Rachel's Finger Lickin' Foods

Appetizers:

Cheddar Salami Poppers 

Dry Salami, Cheddar cheese/Pepperjack cheese, and black olive-all on a toothpick 

Main Dish:

Jonny’s Ribs

-Tear off layer on the outer wide of the bones to make meat more tender

-Let meat reach room temperature

-Rub the Rub on about an hour before cooking

-Grill

-Rub: TBA

Sides:

Blue Cheese Wedge Salad x’s by 3

Blue Cheese Dressing Ingredients:

1 cup light sour cream 

1/2 cup mayonnaise 

3 tablespoons buttermilk 

3 teaspoons red wine vinegar 

1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce 

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt 

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper 

4 ounces blue cheese ( reserve a few chunks for garnish ) 

Salad Ingredients:

1 head iceberg lettuce, cored and cut into 4 wedges

8 slices of bacon, cooked, cooled and crumbled

1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes

Instructions:

1. Add all of the dressing ingredients to a medium bowl and stir well to combine. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

2.  Place each lettuce wedge on a plate, drizzle with the blue cheese dressing and then sprinkle with crumbled bacon & tomatoes, and any reserved blue cheese chunks. Garnish with fresh crushed black pepper, to taste.

Baked Garlic Parmesan Potato Wedges 

Ingredients:

3-4 large russet potatoes, sliced into wedges

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

½ cup shredded parmesan cheese

optional: fresh parsley (or cilantro), ranch or blue cheese dressing for dipping

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a large baking sheet and set aside.
2. Place potato wedges in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat.

In a small bowl whisk together salt, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Sprinkle potato wedges with the shredded cheese, tossing to coat, then sprinkle with the seasoning mixture.

3 Place potato wedges on prepared baking sheet in a single layer with skin-sides-down. Bake for 25-35 minutes until potatoes are fork-tender and golden. Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley and dressing for dipping.

Chipotle Dipping Sauce x’s by 3

Ingredients

1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce plus 1 tsp. sauce (canned)

½ cup mayonnaise

⅓ cup plain Greek yogurt

¼ cup chopped cilantro

¼ tsp. ground cumin

¼ tsp. dried dill

Kosher salt, to taste

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth about 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is nice and creamy. Pour into a jar or small bowl and refrigerate for up to 4 weeks. Be sure to keep it in the fridge! Enjoy!

Fresh Watermelon

Tutorial on how to cut it:

http://www.mamasaywhat.com/cutting-a-watermelon/  

Cucumber bites x’s by 3

INGREDIENTS

2 – Cucumbers

4 oz. – cream cheese softened

1 tbsp. – mayonnaise

3 tbsp. – light ranch

1 tbsp. – frozen or fresh dill

¼ tsp. – garlic salt

Black pepper for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Wash, peel and slice cucumber into half inch slices.

2. Combine softened cream cheese, mayo, and ranch. Mix it well until smooth in texture.

3. Add dill and garlic salt and mix just until combined.

4. Place all the topping into a piping bag with a star attachment and pipe out about a ¾ of a tbsp. into each prepared cucumber. If the topping has hard time to stick to cucumber pat dry the cucumber juice before piping.

5. Sprinkle with black pepper, serve and enjoy. This appetizers can be prepared several hour before serving, make sure to refrigerate until ready to serve.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus x’s by 3

Ingredients

12 asparagus spears

 ½ package bacon

A little ghee or butter for frying

Instructions

1. Wash asparagus and cut 2 cm off the ends. Cut prosciutto strips into two halves, going lengthways, you should end up with 12 strips.
2. Place each prosciutto strip on a chopping board at a 45 degree angle. Place one of the asparagus spears on top of the meat, perpendicular to it. The tip of the asparagus should be lined up with the bottom of the prosciutto strip. Wrap the bottom end of bacon over the asparagus and holding the meat tight, start rolling the asparagus up. The bacon strip will wrap around the whole length of the spear because it’s on an angle. You can try a different wrapping method but I find this is a very quick to do it. Don’t worry if parts of the asparagus spears are not covered completely.

Heat some ghee/butter in a large, flat frying pan to sizzling hot. Fry wrapped asparagus spears for 1-2 minutes on each side or until bacon is brown and crispy.

