Mom's Bean Salad

 Mom's Bean Salad 

2 (15 ounce) dark red kidney beans, drained, do not rinse
4 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1/2 cup Miracle Whip
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon sugar

In large bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix well. Cover. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight before serving.

Why is it that when your Mom make your favorite recipe, it is always better than you can make it yourself?  This bean salad recipe is one of my favorites!  My Mom will only make it when I am home.  It doesn't matter how much my sister Shelley begs and pleads for this dish, my Mom refuses to make it until I am there.

Have you ever put eggs in a pan of water on the stove to boil, then got busy and forgot you did it?  I am sad to say I have, and unfortunate I have done it more than once.  Luckily for me, my Mom purchased me an egg cooker, and saved me from potentially burning down my house with my forgetfulness.    

Have you ever put something on the stove

and forgot about it, or is it just me? 

Check back on Friday, to see my

Orange Twist Cake!

I want to say Thank You to Jessica, of cajunlicious for the award she gave me!  
Please check out her fantastic blog!

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully 
follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Stop by and visit Ashley, at What Does A Songbird Sing.  She posts recipes and exercise tips on her blog, and who couldn't use a little more of both!

Slow Cooker Honey BBQ Ham

Slow Cooker Honey BBQ Ham

3 - 3 1/2 ham
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pineapple rings, drained (optional)

In slow cooker sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, place ham.  In small bowl, combine honey, barbecue sauce and brown sugar.  Mix well. Pour mixture over ham.  Arrange pineapple over and around ham.  Cover.  Cook on low 4 to 5 hours for a fully cooked ham and 7 to 8 hours for an uncooked ham.

Ham is traditional for the Easter dinner, so that is what is on the menu at our house.  We love this recipe!  The ham is tender and juicy with a delicious sweet and tangy sauce.  I can put it in the slow cooker, go to church, and when I get home, I can have dinner on the table in a matter of minutes. 

This Easter I have two slow cookers doing the work for me.  In the first slow cooker is the ham of course, and in the second one is my Extra Cheesy Hash Browns.  I would typically serve my Mom's baked Mac & Cheese recipe, but our foreign exchange girls love the Hash Browns and asked me to fix that instead.

What are you cooking up for Easter Dinner?  

Does your family have special Easter holiday traditions?

I would love to hear about them!

Check back on next Tuesday and Friday
to see more recipes that are on my Easter menu. 

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully 
follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Stop by and visit Ashley, at What Does A Songbird Sing.  She posts recipes and exercise tips on her blog, and who couldn't use a little more of both!

Linked With:

 

Easy Easter Dinner Tips

My niece Calli, last year on Easter morning.

Does the thought of a big Easter dinner leave you feeling tired and stressed, even before the day arrives?

With a little planning, you can enjoy a good dinner and the company of your loved ones.  Below are a few tips that I use to help me sleep like a baby in the Easter Bunny's arms, instead of tossing and turning, worrying about getting everything done in time.

 Easy Easter Dinner Tips

1.  Clean as you go.  This is the first kitchen tip my mom taught me, and it is one I use everyday.

Click this link to read the post: "Clean as you go!" 

2.  KISS: Keep It Super Simple.  Save that new complicated recipe for another time.  Instead use tried and true recipes that you know everyone loves.  Each member of my family has a favorite recipe that our mom will only make when we are at home for dinner.  It make each of us feel very special and encourages us to get home as much as possible to have that special treat.  Next week I will post the special recipe that my mom only makes for me.

3.  Share the load.  Have each guest bring a dish.  Create a menu and assign each guest a specific item to bring.  It wouldn't be much of a dinner if everyone brought the same dish.  You can only eat so much cake.

4.  Prepare ahead.  Do as much as you can the night before.  Desserts, veggie trays, marinades, and deviled eggs, are just a few of the dishes that can be made ahead of time.

5.  Use slow cookers.  They free up space in your oven and keep your kitchen cool.  You can cook almost everything in them.

What tips do you have for a hassle-free holiday meal?

Calli and I, wish you and yours, all the 

joy that should come with this Easter season!

On Friday, I will be posting my 

Honey BBQ Slow Cooker Ham recipe.

Check out my friend Bo's

Le Creuset French Oven Giveaway! 

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully 
follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Stop by and visit Ashley, at What Does A Songbird Sing.  She posts recipes and exercise tips on her blog, and who couldn't use a little more of both!

Restaurant Salsa

Restaurant Salsa

2 to 4 jalapeno peppers, seeds and veins removed

1 small onion, quartered
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin

In blender container, combine jalapeno peppers, onion, cilantro, and 1/2 of tomatoes.  Cover.  Blend well.  Add remaining ingredients.  Cover. Pulse until blended.

