Cider Basting For Turkey

Ingredients

1 cup apple cider or juice (I used raspberry apple juice and it was awesome)
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup butter
Crushed Basil (we used Italian seasoning because that is what we had in the house and it was great)

Directions

Use for a whole turkey or turkey breasts or just to moisten stuffing

Warm butter in a pan. Add cider, orange juice and lemon juice, all flavored with a bit of basil. Cook over low heat until mixed well and baste turkey.

I am sure you are all wondering why the turkey recipe but it was buy one get one free turkeys and you can't pass that up. But this recipe is awesome especially the gravy that you make from the drippings. Nice and Sweet!!!

Easiest Pasta Salad Ever

OK - this one is a summer favorite, even with my kids and is so EASY! Seriously - takes all of 15 minutes to prepare and it's lovely.

1 lb Rotini (I like the multi-colored stuff)
1 bottle Italian Dressing
1 large cucumber
3 tomatoes
1/2 lb mozzerella cheese
1 can jumbo olives

Cook the pasta, drain, add the chunked cucumber and tomato, chunks of cheese and whole olives - pour 1/2-3/4 bottle of dressing over and chill. You might need to add a little more dressing before serving. So yummy, and even good left over :) No-one will know how super easy it is. Perfect for barbeques, picnics and ward parties.

Citrus Cupcakes

The only time this whole year I get to see it, but I saw this recipe this morning on Good Things Utah and I just can't wait to try it out. There is a video of how to do it too on abc4.com

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons unsalted California butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
Grated zest from 1 lime
Grated zest from 1 orange
Grated zest from 1 lemon
1 2/3 cups flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup California milk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

3 large egg yolks
3 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons unsalted California butter
Silver cake beads (dragées)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour insides of 12 muffin cups or insert paper liners.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together butter, sugar and citrus zests until smooth.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a small bowl, stir together milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Mixture will curdle slightly.
With an electric mixer on low speed, alternately add dry ingredients and milk to butter mixture in 3 additions, stirring well after each addition. On medium speed, add eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition. Beat for 1 minute.
Evenly divide the batter between cupcake molds.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes.
Remove cupcakes from pans.
Cool completely before frosting.

Whisk together egg yolks, eggs and sugar. Whisk in lemon juice.
Cook in a double boiler or on stovetop over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Transfer lemon mixture to a bowl. Cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in butter.
Cover mixture with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold and firm, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Frost cupcakes. Sprinkle silver cake beads on each cupcake.
Cupcakes Yield: 12 cupcakes
Frosting Frosting Tip Dip the knife or spatula in hot water before frosting for a smoother look.

Classic Quiche

1 (10 oz.) package of frozen chopped spinache, thawed and drained
1 cup cottage cheese
4 eggs
5 oz. of cheese, grated
3 Tbsp. flour
2 cloves garlic, minced

Mix together and pour into partially baked pie shell. Bake for 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees. I sometimes put pre-cooked ham in it and I think it makes it more like a meal, but it is tasty without the ham, too, for you vegetarians!

Bacon & Tomato salad

Cook and crumble 1 lb. bacon. Set aside
Chop 4 large tomatoes
1 small bunch green onions - chopped
In a large bowl tear up 1 head romaine lettuce
cook 1 pkg. pasta noodles - rinse in cool water, drain and add to lettuce.
Add tomatoes, onions and bacon. Pour 1-2 cups ranch dressing (Made from scratch) over just before serving.
Yummy!!

Chile Verde

Trudy Joy shared this recipe with me:
Brown pork of some kind that you cube up. When you brown it season with some garlic and onion salt. After it's brown add:
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 can chopped green chili's
1 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper
Simmer for atleast 1 hour. Serve over bean burritos. For those warm a large can of refried beans, with 1 cup grated cheese. 1 cup salsa and onion and garlic powder. Let simmer while you make the Verde. On a tortilla spread a light layer of sour cream add a little cheese and some beans. Then smother with the verde sauce. It's yummy!

Caramel Brownies

1 14 oz package caramels
1/3 c. evaporated milk
cook on low - stir until melted. It can also be done in the microwave zapping it one minute at a time and stirring in between.

1 box German chocolate cake mix
1/2 c. melted butter/margarine
1/3 c. evaporated milk

Stir until dough holds together. Form 1/2 of dough to greased 9X13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 min. Sprinkle 3/4 cup chocolate chips onto baked dough. Pour melted caramel on top. Crumble remaining dough on top of caramel. (it is hard to crumble the dough, so what I do is take small pieces of dough and flatten them out and place them on top of the caramel) Bake 15-18 min. Cool, then refrigerate for 30 min.