"Sizzler" Blue Cheese Dressing

I have had trouble recently finding a blue cheese dressing that is not too vinegary!! So, I thought I would try out a recipe I found that purported to be from the famous Sizzler steakhouse. I think this restaurant single-handedly made salad bars "cool", and I have cravings for their salad dressing all the time. In fact, when I was there recently I found a big white blob in my dressing that was not cheese. I thought it might be cream cheese, but the waitress checked in the back and told me it was sour cream. So, this recipe might be authentic. I will keep it, the base of the dressing was good. I got a blue cheese that wasn't too "blue" since I only prefer the flavor of blue cheese instead of chunks. The cheese flavor was a bit too strong, but still much better than the vinegary-tasting alternatives of ready-made dressings. I have another recipe from Bob's Big Boy, and since theirs is the only one I will buy over the counter I will try that one next.

"Sizzler" Blue Cheese Dressing

1 T lemon juice
1 T white vinegar
1 T grated onion
1 t. salt
1/2 t. coarsely ground black pepper
2-4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
2 c. sour cream
2 c. mayonnaise

1. In a large glass bowl, combine lemon juice, vinegar, onion, salt, pepper, and blue cheese. Chill overnight.
2. The next day, stir in sour cream and mayonnaise until mixed well.
3. Will keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Makes 5 cups.

Scalloped Potatoes

I had some leftover evaporated milk and I had gotten a great deal on a bag of potatoes, so I thought I would make this recipe that I found on the label of the evaporated milk. I was pleased, usually I prefer potatoes "au gratin", but I think this was just a bit healthier!! The crust of Parmesan cheese on the top was yummy. This was good as leftovers, too!! To get a uniform sized thin slice I use a vintage VegOMatic!!

Scalloped Potatoes

2 lb. (about 6 medium) potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
3 T butter
1/4 c. chopped onion
3 T flour
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 can evaporated milk
1 c. water
1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease an 11" x 7" baking dish.
2. Place potatoes in large saucepan. Cover with water, bring to a boil. Cook over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes. Drain potatoes.
3. Heat butter in same saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1-2 minutes. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Gradually stir in milk and water. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat.
4. Arrange potatoes in prepared baking dish and pour milk mixture over potatoes. Sprinkle with cheese.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are tender and cheese is light golden brown. Serves 8.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

I won't be keeping this recipe, in fact I couldn't even finish eating it!! I don't know if it was the fact that it was made with evaporated milk, the combination of cheeses, or the bread crumbs on the top, but it was not good enough to keep. I used some cheddar, mozzarella, and cream cheese. I grated the onions because I didn't want chunks of onion in the casserole. I am not used to having a bread crumb topping, but I have since been told that perhaps I should have used torn up bread instead of the canned bread crumbs.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

1 pound dried, short pasta (elbows are best)
generous pinch of salt
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 can evaporated milk
1 bay leaf
1/2 small onion, diced
2 1/2 c. grated cheese (or combination of cheeses) of your choice
1 c. bread crumbs, mixed with 2 T melted butter

1. Boil pasta in medium saucepan.
2. Liberally butter an 8" x 8" ceramic or glass baking dish. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
3. Melt butter over medium heat in a medium sized saucepan. Whisk flour into melted butter, continuing to whisk constantly for 2-3 minutes. Quickly add the milk and stir. Add bay leaf and onion. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring every 1-2 minutes. Do not let it bubble, reduce heat if necessary.
4. Remove pasta when just short of done. Drain pasta, but do not rinse.
5. Remove sauce from heat, remove the bay leaf, and stir in about 3/4 of your cheese, stirring until melted. Add the drained pasta into the sauce and stir until completely coated.
6. Pour pasta into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese, followed by the bread crumbs.
7. Bake for 25 minutes. Serves 4-6.

Caesar Salad

I had some chicken to use up, and I have been attempting to eat more healthy foods. So, I got into my salad recipe box. This recipe was easy and tasty, although I am not sure that the dressing is authentic Caesar. I suppose they substituted mayonnaise rather than use raw eggs, which is a smart choice!! I liked the presentation of the Romaine lettuce, but only one of my halves was "pretty". The home-made croutons were fantastic, I won't ever throw away leftover sourdough bread again!!

After I took the picture at the top of this page I realized that I was eating this salad as my dinner, so I added the other half of the lettuce, some chopped up chicken, and finished off the dressing. I had some croutons left over, but I only used 3 slices of bread. I wouldn't have had enough salad dressing if I had more than 3 of the half-head servings, so next time I will make a bit more.

This is definitely a keeper. The picture below is my dinner-sized Chicken Caesar Salad. I used crushed garlic and shredded Parmesan, not having a hunk for shavings. There was plenty of cheese in the dressing. Also, serving the salad with warm croutons is yummy. I wish that I had made the salad dressing ahead of time so it was cold from the refrigerator. Oh, I also used some garlic powder when seasoning the croutons.

