Baked Corn

I love to take a vegetable God meant for nourishment and just add as much fat as possible to it.  Seriously, this recipe is not healthy, but it is SO good.  And I don't always wait until dinner to serve it as a side dish.  A lot of times I treat it as a dip and dunk tortilla chips deep into it.  YUM.

Baked Corn*

Category:  Sides

Sub Category: 

Source:  Southern Living

2-4 bacon slices

1 T butter

2 T chopped onion

2 T all-purpose flour

1 t salt

1 c sour cream

16 oz package frozen corn, thawed

 

1. Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp, remove bacon and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 T drippings in skillet.  Crumble bacon and set aside.
2. Melt butter in hot drippings over med heat.  Add onion and saute until tender. 
3. Whisk in flour and salt until smooth and bubbly. 
4. Whisk in sour cream until smooth.  Cook, whisking often, 3 minutes.  Stir in corn and cook until thoroughly heated.
5. Spoon into a lightly greased 8 in baking dish.  Top with crumbled bacon.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 min or until bubbly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Cola Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

This is so good!  It was in last month's Southern Living and I made it on a whim this week.  I had all of the ingredients on hand.  The cake is super moist and the frosting tastes like peanut butter fudge.  I actually made two 8-inch square cakes instead of one 9x13 and passed the second cake on.  I got great reviews from the recipients!

Peanut-Cola Cake

Category:  Desserts

Sub Category: Cake

Source: Southern Living

Cake:

1 c cola
½ c buttermilk
1 c butter, softened
1 ¾ c sugar
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
2 c flour
¼ c cocoa
1 t baking soda
1 c chopped honey-roasted peanuts

Frosting:

¼ c butter
¾ c milk
1 c creamy peanut butter
16 oz package powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
 

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Combine cola and buttermilk in a 2-cup measure.
2. Beat butter at low speed until creamy.  Gradually add sugar, beating until blended.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat at low speed just until blended.
3. Combine flour and next two ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add to butter mixture alternately with cola mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition.  Pour batter into lightly greased 13x9 pan.
4. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, prepare frosting:  Melt butter in a large saucepan over med heat.  Whisk in milk, and bring to a boil, whisking constantly.  Reduce heat to low, and whisk in peanut butter until smooth.  Gradually whisk in sugar until smooth; remove from heat, and whisk in vanilla.  Use immediately.  Pour over warm cake.
6. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts. As a note, I assumed the peanuts were an optional garnish and I did not have any on hand, so I didn't worry about it.  However, it was not possible for me to get the frosting completely smooth and you could see little pieces of powdered sugar.  I think the peanuts are to cover that up, so I would suggest them if you like peanuts alright.

Grilled Jalapeno-Lime Corn

We grill corn a lot in the summer and we try lots of new things to season it.  This is a butter recipe to serve with the corn and we loved it!  So good!

Grilled Jalapeno-Lime Corn

Category:  Vegetables

Sub Category:

Source: Southern Living

8 ears corn, husked

Cooking spray
Salt and pepper
½ c butter, softened
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 small garlic clove, pressed
1 T lime zest
1 T lime juice

1.  Preheat grill to mid-high heat.  Coat corn with cooking spray.  Sprinkle with desired amount of salt and pepper.  Grill corn, covered with grill lid, 15 min or until golden brown, turning occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, stir together butter and next 5 ingredients.  Remove corn from grill and serve with butter mixture.

Shrimp and Grits

This was sooo good. It was more labor intensive than I will generally put up with, but it was worth it! I would definitely make this again - soon!

Shrimp and Grits

Category: Main Dishes

Sub Category: Seafood

Source: Southern Living

Grits:

1 ½ c Milk

¼ c unsalted butter

1 ½ c quick-cooking grits

1 T unsalted butter

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 shallots, minced

¾ c dry white wine

½ c grated parmesan cheese

2 T chives

1 ½ t salt

¼ t pepper

Shrimp Sauce:

30 jumbo raw shrimp

1/8 t salt

1/8 t black pepper

¼ c olive oil, divided

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 T minced shallots

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1 T lemon juice

1 ½ t drained capers

¼ t ground red pepper

Dash of hot sauce

3 T unsalted butter, cubed

1 T chives

1. Prepare grits: Preheat oven to 350. Bring milk, ¼ c butter and 4 c water to boil in an ovenproof Dutch oven over med-high heat. Whisk in grits; bring mixture to boil, whisking occasionally. Cover and bake 45 min or until grits are creamy, whisking every 15 min.

