Pan Fried Onion Dip

I've had this twice, then I decided I had to have the recipe.  And thank goodness, with Food Network's help, I found it on their site.  And yep, when I made it, it was still just was scrumptious as ever!

Ingredients:
2 large yellow onions
4 tbs unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temp.
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup good mayo

Instructions:
Cut the onions in half and then slice them into 1/8" thick half-rounds.  (You will have about 3 cups of onions.)  Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add the onions, cayenne, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes until the onions are browned and caramelized.  Allow the onions to cool.
Place the cream cheese, sour cream and mayo in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth.  Add the onions and mix well.  Taste for seasonings.  Serve at room temperature.

Makes about 2 cups

Me, true to my I-can't-follow-the-recipe-and-must-alter-it fashion made a few minor adjustments...
-The cream cheese was 1/3 less fat, and I ended up using the full 8 oz. block.
-Sour cream was fat free.
-Mayo was low fat.

1999 The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook of online here

Peppermint Chocolate Cookies

Some time or a year ago, I came peppermint chips.  Not the swirly ones you can find at the grocery store, nice ones that you can find at Cost Plus.  So for some time now or a year, these chips/chunks have been in my freezer taking up room.  This is the year that I was going to use them.  And I did.  With chocolate.  Chocolate cookies from a recipe adapted from a Pillsbury cookbook.

Prep Time:  30 minutes; Yield:  24 cookies

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg white
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbs unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate peppermint chips

1. Heat oven to 375F.  In a large bowl, combine brown sugar and butter; beat until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and egg white, blend well.
2. Add flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt, mix well.  Stir in chocolate peppermint chips.  Drop dough by teaspoonfuls  inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake at 375F for 8 to 9 minutes or until set.  Do not overbake.  Cool 1 minute, remove from cookie sheets.
   
   
   

Kaluha Brie

Compliments of a co-worker.  Granted, I'm not a brie fan, but this recipe gets raves.  I do like the kaluha part though.

Toast pecans on the stove top – lightly browned

The ratio is really up to you – Kaluha and Brown sugar – start with a ¼ cup brown sugar to ½ cup kaluha – mix in a saucepan on the stove, gently heat.

Warm in the microwave either a wedge or wheel of Brie

Pour over top the Brie, the liquid mixture

Sprinkle with whole toasted pecans

Serve with water crackers

Skillet Enchilada

So good.  So easy.  Perfect meal when you're in a pinch or short on time. 

 

1 pound beef strips, stir-fry style

1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained

1 can (28 oz) green enchilada sauce

1 cup frozen corn

5 cups corn tortilla chips

1 can (3.8 oz) black olive slices

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a large skillet on medium-high, brown beef.  Add beans, corn, and enchilada sauce; stir.  Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low.  Add chips; cover and simmer 10 minutes.  Top with olives and cheese.  Garnish with sour cream and salsa, if desired. 

Makes 4-6 servings.

Recipe from Save Mart grocery store

Pesto Pizza

And pizza #2 for you, Pesto Pizza.

Same instruction as the BBQ Chicken Pizza...

Get yourself a roll of that premade pizza dough. Spread it out on whatever pan it fits on. Follow the baking instructions on the package, if it says to prebake, then prebake.

Chop up some BBQed (or in my case, skillet cooked) chicken, red bell pepper, and artichoke hearts.  Mince some garlic.

Spread some pesto sauce all over the dough.

Sprinkle/Layer on the diced chicken, red bell pepper, garlic and artichoke hearts. Then put your cheese on top. Bake per instructions on dough package.

Again, the toppings are:

BBQ/Cooked chicken

Pesto Sauce

Red Bell Pepper

Minced Garlic

Cheese (Mozz works best)

This was, as was the other pizza, nothing short of delicious!  And super easy!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Sometime ago, back in September I think, I made some pizzas.  And man were they good!  So I thought I'd share with you what I put on them.

First up is the BBQ Chicken Pizza

Get yourself a roll of that premade pizza dough.  Spread it out on whatever pan it fits on.  Follow the baking instructions on the package, if it says to prebake, then prebake.

Chop up some red onion, and BBQed (or in my case, skillet cooked) chicken.

Spread some BBQ sauce all over the dough.

Sprinkle/Layer on the diced chicken, red onion, and bacon bits (the real stuff).  Then put your cheese on top.  Bake per instructions on dough package.

Again, the toppings are:

BBQ/Cooked chicken

BBQ Sauce

Red Onion

Bacon crumbles

Cheese (Mozz works best with a little bit of cheddar)

and I had every intention of putting chopped up cilantro on after it baked, but forgot.  Oops.

This was nothing short of delicious!

Sweet Potato Bread

The turkey is unstuff, unlike the full bellies.  Leftovers are put away and eaten again the next day.  But what about those 6 cups of leftover mashed sweet potatoes?  Me, well, I could eat it all the time.  Until I was sick of it, then I couldn't.

So why not make use of the leftovers that seem to grow and not disappear.  Enter:  Sweet Potato Bread.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup water
1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I opted no for the nuts)

Instructions:

1. Combine sugar and oil; beat well.  Add eggs and beat.  Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Stir flour mixture into egg mixture alternately with water.  Stir in sweet potatoes and chopped nuts.
2. Pour batter into greased 9x5" loaf pan (or 2 small loaf pans).  Bake at 350F (175C) for about one hour.

When doubling recipe, don't forget to double all the ingredients.  Oops, I missed doubling the eggs, and maybe possibly the water too.

For the real recipe and additional reviews, go here.