Homemade Alfredo

1/4 cup butter
1 minced clove garlic
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 - 2 cups freshly shredded Parmesan Cheese

Melt butter and add garlic stirring over medium-high heat.  Add  cornstarch to cream.  Pour into butter garlic mix and simmer for 5 minutes.  Whisk in cheese until melted.

Original recipe called for no cornstarch but I like my alfredo to be a little bit thick so I added the cornstarch.

Shown with sugar snap peas and mushrooms.  YUMMMMMMM!!!  Try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting.

Chocolate Cream Pie

1 9" chocolate cookie crust:
Emeril says this is the way to make the crust.  Personally I would cut the recipe by 1/2 as I didn't get the mixture to press down very much.  Your choice.


Graham crackers crushed to yield 2 cups
Oreo cookies minus innerds crushed to yield 1 1/2 cups
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 375

In bowl of blender or food processor process the graham crackers and Oreos to make crumbs.


In a bowl mix together cookie crumbs, sugar, and butter with your hands.  Press mixture evenly into a 9 inch pie pan. Compress.  Bake for 15 minutes.


Cool completely before filling.






Chocolate Pudding Filling & Whipped Cream Topping:

1 plus 2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream; plus 1 3/4 cups
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
4 egg yolks
4 oz good quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 Tbsp butter
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp powdered sugar


In small saucepan combine sugar, 3/4 cup heavy cream, buttermilk, and cornstarch. Whisk until smooth.  Place over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil, whisking from time to time for the sugar and cornstarch to dissolve and the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes.  Continue to cook at a low boil for an additional 5 minutes, whisking constantly.


In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly.  Pour 1/2 cup of hot mixture into the egg yolks and whisk thoroughly.  Pour the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan and whisk over heat until thoroughly combined and very thick, 1-2 minutes.  Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl, and whisk in the chocolate, butter, and vanilla.  Continue whisking until thoroughly combined (mixture will be very thick).  Cover the mixture with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface and refrigerate until cooled to room temperature, about 30 minutes.


Place 1 3/4 cup heavy cream in chilled mixing bowl and add the powered sugar.  Beat until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold about 1/4 of the whipped cream into the cool chocolate pudding mixture, then spoon the chocolate mixture into the prepared pie crust and refrigerate until firm and cool, at least 4 hours.  Refrigerate remaining whipped cream until you are ready to serve pie.


Invite friends or avoid contact and devour the whole pie yourself!

Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip

2 (8oz) package cream cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup fresh grated Romano cheese

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp Mrs. Dash tomato, basil, garlic

2 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts (drained and chopped)

1 cup frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease casserole dish

In large bowl, mix together first 7 ingredients (cream cheese, mayo, Parmesan, Romano, garlic, garlic salt, and Mrs. Dash).  Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach.

Transfer to casserole dish. Top with mozzarella cheese.  Bake for 25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.

Great as a dip. Great on it's own.  Great when mixed with rice.  It's just plain great.  

Enjoy!

Lemon Parmesan Tilapia

Totally dreamed this up myself so I don't have any sort of measurements for you.  It will all depend on how much fish you are making.  Soak thawed tilapia fillet in low sodium chicken broth just briefly.  Coat with flour.  Dunk fillet in egg wash.  Coat with 50/50 Parmesan cheese/bread crumb mixture.  Put in sprayed baking pan.  Meanwhile, in small pan mix low sodium chicken broth and good squirt or two or three of lemon juice; add some flour and heat until thickish - similar to how you'd make a cheese sauce or gravy.  Dump lemony goodness over fish and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.  Served with sweet potato crinkly cut fries. Yum!

Perfect Pork Chops

Best pork chops. Super easy.  Amazingly delicious.  Definite keeper recipe!

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 pork chops (about one pound)

 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

3/4 cup milk

1 (1 oz) package ranch salad dressing mix

paprika

Served over ranch style rice

Directions:

Heat oil in skillet on medium-high.  Add pork and cook until well browned on both sides.

