Chevy's Sweet Corn Tomalito

Ever eaten at Chevy's and had that yummy corn cake mushy scoop on the side of your order? It is called Sweet Corn Tomalito and I just made it! This side dish goes well with Mexican dishes or BBQ.

Ingredients:
4 cups frozen corn, thawed
1/3 cup butter, softened (about 2/3 stick)
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup masa harina (corn flour like they use to make tamales)
1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (I use salted butter so I didn't add the salt)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2) Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl using an electric mixer. Add milk and masa and mix well.
3) Use a blender to puree 2 cups of corn until smooth. Add pureed corn to butter/masa mixture and mix well. Add corn meal, baking power, salt and remaining corn and mix until combined. I didn't have masa harina so I just ground up popcorn kernels to make corn flour and it worked great.
4) Pour mixture into an ungreased 8x8 glass baking pan (I used a 7x10 pan because that is all I had). Cover with tin foil and place the pan into a 9x13 baking pan. Add hot water to the big pan until it is about 2/3 full.
5) Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes or until cake is firm in the center and not gooey. Remove from oven and let it sit on the counter covered for 10 minutes before serving. To serve, scoop out 1/2 cup portions with a large spoon. Makes about 8 large servings.

Chevy's Fresh Salsa

I got this basic recipe from a "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes" book that I bought at Kohl's for $5.00. The book had lots of great versions of recipes from restaurants that we like. My hubby goes nuts over the salsa at Chevy's so I decided to make this for him. He said it is the best salsa ever! Of course I always modify recipes, so here is my version below.

Ingredients:
5-6 medium tomatoes
2-3 jalapenos
1/4 of a red onion
1-2 cloves fresh garlic
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons liquid mesquite smoke

Directions:
Preheat your grill. Remove stems from tomatoes and rub some oil on them. Rub oil on jalapenos too. Place tomatoes on grill when it's hot. After about 10 minutes, add the jalapenos to the grill. About 10 minutes later turn the tomatoes and the jalapenos. Continue grilling until the jalapenos are charring black and tomatoes are partially black. When the skin starts to come off, they are done. Remove from grill and let them cool on a plate. When cooled, remove the black part of the skin. If you are impatient like me, I put them under some cold water to speed up the cooling process and to not burn my hands. Put the tomatoes and peppers in the blender (or food processor). Add remaining ingredients and mix for 5-10 seconds until the mixture has a good consistency. Place in covered container and chill for several hours or overnight to let flavors blend. Makes 2-3 cups.

IHOP Harvest Grain 'n Nut Pancakes

I found this recipe in a "Top Secret Restaurant Recipe" book and made these for my in-laws when they visited last weekend. We all loved them!

Mix in one bowl:
3/4 cup oats (measure then grind up in blender to make oat flour)
3/4 cup wheat flour (I ground up wheat kernels then measured)
1/3 cup flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt (I left this out because I don't like salt)

Mix in another bowl with an electric mixer:
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
2 eggs
1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons almonds
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
(I ground the nuts up in the blender to make them small, but not like flour)

Mix the bowl of dry ingredients and the bowl of wet ingredients together. Add the nuts last and mix by hand.

Spray the griddle with Pam, ladle batter onto hot skillet and cook as usual. They look more brown than usual pancakes do. Makes 12 or more pancakes.

Next time I make these I will probably try using eggs whites instead of whole eggs and replacing the white flour with wheat. Maybe I'll add some milled flax seed. I always love to alter recipes!

Oreo Brownies

Click HERE for the recipe that I found on-line.

All you need is…
a box of Brownie mix (and ing. to make)and Oreos.

Mix up the box of brownies just like the back tells you to. Then dip the Oreos in the brownie batter, being sure to completely coat the cookie.

Place your fudgy morsels into muffin tins that have been sprayed very well with non stick cooking spray.

Bake them in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 10 – 12 minutes until just barely set. Don’t overcook them! They’ll still look soft, that’s the Oreo, it’s turned into a gooey fudgy sinful thing … yum.

Remove from tins immediately and let cool slightly before you, your kids, your hubby, and your parents inhale them.

Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies

2 cubes butter, softened
1 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 whole egg
2 egg whites
1 T. milled flax seed
3 T. water
2 tsp. vanilla
4-4 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I ground the white wheat into flour and then measure)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
white chocolate chips (add however much you'd like, I used about 1 1/2 to 2 cups)
pomegranite infused dried cranberries (add however much you'd like, I used about 1 cup)

Cream together butter, oil and sugars. Add eggs, egg whites, milled flax seed, water and vanilla and mix. Add dry ingredients and mix. Add chips and cranberries and mix by hand. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5-10 minutes.

Next time I will try eliminating some more of the white flour and using more wheat flour instead.

Lunches for the Picky Eaters

This is a typical lunch for my 6th grader.
-Fruits & veggies (this varies upon which produce is in season)
-Some sort of "non-sandwich" (this was made with wheat flatbread, then Laughing Cow cheese wedge spread on it and turkey breast). We also try things like soup, cold pizza, etc.
-Homemade Cookie (I bake these and stick them in the freezer as soon as they cool and pull out as needed each day)

My first grader is even pickier. He wants a protein bar in his lunch everyday and he likes to have "Fruitables" drinks (which have a variety of fruits and veggies, even sweet potato in there).

We save our little side-dish containers from KFC, wash them in the dishwasher and then use them to package a cookie in the lunch. It keeps the cookie from getting crushed.

Stuffed Celery

1 cup light cream cheese, softened (not fat free)
4 Tbsp crumbled blue cheese
1-2 tsp garlic salt
10 ribs of celery cut into 4 inch pieces
Hot pepper sauce (optional)
Chives (optional)

In small bowl, mix cream cheese, blue cheese and garlic salt until well-blended. Spoon cheese mixture into each piece of celery (divide evenly between the 40 (4 inch) celery pieces.

Drizzle with hot pepper sauce (or buffalo sauce) or put pepper on the side and let guests add it as desired.

Sprinkle with chives as desired.

2 pieces of stuffed celery = 1 Weight Watchers PointsPlus point
Serves 20