Torta Passionata

Doesn't that look yummy?!?!
I made this recipe as a dessert for a family party. It was SUPER easy and deliciously rich!!

I used an 11 inch Tart pan, not 9 inch as the recipe recommends so I doubled the recipe. The only thing that didn't work with doubling was that I had a little bit of extra crust that didn't fit in the tart pan. Other than that, doubling it worked GREAT!!
This is NOT the doubled recipe....this is the original. Just double all of the ingredients if needed!

-

8 Tbsp. Butter
- 2 cups ground skinned and toasted hazelnuts (I toasted them in a dry frying pan and ground them in the food processor)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam (you can use orange, too!)
- 8 squares (1 oz. each) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (You can also use semi-sweet chips
- 2 Tablespoons Raspberry Liqueur (I used extract instead of the alcohol. If you use orange marmalade, use Orange Liqueur or Extract)
- 1 and 1/4 cups heavy cream

Preheat oven to 325°.

In small bowl, combine 4 tablespoons melted Butter, hazelnuts and sugar. In 9-inch tart pan, evenly press on bottom and up sides. Bake 20 minutes or until crust is golden. On wire rack, evenly spread jelly on crust; cool.

Meanwhile, in small saucepan, bring 1 cup cream just to a boil over medium heat. In blender, process hot cream, semi-sweet chocolate, remaining 4 tablespoons Spread and 1 tablespoon liqueur until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour into prepared crust. Refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours or overnight.

You can also melt white chocolate and mix with the remaining 1/4 cup of cream and serve alongside the torta.

Do not cover the Torta when you put it in the fridge to cool.

Pancakes...

No not from Bisquick, and not from Aunt Jemima, not even from a box! From SCRATCH! This couldn't be easier, and they taste 100 times better than the box mix!

Prep Time: 5 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Ready In: 20 Minutes Yields: 8 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
DIRECTIONS:
1.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Add your favorite Fruit to the batter and make them taste even better!

Chicken and Broccoli Pasta

This is an easy and tasty dinner that requires no side dishes! It's great for a light summer meal or even perfect for a quick dinner!!

1-2 heads of fresh broccoli steamed in chicken broth

1 lb pasta- I used what I had leftover and I cooked it in a mixture of chicken broth and water.

2-3 chicken breasts- I used leftover chicken from earlier in the week. It was already cooked so all I had to was cube it and toss it in the sauce to heat up.
You can use raw chicken, too. I would season it with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and any other seasoning you like. During the summer I would grill the chicken until cooked through or you cansautee or bake it until done.



Minced Garlic- Fresh or jarred

Chicken broth- for the sauce, at least 1-2 cups

1 small to medium onion- chopped small

Grated Cheese- 1/4 cup for the sauce and more for garnish

White wine- 1/4 cup

1-2 tbsp. olive oil

Cooking spray

1 tbsp butter

Splash of Worcestershire Sauce



Boil pasta water and add pasta and cook to al dente.

In a sautee pan or frying pan heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil and cooking spray. Make sure bottom of pan is coated.

Once pan is hot add garlic and onion, allow to sweat and sautee for a few minutes. You want the onions to soften and become somewhat translucent. Do not allow the garlic to burn.

When onions are done add in the Broccoli and coat with onions and olive oil and garlic. Add cooked chicken.

At this point you want to add your white wine. Make sure the pan is screaming hot. Add wine and scrape bottom of the pan picking up all of the tasty bits on the bottom. Mix all together and let cook for 2 minutes.

Add in 1-2 cups of chicken broth. You can add more if you want a more broth like sauce. At this point I also take out about half of the pasta, along with some pasta water and add to the sauce pan. The pasta will cook the rest of the way in the sauce and the pasta water helps thicken the sauce slightly and adds more flavor.

Add in butter and Worcestershire sauce. If you want it more "saucey" add remaining chicken broth. Add in cheese and mix everything together.

Allow sauce to simmer until pasta is done or for a few minutes. Once remaining pasta is finished add to sauce and stir to coat everything.

Serve with grated cheese and enjoy!!

