Category: Recipes

How to make Authentic Mexican Restaurant Style Queso Dip

When I go to Mexican restaurants one of the favorite appetizers that my entire family enjoys is queso dip. There are different types of queso dip, you can get queso that is yellow and had a cheddar cheese base, or you can get white queso that has a base of queso fresco which is a Mexican cheese. We prefer white queso cheese that has a bit of spice to it that gives you that extra flavor kick. Here is my recipe for an authentic queso dip that you would find in a Mexican restaurant.

Ingredients: 

12 oz pepper jack cheese

1 ½ pounds of American Cheese

12 oz of Queso Fresco (Mexican style cheese, can be found in deli or cheese section of your store)

1 pint half and half

1 jalapeño

Optional – red paper flakes (adjust to your taste and heat tolerance)

Instructions:

  1. Shred all your cheese (or cut into small blocks) and mix together in a big bowl.
  2. Pour the half and half into a sauce pan on low heat.
  3. As the half and half begins to warm up slowly start adding in the cheese a small handful at a time and continue to stir the cheese to allow it to melt.
  4. Dice the jalapeño into small pieces and add to the cheese mixture. Continue to stir the cheese to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.
  5. Add the optional red paper flakes.
  6. Once the queso dip is melted remove it from the heat and serve it in a bowl with corn chips.

Orange Chicken – Panda Express copycat recipe

I love Orange Chicken from Panda Express. It is like the crack cocaine of Chinese Food. I have looked for recipe’s as good as Panda Express and I am always disappointed. Finally I have developed my own recipe that is absolutely amazing. So, here it is for all of you to try.

Orange Chicken

(Panda Express copycat recipe)

Chicken part:

Ingredients: 

1 ½ pounds chicken thighs (de-boned)

1 egg

½ tsp black pepper

1 tsp soy sauce

1/4 cup corn starch

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoons water

Sauce part:

Ingredients: 

¼ cup orange juice

½ cup brown sugar

2 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp chili garlic sauce

1 tbsp orange zest 

½ tbsp corn starch

1 tbsp cold water

Directions:

1.Cut up your chicken thighs into roughly 1 inch “bite size” pieces.

2.Mix the flour with the cut up chicken and mix so that all pieces are covered with flour.  Set this aside until later.

3.In a separate bowl mix together the egg, salt, black pepper, corn starch and water together. 

4.When well mixed you can add the chicken pieces into the mixture and cover the chicken pieces thoroughly with the coating. 

5. Heat a pan with 2 inches of oil on the stove.

6. While the oil heats mix together all the ingredients for your sauce and then pour into a sauce pan and sauté on low while we fry the chicken pieces. 

7. Carefully drop the chicken pieces into the oil and fry until golden brown. 

8.When all pieces of chicken are cooked add your chicken to your cooked sauce and mix the chicken into the sauce coating all pieces.

9.Serve over rice. 

You can garnish with chopped green onions and/or sesame seeds.

ENJOY!

How to make Chocolate Zucchini Bread

How to easily make homemade chocolate zucchini bread. This is a fresh take on the classic zucchini bread.

Ingredients: 

3 cups all purpose flour

¼ unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups white sugar

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips Optional – up to 1 cup chopped walnuts to sprinkle on top of loaf

This recipe makes 2 loaves using 9 x 5 bread pans, or 24 cupcakes/muffins/ or a combination of 1 loaf and 12 cupcake/muffins.

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Shred your zucchini using either a hand shredder or food processor. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well, then add in your cocoa.
  4. In a separate bowl, combine sugar and eggs and blend together. Add oil and vanilla and beat mixture together. Stir in Zucchini to wet mixture.
  5. Combine dry ingredients into wet mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
  6. Spoon into loaf pans and/or cupcake pan.
  7. Bake in preheated oven. Bread loaf pans should bake for 50-55 minutes and cupcake pans should bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. After baking let bread set in pans for 10 minutes before removing.

How to make homemade Hummus – Quick and Easy

Hummus is quick and easy to make with this recipe. Make your own hummus that is better tasting than the one you buy at the grocery store.

Ingredients: 

1 can chickpeas

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup tahini

1 small clove garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon zaatar (optional)

1/2 teaspoon cumin

3 tablespoons water

paprika (garnishment for serving)

Directions:

First mix lemon juice and tahini in a blender or food processor until it is “whipped”.   

It is important to mix this first to get a smooth and creamy hummus. 

Combine the remaining ingredients and mix.

Add additional tablespoons of water until hummus reaches the desired consistency.

Pour into a bowl and serve. You can sprinkle paprika on top or garnish with more zaatar, or sesame seeds, and a small drizzle of olive oil.