Sixty-minute Rolls

Dissolve together – 

2 Tablespoons yeast

2/3 cup sugar

1            cup very warm water

In the meantime - 

3 cups scalded milk

2/3 cup butter (pace in warm milk to melt it)

(Cool to lukewarm, before adding yeast mixture to this)

Then add – 

4  eggs – well beaten

Add – 

8-10 cups of flour – (be sure to SIFT your flour – to make the rolls extra soft)

2 teaspoons salt

Mix all ingredients together well.  This will be quite sticky.  

Let rise 20 minutes.

Stir down.

Shape into rolls – adding just enough flour to be able to roll out the dough into a circle about 12-14 inches across.  Cut into wedges using a pizza cutter.  Roll into crescent rolls.

Let rise until double.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15+ minutes until golden brown.

Desserts 

Cookies and Cream Dream Fudge 

Ingredients

1½ cups granulated sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

⅓ cup evaporated milk

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup marshmallow fluff

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup coarse Oreo crumbs

½ cup chopped Oreo pieces

Instructions

1. Line an 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper and lightly spray with cooking spray. Set aside!

2.  In a large saucepan, combine sugar, butter, and milk. Once the butter has melted, bring to a boil and stir constantly for 5 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and stir in marshmallow fluff, chocolate chips, and vanilla. It will be thick. Lastly stir in coarse oreo crumbs until incorporated. Spread in the prepared pan and garnish the top with the chopped oreo pieces. Let cool until firm and cut into small squares.

White Chocolate Caramel Pecan Fudge

Yield: approximately (36) 1-inch pieces 

3 cups white chocolate chips 

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk 

4 tablespoons butter 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 cup chopped pecans 

1/2 cup room temperature caramel sauce 

Combine the chocolate chips, the milk, and the butter in a medium size glass bowl and heat in the microwave for 90 seconds. Stir to combine and heat another 15 seconds. Stir and heat an additional 15 seconds, only if needed. There will still be a few pieces of unmelted chocolate in the bowl. 

Stir until mostly smooth with just a few flecks of unmelted chocolate. Add the extract and pecans and stir to combine. Scoop onto a parchment lined tray. Spread with a spatula to approximately 1-inch thickness. Drizzle with caramel sauce. Lightly swirl the caramel into the fudge with a knife or the end of the spatula. Chill until ready to serve. Slice into 1-inch squares and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Enjoy!

S’mores Fudge

INGREDIENTS

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter

4 graham crackers, broken into small pieces

1 and ½ cups mini marshmallows

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Line an 8x8 baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, making sure to leave some overhang for easy removal and set aside.
2. Heat a medium saucepan over low-medium heat (you may also use a double boiler for this step as well). Add the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and butter and stir well until the mixture is completely melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside for a few minutes.
3. Add the graham cracker pieces to the mixture and stir well to combine. Gently fold in the mini marshmallows until just combined, making sure not to over mix.
4. Scoop the mixture into the prepared pan and gently smooth it out. If you prefer large pieces of marshmallows in the fudge, scoop half of the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth it out, sprinkle a small handful of mini marshmallows on top, add the rest of the fudge on top, and smooth it out.
5. Transfer to the refrigerater and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until the fudge is solid enough to cut.
6. Remove from the refrigerator and cut into small pieces.

NOTES

Fudge may be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to one week.

Amy's French Cooking night

Appetizer-

Asparagus Fontina Tart
*Just reduce the first baking time to 8-10 minutes, that is plenty of time to brown the pastry.

 Main-

Croque Monsieur-  Watch carefully at the end that you don't broil them too long- they burn quick!  I think 3.5 min is perfect!

