Honey Butter

I made some of these as Christmas gifts and they were almost too yummy to give away haha! Honey Butter is delicious on warm rolls, scones, cornbread, waffles, toast, ETC.! I got the recipe from this amaze-o website: Our best bites.

Honey Butter

2 sticks butter (slightly softened for 20 min at room temp.)

2/3 cup honey

3/4 c. powdered sugar

1. Just place it all in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer 2-3 minutes on medium high speed.
2. Serve at room temperature
3. (If your butter is too soft you will end up with a gooey mess. So just leave it on the counter for 20 minutes or so before beating it so it's nice and fluffy!)

Restaraunt Style Salsa

This recipe tastes just like the salsa they serve at a lot of Mexican restaraunts, its def yummy!

Salsa (Recipe from: Susan Peterson)

1 can of petite diced tomatoes (I use 28 oz size)

1 jalapeño

8-9 green onions (use the white and green part of the green onion; just not the sprouts)

1/3 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 tsp. garlic salt

2 tsp. lime juice

1. Drain the juice from the can of tomatoes into a blender.
2. Scrape the seeds and pulp out of the jalapeño. (Do not touch eyes or any other sensitive parts of your body after handling the jalapeño it WILL burn!)
3. Add jalapeño to blender with tomato juice. Puree jalapeño and juice until the jalapeño is disintegrated.
4. Chop green onions and cilantro. Add to petite diced tomatoes.
5. Add jalapeño/tomato juice to the petite diced tomatoes.
6. Add garlic salt and lime juice. Mix well.

Oreo Dirt

I used Milano cookies for gravestones and cool whip for ghosts with mini chocolate chips for eyes.

Dirt Recipe From: Mom
3 ½ cups cold milk
2 pkgs. Jell-o chocolate instant pudding
1 tub cool whip, thawed
1 pkg. Oreo cookies, crushed

1. Pour cold milk into large bowl and add pudding mixes
2. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes
3. Stir in 3 cups of the whipped topping and ½ of the cookies.
4. Spoon into 13 x 9 inch baking dish
5. Sprinkle with remaining cookies.
6. Refrigerate 1 hour or until ready to serve
*Store in refrigerator

Southwestern Quinoa Chicken Bowl

This is a yummy, easy, healthy, hodge podge mixture of food that is Dee-lish! This was the first time that Garrett ever tried Quinoa and he loved it! It's super good for you too. It is one of the few grains (maybe the only one?) that gives you all the essential amino acids of a protein like meat does! If it was truly "Southwestern" I probably should have thrown some beans in the mix but I don't like beans so sue me haha!

Southwestern Quinoa Chicken Bowl (Recipe from: Elizabeth Weight)

Quinoa (Cooked according to package directions. I cooked mine in chicken broth)

Chicken breasts, chopped (1 breast per person, season with Creole or Cajun seasoning)

Creamy Cilantro Dressing

Optional Mix-ins:

Tomatoes

Corn

Avocados

Beans

1. Cook Quinoa according to package directions but use chicken broth instead of water. (1/2 cup dry quinoa usually serves 2 people when its cooked)
2. Season and chop chicken into bite size pieces. Cook chicken breasts in pan or George Foreman grill.
3. Mix quinoa with desired add-in's and pour some creamy cilantro dressing on top.

Cafe Rio Creamy Cilantro Dressing

So if you have never been to the restaurant Cafe Rio let me tell you that you are missing out BIG TIME. Sorry East Coasters and Ohioans it's only on the West coast right now that I know of. I know a lot of people feel like they have to take sides between Chipotle and Cafe Rio but I love both of them and their menus and flavors are so different I don't think that you can compare them. Here is a recipe for their famous salad dressing. I love to use it on a lot of things like I drizzle some on my tacos, of course you can use it on mexican inspired salads, and pretty much anything that I think it will taste yummy with! It makes a lot so I freeze everything else that won't fit in my salad dressing bottle. I will post more Cafe Rio copycat recipes soon!

This is a tomatillo just in case you didn't know!

Cafe Rio Creamy Cilantro Copycat Recipe

1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not buttermilk!)

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tomatillos, remove husk, quartered

1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro

1 clove garlic

juice of 1 lime

1 jalapeño (if you like it really spicy leave the seeds in)

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend it until it is ultra smooth with no chunks. (I probably leave the blender on for at least a minute just so everything is completely pulverized!)

Turkey Burger

One of my fav's because it's a burger but you don't feel guilty after you eat it!

Turkey Burgers (Recipe from: Elizabeth Weight)

1 lb. ground turkey

1/2 cup mango salsa (I think I actually used peach/pineapple this time because I couldn't find mango)

3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (the dry kind you shake on pasta)

1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

1 egg

2 tsp. cajun seasoning

Frank's red hot sauce, dash (optional)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. lime juice

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Pitas or Sandwich thins

Optional Toppings:

Baby spinach

Carrots, grated

Onions, sliced and sautéed in butter

Tomatoes, sliced or chopped

Avocados, sliced or mashed

Mustard

Spicy Mayo (Mayo mixed with hot sauce and lime juice)

1. Combine turkey, salsa, egg, bread crumbs, cilantro, lime juice, salt, garlic powder and Cajun seasoning in a bowl. Mix well
2. Form turkey into patties.
3. Then, prepare desired toppings. Grate carrots, chop tomatoes an avocados. Slice onions and saute them in some butter until golden brown.
4. Cook patties over medium heat until cooked through.
5. Assemble burgers with desired toppings on sandwich thin or in a pita.

Banana Bread

This bread is so moist it literally melts in your mouth, I love it!

This batch made 7 mini loaves

Banana Bread

Dry Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1. Combine dry ingredients and set Aside.
2. In a separate bowl combine wet ingredients.

Wet Ingredients:

3 eggs

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

4 large bananas, mashed

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Add dry and wet ingredients. Mix well.
2. Spray loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray
3. Fill pans about 3/4 way full.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

*Results are best if made in mini loaf pans. I used the aluminum ones that you can buy from the grocery store.

*Yields about 6-7 small loaves.