Strawberry-Banana Julius

1 c. strawberries (frozen or fresh)
1 banana
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. powdered sugar
2/3 t. vanilla

This is the best knock-off recipe I've ever tried. I think I made one every day for a week after I found it.

No-egg chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting

So I couldn't get the picture to upload for this one, but that's okay because it looks disgusting, but it melts in your mouth. Mmm...
I actually made this one to celebrate Chrissy's birthday from afar. I talked to her on the phone and we decided the best way for me to celebrate 2000 miles away would be to make this delicious family recipe. Sammy (my 3-year old) helped.
If you're in a depressed-I-want-to-eat-an-entire-cake-by-myself kind of mood, this one will suit you marvelously.
If you're in a happy I-need-to-celebrate kind of mood, perfect.
If you have a bunch of extra peanut butter from WIC and don't know what to make of it, divine.
Go ahead, try it.

The cake is also special. It is a no-egg chocolate cake.

No-egg Cake
3c. flour
2 c. sugar
6 T. cocoa
2 t. soda
1 t. salt
3/4 c. vegetable oil
2 T. vinegar
2 t. vanilla
2 c. cold water

Peanut Butter Frosting
2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 stick butter
1/2 c. peanut butter
3 T. milk (add milk 1 T. at a time)
1 t. vanilla

Zucchini Bread

I have already posted the recipe for this bread here, but here are some pictures to prove how DELISH this is. Give it a try. It has zucchini so ... it's pretty healthy, right?

Everything you need is here...almost.

Mix it up, wham bam ... and there ya go!

But, if you decide to add in some extra goodness (and believe me, it's a good decision) you'll get what we have here below:

TRY IT!!!!

Tuscan Chicken Breasts with Glazed sweet carrots and red potatoes

A great, hot dinner that's easy to prepare. Enjoy!

Tuscan Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup yellow and red pepper (I only had green, but I'm sure the others would be great!)
1 T olive oil
1 T minced garlic
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used 2, but there was LOTS of extra sauce, it was yummy)
1 can Italian diced tomatoes, drained (I used one large fresh tomato, chopped)
2/3 cup chicken broth
1 T balsamic vinegar
3/4 t salt
1/4 t sugar
1/8 t red pepper flakes
1/8 t pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
hot cooked pasta

Directions:
Saute onion and peppers in oil 4-5 minutes until crisp tender. Stir in garlic; cook 1/2 minutes longer until vegetables are tender.
Flatten chicken, place over vegetables. Add tomatoes, broth, vinegar, salt, sugar, pepper flakes and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until chicken juices run clear and sauce is thickened. Serve with pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serves 4.

***Notes: If you REALLY don't like soft vegetables, I would take out the green peppers and onions while you let the chicken simmer. They were pretty soft when we ate them, but with all of the flavors, I didn't mind them being soft. It tasted great!

Glazed Sweet Carrots (The recipe I have for this is really for sweet potatoes, so use either!)

Ingredients:
3 large sweet potatoes (1/2 pound baby carrots, cut thin)
2 T butter
1 T maple syrup (Agave nectar syrup or honey works also)
1/4 t mustard powder
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/8 t cinnamon
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash the sweet potatoes and place on a baking tray. Do not prick or oil the potatoes. Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until just cooked, being careful not to over cook them. Cool.

Peel the cooled potatoes and cut them into medium sized cubes.

In a large saute pan, heat the butter and remaining ingredients together to form a light caramel. Add the potato cubes (sliced carrots) to the pan and brown together. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with a drizzle of the sauce.

***Notes: I didn't have any mustard powder, so I used regular mustard...a little hesitantly and it tasted great. I couldn't taste the mustard at all, I think it just evened out the sweetness of everything else.


Red potatoes (Recipe from my sister)

Ingredients:
Red potatoes (I used 7-8) sliced thinly
Olive oil (to drizzle)
Rosemary
Italian Seasoning

Directions:
Clean and slice the potatoes. Place in a deep, glass baking dish. Drizzle tops of potatoes with olive oil lightly. Stir potatoes around to distribute oil.

Sprinkle rosemary and Italian Seasoning over potatoes lightly and stir again to distribute seasonings.

