Crossover: Hostess Appreciation Luncheon, part TWO

Happy Friday! :) I'm glad you came back today! Time to show you the rice and squash/cauliflower casserole from my Hostess Appreciation Luncheon for my Stampin' Up! hostesses!

First up: Becky's Easy Cliantro Lime Rice from allrecipes.com:

It's easy, and it's good, and the flavor is great with Mexican food. I get tired of Spanish rice with Mexican food ALL the time. Of course, I made my "refried" beans, and the two together were really nice.

Next up is this Low Carb Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Casserole from All Day Long I Dream About Food!

As Donna said, they know it's fall when they come eat squash at my house. :D I wanted to make sure that we had a vegetable, in case someone wasn't too crazy about all the Mexican food I made. I USUALLY make squash on the sweet side, like acorn squash with brown sugar and butter - but this is definitely savory, with Parmesan cheese. It was good - I halved the recipe, and used frozen cauliflower instead of fresh. It was good!

For dessert, I made this flan again. :) It's easy, Mexican, and good - everyone had a second piece! :D

Well, now you know one of the reasons my hostesses have been with me for so long: our Hostess Appreciation Luncheon is FULLY homemade. I do all I can to serve them a wonderful meal; all they have to do is host a qualifying Stampin' Up! party once a year. If you'd like to do so, please contact me! We have a BLAST! (And we can do it ONLINE, too!!) And if you'd like to see the projects we made this year, please visit Lori's Stamping Spot and look for today's post. :)

Have a wonderful day and a wonderful weekend, my friend. BE BLESSED!

Crossover: Hostess Appreciation Luncheon, part ONE

Welcome to Wednesday! :D For today and Friday, I'd like to share with you a few recipes I made for my annual Stampin' Up!'s Hostess Appreciation Luncheon; it's a crossover post because I'll be linking you to my Stampin' Up! page and vice versa, so you can see what our projects were, too. :)

We went Mexican Fiesta this year. :) I'll post the main dish and salsa today, and the two sides I'll share on Friday.

These are Simply Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas from Food.com.

Of course I didn't do it quite like the recipe! :D I poached the chicken in water, onion, cumin, salt, and pepper. Then I shredded it, saute'd the onions and added it to my shredded chicken, and proceeded from there.

The sauce was really easy and yummy; my mom "snacked" on the leftovers for a couple days. :D These were simple to make, not overly spicy, baked well, and were pretty impressive. :D

Now, then. On to the salsa!

Honestly? I'm a little leery of salsa recipes. I LOVE pico de gallo, but it's SO labor-intensive!!! I decided to try this, however, and I'm SO glad I did! :D

Everyone LOVED this salsa from Curved Promises on tumblr.


It REALLY doesn't get much simpler than this! However, the longer it sat, the hotter it became - which is unusual, because it didn't have anything hotter than green chilies in it! But it was good on ANYTHING one desired to put it on. :D

OK, that's all for today! If you'd like to see the table setting, invitation, and table favor, please visit me at Lori's Stamping Spot and look for today's post. :)

Have a wonderful day, friends! Be BLESSED!

Easy Breakfast Casserole

Good Monday Morning!!!!!

Did you have a good weekend?? Man, was I BUSY. Phew! I got a LOT done, though. :)

So! Today's recipe - worry, I didn't get a picture of my last manicure, but it was gross - is for Easy Breakfast Casserole from Recipe.com.

I made this for my hostess club at the end of September; it was brunch time, so I wanted something a bit hearty, but that I wouldn't have to babysit. This sure fit the bill! :)

I wanted to use red pepper instead of green - the color would have been nice - but the only ones I could find were obviously made of red GOLD, so I went with the more inexpensive green. :)

Let's see. Did I change anything else? Hmmm... Yup. :D I used butter instead of the Country Crock, half-and-half for the 2% milk, and diced ham instead of the bacon.

This is a definite YES, PLEASE! It was easy, and very good - who knew I'd like broccoli for breakfast?!?!? :D I'm thinking I'd like to add some spinach, too - just about anything veggie-wise that you like would be simple enough. :)

OK, I'm outta here! As I write this, I have naked nails. I'm going to try and change that for you for next Monday. :) Have a wonderful day!! Be BLESSED!

Cherry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Happy Friday!!!! How has your week been? Can you believe it's the last Friday of January already?!?!? One-twelfth of the year is GONE almost! :D Time does fly - faster the older I get. :D

So, this is the last review from what I served Saturday for my hostess club Stampin' Up! get-together. It's a cherry cream cheese coffee cake from - guess who! - Taste of Home. :D

OK. I did three tweaks, one kinda big and the other two are tiny. :) The big one is I didn't use almond extract in the crust, I used vanilla. I just don't particularly care for almond extract - I don't use it in my sugar cookies or icings, and just don't tend to use it, period. I know that lots of people think the cherry and almond go together, but to my palate, the almond extract is overpowering. So there. :D

The two little ones are that I used Splenda-sweetened cherry pie filling, and the almonds I used were sliced, not slivered. :D Oooooh. LOL

This is definitely a YES, PLEASE! It's not too sweet - there's a total of a cup of sugar in the whole thing! - so it's really nice for a breakfast treat. It didn't take as long to make as I thought, either. The crust part IS very sticky, however; I tried spreading it into the springform with my hands, and ended up deciding that an offset spatula was going to be my best friend with this one. :D

I'm kind of wondering why this wouldn't work in a 13x9 if you don't have a springform. It might not come out as "pretty" when you slice it, but I couldn't get it off the bottom of the springform as a whole, either. Also, I might use my largest springform pan the next time I make this, and maybe double the fillings. It's a lot of crust - but it's GOOD. I just tend to like filling better. :D I also think I'll try blueberry instead of cherry - or maybe half and half!

I know this was a hit! I also know I'm going to make this on the beach as a keep-in-the-fridge, go-to quick breakfast when we have guests. So, if you make it, let me know what you think! :)

Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Try something new! :) Be BLESSED!

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Happy Wednesday! I hope you're having a wonderful week!

This recipe is one of the three dishes I served Saturday for my Stampin' Up! party Saturday; it's Blueberry Breakfast Cake from Alexandra's Kitchen.

This is a recipe I pinned because my parents are from Maine, and blueberries are superfruits there AND in the health world. :D So it's got to be good for you, right?!??! :D

I did this one exactly like it's written, except I doubled it. :D I wanted to make sure I had enough of it; the original recipe's for a 9" square.

This was simple but good. (So it receives a YES, PLEASE!)  My mom said she liked that it wasn't totally blueberry taste, that the cake stood up for itself. :) Which says a lot, because there were 4 cups of blueberries in that 13x9. :D I highly recommend always using fresh lemon zest in anything that calls for it. Just so you know. :D

People went back for seconds. It was moist, and I'm glad I got up that morning to make it - it was best fresh and warm from the oven. but it's still good later, too. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!