Caesar Salad

4 slices of sourdough bread, cut into cubes
1 T olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
3 T olive oil
1 T mayonnaise
1 T lemon juice
1/2 t. Dijon mustard
1/4 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
2 T grated Parmesan cheese
1 pkg. of Romaine hearts (3 heads)
Parmesan cheese for shaving garnish
freshly ground pepper

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Toss the bread cubes with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread the cubes on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until golden. Set aside to cool.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the 3 Tablespoons of olive oil, mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and shredded Parmesan cheese until well blended.
3. Remove any wilted outer leaves from the Romaine hearts. Cut off the core end and slice the head lengthwise.
4. Place the Romaine halves on plates with croutons and drizzle with the dressing. Top with Parmesan shavings and season with freshly ground pepper. Serves 4-6.

Chocoladamias

These sounded good, but I didn't like them. I don't know if it was due to the fact that I used cashews instead of macadamias or that they didn't cook through, but I won't be keeping this recipe. I much prefer the taste of the blondies with chocolate chips that my grandmother made which were called Congo Bars and used brown sugar. I am going to go through my other blondies recipes and pull them out because I have realized that I already have the perfect blondies recipe!!

Chocoladamias

1/3 c. butter
1/2 c. white baking pieces
2 eggs
1 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. chopped macadamia nuts
1/2 c. milk chocolate pieces

1. Grease a 9" x 9" baking pan and line the bottom and sides with waxed paper. Grease the waxed paper.
2. In a small saucepan cook and stir butter and white baking pieces over low heat until melted, mixture may separate. Set aside.
3. In a small mixer bowl beat eggs. Gradually add sugar, beating until light. Add butter mixture and vanilla. Add flour and salt, mixing well. Stir in nuts and chocolate pieces. Turn into prepared pan.
4. Bake in a 325ºF oven for 35 minutes or until top is golden.
5. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Loosen edges and invert. Remove waxed paper and invert again. Cut into bars. Makes 36 bars.

Orange Basil Marinated Chicken

I probably won't keep this recipe, it was basically marinating and boiling the chicken in an orange flavored sauce. I didn't notice until after I cooked up some rice that they want you to serve it cold. I saved one breast for leftover, perhaps it will be good cold in a salad? I don't think I would want to eat this just plain cold, though. I also had to wipe off the parsley and basil from the top before I ate it.

Orange Basil Marinated Chicken

4 whole chicken breasts, skinned and halved
1/4 c. orange juice
1/4 c.oil
2 T oil
2 T chopped fresh parsley
1/2 t. basil leaves
1/2 t. grated orange peel
1/4 to 1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

1. Arrange chicken breast halves in an un-greased 13" x 9" non-metal baking dish.
2. In small bowl, combine remaining ingredients and pour over chicken.
3. Cover with foil and refrigerate for 4-6 hours.
4. Heat oven to 375ºF.
5. Keeping the foil over the chicken, bake for 35 minutes.
6. Uncover the chicken and continue baking for 20-30 minutes, basting frequently until chicken is tender and no longer pink.
7. Drain and cool chicken. Wrap chicken tightly and refrigerate until serving time. Serve cold. Serves 8.

Grandma's Meatloaf

I found this recipe in my box, it had been typed by me from another hand-written recipe. I had to call my mom to see if this was, indeed, Grandma's recipe for meatloaf. I had hand-written "add some Worcestershire sauce, too" at the bottom. My mother said that she never made her meatloaf with pork and veal, only ground beef. I don't think I have ever had pork and veal in a meatloaf before, in fact I prefer not to use veal (philosophical issues). But, I figured I needed to do it Grandma's way the first time.

I grated the onion instead of chopping, I don't like eating onions but I like the flavor. I used 1 pound ground beef, 1/2 pound ground pork, and 1/2 pound ground veal. I didn't have any milk, so I used some half-and-half instead. I think I might have used too much salt, so I will actually measure next time!! Needless to say, this is of course a keeper recipe!! I will try it without the veal next time, and then without the pork to see the difference. This was quite tasty and I am looking forward to sandwiches tomorrow.

Grandma's Meat Loaf

2 lb. ground beef, veal, and pork
1 egg
1/2 c. dry bread crumbs
1 T chopped onion (or more)
1 t. salt
pepper
1 c. milk

Bake 2 hours in moderate oven.

