Deviled Eggs

I love Deviled Eggs. In my opinion, you just can't go wrong serving these as a side dish.
My favorite part( except for the eating) is that you can make these ahead and chill in the fridge til everything else is ready.

Ingredients:

5 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1/4 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing like Miracle Whip
1 Tablespoon yellow mustard
salt
pepper
paprika- optional

To cook the eggs-
Place eggs in a pan and cover with water.
Place over heat and bring to a boil.
Turn off the heat and cover pan with lid.
Let sit for 15 minutes.
Drain.
Cover eggs with cold water.
When able to handle eggs, tap each egg on the side of pan to crack the shell.
Let eggs sit back in pan to cool farther.
Carefully peel the eggs.

To make the Deviled Eggs-
Slice each egg lengthwise.
Scoop out the egg yolks into a bowl.
With a fork or spoon, mash up the yolks.
Add the mayonnaise, mustard and sprinkle with salt and better.
Stir well and taste to see if you need more salt or pepper.
Fill the egg whites with the yolk mixture. Use the fork or spoon or if you want to go fancy scoop the yolk mixture into a plastic baggie and close it up. Snip off the corner and pipe the mixture into the whites.
Sprinkle with the paprika if you want. Not too heavy, just a little to add a bit of color and taste.

Makes 10 Deviled Eggs.

Cheesy Biscuits

I love cheesy biscuits. They remind me somewhat of Cheddar Bay biscuits at Red Lobster. Not quite the same, but it's getting there.
I love serving them with lasagna or spaghetti. Maybe even some seafood.
If you are serving Mexican, add a bit of cumin or chili powder to give it a little different taste.

You will need to baking sheet to bake the biscuits.
You will need a biscuit cutter.
A pastry brush is helpful here.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup(1 stick) butter- if you want to cut fat lower down to 1/3 cup
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup milk

6 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine.
With a fork or pastry cutter, cut in the butter til dough is crumbly.
Stir in the cheese.
Pour the milk into the center of the mixture and stir, just until moistened.
Turn out onto floured counter and knead about 10 times-just til dough comes together.
With your hands or a rolling pin,pat or roll the dough until it is about 1/2" thick.
With a biscuit cutter or cookie cutter cut out the dough.
You will have 8-10 biscuits depending on the size of the cut out biscuits and how thick you rolled them.
Put the biscuits on the baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.
The biscuits will be golden and when lightly touched, they will spring back.
While the biscuits are baking, melt the 6 Tablespoons butter and mix in the garlic powder and parsley flakes.
After removing biscuits from the oven, brush the garlic/butter mixture over the biscuits. Use all the butter up. The biscuits will soak it in.

Best served warm.

Yummy goodness!

Awesome Refried Beans

These are not just any refried beans. One taste and you won't want store bought anymore.
Most refried beans are some mashed beans and some whole beans. This version is all smooth beans.
These are very authentically Mexican. Thanks to Rick Bayless for showing me how tasty refried beans can be.

This recipe calls for bacon grease or lard.
This gives the best flavor, but you can use a vegetable oil to cut out the cholesterol.

You will need a food processor or blender.
You will also need a large skillet.

Ingredients:

4 cups undrained, cooked beans-whatever variety you want to try, Pinto is what I mostly use. Use canned or homemade, slightly warm.

1/2 cup lard, bacon grease, chorizo drippings, or vegetable oil

1 medium white onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

salt-to taste


Put the beans with some of the liquid into the container of a blender or food processor.
Heat the bacon grease in the skillet.
Add the onion and cook until it is golden, stirring frequently so it doesn't burn.
Stir in the garlic and cook for about a minute.
With a slotted spoon scoop the onion and garlic in with the beans.
Puree the beans until smooth.
Keep the grease hot and add the puree.
Cook over medium low heat for about 20 minutes or til the beans are as thick as you want them. Stir frequently.
Taste test and add salt, if needed.
The beans should be quite thick and seem to have a soft mashed potato like consistency.
Remove from heat and serve.

Great by itself with maybe some cheese sprinkled on top.
You can also serve with chips or as an ingredient in another dish.

