Guacamole

Guacamole this time year is a perfect dip, meaning avocados are on sale this time of year and they are good! Did you know more avocados are sold the week prior to Super Bowl than any other time of year? Here is my recipe for guacamole, give it a try!

Needed:
5 avocados-chopped
1/2 small white onion-chopped
1 garlic clove-minced
1 tomato-chopped and seeded
Juice from 1 lime
Salt to taste

I mix all of the ingredients together and then really stir it up. This way you still have chunky guacamole and not mush, don't like to eat green mush. The lime juice will help the avocado from turning but ours never last very long. Munch out with your favorite tortilla chips!

Salsa

Fresh salsa is best when fresh tomatoes are in season but canned work really well in the winter. I will tell you this, "DON'T BUY OFF BRAND TOMATOES"! They are hard and have no taste, buying name brand here is best. We like cilantro in ours, if you don't have a taste for cilantro, leave it out. Make sure you have plenty of tortilla chips to eat this salsa with!

Needed:
4 cans of diced tomatoes or 8 whole garden ripe tomatoes
2-3 jalapenos-diced(I don't seed ours, we like the heat.)
2 garlic cloves-minced
1 bunch of cilantro leaves-chopped
1 small purple onion-diced
Salt to taste
Juice of 1 lime


Mix tomatoes, jalapenos, garlic, cilantro, onion, salt and juice really well. The lime juice keeps the salsa tasting fresh longer, we eat ours so fast it is not needed but I like the taste the lime juice gives. You are ready to serve when finished mixing. This is what I am making today.

El Chico's White Dip

This is my attempt at being a copy cat. I ate the white dip at El Chico's in Muskogee, OK and loved it! I went to an El Chico's in Tulsa and found out you can only get the white dip in Muskogee, bummer. So I knew I had to come up with a copy cat recipe and here it is! Make this for your Super Bowl Party and you will not be disappointed. This is really good with veggies and tortilla chips.

Needed:
8 ounces blue cheese-crumbled
1 cup sour cream
2 cups Kraft mayo
1 cup buttermilk
1 T garlic powder
1 T kosher salt
Tortilla Chips

Mix blue cheese, sour cream, mayo, and butter milk until smooth, now is the time to add the garlic powder and kosher salt. Mix well and place in the fridge for a couple of hours. This makes quite a bit but it will not last if your family and friends are like mine!

Cocktail Meatballs

I bet you have 10 different recipes for meatballs but I bet none of them call for grape jelly. My mom made these for holidays and they are so good. My kiddos love them too. I use ground turkey but you can use beef if you wish. This would be a great snack for your Super Bowl party.

Needed:
2 pounds ground turkey (or ground beef)
1 T garlic powder
1 cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper taste
1 jar grape jelly
1 jar chili sauce(this located next to cocktail sauce in the grocery)
1 egg

Mix turkey, garlic, bread crumbs, salt and pepper and 1 egg. Mix well with hands and form into 2 inch balls. I place mine on parchment paper and bake at 325' until done, usually about 15 minutes. Now place jelly and chili sauce in a crock pot and let melt, now add your meatballs to crock pot. Heat on high until bubbling. These are really good with cheese and crackers.

Indian Tacos

Okay I will be the first to tell you I hate the name "Indian Taco". First Native Americans are not Indians because they do not come from India and second I really don't think Natives ate "tacos" per se, but I do love them. I am going to call them Native Tacos, so if you do make them, call them Native Tacos and maybe we can start a good thing. Once you master the fry bread you are ready to make Native Tacos. Practice makes perfect fry bread, just as with any good bread. It is very icy on Beaty's Creek today and this just sounds like a good dinner.

