Cilantro Pesto

I am on a never ending quest to find simple yet delicious summer friendly recipe. I do believe the cilantro pesto fits right in, especially paired with pre-made Costco chicken ravioli. Not only is this pesto easy, it also makes a tons for you to freeze! The pesto is very light and fresh tasting, and the cilantro adds a flavorful bite that traditional basil pesto lacks. You can use the cilantro pesto on ravioli or any pasta, use it to make crostini's, put it on pizza or even mix it with your eggs!

Cilantro Pesto

1 (16 ounce) package farfalle pasta 1 bunch fresh cilantro 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans salt to taste 1/2 cup olive oil

	In an electric food processor or blender, blend cilantro, garlic, vinegar, Parmesan cheese, cayenne pepper, nuts, and salt. Add 1/4 cup of the olive oil, and blend the pesto. Add more olive oil until the pesto reaches your desired consistency.

Holiday Dinners: Father's Day

There are two times a year when I over do it on the food planning: Father's Day and my husbands birthday. I tend to plan way too many dishes and I spend the whole day cooking! Someday, maybe I will finally figure it out. So this is my father's day 2010 meal, all cooked by me, minus the steak because I don't do steaks.

New York Steaks seared and broiled to perfection by my awesome husband, topped with Gorgonzola cheese sauce


Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons crumbled Gorgonzola

cheese

1 green onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

fresh ground black pepper to taste

In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the butter, Gorgonzola cheese, green onion, garlic and pepper. Warm slowly for about 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally until the sauce is nice and creamy.

With side dishes of: Not-Too-Sweet Baked Beans, Chantilly Potatoes, Corn on the Cob, and Butterhorn Rolls.

Not-Too-Sweet Baked Beans

From: Our Best Bites

1 15 1/2-oz. can Great Northern beans

1 15 1/2-oz. can navy beans

1 15 1/2-oz. can baby butter beans

1 15 1/2-oz. can pinto beans

2 14 1/2-oz. cans stewed tomatoes

1/3 c. molasses

2 Tbsp. light brown sugar

2 Tbsp. prepared mustard

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1/2 tsp. Tabasco or other hot sauce

6 oz. bacon (1/2 of an average-sized package), divided

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 350. Reserving two slices of bacon, cook the remaining bacon in a large skillet. While it's cooking, place all beans in a colander and rinse and drain. Transfer to a large baking dish.

Pulse the tomatoes in a blender or food processor about 5-6 times or until they are breaking down but not smooth. Pour over beans. Add molasses, brown sugar, mustard, salt, and pepper.

When the bacon has cooked, remove bacon from the pan and cook the onions in the bacon drippings, stirring frequently. While the onions are cooking, crumble the cooked bacon over the beans. Add onions and combine all the ingredients well. Cut remaining slices of bacon into 1" pieces and place over the beans. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Allow to stand for 5 minutes and then serve.

Slow Cooker Instructions:

Follow the instructions for cooking in the oven, except place the ingredients in the crock of a slow cooker instead of baking dish. Cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours.

Chantilly Potatoes
from: My Kitchen Cafe


3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/4 cups heavy cream, chilled
3/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Place the potatoes in a large microwave-safe bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave the potatoes on high for 8 to 12 minutes, giving the bowl a shake halfway through, and cooking until the potatoes are tender. Mash the potatoes well with a potato masher (or you can use a potato ricer set over a second large bowl). Cover the potatoes again with plastic wrap and microwave the mashed potatoes until they are heated through, 3 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper and stir well.

In a large bowl, beat the chilled cream with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. Gently fold 2/3 of the whipped cream into the potatoes with a rubber spatula until the cream is mostly absorbed. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish. Carefully spoon the potatoes into the baking dish. They don't have to be evenly flat on top - you want to take care not to deflate this potato layer. They will look slightly uneven. With a rubber spatula, fold all but 1/4 cup cheese into the remaining cream. Spread the cheese/cream mixture over the potatoes and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

At this point you can either cover the potatoes and refrigerate until baking. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake the potatoes, uncovered, for 20 minutes, until the potatoes are hot and the top is golden brown. If you are making the potatoes to eat immediately, preheat the broiler and broil the potatoes until the top is golden, 2 to 3 minutes (don't let them burn!). Let rest for about 5 minutes before serving.

Shrimp Dipping Sauce

We love to by the breaded butterfly shrimp at costco. You can just throw them in the oven or the deep fryer, and we all fight over them. I have found an awesome dipping sauce for them (or for any kind of shrimp). It is a little like cocktail sauce, and a little like fry sauce, perfect for shrimp!


Shrimp Dipping Sauce

3/4 c mayonaise
1/3 c ketchup
1 tbsp horseradish
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together, cover and refrigerate until use.

Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

When I was in high school in Georgia, I went to a early morning church class everyday. Every month or so, we would do a big breakfast, and our teacher would make the best sausage gravy and biscuits. She was as southern as you can get, and she made the best food. Now I wish I would have got some recipes from her.

I did make some sausage gravy and biscuits the other day, while they were not as good as the true southern kind, they still hit the spot.The biscuit recipe I got is from Alton Brown, who lives not too far from where I lived in Georgia, so I figured this would probably be the closest I could get to the real thing.

Southern Biscuits


2 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp shortening
1 c buttermilk, chilled

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

And the gravy...

Sausage Gravy

2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
2 cup chicken broth
bay leaf
black pepper
ground breakfast sausage

Heat butter over med-high heat. When melted whisk in flour. Reduce heat to low and continue whisking. Cook until you smell a toasty aroma and mixture begins to turn brown, and then whisk for 2 more minutes. Take off heat and set aside.

In a separate pan, cook sausage at medium heat. When sausage is cooked, turn heat up to high and deglaze the pan with the chicken broth (pour in chicken broth while scraping the bottom of the pan). Once pan is deglazed add bay leaf and pepper and cook over high heat for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and whisk the butter and flour mixture (also called a roux). Return to a simmer and whisk until smooth and desired thickness.

Spaghetti Sauce

This spaghetti sauce recipe come from my dad. I have fond memories of Sunday dinners and his homemade delicious spaghetti sauce. I cannot buy jarred sauce anymore, it doesn't even compare!

This recipe is great because you can throw it all together last minute and cook it real quick if you want. But, my favorite thing to do with this recipe is throw all the ingredients in a crock pot and cook it on low all day. The tomatoes just come apart and the flavors all cook together. The whole house smells so good all day! I usually make a double batch, and either freeze the extra or bottle it.

Spaghetti Sauce
1 onion chopped

1 green pepper ( I leave this out, because I have a strong hated towards green peppers)
2 garlic cloves

1 16 oz can tomatoes

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1  6 oz can tomato paste (optional)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon basil

1 pound ground beef (or I have used Italian sausage,meatballs, or meatless is good too!)

Cook onion, green pepper, and garlic in olive oil then add ground beef and brown it.  Add other ingredients, heat to boiling, then simmer 1-1 1/2 hours.  Other option is to brown the beef and then put all of the ingredients in a crock pot. The slower you cook it, the better the flavor.