Blah Blah Black Beans..NO, These are So Good!!

Blah, Blah Black Beans...NO, These are So Good!!! 

Ingredients

1 lb. dry black beans
1 c. diced carrots
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 t. black pepper
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1 t. cumin
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
2 c. chicken broth
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes

Directions

Sort and soak a pound of black beans for 6-8 hours.  Rinse the beans.  Bring the beans to a boil and let sit for 1 hour.  Rinse the beans again.  Cover the beans with water. Add 2 cups of chicken broth and add the rest of the ingredients.  Bring the pot to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.

Optional:  add fresh green onion, tomato, cilantro, jalapenos and sour cream to the individual bowls before serving.

ENJOY!!!   

Simply Chicken Pot Pie

 Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Pure comfort food on a cold day!  

Ingredients

1 lb. boneless chicken breast
1 c. sliced carrots
1 c. frozen peas
1/2 c. diced celery
1/2. c. diced mushrooms
1/3 c. butter
1/3 c. onion
1/3 c. flour
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 t. celery seed
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. tarragon
1/2 t. onion powder
1 3/4 c. chicken broth
2/3 c. milk
1 unbaked pie crust

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Cook the boneless chicken in a skillet with a small amount of water. Once it is cooked, dice it into small bites.  In a small bowl, mix the flour, black pepper, garlic powder, tarragon, onion powder and the celery seed.  Set this aside.  In a saucepan, boil the carrots, peas, onion and celery for 15 minutes.  Drain. Melt the butter in a large skillet.  Add the chicken broth and milk. Mix the mushrooms into the flour and spice mixture.  Add the coated mushrooms to the liquid in the skillet.  Cook until the sauce is thickened. Add the diced chicken and mix. 

 Drained the cooked vegetables and add them to the skillet.  Mix and all together. 

If the sauce has thickened too much, just add a little more chicken broth.  Pour it all into a pie pan. Cover with the pie crust.  Flute the edges to seal the top crust over the filling.  Cut several slits into the top pie crust to allow the steam to escape.

 Bake 30-35 minutes or until crust is brown.

ENJOY!!!

P.S.  I forgot to add the peas!  So I served some on the side, but they didn't make it into the photo.  

Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes

Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes 

I love pancakes!  All kinds of pancakes, so when I saw the recipe for these I knew I had to try them! 

Ingredients 

1/3 c. flour

2 T. quick oats

1 t. baking powder

1 T. sugar

1/3 c. milk (heated)

2 t. coconut oil 

1/2 t. vanilla

4 pineapple rings 

Directions

Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.  

Melt the coconut oil. Add slightly heated milk and the vanilla to the melted coconut oil and mix them all together.

 Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together. 

Heat a skillet to medium and add a little oil to prevent the pancakes from sticking.  Once the skillet is heated, spoon 1/4 of batter in to the skillet for each pancake.  Spread each circle of batter to make it big enough to hold a pineapple ring.

Gently press the pineapple rings into the batter.  

Cook until the batter looks set enough to flip.  Turn the pancakes over and cook the other side. 

Allow the pineapple to brown a little before removing to a serving plate.  I turned my skillet up high and gently pressed the back to brown the pineapple.

Serve with syrup! 

ENJOY!!!   

Click to see the original recipe.

What's for Dinner? Mexican! ...with Jalapeno Margaritas!

Gaylord Texan Jalapeno Margarita Recipe

Ingredients

3 lime slices

2-3 slices of jalepeno pepper

1 1/4 oz. silver tequila

3/4 oz. Cointreau

2 1/2 oz. sweet and sour mix

salt

Lime slices and jalapeno slices for garnish 

CHEERS!!! 

Directions

Wet the rim of the margarita glass and press into the salt.

In a shaker, muddle the 3 lime slices and jalapeno pepper slices.  Add the tequila, Cointreau and sweet and sour mix.  Fill the margarita with crushed ice.  Shake the shaker to mix the ingredients.  Pour the contents of the shaker into the glass and garnish.  If you want more heat, chop some of the jalapeno! 

