Betty Crocker cooking continues, sweet treat find and a dining out experience that was amazing!

I have three recipes from Betty Crocker.  So far, I have not been disappointed at all. I also have a new favorite at a local restaurant.  It was a special that I hope becomes permanent.  And I have a cool find from Dollar General.

Up first is Cashew Pork and Pea Pods.  Now this was interesting.  Pork, orange juice, orange marmalade, soy sauce, corn starch and ginger was the bulk of ingredients, along with pea pods, peaches and cashews.  And served on rice.

 I started the rice first.  Since I was making brown rice, it will take a little longer.  The I cut up the pork.  I used some pork that I could slice up and cut into smaller chunks.  One good tip if you don't know, have it a little frozen.  It makes any meat a lot easier to cut up.

 After I got all the meat cut and cooked, I added the pea pods and fruit.  I used peaches, other suggestions were nectarines or papaya.  Thawed frozen peaches worked just fine.  Next time, cutting the slices in half would be a bit better I think.

After they are done, I took them out, as I don't have a wok.  Made the sauce and then returned everything back into the pan to coat everything in the sauce.

When finished cooking, mix in the cashews.

It was very good!

We went out one night with a friend for dinner.  We ended up going to one of my favorite places, Fat Tuesday.  It is on S.W. 9th in Des Moines, IA.  I have just about everything on the menu and have leaned to test out the specials.  The Steak and Cheese Poboy is really good and has been a special for a while.  On this visit the special was Bacon and Catfish Poboy. All I can say is it was WONDERFUL!  Come on, this is proof that everything is better with bacon.  The catfish is always pretty good, but add the bacon to the sandwich and Yum-O as Rachel Ray would say.

                                                                                                                                                                                                             I almost forgot to take a photo it was so good.  I had a side of Cajun Greens with it also, but I eat them too fast.

For dessert, the owner was nice and gave us a slice of King Cake. It was really good also.  First time ever having it.

Back to Betty Crocker cooking, I made Scalloped Potatoes.  But as a dinner, I added some ham and cheese.  I used a sharp white cheddar and it was really good.  I had some left over ham from New Years in the freezer, so I used it.

 This is a repeat dinner for sure.


Here is what I just happen to find at Dollar General.  Sea Salt Caramel Turtles.  Luckily, they only had two boxes.  So I bought both and put one on a high shelf in the pantry.  After three days, I have ate most of the box.  Granted, there are only 10 and I have shared three of them.  I have two left.  Possibly one after this post...

They have them at Walmart also.

Now for the favorite recipe.  Chili Rellenos Casserole.  I of course had to change it up just a little.  I used pepper jack cheese and whit sharp cheddar. I also added onions and garlic. Two Poblano peppers quartered in boiling water for three minutes. 

 I also cooked the onions and garlic in a little olive oil. Just to soften them up.

Beat the eggs and milk.

 After the three minutes, drain inverted on paper towls

The pepper are put into a square casserole dish.







Sprinkle cheese over peppers, add onions and garlic

 The flower, cayenne pepper, baking powder and salt are added to the eggs and milk.  Beat until smooth.  This takes a while.

f

 Poor egg flour mixture over the peppers

 Bake for 15 minutes at 450.  Sprinkle with cheese. and serve.

It was really good with the optional picante and sour cream.  I'm not a huge fan of sour cream, but in this case it does add to it.  It gives it smooth texture and a rich flavor.

Coming soon, Red Beans and Rice, Stuffed shells, and Italian Pepper Steak. There will also be a few surprises.

Sorry about not posting last night, but What's for dinner tonight?

I was going to make some Asian meat ball recipe, but that got postponed as did the blog post:

Last night we ended up going to dinner with a friend.  We went to Fat Tuesday.  One of our favorite places to eat.  The special was a Steak and Cheese Po-Boy.  It was very good.  I got it with just onions and the special hot sauce and added a little extra Frank's Hot Sauce. I had the sweet potatoes for the side.  Tough choice since I also love the collard greens there.  I have yet to be disappointed going there.  I've tried most everything and liked it all.  Most of the time I need to add a little extra hot sauce, but I'm good with that.

For tonight, I needed to make something for dinner that could be made ahead but also sit for a while in case I was going to be eating later.  So I decided something in the crock pot would be best of course.  I didn't have a recipe ready, so I searched the internet.  I found a few recipes that sounded good.  Many would have required me to run to the store for items I didn't have.  Then I came across a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie Stew.  It sounded good, but again didn't have everything.  So I kept looking for other Chicken Pot Pie Stew recipes.After what felt like hundreds of  recipes (more like 4 or 5) I decided, I will just create my own.  Since many of the recipes had similar ingredients, I just used stuff I had on hand and decided to just wing a recipe.  Here is what I had:

Oh, I forgot the broccoli bits in the photo.  Sorry about that broccoli  since I also forgot about you in the freezer for so long.

1lbs Chicken, cut up into bite-size pieces

2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

1 can Milk

7-8 Potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 cup Carrots chopped

1 can Green Beans, french cut

1 cup Corn

1 cup Broccoli bits

6 teaspoons Chicken base

Few cloves Garlic to taste

1/2 Tbls Onion Powder

1/2 Tbls Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon Celery Salt

dash Salt

dash Pepper

While preparing, I was watching the Food Network.  I know that isn't a shock to those that know me.  I watched Rachael Ray.  She made a comment that she dirties a ton of dishes when she cooks and it was a good thing she doesn't do the dishes.  She was making Hot 'N Sweet Shrimp Lettuce Wraps and Orange-Sesame Pork Chops with Teriyaki Whole-Wheat Noodles.  They looked great!  I going to have to try this out sometime.

Back to the recipe.  I started out pealing, washing and chopping the carrots and potatoes and throwing them in the crock pot.  And thanks to Rachael Ray, I used a garbage bowl to through all my peels and scraps into so that I didn't make a mess.

Then added the cream of chicken soup and milk.  I mixed it up a little.  Added the chicken base and spices.  Mixed it up again.  

The added the corn, broccoli and green beans. I then cut up the chicken, 

added it to the crock pot.  The broccoli had a little bit of ice crystals on it, okay a lot, but I figured it would just add some moisture to it.  And I only have a cup of it anyway.

Cooked on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-8.  Heck, if it is bubbly  the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are done, eat up!  :)

***For a cheesy chicken pot pie, add some sharp cheddar cheese and cook on high until it is melted.  I would recommend 1-2 cups depending on how much cheese you want.  Or just though a little on top of you bowl before serving.

***Turkey would also be good instead of chicken.

*** For beef, I would use beef base for the chicken base and cream of mushroom or cream of celery for the cream of chicken.  And water instead of milk.