Colie's Kitchen

Nov 23, 2010

Fiesta Oyster Cracker Mix (Recipe)

I love these crackers. Not only are the inexpensive to make but they spicy (not hot) and yummy, and a great grab and go snack for a holiday party. You can use any ranch dressing, but the fiesta ranch adds a nice tangy zip to the crackers. Last Christmas I took these to a holiday party and they were a big hit!

Ingredients:

2 TBS of Fiesta Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Mix
1 bag of Oyster Crackers
1/3 cup veg oil (I don’t suggest Olive oil because it alters the flavor)
2 paper bags (lunch bags)

Directions:

Add oil, and Fiesta Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Mix to a bowl and mix well
Fold in the Oyster Crackers and mix until they are well coated
Evenly distribute the Oyster Crackers into two paper bags
Close your paper bag up well and shake. Shaking every once in a while for a few hours (the purpose of the bag is to absorb the excess oil)
Remove from the paper bags after they have sat for three hours and store in an air tight container. I used this great Rubbermaid container
Enjoy!

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Wordless Wednesday

My husband refers to my food storage containers as my “Redneck Tupperware.” The fact of the matter is if there is a plastic container that has come into my house with food in it I have always tried to reuse it like sour cream and cottage cheese containers until a few days ago. After reading a scary article about how dangerous it can be to re-use certain plastic containers I decided I better do some house cleaning

Clearly I was in desperate need to do so anyway because they were taking over the cabinet they were in. I had a laundry basket full of containers. Most were missing lids, or the lids were missing their containers. After inspecting the triangles on the bottom of some of my containers I realized I had many that needed to be thrown away. I think I will start sticking to Tupperware, Gladware, and Ziploc, and so on! Rubbermaid Premier are my favorite!! Here is the article if you are interested!

Cheesy Cabbage Casserole

I made the mistake of making this casserole as a main dish. I have been trying to incorporate two meatless meals in our menu per week, but I haven’t been very successful. I made this for dinner thinking what a great meatless meal it would be when it truth it would have made a much better side dish. I don’t blame the recipe I blame myself.

As for the dish in general it has a great flavor, makes a great presentation, and doesn’t cost much to make. It smells great cooking, and turned out perfect. As I said before it would make a wonderful side dish for me the word casserole was misleading. Thank you Wildflour for the great recipe.

Ingredients:

2 quarts chopped cabbage
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of celery soup 1/4 cup milk
1 cup packed shredded American cheese or 1 Velveeta cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt, less if desired
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup finely crushed butter flavored cracker
4 tablespoons melted butter, more if needed

Directions:

Cook cabbage 5-7 minutes in salted water, drain well.
Combine soup, milk, cheese, salt and pepper in large bowl.
Microwave til cheese melts and is creamy. Stir occasionally.
Fold in cabbage.
Pour into 1-1/2 quart casserole dish.
Mix cracker crumbs and melted butter.
Sprinkle evenly over top.
Bake in 350º over for 30-40 minutes til bubbly.

Wordless Wednesday: The Texas Renaissance Festival

Each year my husband and I go to the Texas Renaissance Festival. Normally we have gone for our anniversary. Last year we missed the Renn because we were in Vegas, and this year we did it a little later than our anniversary waiting on the cooler weather. Saturday was the perfect day to partake in the festivities. After sitting in traffic for almost two hours we were just ready to get there. Sadly the traffic put us getting there really late, and in all honesty pretty much ruined the day.

In the end we had a great time, and are hoping to go back after Thanksgiving for closing weekend.

My favorite event is the jousting of the knights

The sun was blasting me in the eyes at this point. I really didn't think the pictures would turn out, but I did get a nice action shot!

The knight that was fighting for our side of the arena

Our knight didn't win, but they all looked great doing it.

A piece of serenity in the middle of the Renaissance Festival …the Enchanted Garden.

Hammy Cream of Potato Soup

I started off making one recipe tonight, and then changed in the middle of chopping. So this was another recipe that has been modified to something I thought might be better, and I was right it’s fantastic. The weather here is nasty! Cold and rainy weather has soup written all over it. This is a very rich and hearty recipe. The flavors work so well together, and it’s just down right good!

