Category: Recipes

Recipes

Fat Tuesday Bananas Foster

Nicole


Happy Fat Tuesday! I hope you have already decided what you are giving up for Lent this year. I am still trying to decide, I suppose I better get a move on it.

I love this time of year. The food is incredible and you can eat and eat and eat, but then you come to the fork in the road where you have to make a decision as to what your Lent commitment will be. In the past I have given up chocolate, soda, sweet, you name it… this year so far… who knows.


In honor of this fabulous day I wanted to share my favorite recipe for Bananas Foster. This is a rich and bubbly recipe that is like praline sauce with sweet bananas and rum cooked in. Seriously what more could you ask for.
Bananas Foster was first created by Brennan’s Restaurant in New Orleans they open in the 1940’s but sadly they closed up in 2013. 

Happy Fat Tuesday!!


Ingredients:
  • 1 stick butter (not margarine)
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 cup heaping brown sugar
  • 3 Bananas sliced into large pieces 2-inches
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • ¾ cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup Dark Rum (I prefer Cruzan’ Spiced Rum)
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

  1. In a cast iron skillet add a stick of butter and place on a medium heat until the entire stick is melted. 
  2. To the butter add the brown sugar and using a whisk to mix until everything is melted and well combines. 
  3. Next add heavy cream and cinnamon then continue cooking. Once your mixture is well combined and bubbly add the bananas and pecans. Mix well and continue to cook. 
  4. Add rum to the skillet and again combine well. With a torch lighter (the longer lighters) ignite the rum and let it flame up and burn down. If the flame doesn’t burn out. You can also extinguish it yourself by shaking the skillet.
  5. This is great served over a quality vanilla ice cream like Bluebell Homemade Vanilla ice cream.

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Recipes

Sunday Recipe Rewind: Athenian Pasta Salad

Nicole
This is an excellent recipe. I love the Mediterranean feel of this recipe with the feta and the oil. The red pepper really makes this recipe so don’t skip this step unless you don’t like red peppers.

This is a recipe that would be great at a pot luck or just as a simple side dish. It’s easy and delicious and it’s something you can make ahead of time.
Ingredients:
  • 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh dill
  • 1/2 cup of parsley finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup green onion
  • 1 large garlic clove minced
  • 1/4 cup red bell pepper finely chopped
  • 2/3 cup olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
  • 6 ounces feta cheese, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 8 ounces pasta shells
  • 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

Directions:

  1. Place dill in a food processor.
  2. With machine running, drop garlic through feed tube and mince.
  3.  Add oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix a few seconds.
  4. In a bowl add green onions and red peppers
  5. Add pasta, parsley, toasted pine nuts and feta cheese
  6. Add dressing from the food processor to the bowl and mix all the ingredients together.
  7. Refrigerate covered at least 3 hours or overnight.
  8. Serve pasta salad at room temperature

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Recipes

Creamy Chipotle Sauce

Nicole

I was so excited to try this sauce. I love the flavor of the chipotle pepper. The smokiness is wonderful. This recipe really hit the spot. First it’s super easy to make, and you can use it for just about anything, salad dressing, nugget dipping sauce, French fry dipping sauce. You name it! This sauce is what versatile is all about!


I found one recipe and made it and thought ICK! It was bland and boring and had no flavor at all. I knew the whole point of their recipe was to make it low calorie and as natural as possible but there are just some thing’s that you have to give an inch on and to me flavor is one of them. Even if it means a few extra calories you just have to give.


I love this recipe and will make it again and again. I ended up changing the entire recipe and blowing it up for our liking. I hope you like it too. Remember to adjust the adobo sauce based on your liking you don’t want to make it too hot. If it does end up being too hot you can add some honey or even more mayo or yogurt.

Ingredients:
  • ½ cup plain yogurt
  • ½ cup of mayonnaise
  • 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons of adobo sauce (more or less depending on the heat
  • 1 beef bouillon cube
  • 1 tbsp. lime juice
  • ½ tbsp. cumin

Directions:

  1. You will need to remove one pepper from the can and remove all the seeds. I found it easy to use my fingers to remove the seeds, but a knife or a spoon will work too. 
  2. Add all your ingredients to a blender and blend on high until well blended. 
  3. Taste for heat and decide if you need more or less. 
  4. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate until needed at least 3 hours to all the spices to mingle. 

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Recipes

Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Nicole

I had never heard of Pesto before in my life until the first time I went to Philadelphia. I was staying at a friend’s house and his mother asked me if I wanted her to pick up from fresh pesto from an Amish restaurant. I know I had to have looked at her like she lost her mind. She then said…. “What you don’t like pesto” my response to her was… “I don’t know…. I don’t know what pesto is” I could just hear Jeff Foxworthy saying…. Does it swim, does it fly, and did it walk yesterday? I was clueless!

When I got home and told my very Texan and Very Cajun Mom and Dad about trying pesto they looked at me like I was crazy no doubt they were hearing Jeff Foxworthy in their head too. Although my Dad never tried pesto and my Mom has yet to give it a try I have no doubt they would love it. I must say when I finally had it I loved it.


I ran into this recipe and although it’s a bit different from the original I love it. I have never made pesto before but I remembered I had some in the pantry so I thought this would be fun to try. This is a wonderful recipe if you love pesto. The flavors all mingle so well. Even my husband who isn’t the biggest fan of change loved it.


Yields: 3 Sandwiches
Ingredients:
  • 6 slices thick white or wheat sandwich bread
  • Mozzarella cheese
  • 3 tbsp. prepared pesto (I used Classico)
  • 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp. Grated parmesan cheese
  • 4 tbsp. Unsalted butter

Directions:

  1. To a microwave safe bowl add 4 tablespoons of butter and allow to melt just enough to leave the butter nice and thick. Then to the warm butter mix add parmesan cheese and garlic powder mix well and set aside.
  2. Prepare each sandwich by adding one half to one tablespoon of pesto to one side of three pieces of bread. 
  3. Then top that slice of bread with a generous portion of mozzarella cheese. Then top each sandwich with a slice of bread and top the bread with a generous slathering of your butter mixture. 
  4. Warm a griddle on a medium heat, once it’s warm, place buttered side of the bread down then butter the new top side with your butter mixture. 
  5. Allow your sandwiches to slowly cook. You don’t want it to brown too quickly or your cheese will not melt but your bread will be too brown or burnt.  
  6. Once your cheese is melted remove and serve. 

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Recipes

Tasty Turtle Brownies

Nicole

This is one of those semi-homemade recipes. These brownies are so easy and taste bud blowing. You will have everyone believing that you made these brownies from scratch. They are rich and delicious and in my opinion only get better the longer they set. Biting into the ooey-gooey caramel bits and chocolate chips will have you craving more and more.


*Please note that these measurements and the temperature are based on my box of brownies you will need to base yours on YOUR box of brownie mix. The only thing that will changed in the ingredients will be substituting the oil for melted butter. The butter will make your brownies richer.*



Ingredients:

  • Boxed Brownie Mix (Family Size 9×13) (I used Aldi’s brownies)
  • 1 cup Caramel Bits (I used Kraft)
  • ½ cup pecans chopped
  • ½ cup chocolate chips
  • 2/3 cup (10 tbsp.) melted butter
  • Cooking Spray

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. In a mixing bowl add brownie mix, scrambled up egg, water, melted butter and mix well
  3. Fold in caramel bits, chocolate chips, and pecans
  4. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and pour in brownie mix
  5. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

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