Place in 350 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes. Mine were nice and soft in about 45 minutes, but I just kept checking them and cutting into an edge piece with a fork to check to see how tender they were. These were GREAT with this chicken.

TWO NEW ONES

Hey everyone!

If you're reading this ... bless your heart. It's been WAY too long since we posted a recipe. But, here we are ... TWO in ONE day! I know, it's amazing.

Enjoy and let us know how they turn out for you.

Love,
The Cooking Sisters

Chicken Tenders with Dipping Sauce

This recipe is from a friend at church. She is an AMAZING cook and has been doing some cooking classes at night for the rest of us ladies. This was an especially great one of hers that I tried.

These chicken tenders are SO good and MUCH better for you than the fried ones you get at the fast food places. Seriously, they taste just as good. So...give this one a shot.

Recipe:

1/3 cup flour
1 large egg, slightly beaten
salt and pepper
4 cups Rice Cereal
2 T vegetable oil (or EVOO)
1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders (I just had breasts, so I cut them into strips)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 T Dijon mustard (I just used regular)
1 T honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450. Place flour in a shallow bowl, and egg in a second bowl: season with salt and pepper. Pulse cereal and oil in a food processor (or blender) until fine crumbs form. (Don't take off the lid even if just for a second to look at it. Yes, I did this because I was using my smoothie maker and for some reason I didn't think it would shoot little sticky crumbs ALL OVER my kitchen. Um...it did.) Season with salt and pepper; transfer to a third shallow bowl.

Coat chicken; first in flour; shaking of excess; then with egg, letting excess drip off; and finally in cereal mixture, pressing to help it adhere. Place on a baking sheet, and bake until light golden brown and cooked through, 10-15 minutes, turning over halfway through.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together sour cream, mustard and honey; season with salt and pepper. Serve tenders with creamy honey mustard dipping sauce.




We ate them with baked potatoes and salad, but I think they'd be really good with homemade potato fries also. :)

Zucchini Pasta

***This recipe was originally a BIG recipe. I made it for about 2-3 people so it's scaled down a bit. :)

I got this recipe from this website the other day. I had a friend that gave me a bunch of delicious zucchini from her garden, so I had to find SOMETHING to do with it besides make a ton of zucchini bread.

On to the pasta. It's delicious! I didn't make it exactly like The Pioneer Woman did because I didn't have everything on hand at my house and this was a quick "whip it up" lunch. So...you get what you get. :)

Recipe:

1/2 LARGE zuchinni (equal to one regular sized zuchinni) not peeled, but chopped coarsely
Grape or cherry tomatoes (I didn't have any of these and so I sliced up carrots and put them in)
Olive oil
Chicken broth
Pasta (she used farfalle, I used penne)
Cream (I had none...so I used sour cream, surprisingly ... it worked)
Parmesan Cheese
Corn Starch

Directions:

Heat 2 T Olive Oil in a skillet, and then add the zucchini until it's slightly browned. DON'T cook it for very long, mushy vegetables are gross. Plus, it cooks more later.

Remove the zucchini from the pan. Add in chopped onion (1/4 onion or so) and 1 clove garlic.
Put in the tomatoes (or carrots) and heat.

Pour in 1/3 cup chicken broth. Scrape the bottom of the pan and get it all mixed in.

In another bowl, stir together 1/3 cup chicken broth and 1 T Corn Starch.

Stir this mixture into the vegetables and add about 3 T sour cream.

Stir to combine. Add the zucchini back in and turn off the heat and just let the flavors combine.

Stir this mixture together with your cooked pasta and enjoy!

My only warning is that this has LOT of vegetables in it. So, if your little digestive system isn't used to vege. overload ... maybe eat this with some bread or something to tone it down a bit. :)

Are you still there?

I'm sure we've lost many readers due to our lack of posts.

I just wanted to apologize and let you know that we DO have a good reason for the absence.

We're both prego! Looking at food, talking about food, cooking food...just hasn't been super fun the past few months.

But, we're back.

Look for new blogs soon.

Chili Cornbread Casserole

I got the idea for this recipe from my Mom and was reminded to use it when I saw this recipe this morning.

