Fruit Salsa with Cinnamin Chip

Oooooh this is a good one people! While I was in Indiana visiting my aunt, uncle, and cousins this summer we had this amazing fruit salsa and cinnamin chips. It was so incredibly good! When my family came for 4th of July we decided we would try and make it all. Boy I'm glad we did! It was GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! Ya'll have to try this one. YUMMO.

Fruit Salsa:

Really you can take any fruit you want. We used strawberries, rasberries, kiwi, and peaches. I took some of the strawberries and put them in my ultimate chopper (kinda like a mini food processor) and chopped them till they became liquidfied. This was the start of the base for the salsa. Then my wonderful sister chopped some strawberries, rasberries, kiwi, and peaches into bite size tiny little pieces. Stir it all together. We added some splenda and light brown sugar. It was incredible!

Cinnamin Chips:

We bought some flour tortillas, cut them into 6 pieces. Lay them out over your cookie sheet. Put cinnamin and sugar into a shaker. I would use 3 part sugar to 1 part cinnamin. Melt some butter and then baste, heavily, each piece. Shake on, heavily, the cinnamin and sugar. Bake for 6-8 minutes. Take out of oven and then flip chips over with a fork. Baste the 2nd side with butter and shake on cinnamin and sugar again. Bake for another 6-8 minutes. Let cool on a plate.

This is a picture of my family enjoying our fruit salsa and playing chicken foot.

4th Of July Weekend

Well we had my wonderful family at our place for 4th of July. And if my family knows how to do something...it's EAT GOOD FOOD! :-) I have no particular great recipe in this post, but the meal was so yummy and "pretty" I just had to post a picture. It was great! Great food, great conversation, great memories! LOVE YOU FAMILY! (missed you bobby!)

Steak: We generally always use the same marinade for our steaks. This particular steak is a ribeye...which is what I usually buy as they are nice and tender. We marinade them in Worcestershire Sauce, Cavender's, Salt, Pepper, and minced garlic (or garlic powder). I have no measurements we just eyeball it. Rub the steaks with all these ingrediants and let sit in marinade for atleast 4 hours for best results. Grill and ENJOY! (We've tried other marinades, but always go back to this one)

Grilled Veggies: We just chopped up some of our favorite veggies, coated them in olive oil, salt, and pepper and threw them on the grill in a grill pan. Delish!

Sweet Potatoe Hash: I love this one. It's a great alternative to mashed potatoes. Much healthier. You just cut your sweet potatoes into bite size pieces. Chop 1 onion into the same size pieces. Heat your skillet, add olive oil. Throw in potatoes and onion. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Here's the twist...add cinnamin and sugar! I'm telling ya it's wonderful! We always have a cinn/sugar shaker so I just shake it over the mixture and pop a lid on the pan; stirring occasionally until potatoes are soft.

Grilled Pineapple: Just threw some pineapple on skewers and grilled. Makes them nice and sweet.

Melt In Your Mouth Meatloaf

This is a recipe I got from good ole Paula Deen. I just adore Paula and love her recipes. For Christmas my Mom gave me a cookbook called "The Lady & Sons; Savannah Country Cookbook." It's got just a TON of delicious Paula recipes. I love it. I had seen Paula make this meatloaf on her show back when we had cable. And it's in this wonderful cookbook. (I usually cut this recipe in half when making it for Brian, Olivia, and I.

Cheeseburger Meatloaf

2 lbs ground beef (I, of course use the lean stuff)

2 tsp House Seasoning (Paula's "house seasoning" is made up of 1 cup salt, 1/4 cup black pepper, and 1/4 cup garlic powder. Mix well and store in shaker. OR you just just throw in a dash of salt, pepper, and garlic powder which is what I do. :-) )

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1 cup grated Chedcar cheese

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 cup sour cream

1 cup crushed crackers (I use wheat or multigrain)

1 tsp Lawry's Seasoned Salt (off brand is fine)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients except bread slices well. Shape into loaf. Place loaf in meatloaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Let set 5 minutes before slicing.

It's soooooo yummy. This is a great recipe to take to people who are in need of a meal. So yummy. Makes GREAT leftovers too. Enjoy.

Lemon Bars

This recipe is one of my Aunt Dana Russo's. It's simply delicious and super easy! Hope you all enjoy!

Lemon Bars

1 cup butter softened (I used margarine)

2 cups flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

4 TBLS flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

6 TBLS lemon juice from concentrate

1 tsp lemon zest

Mix first three ingredients and press into a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

Meanwhile combine remaining ingredients. Pour over hot crust. Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar while hot. Cool before cutting. ENJOY! Great for those summer potlucks or picnics.

Mexican Pizza

We love pizza! Every Sunday night we make our own pizza. It's a little family tradition we've started. Well this particular time I thought I'd change it up a bit. We made Mexican Pizza! We have a local pizza place here in Austin that sells pizza dough. So every month we go and buy enough dough balls to last us the next several weeks. Then we pile on our favorite toppings. So go and get some pizza dough from the grocery store or check your local pizza places to see if they sell their pizza dough too. It's SO YUMMY.

