Meat Loaf with Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:

Meat Loaf
1 Pound Ground Beef
1 Carrot, Chopped
1/2 Cup Green Onions, Chopped
2 Onions, Chopped
1/2 Red Pepper, Finely Chopped
2 Tablespoons Steak Sauce
1 Honey Mustard

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375-385 degrees
1. In a skillet, saute chopped carrot, onions and red pepper for 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix ground beef, sauteed vegetables, steak sauce and honey mustard. Use wooden spoons (or your clean hands) to form a loaf.
3. Place in non-stick meatloaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes.

Broccoli Salad
1 Broccoli (use the florets only)
1/2 Cup Raisins
1/2 Cup Cooked Bacon (I used bacon bits)
1/2 Red Pepper, Finely Chopped

Salad Dressing
1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon Ranch Dressing
1 Tablespoon Honey
2 Tablespoons Vinegar

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix broccoli florets, raisins, crumbled bacon, chopped onion, and red pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, ranch, vinegar and honey. Pour dressing to salad and mix well. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving.

Gnocchi (ñoquis) with Chicken Flavor Sauce

In Argentina, there is a tradition of eating gnocchi the 29th of every month. The tradition was brought to the country by Italian Immigrants. If you are curious about this tradition, I will share this link so that you can learn at your leisure: http://argentinastravel.com/2314/the-secret-to-the-perfect-noquis/ and in Spanish: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%91oqui

This was our Christmas Eve meal this year! My biggest effort was actually in making the chicken flavor pasta sauce since I didn't make the gnocchi from scratch (shame on me). I learned from Mom and Grandma that the longer you cook the pasta sauce, the better it would always taste. In Grandma's old days, the pasta sauce was made with fresh tomatoes, basil, pepper, etc. Nowadays, I purchase the Prego pasta sauce and let it cook on its own with additional condiments. One trick I learned is to add a tablespoon of sugar to reduce the acid taste of the tomato sauce. I hope you like this!

Preparation Time: 2-1/2 Hours

Ingredients:

Pasta:
1 Pack of Archer Farms Gnocchi (we used potato, cheese and spinach gnocchi)
1 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese

Sauce:
2 Small Chicken Breasts cut in 1/2'' cubes
2 Cans Pasta Sauce
2 Tablespoons Basil
2 Tablespoons Oregano
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Bay Leaf
Salt and Pepper to Taste


Directions:

1. Cook chicken cubes in a frying pan, drain any excess of fat and set aside.
2. In slow cooker, add pasta sauce, condiments, bay leaf and cooked chicken. Set slow cooker to high and cook for 2 hours stirring occasionally.
3. Once chicken flavor sauce is cooked, prepare Archer Farms Gnocchi according to package instructions.
4. Serve Gnocchi with chicken flavor sauce and meat.
5. Top with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Enchilada Beef Casserole

Well as you can see my casserole is slightly darker than it should! I got distracted in the computer and forgot to turn the oven off after the 40' cooking time! In any event, I must say that this turned out to be one of my favorites Mexican food recipes! It's effortless and done in less than an hour. I found a variation of my recipe at http://southernfood.about.com/, but they have used mushroom and chicken condensed soups instead of nacho cheese. Feel free to add your touch of creativity, too, by substituting other ingredients per your taste.

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (about 10 ounces) red enchilada sauce
1 can (10 1/2 ounce) condensed nacho cheese soup
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chile peppers
1 cup milk
1 package (about 7 ounces) crumbled tortilla chips
8 ounces grated Mexican cheese blend
1 can (4 ounce) chopped ripe olives

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°
1. Brown ground beef with onion, drain off excess fat and set aside. In a large bowl, mix enchilada sauce, nacho cheese soup, chopped chile peppers and ground beef.
2. In a greased 9x13x2-inch baking pan, create a layer with half the coarsely crumbled tortilla chips. Then add half of the ground beef mixture. Repeat layer with remaining crumbled tortilla chips and remaining beef mixture.
3. Sprinkle Mexican cheese and chopped black olives over top. Bake at 375° for 35 to 40 minutes. Wait 10 minutes before serving.

