Cinco de Mayo Recipes

Happy Cinco de Mayo...tomorrow! We plan on celebrating as well...hopefully we will share those recipes soon.
If you are in need of a few for your celebrations...here are some of our favorites!

Sour Cream Enchiladas

Shrimp Tacos

Cream Cheese Enchiladas

Cafe Rio Pork Burritos

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Cafe Rio Chicken Salad

Chicken Chimichangas

Queso

Cheesy Bean Dip

Sopapilla Bars

Thanksgiving Ideas

We have a few family favorites that are a must at our Thanksgiving table. I thought it would be fun to share a few with you all...maybe they will become a family favorite for you as well!

Cream Cheese Dip

Veggie and Chip Dip

Veggie Pizza

 Roasted Green Beans

Carrots with Horseradish Cream Sauce

Monkey Bread

Rolls

Raspberry Pretzel Jello

Apple Snicker Salad

Cornbread Stuffing

Fried Turkey

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Roll

When going through our favorites...I noticed many recipes are missing! So hopefully in the upcoming weeks we will add a few more!

Favorite Soup Recipes

Who doesn't love soup? Ok I guess Brooks doesn't....but I do! It is one of the things that warms up your insides on a cold day. Plus they are usually super easy.
Every Halloween Season we get together with all my extended family and have a big Halloween Party. We have a bunch of different soups and the kids get to go trick or treating to all the aunts and uncles. It is always a good time.

Here are a few of my favorite recipes we have shared!

Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

Market Street Clam Chowder

Vegetable Tortellini

Zuppa Toscana

White Chicken Chili

Tortellini Meatball Soup

Baked Potato Soup

Chicken and Artichoke Soup


Lasagna Soup

Cream Cheese Enchiladas

*What do you know...we spent $350 fixing our MAC and now the internet isn't working on it. Gotta love technology. This is one of my favorite recipes...so I thought for all of you newbies, you might want to add this recipe to your collection!
After I had Bella, my friend Hillary made these for us for dinner (thanks for letting me share this recipe). It is just heavenly!

2 Chicken Breasts-shredded

1 8 oz block Cream Cheese

1 can Green Enchilada Sauce

1 can Black Beans-rinsed and drained

2 cups cooked Rice-we cooked rice with juice from one lime and the lime zest. Also we added about 1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro.

6-8 Tortillas

First off mix the chicken, cream cheese and enchilada sauce together and set aside.

On tortillas layer about 1/4 cup of rice, then black beans (as much as you would like) and then about 1/4-1/2 cup of chicken mixture. Then wrap them up and lay seam side down on 9 x 13 baking sheet. Continue until mixture is gone. Top with a little bit of Mexican style cheese.

Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes covered. Then uncover for about 5 minutes to brown cheese.

Enjoy!

Top 10 Posts of 2010

My friend Carrian, from Sweet Basil taught me how to post the top 10 posts from the year. I was pretty excited and a little surprised at the top posts! We had 8 recipes, and 2 giveaways that made it to the top! So here you go!

#10 
Ms. Ladybug Review and Giveaway

#9
Eclair Cake



#8
Aunt Peg's Jewelry & Handmade Treasures: Sponsor, Review and Giveaway



#7
Dutch Oven S'more Cake



#6
White Bread



#5
Donut Muffin


#4
Breakfast Casserole


#3
Peach Cobbler

#2
Dinner in a Pumpkin


#1
Pumpkin Roll

Rocky Ledge Bars

This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart! Let me just tell you, the smell that comes from your oven is just heavenly. I had some friends come over to shop through etsy store, and they were dying over the smell! They even taste better once they are out of the oven. This recipe is sure to impress!

PS...do you need a few last minute gifts? Head over to my etsy shop and enter the code CUCINAFAMIGLIA for 15% off your order!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

2 1/4 cups flour

1 cup miniature marshmallows

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

18 soft caramels (or 1 cup of the caramel bites)

Mix butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Then add eggs and vanilla. Combine well. Add salt, baking powder and flour until combined. Fold in half of the marshmallows, and half of the chocolate, butterscotch and white chips. Spread batter on a greased 9x13 baking pan. Layer caramels, and the remaining marshmallows and chips. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Let cool before slicing. 

Donut Muffin

A few weeks ago we were watching "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." Someone said the best thing they ever ate was a donut muffin. Of course we knew we had to make donut muffins. Their our four words I would use to describe these muffins...THE. BEST. MUFFIN. EVER! Well in my opinion at least! These muffins were quickly devoured by me and my kids...and Brooks and his friend from work. They make the perfect breakfast, dessert, after school snack, dinner...ok really you can make them for anything, you will just want to make them.

(it's worthy of 2 pictures:))

Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients:

1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix together oil, sugar, egg and milk. Then add dry ingredients. Mix well. Grease muffin tin, and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. While the muffins are baking mix together sugar and cinnamon in one bowl, and melt butter in another. When muffins are done cooking, remove from tin. Coat each muffin in butter and then in cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Enjoy!

French Bread Chicken Sandwich

This is a repost from my very first post on this blog...so maybe it has long since been forgot. My friend Heather made these for a girls lunch and gave me the recipe. These sandwiches are my favorite thing to make when we have friends over, or if it is just us for dinner.

3-4 chicken breasts
1 cans chicken broth
2 tablespoons Montreal Steak Seasoning
1 Loaf of French Bread
Ranch Dressing
4 slices of bacon
1 Avocado sliced
1 Tomato sliced
1 cup shredded cheese

Cook in crock pot on high for four hours with chicken broth and Montreal Steak Seasoning
(feel free to add more chicken, chicken broth and Steak Seasoning for future dinners)
It is easier for me to shred the chicken in the crock pot so that it soaks up all the marinade. Chicken freezes well for future meals!

Cut French bread loaf long ways in half.
Spread Ranch dressing on both sides of the loaf.
then add layers...chicken, bacon, cheese, tomato and avocado.
Bake at 375 for 10 minutes, and then I like to broil it for another 2 minutes. Slice and serve.

Ranch Chicken Pizza

We are always trying new things with our pizza dough recipe! We can get about 4 small, thin crust pizzas out of one recipe, so this time we tried a ranch chicken pizza. Man was it good! Plus it is quick and easy, and a change from the normal pepperoni! Your family will love this one!



Dough makes 4 small pizzas
Toppings are enough for 1 pizza
Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, grilled with salt, pepper and garlic powder
1/4 cup ranch dressing
3 slices bacon, crumbled
1/4 cup arugula, chopped
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Follow directions for dough. Preheat pizza stone at 400 for 5 minutes. Remove and place dough on stone. Then spread ranch over dough and add toppings. Bake for 15 minutes or until crust is done. Enjoy!

Greek Pasta Salad

Last week we went to Harmon's to grab something fast to eat for dinner. Brooks bought a Greek Pasta Salad...dang, it was so good! We knew we had to recreate it. So here is what we came up with. The flavors are so amazing and work so well together. My favorite part is the feta cheese. Feel free to add or subtract whatever veggies you think! Yum! This salad comes together so quickly, it is perfect for dinner, or a barbeque.

Ingredients

1 box orzo pasta

1 cucumber, chopped

1/4 red onion, chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped

10 green olives, drained and halved

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes

2 cups chopped fresh spinach

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon dill weed

Cook pasta as directed on box. Drain and let cool. Then combine all other ingredients. For the dressing mix in blender, or shake/whisk well. Toss over salad and refrigerate for at least an hour.