Southern Pride Sweet Cornbread

There is nothing more annoying than crumbly cornbread. You can't get it out of the pan, you can't cut it in half to butter it. It's like picking up a handful of sand and trying to stuff it into your mouth.

I found this recipe today online and tried it tonight with chili. We ate the entire pan. (Granted, I did half the recipe, but still....it was good!!) It was sweet, moist, and slightly more dense than the regular stuff.

Southern Pride Sweet Cornbread

1 1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. honey (just add more sugar if you don't have honey)
2 eggs
1/2 cup softened butter
1 c. milk
1 c. water
2 cups cornmeal
2 cups flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp salt

Grease 9 x 13 pan. Heat oven to 375. Mix sugar, butter, eggs, milk, honey, and water together. Mix dry ingredients. Blend wet and dry ingredients together. Mixture will be slightly lumpy. Pour into greased pan, bake until golden brown on top. Serve with butter.

Chicken Cordon Blue

Seriously, this recipe is SO good. I like that the sauce is super easy to whip up and you can use everything low fat or fat free and it tastes the same. This is a meal I can always cook for family or friends that always impresses. I serve it up with rice pilaf, a green veggie of some sort, and rolls. Yum!

Chicken Cordon Blue

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 slices ham
2 T. milk
1/4 C breadcrumbs or cornflakes
4 slices swiss cheese
Nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400. Cut a pocket in each chicken breast and tuck a slice of ham inside each. Roll in milk then in breadcrumbs. Arrange in a baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake 25 minutes (check to make sure meat it cooked), then top each breast with a slice of cheese, continue to bake until cheese melts. Serve with sauce over top.

Sauce:
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 C. sour cream (I always use fat free)
Juice of one lemon

Blend ingredients and heat. Serve over chicken breasts.

Easy & Amazing Marinade

• Just combine: 
• 
  
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
  
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  
• 1/4 cup ketchup
  
• 1 tablespoon canola oil (* I think I may have used olive oil in ours...) 
  
• 1 tablespoon molasses
  
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh gingerroot (* I used the dried ginger from the spice aisle) 
  
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard (* I used dijon for this b/c it's all we had, and it was great!)
• This makes an incredibly yummy marinade for chicken. We marinated chicken breasts and made sandwiches. SO good. I highly recommend this next time you are looking for a way to jazz up your chicken. 

Lasagna Florentine

It is hard to get my boys to eat their veggies so this is a great recipe to sneak in spinach. My boys eat this up and ask for more!! We call it white lasagna cause it has a white sauce. Serves 8-10 but for us it makes leftovers for days. :)

9 lasagna noodles, cooked & drained

spinach mix:
1 (10oz)frozen, chopped spinach, drained
2 c. cooked, diced chicken(I boil & shred it)
1 1/2 tsp. italian seasoning
nutmeg to taste
2 eggs
4 oz. mozzarella cheese

white sauce:
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 chicken boullion
2 c. skim milk or 2 c. half&half
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
1/4 cup romanoff cheese (I can never find it and so I use more mozzarella)

1. Cook noodles & drain.
2. Combine spinach mix ingredients in bowl and set aside.
3. White Sauce: melt butter over low heat. Add garlic, chicken boullion, flour and milk. Stir until boiling. Remove from heat. Slowly add parmesan and romanoff cheese until melted.
4. Lightly rub 9/13 pan with butter. Layer lasagna: 3 lasagna noodles, then 1/2 chicken mixture, 1/3 white sauce. Repeat. 3 noodles and sauce on top.
5. Bake 350 degees for 25 minutes. Sprinkle mozz. cheese on top and bake 5-10 more minutes.

Fondue

Who doesn't love fondue? Well, I am a fan and ever since I visited The Melting Pot in SLC I have been hooked on this stuff. I have gone through several recipes to find the right dipping sauces for the fondue. Here I will post all the different sauces I have loved and what to dip in them. Although I may recommend certain things to dip in the sauce...by all means...dip whatever your heart desires!

Green Goddess Dip (good with any vegetable, really good on the mushroom caps)

8 ounces cream cheese, cut into slices
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons finely sliced chives

In a microwave-safe container, microwave cream cheese and milk for 2 to 4 minutes, whisking after each minute, until cream cheese melts and mixture is smooth.
Stir in sour cream, onion, parsley and chives.
Refrigerate until cold.

