Fajitas-American Style

For two years, my brother lived overseas. When he returned home, we asked him what he would like to eat. He answered the following, "I want American food! You know, fajitas, tacos, and enchiladas!"
Oh yeah, that's American food alright! Regionally speaking, I suppose it could apply as American food...okay, so I'm stretching the truth a little.
Regardless, these are some of our favorite recipes. The other night we made fajitas. Doesn't it look delicious?

Recipe:
5-6 Chicken Breasts (boneless, skinless)
8-10 Bell Peppers, diced (various colors)
3-6 Tbsp. Fajita Seasoning
3-5 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
Flour Tortillas
You begin by cooking the chicken in a covered electric skillet. Once cooked, cut the chicken into small pieces. Add 3 Tbsp. fajita seasoning, and frozen bell peppers to the skillet. Periodically taste the chicken and peppers. Season to taste. Add chopped tomatoes, and heat through. Serve with flour tortillas.

Here's a few tips:
-Dice the bell peppers in advance, and freeze them in a plastic freezer bag. This allows the peppers to cook up faster.
-We use Chef Merito Red Fajitas Seasoning. It is ideal since it comes in a 13 oz. bottle. However, you could use any fajita seasoning. Some of us like more seasoning than others, so we prepare the fajitas with a mild flavor. Then those that want more heat can apply more seasoning to their own serving.
-Usually, we use the smaller flour tortillas, but you can use any size.
-Personally, I don't like tomatoes, so I usually set aside a portion of the fajitas before adding the tomatoes to the mixture.
Basically, we try to accommodate the entire family!

Alton Brown's Cocoa Brownies

What do you do when you run out of brownie box mixes? Easy, search for brownie recipes on foodnetwork.com! What a plethora of recipes! Some are based off of box mixes, but Alton Brown had one from scratch.
It has a rich fudge/cake-like taste. Of course, I altered the recipe slightly (I just couldn't help myself!). I added 3/4 cup of sliced maraschino cherries, which is good if you like maraschino cherries the way I do. Now, my sister isn't as fond of them as I am, so she would prefer that I leave them out. However, my niece thoroughly enjoyed it!

Alton's original Cocoa Brownie recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:
Soft butter, for greasing the pan
Flour, for dusting the buttered pan
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
8 ounces melted butter
1 ¼ cups cocoa, sifted
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup flour, sifted
½ tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.
In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool.

Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to your plate, and I promise you won't be sorry! This recipe will satisfy any sweet tooth!

S'more Pudding Cups

Yes, I am a Food Network Junkie!
What is so mesmerizing about watching food preparation? I just can't turn away. I'm fascinated by all the techniques, color, and flavorful ingredients! I especially love the simple variations of the classics.

Sandra Lee recently changed the S'more. She created a parfait with the same notion. The recipe calls for:

1 package of chocolate pudding (prepare according to box instructions)
Crushed graham crackers
Mini marshmallows

Personally, I LOVE puddings and custards (some of my greatest weaknesses)! It is because of this intense love that I changed the recipe to my taste.
Parfaits are always beautiful, but I like my S'more with a lot of pudding and toasted marshmallows with just a hint of graham crackers.

Now, others may like more or less of some ingredients, so I like to make it more "build-your-own" friendly. Hence, I make the instant pudding, and pour them into the cups. That way everyone can just top them with their desired amount of graham crackers and marshmallows.
Then comes the fun part...toasting the marshmallows. They smell so good! You can use any torch, but the little butane ones are great for individual servings, and they are safer/easier for people to use.

It's always a huge hit for people to use these torches. Perhaps it's simply because people love to play with their food. This is one acceptable way to do that. Make sure that you don't use paper or plastic cups though...I imagine that they will disintegrate.

Make-Ahead Broccoli Salad

Do you ever find that everything always happens on the same day/weekend? You can have weeks of nothing, and suddenly there is a baby shower, bridal shower, potluck, swim meet, and whatever else you can think of occurring on the same weekend! You can't not go to everything, so you must find a way to attend all of them. In my home, busy weekends usually require bringing food to some event. Thus, we are always on the lookout for a good recipe that can be made a day in advance. Enter the Broccoli salad! I tell you, this salad is my hero! It tastes fabulous, and must be made the day before! Check out this recipe...

Salad:
8 cups broccoli florets
2/3 cup chopped cashews
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1 lb. fried bacon, chopped
Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise
3 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar

Combine the salad ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients. Toss dressing with salad ingredients, and refrigerate overnight.
Toss salad just before serving to redistribute dressing.

Is that wonderful or what?! My Mom and I found this recipe on one of those free recipe cards that Wal-Mart puts in their grocery department. However, we altered it to fit our tastes. For instance, it actually called for deli ham, but we like bacon. We also increased a few of the ingredients. After all, you can never have too many cashews, right?

Creamy Dressing with a Kick!

It's always fun and exciting to try a new recipe. At least, in my house it's considered fun and exciting. Our latest adventure was to create a dressing that we found online. Many of the ingredients were new to me. I had never worked with tomatillos or cilantro before, but I had heard of them. Plus, the recipe appeared innocent enough since the base is Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch Dressing. Boy were we wrong! Our first disaster came when we learned about a new food allergy...the hard way. Yes, Mom became violently ill. Consequently, we decided to alter the recipe to the Original Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing.
We also learned that green Tabasco Sauce doesn't offer enough heat. This means adding jalapenos instead. Having never worked with this ingredient before, I made the mistake of trying a teeny, tiny bite of raw jalapeno. The next thing I knew, my face burned bright red, my eyes popped out, and flames erupted out of my ears! I felt like a cartoon character that just swallowed a stick of dynamite! I never would have imagined that so much fire could be contained in such a small portion. Oh, and don't think for a minute that cold water or juice will put those flames out! They just numb it momentarily, so you keep drinking until you find yourself completely waterlogged AND on fire! It gives new meaning to the term "a walking contradiction!"
What a wake up call that was for me! Of course, even with all the allergic reactions and fires, it turned out to be a good recipe. I would definitely make it again. However, I would recommend the following tips.

First, use the Original Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix (it actually has a better taste because the buttermilk flavor is too overpowering).

Second, use gloves when preparing the jalapenos, and DON'T EAT THEM!

Third, store the dressing in a canning jar. This is a trick that we've used for some time now. It's great for traveling, doesn't take much space, and you can shake the dressing before pouring with no mess.

Now, I'm sure you're all anxious to experience your own adventures with this recipe, so here it is:

1 Original Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (prepared as per the recipe with one cup milk and 1 cup mayonnaise)
2-4 Tomatillos (diced and lightly roasted in the oven)
1/2 a bunch of Cilantro
1 Clove of Garlic
Juice of 1 Lime
1-2 Jalapenos

Mix all the ingredients in a food processor until well blended. Refrigerate.

Enjoy!