Beef Burgundy (or Beef Bourguignon as Julia Child says it!)  I recommend watching "America's Test Kitchen," the episode where they make this recipe can be found on Netflix!
-You can buy a large bottle of Burgundy wine at the Bountiful Wine shop for around $7
-Salt Pork can be found in packages in most any grocery store by the ham/Canadian bacon products
-I found dried Porcini mushrooms and frozen pearl onions at the Fresh Market in Kaysville (I would   think other Fresh Market's carry it as well - but Smith's doesn't have it)
-you can use more than 4 lbs. of roast in the recipe (Costco sells them 2 to a pack and I cooked all of it)

Braised Red Potatoes-

Dessert-

Julia Child's famous Chocolate and Almond Cake (or Reine De Saba) ***REDUCE cooking time to just 18-19 min.  She doubled the frosting and I personally think it unnecessary (so half it).  Also you can substitute 1/2 tsp Rum extract for the 2TBSP of Rum
I found cake flour at Harmon's

Angela Miller's Asian night

Stir­fry Sukiyaki Udon
recipe adapted from Lovely Lanvin
 Ingredients
1 Pound Thinly sliced Beef (if using as a side dish, this recipe works fine to skip the meat)
1 medium sized Yellow onion
12 Shiitake Mushrooms stemmed and sliced
4 servings of Udon Noodles, fresh or dry cooked according to package instructions and drained
6 green onions
2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
Sauce:
1 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Rice Vinegar
2 Tablespoon Gochujang
Instructions
1. Whisk the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
2. In a large Wok or Skillet over medium high heat add the oil.
3. When pan is hot add the meat and onions and brown them
4. When meat and onions are nicely browned lower heat to medium and add Shiitake mushrooms and the sauce mixture and cook together until blended well, about two minutes.
5. Add the cooked udon noodles, stirring carefully. Do not over mix, let noodles simmer in the sauce for about 2 minutes making sure the sauce is completely coating the noodles.
6. Mix in green onions



Crockpot Cashew Chicken

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/10/slow-cooker-cashew-chicken.html


My favorite fried rice recipe

http://www.food.com/recipe/best-copycat-benihana-japanese-chicken-rice-514982

Cafe Rio Night at Monica's September 25th

The recipes for the Barbacoa Pork, Lime Cilantro Rice and Creamy Tomatillo Dressing came from the following blog:

One good thing by Jillee

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

• 2 kiwis, peeled and diced

• 2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced

• 8 ounces raspberries

• 1 pound strawberries

• 2 tablespoons white sugar
•  1 tablespoon brown sugar

• 3 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor

• 10 (10 inch) flour tortillas

• butter flavored cooking spray

• 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

Directions

1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, Golden Delicious apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

1. Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray.

1. Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

Mint Limade

Syrup:

1 3/4 cups white sugar
2 cups water
2-3 sprigs fresh mint (just mint, not peppermint or spearmint)

Limeade:

1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed lime juice
8-10 cups cold water
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mint leavesIce

Garnishes (optional):

Fresh mint sprigs
Fresh lime slices
1/2 cup sugar + freshly grated zest of 1 lime combined (for sugaring the rims of the glasses)

Instructions:

Combine the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and strain the mint leaves. Allow to cool at room temperature or place in the refrigerator. The syrup can be made a few days ahead of time.

When ready to serve, place the chopped mint leaves in the bottom of the serving pitcher. Add the syrup, freshly squeezed lime juice, and 8 cups of cold water. Taste and add additional water to taste (if necessary). If serving over ice, you might want to make it a tiny bit sweeter than you would normally like to account for the dilution from the melted ice.

To make the lime sugar for the rims of the glasses, mix the zest of one lime with 1/2 cup sugar. Using a damp paper towel, wipe around the rim of each glass and then invert the glass into the lime sugar. Carefully fill the sugar-rimmed glasses with ice cubes and pour the limeade into the glasses to serve.

Makes 12-14 servings.

Strawberry Mint Limeade: After pouring into glasses, add a spoonful or two of strawberry sauce to taste. Other berries like blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries can be substituted for strawberries in the sauce to make other variations.

Pico De Gallo

Ingredients

• 1 medium tomato, diced ( I used 4 Roma)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 sprigs fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 green onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine tomato, onion, jalapeno pepper (to taste,) cilantro and green onion. Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir until evenly distributed. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Fried Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 quart vanilla ice cream

1 cup crushed frosted cornflakes

1 cup sweetened coconut flakes, or 1 cup chopped walnuts, or 1 cup cookie crumbs

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons sugar

Vegetable oil, for frying

Hot chocolate sauce, optional

Whipped cream, optional

Directions:

With an ice cream scoop, form 4 large balls of ice cream. Place on a waxed paper lined sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze for at least 2 hours.

