Chocolate Chip Cookies - (wheat free, gluten free, grain free)

A friend sent me this recipe for chocolate chip cookies or chocolate chip balls, they are so good! (Thanks Lori Landers!) If someone gave you this cookie to eat, you would enjoy a soft delicious cookie and you would be convinced you were eating a cookie made from flour and would never guess in a million years that it's made from chick peas. Sweetened with honey, this cookie is delightful and merges the two best flavors in the world as nothing else comes close to the marriage of chocolate and peanut butter!  

Eggplant Casserole

Eggplant Casserole:

2 medium/large eggplant
1 1/2 pds ground beef or turkey
1 cup of chedder cheese
1 can mild rotel tomatoes w/chilies
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 onion
2 tsp. minced garlic
plain breadcrumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp.basil
paprika
italian seasonings
garlic powder
cinnamon
salt
pepper



Peel and cut eggplant into chunks and soak in water with salt. Brown ground meat, saute finely sliced onions and add to meat. Add rotel, tomato sauce, 1/2 tsp of chopped basil leaves, minced garlic, a dash of italian seasoning, a dash of paprika, a dash of cinnamon, salt & pepper and garlic powder to taste and simmer. Boil egglant for 1-2 minutes and drain, then in a bowl mix together with the meat mixture. Mix in 1 cup of shredded chedder cheese and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Put in a casserole dish and sprinkle shredded chedder cheese and breadcrumbs on top. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

 

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Ball

 Chocolate Chip
Cream Cheese Ball
 (Recipe courtesy of Cheryl Lin)

1 (8 oz) block cream cheese
1 stick butter (NOT margarine)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 bag mini chocolate chips (divided)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Soften cream cheese and butter at room temp. (Do not microwave!) Cream together cream cheese & butter. Add vanilla & both sugars. Mix until smooth. Stir in 1 cup of mini chocolate chips. Refrigerate overnight or minimum 2 hours. Scoop chilled mixture onto Saran wrap. Wrap & form into ball. Return to refrigerator. Place remaining chips and/or chopped nuts onto paper plate. Remove ball from refrigerator, shape, and then roll in chips/nuts. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with chocolate graham cracker sticks, chocolate Teddy Grams or chocolate graham crackers broken into individual rectangles.

Salsa Verde

Homemade Salsa Verde


Tomatillos (about 6)
garlic (about 2 cloves)
jalapeno pepper (1-2)
1 lime
Corn oil
cilantro (optional)

Roast tomatillos, jalapeno, garlic in over under broiler about 7-10 minutes

or

I use a pampered chef micro cooker instead of roasting. I wash and place items in the cooker, I poke holes in the tomatillos and add salt to taste and cook in the microwave for 8 minutes on high.

Put everything in a food processor with about a tablespoon of corn oil and blend.

Liver & Onions

Liver & Onions

A friend's inquiry of how to cook liver & onions got me craving some so here's what I did:

Rinse liver well



lightly bread and fry in olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste:



Cook 5-7 minutes each side



Remove Liver from pan and add sliced onion


Add butter


Add flour to make a gravy:


Add liver back to pan



Cook for another 10 minutes


Serve:


Served with dinner tonight

Taco Ring!

Taco Ring - thanks goes to Nikki Barcelona.

Two cans of Crescent Rolls
Two lbs of ground beef
chopped onion
2 packs of taco seasoning
Cheese of choice (I used fiesta blend)
lettuce
tomatoes or salsa (I used homemade chunky blackbean and corn salsa) (see below for recipe)

Brown beef with onions and taco seasoning
Layer crescent rolls in a circular sunburst pattern
Pour ground beef in the middle
Cover with cheese
wrap the crescents over the top and press in the middle
Bake 350 for 13-15 minutes
Top with lettuce and salsa

Chunky Black Bean Salsa

Chunky Black Bean Salsa - courtesy of Amanda. Thanks!


4 cups chopped vine-ripe tomatoes or 2 cans of petite diced tomatoes
2 cups dried black beans, cooked in salted water until tender or 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of corn, drained
1 cup small diced red onions
1/2 finely diced bell pepper
1 jalapeno finely chopped w/seeds
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
3 cloves chopped garlic
Salt & Pepper
Liime juice to taste
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Montreal Seasoned Broiled Steak & Asparagus

Montreal Seasoned Broiled Steak & Asparagus

I am loving all things broiled. The steak is a chuck-eye or eye of chuck cut, it's a cut between the chuck and rib-eye. It's has the flavor of a rib-eye at a chuck price. Thank you Shannon G. for the fantastic seasoning recipe.

Seasoning:
Montreal Steak seasoning - 4 tablespoons
Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup.

Rub the steak with the above mixture, place in the oven a few inches under the broiler for 4-6 minutes each side.

Asparagus:
Season the asparagus with a little salt and pepper, perhaps a bit of Nature's Seasoning and broil a few inches under the broiler for approx. 10 minutes. They are a little bit tender, a little bit crunchy, just perfect. So easy!

The potatoes are small red creamers cut and boiled/steamed in a bit of water w/butter in a small saucepan, seasoned with salt, pepper, and saute'ed red and green pepper.

Shrimp and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

Shrimp and Goat Cheese Quesadillas w/Spinach & Herb Tortillas

This is a very easy recipe:

olive oil
1 whole onion
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 roll of goat cheese
1 pkg mexican blend cheese (cheddar & monterey jack)
1 lb of cooked shrimp
1 Tbsp of cajun seasoning (I use Tony Chachere's)
salt
pepper
1 pkg of Mission Spinach & Herb tortillas.

Saute' onions and peppers in skillet w/olive oil. Use as much or as little as you like. I use about 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 red pepper, and 1/2 of a large onion.
I usually buy my shrimp frozen so I boil it until thawed, pull the tails off and throw them in the skillet with the onion and pepper until fully cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste, cajun seasoning, and lime juice and turn down heat to low.
Add the goat cheese in chunks and stir until melted.
Remove mixture from skillet into a bowl and add half of an 8oz bag of mexican blend cheese and stir.
Spoon mixture onto one half of the tortilla and fold over and place in a skillet and grill each side.
Cut into thirds.

Fruit Pizza

Fruit Pizza:

• 1 (18 ounce) package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• powdered confectioners sugar (optional)
  
• Fruit (strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, kiwi, green/red grapes, mandarin oranges, raspberries, blackberries, as much or as little as you want.

pre-heat oven to 350.
Roll out cookie dough onto a sprayed pizza pan or pizza stone. Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes. Allow cooked cookie to cool while preparing fruit. Mix softened cream cheese with whipped topping, mixing until lumps are gone and the spread is smooth. You can add in powdered sugar into the mix if you want it sweeter. Spread over cooled cookie. This is the "glue" that will hold the fruit onto the pizza so spread it generously.

Cut fruit into slices and shapes depending on the pattern you'd like to make. You can play around with the fruit and create whatever patterns you'd like. A strawberry heart for valentines day would be cute. Start around the outer edge and place fruit around the pizza in whatever pattern you like whatever order you'd like your fruit until you've filled the pizza.

Optional Glaze:
The glaze that is poured over the top of the pizza makes the fruit shiny and gives the pizza a finished look.

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Mix together and pour over pizza. Slice Pizza with a Pizza cutter.

Click on any picture to enlarge it to full size!