Candy Bar Apple Salad (Dessert)

(Picture is not mine, but from the website I mention.)

This is great, and light, and kind of healthy. I mean it has Apples in it.. HA HA HA..

This is were I got the recipe from. I love this mag. A lot of great recipes.


SERVINGS: 12
CATEGORY: Lower Fat
METHOD:
TIME: Prep/Total Time: 15 min.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups cold milk
1 package (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
4 large apples, chopped (about 6 cups)
4 Snickers candy bars (2.07 ounces each), cut into 1/2-inch pieces ( I used the mini's)

Directions: In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Fold in whipped topping. Fold in apples and candy bars. Refrigerate until serving. Yield: 12 servings (3/4 cup each).

Stove Top Mac-n-Cheese

This is Alton Browns recipe. My hubby LOVES IT!! So those with kids, this is a great dish. Its easy to do too.


Recipe Summary Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8 servings


Stove Top Mac-n-Cheese
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Show: Good Eats
Episode: For Whom the Cheese Melts 2


1/2 pound elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
6 ounces evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
10 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente and drain. Return to the pot and melt in the butter. Toss to coat.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard. Stir into the pasta and add the cheese. Over low heat continue to stir for 3 minutes or until creamy.

Grilled Zucchini

The other night I made grilled zucchini. Very simple, easy and it was great!!

Cut the zucchini in half long ways.

Cover with olive oil. Both sides.

Put on some, (on the cut side)

oregano
garlic powder
salt
pepper

and top with Parmesan cheese

Put on grill parm side up. Depending on how you like it, you will have to judge how long. I believe I put it on for about 20 minutes. I like it soft. So experiment. Have fun.

Chicken and Shrimp with pasta in wine and garlic sauce

I made this the other night and the hubby loved it! Thanks to the help from A, who gave me this, this is a great and tasty dish. Its easy to do and very flexible to work with.

You can grill the chicken, I would marinate it first if you're going to grill it.

Marinate the chicken in 1 tsp olive oil, chopped garlic, white wine, salt pepper, lemon juice and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.

Grill the chicken and then slice or cut into chunks.

For the sauce,

1 tbsp olive oil

1-2 tablespoons butter

1-2 tbsp flour

chicken broth

white wine

lemon juice

garlic- lots of it!

put olive oil and 1 tbsp butter in pan...allow to heat up and butter to melt

Add garlic and saute for a minute or so. DO NOT allow it to brown or burn!!!!

If you did not grill the chicken you should add it now. I would flour it lightly with flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

If you did grill the chicken then you add white wine, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup...make sure pan is really hot before adding it.

Then add chicken broth and mix together.

Add a squirt of lemon juice, not too much, and even a dash of Worcestershire sauce.Take remaining pats of butter and "dip" them in flour to coat them. Then put in pant and whisk to melt...it should thicken your sauce a bit.Add shrimp and grilled chicken and saute for a few minutes.

If you're serving over pasta, cook pasta in chicken broth and just before it's done add about 1/4 of pasta and one or two ladles of pasta water/broth to the sauce. The pasta will help thicken the sauce and it will cook a bit more in the sauce. Once the rest of the pasta is done, toss all together and enjoy!

Cranberry Almond Spinach Salad

I had this salad a family BBQ a few weeks ago and haven't stopped thinking about it since, so I had to make it for dinner last night.

(Unless I have a recipe for something, I usually just estimate the ingredients, hence this recipe calls for "1 Handfull" of a few ingriedients)

What you need:

1 Bag Baby Spinach

1 Handful of Craisins (sweetened dried cranberries)

1 Handful of Slivered Almonds

1 Handful of Feta Cheese

Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing

How to make it:

Couldn't be easier, mix all these ingriendients together :)

You could also make this a meal by adding some grilled chicken on top.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Tandy Cake (r)

This is very much like the ones you can buy in the store, just better!!