Serves 6 large portions or 3-1/2 cups

Super yummy!

Baked Beans

Yes, you can just get a can of baked beans from the store. But there is nothing like making your own old-fashioned baked beans.
You could take a short cut and start with canned beans.

Ingredients:

1 pound dry navy beans or great Northern beans- about 2-1/4 cups

about 3-4 sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled. Or if you have some leftover ham use that.
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup molasses or maple syrup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard. If you don't have dry, use 1 Tablespoon prepared mustard.
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Rinse and sort the dry beans. Cover beans with water and let soak for a couple hours up to overnight.
Drain the beans.
Cook your bacon in the bean pot. Remove bacon from drippings.
Add the beans to the pot.
Cover the beans with water and add a handful of the chopped onion.
Bring to a boil.
Partially cover pan and turn heat down so the beans are simmering gently.
Cook beans, stirring occasionally, for about an hour to an hour and a half.
Add more water, as needed, so the beans remain covered by about an inch of water.
They are ready when you take a bean out with a spoon and blow on it. The skin will burst open.
Take off the heat. Drain the beans, but save the liquid.
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a 2-1/2 quart bowl or baking dish mix the beans, bacon(or ham) and onion.
Stir in 1 cup of the bean liquid, the molasses or maple syrup, brown sugar, mustard, salt, and pepper.
Cover the dish and bake in the preheated oven for about 2-1/2 hours, or until it is as thick as you like.
Stir occasionally.
Add more bean liquid, if needed.

Serves 10-12 as a side dish.

If you are using ham, you can add some bacon grease to the pot of beans or use vegetable oil or just skip that part all together.

If you want to make beans and weinies, cut up hot dogs and add to the baked beans about a half hour before the beans are done. Any sooner and the hotdogs seem to lose most of their flavor.

Cheesy Zucchini

Cheesy Zucchini

If you grow your own zucchini, you know how plentiful it can be.

If you are like me you get tired of fried zucchini or zucchini bread.
So, I went on an internet and cookbook quest to see what all I could make with it. This is one of the ways I found.

It is inspired by a recipe I found online. I did change it a bit and I find it so yummy! 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
You will need a 9" square baking pan.

Ingredients:

2-3 medium-small zucchini
2 Tablespoons butter
salt, pepper, garlic powder to season
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Wash, stem, and thinly slice the zucchini. You will need 3-4 cups.
In a skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat.
Add the sliced zucchini.
Season with the salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Saute for about 10 minutes, until the zucchini has softened. Stir frequently.
Spread the sauteed zucchini in the baking dish.
Sprinkle  the cheese over the top and put in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Serves 4 as a side. 

Coleslaw

I love coleslaw!

It is one of my favorite side dishes. I could eat it all the time.
This tastes similar to the coleslaw you can get at KFC.
I got it from a copycat recipe book with a few changes of my own.

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage
1 carrot

1/2 scant cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup sour milk or buttermilk

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1-1/2 Tablespoons white vinegar

2-1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice

The best way to chop up your cabbage and carrot is to use a large knife.

It is really easy to use a food processor, but the cabbage turns out mushy. If you have an old hand grater, that will work too.

Put the cabbage and carrot in a large mixing bowl.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar, salt, pepper, milk, mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar, and lemon juice. Whisk until smooth.

Pour that over the cabbage and mix well.

Cover and refrigerate the coleslaw for at least 3 hours before serving. The longer you can let it sit, the better the flavor.

You will get 8 servings.

Yummy!

Corn Bread

I love corn bread. I grew up on it. Many people just have it with ham and bean soup, but my mom made it just whenever.
So, in my opinion, no recipe blog would be complete without a good 'ol fashioned corn bread recipe.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Grease a 8x8 or 9x9 square pan.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 cup corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt( optional)
1 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil or melted butter
2 beaten eggs

Combine, flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add milk, egg and oil all at once and stir til moistened.
Pour into baking pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until it is golden and tests done.
Cut into squares and serve warm.
Great also if you are going to make corn bread stuffing.