In a bowl, combine the cornflake crumbs with either the coconut, walnuts or cookie crumbs (or any combination). Spread the mixture in a shallow dish.

Dip the ice cream balls in the crumb mixture and freeze for 30 minutes.

In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar. Dip the coated ice cream balls into the eggs, then roll in the crumb mixture, coating completely. Freeze for 1 hour. (If necessary, or for a thicker crust, roll again in eggs and crumbs until the balls are completely coated.)

Heat the oil in a large pot or fryer to 400 degrees F. One at a time, lower the balls into the oil and fry until golden brown, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from the oil and place in a dessert bowl. Drizzle with chocolate sauce and whipped cream, as desired. Repeat with the remaining ice cream.

Kimberly's Mac n' Cheese night

Mac & Cheese Tips:

Choose a good curvy noodle. Thin noodles will not grab the cheese sauce. Boil plenty of water, add some salt and noodles and stir. Cook noodles to al dente, then shock in cold water to end the cooking process. They continue to soften in the cheese sauce; you don’t want them to go mushy.

Decide if you want your mac regular or baked. Baking it just turns it really creamy inside and a bit crispy on top. Bake your mac & cheese at 400⁰ for 10 -15 mins, with or without breadcrumbs. 

If you want to put breadcrumbs on top, Panko is best. It remains crunchy! Toast them in the oven first on a cookie sheet until golden brown, as they don’t toast during the mac baking process.

Choose your cheeses and add ins – I’ve had great success with expensive aged cheeses and a regular cheddar brick. Some of the best add ins are:

• Chicken
• Spinach
• Mushrooms
• Broccoli
• Tuna 
• Sriracha
• Bacon
• Hot dogs
• Sausage
• Artichoke hearts
• Roasted butternut squash 
• Asparagus
• Garlic

Start with a basic béchamel sauce -

Béchamel Sauce (Mac sauce)

• 3 c whole milk
• ½ c unsalted butter
• ½ c all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp kosher salt  (if using table salt always halve the amount asked for in kosher salt)

Heat milk over medium heat until it starts to bubble, remove from heat. (Do not scorch!) 

Melt butter in separate sauce pan over medium heat. When melted, add flour and whisk constantly until the mixture begins to brown, 3 to 4 mins.

Slowly add the warm milk into the butter mixture while whisking constantly. Once all milk is in, set pan back on medium-high heat and continue to whisk for a couple of minutes until the sauce thickens and becomes silky smooth. Take off heat and add the salt. 

Classic Mac & Chesse

½ lb dry pasta

2 c mac sauce 

1 ½ c cheddar cheese (Can go extra sharp or aged if you’d like)

½ c grated pecorino romano cheese

Add cheese to the sauce and melt over medium heat until barely melted. Stir in noodles and continue cooking until pasta is hot.  If you’d like to bake

Garlic Mac

4 lg garlic cloves minced

3 tbsp unsalted butter

½ lb dry pasta

2 c mac sauce

1 ½ c grated gouda

½ c grated pecorino romano 

Combine garlic and butter. Cook pasta. Add sauce, cheeses and garlic butter in heavy bottomed pot and cook over medium heat stirring until cheese is barely melted. Add pasta and continue cooking until pasta is hot. 

Greek Mac

½ lb dry pasta

1 c crumbled feta

½ c grated jack cheese

½ c grated pecorino cheese

2 tsp minced shallots

½ c thawed from frozen chopped spinach, drained

½ c artichoke hearts

2 c mac sauce

½ c panko crumbs

Cook pasta, heat oven to 400⁰. Add cheeses and spinach and artichokes and stir until cheeses begin to melt. The feta will remain lumpy. Add cooked noodles, stir until hot and pour into baking dish and top with panko. Bake until bubbly, about 10-15 mins. 

Spicy Mac

½ dry pasta

2 c mac sauce

2 c grated pepper jack 

2 tsp pepper flakes

Kosher salt to taste 

Add cheeses to sauce, melt and stir in noo

Gluten Free

Substitute quinoa pasta and tapioca flour where called for pasta and flour.

