Monster Mash

Monster Mash

Ingredients:  

• 1 bag (8 oz) white chocolate chips 
• 2 C rice Chex mix 
• 2 C corn Chex mix
• 2 C wheat Chex mix 
• 1 C candy corn mix 
• 1 1/2 C dry roasted, salted peanuts
• 1 C Reeces Pieces
• 1 C M&M (orange, yellow and brown) mixture of peanut and plain 
• 2 C pretzels 
• 1/4 C HALLOWEEN  sprinkle 

DIRECTION:
Place all the Chex mix and pretzels in a large bowl. The largest you have.  Pour peanuts, candy corn, M&M and reeces pieces on top.

In a microwaveable bowl and pour the white chocolate chips and  melt according to package directions. I microwave for 1 minute then take out and stir until it's all melted. If it isn't ready...microwave for another 30 second. Stir then  pour over Chex/pretzels mixture. Stir until everything is well coated and then spread out onto a BAKING PAN lined with waxed paper, parchment, or foil. Let sit until completely dry and then break up into clumps.


***you can use any type of cereals that you like...you can also use PLAIN popcorn (not buttered) 
ENJOY!!!

Zuppa Toscana Soup

In the FALL I LOVE cooking soup....during the week I usually make at least 3-4 soupy meals.  Its easy and very HEARTY.  Zuppa Toscana is usually my go to soup. Make this soup...your family will love it.

This time I made it a little healthier...I didn't use heavy cream or chicken stock...I used water with chicken powder....this step is OPTIONAL...if you prefer...you can use chicken stock and heavy cream to make it more creamier....

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground HOT  Italian sausage --de-case
• 4 cups russet baking potatoes (sliced in 2in cube with skin)
• 1 large chopped onion-diced  
• 16 oz sliced mushroom
• 6 cloves garlic,  minced 
• 4 cups chopped kale 
• 4 Tablespoon chicken powder 
• 8 cups water 
• 2 cup half and half
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Tony Chachere's 
• parmesan cheese, grated for GARNISH

Instructions: 

De-case the sausage and put in a BIG POT.....using 2 wooden spoon ..breaking it apart as it cooks. Once sausage is browned and crumble, remove the crumble sausage with a  slotted spoon and leaving all the grease in the pot. Set aside......Next, saute onion and garlic in sausage grease and then add the cubed potato. Then, add the water, chicken powder, Tony Chachere's, pepper and simmer for about 15 minutes or until potato is tender.  

Once the potato is tender...add the sliced mushroom, cooked sausage and kale into the pot. Next, taking a LID and cover for about 10 minutes.  Then bring to a simmer ...once the KALE is cooked add the 2 cups of half and half and turn the heat to a medium low.

Top with PARMESAN cheese and SERVE HOT ;)

Your FAMILY will love it!!! 

                        Hot sausage ---still in the casing

                 Cooking the sausage--crumbling the sausage 

                             mushroom, sausage, potato 

                             KALE

                         Serve with parmesan cheese 

White Chocolate Bread Puddung

White chocolate bread pudding 

Ingredients:

6 cups whipping cream

2 cups of milk

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

20 oz of white chocolate (broken into small pieces)

3 whole eggs

15 egg yolks

2 large loaves of stale French bread, sliced into 1 inch thick pieces(cube)

Direction: 

--put cut bread into a deep baking pan..I usually just use those deposible aluminum baking pan because it has a high lip. Now set aside. 

***preheat oven to 350

***in a huge nonstick pot....

I used my Le Cruset 

Heat heavy cream, milk and sugar and vanilla extract over medium heat... Continuely stirring. Don't walk away from the pot because it can burn very easily.

Once it comes up to a boiled....take off heat and add in the white chocolate pieces and stir until  melted. 

***Combine egg and egg yolk in a large mixing bowl...set aside.

Next, pour the cream mixture slowly into the EGG mixture.. must stir continuely into egg mixture ...pour in a steady stream. Once the egg mixture and cream mixture is nicely incorporated... Pour over the pan of cut bread.

 **Squish the bread and cream mixture together so that all the bread would get soak with the cream and egg mixture. Next cover with foil and bake for 1 hour COVERED...then uncovered and bake for another 30 minutes ...then BROIL for a few second so the top is a nice GOLDEN BROWN COLOR. 

