Potato Skins

These are the BEST Potato Skins!! I got this recipe as well from www.recipezaar.com, it is recipe #439008 posted by CrAzYcOoKeR222 and I thank them immensely for posting it!! I just found this recipe last week and have made it twice already because they are just sooooo good!

They are different then any other Skins I have had before, because you actually season the skins before baking them and wow does it ever taste fantastic!! Once again, very little change made to this recipe for me because it was so darn good to begin with!

4 large Baking Potatoes(ok, use whatever you have, I usually buy big bags of Russets and just pick the nicest ones out of the bag for baking, I actually find the medium sized potatoes make a nicer size Skin)

4 tbsp Olive Oil

1 1/2 tbsp Grated Parmesan Cheese

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder(ok, I put in closer to a full tsp because I love garlic powder)

1/2 tsp Paprika

Pepper, to taste

Bacon, as much as you desire :), cooked and crumbled (I always use Turkey bacon, my family likes it better, lower fat and to us has way more flavour)

3 cups Shredded Marble Cheese

Sour Cream

Green Onion, chopped(I find cutting green onion with scissors to be much quicker and easier then chopping with a knife)

1. Bake Potatoes(my way: stab with fork a few times,coat with olive oil and bake directly on rack at 425F for 50 to 60 minutes depending on size). Then cut in half lengthwise and scoop potato out, leave a little bit to support the skin.

2. Combine oil, parmesan, salt, garlic powder, paprika and pepper. Brush all over both sides of the skins and place them on a baking sheet.

3. Bake at 475F for 8 to 10 minutes, turn over then bake on other side for another 8 to 10 minutes.

4. Turn skins right side up, fill with cheese and cooked, crumbled bacon.  Bake for a few more minutes until cheese is melted.

Top with sour cream and onions and E-N-J-O-Y!!

Technorati Tags: potatoes,potato skins,appetizer

Apple Crumble

hmm, guess where this recipe came from? Yeah, of course, www.recipezaar.com, can you tell I love that site?? LOL

Of course most recipes using apples call for a specific kind, I know some kinds are supposed to be better then others for baking, but who am I to actually listen to stuff like that!? I actually made this recipe because I found some apples in the bottom of my crisper drawer, I have no idea how long they were there for, probably about a month, definitely not nice and crispy to eat alone, but still great to peel them and bake with them!(food costs too much these days to just throw away when not necessary!) . The apples I had were Red Delicious.

This was so easy and absolutely delish! I topped it with some Whipped topping to serve but I'm sure would have been great with Vanilla Ice Cream if we had any.

And it just dawned on me now that if you are in Canada, contact your local Epicure consultant and get some VE Apple Pie Spice, I bet that would be fantastic for this instead of just the cinnamon, I have some but didn't even think of it when I made this! If you're in the US, sorry I'm pretty sure Epicure isn't down there, which is too bad because they have some AWESOME spices!

6 Apples, peeled and either sliced or cut into bite size pieces, whichever you prefer, I did the bite size.

1/3 cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon

TOPPING:
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 egg

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/3 cup Butter, melted

1. Mix apples, brown sugar and cinnamon and flatten out in bottom of a baking dish.

2. Mix all the topping ingredients (EXCEPT cinnamon and butter) with a fork. Sprinkle on top of apples.

3. Drizzle melted margarine on top, sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 375F for 40 minutes.

Technorati Tags: apples,dessert,apple pie,apple crumble,apple crisp

Bourbon Chicken

Ok, so this doesn't have any Bourbon in it, but it has sort of a Bourbon or Asian type chicken flavour. Another one I found on www.recipezaar.com then made my own changes to, although I don't think I changed much on this one from the original posted one as it was excellent to begin with.

This is probably my husbands favourite meal that I make.

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

2 Clove Garlic

1/2 tsp Ginger

1 1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

1/2 cup Juice(I have tried this with Apple Juice, Orange Juice, Lemonade and even Apple Sauce...so use what you have, all tasted great, I think the Lemonade tasted best but there was a very subtle difference between all of them)

2/3 cup Brown Sugar

4 tbsp Ketchup

1 tbsp Cider Vinegar(the recipe called for Cider Vinegar which I used to use, but when I ran out I couldn't find it anywhere so have been using Apple Cider Vinegar since and it works fine, I'll be honest I don't know the difference between these vinegars LOL)

1 cup Water

2/3 cup Soy Sauce(I've made it both with regular Soy Sauce and with Low Sodium Soy Sauce, it actually tastes different both ways, better with Low Sodium)

corn starch

1. Heat about 2 tbsp of Olive Oil in a large pot. Cut chicken breast into bite sized pieces and cook in pot until nicely browned and cooked through. Remove chicken from the pot and set aside.