Leave chops in pan and stir in soup, milk, and half of the package of ranch dressing mix and heat to boil.  Reduce heat to low; cover and cook for 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with paprika.

Ranch Style Rice:

Make as you would normally make rice only add the remaining half of the pack of ranch dressing mix.    I use a rice cooker and added the mix with the water before adding the rice.  Simple and adds that little bit of extra favor.  

Next time I'll add some mushrooms also.  The soup cooking with the pork chops mixes both flavors and is used as a gravy over the rice.  It's sooooooo yummy!  Only share with those you REALLY love a whole bunch...otherwise it's too good to go sharing with just anybody!  =)

Jalapeno Corn Bread

Not the greatest corn bread ever but super easy.  I'm still on the hunt for a great corn bread recipe.  My recipe is half size...
Dry:
1 cup whole grain cornmeal
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Wet:
1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with lemon juice)
1 egg
1/2 cup cream style corn
diced up 1/2 a jalapeno (or more or more dangerous a pepper if you are so inclined)

for skillet:
1 Tbsp olive/canola oil

Place 10" cast iron skillet in preheated 425 degree oven.  In small bowl combine dry ingredients.  In large bowl whisk your wet ingredients (minus the oil).  Add dry to wet and stir.  If it isn't pourable add more buttermilk.  Swirl the oil in the skillet to coat the bottom and edges.  Pour batter in the now lubed up cast iron skillet.  Bake until golden brown and springs back to touch.  Around 20 minutes.  

I halved the recipe but still baked around 20 minutes.  Don't think it was overdone and it was good - just not fabulous.  I'm looking for fabulous...still looking.  Liked that it used creamed corn and cornmeal rather than just cornmeal and I added the jalapeno on my own.  Originally a Food Channel person's recipe - Alton Brown maybe.  I expected more....Oh well, try try again.

Cinnamon Yummies

Multi-Grain Cinnamon Pull Apart Loaf

Dough:
1 pkg active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 egg
1 3/4 to 2 1/4 cups flour

Filling:
3 Tbsp soft butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 tsp heavy whipping cream
2 tsp soft butter

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oats, wheat flour, brown sugar, egg, and 1 cup flour.  Beat until smooth.  Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft yet still sticky dough.

Turn onto lightly floured surface (adding flour as needed) and knead until smooth and elastic (about 6-8 minutes).  Place in greased bowl turning once to coat all sides.  Cover and let stand in warm place until doubled (about an hour) <I heat up a glass of water in the micro and push the now hot water to the back and use this as my warm spot>

Punch dough down.  Roll into 18in x 12 in rectangle (or close enough).  Spread with filling butter right to the edges.  Combine filling cinnamon and sugar (you can use white sugar I just find that brown sugar makes it better) and sprinkle this over the butter right up to the edge.

Cut into rectangles (your goal is 36 3in x 2 in rectangles - I managed to get close to this but then I didn't measure my original rectangle either and don't much care).  Make 3 stacks of rectangle goodness.  Place cut side up into greased 9x5 loaf pan.  Cover and let rise until double (about 45 minutes).  Preheat your oven to 375 while doubling.  

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. I bake on the lesser minutes as I like my cinnamon yummies to be just a tad gooey.  Cool about 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Make glaze by adding everything and stirring until smooth.  Drizzle over the warm bread. I cut glaze in half as 1 cup of confectioner's sugar seemed a bit much to me and it would have been.  But, if you prefer cinnamon yummies with your glaze feel free to double.

These are super simple to make - it's just the bread making process of waiting for it to rise twice that makes it take awhile.  But, so worth it.  And you can use this same recipe and just do different things to the dough to make different results - for instance roll jelly roll style and make rolls; or cut into long strips and twist for a twisted ring.  I might just make these again right now.  Best when warm but still pretty rockin' when it's not!