Sweet Cornbread

On By sarafillmerIn Bread, Side ItemLeave a comment

This recipe is a dead ringer for Boston Market’s famous cornbread.  Really try to use the Jiffy mixes otherwise it will taste too cakey, trust me on this. Courtesy of The Sisters Dish.

  • 1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
  • 1 box Jiffy yellow cake mix

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. Spray an 8×8 pan with cooking spray, then pour the prepared batter in. Bake at 350 until done, approx. 30 minutes. Toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean.

Quiche!

On By sarafillmerIn BreakfastLeave a comment

This recipe came from Pinterest.  I like how moist it is, my husband likes how much protein there is.  The recipe will show bacon, but you can use ham or sausage or whatever meat you like. I also switch up the cheese based on what’s in my fridge at the time. Courtesy of For the Love of Food.

  • 1 pie crust (I use Pillsbury, or you can make from scratch)
  • 8 slices bacon, crumbled
  • 2 1/2 cups cheese, your choice
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 3/4 cup half and half
  • salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350°. Cook bacon in the microwave (or oven) until crisp. Once cool, crumble and set aside. Place your pie dough in the pie dish so that it’s ready to have everything poured in; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the cheese and flour – mix well. In a large bowl, beat the eggs slightly, and then add cream, half and half, salt, pepper, bacon, and cheese mixture. Mix well. Pour into the pie crust-lined pie dish. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Let it stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Pork Carnitas

On By sarafillmerIn EntreeLeave a comment

I made this for the first time this week, and I liked the hint of orange in the marinade. Recipe is courtesy of the blog My Kitchen Escapades. Don’t be intimidated by the instructions, it is very easy to do.

  • 4 lb pork butt, trimmed and cut into 2″ cubes
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 medium onion, peeled and halved
  • 1 orange, juiced and keep the halves
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 2 cups water

Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat to 300 degrees.  Combine all the ingredients in a large Dutch oven, including the spent orange halves and juice.  Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, uncovered.  Once it simmers, cover pot and transfer it to the oven.  Cook until the meat falls apart when prodded with a fork, about 2 hours. Remove the pot from the oven and turn on the broiler.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat from the pan and place it on a large foil-lined jelly roll pan.  Remove and discard everything from the pot except for the cooking liquid.  Place pot over high heat on the stove and boil until thick and syrupy, about 20 minutes.  You should have about 1 C of liquid remaining when it is finished. While the liquid is reducing, use two forks to pull each cube of pork into three equal sized pieces.  Once the liquid has become a syrup, gently fold in the pieces of pork into the pot.  Try not to break up the pork any further. Taste and add additional salt and pepper. Spread the pork back onto the foil lined pan and evenly spread the meat around so there is a single layer of meat.  Place the jelly roll pan on the lower middle rack of the oven and broil until the top of the meat is well browned and edges are slightly crisp, about 5 to 8 minutes.  Using a wide metal spatula, flip the pieces of meat and broil the other side until well browned and edges are slightly crisp, 5 to 8 minutes.  Serve immediately in a tortilla with all your favorite toppings.

Crockpot Pulled Pork

On By sarafillmerIn EntreeLeave a comment

This recipe is is so easy and great for leftovers.  I got the recipe from Pinterest, but it is also on the back of the packet.

  • 3-4 lb pork tenderloin
  • 1 packet McCormick’s Slow Cooker Pulled Pork packet
  • 1/2 cup ketchup
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup cider vinegar

Place the tenderloins in the crockpot.  Mix together the rest of the ingredients then pour over the pork.  Cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. Shred the pork, then mix with the rest of the sauce.  Heat through and serve on rolls.

Cinnamon Churro Chex Mix

On By sarafillmerIn DessertLeave a comment

Here is another Chex Mix recipe.  This one is refreshing because it uses cinnamon chips, which is a nice change from all the chocolate Chex Mix recipes out there.  Courtesy of the blog Just Another Day in Paradise.

  • 9 cups Rice Chex cereal
  • 3 cups cinnamon chips
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Pour Chex cereal into a bowl. Set aside. Combine sugars and cinnamon in another small bowl. Set aside. In a microwavable bowl, melt the cinnamon chips. Heat for 1 minute then stir, repeating every 30 seconds until completely melted and smooth. Pour melted cinnamon chips over the cereal. Stir until cereal is well coated. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Toss to coat. Pour out the cereal onto a cookie sheet. Continue to sprinkle and toss the cereal with the rest of the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Peppermint Fudge

On By sarafillmerIn DessertLeave a comment

This fudge recipe is so, so good.  And really easy to make, no candy thermometer needed.  It is from the blog A Spicy Perspective.  Although the recipe calls for dark chocolate, I used half dark chocolate, half milk chocolate because that is what I had in my pantry.

