Quesadillas Supremas

Olive oil for skillet
Flour tortillas
Shredded cheese
Chopped, cooked chicken
Mashed avocado
Chopped tomato
Minced bell pepper
Salsa and sour cream (optional)

Heat a very small amount of oil in a cast-iron skillet.  On one half of each tortilla, spread a teaspoon or two of avocado.  Top with chicken, tomato, pepper, and cheese.  Fold tortilla over toppings.  Place one at a time in hot skillet, cheese side up.  Cook until side is browned (a few minutes); flip and cook until the other side is browned and cheese is melted.  Place on serving plate.  Cut into four pieces.  Serve with sour cream and salsa for dipping, if desired.  Each quesadilla serves one.

Easy Lemon Drop Cookies

1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. white sugar
2 t. vanilla
1 egg
1 (3-oz.) package lemon-flavored gelatin dessert
poppy seeds (optional)
2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Preheat oven to 375°F. Cream butter and sugar; add eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Beat in gelatin and poppy seeds.  Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Chill dough for approximately 20 minutes.  Drop by teaspoonful 2 inches apart on paper-lined cookie sheets.  Bake 8-10 minutes.

This is a great way to use the package of gelatin which has been sitting in your cupboard for two years, which expired last October, and which you don't think you will use any other way.  Feel free to experiment with other flavors of gelatin.

Asparagus with Cream Sauce

Found this and edited it till it made a perfect sauce. Do steam the asparagus instead of boiling it; boiled asparagus can have a bitter taste.

Ingredients:
Asparagus spears, hard end cut off
4oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup milk
1 Tbsp lemon juice
dash salt
2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
Ground chives, to taste

Directions:
Steam asparagus until tender. In small saucepan, whisk cream cheese, milk, lemon juice, and salt over low heat until smooth. Add parmesan and chives and heat through. Serve warm over asparagus. Serves: 4-6.

--K.

Lessons learned

Lesson #1: Bad smoothies


Bad smoothie #1: Frozen banana and lemon yogurt.  Something about the lemon-banana combination is terrible. (Might be better if another flavor is added.)


Bad smoothie #2: Pureed cantaloupe and plain yogurt.  Which leads me to Lesson #2:


Lesson #2: Pureed cantaloupe should be avoided at all costs.  It resembles applesauce in consistency; but unlike applesauce, it tastes horrible!  (And I love ordinary cantaloupe.)

Best Smoothie Ever

1 banana, frozen
2 T. peanut butter (approximately)
1 T. cocoa powder (approximately)
water (or milk) to thin
sweetener may be added to taste, if so desired

Combine in a blender until smooth.  Chill before eating, if desired.

Soft cookies

Secrets for soft cookies:


~Melt the butter.  And use butter--not a substitute.
~Use brown sugar.  No white.
~Do not over-bake!  This will ruin all your efforts.
~In fact, under-bake.  Then leave the cookies on the sheets a few minutes.  They will continue cooking.
~Do not place cookies on a wire rack.  This dries them out, resulting in hard cookies.
~Store cookies in an airtight container, along with a slice of bread.


Trust me.  It works!  :)

Peanutty Chocolate Banana Muffins

2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 T. baking powder
½ t. salt
1 c. mashed, ripe bananas (I used 3 bananas)1/3 c. milk
1/3 c. peanut butter
3 T. peanut oil (can use vegetable or canola)
1 egg
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400° F.  Place papers in 17 muffin cups (18 if you make small muffins). 

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  In a separate bowl, mix bananas, milk, peanut butter, oil, and egg.  Add to dry ingredients, mixing just until moistened.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Place ¼ c. batter in each muffin paper (use less per muffin if you want 18 muffins). 

Bake 20-25 minutes.

The reason the number of muffins is off is that this recipe originally made 1 loaf of bread, baked at 350° for 60 minutes.  And the original recipe calls for chocolate chips and chopped peanuts to be sprinkled on top before baking.