Smoked Salmon Quesadillas

SMOKED SALMON QUESADILLAS

with AVOCADO SALSA

1 Tblsp canola oil
1/2 cup sweet onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium red pepper, chopped
1/2 cup tub-style light cream cheese, softened
3 8-in tortillas
2 cups lightly packed fresh spinach
1 4-ounce piece smoked salmon, flaked, with skin and bones removed
non stick cooking spray

• In a large non-stick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion; cook for 17-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
• Add sweet peppers. Cook for 5 to 10 min more or until peppers are tender and onions are golden brown, stirring occasionally.
• Spread cream cheese evenly on tortilla. Divide spinach among tortillas, arranging on one half of each tortilla. Top with flaked salmon; top with onion mixture. Fold tortillas over filling. 
• Lightly coat both sides of each folded tortilla with cooking spray.
• Heat a clean large non-stick skillet or grill pan over medium heat. Add two of the quesadillas to the skillet. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until tortillas are browned, turning once. 
• Repeat with remaining quesadillas. Cut into wedges. Serve with avocado salsa.

AVOCADO SALSA:

Seed, peel and chop half of an avocado; place in a small bowl. Peel and chop 2 green kiwi fruits; add to avocado. Seed and chop 1 medium tomato. Add the chopped tomato, 2 tablespoons sliced green onion tops, 1/4 tsp finely shredded line peel, and 1 tablespoon line juice. Toss to combine.

recipe from Good & Fresh Spring 2013

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

CINNAMON ROLL PANCAKES

Pancake Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour
8 tsps baking powder
2 tsp. salt
4 cups milk
4 tbsps vegetable oil
4 large eggs, lightly beaten

for the Cinnamon Filling
1 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp ground cinnamon

for the Cream Cheese Glaze
1/2 cup butter
4 oz. cream cheese
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

To make the Cinnamon Filling:

Mix the three ingredients together. Place in a disposable piping bag and snip the end off or put in a Ziploc bag and snip the corner off.

To make the Pancakes:
Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Stir them together until everything is moistened leaving a few lumps.

Heat your griddle to exactly 325 degrees. You don't want these too cook too quickly, and you won't want your cinnamon to burn.

Make desired size pancake on greased griddle and then using the piping bag and starting at the center of the pancake, create a cinnamon swirl. Wait until the pancake has lots of bubble before you try to turn it. You will find that when you turn it the cinnamon swirl will melt. The cinnamon will melt out and create the craters which the cream cheese glaze will fill.

To make the Cream Cheese Glaze:
In a microwave safe bowl melt the butter and cream cheese and then stir together. Whisk in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Add a little milk if needed to make
it a glaze consistency.

Place pancake on plate, then cover with cream cheese glaze.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Monkey Bread

BLUEBERRY CREAM CHEESE

MONKEY BREAD

2 (11 ounce) packages Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough (22 ounces total)
1 cup blueberries
3 tablespoons sugar
1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, room temperature

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spray 11-inch spring foam pan and set aside.
• Place the blueberries, 1 tablespoon sugar and cream cheese in a food processor, and process until smooth.
• Lightly flour a surface, and roll out both pieces of Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough, side by side.
• Spread both dough pieces evenly with the cream cheese mixture, leaving a 2-inch border of dough around the cream cheese.
• Roll up both dough sections into a log -- jelly-roll style.
• Trim off the ends of each roll to make them neat, and then, Cut each roll into 15 1-inch pieces.
• Place each piece of dough into prepared round or bundt pan, placing them side-by-side in concentric circles until entire pan is filled.
• Sprinkle dough with remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and bake for 35 minutes or until bread is lightly golden.
• Serve immediately.

Icing:

• Mix a little of the filling left over with 1/4 cup powdered sugar and add a couple drops of milk at a time until you get the right consistency.

recipe from Amazing Moms.com

FBF: Chicken You Won't Believe

FLASH-BACK FRIDAY

CHICKEN YOU WON'T BELIEVE

Click on image to see full post from 6/2011

Smoked Trout Dip

This recipe is perfect for any of the smoked trout left over from the Original recipe. This is a great appetizer! Probably the best dip I've ever had. I know I probably say that a lot, but this time I REALLY mean it. haha!



3/4 pound smoked trout (about 2 8-inch trout)
8oz softened cream cheese
2 tablespoons half and half
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Add all the ingredients in a bowl, and mix until combined. Serve with a variety of crackers!

The Ultimate Mashed Potatoes

So a few years ago, one of my amazing friends, Catherine, invited us for a Thanksgiving dinner. So, of course we went and had a ton of food and turkey and the whole sha-bang. With the whole sha-bang, were these incredible mashed potatoes. I mean INCREDIBLE. I just HAD to know how to make them. So she told me. And I've been making my mashed potatoes this way ever since.

This isn't exactly "low fat" or "low carb" either...but using "low fat" cream cheese instead helps...just a smiggen.