  • 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tablespoon butter, plus extra for buttering the dish
  • 1 lb. dark chocolate chunks/chips
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup Andes Peppermint Chunks

Grease a 8×8 or 8×11 baking dish. Sprinkle half the peppermint chunks in the bottom of the dish and set aside. Place a medium sauce pot over medium heat with 2 inches of water. Place a glass bowl over the top–making sure the glass doesn’t touch the water. Pour the condensed milk and butter in the bowl and heat. Add the chocolate chips and salt in the bowl. Stir the chocolate and watch as it melts and thickens–about 5 minutes.The mixture should thicken to a THICK cake batter consistency–almost too thick to pour. Add both extracts and mix well. Pour the mixture into the dish. Gently tap the dish on the counter for at least a minute to allow air bubbles to rise to the surface and to smooth the surface. Sprinkle the remaining peppermint chips over the top and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, maybe longer, to set. To cut, dip a sharp knife in hot tap water, wipe and cut quickly. Dip and wipe the knife between cuts. Cut into 1 inch squares.

Candied Pecans

On By sarafillmerIn DessertLeave a comment

These pecans are amazingly addicting.  They are courtesy of the blog Just Putzing Around the Kitchen.

  • 4-5 cups of pecans, halved
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 300. Begin by whipping the egg white until frothy.  Add in the vanilla, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  Mixture will be thick.  Add to the pecans in a large mixing bowl.  Mix well to ensure the pecans are completely coated.  Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet, using a fork to make sure the pecans are evenly spread, and not too clumpy.  Bake for 20 minutes, then let cool completely and store in a sealed container.

Turtle Cookies

On By sarafillmerIn Cookies, DessertLeave a comment

This recipe is courtesy of the blog The Kitchen is My Playground.  They are very pretty, and pretty easy to make.

Cookie

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup cocoa
  • 1/4  teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg, separated, plus one extra egg white
  • 2  tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/4 cup pecans, finely chopped

Caramel Filling

  • 14 soft caramel candies (I used Kraft)
  • 3 tablespoons heavy cream

Begin by combining the flour, cocoa and salt; set aside. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg yolk, milk and vanilla, mix until just incorporated.  Reduce speed to low and mix in flour mixture.  Wrap dough in saran wrap and refrigerate about an hour.  Whisk egg whites until frothy, placing chopped pecans in a separate bowl.  Roll chilled dough into 1″ balls, then coat in egg whites, then roll in the pecans. Place the balls approximately 2″ apart on a baking sheet, then use a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon to make an indention in the top.  Bake at 350 until set, or about 12 minutes.

To make the caramel filling, melt the caramels and heavy cream in the microwave at 30 sec intervals until smooth.  Once the cookies come out of the oven, gently re-press the indentions, and fill the indentations with about a 1/2 a teaspoon of caramel.  If desired, melt some semi-sweet chocolate to drizzle on top.

 

Salmon Marinade

On By sarafillmerIn MarinadeLeave a comment

Once again, this marinade came from Pinterest, more specifically, thecozyapron.com  I’m not a huge fish fan, so this marinade was perfect for me because it gave the fish a great flavor that would go well with almost any kind of fish.

  • 2 garlic cloves, pressed with a garlic press
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

In a small dish, combine the ingredients and whisk to combine.  Then brush over your fish and let marinade for 35 minutes.  This quantity will cover 4 thicker cut salmon filets, or I brushed it over a two pound slab of salmon.  Whatever floats your boat.  After it is marinaded, broil on high for 8-9 minutes, or until moist and flaky.  Serve with rice or choice of vegetable.

Pecan Pie Cookies

On By sarafillmerIn Cookies, DessertLeave a comment

I got this recipe from the blog yumsugar.com via Pinterest. As someone who is not a huge pecan fan, I have to admit that these were really yummy.

Cookies

  • 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups (256 g) flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

Filling

  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350.  Combine all cookie ingredients except the flour and baking powder and beat on medium speed until creamy.  Add in the flour and baking powder and beat on low until fully incorporated.  In a separate bowl, combine the filling ingredients and mix well. Roll or use a cookie scoop to get 1 1/4″ balls and place on an ungreased or parchment lined baking sheet.  Use your thumb to make a depression in the cookies, then fill with the pecan filling. They will spread a tad, so don’t make the hole for the filling too deep.  Bake for 8-12 minutes depending on your oven.  I baked mine for 10 and they were perfect.  Try not to eat them all in one sitting.  Makes 4 dozen.