Ingredients

1 cup milk

2 tbsp butter

2 cups flours

2 cups sugar

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

Peanut butter

1 lb Hershey bar or 14 small bars

Directions

Scald and cool milk and butter. Add flours, sugar, baking powder, vanilla and eggs. Mix all together and put in greased and floured 15x10 cookie (jelly roll) pan. Bake at (either 15 or 35 minutes, my recipe smudged right there). Cook completely then spread top with a light layer of peanut butter. (Honestly do as much as you want!!) Refrigerate 1 hour. Melt Hershey Bar and pour on cold cake, spreading evenly. (You can also use more chocolate!!)Refrigerate until chocolate hardens. Return to room temperature, cut into squares. Enjoy!!

What I did this weekend was took out the cake part of the recipe, and used a box cake. Then spread the peanut butter and chocolate. I found the box cake was higher then when my mom makes the cake with the recipe. You can experiment with it. I had to let the peanut butter sit on the cake for a minute to make it spreadable.

This turns out so good and yummy, I sometimes have one for breakfast!

Blue Moon Whole Wheat Bread

I made this today. It is super simple and super good! Definitely enjoy a piece warm!


I used this to make it. But you can use your favorite, instead!


Pre heat oven to 375 degrees

Grease loaf pan.

1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

1/4 cup Firmly packed brown sugar (I used dark brown)

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

1 1/2 teaspoons Salt

2 Tablespoons Butter Melted

1 12oz bottle or can of beer (I used Blue Moon but you can use any that you'd like!)

Mix flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Pour all of beer in and mix until combined. Do not beat together.

Pour combined batter into greased loaf pan and spread out to fit into pan. Brush melted butter over loaf.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes in 375 degree oven.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes in loaf pan and then cool completely on wire rack.

Enjoy!

Fajita Quesadilla Lasagna

This was a creation inspired by leftovers and a Google Recipe Search. I had leftover fajita filling and tortillas from last week and I went in search of recipe to make.

I found this recipe: Quesadilla Lasagna.

I used it as my "inspiration".

Fajita filling- mine was grilled, marinated chicken, sauteed onions and peppers seasoned with fajita seasoning. About 3 cups worth.

I used 6 small tortillas. They came with my fajita kit (Old El Paso) earlier in the week. I also used two large tortillas.

1 cup of your favorite salsa

1 Small can of chili, or your own, without beans.

1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

In a 9x11 baking dish put about 1/4 cup of chili and 3 tablespoons of salsa on the bottom and spread around.

Mix remaining chili with ricotta cheese and set aside.

Place two small tortillas on bottom of pan next to one another. They will probably overlap a tiny bit. Place fajita filling on both tortillas and top with 1/4 cup of cheddar cheese. Place two more small tortillas on top of filling.

Take half of chili and ricotta mixture and spread on top of tortillas. Spread about 1/3 of remaining cheddar cheese on top of ricotta chili mixture. Pour 1/2 of remaining salsa on top of cheese.

Place two more small tortillas on top first layer, press down slightly. Put remaining fajita filling on top of tortillas. Top with more shredded cheddar cheese. Take first large tortilla and place on top of this layer, pushing edges of tortilla down along sides. Take second large tortilla and place over remainder of layer, these will overlap quite a bit, push edges down along sides and ends, as well.

Take remaining chili and ricotta mixture and spread over top of last layer. Pour remaining salsa on top of chili ricotta mixture and top with all remaining cheese, including mozzarella.

Place in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and lasagna is bubbly. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes then cut and serve like regular lasagna. This can be served with a yellow Spanish rice and a salad.

This can EASILY serve 4 adults, maybe 6 if the pieces are small.

It was REALLY good!!

I included a few pictures, but my food photography is not winning any awards any time soon!!

The Most Delicious Salad Ever-Take 2

I'm revisiting the salad!

LunaNik made the suggestion of toasting the almonds before adding them! I'm pretty sure they were toasted in my salad and I never mentioned it. Either way, Luna is totally right! Just throw the nuts in a dry frying pan over medium heat and toast for a few minutes. The toasting makes the nuts crunchier and it draws out the nutty oils that make them taste even better!

Last night my husband came home from softball and surprised me with The Salad. It was SO GOOD! It appeared last night they tossed the greens in some balsamic vinaigrette before assembling the salad. Definitely added more flavor! It wasn't a ton of extra dressing, just enough! And then topped with the remaining ingredients....again, so good!