THE ULTIMATE MASHED POTATOES

6-8 red potatoes, diced
1 block cream cheese (8oz)
2 tablespoons Milk (maybe more/less)
1-1/2 tsp kosher salt

• Boil diced potatoes, skin on, in water until tender. Drain.
• Place potatoes and cream cheese in stand mixer (doing this by hand is extremely difficult, be warned, you might hurt in places you didn't dream about having after you do!) and beat on medium until mixed together.
• Carefully add milk (this is where it would be more/less. If its too thick, add more milk!) and add the salt.
• Make sure you taste them and add more salt if needed. NO PEPPER!
• Beat the potatoes in the stand mixer for a good 3 minutes. You want them whipped pretty good!
• Serve warm (of course!) and enjoy!

This is a great recipe to freeze as well. I usually make OVER the amount I need and freeze in little batches. I use the little batches when my hubby is out of town and I need a quicker dinner--just pop in microwave and heat for a few minutes, stirring in between.

#4 Cherry Cheesecake Cookies

CHERRY CHEESECAKE COOKIES

1 6-oz jar maraschino cherries
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 3-oz package cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
red food coloring
milk

• Drain cherries, reserving juice. Pat cherries dry. Finely chop cherries; measure 1/3 cup. Spread cherries on paper towels, pat dry.
• In a large bowl combine butter, shortening, and cream cheese. Beat with electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add sugar and salt. Beat until combined. Beat in egg and extract until combined. Gradually add flour, beating until combined.
• Divide dough into 3 portions. Leave one portion plain. Into another dough portion, knead 1/2 tsp of the reserved cherry juice and enough red food coloring to make the dough light pink. Knead chopped cherries into remaining dough portion. Wrap each dough portion with plastic wrap. Chill for 2 hours.
• Lightly flour three pieces of parchment paper. On each piece, roll a dough portion into a 6-inch square. Cover each portion with plastic wrap and freeze for about 30 minutes.
• Place plain dough square on work surface; brush top with milk. Place pink square on top of plain square. Turn over and brush other side of plain square with milk; place chopped cherry square on top of that one. Evenly trim the edges and cut stack into 3 even portions; freeze for about 30 more minutes.
• Preheat oven 275 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Cut each block crosswise into 12 slices. Place slices on sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or until bottoms are lightly brown. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

The recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest magazine Dec 2011 edition

Chicken you won't Believe

Yes, that is the name. It got that name from me telling my husband yeeeeeeeeeaaaaarrrrrrrs ago when I first made it "Hunny, you are NOT gonna believe this Chicken" And the rest is history. It remains in our top 5 all time chicken recipes! He was so happy to see I made this for dinner--he said it was too long since last time. So here it is!

CHICKEN YOU WON'T BELIEVE

Click HERE for printable recipe

4 boneless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons cream cheese

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Pat dry the chicken with paper towel. Spread 1 tablespoon of cream cheese on one side. Then roll it up and use a toothpick to secure in place. Repeat with each chicken breast.

Place rolled up chicken in a greased glass pan. Spread the dijon mustard over each chicken. Then heavily sprinkle with brown sugar. [not pictured--sprinkle with chopped pecans to add extra crunch]

Cook, uncovered, for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, basting often with juices. Serve warm.

Click HERE for printable recipe
 
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FBF #2: Nanny's Banana Pudding

FLASH BACK FRIDAY LINKZ is below the Banana Pudding recipe!

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This recipe has been in our family for generations. Its my brother's all time favorite thing! My Nanny (grandmother) has been making this for like.....FOREVER. =) And its taken many years to actually get it down to perfection. Now when I visit, she asks me to make it. So I'm going to share it now.

NANNY'S BANANA PUDDING

1 box Nilla wafers
6 bananas, cut into slices
1 large box of [jell-o] instant Vanilla pudding
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, room temp
3 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk the heavy cream with sugar and vanilla to make "home-made" whipped cream. Or use a pre-made tub of whipped cream--but it tastes a lot better with the homemade stuff!

In a large bowl (I use my stand mixer) pour in sweetened condensed milk and add cream cheese. Beat until its all smooth (no lumps). Add in pudding and milk and mix until well blended. Then fold in half of the whipped cream BY HAND.

In a truffle bowl, put a layer of Nilla wafers on bottom. I like making a "neat" layer of the wafers, then crumble up a bunch to fill in all the gaps. Then top with half of the sliced up bananas. Pour half of the pudding mix. Put in the fridge just for a few minutes to firm it up. Then do the layering all over again. After pouring in the last of pudding mix, top with the rest of the whipped cream. Line the edges with more Nilla wafers and crumbles on top as well. Refrigerate for a few hours. [Its best to sit overnight, in my opinion]

The key is the sweetened condensed milk. You can get the low-fat and same with the cookies and cream cheese. That little difference doesn't change any of the over-all flavor. But I say: just go all out! =D

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FLASH BACK LINKY is up again! Please welcome my co-host Micha from Cookin' Mimi

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