Eclairs ("Mom's Bombas Rellenas")

These are my mom's Eclairs, or "Bombas Rellenas." They are an Argentine classic at every festivity and I just started making them to keep some traditional foods from the family alive.

Serving: 20-24 Eclairs

Ingredients: Dough

1 Cup water

1 Stick Butter

1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

4 Eggs

1 Teaspoon salt

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

Note: Eliminate baking powder is using self-rising flour.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.

1. Add water and butter to sauce pan and bring to boil. Add flour and remove from heat.

2. Add/beat one egg at a time with wooden spoon. The dough should be sticky. If it looks to thin, add another tablespoon of flour.

3. Using a tablespoon, grab dough and make round shapes onto a greased baking sheet. Make sure to leave some space in between them as they will likely double in size.

4. Bake at 425 until they look golden brown (Approx. 10' depending on oven). Then lower the temperature to 375 and bake for an additional 5-7' to make sure they cook thoroughly inside. Remove from oven and set aside.

5. Once the eclairs have cooled down, remove them from baking sheet and slice down the sides making a pocket for custard filling.

Note: Vanilla and chocolate pudding work well as fillings. Dip in chocolate and sprinkle powder sugar on top for a more appealing look.

Ingredients: Custard for Filling:

2 Egg Yolks

5 Tablespoons Sugar

2 Tablespoons Flour

2 Cups Milk

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Beat the egg yolks slightly with the sugar and add milk.
Place on a slow fire and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add flour, while boiling. Immediately remove from heat and continue stirring until custard begins to thicken.
2. Add the vanilla extract.

3. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours

Creamy Mushroom Chicken Baked

This is another easy recipe from Cooks.com. Preparation time is less than 15' and it will be ready after baking for an hour. The sherry adds such a rich flavor to the chicken and the cream of mushroom/sour cream mixture leaves the meat super tender. This time I cooked it without the sauteed mushrooms since I ran out of them (Ups!), but you can simply add them to the soup mixture before placing chicken breasts in the oven. It was YUMMY...

Servings: 2-3

Ingredients:

3-4 Chicken breasts
1 Can of cream of mushroom soup
2 Cups of sauteed mushrooms (I made it without mushrooms)
1/2 Cup of sour cream
1/2 Cup of sherry
1/2 Cup of butter
3-4 Tablespoons of bread crumbs
1 Pack of chicken flavor rice (Lipton Knorr)

Directions:

Preheat Oven at 375

1. In a medium bowl, mix soup, sour cream and sherry.
2. Place chicken breasts on a 8' X 8' baking dish and cover with mixed soup/sour cream/sherry.
3. On a separate microwavable bowl, melt butter and then mix in bread crumbs.
4. Sprinkle butter/bread crumbs over chicken and bake for 1 hour at 375.
5. Cook chicken flavor rice as directed by pack instructions and serve with Creamy Mushroom Chicken Baked.

Chicken Enchiladas

This is one of my mother-in-law's delicious recipes. It is an easy dish to prepare and it is guaranteed to please the crowd!! I like to accompany these cheesy enchiladas with a side of Mexican rice or creamy potatoes. Enjoy!

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

2 Large Chicken Breasts (Diced and Cooked)

2 Medium Onions

1 Can of Nacho Cheese Soup

1/2 Cup of Milk

1 Can of Green Chiles

1/2 Cup of Salsa

8 Large Flour Tortillas

2 Cups of Shredded Cheese

Optional: Sour Cream and cooked rice

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 375 degrees.

2. Cook diced chicken with chopped onions and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, mix nacho cheese soup and milk.

4. In a large bowl, mix cook chicken, green chiles, salsa and only two tablespoons of mixed soup (save remaining for later).

5. Spread 1/3 cup of mixed chicken on each tortilla and roll up.

6. Place tortillas in greased 9"x13" pan. Sprinkle shredded cheese.

7. Bake for 30 minutes and serve with salsa and sour cream.

Shrimp Creole

Ingredients:

1 lb thawed shrimp
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 medium onions, chopped
1 orange or green bell pepper, chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon of chopped fresh parsley
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon of ground red pepper (cayenne), or chili powder
2 dried bay leaves
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can (10-12 oz) tomato sauce
4 cups of cooked rice

Directions:

1. Detail shrimp and set aside.
2. In 3-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook onions, bell peppers, diced tomatoes and garlic in butter about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3. Stir in tomato sauce and spices (parsley, pepper, etc.). Heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Simmer uncovered 10 minutes.
4. Stir in shrimp. Heat to boiling and reduce heat to medium. Cook 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are pink and firm. Remove bay leaves. Serve with cooked rice.

