Thursday Quickie - BBQ Chicken Quesadilla

Here's a pretty quick dinner, or lunch, for you today. Got leftover cooked chicken? Great! Now all you need are a few more things to make some yummy BBQ chicken quesadillas!

Ingredients:
1-2 tortillas
Cooked chicken, cubed or shredded it doesn't matter
Your favorite BBQ sauce
2 slices cooked bacon
Small amount of diced onion
Shredded cheddar cheese

In a skillet over medium-low heat, place a tortilla and heat until slightly browned. Flip over and on half of the tortilla, layer your ingredients. I like to start with cheese, then onions, bacon, chicken, BBQ sauce and more cheese. Fold the empty half on top of the stuffing, and flip one more time to melt the extra cheese. You can either eat like a really giant taco, or cut it into more manageable pieces. If you like, have with sour cream as well. Enjoy!

~Melissa

Challenge French's Fried Onions ...daphne

Jalepeno Poppers

My goal in challenges is always to create something spicy.  I love poppers and this ingredient adds great flavor to the filling and the topping of one of my favorite appetizers!

Challenge French's Fried Onions ~ MAW Steve

Tuesday Tip - Wakey Wakey Eggs 'n Bakey!!

My husband and I almost always have bacon (or sausage) and eggs for breakfast. The eggs are usually over medium. (On a side note on this, this used to be over easy....and then over easy somewhere along the lines of my life changed to some white still liquid too...GROSS! So now I have to remember to say over medium at restaurants so I don't end up with a nasty white mucus-like egg substance on my plate!) Anyway, I occasionally appreciate a nice scrambled egg too. I've noticed some people (ahem my father) have issues with curling bacon when they pan fry it. And others (sometimes my hubby) tend to way overcook the eggs and then there is no liquid yolk. The perfect fried egg is solid white, with liquid yolk. And the perfect bacon has a nice light crisp, while still being a bit chewy. I realize these are my opinions and others' perfect eggs and bacon may be much different. But if you're like me and enjoy this variation, here are a couple tips for the eggs and bacon.

First, I cook the bacon. Place the bacon in the pan, then turn the heat on to medium low. Reduce heat slightly if your bacon starts to curl. Keep the heat lower and be sure to flip the bacon several times during the cooking process. This helps with even cooking and helps you keep track of how done it is without burning it. When it's to your liking, remove to paper towels and pat excess grease off. Pour the grease out of the pan into whatever container you use. Cooking the bacon over higher heat causes it to curl, and burn more easily. Wipe the pan out of the extra bits, unless you enjoy eggs cooked in bacon grease, then by all means leave it! Make sure your pan has time to cool a little, or use a new pan if desired. The pan will be hotter than you want for the eggs immediately after cooking the bacon. For the eggs, again, your pan will be over medium-low to low heat to cook. If you're good at cracking eggs without breaking them, then feel free to crack them directly into the pan. If you're not, then crack them into a bowl first, and pour the bowl contents into the pan. Let the eggs cook until the bottom white layer is cooked through, and the clear layer that surrounds the yolk just begins to look cooked. Then gently flip them over and cook only an additional minute or two. You can use your spatula to test around the yolk; you will be able to feel when the white is fully cooked and the yolk is still liquid.

Here is a picture to show what the egg looks like right before I flip it. You can see the bottom white is fully cooked through and the clear that surrounds the yolk is just beginning to look cooked.

Enjoy!
~Melissa

The Dinner Party

I love to cook!  That is a given though, because why would I be a part of a cooking blog if I didn't.  One of the reasons I love to cook is because of the creativity it affords me.  I can think of nothing better than putting new flavors together and thinking of new ways to serve the dishes.  This was the case this week when I invited some of my friends over for dinner.

It was Halloween night and those of us without kids who didn't feel the desire to pass out candy decided to get together.  (For the record, I left a huge bowl of the sugary treats outside for kids to take.  I'm not heartless.)  I told them to come after dark and to bring nothing but their senses.  Little did they know, I would be taking one of those senses away.  We did Dinner in the Dark.

That's right.  I took away their sense of sight for the meal.  I had heard about a restaurant that does every day.  Everyone is served in a completely darkened room.  I loved the idea and thought that it would work if I did little tasting bites of food.  So I came up with 10 dishes, made them bite size and served them to my guest who had been blindfolded.  My wife served as the table captain helping people find the food on their plate and not spill their wine. Stemless wine glasses are a good idea here.

Here are a few of the dishes I served.  Proscuitto wrapped Melon,  Tomato Soup and a 3 Cheese Grilled Cheese, and a Steak, Potato and Asparagus Bite.  There were a couple desserts too including a Candy Corn crispy rice treat in honor of the holiday.  Everyone was impressed with the food and all in all the dishes were a success.

Here is the funny thing though.  As much as we think we know what food tastes like, this dinner party proved that our eyes have a lot to do with that.  One girl at the party thought that the tomato soup was French Onion.  Another thought that chocolate chips were mince meat.  These things could never be confused by sight, but without that sense we become accostomed to we aren't as sure of things as we once were.  Thankfully, everyone knew what the steak and potatoes were.

Next time you want to have a dinner party, think about how you will present the dishes and be creative with how you serve everything.  Life is an experience, and that includes everything that happens in the kitchen as well.

Thursday Quickie

Salsa Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 jar favorite salsa
2 cups mexican blend shredded cheese


Preheat oven to 350*
Season chicken well with taco seasoning and place in sprayed baking dish.
Pour salsa evenly over chicken.
Top with cheese.

Bake for 70 minutes.

Serve with black beans and rice for a yummy, easy prep meal!

Challenge Candy Corn ~ Melissa

When I made this up in my mind, it was supposed to be the bottom layer crust, then a layer of slightly melted candy corn, topped with the cheesecake. What actually happened was the candy corn completely melted and seeped into the crust, and by the time it cools, it basically hardens so much you can't really even cut it. I was hoping the cheesecake batter would help prevent the candy corn from doing this, but it didn't. Oh well, the filling is still quite delicious! And next time, I would reduce the butter used in the crust and melt some candy corn to prepare the crust (less than a cup for sure or it would be just as hard!). And the presentation picture was taken with my new awesome camera....I love it! :-) <3 Melissa

Challenge Candy Corn ...daphne

Friday Food Story ~ Halloween Candy

Halloween is less than a week away, and that means....LOTS of candy! Candy everywhere you look! But remember back when you were a kid and you went Trick-or-Treating and there was always a house or two that handed out terrible candy, or only gave out one piece?!? Seriously, what was that about? As a kid, we love this holiday for all the yummy, good candy we get one night a year, so why do the adults have to go get the cheapest possible candy they can find? Yes, I realize candy is expensive (quite ridiculously in fact), but think back to when you were a kid....did you really want that mystery candy in the waxy paper wrapper? Who really knew what that was anyway? It always got thrown away from my sack of loot. And the no name lolly pops? Forget it! They had a party in the trash can with the mystery candy. So now that my hubby and I are *mostly* adults, we have to make sure it is done right! No "child molester candy" as we call it. We get the good stuff, the stuff WE want to eat when we have more candy leftover than Trick-or-Treaters that visit our home. And we aren't stingy either...big handfuls get dumped into the kiddies' bags. We like to be the "good house" that the kids remember later that night, the house they look forward to going to again next year. And whenever we have kids, we will be the best house in the neighborhood in their eyes!

Happy Halloween everyone! Wishing you a safe and spooktacular holiday!

<3 Melissa

Thursday Quickie - 3 Cheese Grilled Cheese

Simple is the name of the game when it comes to the Thursday Quickie and there is nothing more simple than ramping up the flavors and textures of an ordinary grilled cheese sandwich.  So, here is how I make my grilled cheese and I hope you enjoy it.

2 Slices Whole Wheat Bread
1 TBSP Margarine or soft Butter
1 Slice Cheddar Cheese
1 Slice Monteray Jack cheese
1 TBSP Goat Cheese
2 Slices Tomato
Oregano

Instructions

1.  Heat Skillet to medium heat.  Butter both slices of bread.
2.  On the unbuttered side of the bread, place cheddar cheese, goat cheese, tomato slices, oregano and jack cheese in that order.  Add other slice of bread, butter side up.
3.  Place on skillet.  After 2 minutes check bottom for brownness, once bread is browned, flip sandwich.  Cook on bottom side for another 2-4 minutes or until both sides are golden brown and delicious.

Personally, I like to smush the sandwich with my spatula a little to get that cheese melting closer to the cooking surface.

Enjoy...~MAW Steve