Breadsticks with Cheese dip!

This is one of my Conference staples!! I don't make this very often, but almost always have it during conference weekend! It is absolutely one of my favorites!!

So first you need to make some breadsticks.

Breadsticks

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1 Tablspoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups hot water

3 Tablespoons sugar

1 Tablespoon salt

5 Tablespoons oil

6 cups flour, divided

Combine 1/2 cup of warm water with yeast and set aside to do it's magic:). Mix hot water, sugar, salt, oil, and 3 cups of the flour in your mixer and mix until smooth. (This can also be done without a mixer, just takes more arm muscles!) Add the yeast and the rest of the flour and mix in mixer for about 10 minutes. Or if mixing by hand, this is what I used to do before I had my Bosch mixer...Mix the dough until it is all incorporated then let it sit for 10 minutes (use a timer). When the 10 minutes is up come and knead the dough for about 5 minutes, then let it sit for another 10 minutes and then knead for 5 minutes...do this about 5 times and it will be ready to go!

At this point you could divide the loaf in half and have 2 loaves of bread, but for breadsticks here's what you'll want to do.

Melt about 1 1/2 sticks of butter or margarine in the microwave. Pour enough of the butter to cover the bottom of a large cookie sheet. Next, roll you dough into a rough rectangular shape to fit on the cookie sheet. I usually roll mine out a little larger because of the elacticity of the dough...it will pull back in once it's in the pan. When it's ready transfer it to the cookie sheet, I usually fold it in half like you would when making pie crust and transfer it that way. Just be careful because if your dough is too sticky you're gonna have to start over! Once in the cookie sheet I use my pizza cutter to cut the breadsticks. You can make them whatever size you'd like. I usually run my cutter to make about 1" size breadsticks the short way and then one cut up the middle the long way. Now spread the rest of the butter on the top of the breadsticks and then sprinkle with garlic powder, parmesean cheese, and italian seasonings.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or until the top is lightly browned.

Now for the cheese dip. YUMMY!

Cheese Dip

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8 oz. (or 1 cup) cream cheese, softened

8 oz. (or 1 cup) sour cream

8 oz. (or 1 cup) Cheese Whiz (I've used off brands of this and it never turns out as good...just a heads up!)

1 can (4 oz.) of diced green chilies

Put cream cheese, sour cream and cheese whiz in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for about 2 minutes and remove and stir. Put back in microwave for another minute and stir. Continue until the cream cheese is melted and incorporated with all the other ingredients. I use a whisk because it helps the mixture become nice and smooth. Once it is smooth and all mixed together add the green chilies and you're ready to roll! It is best served warm with warm breadsticks.

I think I just might go and have one now! Enjoy!

Praline French Toast

It's Conference weekend again! That means I get to bake to my heart's content and be fed both physically and spiritually!! Since I was little it has been my families tradition to sit and enjoy conference together as a family (both on Saturday & Sunday) We make it a fun occasion and play conference related games and win prizes and EAT!! I always get a little homesick around this time of year because this was a time when all the kids and thier families would get together and enjoy the weekend together, but since we've moved a state away we haven't been able to be there with our family...which has been about 8 years now!! We miss them and spending that time together, but I'm glad to say that our family carries on the tradition and my children (for the most part:)) look forward to General Conference!

Anyway...for breakfast this morning I tried out a new recipe I found online. I have to warn you, if you don't like a lot of sugar for breakfast you may want to try this for brunch or something else because it was pretty sugary, but it was really good if you like french toast!

Praline French Toast

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Glaze:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Bread:

French or italian bread sliced 1" thick, enough to cover the bottom of a 9"x13" pan.

Custard:

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

5 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Lightly grease a 9"x13" pan.

2. Make the glaze by melting the butter in a saucepan and then stirring in the brown sugar and syrup. Bring the mixture to a simmer, cooking until the sugar melts. Pour the glaze into the pan, spreading it to the corners.

3. Lay the slices of break in the pan, on top of the glaze.

4. Make the custard. Whisk together the cream, eggs, and vanilla. Pour it over the bread in the pan, pressing the bread down so it is covered with the custard.