2. Meanwhile, melt 1 T butter in a large skillet over med heat; add 4 cloves garlic and 3 shallots and sauté 3 ½ min or until shallots are translucent. Add wine, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet. Cook, stirring often, 4 minutes or until liquid is reduced by 2/3; fold into hot cooked grits. Stir in cheese and next 3 ingredients.

3. Prepare shrimp sauce: Peel shrimp; devein if desired (I bought peeled and deveined). Sprinkle with 1/8 t each salt and pepper.

4. Cook shrimp, in 2 batches, in 2 T hot oil in large skillet over med-high heat 2 minutes on each side or just until shrimp turn pink. Remove shrimp from skillet.

5. Saute 3 garlic cloves and 1 T minced shallots in remaining 2 T hot oil in skillet over med-high heat 1 minute. Add tomatoes and next 4 ingredients. Cook, stirring often, 5-7 minutes or until tomatoes begin to break apart. Stir in shrimp and 3 T butter. Serve with chives over grits.

Bacon Cornbread Muffins

Cornbread with bacon and cheese? Yes, please!

Bacon Cornbread Muffins
Category: Baked Goods
Sub Category:
Source: Dallas Morning News

½ c unsalted butter, softened at room temp
¼ c sugar
2 eggs
1 can creamed corn
¾ c yellow cornmeal
¾ c flour
1 1/2 T baking powder
¾ t salt
½ c shredded cheddar
½ c cooked, crumbled applewood smoked bacon

1. Preheat oven to 400. Grease 12 muffin cups

2. Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer. Add eggs, beating well after each addition. Add creamed corn.

3. In separate bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture and combine on low. Stir in cheese and bacon.

4. Spoon evenly into cups and bake until muffins are set and golden brown, about 18 minutes. Muffins are best served warm.

Queso

Going along with the Mexican Dishes I made this weekend, I made some GREAT Queso! I wish I had taken a picture of this because it looked sooo good. I actually made it because the picture with the recipe looked outstanding. I was not disappointed. This stuff is GONE!

Spinach Queso
Category: Eggs & Cheese
Sub Category: Cheese
Source:

10 oz frozen chopped spinach,
thawed & drained
16 oz Velveeta, cubed
4 oz cream cheese, cubed
10 oz Rotel, undrained
8 slices bacon, cooked &
crumbled

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Microwave on high 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and mixture
is well blended, stirring after three minutes

Note: I get that Queso is unfriendly enough to your health before bacon and this recipe would probably still be awesome without the bacon, though after a day in the fridge you really could taste the bacon.

Mexican Dishes

I haven't posted in a while because nothing has really rocked our world, but we did have some success this weekend! I made King Ranch Chicken Mac & Cheese from last month's Southern Living. So good! Two of our favorite things - yes, please! I see Macaroni and Cheese recipes all the time that look sooo good, but then I look at the ingredients (heavy cream, whole milk, four kinds of cheese) and I just can't bring myself to call that dinner. As far as macaroni and cheese goes, this recipe wasn't too bad, though I certainly wouldn't enter it in any Heart Healthy Recipe Contests. Plus, it had chicken and some veggies and it really did seem like a meal. We ate it with salad and tortilla chips and it was excellent.

King Ranch Chicken Mac & Cheese
Category: Main Dishes
Sub Category: Chicken
Source: Southern Living

8 oz cellentani pasta
2 T butter
1 med onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
10 oz Rotel
8 oz Velveeta, cubed
3 c chopped cooked chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
½ c sour cream
1 t chili powder
½ t cumin
1 ½ c shredded Cheddar

1. Heat oven to 350. Prepare pasta according to package directions

2. Melt butter in large Dutch oven over med-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper and sauté 5 min or until tender. Stir in Rotel and Velvetta; cook, stirring constantly, 2 min or until cheese melts. Stir in chicken, next four ingredients and hot cooked pasta until blended.

3. Spoon mixture into lightly greased 11x7 baking dish; sprinkle with shredded Cheddar cheese

4. Bake at 350 for 25-30 min or until bubbly.

Notes: 1. I used penne pasta. Partially because that's what I had and partially because I don't know what that other pasta is. I also used whole wheat pasta and it was still good.

2. For the onion and green pepper, I used a cup of frozen diced Mexican blend (onions, celery and green bell peppers). It worked great. I'm a lazy cook.

3. I used canned chicken. Also worked fine. Still lazy.