My Dining Experience

I thought I would take a minute and share my fancy dining experience. For the last three days I attended a conference in Salt Lake. As part of the conference Thursday night the company treated us to dinner at a four diamond restraunt at the base of Cottonwood Canyon called La Caille. Here is a link to the website http://lacaille.com/index2.php?ver=v1 you should all check it out and look at the food. Look for the item that is so expensive they say "financing available". The best part was the variety of fruits most had some sort of chocolate that went with them. My favorite was what they called Tuxedo Strawberries and so to share with everyone I went and found a recipe for all to try.

What You Need

1 tub (7 oz.) BAKER'S White Dipping Chocolate, melted
16 fresh strawberries, with stems attached
1 tub (7 oz.) BAKER'S Milk Chocolate Dipping Chocolate

Make It

DIP bottom 3/4 of each berry in white chocolate. Place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm.
MELT milk chocolate. Dip 1 side of each berry in milk chocolate, then turn to dip other side, leaving "V"-shaped white center. Return to baking sheet.
USE toothpick dipped in remaining chocolate to draw buttons and bow tie on each berry. Refrigerate until firm.

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

As everyone knows Matt is very picky with what he eats, he doesn't care for casseroles, but he liked this one quite a bit and even ate the left overs which is rare.

3-4 large potatoes cut into 1/4 in. thick slices
16 oz sour cream
12 oz Velveeta cheese
1pkg (8oz) ham chopped ( I used 2 ham steaks and it worked good)
1/4 C. Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350
Place potatoes in large saucepan cover with water bring to boil, reduce heat and let simmer 10-12 min until tender.
Drain potatoes and transfer 1/4 of the potatoes to bowl add sour cream and mash and cheese and ham mix lightly.
Spray 13x9in. dish with cooking spray. Add mixture and the remaining sliced potatoes to cooking dish.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese
Bake 30 min or until heated through.

Barbecue Nachos

This is a very experimental recipe that you can play with according to your families likes. I saw this recipe on a cooking show and have twisted it to my likes. The show used a pulled pork for the meat I have tried pork, chicken and steak and I prefered the steak the best. I also think you could use shredded cheese and bake it instead of velveeta. Hopefully this provides a base so you can play with this recipe. This has quickly become one of my favorites!!

Tortilla Chips
Velveeta Cheese
Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce (my favorite, any will work)
Kidney Beans (you can substitute for your prefered)
Steak strips (or prefered meat)
Sour Cream
Olives
Lettuce

Start with your layer of chips, layer beans, olives, onions or whatever your fixins you prefer. Top with whatever meat you prefer, spread your cheese, drizzle your barbecue sauce top with lettuce and sour cream. Enjoy!

Apricot Chicken

This is great if you don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. My entire family loves it.
I adjust the sizes according to what I think we will eat that night. And also to make the item last for more than 1 meal. So adjust the recipe accordingly.

8-10 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I use still frozen)
1 (8 oz) bottle russian dressing (or French)
1 C apricot jam
1 pkg dry onion soup mix

Place chicken in lightly greased baking dish. Mix dressing, jam and soup mix. Pour over chicken. Bake uncovered at 350 for 1 hour. Serve with rice.

You can also use cranberry sauce instead of jam as a substitution to mix up the recipe. I haven't tried this. but I hear it is really good.

Corn Chowder

6 slices cooked bacon
1c. chopped onion
2 c. diced potatoes (steam until crisp-tender)
3 c. corn (fresh, frozen or canned)
4 c. liquid (at least 2 c. milk or half & half; remainder can be liquid from canned corn, water, or chicken stock)
2-3 Tbl. flour. mixed with 1/4 c water to form paste
Parsley (fresh or dried to taste)
salt & pepper

Saute bacon until crisp. Over low heat saute onion until barely starting to brown. Once onions are cooked add potatoes, corn, liquid, flour paste and cook over medium until it boils. Stir often so it doesn't stick. Add parsley and salt and pepper. Garnish with bacon.

Taco Soup

I love making soups in the fall. I know some of you will HATE my taco soup recipe...so I'll post 2 soup recipes for this week.
1 lb. ground hamburger (or turkey)
1 onion, chopped, browned with meat
1 can chili beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn
1 lg can whole tomatoes
1 (8oz.) can tomato sauce
1 c. water
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 small can chopped green chilies (optional)
Do not drain any canned items. Simmer on low at least 2 hours. Garnish with sour cream, grated cheese and Fritos.