How to make homemade banana bread

Banana bread is one of my favorite breads and its a great way to use up your bananas after they start to get brown spots on them.

Ingredients: 

3 ripe bananas

  2 eggs

  ½ cup shortening

  1 ¼ cup white sugar

  1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

  1 ¾ cup all purpose flour

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  ½ teaspoon salt

  ½ chopped walnuts 

Instructions: mix together the sugar and shortening and blended and forms little balls. Add in bananas and vanilla extract and continue to mix. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda and salt together. Combine the flour mixture with the banana mixture and mix until all ingredients are blended together. Pour mixture into a greased and floured bread pan and sprinkle the walnuts on top. Bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour and 15 minutes. After baking let cool and remove from pan. Enjoy.

How to make homemade vanilla extract

Making homemade vanilla extract is simple and a lot less expensive than purchasing pure vanilla at the store.  A common brand of the extract can cost nearly $16 for 4 ounces, that’s $4 per ounce.  A gourmet bottle can cost $27 for 4 ounces; that’s $6.75 per ounce.  I can show you how to make vanilla extract for $2.86 per ounce.  All you need is a mason jar, vanilla beans, and at least an 80 proof alcohol.  Many people tend to use vodka, rum, or even bourbon for their extract.  I prefer to use vodka.  You don’t need to use premium alcohol because you are not drinking this, and you will use this in small amounts in your recipes.  If you want to spend more money on any ingredient, make it your vanilla beans.  Everyone has a different taste for how rich they like their vanilla extract to taste, and the full-bodied ness and richness comes from how many vanilla beans you use to make your extract.  I prefer to use one vanilla bean for every 2 ounces of alcohol. 

Ingredients:    

6 Vanilla Beans

 12 oz vodka

  1. Slice open the 6 vanilla beans and turn them inside out to expose the beans.  Place them in a 2 cup mason jar.
  2. Fill the mason jar with 12 oz vodka.

Store in a cool, dark place, such as a cupboard for at least 30 days.  The longer you store the extract, the richer the vanilla taste.

My costs:  $15 for a 1.75-liter bottle of vodka, which equates to $0.25 per ounce.  $59 for 25 grade A vanilla beans, which equates to $2.36 per bean.  If I use 1 bean per 2 ounces of vodka, my costs are $2.86 per ounce. 

Happy Cinco de Mayo – margarita recipe

Today is Cinco de Mayo.  The 5th of May. It’s a holiday celebrated by the Hispanic community and those of us who like to partake in Mexican food and margaritas.  Although margaritas don’t fit into my current eating plan, I will still make some margaritas for my family who is coming by today.  My friends Rich and Karla from Fort Collins, Colorado, showed me this margarita recipe, which I consider to be the greatest margarita in the world!

Learn how to make the world’s greatest margarita.

 Ingredients:   2 ounces tequila (I prefer Patron Silver)

2 ounces Cointreau

1 ounce margarita mix

1 ounce lime juice

1 small pour Grand Marnier

Mix the tequila, Cointreau, margarita mix, and lime juice in a cocktail mixer over several ice cubes. Pour out into a salt rimmed glass and pour in the Grand Marnier until you see the color start to darken in the margarita. Enjoy!

Homemade Almond Milk

I love almond milk, I use it in my cereal, in smoothies and basically every recipe that calls for milk.  All my life, I have had an intolerance to dairy, and I avoid cow’s milk whenever possible.  However, for some reason, I can’t stop eating cheese and ice cream (I just need to have tiny servings).  There are a lot of tasty varieties of almond milk at the grocery store, but I worry about added sugars and what preservatives they put in the almond milk to extend its shelf life. So over the years, I learned how to make my own almond milk.  To my surprise, when I learned how to make almond milk, I found that it is one of the easiest things that you can make at home in your own kitchen.

Here is the recipe that I use to make my almond milk.

Ingredients:

1 cup almonds

1 date

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

4 cups of filtered water

  1.  Place your almonds in a bowl or jar and fill the jar with water so that it covers the almonds and has about an additional inch of water above the almonds.  I like to use a mason jar for this.
  2. Let the almonds soak at least 12 hours in the water.  I soak mine overnight and make this fresh in the morning.
  3. Drain the water from the almonds and place the almonds in a high-speed blender, add the 4 cups of filtered water, the date, and vanilla.  Blend on high speed for about 2 minutes until the liquid becomes a creamy white color.
  4. Using a nut milk bag strain the almond mixture through the nut milk bag into a large bowl or mixing cup, gently squeezing out all the liquid.  You can now transfer into a storage container, mason jar, or milk jug.  I put mine in an old glass milk jug.  Don’t discard the leftover almond meal.  The almond meal can be dried out and used as a topping on yogurt, used in homemade granola, or ground to make almond flour.