Roasted Veggies 

Wash and cut out the stems of Brussel sprouts (that is where brussels can be bitter) and cut in half. Wash baby carrots or cut full carrots into 1 inch pieces.  Place on a large baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper.

Roast in a 400^o  oven until tender but not mushy, usually about 20 mins.

*Tasty addition to the brussels -  toss them in a bacon vinaigrette dressing.

Cook ½ lb bacon until crispy. Use ½ c or less of bacon fat, ¼ c cider vinegar and 2 tbsp shallots. Top with bacon bits. SUPER YUMMY!

Citrus Salad

Layer salad greens like Romaine, sliced oranges, sliced avocado, and soaked shallots

Soaked shallots

¼ c red wine vinegar

¼ c apple cider vinegar

¼ c sugar

3 shallots, thinly sliced

Peel shallots, slice very thin. Mix thoroughly the vinegars and sugar (I like to use my immersion blender to make sure the sugar is distributed well.) Let the shallots soak in the vinaigrette for at least an hour in the fridge so they pick up the flavor. Then layer on top of salad, drizzle whole salad lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and cracked pepper. 

Crème Brulee

Buy the boxed mix! So easy and creamy, all you need is whipping cream and the mix. 

Amy's Breakfast dinner night

Appetizer -
Maple Candied Bacon
The author is right - the bacon needs the full 30-35 min. cooking time.  The pieces of bacon against the sides cook faster so you may need to remove those at 20 min, then keep checking the remaining pieces every few minutes.  Watch it like a hawk!

Glazed Apple Crumb Muffins

Award Winning Zucchini Bread
you only need 1 recipe of topping for 2 breads.  Just put the topping on then bake for 1 hour.


Main Course-
***On Both of these baked french toast recipes I recommend not using the "American version" of french bread, buy a bakery bread that has some density to it, otherwise the dish ends up very soggy.  You can even let the bread sit out for a day, or slice and bake it for a few minutes to let it stale/crisp a bit so that it soaks up the egg nicely.
Personally I think there is nothing to be gained "flavor" wise by soaking it in the egg mixture over night.  It does make things easy in the morning - but you run the risk of it being soggy.  These dishes can be made and immediately cooked (just press the bread down real good with your hands in the egg mixture and toss a few times to help it soak in).  You could also assemble it the night before but add the egg mixture the next morning before cooking.

**For the Gluten free version I found a 2pack of small french baguettes in the freezer aisle at Harmons by all the other gluten free frozen breads.

Strawberry Rhubarb Baked French Toast (I only used 1 1/2 C. of milk and I used lemon zest instead of orange)
*Tip: Rhubarb can be chopped up and frozen for later use in recipes like this!

Berry Baked French Toast
use 1 sliced round "authentic" french loaf of bread (don't use the heel)
dip both sides of the bread in this egg mixture:
4 eggs
1/2 C. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

then spread this mixture onto both sides of each slice
Melt together
1 C. butter
2 C. brown sugar
2 T. corn syrup

Place one layer of egg-dipped bread slices in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Sprinkle a frozen blend of berries on top then Layer with more french bread slices.  You can spoon some of the remaining egg mixture over top- just don't do too much or it will be soggy!  (You can also use pears, peaches, apples, etc. between the slices).  You can bake immediately, or let it sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
Bake at 350 for 25 min.

Carmel Syrup

1 C Buttermilk

2 Cubes Butter

2 Cups Sugar

1 tsp. Soda

2 Tbsp. Karo Syrup

Boil this for 5 min stirring occasionally. This will expand so use a very large soup or stock pot.

Then add-

2 tsp vanilla

I keep this in a jar in the fridge. It hardens, but you just pop it in the microwave for a minute or two (stir in between if needed).

Coconut Syrup

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup butter

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp coconut flavoring

Bring to boil, take off heat add vanilla or coconut flavoring.

Dessert:

Just a scoop of lemon gelato (I found some in the ice-cream isle at Harmons) with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice over top, sprinkle with Kosher Salt, then drizzle with honey.