Hoisin Dipping Sauce (Good with chicken or fish)

1/4 cup lime juice1/2 cup hoisin sauce 2 tablespoons ketchup In a small bowl whisk together hoisin sauce, ketchup, and lime juice and season with salt and pepper.

These others you just mix the ingredients and serve.

Curry Sauce: (great with chicken, but I was dipping everything in this)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Mustard Sauce: (great with meats)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 garlic clove, minced

Onion-Horseradish Sauce: (good with steak)
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons water
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Here are a number of good ideas for dippers:

Meats: Chicken, beef, fish, lobster, shrimp, crab, pork.

Vegetables that you can cook in a broth then dip: Broccoli, potatoes (cut these suckers small, they take the longest to cook), zucchini, yellow squash, asparagus, mushrooms

Dippers for cheese fondue: Besides a selection of breads, you can serve it with cherry tomatoes; grapes; chunks of celery and carrot; cubes of meat; lightly steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus; apple and pear wedges; or any other vegetable or fruit that's in season and tastes good with cheese (hint: almost EVERYTHING tastes good with cheese!).

Good dippers for chocolate sauce: Strawberries, banana slices*, pineapple chunks, mandarin orange segments, fresh orange slices, apple wedges*, grapes, melon balls, papaya wedges*, maraschino cherries, fresh pitted Bing cherries, kiwifruit slices, fresh coconut chunks, pound cake cubes, ladyfingers, miniature cream puffs, miniature doughnuts, marshmallows, pretzels, angel food cake cubes and vanilla wafers.

All the fruits followed by a * should be dipped in lemon juice after cutting to prevent oxidation.

Couple tips:

I have made all different cheese fondues and seriously, if you go to the fancy cheese section at the store (usually near the ready made sandwiches) you can find a box for cheese fondue that all you have to do is heat up. It is really good and saves you a lot of time and effort.

You should have an electric fondue pot to cook in the broth, you can do it with a good flame but it does take longer and you have to make sure you keep the batches of food small so the broth doesn't have to take 10 minutes to heat up again (which usually results in very hungry participants).

Enjoy!

Caramels

This is a really good caramel recipe. I just wrap them all in wax paper and wah-lah! Yummy caramels for all!

2 C. white sugar
1 1/2 C. corn syrup
2 C. heavy cream
1 C butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Butter a 9X13 dish
2. In a heavy saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, 1 cup cream and butter. Bring to a boil, stirring often, then stir in remaining 1 cup cream. Heat, without stirring, to 242 degrees F (116 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a firm but pliable ball. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and pour into prepared dish. Refrigerate.
3. When cool, return candies to room temperature then cut into 1 inch squares and wrap in waxed paper.

The BEST Hot Chocolate (Ever)

My mother-in-law gives me a frozen gift every Christmas. It's hot chocolate. Well, actually, it's a frozen chocolate mixture that you put into a mug of steaming milk, and once stirred together, makes the best hot chocolate that you have ever tasted in your entire life. Here's how you make it.

6 sq. unsweetened chocolate OR about 2/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (It's a little too sweet for me with the chips because of the amount of sugar put in, I either reduce the sugar amount and use chips, or, use the squares. )

2 2/3 c. sugar
1 c. water
pinch salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 pint whipping cream

Combine water, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil and let boil for 3 1/2 min. without stirring. (If you hate not stirring, don't worry, nothing bad will happen if you give it a stir or two. But no more than three.) Remove from heat, add chocolate. Let it all melt down. Cool to room temperature. Add vanilla. Whip cream until stiff peaks form. Fold together. If you like the marbly look and taste, then don't go bananas stirring. If you want it totally blended together, mix with beaters on the lowest speed. Freeze. (stores in freezer)

When ready to eat, heat mugs of milk by warming milk either in microwave or on the stovetop. Put in two or three spoonfuls of chocolate mixture and stir.

Sometimes I can't stop drinking this stuff. The frozen mixture blended with steaming milk is the most delicious combination. A rich, frothy, creamy layer is created on the surface of the drink that is TO DIE FOR.