Savory Spiral Rolls

I made these a couple weeks ago. They were so delicious! We all decided that we would most definitely make them again. I found them on Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog. Go here to see the recipe! I also used her french bread recipe for the rolls.

Pistachio Salad

Another favorite, it's found on the Jell-O brand of Instant Pistachio pudding, but I use the knock-off brand and it tastes just as good:

1 small box instant pistachio pudding
1 jar crushed pineapple
1 1/2 C cool whip (ish)
1 C mini-marshmallows
1/2 C finely chopped nuts - pistachios work well, but you can use anything

Mix pudding with crushed pineapple (don't drain the juice). Add the marshmallows and nuts and then the cool whip. Make sure it's mixed well, then cover and chill.

Potato Salad

I know, I know. Everyone has a recipe for potato salad. And truthfully I grew up never eating it because I thought it was gross. But when I was asked to bring some to a bbq, I just sort of...winged it. And it turned out so good that there is only about one helping left from a huge bowl full!

Typically I do one big potato or two small ones per adult there, + 1 small one per child.
Eggs, relish, spices, etc. are all in proportion to the potatoes, so...I'll put down what I did here and you can increase/decrease accordingly.

8 small potatoes, boiled till you can stick a fork in them, but they're not so soft you could mash them, then chilled
~8 - 10 boiled eggs, then chilled
sweet relish
small onion, minced
sweet relish
mayo or miracle whip
salt and pepper
garlic powder (optional)

After you've skinned the potatoes, slice them into small bite size pieces. Peel the eggs and put the yolks in a bowl and chop up the whites, putting them in with the potatoes. Mince the onion and add.
Mash the yolks, adding enough mayo to make a soft mush. Add sweet relish - I used to big forkfuls, but it's really how much you would like to add. Add salt and pepper to taste, and garlic powder if you want. Stir it all together then mix it in with the potato/egg mixture. Cover and chill.

Vanilla Bean Slush

Okay, so I know this blog is for dinners, but I was pretty proud of figuring the recipe out on my own. This is actually a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino, but since there is no coffee I have renamed it. It is based on the Starbucks Vanilla Bean Frappuccino. (Again, no coffee. My brother in law introduced me to them when trying to find something that was not coffee I would enjoy at Starbucks.)

Vanilla Bean Slush

2 c. milk

2 c. ice

2 scoops vanilla bean ice cream

2 Tbs. vanilla creamer

Put it all in a blender and blend.

This makes enough for each member of my family of 5 to have about 8 ounces. When I made it again it had too much ice, so I may mess with that. Also, we use 1% milk, and low-fat ice cream. Our whole family enjoys it.

Creamy White Chili

Found the recipe at Mel's Kitchen Cafe.Oh it is good. Really good. Go HERE to see the recipe. And her picture is prettier and therefore more enticing. :-)

I put way too much chicken in it. I would also add another can of beans. Those great northerns cook down!

Chicken Wings

Made with an orange hoisin sauce. Very tasty. We make these fairly often since Brian is willing to process the wings. Go HERE for the recipe.

Mac 'n Cheese

Ok, ok, I know. Mac 'n Cheese?! But it's one of Ryan's favorite meals, so I scoured the internet looking for a recipe and came up with this from tastespotting.com - a must for anyone that cooks. I noted my changes:

1 pound of pasta cooked and ready to go.
12 oz shredded cheddar ( I used sharp, medium or mild would do better.)
4 oz shredded provolone (I used monterey jack, but I think I'll go with provolone next time to see if it makes a difference.)
1 oz (about 5 - 6 Tab) shredded parmesan - must be the real deal.
1 teaspoon herbes de provence - found at your local grocery store.
3/4 C panko bread crumbs
2 Tab oil
1 quart milk
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 C + 2 Tab flour
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of cayenne pepper (I'd have used maybe a 1/4 teaspoon next time.)
2 cloves of garlic - I used powdered, but next time I'd use the real deal.
12 oz cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half or fourths.

Ok, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour, stirring for a few minutes. Add quart of milk all at once plus the garlic and cayenne pepper and stir until boiling and thickens into a sauce. Remove from heat and stir in salt and pepper to taste and the cheddar and provolone. Stir in pasta.
Mix together the parmesan, the oil and the panko crumbs, set aside.
Butter 6 ramekins or 2 -3 bread pans. Fill up with pasta, sprinkle with parmesan mixture and top with tomatoes. Bake at 35o for about 20 mintues or until the parmesan is getting browned and the juices are bubbly.

Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup

I don't know if any of you have been to Zupa's but I LOVE LOVE LOVE their cauliflower soup. We had some cauliflower that was within days of going bad so I did some searching and tried out a recipe that I think comes "kind of" close. They probably use real Wisconsin cheese but I just used sharp chedder.

2 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped (I used a white onion because I felt the flavor of a yellow onion would be too strong)
1/4 c flour
1/2 t salt
2 c milk
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
1 head cauliflower, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 t dijon mustard
2 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1) In a 4 quart saucepan, melt butter. Add onion and cook until golden (about 10 minutes) stirring occasionally. Stir in flour and salt; cook 2 minutes stirring frequently.

2) Gradually stir in chicken broth, milk, and 1 1/2 c water (add the broth first so you don't scald the milk on the hot saucepan); add cauliflower and heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until the cauliflower is tender (about 10 minutes).

3) In a blender, blend the cauliflower mixture at low speed in small batches until very smooth.

(it's smart to do this in small batches so you can remove the center cover of your blender to let some steam escape)

4) Return cauliflower mixture to saucepan; heat until steamy hot, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in mustard (with a whisk!) and 1 1/2 c cheese until melted and smooth. (if you add the cheese while the saucepan is still over heat it can make the cheese stringy) Garnish soup with remaining cheese to serve.

When I make this again I think I will substitute some of the cheddar cheese with pepperjack cheese to give it some "kick". We ate it with some french bread and it was so so yummy!

Jamie Oliver's Zucchini Carbonara

Made this zucchini carbonara awhile ago. The pieces of bacon and the zucchini is a very tasty combination! Don't be afraid to use all of the bacon in the recipe! Go HERE to check it out.

Gary Beck's Crab Salad

If I had a restaurant, I'd put this on the menu. If you like crab, you're going to love this. We had some leftover crab from another dinner, and Brian asked me to get the recipe of the crab salad my Dad made us once upon a summer day. 

And it is EASY! And fast! And healthy! Yahoo!

Mix your fresh crab meat with:

1-2 T mayo

1-2 T sour cream

1-2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice

1-2 tsp lemon zest

1/2 T crisp celery diced

Mix it up until it looks like the consistency of a tuna salad and the like. Taste before serving to see if you need more of something. Pile on top of a green salad. Oh the goodness.