Fresh Spinach Salad

This is one of my favorite spinach salads. The dressing on it just makes it so delicious. Oh, and the fried bacon bits on top, they are like icing on the cake. This is a great recipe to make all spring and summer especially if you plan to have spinach in your garden this year!



Fresh Spinach Salad

1 pkg. fresh spinach, wash and discard the heavy stems. Tear into bite size pieces.
1 can water chestnuts (optional), drained and sliced
1 can bean sprouts, drained
3 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 lb. bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

Toss together in large serving bowl.

Dressing:
1/2 c. sugar
3 T. ketchup
1/2 c. oil
2 T. vinegar
1 T. Worcestershire sauce

Combine ingredients and mix well in blender. Pour over spinach mixture.

Karl's Favorite Chicken Cutlets w/Gravy

This is comfort food at its best! Our good friends Jennifer and Karl first introduced us to this delicious meal.

At the beginning of my pregnancy I was very nauseous and had "morning sickness" for what seemed to be all day long. Jenn and Karl were so kind and cooked this meal for us and brought it over one night. I definitely ate for two that night! It was so good! The chicken was so tender and the gravy was such the perfect compliment on top of the rice. I asked for a copy of this recipe and it's now a very popular meal in our house. The leftovers are just as good the next day!



Karl's Favorite Chicken Cutlets w/Gravy

Oil
2 Eggs, beaten
6 Chicken Cutlets
1 family size or 2 small cans Cream of Chicken Soup
4 c. Italian Bread Crumbs
1 T. Teriyaki Sauce
1-2 c. Chicken Broth
1 t. Garlic Powder
3/4 t. Onion Powder
Pepper

Heat oil in large skillet with tall sides. Rinse chicken cutlets in water and pound to soften. Dip chicken in beaten egg then in bread crumbs. Place 2 or 3 pieces in hot oil and brown on each side. Remove from oil and place on plate covered with paper towel (to remove extra grease).

When all chicken is browned remove extra oil from pan. (We want the remnants from the chicken though so do not wash the pan just dump the grease out.) Mix in pan the cream of chicken soup, teriyaki sauce, chicken broth, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper. Blend together to a gravy-like consistency. Add more chicken broth until it's the consistency that you like.

Add chicken back into the gravy. Cover and saute at least 30 minutes. The longer you let it saute in the gravy, the more tender it will be! (I usually transfer everything over to my crockpot and let it cook on low for the last hour.)

Serve with rice or mashed potatoes.

Reese Cup Ice Cream Pie

I've got a sweet treat for you tonight! This is such an easy dessert to whip together! It is extremely versatile too. If you're not a peanut butter lover than feel free to substitute your favorite candy bar instead. I'm sure using Butterfinger, Whoppers, M&M's, or even Twix would make delicious ice cream pies as well! This will be the perfect thing to make this summer for those hot and humid days...



Reese Cup Ice Cream Pie
Source: Kaitlin in the Kitchen

1 Graham Cracker Crust Pie Shell
8 Reese Cups, chopped into small pieces
Vanilla Ice Cream, half of a box container
2-3 T. Peanut Butter, heaping

Carefully take apart the ice cream container so that you can easily cut the block in half with a knife. Seal it back up and put in the freezer for a later use. Transfer the other half into your mixer and start mixing it until creamy. Add peanut butter, mix. Add chopped up candy and mix well. Pour into the pie shell and using a spatula, smooth the top over so it is all even. Cover and place in the freezer until frozen through. (I'd say about 5 hours, it's even better if you leave it overnight) Garnish with whipped cream and extra reese cups, if desired.

Cherry-Apple Cheese Coffee Cake

This is an all-time favorite of mine! I love making this for breakfast when we have company staying with us. A good friend of mine, Barbie, made this for one of our MOMS Club events a couple years ago and I told her I just had to get this recipe from her!!! It's originally called Peachy Cheese Coffee Cake but you can use any kind of pie filling you like - peach, apple, cherry, or blueberry. I usually use 2 different kinds, making it 1/2 and 1/2 so that our guests get to choose which kind they want to try.

Today I choose cherry and apple. So perhaps I should call it "Cherpple" Cheese Coffee Cake or "Apperry" Cheese Coffee Cake. Call it whatever you like, it's guaranteed to put a smile on your guest's face early in the morning!



