Garlic Butter Croutons

There are times that I just crave a large salad with ham, cheese, olives, cucumbers and blue cheese dressing.  Salad doesn't have to be a boring bowl of lettuce and tomato!

Although I will settle for crumbled saltine crackers, I love fresh croutons on my salad.  Besides being so much better, making your own croutons is more economical.  Why throw away stale bread when you can make croutons?

With a little effort you can make a salad better than one from a restaurant.  Here's the perfect recipe for crispy, crunchy and flavorful croutons for your salad.  I would toss in a little parsley into the butter mixture for some extra flavor.

• Ingredients
• 
  
• 4 large slices white sandwich bread, cut into 3/4- to 1-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
• 3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter
• 2 large cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
• Kosher salt

Directions

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F.

Put the bread cubes on a large rimmed baking sheet. Melt the butter in a 1- to 2-quart sauce pan over medium-low heat. 

Add the garlic, mashing it gently with the back of a wooden spoon, and raise the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the butter is fragrant (the garlic may start to brown around the edges), 3 to 4 minutes. 

Remove from the heat and discard the garlic. 

Drizzle the butter over the bread cubes. Toss with your hands until the cubes are evenly coated. (Don’t worry if some crumble.) 

Spread them in a single layer and sprinkle with 3/4 tsp. salt. Bake until the croutons are a deep golden-brown, 15 to 17 minutes. Let cool completely. 

You can store the croutons in an air-tight container for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 3 weeks.

Source:  FineCooking.com

Key Lime Pound Cake

Pound cake is my favorite type of cake.  What follows is the original recipe from one of my favorite websites, Southern Living, but we made a few changes.

This recipe can be adapted to another citrus fruit as we did . . . that was a big change!

We had already picked the key lime tree clean, and our sour oranges usually go to waste for the most part, so we made the substitution.  Our quest has been to find recipes that would adapt to sour oranges so we don't let so many go to waste this year.

I don't know if it is because we used sour oranges, but I would have liked more taste of sour orange in the cake itself and the next time we make it, the amount will be doubled.  The glaze came out to what was our perfect as we could taste it before putting it on the cake.  We doubled the amount of sour orange juice and added a bit of zest and it was perfect.  I suggest tasting both the batter and the glaze to make sure it is to your taste.

A minor change was the substitution of low fat half and half instead of milk simply because we were out of milk.  It doesn't seem to have made a difference in the outcome.

The Captain and I usually cook and bake together.  For some reason, we had a miscommunication about the oven temperature and the cake was baked at 425 degrees instead of 325 degrees.  It baked for an hour before we realized it (a burning smell in the kitchen will get your attention).  It came out burned along the top and side!  Oh the disappointment!!!! 

After trimming the top and sides off, it was ugly, but still moist and delicious! Mishaps in the kitchen can be funny after the initial shock and the solution :)

We will make this cake again with the noted changes and of course, we will make sure to use the correct baking temperature!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (softened)

1/2 cup shortening 

3 cups granulated sugar

6 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup milk

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon key lime zest

1/4 cup key lime juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Beat butter and shortening at medium speed, or until creamy.  Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Beat at low-speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla, key lime zest and key lime juice.  Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch (12-cup) tube pan.

Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until a long wooded pick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes, remove from pan to a wire rack.

Prepare Key Lime Glace, and immediately brush over top and sides of cake.  Cool completely (about 1 hour).

Key Lime Glaze

1 cup confectioner sugar

2 Tablespoons key lime juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all ingredients together and brush over top and sides of cake.

Photo and Recipe Source

Nacho Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie gets a makeover in this semi-homemade recipe that comes from Betty Crocker's website.  I love the idea of the crunchy tortilla chip topping.

There is lots of room for variation or ways to make it more economical.

Ingredients

3 cups Progresso® chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch slices

2 shallots, finely chopped (1/2 cup)

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons Old El Paso® taco seasoning mix (from 1-oz package)

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup whipping cream

2 cups shredded deli rotisserie chicken (from 2-lb chicken)

1 can (15 oz) Progresso® black beans, drained, rinsed

1 bag (12 oz) Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers® Niblets® frozen corn,   thawed

4 cups crushed tortilla chips

1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend (4 oz)

Directions

Heat oven to 375°F. In 4-quart saucepan, heat broth over medium-high heat. Remove from heat; cover to keep warm.

In Dutch oven, melt butter with 2 tablespoons of the warm broth over medium-high heat. Add carrots, shallots, garlic, taco seasoning, pepper and salt. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until carrots are tender. Gradually add flour, stirring with whisk. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in whipping cream and remaining warm broth. Heat to boiling; add chicken, beans and corn. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened.

Spoon mixture into ungreased 11x7-inch (2-quart) baking dish. Top with crushed tortilla chips. Sprinkle with cheese. 

Bake uncovered 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Photo and Recipe Source

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars - UPDATE

It doesn't get any easier than this!

Our review:

We made these cheesecake bars for a party we went to and it was a definite hit! Although the coconut is optional, it was brought up over and over again that they really liked the addition of it, unlike other cheesecake bar recipes.

After buying everything we needed to make them, we decided to double the recipe.  While we didn't have time to go out and buy another roll of refrigerated cookie mix, we had the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies.  It was the perfect solution and I suggest it is an excellent substitute if you prefer to use your favorite recipe for cookies.  Honestly, I think any cookie would be delicious . . . sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies . . . whatever you love or a combination of two different cookies.

The next time we make a double batch, it will be made in two separate pans rather than one larger pan since the middle did not cook quite enough and didn't fully harden as it chilled.  We left that part home and it was delicious the next day after it had a while to harden.  I just don't recommend doing that.

The cheesecake mixture was perfect and delicious . . . nice creaminess that was so enhanced by the coconut.

All in all . . . we loved it!

Ingredients

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup coconut, if desired

1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated chocolate chip cookies

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F. In small bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in coconut.

In ungreased, 9- or 8-inch square pan, break up half of cookie dough. With floured fingers, press dough evenly in bottom of pan to form crust. Spread cream cheese mixture over dough. Crumble and sprinkle remaining half of dough over cream cheese mixture.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until chilled. 

For bars, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows. 

Store in refrigerator.

Photo and recipe source: