Gametime Snacks

 

Teriyaki Wings, Lemon Pepper Wings, Stuffed Mushrooms, Spicy Corn Dip, Sausage & Cheese Meatballs, Dilly Ranch Crackers and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheeseball...

 From the other end of the table...

Teriyaki Wings

Teriyaki Sauce

1/3 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

Mix all but the cornstarch and 1/4 cup of cold water, in a sauce pan over medium heat. Mix cornstarch and water. Stir til dissolved. Add to sauce pan. Heat until thickened. Toss wings in sauce and serve.

Lemon Pepper Wings

Lemon Pepper Sauce

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp minced garlic

lemon pepper to taste

Combine ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer for a couple of minutes. Toss wings in sauce and serve.

I made Melissa's Melissa's Supreme Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms. Click here for her recipe. BTW... hers are much prettier than mine!!! ;-)

I made Amiee's Jalapeno Corn Dip. I didn't have the jalapenos so I added Cayenne Pepper instead. :-)

Pizza Tarts

Dilly Ranch Crackers

I changed these up a bit the usual recipe is...

Oyster Crackers (12oz bag)
1/4 cup oil

1 package Ranch Dip Mix

1/2 tsp garlic powder

I added 1/2 tsp lemon pepper for a kick!

Mix ingredients in a plastic container with an air tight lid.  Shake crackers and flip container every 10 minutes or so. I make these a day ahead for the oil and flavors to set.

To change this Chocolate Chip Cheeseball up, I added some peanut butter to the original recipe! I left out the vanilla because I had vanilla wafers to go with it.

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Simple Breakfast Food

Yesterday, I posted a picture of an egg and a piece of toast on my Facebook page, and I received 88 comments so far. For the most part, the comments were nice and positive, but some were rude and negative. I received 384 'like's and 30 people shared this simple picture of a soft fried egg and a piece of pan fried toast.

I was told that this is toad in a hole, eggs in a nest, poached egg on toast and one eyed jacks. Actually, I made French Toast for my son and had a tiny bit of egg mixture left in the bowl. It only partially covered one side, so it's basically pan fried toast. I fried the egg because I don't care for syrup with French Toast. The picture above is of what I called:

 "A farm egg and buttered white bread toast... salt and pepper.It doesn't get any fresher, simpler or better... and I love runny eggs :-)"

I received several comments of 'yuck', 'ewwww' and one 'gross'. I had to laugh. I know that the runny or 'dippy' eggs are going to cause a knee jerk response, add some people even commented on a gag reflex problem. Again, I had to laugh, until a guy questioned the southern-ness of my dish. He labeled himself 'my Yankee self' and said... 

"Not particularly southern though. My Yankee self ate this long before moving here."

What did I say about the knee jerk reactions of earlier comments? LOL If you know me... I like to laugh! I like to be funny! But, I am a Southern Belle and us Southern Belles are a loyal and passionate lot. However, I'm not about to get into a debate on who invented the egg! I simply posted this picture with this heading:

"Someone said something earlier about me and my food not being "Southern". This is my daughter-in-law, and she didn't like that!!!"

Hee Hee Hee!!!

Here's a picture for the guy that told me that I forgot the bacon. I was out of bacon, but here's some bacon and some sausage too!

I never thought a picture of a simple fried egg and a piece of toast would cause such controversy! LOL 

If you'd like to check out more breakfast recipes here at Southern With A Twist, you can use the search at the upper right of this page or check out the links attached to these pictures...

Breakfast Pie

French Toast Casserole

Easy Peasy Cinnamon Rolls

Enjoy and have a great morning!

Lynn

Cinnamon-Vanilla Fig Topping

With all the figs coming in early, I'm putting a lot of them in the freezer for now. I'll make one big batch of preserves and then save some to experiment on with new recipes! 

This recipe is great as a topping for oatmeal, pancakes, biscuits and ice cream...

plus anything else you can imagine!

4 cups of figs, washed, stemmed and quartered
8 tablespoons of sugar (or honey)
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
4 oz of water (for consistency)

Combine the ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer until mixture is the consistency of a thick glaze.

Easy Corn Pudding

This is another recipe that Mama gave me. It was one of my Grandmother Elliott's favorites. If you have some corn-on-the-cob left over or if you just have canned... this recipe is wonderful. It's buttery, creamy and ever so slightly sweet!

Corn Pudding is a very easy recipe. If you have a problem with 'weeping' or watery puddings, pan fry or saute the corn in some butter until all the liquid is cooked off. This should give the pudding a better consistency.