(INSERT FRUIT NAME) CHEESE COFFEE CAKE

2 pkg. crescent rolls
1 pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 t. vanilla or almond extract (I used almond extract)
1 can peach, cherry, blueberry or apple pie filling

Glaze:
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 - 3 t. milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Separate dough into 16 triangles (reserving 4 for top). Arrange 12 triangles on a round pan with wide ends toward the outside. Roll into 14 inch circle. Form slightly raised edge along inner and outer edges. Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla. Spread over dough. Spoon pie filling over cream cheese mixture.

Cut each of the remaining dough with pizza cutter into three strips. Arrange over filling in spoke-like fashion. Press ends to seal. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes.

Combine glaze ingredients. Drizzle over warm coffee cake. Serve warm.

American Chop Suey

Growing up, this was always a staple meal around my parents' house. I still make it to this day. It's such a quick and easy meal to throw together. It would definitely be considered comfort food in my dictionary. I hope your family will enjoy it as much as mine does!



American Chop Suey

1 lb. hamburger, browned
1 c. celery, chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can water (fill up one of the empty soup cans)
3 T. soy sauce
3/4 c. uncooked rice

Mix all ingredients together and put in a lightly greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Cook in 325 degree oven for 1 hour, covered.

Tres Leches Cake

I love, love, love MILK!!! In fact, between my 3 year old and myself, we go through a couple gallons a week! So of course a recipe called Tres Leches (THREE MILKS) Cake would catch my attention.

The first time I ever sank my teeth into a piece of Tres Leches Cake was about a year ago when Ryan took me to this amazing restaurant in New Jersey called Cuban Pete's. (This is now our all-time favorite restaurant.) I remember ordering this cake for dessert. It was an airy, fluffy cake, so moist and just soaked full of milk, yet not soggy at all. A perfect way to end our wonderful dinner that night.

I was anxious to try and make my own Tres Leches Cake. I found this recipe while admiring The Pioneer Woman's website. She has so many wonderful recipes with amazing photos! The posting for her Tres Leches Cake has easy to follow directions and a picture for each step! She could not have made it any easier to make your own cake so I tried it out this weekend. It was delicious! Such a light and airy cake, drenched in sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream. A milk lovers dream!

I was afraid the cake would become soggy the following day, but it was even better than the day I made it! (It also tastes great for breakfast!!! haha) So check out the recipe below or go directly to the Pioneer Woman's site if you want to see those step-by-step pictures.



Tres Leches Cake
Source: The Pioneer Woman

INGREDIENTS:
1 c. Flour
1-½ t. Baking Powder
¼ t. Salt
5 whole Eggs
1 c. Sugar, Divided
1 t. Vanilla
⅓ c. Milk
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
¼ c. Heavy Cream
_____

FOR THE ICING:
1 pint Heavy Cream, for Whipping
3 T. Sugar

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 c. sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 c. sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.

Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.



Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for at least 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 T. of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Optional: Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries or strawberries. Cut into squares and serve.

Homemade Potato Chips

My brother-in-law sent me a link this morning on how to make homemade potato chips in the microwave! I was completely skeptical at first thinking there was no way that the microwave could produce crispy potato chips that would actually taste good. My husband was also very skeptical so he joined me in the kitchen for this cooking experiment.

We were pleasantly surprised how good they were! They were crispy and actually tasted like fresh potato chips! Even my 3 year old kept asking for more!

One batch in the microwave makes a snack size portion for one person. We ended up making 2 different batches - one with regular salt and pepper and the other batch with garlic salt. Both were yummy! This is definitely more of a fun kitchen project rather than a practical way to make a big batch of chips. (There's no way I would try making these for a large group of people.)

So if you have a potato laying around you should give this recipe a try! Grab the whole family because it's a fun experiment with an outcome that will promise to leave no crumbs behind!



Homemade Potato Chips

1 russet potato
Non stick spray
Parchment paper or glass plate
Salt and Pepper

Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the inside of your microwave. Carefully slice 1/3 of a potato into paper thin slices using a mandoline, vegetable peeler, or sharp knife. You don’t want to cut any more than this because any extra slices laying around waiting to be cooked will turn pink in color. Completely coat the parchment paper with non-stick spray and place the potato slices in a single layer. Spray the potato slices with non stick spray and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper.



Turn off the rotating option on your microwave and cook for 4-5 minutes. Cooking times will vary based on the strength and power of your microwave. Some chips may turn very dark brown. Ideally you want them light and golden. Repeat the process until you’ve used your entire potato.

*This fun idea came from www.savorysweetlife.com. Check out Alice's blog for lots of other great recipes!