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

This recipe from http://www.cooksrecipes.com/ is one of a kind! I am a biscotti lover and was looking forward to this one. Absolutely delicious! This recipe makes approximately 24-30 biscotties.

Ingredients:

Part A

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon of salt

2 large eggs

2 large egg whites

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Part B

1/2 cup of dry cranberries

1/2 cup of sliced almonds

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Mix well ingredients in part A. Once the dough looks consistently firm, add ingredients in part B.

2. Using a spoon form into two flat logs, 2-3" wide and about 10" long on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes.

3. Remove from the oven and let them cool on the sheet for 10 minutes.

4. Transfer to a cutting board and slice across the log in 1/2" sections. Sprinkle sugar on top (Picture 1).

5. Return to baking sheet and lower oven to 275 degrees. Toast slowly, turning once, until slightly browned (Approximately 10-15 minutes). Remove from over.

Italian Sausage Casserole

I found this recipe at cooks.com. The only thing I added was 4 oz. of cheddar cheese in addition to the mozzarella cheese. It is very easy and super filling. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 oz. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

4 oz. Shredded Cheddar Cheese

4 Italian Sausages

1 lb. Pasta Noodles of Your Choice

1 Large Can of Pasta Sauce

Salt, pepper, oregano, basil and garlic

Directions:

1. Cook Italian sausage in oven at 400 degrees until brown.

2. Boil and prepare pasta noodles per package directions.

3. Simmer pasta sauce and season to taste.

4. Slice Italian sausage into bite size pieces. Combine sausages, tomato sauce, drained and cooked noodles, along with 4 ounces of shredded cheese in a 2 quart casserole dish. Mix together thoroughly. Add remaining cheese to top.

4. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Swift Stir-Fry

4 Servings

Ingredients

16oz Frozen Stir-Fry Vegetables

1 Pk. of Knorr Rice Sides (your favorite flavor)

2 Boneless Chicken Breasts

1 Chopped Onion

1 Cup of Shredded Mozzarella

1 Cup of Vegetable Oil

Directions

1. Add frozen stir-fry vegetables to a large, microwavable bowl. Cover with water and microwave 5 minutes. Remove, drain and set aside.

2. Cook side rice separately in a medium saucepan with 2 cups of water and 1 tbsp. of margarine for 7-10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Cook 2 chopped chicken breasts with 1 chopped onion and 3 tbsps. of vegetable oil in a large frying pan for 15 minutes. Add salt and spices to taste. Recommend garlic salt, black pepper and chili powder.

4. Using same frying pan, mix in stir-fry vegetables with cooked chicken. Add 2 tbsps. of vegetable oil and cook for an additional 5 minutes to allow the flavors to mix well.

5. Finally, bring in cooked rice to frying pan and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. If the rice looks sticky, add a tbsp. of vegetable oil.

6. Remove from heat and top with shredded mozzarella cheese or parmesan.

Tips: If you like olive oil, begin using this in step 4 and going forward.

Grandma's Farfalle & Broccoli

4 Servings

Ingredients:

12oz of Farfalle Pasta

1 Broccoli (or 3 cups)

1 Cup of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

2 Cloves of garlic

Vegetable and Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Bring water to boil in a 2 quart pan

2. Add broccoli, stir occasionally. Boil 12-15 minutes, remove from heat and drain.

3. Bring water to boil in a large pan, add farfalle pasta and salt to taste. Boil 12-14 minutes or until pasta is tender. Remove from heat and drain.

4. Saute minced garlic in a large frying pan with 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil for 5 minutes. Add cooked broccoli and cook for 5 minutes.

5. Add pasta to broccoli and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and saute for 3-5 minutes.

6. Remove from heat and sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese and parmesan.

7. Ready to serve

I dedicate this Italian recipe to my lovely abuela Rosa.