Puff Pancakes

Taken from Mud Pie Gourmet

1/2 stick butter (divided)
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour

Toppings: (your choice)
1 lemon, sliced in half
powdered sugar
Strawberries
Peaches
Buttermilk syrup

Heat the oven to 425 degrees.  Divide the butter between two 8-inch round cake pans, and put them in the oven to melt.  Mix eggs, milk, and flour in a blender until smooth.

Remove pans from oven and pour half the batter into each pan. Return pans to oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until pancakes are very puffy, firm, and golden-brown on edges.

Add desired toppings and serve.

*Affectionately given the name pizza pancakes by an adoring 5 year old.  Who doesn't love eggs, flour, and syrup?  The pancakes are beautiful when they puff up in the oven--this picture doesn't do them justice.

Garlic Chicken Sandwich with Jicama Slaw

from Mud Pie Gourmet

Chicken:
(Serves 4)
2 chicken breasts cut in half
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T lime juice
1 T olive oil 
1/8 tsp cumin
Kosher salt and ground pepper

Combine all ingredients in a ziplock bag and marinate for at least 30 minutes. 
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium heat (or use a grill).  Saute chicken for about 4 minutes on each side or until cooked through.  Remove from heat. 

Jicama Slaw:
3/4 cup jicama, julienned
1 T finely chopped onion
1 T chopped cilantro
1 tsp lime juice
1/8 tsp cumin
2 T plain yogurt
1/2 tsp minced jalapeno or serrano pepper
Kosher salt and ground pepper

Combine ingredients. 

Toppings: 
Tomato
Avocado
Pepper Jack Cheese (I used baby Swiss)
Whatever else you love!

Place chicken on good bread. Top with sliced tomatoes, avocados, Pepper Jack cheese and jicama slaw.


*This makes an excellent sandwich!  Jeff and Jacob couldn't get enough--but they didn't add the jicama slaw.  I ended up eating all the jicama slaw myself (no complaints on my part!), but this sandwich can stand alone without the slaw and still be considered superb.

Chocolate Sheet Cake

Make the icing five minutes before taking the cake out of the oven.  Perfect to make for a group.

Ingredients:
2 c sugar
2 c all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1 t ground cinnamon
1/8 t salt
½ c butter or margarine
½ c shortening
¼ c unsweetened coca
1 c water
½ c buttermilk (or 1/2 T white vinegar plus enough milk to make 1/2 cup, let sit for 5 minutes)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 t vanilla extract
Chocolate Icing
Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Directions:
1. Sift together first 5 ingredients in a large bowel.
2. Stir together butter and next 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or just until butter and shortening melt. Remove from heat and pour over sugar mixture, stirring until dissolved. Cool slightly.
3. Stir in buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into a greased and lightly floured 15x10 inch jelly-roll pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. (Cake will have a fudge-like texture.)
5. Spread Chocolate Icing over hot cake.
6. Serve with vanilla ice cream, if desire.

Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Chocolate Icing:
½ c butter or margarine
¼ c unsweetened cocoa
6 T milk
16 oz package powered sugar (about 3 1/2 cups)
1 t vanilla extract
1 c chopped pecans, toasted

1. Combine butter, coca, and milk in a saucepan. Cook over low heat 5 minutes or until butter melts. Cook over medium heat until bubbles appear on the surface. (It will not come to a rolling boil). Remove from heat; gradually stir in sugar and vanilla. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth and sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Stir in pecans. Makes about 4 cups.

*This had very good flavor.  Instead of serving it with ice cream, we topped it with fresh strawberries--a perfect touch.  I got so distracted to getting ready to bring this over to my sister-in-laws house, that I forgot to put the nuts in the frosting.  The story gets better, while getting ready to go, my 2 and 3 year olds thought they would touch up the frosting.  (Insert your imagination here).  Now that it has been a few days, I wish I would have taken a picture.  In less than 5 minutes of my absence, they had chocolate frosting all over their faces, hands, the stove, the chair, and the bathroom (where they were trying to clean up).  I don't think I'll ever be able to make this again without thinking of their faces!

Multi-fruit Smoothie

Ingredients:
1/4 c guava passion orange juice concentrate
3 cups frozen fruit mix--pineapple, strawberries, mango, banana
1 cup yogurt (either plain or strawberry flavored)
milk

Mix ingredients in blender, adjust to liking.

*I'm no where near a smoothie expert, but this rivals a Jamba juice for us.  Experiment with different juice, fruit, and yogurt--the possibilities are exciting!

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

Taken from allrecipes
Serves 5
15 minutes

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 T mayonnaise (I used Miracle Whip, either would be fine)
2 T fresh lemon juice
1/4 t basil
1/4 t ground black pepper
1/8 t onion powder
1/8 t celery salt
2 pounds tilapia fillets

Directions
1.  Preheat oven's broiler.  Grease a broiling pan or line pan with aluminum foil.
2.  In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise and lemon juice.  Season with basil, pepper, onion powder and celery salt.  Mix well and set aside.
3.  Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan.  Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes.  Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes.  Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side.  Broil for 2 minutes more or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork.  Be careful not to over cook the fish.

*Excellent, this was gobbled up at our house, but then we really like fish.  I bought a bag of frozen tilapia fillets at Walmart (there were 10 medium fillets in the bag for $6.50, I used 5 of the fillets for this recipe) and I feel like I've found an inexpensive meal to add to our rotation.  Overall, I would prefer salmon, but the Parmesan cheese really made this fish savory.  I think the freshly grated Parmesan cheese would even be better and give the dish a more appetizing appearance.  This one is definitely a keeper.

Fettuccini Alfredo Chicken Pizza

Taken from Phat foodies


pizza dough (or Flat Pita Bread-not pocket pitas)
1 1/2 c ranch dressing
1 T garlic cloves, minced
2 t basil
1/2 c shredded Parmesan Cheese
2 lbs cooked chicken or sausage (or 1 lb each)
Tomatoes diced small
Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat pizza stone at 400 degrees. Roll out crust, or lay pitas on stone. Mix ranch, parmesan, basil and garlic in bowl. Saute meat and vegetables together until soft. Put sauce on pitas or dough, put meat mixture on top and then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400 until golden brown. Makes 2 pizzas and serves 6. 



*I baked mine for about 15 minutes.  Jeff reported it better than Papa John's pizza.  I didn't have sausage, but the chicken was great.  I think veggies like zucchini, onions, or yellow squash would have gone very well on this pizza.