Monte Cristo's

I love these things with a passion. It's the best of both worlds...grilled ham and swiss sammich AND french toast! Throw in some turkey and mustard, dust it with powdered sugar and dip in strawberry preserves. It's just the right thing for lunch!!



See how I make them in this video on my YouTube channel...

Cookies n Cream Pie

A few months ago, I decided that I wanted to be the 'pie lady' at the restaurant I work at. Little did I know what that would entail but I needed to find a few recipes for novelty pies. One of them that was suggested was a cookies n cream pie. I'd seen them before and thought it couldn't be too hard to make but I needed a foundation recipe to start from. The one I found (which I no longer know where I saw it at) had you mix up the ingredients and freeze the pie, and to serve the pie partially frozen. I knew that wasn't going to fly at the diner because our pie case is right in front as you walk into the restaurant and it's only refrigerated. Besides, who wants to eat a frozen pie? I adjusted the recipe so it would stay solid in a cold, but unfrozen state and it has turned out to be the most popular pie at the diner. We sell more of this pie than any of the others combined! It's super simple, whips up quick and tastes amazing!!



Ingredients:

1 chocolate cookie crust
1 cup half n half
1 3.4oz pkg instant vanilla pudding
12 Oreo cookies, crushed
8oz carton Cool-Whip
Whipped cream and 3-4 Oreo's for garnish

Prepare your pie shell and let cool. Mix the half n half with the vanilla pudding. Add in crushed Oreo's and stir to coat. Mix in Cool-Whip and pour into pie shell. Put into the freezer for 1 hour to set up. When fully set, top with whipped cream and put a half Oreo on each slice. Enjoy!!

CLICK HERE for the video version of this recipe.

Buttermilk Biscuits

This recipe is another copycat recipe found somewhere on the web and although they are supposed to be 'exactly' like Cracker Barrel's biscuits, they are more like KFC's. They are light and flaky and delicious plain or with jam or jelly. They also hold up well for biscuits and gravy!

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups AP flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/8 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening until mixture is crumbly. Add baking soda to the buttermilk and mix well. Add to the dry mix and stir just until the liquid is absorbed. About 10 stirs. Drop onto a floured work surface and knead 3-4 times until it just comes together. Do not over mix or over knead. It should be a messy dough.
Pat out dough to 3/4" thick and cut into rounds. Place biscuits side by side on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet to finish cooking.

Enjoy!

Fruit Muffins

Warm, delicate fruit muffins right out of the oven. SO delicious on a cool morning for breakfast! You can use frozen or fresh berries, doesn't matter and you can use any kind of berry for this recipe (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc).

Fruit Muffins

1 1/2 cups AP flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup berries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add berries and stir to coat. Pour oil into a 1 cup measuring cup and add your egg. Add enough buttermilk to make 1 cup total (usually between 1/3 and 1/2 cup). Stir into the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. DO NOT overmix.
Line a muffin tin with paper cups. Fill muffin cups just to the top and top with sugar if desired. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 8 muffins.

Like most baking recipes, to lower the fat, substitute some or all of the oil with applesauce. Comes out just as great!

Southern Potato Salad

In the past when I've made potato salad, I never really followed a recipe. Just took some potatoes and hard boiled eggs with mayo and added some other things to it to make it how I wanted at the time. It was always missing something, just didn't know what. Then I realized I needed a recipe.

The original recipe I found was for 'Southern Potato Salad' on allrecipes.com. It was a good base to start with but again, it needed something. I played around with it until I got what I think is a pretty good not-from-the-deli potato salad...

'Southern' Potato Salad

4-5 medium red potatoes
2 eggs, hard boiled
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 stalk celery, diced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp prepared yellow mustard
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp minced garlic (about 1 clove)
1/4 tsp celery seed
salt and pepper to taste

Cube the potatoes into 1/2" pieces and boil until soft (about 10 minutes). Meanwhile, combine other ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. When potatoes are done, drain well and add to dressing mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight or until cool.

Enjoy!

THE BEST BBQ Rub in the world!!

I have to say, this is the BEST BBQ rub in all of the land. Nothing compares to this and it is SO easy to make. No need to ever buy a rub again!

The Best BBQ Rub

2 tsp paprika
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne

Mix together and store in air tight container. To use, rub liberal amount onto meat before BBQing.

This recipe does 3-4 chicken breasts easily. I tend to rub down the chicken, let it sit for an hour or so in the fridge and then throw them on the grill. When they are almost done, I smother them in my homemade BBQ sauce and let them grill a little while longer. Delicious!!

Taco Seasoning

Have you looked at the ingredient listing on the back of a package of taco seasoning? Chances are the first ingredient is salt. I don't know about you, but I don't want to eat tacos made with 'salt-flavored' meat. So I created my own blend of 'spices' to make a darned good taco seasoning. With less salt.

Taco Seasoning

1 Tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper

Mix together. To make taco meat, add this and 1/2 cup water to 1 pound cooked ground beef or turkey. Simmer 5 minutes and serve.

This is WAY better than the flavored salt mixes you get at the grocery store. If you'd like, you could multiply the recipe several times and store for whenever you wish to make tacos. If you do so, you'd use 2 Tbsp of seasoning mix to each pound of ground meat. Enjoy!