This is a great way to use your left-over chili or you can make it from scratch like I did today.

Whip up some chili. Mine is always different, depending on what's in the cupboard. But, today I had kidney beans, black beans, a bag of corn, salsa and some cooked and shredded chicken. (And of course a little salt and pepper). We're not big fans of spicy food, so if you like things kicked up a bit you could add a can of green chilies or some Rotel or something.

Pour the chili into a baking dish. I'm not sure what size this is, it's my "medium" one. Does that help?

Then, mix up a batch of cornbread. I always use the recipe on the back of the cornmeal bag. It's super simple. ****TIP*** Don't try substituting wheat flour for the white flour, it makes really grainy and dry cornbread. I use half and half sometimes, but all white flour really tastes the best.

Pour the cornbread mix right on top of the chili. My mom's tip is to only put the cornmix on the outsides of the pan and leave the middle uncovered because it's hard to get it to cook all the way through. I tried to do this, but when I lifted the pan to put it in the oven, it just slid all over the casserole. Anyhow, it baked just fine...luckily!

Bake it in the oven with no cover for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, mine was perfectly cooked though, no gooey-ness. If you like it a little gooey, then just take a few minutes of time off.

Scoop away and enjoy!

Oh, and there was a little extra cornmeal mix so I baked two muffins with the casserole. Yum-o!

Fruit cuplets

These are so easy and good. I made them for my niece and nephew and they ate the fruit and cream out of the middle and left me the rest. I think next time I'd cut the cuplet in half. The dough to cream ratio was a bit off.

Buy some puff pastry cuplets.
Bake according to directions on box.
Remove as much of the middle as you can after you bake them.
Mix up some of the previously posted fruit dip (or you could just use your favorite whipped cream)
Add the fruit of season
Top with a dallop more of the fruit dip and place the lid back on top.

Cousin's Cornbread

I honestly can't remember if this is called "cousin's cornbread" because that is the real title or if I started calling it that because my sister-in-law made it for me and so it was my children's cousin's cornbread.
But either way, this is delicious cornbread, and that is coming from someone who is now corn-intolerant and didn't really like cornbread in the first place. I made this for a church activity the other night and was almost tempted to try some and let my stomach pay for it later.

1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk

mix the wet ingredients together then pour the dry ones on top and mix well.
pour into an 8x8 pan and cook at 375 for 35-40 minutes. It makes 6 servings.

Lemon pork with rosemary

Last night I couldn't decide what sounded good for dinner. The hubby was starving after work, so we decided to just to a quick "whatever" night. That usually means sandwiches, cereal, oatmeal...something simple and cheap.

But, then I remembered I had these two leftover pork loins in the freezer. They are very small, but SO tasty. I also had a zucchini leftover from some bread I made yesterday. So, I decided to get to work.

Ingredients:

2 pork loins
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
1 t Rosemary
1/2 lemon (juice)
onions (about 1/4 cup sliced thinly)
1 zucchini

Directions:

Cook the pork loins over medium heat in 1/2 cup water and cover with lid to let the steam do the work. When almost done, squeeze almost the whole half of lemon juice onto the pork and add the onions to the pot. Season with salt and pepper and rosemary.

Once pork is cooked through, add peeled and chopped up zucchini to the pan. Cook for about 3 minutes until zucchini is tender, but not mushy. (Unless you're the type who like mushy vegetables, in which case, you probably won't want to eat dinner at our house.)

Remove contents from the pan and serve! (Makes one serving, well for me it did, but I'm sure you could serve two with it if you had some additional sides. The pork is very thin, though, and not super filling.)

How did it turn out? I loved it. I squeezed some more lemon juice on the zucchini afterwards, and that tasted great. It wasn't very filling, though. It would probably be good over some pasta or served with some steamed rice. I had some zucchini bread for dessert, and I was still kind of hungry. When I tried to share this with my husband, he politely replied, "No thanks, I'd prefer a turkey sandwich." Whatever. :)

Tilapia with tomatoes

This was a great recipe. It's only for two fillets, so if there are more in your family, you'll need to adjust the recipe accordingly. It was a great and fresh taste, a really good summer meal!


Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic
1 cup peeled, seeded, and diced tomato (I used canned)
5 T sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
2 tilapia fillets

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. In a medium bowl, mash together the garlic and tomato. Stir in the sour cream and season with salt and pepper Place the fish fillets in a shallow baking dish.

3. Bake fish for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until about halfway done. Remove from the oven, and pour the tomato sauce over it. Return to the oven, and cook for 10 more minutes or until fish fakes easily with a fork.

***It always makes me nervous to cook fish in the oven, because I never feel like I know exactly when it's "done". Next time, I think I'll cook the tilapia in a pan on the stove in some olive oil and then add the sauce to the top when it's done and warm it through.

Sun-dried Tomato Chicken Pasta

I cannot remember who's blog I found this recipe on, but it's a delicious and creamy pasta. She said that she had copied it from a dish at Macaroni Grill. In her recipe (listed below) she used broccoli, but that's not a favorite in our house so I substituted green beans. They were fresh and frozen ones, but the taste was a little strong. I think next time I might try frozen peas or corn...or both.

The only tip I would give is that when you're making the sauce it's going to feel like you're adding a LOT of milk and that it's going to be too thin. But, don't worry. If you keep stirring and keep it over heat like she says, it turns out creamy and wonderful. We loved it!

Ingredients:

pre-cooked grilled chicken strips
1 cup frozen broccoli
1 cup sundried tomatoes
approx. 10 oz. penne or bowtie pasta
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups milk

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions. Add frozen broccoli for the last 3 minutes of cook time.

For the sauce, melt the butter in a skillet then add flour and stir until well combined. Pour in milk and stir. Add chicken and sundried tomatoes and cook until heated through.

Combine once both are finished and stir.

Grilled Chicken Italian Pasta

I apologize that the lighting on this picture makes the dish look disgusting, but I promise it's not.

This is our big sister's recipe and every time I eat it I wonder why I don't make it more often.

My two-year old asked for THIRDS! It's that good.

Directions:

Grill some chicken (preferably on the b-b-q) and right before you take it off the grill, brush on some Ken's Steak House Three Cheese Italian Dressing.

Go inside.

Now turn some water on to boil.

Put some onions and red or yellow or orange sliced peppers in a skillet with some olive oil

(don't use green peppers, they just don't go as well)

Cook until all are soft.

Now add a can of Italian diced tomatoes (drain liquid first)

Add a pinch of sugar

When your pot of water boils, add pasta (I prefer bowtie)

Now slice or chop or dice up your grilled chicken and add to skillet mixture.

When pasta is done, drain and add to skillet.

Serve with parmesean cheese on top and some nice french bread on the side.

Pudding Extravaganza

I cannot take credit for this beautiful creation because (brace yourselves) .... my husband made it.

I know! Can you believe it? But, he did.

I can't say it's much of an "original" recipe, but it tasted awesome, and here's what he did.

Ingredients:

One small box of the Jell-o instant chocolate pudding
2 cups milk
5 strawberries
Cool whip
Mini chocolate chips
8 animal crackers

Directions:

Mix the mix with the milk as directed, stirring for two minutes.
Pour the pudding into your dishes and then garnish with the toppings.

It tasted SOOO great. Maybe it's because they're our first strawberries this year...but, they tasted like candy, they were so sweet!

Give it a try. The Jell-o is $.76, why not?

Taco Seasoning

I just dumped this crockpot dinner into the magic cooker for tonight and it called for taco seasoning and I realized maybe I should post another recipe. My aunt taught me this and I love it! It's not much different than the kind you buy in the packet at the store, it's just cheaper! I mix it up and put it in an old shaker with the label "taco seasoning" on it. So here goes....

Ingredients:
2 t. onion (powder or flakes)
1 t. salt
1 t. chili powder
1/2 t. cornstarch
1/2 t. red pepper
1/2 t. garlic
1/4 t. oregano
1/2 t. cumin

Mix and season.

Egg Salad for One

Are you having a hard time figuring out what you should do with all of those hard boiled eggs?

This afternoon I realized that we had no more bread for a sandwich and no more lunch meat. Yikes, my easy fix for lunch was gone. So, I got a little more creative. (That's rare for me, usually my lunches are pretty boring.)

