Perfect Peach Bellinis

I decided I needed one of these today... they're one of my favorite "girly" drinks.

Ingredients:
3 cups crushed ice
1 cup Daily's peach mix
1/2 cup champagne

Instructions:
Combine ingredients in blender until smooth consistency. Enjoy!

Fiesta Cornbread & Chicken Casserole

This casserole was an inspired dish from a chicken tamale casserole. To me, you just can't substitute the wonderful flavor of a tamale; so I decided to make it into something different all together & I am SO glad because it became something that Josh requested to be added to the list of "regular" meals. That list is growing longer, but when he went back for seconds... then thirds, I knew we had a keeper!

Fiesta Cornbread & Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:
1.5lbs of chicken breast
1/2 pkg taco seasoning
tsp cumin
1 can mexi-corn
1 can cream corn
1 7.5oz box Martha White corn muffin mix
1/4 cup bisquick (or larger box corn muffin mix)
1 bag mexi-cheese
1 can green chiles
1 10oz can enchilada sauce
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup green onions, sliced
1/3 cup egg substitute
sour cream (optional)



Instructions:
Boil chicken for about 15 minutes. I seasoned my water with paprika, chili powder, cumin, & oregano. While chicken is cooling, mix mexi-corn, cream corn, corn muffin mix, bisquick, 1/4 of mexi-cheese, cumin, egg & milk in a large bowl. Pour in a 9x13" casserole dish/pyrex & bake at 400 for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, shred chicken. I use two forks to pull it apart, but use whichever shredding method works for you, repeat with each breast. Sprinkle taco seasoning over chicken and toss to make sure it's all coated. Combine chicken with onions and green chiles & spread on top of cooked cornbread. Pour enchilada sauce evenly over chicken then top with remaining cheese and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes, until cheese is golden brown. Top with sour cream when served (optional).

The yum factor here is outrageous! It got the "This s#!+ right here is gooder n f***" approval & he said he was sad when it was gone, lol... oh cooking just brings such joy!! :)

Some Like it Hot!

PEPPERS!!! I love them. What's not to love?! They kick up the flavor of any meal and heat up your metabolism. I call this a win-win. Almost everything I cook has some sort of pepper in it. Habaneros and jalapenos are my favorite, but in this house, we LOVE spicy food. If you don't, then cut down on the peppers or leave them out all together. I'm sure the dish would still taste great!

Spicy Guacamole

Even people that don't like guacamole like my guacamole... true story.

Spicy Guacamole

You Will Need:
Gallon sized ziplock bag (large ziplock will do)
food processor (or chopper)

Ingredients:
6 small avocados (ripe, soft)
4 jalapenos
4 roma tomatoes
1/2 small bunch of cilantro
4tbs lime juice (or more to taste)
1 small white onion
1 small green bell pepper
1 pkg guacamole seasoning

Instructions:

Slice avocados lengthwise & remove pit & skin. Place in ziplock bag with guacamole seasoning and knead until desired consistency. I like my guacamole a little bit chunky, so I just make sure the big pieces are smashed.

Cut corner off of bag and squeeze into medium sized bowl.

In your food processor or chopper, mince jalapenos with cilantro, add to avocados. finely chop onion & bell pepper. Roughly chop tomatoes & add all to avocados, mix. Mix in lime juice.

serve cold!

Sausage White Queso

I would like to start off by saying that this IS NOT restaurant white queso. It's way better than any restaurant ever thought about making; plus, if I wanted restaurant queso, I would go to a restaurant. This recipe was a random thought of mine... as I was CRAVING queso, but beyond tired of the velveeta/rotel boringness. What I did not expect was for this to turn out to be THE BEST white queso dip I have ever had. That's right. I'll say it. It's the absolute best white queso I have ever had... and I made it... and I'm nice enough to share. So without further ado...

Sausage White Queso

Ingredients:
4 jalapeno peppers
2 poblano peppers
2oz El Yucateco Chile Habanero Sauce (Mexican ingredient section at Walmart)
16oz (one roll) Jimmy Dean hot sausage
1/2 package kraft/philadelphia pepper jack cheese
8oz cream cheese (not pictured)
1 box queso blanco velveeta
1 small onion (sweet yellow)
8oz sour cream

Instructions:
Cut tops off of poblano peppers and remove seeds. Slice into thin strips, then chop (chunky pieces are best) & slice jalapenos into thin rounds (or whichever way you like best). If you like your food to have a bite, leave the seeds, I did of course. Chop onion & put ingredients in a 5qt crock pot. If you have crock pot liners, I suggest using one. Brown sausage in & add to peppers/onion. Cube velveeta & cream cheese and mix in with sausage, etc. Mix in pepper jack cheese and sour cream. Pour habanero sauce on top, it will mix in when you stir periodically later to keep the cheese from burning. This hot sauce is my favorite, so I may be guilty of adding more.... like double. If you like some fire to your food then add away! Cook on high for 2 hours then keep warm.