* I found this recipe in the Star-Telegram.

Copycat Salt Lick BBQ Sauce (Driftwood, Texas)

 Texas is known for its BBQ!  Austin, Texas has one of the best BBQ restaurants, Salt Lick.  They smoke lots of chicken, sausage, ribs on this huge wood fire pit.  For those of you that can't come to Austin, Texas you can still get a taste by making the copycat BBQ sauce.  I got this recipe from http://forum.bigsteelkeg.com/index.php?topic=4734.0 by hookemhorns.  Be sure to check out the history of this famous restaurant and their delicious food!

Upfront:  Ribs, beans, potato salad, cole slaw, pickles and onions and beer!  

In the distance:  Half of a chicken with the rest of the fixins.  YUM!!!!!  

Another view of the pit on a different night. 

I never get tired of viewing the pit!

Salt Lick Lauren’s Spicy Recipe Bar-B- Que Sauce 1 cup finished sweet and sour dressing (recipe below) 1/3 cup prepared mustard 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce 1 Tbs Vizcaya brand Habanero sauce (red NOT the orange) 1 tsp sea salt ½ tsp black pepper (fresh cracked if possible) ½ tsp cumin ½ tsp paprika ½ tsp onion powder ½ tsp garlic powder ½ tsp Chinese 5 spice 1 Tbs Honey 1 Tbs brown sugar Place sweet and sour dressing, mustard, Worcestershire, and all spices (from salt to Chinese 5 spice) in pan and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Take off of heat and add 1 Tbs of honey, 1 Tbs brown sugar, and 1 Tbs Habanero sauce. Stir until well incorporated. Cool to room temperature then store in a squeeze bottle or any other container in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before use. Sweet and sour dressing ½ cup apple cider vinegar ½ cup brown sugar 6 oz Dole 100% pineapple juice ¼ tsp ginger ¼ tsp garlic 1 Tbs cornstarch 1 Tbs water ¼ cup oil Place all ingredients, except cornstarch and water, into a pan over medium heat. Allow mixture to simmer about 10 minutes. While this simmers mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Add this to the sweet and sour mixture and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to come to room temp. Put in sauce in blender and while running drizzle oil until dressing thickens.

by h00kemh0rns

Fresh Lemon Juice for Lemonade and more

Real Lemon...Juice! 

Ok so this is not a recipe, but it is good for you!  Lots of vitamin C and it is so easy to incorporate into your diet.  Simply add some to your water.  We are suppose to get 8 glasses of water a day.  Do you?  If not, try adding a little bit of lemon to your day! 

I just can't leave it at that...here is a lemon recipe! 

Homemade Lemonade 

1 c. sugar

1 c. water

1 c. lemon juice 

The secret to great lemonade is making a simple syrup with the sugar and hot water.  Boil the water and dissolve the sugar.  Add the lemon juice and 3 cups of cold water.  Pour over crushed ice.  Yep, the perfect lemonade is that simple! 

ENJOY!!!   

* This recipe is from simplerecipes.com 

PB&J Pie & PB & Chocolate Pie a La Mode

PB& J Pie and PB & Chocolate Pie a la mode! 

Ingredients

Pie Crust

Jelly-strawberry

Peanut butter

Chocolate 

Directions

Use a round cookie cutter to cut the dough into circles. 

Place the dough circles onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Spread peanut butter onto dough.  Be sure to leave an edge, so you can seal the top crust onto the bottom one.

Place jelly or chocolate baking pieces unto the peanut butter. 

Place a dough round on top of the PB & J or PB & Chocolate. 

Use the tines of a fork to press the 2 crusts together.  

Make small slits into the middle of the crusts for air vents. 

(optional) Brush egg whites on top of crusts and add sugar sprinkles 

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Watch carefully so they don't burn. 

ENJOY!!! 

    * This recipe is from kidsactivityblog.com