2 cups Corn

2 t Sugar

1 ½ t Salt

1/8 t Pepper

3 Eggs, beaten

2 T Melted Butter

2 cups Milk

Combine corn, sugar, salt and pepper. Add eggs, butter and milk. Mix well. Pour into baking dish. Bake at 325 for 45 to 60 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

Notes: “Grandmama Elliott’s Favorite”

Either way, this is good stuff!!!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

I made this for the first time this week for a crowd of 160 at VBS. If you serve this to a bunch of kids, and they like it... it must be good. When a teenager asks for the recipe... GOLD!!!

4 Chicken Breasts, cooked and shredded
1 can Cream of Mushroom (or Chicken) Soup
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup ranch dressing
1 sm pkg real bacon bits
1/2 t salt (to taste)
1/4 t pepper (to taste)
1/4 t garlic powder (to taste)
1/4 t basil (optional)
2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Mix all ingredients except the cheese. Spray a casserole dish with oil and pour chicken mixture in the dish. Bake at 350 degrees until warmed through. Top with cheese and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese melts and begins to turn brown.

Optional biscuit topping...
Mix ALL the ingredients together and warm. Top with biscuit dough and cook until golden brown.

Optional Cracker Topping...
Fix as directed above, until cheese is melted. Combine 1 sleeve of crushed Ritz crackers and 1 stick of melted butter. Toss, then sprinkle cracker mixture on top of the casserole. Bake for an additional 5-8 minutes... watch so the crackers don't burn.

Elliott's Strawberry Ice Cream Pops

A while back, I wrote the post on how to make Homemade Ice Cream in a bag. My son, Elliott loves the way it tastes and loves to make it himself. I thought by now my 14 year old son would think that this is no longer cool to do... Last night, he got out the strawberries (which he wrote on his part of the grocery list) and decided to make his own ice cream.

Of course he turns away!

He's "churning" the ice cream.

What you need:

• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla
• 6 tablespoons Rock Salt or Kosher Salt
• 1 pint size plastic bag
• 1 gallon size plastic bag
• Ice

What you do:

Put sugar, milk and vanilla in the small bag and seal it good and tight. Fill the big bag half way with ice and the salt. Put the small bag inside the big bag with the ice and salt. Shake and roll the bags around for about 5 minutes. Wipe the salt water of the top of the small bag and open carefully. Voila! Ice Cream

Tip:

The ice and salt gets really cold, so give the kids oven mits or a towel to handle the bags.

Next, he cut up the strawberries... 

Taking the ice cream bag

out of the salt and ice bag... 

Make sure you wipe off the bag

so you don't get salty water in the ice cream.

He layered the popsicle mold

alternating strawberries and ice cream.

He piped in the ice cream

by clipping the corner of the bag.

To the freezer...

Strawberry Ice Cream Pops... by Elliott!

Southern Slaw Dog... with Chili

It's the perfect weekend to grill out. Throw some hot dogs and hamburgers on and have a party! Take a dip in the pool and enjoy a slice of cool watermelon (that has been floating around and chilling in the pool), while the kids see how far they can spit the seeds!

A Good Ole Southern Slaw Dawg!

I started watching Mama make this slaw when I was little and graduated to helping. She never measured. It was always a splash of this or a sprinkle of that. So, I hope this describes enough for you to follow. It just takes practice to get the taste right… And the picture is how I like to eat it! Yum! 


Mama's Slaw


1 Head Cabbage, grated
2 Carrots, grated
Mayonnaise
Lemon
Sugar
Salt & Pepper to taste


Grate the cabbage, then grate the carrots. I usually look at the color to know how many carrots to use. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. (Probably about a teaspoon or so) Sprinkle with lemon juice. I usually put two fingers over the mouth of the bottle and sprinkle about three or four shakes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add enough mayo to bind it together. It will get soupier as it sits. Taste and adjust your seasonings.

Italian Herb and Cheddar Loaf

Have you ever read somebodies blog, post or tweet and gotten so inspired that you felt you could do what they were talking about? Well, I have and I did... I LOVE reading Joy the Baker. Her style of writing and story telling is great and funny and charming... etc. She had a post the other day about an Italian Bread that she made, and I was bound and determined to make it. I went to the grocery store and looked for the "bread flour" that she talked about to no avail. They had cake flour and several other things, but not being a baker (I think I've said that before... I am NOT a baker! LOL) I'm not familiar with all the varieties of flour and baking mixes. I have a big ole bag of All-Purpose flour in my kitchen and that's all I use. I bake cakes and biscuits and a few other things when I need to, but I don't dream about baking. As a matter of fact, I kind of gave up on the idea of making the bread until I spied a box... Italian Bread Mix.

Fleischmann's Simply Homemade
No Knead Bread Mix
Italian Herb................... Just Add Water
................................... Less than 1 Hour

 Hmmm! That box has ME written all over it! I can fake that one! Ha! And if it turns out good, they have 3 other flavors too! Don't judge me... I said I'm not a baker!!! I look for any shortcut I can find when baking... I don't know why!

Well, I made the bread and being the 'dump cook' that I am (for those of you who are new here... a dump cook is one who just dumps stuff in a pot and cooks it! No measuring... no weighing!) I had to add some stuff in the mix...

I added about 1 1/2 cups of cubed sharp cheddar cheese.

 I cut 3 slits in the top and brushed it with olive oil.

I sprinkled it with Kosher Salt

and Cayenne Pepper for a kick!

DONE!

Breaking bread... It smells AWESOME!

Look at that cheese ooooosing out...

Tastes even better!!!

Caramelized Mushrooms

I wanted to see if the same crock pot method I used in making The Perfect Pantry's Caramelized Onions would work for my mushrooms, and it worked perfectly! I followed exactly the same procedure and they came out great, not at all soupy as I thought they would be...

 I took 1 pound of mushrooms, sliced them

and added a little olive oil.

After about 3 hours... 

I added some garlic and soy sauce!

I cut them down to warm and went to bed...

Yes, I started these late at night again, but I went to bed

and left them alone! LOL

This is what I found this morning... perfect!

I added a little more garlic and soy sauce to taste,

and let them cook another hour uncovered, on high...

Amazing flavor!!!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

I love Chicken Cordon Blue! I love the flavor, but not the work. This is so much easier than rolling and dredging and dipping and frying... It also tastes so amazing! I'm not putting the tradition method down. As a matter of fact, I love the presentation and textures of the traditional. But this casserole never turns out dry and it's easy! It's a no-fail recipe! :-)

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

6 Chicken Breasts, cooked and shredded
6 Ham Slices, rough chopped
6 Swiss Cheese Slices

1 (10.75 oz) can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 cup Sour Cream
½ cup White Wine or White Grape Juice
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Basil
1 tsp Pepper
Salt, to taste
1 (6oz) Dry Stuffing Mix (Chicken or Cornbread Flavor)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken in greased pan. Top with ham and then cheese slices. In a bowl, combine soup, sour cream, wine, garlic, basil and salt and pepper. Mix well and pour mixture over chicken. Top with stuffing mix. Bake covered for 30 minutes. If you like your topping extra crunchy, remove cover and bake for another 5 minutes.

Home-made Ice Cream in a Bag!

Summer is almost upon us... Here in SC, I feel like summer is in full swing. It's 86 degrees outside and 90 degrees in my kitchen! This ice cream sure hits the spot and it's a great thing to get kids active in the kitchen! My son, Elliott loves to do this!

What you need:

• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla
• 6 tablespoons Rock Salt or Kosher Salt
• 1 pint size plastic bag
• 1 gallon size plastic bag
• Ice

What you do:

Put sugar, milk and vanilla in the small bag and seal it good and tight. Fill the big bag half way with ice and the salt. Put the small bag inside the big bag with the ice and salt. Shake and roll the bags around for about 5 minutes. Wipe the salt water of the top of the small bag and open carefully. Voila! Ice Cream

Tip:

The ice and salt gets really cold, so give the kids oven mits or a towel to handle the bags.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

The hubby was supposed to go out of town yesterday, but the job they had scheduled wasn't ready. So he actually got home early... Starving as usual! It was 2:30 in the afternoon! What to cook??? I fried pork chops for a scallopini the other night and could not bring myself to throw out the drippings or the seasoned flour I coated them with, so I made a milk gravy and canned it! I put it in the frig to use later. I decided to use that and started to rummage through the frig. I had a package of Johnsonville Italian Sausage left and some biscuits in the freezer. Viola! Sausage Gravy and Biscuits!

I added flour seasoned with a little basil,

red and black pepper and salt

(about 2 or 3 Tbsp of the flour)

to the pan drippings. Then I added milk

until I got the thickness I wanted.

I boiled the sausage first for a quick cook!

Then I browned it.

I cooked some biscuits... no not homemade :-(

I said this had to be quick :-)

The Hubby wanted his biscuits split and lots of them.

He actually complained that I was putting to much sausage,

and I had to take some off...

Guess who went back for seconds?????

This is mine...

I left mine whole with just enough sausage and gravy!