Blue Cheese Wedge Salad

There is something about an iceberg lettuce wedge salad. Simple, yet elegant.

For Chris’ birthday, my friend Kate made homemade blue cheese dressing for our salads. It was the BEST blue cheese I’ve ever had! She got the recipe from her friend Cozy. So, thanks Cozy! We love your dressing!!!

Dressing:

4 Tablespoons crumbled Blue Cheese, about 2 ounces (I used 4 ounces of Gorgonzola, so I would add per your taste for blue cheese)

1 cup Sour Cream

1 cup Mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon Rice Vinegar

1 teaspoon Horseradish

2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

1) Mash the blue cheese into the sour cream.  If you want it less chunky you can whirl in the food processor.

2) Stir in the mayonnaise and remaining ingredients.

3) Chill.

Cut a head of iceberg lettuce into desired sized wedges. Place one wedge on each salad plate. Spoon dressing over lettuce. Sprinkle with sliced green onions and bacon crumbles. Top with fresh cracked black pepper.

“Cranberry Bliss” Bars

I have to admit I’ve never had a Cranberry Bliss bar at Starbucks. But when my friend Annalise, of Sweet Anna’s, posted this recipe as one of her absolute favorites I just had to try it! It is the perfect marriage of cranberries, orange, cream cheese and white chocolate in a rich, little bar…

And she was right, they are even better a little frozen!

Ingredients:
base:
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup good-quality white chocolate chunks
frosting:
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
zest of one orange (about 1 tablespoon)
1 cup good-quality white chocolate chunks
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Line a 9x13" baking dish with foil or parchment paper and butter the foil.
Melt the butter in a medium bowl and stir in the brown sugar until smooth.  Set aside to cool to room temperature while you prep the rest of the ingredients.  In another medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; set aside.
Once cool, beat together the butter mixture, eggs and vanilla until smooth.  Add in the flour mixture and beat until incorporated and then stir in the 1 cup white chocolate chunks and 1/2 cup cranberries.
Spread the dough into the prepared pan and bake for 25-35 minutes, until lightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool completely.
In a large bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and orange zest until smooth.
In a small bowl, melt the white chocolate in the microwave (30 seconds, stir well, and then 10 seconds at a time more, stirring in between, until smooth).  Beat half of the melted white chocolate into the cream cheese frosting until smooth.
Spread the frosting on the cooled bars in the pan.  Sprinkle 1/2 cup dried cranberries over the top and then drizzle the whole pan with the remaining melted white chocolate.
Store in the fridge until cool, cut into bars or triangles and serve.  

Egg Drop Soup

Our family loves going out to Chinese food! Our favorite meals always start with a cup of egg drop soup. But it’s missing when we eat Chinese at home… Until now.

Egg drop soup is soup-er (sorry about the pun) easy to make!

1 14oz can of chicken broth

1 cup of water

1/4 cup chopped green onion

1/8 teaspoon white sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

1-2 eggs (depending on how egg-y you want your soup)

1 tablespoon cold water

Heat chicken broth, water and green onion in a medium saucepan until almost to a simmer over med-high heat.

Mix sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce and 1/4 cup cold water in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth.

Reduce heat and stir soy sauce mixture in to the broth. Bring to a boil on high and boil for 1 minute. Then reduce heat to med-low.

Beat eggs with the 1 Tablespoon of water.

Using a fork, stir the eggs into the soup. Cook until the eggs are opaque.

Rice Pudding

This was one of my parents’ favorite desserts when I was a kid and I HATED it! But I know this is one of those comfort foods that I should like. Not to mention, that I think it would look great in my new dishes! :o)

I don’t know if it’s my new favorite but it tastes pretty good in my cute little melamine bowl! I’m sure it will taste even better in my farm dishes…

Heat oven 325.

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup raisins

2 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups hot cooked rice

ground nutmeg

Beat eggs in ungreased 1 1/2-quart casserole. Stir in sugar, raisins, milk, vanilla, salt and rice. Bake uncovered 60-75 minutes, stirring halfway through baking. After stirring, sprinkle with a bit of nutmeg. Bake until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean.

Serve warm or cold. Refrigerate any leftover pudding.

Bacon Wrapped Dates

My sister made these little treats at Christmas and I fell in love! I love dates and I adore bacon, so how could these not be the perfect marriage of the two??? I made them today for our Super Bowl get together and they made the Green Bay victory even sweeter! It doesn’t hurt that they are super easy either…

First cut up your bacon into pieces just long enough to wrap around the dates with just a bit of overlap. Use thin sliced bacon.

Then break some toothpicks in half to secure the bacon. You don’t need a whole toothpick, but if you’re choosy about appearances you can use whole ones.

All you do is wrap each pitted date with a slice of bacon and secure it with a toothpick.

Then place them on a baking sheet covered in parchment or foil.

Bake at 375 until bacon is crispy but not burnt.

Remove from pan and let drain on paper towels before serving.

Let them sit about 5 minutes to cool a bit before you serve them.

Jalapeno Popper Dip

We love poppers, but I don’t love making them! They are a lot of work and are gone in a flash! So when my friend posted this recipe I also knew (like she did) it would be a keeper!

I made a few changes but it turned out great! We like them pretty hot and spicy! Serve it hot from the oven with tortilla chips! I also think it would be good spread on a toasted bagel for lunch…

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mayo (I would use less, I don’t like mayo)

1 can diced chilies (for a more spicy dip, I would use canned diced hot chilies or jalapenos)

3 fresh jalapenos, finely chopped (leave in seeds for more spice)

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup finely shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix cream cheese, sour cream and mayo until smooth.

Stir in chilies and jalapenos.

Spread in a glass pie plate. (At this point you can bake it right away or let it sit covered overnight in fridge.)

Just before baking, mix the bread crumbs and cheese in a small bowl and sprinkle on top of dip.

Bake for 15 minutes or until heated through. After it’s heated through, you can place it under the broiler for a browner top if you want.

Superfine Sugar

There are certain times that it is beneficial to have superfine sugar. It’s just so fine and dissolves so nicely. Unfortunately, it is also fairly spendy. Then I remembered something I read once… You can make your own superfine sugar in a food processor.

So, I gave it a try and it works!

All you do is put about 1 cup of sugar at a time in the food processor and pulse on high until fine.

  Superfine on left, granulated on right

Store in airtight container.