5. Cover the pan, and refirigerate overnight or for up to 24 hours.

6. When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

7. Make the topping by stirring together the brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Sprinkle it evenly over the bread.

8. Bake the French Toast for 40-45 minutes, until it's bubbly and the top is very lightly browned.

9. Remove it from the oven, and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before serving. Serve individual slices of bread, turning it over on theplate so the syrupy bottom is on top.

If you like the lots of sugar thing...you might try adding some cool whip or freshly whipped whipping cream on top.:) YUMMY!!

Sopapillas! (Nancy's recipe...AGAIN)

Boy how I LOVE this woman's cooking!! I'm so glad she let's me share them with you all!:) There are so many things you could do with these! Tony wants to open up a sopapilla restaurant and just serve different kinds of sopapillas for every meal! For breakfast you could stuff it with eggs, fried potatoes and then drench in Green Chilie sauce, he's thinking of doing an Italian sopapilla, and dessert sopapillas...his mind was going CrAzY!!:) Anyway, back to the recipe...

Sopapillas

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6 cups flour

1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 heaping Tablespoon shortening\

1 cup scalded milk

about 1 cup water

Mix flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the shortening and mix together with your hand until incorporated with flour. Make a "well" in your bowl and pour in the milk and water. Using your hand again, mix liquid with flour mixture. The dough should be just a little sticky...if it's is too sticky add a little more flour, if the dough just isn't coming together add some more water. Then knead with hands for a couple of minutes.

Divide dough into balls about the size of a raquetball. Cover dough with towel until ready to fry. Heat oil in a fryer or in a cast iron pan on the stove. (You will know the oil is hot enough if when you put a small amount of dough in there it immediately rises to the surface...fun little fact I learned from Nancy!:))

Take one of the balls of dough and roll into a circle...about 1/8" thick or so. Use a pizza cutter to cut into quarters and then place in the oil until both sides are browned...don't over fry them. This only takes a few seconds on each side.

When they are done you can "open" them up and stuff them with whatever you'd like. Last night we stuffed them with fried potatoes and then covered them with the Green Chilie sauce. (That's what the picture above is!) They were sooooo yummy!!

Another yummy way to do it (which the kids LOVED!) is to make some a little smaller (cut into 8th's instead of quarters) and then once they've cooled a little put them in a bag with some powdered sugar and shake. These were scrumptious!!

Nancy's Green Chili Sauce

So our good friend Nancy came and showed us how to make her Green Chili Sauce (that I thought would be really good with my Chicken Enchiladas)last night. It was just as good as I remembered! Although if used as an enchilada sauce I would probably leave the meat out of it. Here's the recipe:

Nancy's Green Chili Sauce

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1 1/2-2 lbs pork (whatever you have on hand), cubed

Meat tenderizer

Salt & Pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons oil

1 lb ground beef

Sprinkle meat tenderizer on pork and let sit for a couple of minutes. Heat oil in large frying pan and then add the pork, salt and pepper and cook until the pork is done. In a separate frying pan cook the ground beef until no longer pink. (set ground beef aside until needed)

3 Tablespoons flour

3 Tablespoons oil

When pork is ready, move it to the side of the frying pan and then make a roux using the flour and oil. While stirring let the roux toast (it will turn a kind of light mustard color).

5 cups water

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1/4-1/2 cup roasted green chilies (use Anaheim peppers and I am told that Walmart will roast them for you for free at the deli counter. Then just remove the skins and then coarsely chop the peppers. Freeze any leftovers for future use!)

1 tomato, diced

Add the ground beef to the pork and combine with the roux. Then pour in the water, garlic powder, cumin, salt, green chilies and tomato, then stir to combine. Sauce will thicken as it heats up. If the sauce is too thick just add a little more water.

We had it with sopapillas stuffed with fried potatoes and then drenched in the green chili sauce!! But there are a ton of other things you could use it for! This one is a must try...you'll LOVE it!!

Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup

Here's a new recipe I tried out last night. Tony had been going through my recipe books and came across this one that he thought looked really good so I figured I'd give it a go. Can you say SUPER easy and yummy!!! There's nothing like a good soup and rolls.

Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup

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1 cup chopped onion (about half of a large onion or 1 whole small onion)

1 cup chopped carrots (I used matchstick carrots from a bag...anything to make life easier:))

1 cup chopped celery

1 garlic clove, minced

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning

6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

4 cups cubed peeled potatoes

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast

2 cups uncooked yolk-free wide noodles

1 cup fat-free evaporated milk

In a large soup kettle, saute the onion, carrots, celery and garlic in oil for about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour, oregano, thyme, and poultry seasoning until blended and saute for about 1 minute longer. Gradually add your chicken broth. Then add potatoes and salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Stir in the chicken and noodles and simmer for about 10 more minutes or until the noddles are done. Reduce heat. Stir in the milk, and heat through but do not boil.

For those who care (unfortunately...I'm one of those:)) here is the nutritional facts:

One serving (1 1/2 cups of soup...which was REALLY filling)equals 235 calories, 3 g fat, 31 mg cholesterol, 851 mg sodium, 33 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 20 g protein. Or in Weight Watchers terms: 4 points!

Green Enchilada Sauce

Alrighty...I had a TON of pork brought to my home Thursday night after our big Relief Society party and decided this was the perfect time to try out the Green Enchilada sauce...Pork enchiladas!!! YUMMY!! I just used my the Best Chicken Enchiladas recipe and substituted the chicken with shredded pork and then used this Green Enchilada recipe. When I found this enchilada sauce recipe they said it tastes like Cafe Rio's green enchiladas sauce (which I CrAvE..and hardly ever get!) so I was excited but didn't know if it would hold up to what they were suggesting!:) I'm here to say...it's pretty darn close! Here ya go!

Green Enchilada Sauce

Recipe from Our Best Bites

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This is how it looks before it's simmered...such a pretty green color don't ya think?

And this is how it should look after it's simmered (if you can see through the steam!:))

2-3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, minced

5-6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

2 green peppers, cut into chunks

2 jalapenos, remove seeds and membranes for less heat(this is what I do)

1 1/2 lbs. (about 15) tomatillos, husked and quartered

1/2 bunch of cilantro

1 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin

2 cans (14.5 oz.) chicken broth

2-3 Tablespoons sugar (optional) I used about 2 1/2 Tablespoons...just add to taste! (Tony thought it was too sweet, but I think it was just right...so next time I think I'll try it without the sugar and see what he thinks.)

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Saute the onions and garlic until tender.

While onions and garlic are being sauteed, combine the tomatillos, green peppers, jalapenos, and cilantro in a blender and blend until smooth.

Pour the tomatillo mixture over the onions and garlic and add the chicken broth, salt, pepper, cumin, and sugar. Bring to a boil and then turn down heat and simmer until desired consistency. I think I boiled mine for too long, it ended up being thicker than I would have like for enchilada sauce...I think maybe 15 minutes would have been about right.

And here's a picture of the Pork Enchiladas with the green sauce.

You can't really see the sauce, but believe me you could taste it...SO YUM!!

Peanut Butter Bars

I made these at the request of Caleb to take to his class for his Birthday. I got the recipe from my sister probably close to 10 years ago and they are requested quite often at my house!

Peanut Butter Bars

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1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup peanut butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups oatmeal

1 bag milk chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars together. Mix in the eggs, vanilla and peanut butter. Then add and mix baking soda, flour and oatmeal. Spread onto a ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes. The dough will still seem a little wiggly when you pull it out and that's how it should be!:) Sprinkle the chocolate chips on immediately and return to the oven for about 1 minute. Spread the melted chocolate on bars.

Now for the frosting (we have left this off before and it just isn't as good without it!) I usually don't wait until the bars are cooled to do this part so the chocolate and PB frosting gets swirled together which I don't mind at all, but in this picture the chocolate was pretty much set up and so I didn't get that same effect, but either way it's good!

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

2-4 Tablespoons milk

Mix all ingredients together until it makes a spreadable frosting (I usually end up using about 3 Tbsp of milk in mine), and then spread on top of the chocolate. Cut into bars and serve...or if you're taking them to a classroom full of 3rd graders for a birthday wrap them in plastic baggies and add a Happy Birthday tag!:)