If you're from my area feel free to email me and I'll let you know where you can get this fabulous salad. My husband even offered to go and work there so he could find out EXACTLY how to make it!!

The pictures are terrible. They were fast, I wanted to eat!! ENJOY!

The Most Delicious Salad Ever

My husband and I went out for dinner on Saturday night for our 5th anniversary. We tried a new restaurant- one we had never been to before. It was DELICIOUS! I had this salad as an appetizer and it was the best salad I've ever had! Seriously! My husband thought I was going to lick the plate!
I'm going to do my best to recreate it here....clearly, I need to start taking pictures of what I eat before I dig in!

This recipe will make one salad, obviously add more to make it a larger meal or appetizer!

Mixed Field Greens

1 tomato, quartered

1/4 cucumber peeled and cut into small chunks

5-8 pitted kalamata olives

1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds

Soft Goat cheese such as Chevre or any kind that you like. (Not the crumbles, get a good goat cheese!)

Raspberry Vinaigrette- this is the most important part, find one that is not too thin and tastes delicious!

Place field greens on plate, around the edge place tomatoes, cucumbers and olives. Top greens with almonds and then "fork" out little dollops of goat cheese on top! Salt and pepper to taste then top with dressing, not too much, not too little!

I'm sorry this is so vague but the combination of all these flavors was just PERFECT! I think I may have to go and get some take out salad, my mouth is watering!!

Buffalo Chicken Salad

This is something I got at Salad Works. Its really easy to make for lunch or light dinner.


lettuce - whatever kind you want
grilled chicken
cheddar cheese
tomatoes
onion
tortilla chips
buffalo sauce
(I used http://http://www.kensfoods.com/kf/products/productView.servlet?consumerProductId=53 )
blue cheese dressing

Put everything together. Crush the chips on top, add dressings and you have a very tasty salad!

A Light Fresh Summer Dinner

This is one for those hot summer nights that are even too hot to think about eating dinner. I made this for dinner last night and it was a hit!
Serves 2 adults and one baby :)

What you will need:

1 Bag mixed salad greens

1 Avocado (sliced)

About 10 grape tomatoes

2 Large strawberries (sliced)

1/4 Red onion (sliced)

4 Artichoke hearts (sliced) use canned in water

1 Green bell pepper (sliced)

1/4 Cup shredded sharp cheddar

3 Slices of bacon cooked and chopped ( I used turkey bacon but the real stuff works too)

2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts grilled and sliced

Raspberry vinaigrette dressing to top it off. I used store bought. If any one has a good recipe for home made let me know.

Chop the bacon and cook until nice and crispy. Pull it form the pan and let cool. Grill chicken breasts and slice. While the chicken is cooking assemble the salad. Arrange the greens on a plate and then top with all the fixin's. Once the bacon is cooled add to the salad. Top with Grilled chicken breast and some raspberry vinaigrette and enjoy!

Summer Orzo Salad

I love this salad. It's one of my favorites to make for and bring to BBQs and I've always gotten rave reviews!

The original recipe came from a former boss of mine. She made this for the surprise wedding shower that she and all of my co-workers threw for me. She served it on lettuce leaves but really it's good all on its own!!

Feel free to play around with this a bit...I have and I LOVE it!!

Orzo Chicken Salad

1 box Orzo pasta prepared according to box directions (I like to cook mine in chicken broth)

1 to 2 packages thin sliced chicken breasts

Garlic powder

Onion Powder

Salt

Pepper

Red Bell Pepper- I use one good sized pepper and dice it

Shredded Mozzarella cheese- The recipe calls for about 1/2 cup but I use closer to a full cup. I have also used the pizza cheese mixes where it's 3 or 4 different Italian cheeses mixed together.

Two packages Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix prepared according to package directions but with balsamic vinegar


Season both sides of chicken with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. You can also use a little oregano, I don't care for it.
Bake chicken on non stick pan in a 350 degree over for roughly 35 minutes or until done. You can also grill the chicken.
Once the chicken is done and cooled down a bit chop into bite sized pieces and set aside.