Thus came ... the egg salad sandwich on a bagel. I cheated a little and walked over to Panera bread for the bagel.

I'm sure you all have already made some of this delicious egg salad after Easter, but just in case you haven't ventured out there yet ... here's the (sort of) recipe I used:

1 hard boiled egg (smashed up in a bowl)
1/4 cup miracle whip (that's probably more than most people would use for one egg, but I like mine pretty creamy)
3-4 squirts of mustard
pepper to taste

It tasted really good, I might just have it for lunch again tomorrow!

Milky Way Cake

This is our Great-Grandmother Helen's recipe. It is so incredibly rich that you have to make this to share. I made it for Easter and worried it wouldn't be enough for everyone, but with the three layers and all the sugar, it was plenty to have a sliver-of a piece. Delicious.

Ingredients

8 Milky Way Candy bars

3 Sticks Margarine

2 cups cugar

4 eggs, beaten

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoons vanilla

Melt Milky Way bars in double boiler or microwave with one stick of margarine. Cream remaining margarine with sugar. Add eggs, milky way mixture and remaining ingredients. Bake in three layers at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Icing

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup evaporated milk

1 stick margarine

6 ounce package of chocolate pieces ( I used half a bag of chocolate chips)

1 cup marshmallow cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar and evaporated milk and cook to soft ball stage. Add remaining ingredients. Beat until thick. Spread between and on top of cake.

(I didn't cook to the soft ball stage on purpose/accident. Instead I poured it over the cake while hot and thin and it melted down the side and wasn't as thick as normal frosting, which I like.)

Marshmallow Easter Eggs

These are really good! They take some time to make, but they are worth the effort. If you're looking for a low-sugar food for your diet...this is definitely not the one. But, they're a great Easter treat. I found the recipe at this site. Check it out!

Marshmallow Ingredients:
2 Envelopes Unflavored-Gelatin

2 tbsp -Cold Water

1/2 cup -Boiling Water

2 cup Sugar

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Vanilla

Flour

3/4 lb Chocolate for dipping

Regal Icing (Royal Icing)

Marshmallow Easter Eggs Preparation: Put gelatin in top of double boiler; add cold water. When gelatin softens, add boiling water and stir well. Add sugar and salt. Put over boiling water and stir until sugar dissolves completely.

Pour into large bowl of electric mixer and beat at high speed until mixture is thick but not as stiff as beaten egg whites. Add vanilla.

Meanwhile, spread flour 2" deep in a large pan. Push an egg (in shell) into the flour at intervals, making hollow spaces in which to mold the marshmallow mixture.

Drop marshmallow mixture into the flour molds. Sprinkle flour lightly over top and put in cold place until set. (If you're thinking, "No way! The marshmallow goo will just stick to the flour and make a mess!" Nope. It's awesome! I had them in the freezer for probably 20 minutes and when I checked them they were stiff and SUPER easy to take out of the flour. I just dusted off the flour and dipped 'em in!) Remove mixture from one mold and you have a half-egg. Trim the flat side of marshmallow half-egg to make it even.

Mix up some melting chocolate to dip the marshmallows in. The best bet is to use baking chocolate or semi-sweet baking chocolate and melt it in a double-boiler. I thought first that chocolate chips would work just fine and be cheaper? Nope. Not for me anyways, any suggestions? This is what my first batch o' chocolate looked like. Not so pretty...

There, that's better!

You can dip it in melted chocolate to cover and decorate with Regal Icing.

Or you can put two halves together to make an egg, as follows: Dip the rounded part of a half-egg in melted chocolate; set aside to cool, flat (uncoated) side down. Trim flat side of second half-egg (to make it even), lift from mold and completely coat with chocolate. Quickly press its flat side against the flat side of the cooled half-egg and you have a whole egg. The chocolate will hold it together.
When chocolate-coated eggs are cool, trim with Regal Icing put through cake decorator tube. Make ruffles around them to cover seam where the two halves join and to provide decoration. Write names of children on their eggs with the icing, or decorate with tiny designs pressed through fine tips of a cake decorator tube. Makes 13 eggs (or 26 half-eggs).