That is how the recipe reads. I mooshed all the ingredients together with my hands until incorporated. I placed the meatloaf into a loaf pan and baked at 350ºF for about 2 hours until the top was crispy. The juice overflowed the pan a little, so make sure you have a pan on the bottom shelf to catch the juices. I let it set for a couple of minutes, and then I cut off a piece to photograph. I noticed that there was a lot of juice in the bottom of the pan so, tilting the pan to make the grease go to the end, I removed the loaf to a piece of foil to store it in the fridge. I had to wipe off the meat before I ate it, it was really greasy (but tasty!!)

Orange Roasted Chicken

This is a recipe for a roasted chicken, but I decided to try it with a double chicken breast instead. I halved the ingredients and had to lower the cooking time. I placed the orange halves on the roasting rack under the chicken breast. There was a lot of gravy and I chose to serve it over rice. The orange flavor was subtle, and worked well with the rosemary flavor. But, next time I would us a fresh sprig of rosemary so I could fish it out, or grind the dried rosemary.

Orange Roasted Chicken

1 roasting chicken (5-lb.)
1/4 c. butter, melted
salt and pepper
1/2 t. dried rosemary
2 oranges, cut in half
1/4 c. corn starch
2 c. orange juice
1 c. chicken bouillon
1 T brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF.
2. Brush chicken with butter and season with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Place oranges in chicken cavity. Roast in oven for about 2 1/2 hours.
3. Remove chicken from pan. Sprinkle corn starch into the pan. Stir and cook over medium heat just until smooth. Remove from heat.
4. Gradually stir in remaining ingredients until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, and boil 2 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

Bittersweet Farm Chicken

Back to chicken dishes!! I had some oranges to use up, and this called for the zest of about 7 oranges. The recipe I will work on tomorrow calls for orange juice, so that worked out well!! Luckily I had some orange-flavored liqueur, I must have used it in another recipe. Instead of cooked baby carrots, which would have been good but I don't like cooked carrots, I used the extra liquid in some rice water.

I will definitely be keeping this recipe!! I halved the recipe and used 2 single boneless breasts. The chicken was moist and tender, and my experiment with the flavored rice worked perfectly. I almost wanted to eat another helping tonight, but will save it for breakfast tomorrow!! If you don't prefer orange flavored dishes you probably won't like this, but the orange flavor wasn't overwhelming. I couldn't even taste the soy sauce, which was great for me!!

Bittersweet Farm Chicken

1/2 c. flour
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 frying chicken, cut into serving pieces

8 T butter, divided
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. orange-flavored liqueur
1/4 c. honey
2 T orange zest
1 T soy sauce
whole cooked baby carrots

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a large plastic bag. Add chicken pieces, a few at a time, to the bag. Shake to coat completely with flour mixture.
3. Melt 4 Tablespoons of butter in a large baking pan.
4. Roll the chicken in the butter to coat all sides. Arrange the chicken skin-side down in a single layer in the pan.
5. Bake for 30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, melt remaining 4 Tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in lemon juice, liqueur, honey, orange zest, and soy sauce. Reserve 2 Tablespoons of the mixture.
7. Remove chicken from the oven and turn the pieces over. Pour remaining honey mixture over the chicken. Continue baking, basting occasionally, for 30 minutes or until chicken is glazed and tender.
8. Toss remaining honey mixture with cooked carrots. Serve with chicken. Garnish as desired. Makes 4 servings.

Sunrise Blueberry Coffee Cake

This was a yummy coffee cake, I will definitely be keeping this one!! I used up all my really large blueberries in this, saving the smaller ones for scones or muffins. The only thing I would do differently next time is either wait for the cream cheese to soften or use the whipped variety. I smeared butter all over the top and it was quite tasty. I used almonds instead of walnuts and they were a good substitute. I think that it would display better with the nuts on the top, not the way I photographed it!! I cut the recipe by thirds and it fit perfectly into my smaller tube pan. This might work in individual tube pans, but you would have to use the smaller blueberries and squirt the filling through a frosting decorator so you had more control. I will try this the next time I bake this recipe up!! It might even work as a muffin.

Sunrise Blueberry Coffee Cake

6 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 T confectioner's sugar
1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. ground nutmeg
3/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. salt
1 cup, plus 2 T sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
8 oz. sour cream
2/3 c. fresh blueberries
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
3. In a small bow, with a fork, beat together cream cheese, confectioner's sugar, and lemon juice until smooth.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1/4 t. nutmeg, 1/4 t. cinnamon, and salt.
5. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, cream 1 cup sugar and butter, mixture will be dry. Add eggs one at a time, beating well until smooth. Beat in vanilla. On low speed, add flour mixture alternating with sour cream. With a rubber spatula, fold in picked-over blueberries.
6. Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. Spoon cream cheese mixture over the batter and spread to within 1/2-inch of edges. Pour remaining batter over mixture and smooth with a spatula.
7. In a small bowl, with a fork, combine walnuts, remaining 2 Tablespoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle over the batter.
8. Bake for 1 hour. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serves 10-12.