Once Orzo is finished cooking, drain and transfer to a large bowl. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over pasta and mix. Just enough to make sure the pasta does not clump together. Allow pasta to cool slightly.

Add diced pepper and chicken to pasta and pour salad dressing over and mix well.

Allow to chill in fridge for a few hours. Just before you are ready to serve make sure the pasta is not too dry, you can add more dressing.

Stir in mozzarella cheese and serve chilled!

Enjoy!!

Pudding Delight

This recipe comes from a friend of mine who may end up joining us on here as an author...we'll see!
This is a healthy and really tasty treat for any time of year, but especially for the Summer!
I make mine in a trifle bowl and it not only tastes yummy but it looks good, too!

1 container of blueberries- washed

1 large bunch of grapes- green or red or mix!

1 to 2 cans of sliced peaches in pear juice, drained

1 container of strawberries- sliced

1 large box of Instant Vanilla pudding- prepared according to package directions

1 container of vanilla yogurt

Directions:

Layer grapes, blueberries, peaches and then strawberries in a bowl. Mix Vanilla pudding with vanilla yogurt and pour over fruit in bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least 30 minutes. Serve alone or with some whipped cream or cool-whip!

This dish is best devoured on it's first day! The second it's pretty good, too! I've found after that it gets a bit watery and the fruit gets kind of mushy!

ENJOY!!

Italian pasta salad

prep: 15 minutes

serving: six or more? depending on how much pasta you make

ingredients:

one box cork screw pasta, tri-color
one bottle (reg. size, I like a lot, you may not) Italian dressing, zesty is ok too

with the following ingredients you can decide how much you want in the salad
peperoni
mozzarella cheese
broccoli
cherry tomatoes


Cook the pasta according to the box

cut the peperoni, mozz. cheese, broc, and tomatoes how you would like them in the salad

put the pasta, peperoni, mozz. cheese, broc, and tomatoes in a bowl

mix in the Italian dressing, how ever much you would like

I like it cold, so I refrigerate mine for at least 30 minutes or more.

Shish Kabobs

There are many ways to make Kabobs. This is just what I am doing tonight. Its not that hard, something you can do on the grill and get ready ahead of time.

Ingredients:

marinade
(I bought something from the store today. ://http://www.kensfoods.com/kf/products/productView.servlet?consumerProductId=46&productCategoryId=&productFlavorId=18
You may also use Italian dressing or whatever marinade you like. )

chicken
sausage
beef (I am using bottom round chuck, but use whatever you like)

Cut meat into cubes

baby portabella mushrooms
zucchini
onion
corn on the cob
grape or cherry tomatoes
Don't forget your skewers either bamboo or metal.

Prep: Marinate the chicken, beef, and sausage. The bottle I am using says it has to be marinated for at least 30 minutes.

So when you are ready to grill the kabobs, put the ingredients on the skewers. (I always forget but you can put your bamboo skewers in water to prevent them from getting on fire)

Grill until the meat is done. I would say about ten-fifteen minutes. Depending on how big you cut everything.

Hello from HRD

Hello, I am the HRD part of this blog. You may email me at hrnrdd-cooking@yahoo.com with any recipes and/or pictures you would wish to have us share on this site. Also if you know products or techniques that work let us know.

These are only suggestions. I am not an expert at cooking or have taken any cooking classes. These are just recipes that I have used and wanted to share. I am not responsible for anything that comes out wrong or is not good. If you don't like it, share why. We want this to be a place you can go, get ideas, and see what other people thought about it. Many times I look in recipe books or mags and wonder, does that taste as good as it sounds?

Welcome

Hello!
Welcome to Make This, You'll Like it! This is brainchild of HRD and Stella who were sitting around one morning trying to figure out what to make for dinner and dessert and said, "We should start a blog where we share our recipes!"

Yes, there are ton out there but why not create another?!?!

Feel free to add your recipes to the comments, we'll even copy them and put them in a post! If you'd like to you can email me, Stella, at mcgearstella at gmail dot com and send along the recipe and a picture of it to post!

Stay tuned...the recipes are coming!