Chili Fries

I could have continued to eat these like an oinker all night long if we had any left. They went very quickly. These fries have a nice spice to them, and are nice and crispy if you cook them long enough. I had someone asked me once how I got my homemade fries to actually look like fries. My secret isn’t really a secret. I have a French fry/Veggy cutter. I got it for Christmas and LOVE IT! These fries just can’t be beat. You are baking them, they are fresh, and the taste is amazing. I am thinking we may have to find a way to incorporate them into our menu again this week. Thank you for this great recipe Poker!! If you have any recipes you would like to have featured email me colie@colieskitchen.com

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 lbs medium red potatoes, quartered

Directions

1. Preheat oven 400°F.
2. In large bowl, combine, chili powder, honey, garlic powder, pepper and butter.
3. Add potatoes; toss to coat.
4. Spoon potatoes in greased 11x7-inch baking dish.
5. Bake 40-50 minutes maybe even longer if you want them crispy or until potatoes are tender. 

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Sautéed mushrooms

One of my favorite guilty pleasures is sautéed mushrooms. I love the flavor, and I love them with anything. The is the ultimate recipe. They come out so tender, and with amazing flavor. You can’t go wrong serving these with just about anything.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 2 -13.25 ounce cans of pieces and stems mushrooms
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions
Simple! In a sautee pan add all the ingredients and stir everything together. Cook, uncovered, over low heat 30 minutes or until mushrooms are tender.

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Say Goodbye to Vampires Chicken Strips

The name of this chicken says it all. A word of caution this shouldn’t be a first date recipe. It’s very garlicky, but if you like garlic you will love this recipe. To cut down on the garlic taste you could leave out the fresh garlic, but I think you would be doing this recipe injustice. When I made this, my family had no idea it was baked not fried. The first thing I heard was wow this fried chicken is good. Nope not fired. The flavor is amazing, and the crispiness leads you to believe this is fried chicken. I love this recipe because it’s something that could be very versatile. I think the breadcrumbs; with the cornbread, crumbs are what give it the extra crunch.

SERVES 4 (change servings and units)


Ingredients

• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumb
• 1/2 cup seasoned cornbread dry bread crumb
• 1/2 cup finely grated mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into strips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Spray a jelly roll pan with cooking spray
3. In a bowl a food processor combine fresh minced garlic, garlic powder, bread crumbs, season salt,  onion powder, pepper, both cheeses, and process until well mixed.
4. In a large bowl place the dry breadcrumb mixture out of the food processr.
5. Melt butter , then dip chicken in butter mixture; then in crumb mixture, and repeat until all the chicken is breaded.
6. Place in prepared pan and bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes turning the chicken every 15 minutes or until cooked through.

 

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Quick and Easy Refried Beans

This recipe is great. Not only is it much easier than making refried beans from scratch, but the flavor is just as good, if not better. Most restaurants that serve refried beans serve them dried out and tasteless, some even have a chalky taste. Yuck! 

With this recipe I took a few recipes that were OK, and put them altogether to get this one. They turned out so good! My husband freaked over them, and to be honest so did I!

Ingredients:

• 19.75oz (or similar size) can whole pinto beans (Drained)
• 1/4lb bacon
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ onions chopped
• ½ cup chicken broth

Directions:

1.      Cut your bacon up into ¼-inch slices. Fry until crispy.

2.     Remove Bacon and dry on a paper towel while leaving the bacon drippings in the pan.

3.     To the drippings, add onion, and the garlic. Cook until tender and translucent.

4.     Remove 1 cup of beans from the can and leave them in reserve.

5.     Take remaining beans and mash them in the pan of onion and garlic. Mix it all together, and Add Chicken Broth. Stir ingredients well.

6.     Add remaining beans and mix all together.

7.     Add the cooked bacon back to the pot. Cook until bacon is no longer crisp, but tender.

8.     If needed add additional Chicken Broth to the beans.

Enjoy!

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Colie's Chef Salads

One of my big pet peeves during the summer is heating up the entire house to make dinner. A Texas summer is just one you don’t want to tackle and you surely don’t want to heat up the house while doing so. Besides using old faithful or the Crockpot whatever you want to call it my other fall back in a nice chef salad. I tend to have a ton of stuff to go in the salads to make everyone happy. I set everything up so that everyone can make the salad the way they want it. It’s your salad do whatever makes you happy. Here’s what I add… soooo good!!

Ingredients:

• Lettuce mix of romaine and iceberg
• Mushrooms
• Carrot shavings
• Avocado
• Tomatoes
• Cucumber
• Celery
• Green olives
• Black olives
• Boiled eggs
• Chicken chunks
• Ham chunks
• Cheddar cheese chunks
• Mozzarella cheese chunks
• Parmesan cheese
• Croutons
• Bacon bits
• Dressings 

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Taco Stuffed Pasta Shells

Thinking about dinner this night makes me laugh because this recipe is a tongue tricker. Your tongue is literally confused. Is it tasting nachos, tacos, pasta, Italian, Mexican… what the heck is it. The answer is “yes” to all of the above. The verdict from the family came back as surprisingly good. I don’t think anyone had any confidence in this dish, including me. Tacos in pasta shells? How could your tongue not be confused my brain is confused thinking about it. It really is good. You can use a traditional quick and easy taco meat like 1lb of cooked ground beef with a packet of taco seasoning, or you can do what I did, and take some frozen taco meat out of the freezer and use that. Excellent! You have you cheesy crunchy topping, you yummy flavorful shell, and a true delight to your pallet.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef  (I used Family Tradition Taco's )
• 1 envelope taco seasoning 
• 4 ounce cottage cheese or cream cheese (I used cottage)
• 12 large pasta shells
• 1 cup salsa (I used Pace Mild)
• 1 cup enchilada sauce (I used old El Paso Mild)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
• 1 1/2 cups crushed tortilla chips

Directions

• Cook Beeff
• Add taco seasoning and prepare according to package directions
• Add cottage cheese
• Pour salsa on the bottom of a greased 9x13inch pan
• While the meat is cooking cook the pasta according to the directions on the box
• Fill each shell 
• Place in the bottom of the pan and top with taco sauce
• Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes
• Uncover and sprinkle with chips then cheese
• Back 15 additional minutes
• Serve hot

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Very Sloppy Joe's

(Pleae disregard the Sponge Bob Square Pants plate :-))

Sloppy Joes has to be my least favorite meal. I loved them when I was a kid and requested them every chance I got. Then suddenly the idea of eating on was just the worst thing you could ask of me. I never really got over that. 

My family on the other hand just loves them. I decided to think outside of the can and make them from scratch. To be honest with you they turned out really good. My family raved about them, and said they were far superior to anything out of a can. This will be on our keeper list. Thank you Jude for this great recipe. 

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon vinegar

Directions:

1. In a large skillet brown ground beef until it's no longer pink, then drain the grease. 
2. Add celery and onion and cook until these vegetables are tender.
3. Stir in remaining ingredients, simmer covered, 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Cook until it's the consistency you like for serving on toasted buns

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