Chile Relleno Casserole

6 eggs beaten
3 cups- 24 ounces- cream style cottage cheese
3/4 cup crushed ritz crackers
4 cans green chiles, chopped
3/4 cup shredded cheddar
3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

Combine all ingredients (besides half the cheeses)and put in 10X6X2 greased pan. Bake 350 for 45 minutes or till knife inserted comes out clean. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake till melted. Let stand 10 minutes till casserole becomes more solid.

Lumpia Shanghai

This recipe was given to me by Sis. Mackert and let me tell you, it is very delicious!!!

3 lbs Ground Beef or Ground Pork or Ground Chicken
1/2 bag of carrots shredded.. I used my food processor.
1 large Onion diced very small or I used my food processor.
5 Stalks of Celery shredded.. I used my food processor.
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp of season salt
a little soy sauce to taste
a little black pepper to taste
4 eggs
2 tsp Sesame oil
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
3 Pks Lumpia Wrappers
Plus if you have it, I added one Pork cube to my recipe for flavor.

Note: With the carrot, onion, and celery, I used my food processor and it worked great and was a whole lot less work.

Directions: Mix all together ( I used plastic gloves because it is sticky ). Now take about a tablespoon or more of mixture and add to center of lumpia wrapper in a line that resembles a long tube across the wrapper and follow directions on how to roll it on the package. Remember to roll these very tight because when you fry them you don't want them coming apart. I make a huge amount of the mixture and roll up several Lumpias and freeze them for a later date for a good fellowship food.

Serve with: Philippino sweet chili sauce or your favorite sweet and sour sauce. Or make your own homemade sweet and sour sauce with. Recipe follows.

Home made sweet and sour sauce:
ketchup, Lemon Juice, brown sugar, black pepper, garlic salt, dried onion, chili sauce, and corn starch for thickening. Add these ingredients to your liking and cook in a small pot on stove. Yummy!

Best Green Beans

1/2 pound sliced bacon, diced
4 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, diced or minced
2 (15.5 ounce) cans French cut green beans
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

Directions: place bacon in large pan and fry over medium heat. Cook bacon until brown. Add the mushrooms and garlic and reduce the heat to medium low. Let cook for a few minutes to soften the mushrooms. Stir in the green beans and soy sauce and heat through.

Chicken Alfredo Pasta Salad

Prep time: 30 min. Total time: 30 min. Servings: 4 servings ( 1 1/4 cups each)

1 Box (7.75 oz) classic salad mix pasta cork screw pasta
1/2 cup refrigerated Alfredo sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded or diced deli rotisserie chicken or grilled chicken (w/o skin)
1 cup halved grape or cherry tomatoes
1 cup halved sliced cucumber
2 Tablespoons sliced fresh basil leaves

Directions:
In 3 quart saucepan cook pasta as directed on box. Drain; rinse with cold water to cool.

In small bowl mix seasoning mix from packet and Alfredo sauce. Place cooked pasta, chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers and basil in servin bowl. Add alfredo mixture; toss evenly to coat. Sprinkle with topping packet and basil sprig, if desired. Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving time.


Note: I doubled the recipe. I did not use the classic salad mix because I did not have it and I don't think my store carries this. I did use the corkskrew pasta in the different colors and grilled my Tyson garlic flavored chicken breasts on my george foreman and cut it up and it added awesome flavor. I also used extra parmesan cheese in the mix. Besides that difference, I made the recipe the same. Play around with it and add new flavors. This is a yummy cold side dish for a bbq or whatever you plan to do for the summer time.

Zucchini Pancakes

2 cups shredded zucchini (2 whole zucchinis in my case)
1/2 bread crumbs
1/2 cup italian cheese blend
2 eggs
1 T. minced garlic (about 4-5 cloves)
olive oil (enough to make a nice frying layer in the pan)
salt and pepper (to taste)

Shred zucchini using a cheese grater. Take towels and pat shredded zucchini to remove majority of water.

Mix together zucchini, bread crumbs, cheese, garlic, salt, and pepper. Heat olive oil in a frying pan to medium heat. Drop in small globs of zucchini into heated olive and press down with fork to flatten. Cook 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Serve with ranch dressing or other dipping sauces!

Southwest Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 Tbsp Canola or vegetable oil
2 large sweet potatoes, cut into wedges


Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with foil, shiny side up. Spray with cooking spray if desired.

Put first six ingredients in a gallon-size Ziploc bag and shake to blend. Add sweet potatoes. Drizzle oil over potatoes in the bag. Seal bag and shake to coat.

Arrange coated potato wedges on the baking sheet so no fries are overlapping. Bake for 18 minutes. Flip the fries over and bake for another 10-12 minutes.

Serve with ketchup or horseradish sauce.


Makes about 12-15 wedge fries.