2. Mix all remaining ingredients together and heat over medium heat until well mixed, add about a tbsp of cornstarch to help the sauce to start thickening a bit..

3. Add chicken back in and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add more corn starch if needed for a nice sauce.

4. Serve over rice or pasta. I always serve it over Whole Wheat Linguine then top with Sesame Seeds and Green Onion if I have it.

Technorati Tags: chicken,pasta,bourbon chicken

Warm Spinach and Artichoke Dip

I order this stuff a LOT when we go to restaurants, love it! But of course restaurants tend to use the highest fat ingredients. It is really easy to make at home and easy to make a lot lower fat by using low fat ingredients.

When I make it I fill 2 oval dishes(as you see in the pic) that I picked up at the dollar store, but I place both dishes on a baking sheet to put in the oven.

1/2 cup Low Fat Sour Cream

1/2 cup Low Calorie Mayonnaise(I'm a Miracle Whip lover, so that's what I use)

1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese(you can use fresh parmesan if you want, but I'm cheap so I just use it from my big container of Kraft grated parmesan)

1/2 cup Shredded Skim Milk Mozzarella

2 tsp Minced Garlic

1 pkg Frozen Spinach, thawed and drained(squeeze the water out)

1 can Artichoke Hearts, chopped(if you can fine the cans of prechopped hearts even better!, I seem to only be able to find these at the dollar store of all places, so stock up when they have them, only a dollar there, Safeway is about $3!)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, pour into oven safe dishes and bake for about 20 minutes at 325F. Let it cool for a few minutes then dip away with crackers, tortilla chips or veggies.

Technorati Tags: spinach dip,spinach artichoke dip,dips,dip,appetizer,snack,spinach,artichoke

Banana Bread

mmmm, yummy! I've been using this Banana Bread recipe for a couple of years now, my family loves it when I make this. It's a very moist and cake-like version of Banana Bread.

Feel free to add chocolate chips to it if you would like!

1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp Baking soda

1/4 tsp Salt

3/4 tsp Cinnamon(or however much you like, we love cinnamon so I tend to add a lot)

1/4 cup Butter

1/4 cup Applesauce

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

2 Eggs, beaten

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 1/3 cups Mashed Bananas(the riper the better, approx 5 bananas)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

3. In a separate bowl cream butter and sugar together. Stir in eggs, Vanilla and mashed bananas.

4. Add liquid mixture to dry and stir just until mixed.

5. Pour batter into greased loaf pan, bake at 350F for 60 minutes.

I have also made this recipe in an 8x8 glass dish when I didn't have any loaf pans. It came out great, just double the recipe and bake for about 45 minutes.

Technorati Tags: banana,bananas,banana bread,bread,snack,dessert,banana loaf

More Recipes Coming

I know I haven't been posting much on this blog lately, moving was my first excuse lol. But I hope to post some more recipes next week when I get a chance! Coming soon will be my recipes for: Banana Bread, Apple Crisp, Spinach Artichoke Dip and ummm, I can't remember the others I was going to post lol, but there should be more!

Guacamole with a Kick

****Edit***** LOL, I just noticed that I did in fact post this recipe before, it was my first recipe on here. But I just think it's so darn good that I'm going to leave it here again anyway!****

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet. I thought I had, but I guess I just took the picture to prepare to but didn't get any farther then that. A friend asked me today how to make Guacamole so now I guess is the time to post it!

And sorry I haven't posted any recipes in a while! Since moving my blogging groove has been gone, but I'm trying to get it back ;).

I LOOOOVE Guacamole and after trying many many different recipes and liking them all, once I tried this one it was an automatic favourite and the only one I have used since.

2 avocados, mashed

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 medium onion, diced fine

1 large tomato, diced fine

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 dash hot sauce

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, adjust chili powder and hot sauce according to personal taste and tolerance for 'heat'.
2. Cover and allow to chill for a bit, serve as desired.
**make sure avocados are nice and ripe or it will seriously affect how good your guacamole is.