Author: Nicole

Hi thank you for stopping by. I am very excited to have you here. Pull up a chair and have a seat, this is the view from my side of the table.
Recipes

Walnut Green Beans

Nicole



H-E-B Has a contest going on called H-E-B Holiday Meal Pin to Win Sweepstakes Tell H-E-B what’s on your holiday table this year by entering the H-E-B Holiday Meal Pin to Win Sweepstakes for a chance to win a $1,000 H-E-B Gift Card.Hurry you only have until December 31, 2012.

How to Enter:

·         Register at facebook.com/heb
·         Click “Submit & Pin” to pin the contest image to Pinterest
·         Re-pin five unique images from our “Holiday Meal Pin to Win” Board
Here is a great H-E-B recipe we had with our Christmas dinner! It’s a fun, simple recipe that takes the basic green bean and turns it into a gourmet dish. The best part about this side dish is it’s quick and delicious. Don’t forget to enter the H-E-B Pin and Win Contest!!

Ingredients:
  • 1 pound green beans
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon walnut or olive oil
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
  • 2 tablespoons chopped Italian flat leaf parsley

Directions:
  1. Wash green beans and trim ends.
  2. Bring 2 quarts salted water to boil in a 3-quart pot. Add green beans and cook 3 to 5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Pour into a colander to drain.
  3. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil. Toast walnuts in butter and oil 2 minutes, stirring often.
  4. Add green beans and parsley; toss to coat. Serve while hot

Original Recipe Source

*As required by the Federal Trade Commission: The information and gift packs have been provided by HEB to Colie’s Kitchen at no cost to Colie’s Kitchen, nor is Colie’s Kitchen being paid to endorse this product. All that was asked of Colie’s Kitchen was to review the product, and give our honest opinion. Full DisclosurePolicy*

Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com

Recipes

Homemade Mayonnaise (Anne Burrell)

Nicole

This recipe is modified for many good reasons. I took the reviews of this recipe and modified it based on what other people had to say. This is an amazing version of mayo. The flavor is better than anything you will get in a jar. You can do so many things with the recipe adding and changing here and there based on your preferences. I suggest just using this as a suggestion and adding the things you love to your own mayo.

I will give you a tip and it’s a critical tip, take it from me because this was my third try at making this recipe. The first two were a flop. The key to making mayo is adding the oil extremely slow. When I say extremely slow I am meaning ¼ of a teaspoon at a time, then mix and add and mix and so on. If you add the oil too fast your mayo will not come together and you will have wasted time and ingredients. Be patient! You will need them. Once again go slowly with the oil it’s KEY!

Ingredients:
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/8 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon sugar

Directions:
  1. Place the egg yolks in the bowl of the food processor and add the vinegar and mustard. 
  2. Season with salt, to taste. 
  3. Turn the machine on and VERY slowly start to drizzle in the oil. Drip, drip, drip until the mixture starts to look like mayonnaise, then a slow steady stream of oil can be added.

Original Recipe Source

Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com

Recipes

Roasted Garlic Compound Butter

Nicole



I love to keep compound better in the refrigerator. It comes in handy when I make garlic bread or toasted or when I want a few crackers as snack. It keeps for a few months so it’s something you can keep on hand.

What’s great about compound butter is you can make it any way you want it. If you like chives, onion, green onion, thyme, basil, or whatever you can add it to your butter.  I have found that the longer the butter sets the better it will taste.  

If you have ever purchased pre-made compound butter at a specialty store or a deli you know how expensive it is. You are simply paying for the convenience of someone else making it. Make it yourself, customize it the way you like it, and save a lot of money. The big bonus is you know what’s in it!


Ingredients:

  • Roasted Garlic Compound Butter
  • 1 stick salted butter (softened)
  • 1 bulb of garlic
  • *any other spices that you want to add*

Directions for Roasting the Garlic:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  2. Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.
  3. Place the garlic heads in a piece of foil. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil.
  4. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.
  5. Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself.
  6. Use a small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins. 


Compound butter directions:

  1. Once your garlic has completely cool add it to the room temperature butter and make sure it is mixed well. 
  2. Once everything is mixed well together scoop the butter onto a piece of wax paper and form the butter into a stick or into the shape that makes you happy. 
  3. Place in a freezer for 30 minutes to set the butter, then refrigerator after and use as needed. 


Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com

Recipes

Homemade American Cheese ("Like" Velveeta)

Nicole




This recipe really came in handy Thanksgiving afternoon. I realized about 2:30pm I forgot to buy Velveeta cheese for a casserole I was making to have with dinner. ALL of the grocery stores by my house closed at 2:00pm. I am always late!

I had wanted to try this recipe so the timing of finding this recipe was perfect. I had it saved waiting for the right moment. Who knew? I quickly and I mean quickly made this recipe up. I wasn’t concerned about refrigerating it because it was going to be melted in a casserole anyway, but it was imperative that it get done was.

Who knew it would be so easy to make your own American cheese? After making this up myself I don’t know that I will ever buy the pre-made/processed cheese again.  In cost alone this is worth making.

My American cheese loaf turned out fantastic!! Not only did it taste wonder (better than the name brand) but the texture was the same, the melting texture was the same, and it formed into a nice loaf too. I didn’t even have to refrigerate it for it to get hard. It was so fun and so ridiculously easy that it’s crazy!! I swear after I grated the cheese everything was done within minutes.

This recipe calls for whole milk powder, but I used the regular fat free powdered milk and had no problems with it. I didn’t see that it made a difference.


Ingredients:
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 1½ teaspoons powdered gelatin
  • 12 ounces Colby cheese, shredded
  • 1 tablespoon whole milk powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk

Directions:
  1. Line 5-by 4-inch disposable aluminum loaf pan with plastic wrap, allowing excess to hang over sides. 
  2. Place water in small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over top and let mixture sit for 5 minutes. Pulse cheese, milk powder, salt, and cream of tartar in food processor until combined, about 3 pulses.
  3. Meanwhile, bring milk to boil in small saucepan. Off heat, stir in softened gelatin until dissolved, and transfer mixture to 1-cup liquid measuring cup. With processor running, slowly add hot milk mixture to cheese mixture until smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down bowl as needed. 
  4. Immediately transfer cheese mixture to prepared pan, pressing to compact. Wrap tightly and chill at least 3 hours, or overnight.

Original Recipe Source


Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com

Recipes

How to Cut a Measuring Cup in Half

Nicole


OK so we are not going to be literally cutting a measuring cup in half, but this is a chart that tells you how to cut a recipe in half using awkward measurements. This information has come in handy so many times for me. This is brilliant because there are many times that you just don’t have the time or the patience to do the math. 


Figuring out half of 1/3 of a cup is a real pain in the you know what when you are talking about measuring cups and spoons. This tells you exactly how to do those things using teaspoons and tablespoons and just makes it’s less complicated.

This is a great post from “The Nest” I am not only linking the original article, but I am also going to copy the conversion table and paste it here because so many times such great information gets removed from sites and they are gone forever. In my opinion this conversion chart is too good to lose.

ORIGINAL (HALF) 
  • 1 cup (1/2 cup)
  • 3/4 cup (1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp.) 
  • 2/3 cup (1/3 cup) 
  • 1/2 cup (1/4 cup) 
  • 1/3 cup (2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp.)
  • 1/4 cup (2 Tbsp.) 
  • 3 Tbsp. (1 Tbsp. + 1 1/2 tsp.) 
  • 2 Tbsp. (1 Tbsp.) 
  • 1 Tbsp. (1 1/2 tsp.)

Visit The Nest to read more

Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com