Garden Spiral Salad

Another recipe from Debbie. =)

16 ounce garden spiral pasta (rotini, etc)
1/2 cup hard salami chopped
1/2 cup pepperoni chopped
1 cup cucumbers, chopped
1/3 cup green pepper choped
1/3 cup red onion rings
2 tomatoes chopped
1/2 tsp parsley flakes
1/2 cup cheese cubed or shredded (mozzarella or cheddar)
1 1/2 cup Italian style dressing of oil vinegar dressing
(I think olives are good in this too)

Cook Pasta. Drain and chill. Combine all ingredients except dressing. Toss with dressing when ready to serve

You can substitute ranch dressing or use broccoli and cawliflower etc. For the pic in this post I didnt have any salami so I used Polska Kielbasa. It still was delicious!

Ranch Potato Casserole

6-8 medium red potatoes, washed and eyes and dirt removed
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup ranch salad dressing (not dry powder)
1/4 cup bacon bits or crumbled bacon
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 cup cheddar cheese

Topping-
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded cheddar
2 cups slightly crushed corn flakes
1/4 cup butter

Cook the potatoes till tender. (I do this the night before by baking then instead of boiling) Quarter them and leave skin on. Combine sour cream, ranch dressing, bacon, parsley and 1 cup of the cheese Toss potatoes in dressing mixture and place potatoes in greased 13by9 pan. Top with 1/2 cup of the cheese (topping). Combine corn flakes and butter and sprinkle over casserole. Bake 350 for 40-35 minutes

Italian-Style Pasta Toss

I love this pasta salad!

7 oz. corkscrew macaroni or one 7 oz. pkg. cheese tortellini
1 and 1/2 cups cubed swiss or provolone cheese (6 oz)
6 ounces sliced salami, cut into strips
1 cup cauliflower flowerets, thinly sliced
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped green or sweet red pepper
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup sliced pitted ripe olives
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup snipped parsley
1/2 cup olive oil or salad oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried basil, crushed
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 medium tomatoes, chopped

Cook pasta according to pkg. directions. Drain. Rinse with cold water, drain again.
For salad, in a bowl, toss together pasta, cubed cheese, salami, cauliflower, green or red pepper, onion, olives, parmesan cheese, and parsley.
for dressing, in a screw top jar combine oil, vinegar, garlic, basil, oregeno, and pepper. Cover, and shake well. Pour over salad. Toss to coat. Cover, chill 4 to 24 hours before serving. To serve add tomatoes, and toss gently. 6 main dish servings, or more if a side dish.

Buttered Egg Noodles (no drain)

I had to fiddle around with the amount of water and ended up adding about 4 Tbsp extra.

2 Wyler's chicken bouillon cubes
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup real butter
8 ounces egg noodles

Bring water, 2 boullion cubes and 1/2 stick of butter to boil using med to high heat. Add egg noodles. Cover and Cook until noodles are desired texture stirring frequently. (I added an extra 4 TBSP of water) The recipe calls for adding the remaining 4 TBSP of butter which is entirely unneccesary. Sprinkle with Parsley.

Make Ahead Potatoes

10 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
1 package (8 0z) cream cheese, softened
6 tablespoons margarine, divided
2 Tablespoons dried minced onion
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
paprika

Place potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain and place in a bowl; mash. Add sour cream, cream cheese, 4 tablespoon butter, onion and salt; stir until smooth and the cream cheese and butter are melted. Spread in a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Melt remaining butter, drizzle over potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika. Refrigerate, or bake immediately, covered at 350 degrees for 40 minutes; uncover and bake 20 minutes longer. If potatoes are made ahead and refrigerated, let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking. 12 servings.

Easy Fried Rice

For every two servings or one HUGE monster serving =)

In wok or frying pan heat up 1 Tbsp oil

Add your choice of whatever you have on hand- only need a little of each-

sliced onion
baby carrots grated- grated (essential imho for taste and color)
green peppers
peas
mushrooms
zucchini- grated
finely chopped chopped cabbage
fresh garlic (it aint the same without!)

Saute till tender.

Add one chicken breast chopped up (optional), pork or tuna drained VERY well and fry for a bit.

Meausure out one cup of refrigerated leftover rice in measuring cup and add to pan. Make sure rice is broken up- that there are no chunks and oil coats all of the rice grains.

Add 1 Tbsp of sesame oil- really makes the dish taste awesome

In your pan, spread the rice over to the sides so there is a only pan in the center. Scramble up one egg in a bowl. Add a little tad of oil if neccesary and cook egg in center well. If you like you can also fry an egg after and place it on top if you like it better. Mix egg in rice.

Heat through. When every thing is heated add 1 Tbsp of soy sauce. I know to some this might seem overkill but I add salt to the dish. Soy sauce is salty but I like the taste of salt in my fried rice too.

Serve with kimchi- yum!

