Pink Salad

This has always been one of my favorite salads. We had a potluck dinner last weekend so we took this salad.

The size of the ingredients depends on how much you want to make and your liking. I needed a big salad so I used large containers
1 container of cottage cheese
1 8 oz. container of cool whip
1 box of strawberry jello
strawberries

Mix cottage cheese and a box of jello...adding dry jello a little at a time. If you're making this for a small group you just need the small box of jello. Add cool whip and cut-up strawberries. I made this salad w/ frozen strawberries. It's very delicious with raspberries as well. Change the jello to orange jello and add mandarian oranges. Yum, yum! This salad always reminds me of summertime!

Caeser Salad

The week of Christmas some friends came over for dinner, and they brought salad...fresh Caesar salad. Since then, my hubby and I can't get enough caeser salad. We've eaten a ton of it in the past two weeks. Here's the basic recipe we use:

Romaine Lettuce
Parmesan Cheese
Caeser Salad Dressing
Croutons

Break lettuce into bite size pieces. Grate Parmesan cheese and add to lettuce. When ready to serve, add croutons and coat with dressing. Mix salad and ENJOY!

We even had leftover green salad from Christmas Day one of our guests brought. We used it just the same as the romaine lettuce, and it was just as delicious! It's been great to reminded of such a yummy salad.

Chicken Tamales

Around Thanksgiving time, the Albertson's ad had a recipe for tamales. I've always wanted to give tamales a try but haven't ever done it. This recipe inspired me so I gave it a try....not too bad considering it was my first attempt :) I halved the original recipe since I wasn't sure I wanted too many tamales leftover.

3 cups Maseca corn flour for tamales
1 can chicken broth (approx. 24 oz.)
1/2 cup veggie corn oil
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
shredded chicken (cooked)
1 can chile sauce (about 14 oz.)
1 bag corn husks

Soak the corn husks in warm water until soft. Blend with a mixer Maseca, oil, salt, baking powder, and chicken broth to obtain a consistent mixture (I think I made mine a little too runny). Shred the chicken and marinate in the chile sauce. Spread masa evenly over corn husks and spread a spoonful of marinated chicken on top of the masa.

Fold the sides of the corn husk to center over the masa so that they overlap to make a long package. Fold the empty part of the husk under so that it rests against the side of the tamale with a "seam." Place the tamales in a steamer and cook tamales for 35-40 minutes. Check every 20 minutes. The tamale is cooked when it separates easily from the corn husk.

Photo disclaimer: Don't judge this recipe by my pictures...this was my VERY first attempt at tamales :)

Bread Bowls

Last week I tried a different bread bowls recipe when we had guests over for dinner. They turned out perfectly! I will definitely make these again. I couldn't keep my kids out of the "stuffing" I had pulled out to create the bread bowls. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com but I changed it up a bit so...here's my version of the original recipe:

3 packages of active dry yeast (if you buy yeast like I do, you don't get them in individual packages...so you'll need about 3 TBL of yeast.)
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 cups warm milk
3/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 tsp salt
9 cups flour

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, shortening, sugar, eggs, salt, and 3 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. (Of course, I use my kitchen aid for all the mixing.) Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into eight pieces; shape each into a ball. Grease two baking sheets. Place four balls on each pan. Cover and let rise until doubled (I waited another hour). Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Remove onto wire racks.

Slice off tops and pull out insides. Bake bowls again for 10 minutes to harden the edges to hold up to your soup, chowder, or stew.