Chive Ham Bake

This is a great breakfast dish. You can even add whatever other veggies you would like in it. (Good with spinach or broccoli and red peppers) I found this recipe quite awhile ago in a Taste of Home magazine.

So good!

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 Tbsp butter

1 can flakes of ham, drained

1 med tomato, chopped

2 cups biscuit mix

1/2 cup water

1 cup shredded swiss or cheddar cheese

3 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/4 tsp dill weed

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

3 Tbsp minced chives

Directions

Preheat over to 350 F. In a skillet, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in ham and tomato; set aside in a bowl, combine biscuit mix and water; mix well. Press onto the bottom and 1/2" up the sides of a greased 9x13 baking dish. spread ham mixture over the crust; sprinkle with cheese. Sprinkle with pepper and chives. Bake, uncovered for 25-30 mins or until a knife inserted near the centre comes out clean. 

Southwestern Quinoa and Black Bean Casserole

We like spicy foods so it was nice finding this healthier version of a mexican dish. It was very yummy and very hearty. I added more cumin and chili powder. I think it would be good with a can of hot Rotel tomatoes in there as well. I made some adaptations to the recipe. Original recipe comes from Pinch of Yum.

Ingredients

3 large cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, minced

2 jalapenos, seeds and ribs removed, minced

2-3 bell peppers, diced (I used green, red and yellow)

1 tbsp oil

1 can of black beans

1 cup quinoa

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 1/4 cup shredded Mexican cheese

diced green onions

Instructions

Preheat over to 375 F

1. Cook the quinoa in the chicken stock as you would for rice. (I use my rice cooker). 

2. Heat oil in large pan over med-high heat. Add peppers and onion and saute for a few mins. Add garlic and jalapeno and saute again for a few more mins. Add black beans and stir together cooking through. You can add a can of Rotel Tomatoes at this point if you could like and cook awhile until thickened. Taste and add salt if needed. 

3. Mix in cooked quinoa and add cayenne, chili powder, cumin, and salt if needed. Cook for 1-2 mins. 

4. Spoon mixture in a glass baking dish coated with cooking spray. (I used a 9x9 pan). Top with cheese. Place in oven and cook until cheese is melted. 

5. Top with fresh tomatoes, green onion and avocado if desired 

Can be served with sour cream, tortilla chips or on some lettuce for a mexican salad. 

Jewish Apple Cake

This cake is great for breakfast/brunch. So yummy with the cinnamon and apple combination. I baked this in my angel food cake pan. So moist and good! It's a very thick batter so a bit tricky to spread but if you put little blobs all around and spread carefully it works. Enjoy! This recipe comes from Lime in the Coconut.

Ingredients

For the apples:

5-6 sm-med apples, cored, peeled and sliced thinly

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon

For the batter:

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup orange or pineapple juice

4 eggs

1 cup oil

2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a tube pan for baking. 

In a large bowl, toss your sliced apples with sugar and cinnamon and set aside. In a separate small bowl, mix together your dry ingredients-the flour, salt and baking powder. Then in a large mixing bowl combine your juice, eggs and oil until combined. Pour in the sugar and extract and mix until well incorporated then add the flour mixture and blend well. Now in your prepared tube pan you'll be layering the batter 3 times and apples 2 times, layer batter then apples then batter then apples and finishing up with a layer of batter. If you have any juices that have collected from your apples in the bowl simply pour them onto the cake once your done building up the layers. These sweet, cinnamony juices will contribute to the moistness of the cake.  

Bake for 1 1/2 hours until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan and then remove and serve. 

Mama's Pound Cake

It's always good having a yummy pound cake recipe on hand and this one is a good one to have. It calls for vegetable shortening but I used coconut oil instead which gave it a really nice flavour that went well with the strawberries and frozen yogurt I served it with. You could also just use all butter if you want. Some have said it's a bit sweet with the 3 cups of sugar, I put just slightly less but it goes good with fresh berries without any added sweetening. This make a lot of batter so make sure you use a large tube pan (I used an angel food cake pan that doesn't have the removable bottom) You could use a large bundt pan, cake pans or large loaf pans, whatever you use make sure it doesn't fill more than about half way. Recipe is from Paula Dean.

Ingredients

1/2 pound (2 sticks or 1 cup) butter, plus more for pan

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan

1/2 tsp fine salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk (I used half & half)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat over to 350 F

With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together. Add sugar, a little at a time. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Mix in vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours (this depends on what pans you use could be less time if separating the batter into multiple pans), until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. 

Chicken Salad Croissants

I have always loved these. Perfect to have for a Summer lunch. This recipe is a little different than I have had in the past with the added cabbage and pineapple but I had it at a church function and I thought they were very yummy and needed to get the recipe...so thank you Lonny Leavitt! (not sure where she got it from but thanks) I don't recommend making it the day before as it tends to go watery.

Ingredients

2 cups of cooked chicken

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup cabbage

1/2 cup pineapple tidbits 

1/2 red onion

1/2 cup toasted cashews or almonds

3/4 cup of grapes

Dressing

1/2 mayo

1/2 salad dressing (mirale whip)

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp dry mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together and serve on croissants or whatever bread you prefer, or just on a bed of lettuce.