* When you have leftover rice it is best to store it in an airtight container such as a plastic container or a ziploc bag. If air gets in it the rice will turn into rice pellets that will not soften up. I like to make extra rice and chicken breasts and store it in the refrigerator for easy lunches.

I wanted to mention how Koreans make Home Rice (ome rice) pretty much as above. For the egg part they fry egg in a skillet with oil and put the egg lying in a bowl pushed down on the bottom. Then they take the fried rice and pack it in the bowl and flip the bowl over for a very nice presentation. They also use Ketchup swirled on top. Yum.

CrockPot Ranch Potatoes

2 pounds small red potatoes, quartered
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 can cream of potato soup, undiluted
1 Envelope Ranch salad dressing mix
1 tbsp milk

Fresh herbs, grated cheese or green onions added to top. Sometime crock pot dishes tend to not look so pretty. So the topping(s) would give it better eye appeal.

Place potatoes in crockpot.
In a bowl beat together cream cheese, soup, salad dressing mix and milk. Stir into potatoes. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until potatoes are tender.

Old Fashioned Potato Salad

5 pound bag of red potatoes (better texture and taste then russet!)
12 hard boiled eggs

Peel and pare potatoes. Cook till done and drain water Boil eggs and peel. Rinse in water. (Sometimes I do this the night before)

Toss potatoes and eggs in a large bowl and add-

mayonaisse
relish or sweet pickle (1/4 cup)
2 Tbsp mustard (more or less to your taste)
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 pepper

If you are short of mayo or just want it more creamy you can add sour cream.

Fold into large serving bowl and sprinkle with cayenne or chile powder. Chill well before serving.

Black Eyed Pea Salad

1 1/2 cup cooked or canned black eyed peas (you can use another type of bean such as pinto, black etc)
3/4 cup chpopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp hot sauce

In large bowl combine the blacke eyed peas, green pepper, celery, and both onions. In seperate bowl combine remaining ingredients and pour dressing over the beans. Let refrigerate overnight for flavors to meld. Great for picnics!

Three cans (16 ounces each) fill up a glass bowl.

Sweet and Sour Pasta Salad

1 package (16 oz.) tricolor spiral pasta
1/2 a medium red onion, chopped and boiled til soft (or cook it briefly in the microwave unless you like crunchy onions)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/2 a medium green pepper, chopped
2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Dressing:
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1 Tablespoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon salt, optional
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and rinse with cold water. Place in a large serving bowl. Add the onion, tomato, cucumber, green pepper and parsley; set aside. In a saucepan, combine the dressing ingredients. Cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve with a slotted spoon. About 16 servings (or less if you love it like me!)

*Lil's note- I made this for our Independance Day BBQ. I used Italian Dressing instead of vinegar and used ordinary pasta instead of the multicolored ones. I also added some olives. It would have been so much prettier as the original recipe stated but I used what I have. I also threw in some drained sliced olives.

Chap Chae

Onions- sliced
green onions- cut up one inch thick or however you like
carrotts- sliced up
mushrooms- sliced up
cabbage cut up in bite size pieces
cooked spinach- on bunch- drained and chopped up
minced garlic
pepper/salt
noodles- (sometimes called glass noodles) or sweet potatoe noodles (고구마) 1/2 pound or so

Boil noodles till done and drain. Meanwhile saute veggies in oil till crisp tender. Mix together veggies and remaining ingredients. Add more soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper to taste.

Moist and Easy Bread Stuffing

1/2 cup butter
5 stalks celery
1 medium onion chopped
2 loaves (16 ounces each) sliced firm white bread cut into cubes
1 can chicken broth (14 ounces)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
3/4 salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried sage

I add pork sausage to this for flavor!

In Dutch Oven melt butter. Add celery, and onion and cook, stirring occasionally till tender. Add bread crumbs and spices. Add broth till correct consistency. Spread in greased 13by9 pan. Bake covered at 325 for 45 minutes.

Eggplant Torta (Philipino Style)

Definitely Philipino Style. The type of Eggplant used is the long black eggplant that I believe is japanese eggplant.

Roast eggplant on the flame of your stove or open fire till the skin can be removed. (the skin will turn black) Place on plate. Mash the eggplant but it still should hold together. Do not remove stems. They will serve as a handle. =)

Beat together-
2 eggs
dash of milk
salt
1/4 cup flour or less (optional)

Dip eggplant in egg mixture. Heat oil till very hot. Place eggplants in hot oil and pour egg mixture on top. Turn using the stem as a spatula.

Sweet Potato Souffle

1 can (14 1/2 ounces) sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp grated orange rind
2 Tbsp orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs beaten
1/4 cup butter melted
1/3 cup flour

Mix above ingredients and pour into greased 13by9 pan.

Mix together and sprinkle on top of casserole-
1/4 cup butter melted
1/3 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar

Bake 350 for 30 to 40 minutes till set.

Stir together above ingredients.