Mexican Pizza:

Pizza dough

Refried Beans (fat free)

1 lb hamburger cooked with taco seasoning

2 cups cheddar cheese

Assorted Toppings:

lettuce

tomato

avacado

black beans

Black olives

onion

Dollop of sour cream

Roll out pizza dough onto your pizza pan. Cook pizza dough halfway (according to package directions) then pull out and add refried beans, then taco meat, then cheese. Then bake until crust is done and cheese is melted. Add whatever toppings you would like. We did say the next time we make it we are going to add a layer of taco sauce. And in the picture the reason we left half of it w/out toppings is cause we knew we wouldn't eat the entire thing that night. We saved the rest for left-overs and added toppings then. Enjoy!

Garlic Seafood and Sausage Pasta

This is a recipe I changed up just a bit from a Light N Tasty dish. It's DELICIOUS PEOPLE! Brian loved it, as did Olivia. The original recipe called for chicken, but I switched it up a bit. Hope you enjoy! It's great!

Garlic Seafood and Sausage Pasta

1 package spaghetti (I used wheat pasta of course)

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes (not packed in oil)

1 cup boiling water

1/2 lb shrimp

1 lb smoked sausage, cut into bite sized pieces (I used turkey sausage)

3 TBLS olive oil

2 - 3/4 cups sliced mushrooms

5 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup reduced-sodium/FF chicken broth

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup fresh parsley

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 cup parm. cheese

Boil spaghetti according to package. Meanwhile boil 1 cup water and pour over sun dried tomatoes for 5 minutes. Then chop.

In a large heated skillet pour olive oil and saute sausage, mushrooms, and garlic together. Saute until mushrooms are cooked. Add shrimp and cook until shrimp are done. Add broth, wine, parsley, basil, salt, pepper, and red peper flakes. Let simmer for few minutes. Stir in reserved tomatoes and then toss with cooked spaghetti. Add cheese and toss. DELISH!

Marinated Beef Brisket

This is a YUMMY marinade! I hope ya'll enjoy it. I've used it both with brisket and roast.

2 lb beef brisket (not corned style)

2 cups fat free beef broth

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup packed ligh brown sugar

3 cloves garlic

1 cup onion

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1/4 cup LaChoy Lite Soy Sauce

Mix all ingrediants and pour over meat in large zip lock bag. Seal and set in fridge over night.

Set brisket in crockpot with marinade. Set crockpot on low for 8-10 hours. Enjoy!

I usually take some of the marinade after it cooks and put in a small sauce pan. Then mix in a seperate bowl some corn starch and water and wisk into boiling marinade. It will thicken and made a yummy gravy to go on your meat.

Parmesan Catfish

This recipe is from Light N Tasty. They say to bake it, but I like to fry it. :-) hehe I know that means more fat and calories, but it's just so much better. No matter which way you decide to cook it...I know you'll enjoy it.

Parmesan Catfish

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 TBLS cornmeal

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 egg white

1/4 cup fat-free milk

4 catfish fillets (approx 6 oz each)

In a shallow dish, combine the flour, Parm. cheese, cornmeal, paprika, salt and pepper; set aside. In another shallow dish, beat egg white and milk. Dip fillets in milk mixture, then in flour mixture. Place in a 13x9 baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. OR if you want to fry it...heat oil to 350 degrees and fry till golden brown and fish flakes easily with fork.

I served this with roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli, and of course cocktail sauce. YUMMO PEOPLE!

My Mamma's Banana Bread

I LOVE banana bread! My Mom made it all the time growing up and I seriously think I could eat a whole loaf if I let myself. :-) I learned SO MUCH of my cooking and baking skills from my wonderful mother! Thank you Mom! Today my sweet daughter helped me make this bread.

This recipe is just a standard banana bread recipe that my Grandmother used to make, but it's OH SO GOOD! Go bake some, add some butter, and enjoy.

Banana Bread

4 TBLS margarine, softened

1 Cup sugar

2 eggs

3 large, ripe bananas

2 Cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 Tbls water

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Cream Marg. and sugar. Add eggs and bananas. Add remaining ingrediants and mix thoroughly. Pour into sprayed loaf pan and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. (time may vary due to oven differences)

Smoked Sausage with Pasta

Let me preface that I know SO MANY incredible cooks! I have friends who are able to just make up a recipe. I do not have this talent. I can follow directions well and can add a few things here and there, but inventing something is totally new to me. So to all my friends that can cook...make a blog too so you can inspire me! :-)

Okay here is SMOKED SAUSAGE WITH PASTA (from Light N Tasty)

4 oz uncooked angel hair pasta (I use wheat pasta)

1/2 lb reduced fat smoked turkey sausage, cut into bite sized pieces

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 tsp dried basil

1 TBLS olive or canola oil

2 cups julienned seeded plum tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

1-2 pinches of red pepper flakes (depends on how hot you want it)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, saute the sausage, mushrooms, garlic and basil in oil until mushrooms are tender. Drain pasta, add to the sausage mixture. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper; toss gently. Heat through. YIELD: 4 servings

I served this with garlic bread and salad. Hope you all enjoy! MAKES GREAT LEFTOVERS.

Learning how to work this blog world

Well I'm just now learning how to work all this blog stuff so have patience with me. But I had this great idea from a friend about starting a recipe blog and I had some spare time so I thought I'd go for it! I hope that you find this a useful tool to find some yummy recipes for your friends and family!