potatoes are cooked through, about 35-45 minutes, depending on the size of your potatoes.

Brenda's Famous Banana Pudding

This is my Mother in Laws famous Banana Pudding that everyone asks for her to make. It's the most simple thing to make, and it's so delicious.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Sugar + 3 T Sugar

4 Tbls. of Self Rising Flour

3 Cups of Milk (make sure it is 2% or higher)

3 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla

3 large bananas

vanilla wafers

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

In saucepan cook sugar (1 Cup), flour and milk. Mix well.

While that is thickening up. Separate 3 eggs. Spoon a little bit of mixture from saucepan into the egg yolks and then pour into sauce pan. Let mixture thicken to a "pudding" consistency and take off the stove. Then add vanilla

In 9x13 pour Nilla Wafers on the bottom of dish, then slice bananas over the wafers, repeat. Then pour pudding over the bananas and wafers.

In a stand mixer beat egg whites on high and gradually add the 3 T of sugar. Then and 1/4 teas. of Cream of Tartar.

Bake at 400 degrees until the meringue has golden places.

ENJOY!!

Wow...look at the time!

I haven't posted in a month and a half! I am ashamed of myself! I just wanted to let everyone know I'm still here. I am so disappointed in myself for not posting, I have things to post too. Things have been very busy in the Ashworth household and I haven't been cooking very much. But, never fear. I just got the pots and pans from Paula Deen (in green) for my birthday from my hubby. So I will be putting those to good use and of course I will start posting. Hang in there, I will post soon!

Stuffed Shells

Ok, these were really good! I can't believe how long it's been since I've cooked. I've been cooking some, but I have been cooking the staples. So here is a new recipe I tried, I got it from a post on What's Cooking on the nest from nestie busybodyk.

Ingredients

Jumbo Shells
1 lb of Ground Beef or turkey
1-1/2 Cup Spaghetti Sauce
1/2 Cup Moz. Cheese (then some to top)
1/4 Cup Ricotta Cheese

Boil 3/4 box of shells (around 25 feeds 4-5 people) and drain
Brown the ground beef, and the spaghetti sauce, ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese and stir all together
Line a large cookie sheet with foil and spray with butter or olive oil
Put empty dry shells in rows on cookies sheet
Spoon Meat Sauce into shells and top with mozzarella cheese.
Bake 350 for 25-20 minutes

Two Awards!

Thanks to Stephanie of Macaroni and Cheesecake I received two awards...and here they are!

The Lemonade Blog for having a refreshing Blog.

And the Fabulous Blog...this is one of my favorite words too!

Here are the rules…- Add the logo in your blog.
- Add a link to the person who gave you the award.
- Nominate other (refreshing…like lemonade and fabulous) blogs of your choice.
- Don’t forget to add links to those blogs in yours.
- Also leave a message for your nominees in their blogs, informing them about the award.

So here are those blogs I am passing along these awards to.

Jill of Jills Party of Six

Katie of KT in the Kitchen

Joelen of Joelens Culinary Adventures

Kayla of Central Cooking

Katie of Good Things Catered

Julie of Jewels in the Kitchen

Homemade Corn Dogs

The story behind these boogers...well not real boogers, you catch my drift. But anyway, the story behind these is...I am doing a Winter Book Challenge (WBC) and one of the challenges to get 25 points is to read a book and make a meal inspired by the book. Well, I read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, which book I highly recommend, it's a circus themed book back in the great depression, very interesting read. So I decided that I would make corn dogs because you can get those are the circus, and those would be "circus food". Which landed me 25 points for my Book Challenge.

Source: My Grandma - Margaret McConnell

This is an old cafeteria school recipe that my grandma used to make back in the day. If you scroll down and find the noodles...ahh, those are awesome and also inspired by my grandma.

Ingredients:
1 c. flour
2 T. sugar
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 tsp. paprika
2/3 c. corn meal
2 T. oil
1 egg
3/4 c/ milk
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
hot dogs
wood sticks ( I omitted these and made little corn dogs, pictured right)

Mix all ingredients together. put hot dogs on sticks and dip into the batter. Drop in hot oil and cook until brown. It's that easy!!

This recipe is in a cookbook from my Mom's hometown called Gardner in Kansas. This is their 150th year cookbook. 1857-2007 I thought I would share the little note that was at the bottom.

Note: Marg and Russell came to Gardner in 1952. Over the years, Russell was Mayor of Gardner, City Clerk and was named Citizen of the Year.

My Grandparents were some pretty awesome folks! My Grandmother still resides in Gardner, but my Grandfather passed away right before I was born. Kind of neat getting recipes passed down through generations. This is my first time making this, but won't be my last.

Salmon Patties

This meal is so quick and so easy! My mother in law told me about making Salmon patties and even sent me home with a can of Salmon.

Ingredients:
1 can of Skinless boneless Salmon
6 Saltine Crackers
1 wet piece of bread (not too wet)
1 egg
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cornmeal

You will need cooking oil as well to fry the patties up!

Mix ingredients together (minus cornmeal) and pat together to form patties. Coat with the cornmeal and fry! It's that easy! You want them to cook for about 2.5 minutes, until golden brown. This yielded 5 for me which is perfect!

Cake Balls

Boy were these things a hit! These things are amazing! I was totally impressed, and probably shouldn't have had as many as I had. They were a huge hit at our youth 2:42 group.

Adapted from Joelen's Culinary Adventures - let me go ahead and give a shout out to Joelen, she has an awesome food blog with giveaways and scrumptious recipes. Check her blog out if you haven't yet! This recipe is good if you have extra cake left over and you don't want to waste it! Who wants to waste sweets?!

Ingredients:
1 box of cake mix (your preference)
1 can of icing (your preference)
Chocolate bark, melted

Prepare the cake as the box says. Then mix the icing and cake together (after cake has cooled). Using a small scoop, form small balls of mashed cake. Roll each ball with your hands to form a more uniform balls. Melt chocolate according to package directions and place melted chocolate in a small bowl. Carefully place ball of cake into the melted chocolate and coat completely. Remove coated cak ball and place on parchement(wax) paper to harden.

Old Fashioned Sausage Balls

Source: Lynsey Lou's Place

1 (1-lb) package of ground sausage
3 Cups baking mix ("bisquick")
4 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1/8 Tbl. Pepper

Directions:
Preheat over to 375 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with veggie oil cooking spray.

Combine all ingredients in a large glass bowl. Mix well with your fingers. The mixture will be very crumbly. Form into 1 inch balls, squeezing the mixture so it holds together, then rolling it between the palms of your hands to form balls.

Place the balls on the baking sheet. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. To prevent sticking, move balls with a spatula halfway through cooking.

Cold Veggie Pizza

Source: Amber's Delectable Delights

Ingredients:
2 (8 oz) packages crescent recipe creations rolls
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 Tbl. mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. dill weed (I omitted)
1 Tbl. dry ranch seasoning
Freshly Ground Pepper, to taste
2 cups veggies, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup shredded cheese

Directions
!. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Unroll cresent dough sheets onto a large non-stick baking pan to completely over the pan. Press your fingers over the dough to seal the seems. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. Set aside to cool.
2. Mix together the cream cheese, mayonnaise, garlic, dill, ranch and black pepper. Set aside.
3. Once the curst is completely cooled, evenly spread the cream cheese mixter over it. Cut the crust into squares and then top with the veggies and cheese of your choice. Refigerate until ready to serve.