Bake Me More

Grilled Chicken Quesadilla's

I posted these back in October without pictures. I made them again tonight and took the time to take a few photos. As usual these were a hit for dinner. I will post the recipe for a re-cap…

These are sooo easy to prepare. They are very basic, but delicious and appetizing. I grill the tortilla until it begins to crisp, we prefer that over a soggy shell. I always serve them with tortilla chips and salsa.

Chicken Quesadilla’s

Ingredients:

• 1 pound chicken breast or tenderloin (no bone or skin)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small green pepper chopped
• 2 cups shredded cheese (reserve some for topping)
• 10 flour tortillas (8″)
• Sour Cream
• Butter
• Salsa
• Any other desired toppings

Directions:

Grill chicken and slice into thin strips. Meanwhile saute onions and peppers. Butter one side of tortilla and heat griddle. Place tortilla butter side down. On one half, place cheese, chicken, onion/pepper and cheese again, in that order. Cook on griddle until shell is browned then fold in half. Remove and serve with sour cream, salsa and extra cheese. Slice in half if desired. Makes ten Quesadillas.

For ease of preparation, I place the chicken, cheese and vegetables in three separate bowls next to my griddle in an “assembly line” fashion.

Snickerdoodles

I love everything about snickerdoodles. They are easy to make using common pantry staples. They are a light cookie and with some minor changes you can create a soft or a crisp cookie. Oh, and of course who can ignore the name? “Snickerdoodles” are drop cookies topped with cinnamon sugar that are cited in print from at least 1889. They were very popular in New England and Pennsylvania during this time. There are a few different beliefs about where the name came from. According to Wikipedia, some believe the cookies have a Dutch or German origin with their name being interpreted from the German word Schneckennudeln, or cinnamon-dusted sweet rolls. Some even believe the name originates from a series of tall tales around a hero named Snickerdoodle from the early 1900s.

 In my research, I compiled some of the early recipes (the oldest from 1889) to show in comparison for the common recipes used today. This is what I found:  

(Click on picture for larger view) 

There are also many recipes that use only butter (1 cup) and eliminate the shortening all together. My favorite always goes back to the Betty Crocker  (recipe below) method. They are so easy to put together and always bake up golden and crackly – and store quite wonderfully for several days. I often double the recipe, preparing all of the cookies, and then freezing half. The frozen cookie dough is easy to pull out and bake as many or as few cookies as needed.

Soooo… My conclusion? There a many recipes for this “strangely” named tasty cookie, and many preferences for their texture. Whether you like your snickerdoodles soft, crisp or a combination of both, this petite cinnamon dusted delight is treasured by all ages.

Snickerdoodles

Betty Crocker

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 400ºF.

Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, the butter, shortening and eggs in large bowl. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. 
Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls in cinnamon sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cooking pan. Cook 8 – 10 minutes or until set. **I set the time for seven minutes, then watch them very closely. When the cookies just begin to form cracks and thier color is a light brown, I remove them. Cool them on the cookie sheet about 2 minutes then remove to rack to cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen

Links to this info:

Food Network Gale Gand’s Snickerdoodles

Wikipedia

Wikipedia Cookbook

Big Apple Corner

Turkey Gordita's

What’s for dinner mom??? That was tonight’s burning question. So what better way to disguise the superfluous Christmas turkey than with Mexican spices and ranch dressing!

This was my last minute dinner idea, it was quick, easy and everyone said it tasted really good.

Turkey Gordita’s (via Taco Bell)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound “surplus” Christmas turkey
• 1 Taco Bell Gordita Kit
• 1/2 cup water
• Diced Tomatoes
• Sliced Olives
• Shredded Cheese
• Anything else you need to finish off!