Hopefully you'll have more luck than I did with your dip actually making it out of the crock pot to serve. Josh and I literally stood in the kitchen eating this & had to pry ourselves away. It's PHENOMENAL, but don't just take my word for it... live, love & cook!

Banana Puddin

Oh banana puddin, I do love it so. There is nothing in this world like it!

You will need:
2 LARGE Bowls
mixer & bowl (hand mixer works best in this case because you need it twice)
whisk
measuring cup
scooping spoon

Ingredients:
1 pkg. Jell-o instant pudding VANILLA 5.1oz
1 pkg. Jell-o instant pudding Banana Cream 3.4oz
1 can Eagle Brand condensed milk 14oz
2 1/2 cups milk
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
8oz PHILADELPHIA cream cheese (softened)
1tbs vanilla extract
1tsp banana extract
1 box NILLA wafers
3 bananas

Instructions:
In your mixer bowl, combine heavy whipping cream and extracts, whip(on high sped) until very stiff, a little bit thicker than the texture of regular whipped cream. Refrigerate until ready to use. In a large bowl, combine milk, pudding mixes, and condensed milk. Whisk for a few minutes until partially stiff then let sit. Break up cream cheese and spread evenly over pudding. Use hand mixer on medium speed to combine pudding and cream cheese. Mix for 5 or so minutes, making sure that all clumps of cream cheese are gone. You may see very tiny cream cheese bits, which you can mix until gone, or leave in. Either way is fine. After cream cheese & pudding are mixed, fold in half the whipped cream. Slice 3 bananas into rounds. It is up to you on how thick, depending on if you like it chunky or not. Fold banana slices into pudding. Fold in other half of whipped cream so that you see the white marbling. In the other large bowl, line bottom with one layer of nilla wafers. Ladle/dollop pudding mixture over wafers until covered. Add another layer of nilla wafers, then repeat with pudding. Top with final layer of wafers.

I know you're looking at it right now and you just want to gobble it up because dang it is just so fantastic, but we all know that banana pudding is best served cold. SO make your pudding at least a couple of hours before serving. It's even better after chilling over night.

I won't claim to have the best recipe ever... try it for yourself and tell me if you've had better! Remember to like/share my posts & blog!!

Tommy's Taters

How fitting that these here taters are one of the first things I can remember my mom cooking growing up... named after a friend who is obsessed with them. Now I put my big girl pants on (literally, these things are not good for the diet) and amped up the recipe so these babies KICK! I'll apologize ahead of time for my lack of real measurements. I hardly measure anything... if you can't eyeball it then go with trial and error!

Tommy's Taters

3lbs russet potatoes, small

1/2 stick of butter

3 jalapenos

1/2 package green onions

small bottle of ranch dressing (squeeze bottle works best!)

1 small can sliced black olives

3/4 bag shredded cheddar cheese

real bacon bits (or real crumbled bacon)

Boil potatoes for 15 minutes. Let cool then slice in 1/4 inch rounds & lay out on baking sheet

slice butter and spread evenly over potatoes (it melts when cooked & helps keep potatoes from sticking... and adds that buttery goodness) next drizzle ranch over potatoes. If you LOVE ranch, use it liberally! Slice jalapenos very thinly (keep seeds for heat) & roughly chop green onions. Spread over potatoes. Next layer cheese, then top with bacon bits & olives. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350.  

Now if you can control yourself (I can't) and keep from eating them right off the baking sheet, it's easiest to use a spatula to serve with. Serve with a big, fat, juicy steak and we are talking PURE HEAVEN. 

The way to a man's heart...

What's a better way to start off this journey than WHY I enjoy cooking so much? There's many reasons that I cook: it relaxes me, I know what goes into my food, it is an outlet for creativity, but the main reason: it makes my man happy! You know that expression "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach," it's true. Trust me; cook a great meal for your man and he will be purring like a kitten. My absolute favorite thing about spending time in the kitchen is sitting down to eat, waiting for him to take his first bite, and seeing the look of food ecstasy on his face... right before he utters those magical words: "honey that was gooder-n-fuck." Yes ladies (& gents?), that hillbilly slang gets me every time. He might as well be telling me I'm the hottest most amazing woman on the face of the planet (which he does anyway). I plan and create meals just to hear that one phrase that is music to my ears & food for my soul. Ladies, feed your man. Men, praise your woman for slaving over a hot stove for you. Bliss ensues.