Not So Homemade Baked Beans

Not So Homemade Baked Beans:

1 can of your favorite baked beans
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (I use a sweeter sauce)
4 strips of your favorite bacon, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Empty beans into an oven safe bowl.  Add in brown sugar and BBQ sauce and mix.  If adding bacon place the pieces on top along with a sprinkle of more brown sugar.  If you put the bacon on top it'll get crispy in the oven.

Bake beans until bacon is crisp and the bean sauce is bubbling.

Chili Con Queso

This came from one of the women I work with.  Thanks Marilyn!!

Chili Con Queso:
1 Spanish onion, chopped
2 small cans of diced green chilies
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1-2 diced jalapenos
American cheese, cut up into small cubes  (I used 2 small bricks)
2 cups of cheddar cheese
1/4 half-n-half

In a large pot heat up 2 tablespoons of bacon fat or vegetable oil.  Sauté onions. 

Add chilies, tomatoes, and jalapenos and stir.  Do not drain the chilis or tomatoes.

When that is hot start adding cheese a little at a time.  Keep stirring and adding more cheese.  Add half-n-half.

Stir until all of the cheese is melted and everything is combined.

I used Kraft American Cheese.  I found it in the same section of the store as Velveeta.  I tried to find a link to it but Kraft does not have it on their website anymore.  My coworker told me that she gets American cheese from our local wholesale store.  I also added cheddar to mine because I needed something to cut the richness from the american cheese.  I found that a little bit of half-n-half helped too.

This is really awesome and easy to make dip.  Make it the day before and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator so the chilies have time to heat up the cheese.  YUM!!

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Another recipe from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea by Martha Foose.  I love sweet potatoes and I love biscuits.  This sounded like a perfect combination to me!  Serve warm with a little butter and honey!


Sweet Potato Biscuits:
(Screen Doors and Sweet Tea)

1 cup mashed baked sweet potato
2/3 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 450*. Grease a baking sheet and set aside.

In a medium bowl, the sweet potato, milk, and butter. Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add to the potato mixture. Gently mix the dry ingredients into the sweet potato mixture to form a soft dough. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a deep golden orange tinged with brown. Serve warm or let cool on a wire rack.

German Chocolate Cake Truffles

I've got the baking itch. I decided to make "cake truffles" tonight. I've never made them before and I hear people talk about them all the time so I decided to give them a try.  I got the idea for them from Bakerella.  The ones she makes are seriously cute, she even makes them into mini pops.  Mine were not as amazing.


What you need:
1 box of cake mix- any flavor you want.  Tonight I went with a marble cake.
1 can of store bought frosting.  I used a coconut pecan one tonight.

Baking chocolate.  You can use white or milk.

 

Make the cake mix as directed.  When the cake comes out of the oven let it cool and then crumble it up.  Mix the icing with the crumbled cake.  Roll the cake and icing mixture into small balls, about the size of a quarter.  Refrigerate and let the cake cool (several hours).

 
After the cake balls cool, melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave.  Dip the balls in the chocolate and place them on a sheet of wax paper to cool.
 
Enjoy!!

OK, so here's the deal.  I was seriously impatient tonight and didn't let things cool as I should have.  My cute little cake balls look more like boulders than spheres.  While I was melting my chocolate some of the steam got in there and my chocolate got all wonky.  Oh well.  They may look ugly but they still taste pretty good.

Mom's Bean Dip

Whenever we had friends coming over after school my mom would whip out this bean dip.  She would either layer it in a regular Pyrex mixing bowl so all of the layers would show or mix everything together with a topping of cheese and lettuce.  Either way, it was amazing.  She would always load it up with tons of veggies so we would end up getting our daily allowance in.

Mom's Bean Dip:


2 cans vegetarian refried beans
1/2 cup mayo
1 cup sour cream
2 diced fresh tomatoes
1-2 cups shredded lettuce
1 onion chopped
1 package taco seasoning mix
4 chopped seeded jalapeno peppers
2 cups shredded jack cheese

Mix up 3/4 cheese with beans,3/4 sour cream,mayo,taco mix, 3/4 onions and 3/4 tomatoes.

Place in a colorful bowl on a platter. Top the dip with remaining cheese,onion,sour cream,tomatoes, lettuce, and peppers.

Serve with tortilla chips and blue corn chips.

Thai Peanut Noodle

When I was in college I worked for a small vegetarian cafe.  We served a lot of really interesting foods and working there made me expand my palate. One of the side dishes that I eventually learned to love was the Thai Peanut Noodle salad.  We served it cold which is fine, but when it's warm it's amazing.

This can be made gluten free by using gluten free soy sauce, but make sure you check your peanut butter.  If it's not natural there could be some fillers.


Thai Peanut Noodle:
(Book Lover’s Cafe)

¼ cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup soy sauce
½ tablespoon hot sauce
1/3 cup toasted sesame oil
¾ cup peanut butter
½ cup water
1 package of mung bean (cellophane) or rice noodles

Bring a medium pot of water to boil. Add noodles. Lower heat and simmer for eight minutes.
Whisk vinegar, soy sauce, hot sauce, sesame oil, peanut butter, and water in a bowl until smooth.
Rinse and drain noodles in cold water. Toss with peanut sauce and garnish with chopped green onions.

Sweet Potatoes... On Crack!

It's been a rough day for Mrs. T.  In an attempt for me to get my mind off of things I have been going through my cookbooks.  Some of them I haven't looked at since my bridal shower.  One of the ones I was looking at was Screen Doors and Sweet Tea by Martha Hall Foose.  It's a great cookbook that is full of amazing southern recipes.

I haven't been able to make any of these recipes yet but I've been slowly going through the book and typing them up so I'll have them whenever I have a chance to start cooking.  Here's one that I found tonight.  It looks amazing.

Inside-out Sweet Potatoes:

(Screen Doors & Sweet Tea)

1 cup crushed cornflakes
1 large egg
6 sweet potatoes, baked and mashed
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon unbleached all purpose flour
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon sherry, bourbon, or vanilla extract
8 large marshmallows
Canola oil, for frying (1 ½ cups)

Put the cornflake crumbs in a shallow dish. Beat the egg with 1 teaspoon water in a small bowl, set aside.

Combine the mashed sweet potatoes with the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking powder, flour, orange juice, and sherry. Working with your hands, use the mixture to encase each marshmallow, forming a ball. Dip each ball in the egg wash and then roll in the crumbs. Refrigerate while preparing to fry.

Preheat oven to 200*. Set a wire rack over newspaper or paper towels to cool and drain the balls after frying.

In a 2-quart saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat to 375*.

Fry the balls one or two at a time for 3-4 minutes, turning as needed, until lightly browned. Remove with a spider or slotted spoon, and place the drained balls on the prepared rack and in the oven to keep warm while frying the remaining batches. Serve warm.

**photo credit: pauladeen.com**