Awesome Recipes!!

So, a couple nights ago I made Celeste's Chicken Alfredo and Christina's breadsticks and, I must say, it was probably one of my all time favorite meals. The alfredo sauce was the perfect consistancy, not too thick or heavy, and the breadsticks were to die for! I would take this meal over Olive Garden ANY day! If only someone else would make it for me! Thanks for the recipes!!!!!

Peanutbutter Popcorn

Brent's mom made this for the Superbowl. I asked for an air popper just because of this recipe. They've been making it for a Sunday afternoon snack. Yum! Yum!

1 cup Karo
1 cup sugar
boil 1 minute
add 1 cup peanut butter
stir until creamy
stir onto popcorn (I'm not sure how much. Cindy did it on 2 air popped poppers full. Somewhere in there...)

Honey roasted nuts are really good in it too

Banana Banana Bread

I've made this recipe for years. I absolutely love it and have no desire to use a different banana bread recipe. I got it from allrecipes.com with just a few changes. My secret? I use my Kitchenaid mixer to mix everything together - and instead of mashing the bananas like the recipes suggests, I throw them in whole. The beaters mix them up well, leaving some small banana pieces in the bread. It makes it super moist. I also add a little cinnamon. I'm going to make it this weekend with walnuts so we'll see how that turns out, I'll let you know! It's really easy to grab some extra bananas at the store and wait a week for them to get overripe and whip this up.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (I use 5, I don't measure)
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Moo Shu Noodles

I know you guys are Rachel Ray fans so you probably saw this recipe on her show yesterday but I made it last night and it was delish! The best part was I already had everything but the hoisen sauce and it was only a couple bucks at Wal-Mart! It really does taste like Chinese take-out and would go great with the egg rolls!



Salt
1 12-ounce box egg fettuccine
4 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil, divided
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 pound boneless pork chops, thinly sliced
Ground black pepper
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced on the bias
2 tablespoons ginger (about a 2-inch piece), peeled and grated
3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps thinly sliced
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 small head Napa or Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chicken stock

Place a large pot of water over high heat to boil. When the water comes up to a bubble, add some salt and drop in the fettuccine. Cook the pasta to al dente according to package directions. Drain the cooked pasta and reserve.
Place a small skillet over medium heat with 1 turn of the pan of oil, about 1 tablespoon. Add the beaten eggs to the pan and scramble. When the eggs are done, reserve them in a bowl.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 3 turns of the pan of oil, about 3 tablespoons. Season the pork with salt and pepper, add to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove the meat from the pan and reserve warm.
Add the scallions, ginger and garlic to the pan, and cook until aromatic and the scallions are tender, about 1 minute. Add the shiitakes to the pan and stir-fry until golden brown, 4-5 minutes.

Combine the hoisin and soy sauce together in a small bowl.
Add the cabbage to the pan and stir-fry until tender, about 5 minutes. When the cabbage is tender, add the reserved pork and scrambled eggs back to the pan along with the hoisin-soy mixture and the chicken stock. Stir-fry to fully heat through, about 1 minute, and then toss with the reserved cooked pasta. Cook to heat through and serve. Yield 4 servings

The Results Are In

Thanks for voting! Here are everyone's favorites!

Destiny's Brownies

Carissa's Egg Rolls with Sweet & Sour Sauce

Kristi's Hearty Tomato Soup

Kelli's Blue Ribbon Apple Pie

Denise's Pasta Milano & Zuppa Tuscana Soup

Celeste's Taco Burgers

Christina's Dutch Meatballs & Orange Ice

Chicken Alfredo

So a while back I posted a chicken enchilada recipe that called for half of a brick of cream cheese. What's a girl to do with the other half?? Make alfredo!! This recipe is easy and my kids love it (and so do I!). You can change it up by adding some frozen spinach, peas, or fresh chopped tomatoes. This recipe is also easily doubled.

1/2 lb. fettucini noodles (in a pinch I have used spaghetti and it's fine!)
1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into chunks or strips
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
4 tsp flour
4 oz (1/2 block) cream cheese, cubed
3 T grated parmesan cheese (I add a little more)
1/4 tsp garlic powder (I add more)
1/4 tsp pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions. Heat skillet to medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray and cook chicken until cooked through (I season my chicken with salt and garlic powder). Remove from skillet. In another pan, mix broth and flour. Stir in cream cheese, 2 T parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Stir in chicken. Toss with pasta and garnish with remaining parmesan cheese. **These would be awesome with Stina's breadsticks!

BBQ Stirfry

I was super skeptical about this dish because it sounds so - weird. But I had everything to make it one night, so I tried it and Bryan and I loved it! You can also change things up - add whatever veggies you like in stir fry and use whatever meat you have. It calls for steak strips, but pork was on sale so I used pork sirloin steaks and I have used chicken too. I also add a drizzle of sesame oil to the dish right before serving and stir it in. Also, bell peppers can be pricey, but if you ever find them on sale, you can cut them in strips or dice them up and freeze them in baggies. Then just toss them frozen with your stir fry (or chili or whatever you use cooked peppers for).

2 bell peppers, any color
1 small onion (I have also used green onions)
1 lb. well trimmed boneless beef sirloin steak, cut into strips
2 cloves garlic (I have used garlic powder)
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 T soy sauce
1/2 cup BBQ sauce (I like Sweet Baby Ray's Original)
2 cups rice

Heat large skillet on medium-high heat. Add a couple tablespoons of oil and saute peppers and onions for 6-8 minutes or until tender but still a little crisp. Transfer to a large bowl and cover to keep warm. Add meat and garlic and black pepper to same skillet. Cook and stir for 3 minutes or so. Add soy sauce and continue cooking until meat is cooked through. Add BBQ sauce and stir until heated through. Toss with vegetables and serve over rice. NOTE: If you want more sauce (who doesn't??) I just add a little more soy sauce and BBQ sauce in proportion to the recipe until you get the amount of sauce you want.

Breadsticks

Breadsticks

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups flour
1 cube butter
Parmesan Cheese
Garlic Powder

In a large mixing bowl, combine water and yeast. Let yeast dissolve. Add sugar and salt. Mix together and add flour, one cup at a time. Knead dough for 5 minutes or until elastic. Let rest for 10 minutes. Melt butter. Pour 1/2 butter into 9x13 pan. Spread dough on top to fill pan. Pour remaining butter on dough. Season with Parmesan cheese and garlic powder. Cut into desired size breadsticks. Let rise for 20 minutes. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Hint: If you're in a rush, you can quickly mix dough and immediately put into pan. Let them rise as long as it takes to preheat the oven. And the still turn out great!

Also, you can sprinkle with cinnamon sugar instead and serve with frosting!