Barbecue Quesadillas

For an early Christmas present to my son, Jimmy, I bought him Better Homes and Gardens Anyone Can Cook - Step-by-Step Recipes Just for You. It even comes with a dvd. Jimmy likes to cook when he takes the time to. He swears his sausage gravy is the best. No one else, but me, is allowed to make it in the family. He even does most of the cooking for his patrol when his Boy Scout troop goes camping.

Last night, Jimmy decided he wanted to make dinner. So after looking in his book and seeing what we had available in the kitchen, Barbecue Quesadillas is what we made. (Find ingredients is not easy right now since we are going to my daughter's for the holidays and I haven't shopped this week.)

These were very good, I must say. Not time consuming at all. We didn't have the tub of shredded chicken in bbq sauce, so we used Tyson's frozen diced chicken and mixed in some Open Pit BBQ sauce. I think I would add more cheese next time.

Ingredients:

nonstick cooking spray

Four 7 or 8 inch flour tortillas

1 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese blend (4 oz)

4 oz can diced green chiles, drained (omitted)

18 oz tub refrigerated barbecue sauce with shredded chicken (2 cups)

1 cup bottle salsa

1/4 cup dairy sour cream (omitted)

1/4 cup sliced green onion (omitted)

Directions:

1. Coat one side of each tortilla with cooking spray. Place, coated side down, on cutting board or waxed paper. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the cheese over half of each tortilla. Top with green chiles and barbecue sauce with chicken. Fold tortillas in half, pressing gently.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a hot 10 inch skillet, cook quesadillas, two at a time, over medium heat for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. Place quesadillas on a baking sheet. Keep warm in preheated oven for up to 30 minutes. Repeat with remaining quesadillas. Cut each quesadilla into 3 wedges. Serve with salsa, sour cream, and green onion.

Makes 4 servings.

My Girl, Paula: Barbecue Meatloaf

This week's My Girl, Paula recipe was to make something with beef. I choice the Barbecue Meatloaf. I have had my eye on it and decided to go for it. It was so yummy! I will definitely make this one again. I split the meatloaf into two small loaves since my son doesn't like onions and I wanted some. But, I did not like the one the onions stayed so crunchy. Next time, I will make the meatloaf without the onions.

I loved the sauce that was made. I put both loaves together in one pan and basted both a few times. Yummy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

1 onion, chopped

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

two 8-oz cans tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

3 T vinegar

3 T brown sugar

2 T prepared mustard

2 T Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

Mix together the beef, bread crumbs, onion, egg, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce. From the mixture into a loaf and place in in a shallow pan.

Stir together the remaining tomato sauce, water, vinegar, sugar, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Pour the sauce over the meatloaf.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour, basting occasionally with the pan juices.

Serves: 6

My Girl, Paula: Banana Gooey Butter Cakes

This week's My Girl, Paula recipe was Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes. I was so NOT in the mood for anything else pumpkin. Luckily, the recipe came with three other variations - Pineapple, Banana, and Peanut Butter. I had the bananas that were very ripe, so I made that instead.

The cake was good, but not my favorite. It was very sweet and gooey. Gooey isn't bad. The cinnamon and nutmeg were yummy in it. It was easy to put together. I made it while cooking dinner and stuck it in the oven as soon as dinner came out.

The recipe can be found here.

The cake layer.

Before sticking in oven.

Right after pulled out of oven.

Crunch Top Apple Pie

For this week, I decided to make an apple pie from Paula Deen for Thanksgiving. My son wanted apple pie, so I decided Paula Deen since I didn't have plans on making the vegetable soup. This was the first crust that I made from scratch in a long time.

The recipe was very easy to follow and can be found here. The filling tasted good, but I'll have to let you know tomorrow how it tastes.

THURSDAY - IT WAS DELICIOUS!

These are before baking.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

My Girl Paula: White Chili

Last week's recipe for My Girl, Paula was ANYTHING GOES. I spotted this recipe in the January/February 2008 edition of the Cooking With Paula Deen magazine. Both Jimmy and I thought this sounded good.

I used a bag of Tyson chicken that was cubed cooked chicken. I simmered the chili all day on low. It was very yummy and I will definitely make this again. We topped the chili with cheddar cheese and jalapenos.

Ingredients:

5 cups chopped cooked chicken

3 (15 oz) cans Great Northern beans, drained

1 (32 oz) box chicken broth

1 (16 oz) jar mild salsa

1 (8 oz) package Monteray Jack cheese with Peppers, cubed

2 tsp ground cumin

Garnish: cheddar cheese, sour cream, and jalapenos

Directions:

In a 6 quart electric slow cooker, combine chicken, beans, broth, salsa, cheese and cumin. Cover, and cook on high for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low; simmer 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Garnish with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and jalapenos, if desired.

Serve with corn chips.

Microwave Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo - Pampered Chef

My friend Lysa just recently became a Pampered Chef consultant. She sent me this wonderful booklet of recipes after I ordered the Deep Dish Baker.

I decided to make this dish since it sounded easy and I hadn't had alfredo in ages. It was super simple and so yummy. My son had two huge helpings!

Ingredients:

1 - 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 clove garlic

salt

pepper

uncooked fettuccini noodles

bottle alfredo sauce

fresh block parmesan cheese (I used Kraft grated cheese)

dried parsley

Directions:

Drizzle oil on bottom of deep dish baker. Cover with chicken breats. Season chicken heavily with salt and pepper. Press garli on top of chicken using Garlic Press. Cover with lid and microwave on high for 12-14 minutes or until chicken is done.

While chicken is cooking, prepare fettuccini according to package directions on top of stove. Drain well.

Once chicken is done, drain liquid. Dice chicken; put back into Baker. Add in alfredo sauce, noodles, mixing thoroughly. Microwave covered for 2-3 minutes until heated through. Grate fresh parmesan cheese on top. Sprinkle with parsley.

The Cookie Carnival: Pecan Pie Cookies

This month's Cookie Carnival challenge was Pecan Pie Cookies. Since pecan pie is one of my favorites, of course, I had to try it! Boy, where these delicious! Sweet, but yummy! Definitely need a glass of milk with them!

The recipe was chosen from Jen at Beantown Baker. She made an excellent choice!

Pecan Pie Cookies - from Land O Lakes - makes ~3 dozen

Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

Filling Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F.

Combine all cookie ingredients except flour and baking powder in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour and baking powder. Beat until well mixed.

Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make indentation in each cookie with thumb; rotate thumb to hollow out slightly.

Combine all filling ingredients in small bowl; fill each cookie with 1 rounded teaspoon filling.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.