Bake:

1 hour with foil on

½ hour with foil off

SAUCE:

8 oz white chocolate chip 

1 cup whipping cream

Pour heavy cream in a pot and once it comes up to a boiled turn off heat and add the white chocolate chips/melts and STIR

Garnish with shaved white chocolate and drizzle sauce ...SERVE HOT ;)
ENJOY!!! 

Cream and Egg MIXTURE ...ready to be poured over the cube French bread. 

Bread all soak in cream and egg mixture...covering with foil ready for OVEN. 

BAKE at 350 for 1hr COVERED then uncover and bake another 30 minutes. 

Fresh out the oven...nice GOLDEN BROWN crust 

       White chocolate shaving and sauce...ready to be served ;) 

                           SAUCE 

8 oz white chocolate chip 

1 cup whipping cream

In a pot pour in the heavy cream and once it starts to boiled ...turn off heat and stir in the white chocolate melt. 

Sweet and Salty Shrimp

This past weekend my sister in law gave me some big FRESH shrimp. So for the next few weeks you will be seeing many post shrimp recipes.  I will be making BBQ Shrimp, Shrimp Pasta, Pad Thai, Fried Shrimp po boy etc...the list is endless ;) 

THOM KHO (Sweet and Salty Shrimp) 

Ingredients:

3 pounds of large shrimp

3 tablespoon fish sauce

3 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon cracked black pepper 

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon onion powder 

1 teaspoon garlic powder 

1/2 teaspoon Tony Chachere's (or salt) 

1 onion roughly chopped 

Garnish:

sliced green onion 

Sides: 

sliced cucumber or steam broccoli 

Trim off the head, legs and tail. Place the clean shrimp in a huge bowl with some sort of  lid (I used a Pyrex). If you don't have a kid...just cover with some foil or  Saran Wrap. Next, add these ingredients to the clean shrimp. 

Ingredients: 

3 tablespoon fish sauce

3 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon cracked black pepper 

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon onion powder 

1 teaspoon garlic powder 

1/2 teaspoon Tony Chachere's (or salt) 

1 onion roughly chopped 

Mix all the ingredients with the clean shrimp and toss until well coated. Close the lid then place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours so it can marinate. 

***Take the container out the refrigerator. In a huge deep sauté or skillet. Pour in about 4 tablespoon of Olive Oil or any kind of oil that you prefer. Then dump the whole container of shrimp into the skillet with all juice. Stir occasionally...after about 5 minutes pour in 1/4 cup of water and stir until all shrimp are a pink color. Turn off heat and garnish with sliced green onion. 

Serve immediately with jasmine rice. I love to peel the head and suck all the juice out ;) 

Keeping the head on is what gives it that nice red color that comes from the egg that is in the head. 

Enjoy!! 

Pull Pork Burger

COLE SLAW recipe: 

1 bag of coleslaw mix (16 oz) 

1 small RED ONION--thinly sliced 

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup milk 

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/3 cup SUGAR

2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper 

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder or minced garlic 

In a HUGE BOWL (with a LID) dump the bag of coleslaw mix and thinly sliced red onion.

Next,  in another bowl mix the rest of your ingredients together and mix really well. Once all the ingredients in well incorporated pour over the cole slaw mix..stir the coleslaw mix with the wet ingredients until everything is combine. Put lid on bowl and put in refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving. 

PULL PORK recipe: 

Ingredients:

3 lb Boston Butt 

1 T garlic powder 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon Tony Chachere's (creole seasoning) 

Direction:

In a small bowl...mix all your seasoning together. 

In a deep baking pan...season the Boston Butt with season mix. Making sure it's season really well. Next, cover REALLY WELL and TIGHT!! I cover with HEAVY DUTY renoyalds wrap. 

Bake 350 for 1 hr then lower temperature to 200 degree and bake for another 6 hrs (covered). 

Uncover and shredded...I use 2 fork...throw away all the fat. Next bake uncover for another 1 hr so it can dry up  ANY LIQUID that render from the fat..then pour in 2 cup Sweet Baby Ray BBQ sauce.  Then BROIL for a few second....Until the top get a nice golden brown crust. Keep an eye on it because it will burn quickly. You just want a nice crust....not BURNT. 

Pull Pork Taco with Asian Slaw

This week I made a huge batch of pull pork and just made my weekly meal into different meals throughout the week....tonight we ate the pull pork with soft taco (tortilla) with an ASIAN SLAW


RECIPE for ASIAN SLAW

INGREDIENTS:
2 cup slaw mix (I buy the premix at my local grocery store)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup sliced green onion
Juice of 1 LIME
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon OLIVE OIL
pinch sugar


In a bowl mix all the ingredients together.  Season to taste because depending on how much juice or size the lime is...you might have to add more lime juice.
I usually serve with a wedge of lime on the side ;)

ENJOY!!!