Soup Base Ingredients:

4 cups peeled cubed potatoes
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups of beef broth
1 cup thinly sliced carrot
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup finely diced onion

Cheese Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups diced ham

Directions:

In large dutch oven, add all of your Soup Base Ingredients
Cook soup base until the vegetables are. Do not drain.
While your soup base is cooking add your flour and butter to a saucepan and begin to whisk to insure you don't get lumps
Once your butter is melted gradually add your milk while whisking, then add your salt.
Once your mixture is well combined add the cheese and allow it to melt. Don't forget to keep whisking
Fold in ham.
Gradually add your cheese sauce mixture to your vegetable mixture, and stir well.
Simmer until ready to serve. Make sure it's not cooking too high or it will burn quickly.

My husband loves to vacuum! He calls it his therapy. I don’t stand in the way of his happiness in fact I encourage his “therapy”! If vacuuming makes you happy then have it! A husband who loves to vacuum is pretty wordless.

Cheater Cheater Barbequed Chicken Sliders

I am notorious for putting dinner off until the last minute. I either forget to take something out of the freezer or time gets away from me, and we are approaching eight pm, and I haven’t even started dinner. Because of those reason I always make sure I have something that I can make for dinner that’s quick and easy and something I can pull out of the freezer at a moment’s notice. I always have stewed or roasted chicken in the freezer. I keep many zip bags with a pound of cooked chicken in the freezer at all times. When I am in a hurry I make barbeque chicken sliders. It’s cheating at its finest but it works, and taste great too! It’s simple, and I have not met a kid yet who doesn’t like them. They really are kid sized. Don't forget the paper plates for quick clean up. If you are going to cheat why not cheat all the way?

Ingredients:

1 pound of precooked shredded chicken
Your favorite barbeque sauce
Slider buns

Directions

Add chicken to a medium size pot
Coat with your favorite barbeque sauce (just enough to coat your chicken, not soupy)
Heat through
Add to slider buns, and top with pickles onion, or whatever makes you happy!

Spinach-Artichoke Peene

I love this recipe especially for our meatless nights. It's so easy and quick, and it's just wonderful. I can't say enough about just how great it is. It's like Spinach-Artichoke dip on pasta. Yummy!

Ingredients

5 ounce box frozen spinach, thawed and drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
3 garlic cloves minced
1 small onion, grated
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
(14 ounce) can water-packed artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 lb of peene pasta

Directions:

Heat a deep skillet over medium heat with the oil and butter.
When butter melts, add garlic and grated onion. Saute for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle the flour into the skillet and cook for 1 minute.
Whisk in the broth, then the cream and bring to a simmer
Reduce heat to low.
Chop and separate spinach into pieces then add it to the sauce.
Stir in the artichokes and cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Cook the peene in salted boiling water according to package directions, about 12 minutes.
Drain and toss with the spinach artichoke sauce.
Serve immediately

Wordless Wednesday Weather and Weddings

As my husband’s friends and family in Minneapolis are dealing with horrible weather, snow, sleet, and just nastiness I had to post this picture for Wordless Wednesday. Here in Houston our weather is gorgeous! Yes its 94 degrees outside today, but it’s breezy and wonderful. I could go for cooler, but that will be here tomorrow. Tomorrow night our cooler weather will be here.

Tomorrow is my fourth wedding anniversary. I wanted to post a couple of our wedding pictures. Four years ago tomorrow I married my best friend. It’s hard to believe it’s been four years. Like my husband said four years, and so much stronger. I always laughed when a friend of mine would go on and on about how she couldn’t wait to get married because life would be so much easier. One thing I have discovered about marriage is that it’s not easy at all. It’s a work in progress every day.

I had never made roasted carrots before, but I needed a veggie to go with dinner, and we had a few bags of carrots that needed to be used. I decided to try roasted them. Something about the fall makes me want to roast everything. Who knows why? There were several things I was not prepared for, 1 they shrink down, 2 they cook pretty quickly I figured the cooking time was wrong, and 3 they are so sweet and delicious. I was very impressed with the natural sweetness my husband even asked if I added sugar to them. They don’t need anything extra they came out perfect!

Ingredients: