California Dreaming Style Salad

 

California Dreaming Style Salad

Salad

• romaine lettuce

• dash salt

• 1 cup grape tomatoes halved

• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

• ½ cup sliced almonds

• ¼ cup scallions diced

• 3 hard boiled eggs, sliced

Hot Bacon Mustard Dressing

• 4 strips uncooked bacon

• 1 cup honey-Dijon mustard

• ¼ cup white sugar

• 3 tablespoons non-pulp orange juice

• ½ tablespoon red wine vinegar

• ⅛ teaspoon ground mustard

• 1 ½ tablespoons reserved bacon drippings

Dressing

1. Cut the bacon into 1" segments and place into a cold frying pan. Turn the heat up to medium and use long tongs to move the bacon around to evenly brown it, about 7-10 minutes.

2. While the bacon is cooking, mix the other dressing ingredients together.

3. Turn the heat off from the pan. Set the bacon pieces aside on a paper towel covered plate to drain.

4. Pour the mixed dressing ingredients into the bacon grease in the pan and stir quickly to emulsify. Set aside, off the heat.

Assemble Salad

1. Pile torn romaine leaves in a large bowl. Lightly salt the leaves and toss. Add cheese, tomatoes, eggs, and almonds.

2. Dress with the still-warm dressing (reheat to lukewarm as needed), and finish topping with bacon pieces and scallions.

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

I made this cake yesterday for my hubby. It's not the prettiest dessert, but it is OH SO GOOD... How can you go wrong with ice cream sandwiches???

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

2 boxes Ice Cream Sandwiches
16 oz tub Whipped Cream Topping
8 oz jar Caramel Ice Cream Topping
8 oz jar Hot Fudge Ice Cream Topping
Mini Chocolate Chips, Chocolate Shavings or Ground Nuts

Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap. Spread a layer of whipped cream in the pan, then layer with sandwiches. Pour on the caramel topping, then the hot fudge. Top with another layer of sandwiches. Continue to layer until all sandwiches are used. Finish with a covering of Whipped Cream. Freeze for about 3 hours. Invert cake onto serving dish and peel away plastic wrap. Garnish the cake with your choice of toppings. 

BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich

 

Instant Pot Shredded Chicken

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2 lbs of chicken)

Place broth, seasoning salt, garlic powder and pepper into the Instant Pot inner pot. Stir.

Add the chicken breasts and put the lid on.

Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. (15 for frozen chicken.) It will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure and start counting down. Once the cook time is over, turn the Instant Pot off and let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. 

Open the lid and drain about half of the liquid. Shred the chicken breasts with the remaining liquid in the pot and serve as desired. To freeze, let cool to room temperature before placing in freezer bags.

For the BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich:

Drain the liquid off. (It's ok to leave a little behind.) Add a cup or so of BBQ Sauce. I use my Memphis Style Sweet Heat BBQ Sauce. Set the instant pot for 5 minutes. Let it cool. While it cools, toast buns. Top the toasted bottom with the drained BBQ chicken mixture. Add slaw and top with bread and butter pickles.

Mama's slaw link...  <---- Click Here! 

Banana Pepper Poppers

My garden is a champ at producing peppers. I wanted to try something different with them other than pickling and candying them. We aren't that big on heat, so we have a lot of banana peppers. I decided to turn them into poppers using the filling from my VooDoo Eggrolls! They turned out delicious!!!

Banana Pepper Poppers

12 Banana Peppers, halved and seeded
1 1/2 cups Crawfish Tails, chopped or shrimp*
2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1 tsp Butter
1/4 cup Onion, minced
3 cloves Garlic, minced
3/4 cup Andouille Sausage, cut in a small dice
4 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 1/2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 cup corn
1/2 block of Cream Cheese (4 oz, room temp)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, add crawfish and seasonings.

In a skillet, sauté onions and garlic in butter and Worcestershire sauce,
until tender. Add crawfish and sausage. Sauté for 2-3 minutes.
Dump back into the large bowl to cool.

Stuffed Banana Pepper Poppers

Mix cheeses and corn until well mixed. Add to the cooled meat mixture.
Stuff peppers with the mixture and bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool a little, about 5 minutes and enjoy!

*If you don't have access to crawfish, substitute shrimp. I used a combo of both in this recipe.

Beef Taco Cups

Beef Taco Cups

1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, chopped

1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 oz taco seasoning mix (click this link for my recipe) 

1/4 salsa (your favorite)
1 cup cheddar cheese (plus extra for topping)
1 tube refrigerated Flaky Biscuit Dough

Suggested Toppings: Black Bean and Corn Salsa, Black Olives, Lettuce and Tomato, Sour Cream and Hot Sauce or Taco Sauce!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the hamburger and onions until hamburger is no longer pink. Drain and return to pan. Add taco seasoning, salsa and cheese. Stir until heated through and set aside. 

Unwrap biscuits and pull each biscuit into 2 layers.* Line muffin tins with the biscuit layers. Fill with taco mixture. Top with a little more cheese and bake for 20 minutes. 

*I used jumbo muffin tins. I pulled the biscuits into 3 layers and arranged them in each muffin cup. 

Putting up a Bushel of Fresh Corn from Dorr Farms!

Thanks to Dorr Farms for the bushel of corn! I spent most of the day today cutting up a watermelon from them and then processing and vacuuming sealing 51 ears of corn! 

 1 bushel = 50 ears or so.

Cutting tops off and shucking,

silking and popping the stalk end off.

Blanching before vacuuming sealing.

Vacuum Sealing

20 double bags

3 triple bags

1 bag of 4 nibblers! 

Cheesy Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Foil Packs

Click this link for the recipe! 

Chicken Tenders! LOL

Our journey started back in February, when we decided to become chicken tenders! LOL We got chicks from a local owned feed store. We got Americanas, Isa Browns and Golden Comets. We wound up with 10 hens and 1 rooster. (Oops! But we will deal with him for now.) 

11 Babies

Under the brooder... 

5 months later, we found the rooster!

And the need for me to buy new boots!

Our first eggs!

3 collected this morning. 

2 small and one tiny!

 

The first egg the hubby cracked, 

which was small, had 3 tiny yolks!!!

I decided to video the other two just in case!
A double and a single! 

He thought since they were small eggs,

 that he'd just get one sandwich. 

He had to make two sandwiches!

Next batch is going for this

Bacon Egg and Cheeseburger

on a Tater Tot Waffle Bun!