PULL PORK recipe 

Ingredients:

3 lb Boston Butt 

1 T garlic powder 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon Tony Chachere's (creole seasoning) 

Direction:

In a small bowl...mix all your seasoning together. 

In a deep baking pan...season the Boston Butt with season mix. Making sure it's season really well. Next, cover REALLY WELL and TIGHT!! I cover with HEAVY DUTY renoyalds wrap. 

Bake 350 for 1 hr then lower temperature to 200 degree and bake for another 6 hrs (covered). 

Uncover and shredded...I use 2 fork...throw away all the fat. Next bake uncover for another 1 hr so it can dry up  ANY LIQUID that render from the fat..then pour in 2 cup Sweet Baby Ray BBQ sauce.  Then BROIL for a few second....Until the top get a nice golden brown crust. Keep an eye on it because it will burn quickly. You just want a nice crust....not BURNT. 

Pull Pork

When I was making out my weekly meal plan this week I knew that I was gonna have a super busy week ahead. With the end of the nine weeks wrapping up at my kids school and all the after school activities and my rental property taking on a new tenant...I needed to make something that I can recreate in different meals this whole week.  This pull pork recipe is super easy and so flavorful. If you don't have time to make it in the oven....you can stick it in the crockpot. 

Ingredients:

3 lb Boston Butt 

1 T garlic powder 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Tony Chachere's (creole seasoning) 

Direction:
In a small bowl...mix all your seasoning together. 

In a deep baking pan...season the Boston Butt with season mix. Making sure it's season really well. Next, cover REALLY WELL and TIGHT!! I cover with HEAVY DUTY renoyalds wrap. 

Bake 350 for 1 hr then lower temperature to 200 degree and bake for another 6 hrs (covered). 

Uncover and shredded...I use 2 fork...throw away all the fat. Next bake uncover for another 1 hr so it can dry up  ANY LIQUID that render from the fat..then pour in 2 cup Sweet Baby Ray BBQ sauce.  Then BROIL for a few second....Until the top get a nice golden brown crust. Keep an eye on it because it will burn quickly. You just want a nice crust....not BURNT. 

You can serve with hamburger buns, nacho or torilla (soft taco).  This pull pork freezes really well also. Just portion out and freeze in an airtight container. 
ENJOY!!!

Pull Pork after it has been shredded ...before I pour the BBQ sauce 

Meatball Stuffed Biscuit

Ingredients: 
1 can of Grands BISCUIT (mines had 8 biscuits)
8 meatball
1/4 Cup mozzarella cheese  (I used shredded but if you have mozzarella stick...cut each stick into 4)
Parchment paper ---baking pan
Butter (optional)

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 and place a piece of parchment paper on a baking pan or GREASE any baking pan ...set aside

In a microwave safe bowl...I  place the 8 meatball inside the bowl and microwave for 1 minute...the meatball that I used is already COOKED so this step is optional also. My meatball was in the freezer so I just wanted to make sure that it gets hot.


Take each biscuit and flatten it out on your hands...next lay 1 meatball and some mozzarella cheese in the middle of the flatten biscuit. Then roll the biscuit up into a ball. Place each roll biscuit about 3 inch from each other. Because they will expand and you don't want them to touch each other.

I put a pat of butter on top of each biscuit ...BAKE at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until the biscuit is GOLDEN BROWN.

Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top...serve HOT ;)
Serve with some marinara sauce.
Your kids will love this!!!

Place a pat of butter on top of each to give it that golden color....I have sprinkle some
italian seasoning on top before also...which is delicious!!!

                   BALL OF GOODNESS!!!

Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed

Lemon Syrup:

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

Lemon Glaze:

1 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Garnish: 

Fresh blueberry 

Silvered almond 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease Bundt pan (I use Pam)

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing bundt to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet.
While the cake is cooling, make the lemon syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir together the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat; set aside.
Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops of the Bundt cake. Brush the top of he Bundt cake with the lemon syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cake cool completely.
To make the lemon glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of the lemon juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable. Add up to another tablespoon of lemon juice if the mixture is too stiff. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of the Bundt cake and let it drip down the sides. Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving.

****Garnish with fresh blueberry and silvered almond.