Directions:

Shred the turkey and place in 10 inch frying pan. Mix the spice pack with the water (as directed) and pour it over the turkey, cook until the meat and sauce is hot. At the same time, toss the gordita shells in a 350 degree oven for about 8 minutes, or until soft and warm. When everything is heated through, top the shells with meat, cheese, tomatoes and olives, finish with the included ranch dressing. Serve and smile! You have just finished off more turkey leftover and no one even knew!

No Fuss Fried Shrimp

The Thanksgiving turkey is always succulent and appetizing. The day after at a second family dinner it begins to lose its savour. The two days of leftovers that follow begin to be monotonous. Three weeks of reprieve and you do turkey all over again. The bird is still scrumptious, but lackluster. Two turkey sandwiches later you can’t take it anymore. It is probably good there are no other holidays whose food focus is turkey. It gives you almost a year to begin to want turkey again.

So to ease our weary turkey-ed-out selves I chose not only a different meat, but another method of preparation. Tonight we had a classic southern seafood dinner. Lacking in color perhaps, but that is about it. I was perusing the fresh seafood at our local Publix trying to decide what we would have for dinner. It was the lady at the seafood counter that inspired our meal tonight. She mentioned she was headed home to fry some shrimp with Aunt Jemima…not her Aunt… the pancake one! The shrimp sounded wonderful and the ease of preparing the batter signed the deal for me.

Ok, this is not my idea of a healthy meal, that is with the frying, but I do allow some leeway in our nutritional repertoire. This meal resembled that of a nice seafood restaurant but without the traffic and crowds, and for under $20.

Eat Me!

The Seafood Counter Lady’s Fried Shrimp

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds x-large shrimp, peeled & deveined
• 1 box Aunt Jemima pancake mix (the add water only one)
• Seasoning to taste
• Hot oil

Directions:

Pour dry pancake mix in a medium bowl and add desired seasonings. I added seasoned salt and pepper. Add water until a thick batter forms. Dredge the shrimp through the batter and fry until golden. I used grandaddy fryer and kept the temperature at 350.

So easy and succulent, and I didn’t have to leave a tip either.

To the shrimp I added french fried potatoes for the kids and sweet potatoes for the adults. For the vegetable I steamed extra sweet corn on the cob. Dinner was a hit and there was no turkey involved.

 

Southern Fried Goodness

A Taste of Heaven

My memories of  Christmas as a child always included this light and flaky fried cookie. My great aunt would make them and douse them with powdered sugar (a favorite for every kid). We referred to this recipe as “Angel Wings”, however they are actually called Chrusciki. They are a polish dessert, which was fitting as my Aunt immigrated from Poland in the early 1900′s. When she passed away, she took the recipe with her. Then a few years ago, my brother found a recipe that reproduced the these cookies perfectly. Now our Christmas tradition continues.

Rolling the dough will ensure plenty of calorie burning. By that I mean it is kind of a pain rolling it thin without it curling back up. Believe me though, it is well worth it. Enjoy the recipe!

Angel Wings

Ingredients:

• 5 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• **Vegetable Oil for frying
• **Powdered sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

Add salt to egg yolks and beat until thick and lemon colored. Add sugar and vanilla, continue beating. Add the sour cream and flour alternately, mixing well after each addition.

On a floured surface, knead the dough until it blisters. Cut the dough into two parts. Roll very thin and cut into strips about 4 inches long. This entire process will take a few minutes of elbow grease, don’t panic…

Preheat vegetable oil to 325 degrees. I suggest using a deep fryer with a temperature gauge. Keeping the oil at this temperature will ensure even results. Make about a 1 – 1/2 inch slit in the center of each piece of dough and pull one of the ends through it. Drop each cookie in hot oil one at a time. The ends may curl up – use tongs to keep the dough flat. The dough cooks fast, less than one minute each. You will turn them half way through. As soon as the dough changes color to a very light brown, remove them from the oil with tongs. They will brown more once removed. Place on paper towels to absorb oil and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Store in an airtight container.

Yield about 50 cookies (depending on size you cut them)

Merry Christmas!