Needed:
2 lbs ground beef or turkey-browned with salt and pepper only
2 lbs Colby cheese-shredded
Pinto beans-cooked with salt and pepper only
1 head lettuce-cut finely
1 purple onion-chopped
3 tomatoes-chopped
Salsa- Paul Newman's Meduim Chunky Salsa is so good!
Sour Cream

Fry Bread

6 cups of all purpose flour
3 T baking powder
1 cup powdered milk
2-3 cups water
Oil for frying


Sift flour and baking powder together, make a bowl in the middle of flour, this is where you will add milk and water. I mix with my hands, I think you get a better feel for the dough this way. I mix until the dough feels like loose biscuit dough. Does that make sense? If not use the comment section to ask me questions. Believe you me it took me making fry bread 10 times before I reached my goal. So don't be disappointed, keep trying! Once mixed together form into disks about 1/4 inch thick and 4 inches across. Heat up oil over medium heat. I place my hand over the oil and can tell if it is ready to add the bread but you can always drop a piece of bread in and see if it sizzles, if it does you are ready to cook your bread. When frying your bread you don't want to turn your bread more than once. I check mine to make sure it is brown enough before turning. This usually happens between 5-6 minutes. Dough should be cooked through and not doughy. I place a couple of paper towels in the bottom of a brown paper bag to soak up any excess oil, and that is where I put my hot fry bread. The bag keeps the bread hot while you finish cooking all the bread.

Now is the time to make your taco. I will list in the order we build our tacos. You can make them anyway you want but this is how we do it on Beaty's Creek.

Bread
Beans
Meat
Cheese
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Onions
Salsa-Paul Newman's Medium Chunky Salsa takes like fresh made!
Sour Cream

Apple Turnovers

It is another cold day on Beaty's Creek. My MIL is making dinner tonight but I still want to cook. I am making dessert, Apple Turnovers that is. I love the way the puff pastry flakes as you bite into it and the way the apples and cinnamony syrup runs out. STOP!!! Will not eat them before dinner, will not eat them before dinner. I must keep saying this or they will be gone with a pot of strong coffee. Now let me tell you before I had 3 children I ALWAYS made my puff pastry and loved doing it, maybe loved is a little strong but I did like making it. Now I use the frozen puff pastry and think it tastes really good. So go ahead and give yourself a break and use frozen pastry with this recipe.


Needed:
1 package frozen puff pastry dough-thawed for 20 minutes on the counter
5 yellow delicious apples-peeled and diced
1 stick butter
1 cup white sugar
1 T cinnamon

Melt butter in skillet and add diced apples, sugar and cinnamon. Cook until apples are fork tender, this takes about 20 minutes over medium heat. Cool apples completely. When apples are cool unfold puff pastry and cut into quarters. Fill each quarter with 1/8 cup of apple filling, fold over and seal with water. Water will seal the pastry and keep filling inside. Cook in a 400' oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. I baked mine on parchment paper to be safe. I hate cleaning up pie filling. As long as you seal the turnover they should not leak too bad.

Chicken and Dumplings

What says home cooking any better than a pot of chicken and dumplings?? I love rolled out dumplings for chicken and dumplings. This is one recipe Sean's Grandmother and my Granny West shared, I think it is a good southern recipe. We serve ours with homemade cornbread and coleslaw. Coleslaw you ask??? I know it sounds odd but it is so good once you have it you will never want one without the other. So that is "what's cookin" on this eve of a supposed ice storm, we will see...

Needed:
1 whole chicken(I use our free range)
2 T sage(I use about 5 fresh leaves of sage)
Salt and Pepper to your taste
All Purpose Flour
Baking Soda
Water
2 carrots-peeled and sliced into 1/8 inch slices
1 celery stalk-peeled and sliced into 1/8 inch slices

Boil in a large soup pot, chicken, water to cover chicken, carrots, celery, sage, salt, and pepper. When chicken is done and falling off the bone, remove from pot and let cook completely. Once cool remove all meat, Raven likes the skin in the dumplings so I add it back but you don't have to. Now is the time to make your dumplings. Sift 6 cups of flour with 1 t baking soda, make a bowl in the middle of flour, this is where you will add your water. I start with 3 cups of warm water. You may need more. Mix with your hands until lit resembles a hard biscuit dough. Now roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness and slice with a pizza cutter 2 inch squares. Bring broth to a boil and add dumplings, be sure to stir once in a while. Boil dumplings for 10-15 minutes, lower heat and add chicken back to pot and boil for 10- 15 minutes longer. I hate it when chicken gets stringy, this is the reason to add the chicken and the end of cooking.