Monkey Bread Recipe

A friend of mine, likes my Monkey Bread and requested my recipe.  I haven't made it in a while, but thought I would share it with you as well. 

Monkey Bread Recipe
2 tubes biscuits
Stick of butter, melted
Sugar and Cinnamon mixture (half and half)
Chopped Nuts (I like Pecan)

Cut each biscuit in 4's.
Roll up in a ball.
Dip in butter.
Roll in sugar/cinnamon mixture; roll in chopped nuts
Place in a Bundt cake pan.
Pour remaining butter over rolls
Bake at 350-375 degrees until golden brown

Santa Fe Soup

Yesterday, a small group of us ladies and our spouses got together, to work on Whitney's baby shower for next weekend. I can't believe it's already here. Shew! It's been fun.

I helped make party mints, dip pretzel sticks and tie our "Thank You" notes to the bags of pretzels. I'm sorry, but I forget to take my camera, so I don't have any photos to share with you today. I'll make sure to take it with me next weekend.

We had such a good time. I haven't really had the chance to sit and talk with Leslie, Susan and Natalie in a while, so that was great. We laughed and laughed. The guys hate it when us sisters get started and now nieces to add to the fun, because our laughing gets a little loud and they can't hear the ballgame. LOL!

Leslie told me all the ideas that her and Chase have come up with for their reception. It sounds like it's going to be fabulous! Chase's mother, Kellie, is a phenomenal decorator. I can't wait to be under her wing, decorating for Leslie and Chase's wedding reception. She is so creative! I hope to learn LOTS. Speaking of learning lots, Kellie introduced Garden Ridge to Susan and Leslie the other day.  They were telling me about all the great deals they found and that I have to go one day.  This is a trip, I'm going to have to make soon.  Susan plans to go back.  I told her that she has to call me the next time because I want to tag along. 

Maryann was such a  great hostess for our little baby shower decorating party. She had in the crockpot "Santa Fe Soup."  She served it with Frito chips.  It was DELISH!  It reminded me of a creative way to make chili.  Perfect for game day (12 days away) .  She gave me the recipe and I wanted to share it with you.  It is sooo easy!

Santa Fe Soup
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. Ground Beef
1 Sweet Onion - chopped
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can white corn
1 can yellow corn
2 pkgs. dry ranch dressing
2 pkgs. dry taco seasoning

• Saute the meat and onion.  Drain the off the fat.
• Put meat mixture into a crockpot or slow cooker.
• Add the rest of the ingredients undrained.
• Cook until hot through and through

Best served with cornbread, frito chips and topped with cheese and sour cream.

Enjoy!
    

Frito Pie

The other day, Doug and I were hungry for Frito Pie. I don't have a recipe, it's pretty much what I thought would be good in it.

Frito Pie Recipe

Ingredients:
2 lbs. Ground Chuck
small can of sliced black olives
1 can of petite diced tomatoes
1 envelope of Taco Seasoning
Sour Cream
container of Con Queso cheese dip (whatever color and heat you prefer)
Taco Sauce
Plain Frito Chips

Cook and drain meat; over low heat, add the taco seasoning with the recommended amount of water from seasoning packet to the meat. Stir to blend well. Once blended, add the tomatoes, olives and any other topping you would like. (I think mushrooms would be great). Stir and heat until warm.

Place a couple of handfuls of fritos in a soup bowl, top with meat mixture and put a couple of dollops of cheese sauce and heat it in the microwave. The time depends on the power of your microwave. I heated it for about 10 seconds. Doug didn't care for the cheese sauce as much as he liked shredded cheese. Shredded cheese is optional. Place a dollop of sour cream, taco sauce and your ready for a great warm meal. Yum!

Baked Apple Pie Recipe

My 1st Apple Pie

I had some good compliments on this pie as being a sweet and flavorful apple pie. I believe I got the recipe from Pillsbury because I've never baked an apple pie before and I've been wanting to for a long time. I guess fear kept me away. Now, I don't know why I waited so long because it is so simple, easy and you use very few ingredients.

Apple Pie Recipe
Prep: 20 minutes
Preheat: 375 degrees F
Yield: 8 servings

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6-7 cups thinly sliced apples
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 egg white
1 tablespoon butter
Pastry for double-crust pie (9 inches)
Additional sugar

• In a small bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients; set aside.  In a large bowl, toss apples with lemon juice.  Add sugar mixture; toss to coat.
• Line 9 inch pie plate with bottom crust; trim pastry even with edge.  Fill with apple mixture; dot with butter.  Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pie.  Place over filling.  Trim, seal and flute edges.  Cut slits in pastry.
• Beat egg white until foamy; brush over pastry.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Cover edges loosely with foil or pie cover ring.
• Bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees F. Remove foil and bake for another 20-25 minutes until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.  Cool on rack. 

Tips:

1. To make sure the apples were equally coated in spices, I toss the apples and then transferred the apples into the bowl the spices were in and then back.  It seemed to coat a little better. 
2. When placing the bottom crust, don't use your finger tips or nails to place it to the wall of pie plate.  I used either the back of my hand or knuckles because your finger tips or nails might tear a hole in the pastry. 
3. When placing the pastry on top of apple mixture, I folded the rolled out pastry in half.  You could go ahead and cut out a half moon shape before placing it onto the pie.  Place the folded pastry onto half of the pie and then unfold to cover the rest of pie.  In a sawing motion (up and down), cut the excess pastry off around the plate.  Then, using your fingers crimp.  The way I did it was - with one hand, two of my fingers made the peace sign to the outside of the pie edge and with the other hand I pushed my thumb between my two fingers - making a crimp style.  There are several different styles to crimp your pie edge, but I think this is the traditional.
4. To vent your pie, I made little slits with a paring knife that I used to peel the apples. 
5. If you have some nice wide pieces of dough scraps left, I cut out small leaves with the same paring knife.  Once cut out, take the back of your knife and indent (but don't cut) a straight line down the center of the leaf pastry.  Then make indents at a diagonal to make the veins of the leaf.  Place your leaves around your pie crust.  I put most of mine around the hole.  I didn't have a lot of dough to make big leaves. 
6. I highly recommend purchasing a pie crust cover ring.  It's a lifesaver! The foil is good, but it can fall off easily.  I've tried it before in the past, before the pie cover.
7. Be sure to put the pie plate on a cookie sheet before placing it in the oven.  The juices like to run out sometimes. I forgot this time because I had to tend to a toddler running around.  Now, I've got to clean my oven again.

ENJOY!