We eat a lot of salsa at our house, and it is not just because we live in New Mexico, it is because we love it!  This recipe is one of our favorites.  You can customize the heat in the salsa by adding the peppers to the blender at the end, tasting after every addition, until you arrive at the desired heat.

When the fresh tomatoes are looking a little on the not so tasty side, there is no need to fear; thanks to canned tomatoes you can have salsa any time of the year.  Our grocery store sells fresh jalapeno peppers all year long.  If you can't find fresh jalapenos in your store, you can substitute canned diced jalapenos.

           

Last Sunday the Passion Radio Network, where I have my "Fast Food Friday's" show and where I co-host an afternoon drive time show called, "Cross Connection" with my husband Stan, had Michael W. Smith in concert.

It was an incredible concert!  He not only played his new songs, but he also played some of my old favorite songs like, "Friends are Friends Forever".    

Michael W. Smith with my cookbook.

Michael W. Smith and his crew had dinner before the concert.  I prepared the above Restaurant Salsa recipe, my Mediterranean Salsa, and my Caramel Banana Trifle for them.  All three recipes were a big hit.

The Winner of the Giveaway is:

Gloria of Canela Kitchen

Congratulations Gloria!  

Please email me your address at mykindofcooking@gmail.com

A special thank you to Melynda of Mom's Sunday Cafe, for posting my Pretzel Toffee recipe!  Please check out her fantastic blog, you will be happy you did!

Check out my friend Bo's

Le Creuset French Oven Giveaway! 

Linked With:

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully 
follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Stop by and visit Ashley, at What Does A Songbird Sing.  She posts recipes and exercise tips on her blog, and who couldn't use a little more of both!

Chile Peppers Q & A's

I wrote my first cookbook nine years ago.  

It is called, MILD TO WILD MEXICAN COOKBOOK.  

I don't know if it is because I live in  New Mexico, or that I wrote a Mexican cookbook, or maybe it is a combination of the two, but I am often asked about chile peppers.

Below are the frequently asked questions that I receive, and the answers that I give.

Q. What is the most popular chile pepper?

A.  The jalapeno pepper is the most popular pepper in the United States. Jalapenos range in heat from mild to hot.  A chipotle is a smoked jalapeno.

 Jalapeno

Q. I want to stuff a chile, which one should I use?

A. Whether you want to stuff a pepper with cheese or beef and rice, the pablano pepper is the most popular chile pepper for stuffing.  They are large and have thick walls and range from mild to medium in heat.  A dried pablano chile is called an ancho chile.

Pablano

Q.  What is a Hatch Green Chile?

A.  Hatch Green Chile, is not one single type of chile, but is actually several different varieties of chile that are grown in Hatch, New Mexico.  Sandia, New Mexico, Big Jim, and Joe Parker are just a few of the varieties of chile that are grown in the Hatch Valley.  Big Jim is the variety that is typically sold at the grocery store as Hatch Green Chile.  The heat ranges from mild to medium.

 Green Chiles

In New Mexico at harvest time, the air is filled with the delicious aroma of roasting peppers. 

I like to roast peppers in my oven.  To see my step by step blog post about roasting peppers, click the link below.

Tip: Roasting Peppers

Q.  I like my food hot, which pepper should I use?

A.  The habanero pepper is probably the hottest pepper you will find at your local grocery store.  It is very hot in heat.

Habanero

Fun Facts from my MILD TO WILD MEXICAN COOKBOOK:

Peppers are a fruit not a vegetable.

Peppers contain more vitamin A and C than orange juice.

The best relief for a burning mouth is milk, sour cream, or yogurt.

Wear plastic gloves while handling and preparing peppers.

Some chile peppers can grow up to 12 inches long or as short as 1/4 inch.

When refrigerating recipes containing hot peppers, your leftovers will become spicier as the peppers continue to release their heat.

The first cookbook featuring a recipe using peppers was published in 1872.

Removing the seeds and veins in a pepper is an easy way to control the heat in a recipe.

On Friday, I will be posting my 

Restaurant Salsa recipe.

Giveaway! 

Enter my giveaway, for your chance to win a copy of my cookbook, 

MY KIND OF COOKING, and a kitchen plaque!  

For more details, check out my post about the Giveaway.

Check out my friend Bo's

Le Creuset French Oven Giveaway! 

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully 
follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Stop by and visit Ashley, at What Does A Songbird Sing.  She posts recipes and exercise tips on her blog, and who couldn't use a little more of both!

Meatloaf Florentine

Meatloaf Florentine

Slow Cooker

2 eggs

1 (16 ounce) jar Parmesan Alfredo sauce, divided

3 slices bread, finely diced

1 (9 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry

1½ pounds lean ground beef
garlic salt and pepper to taste

In large bowl, combine eggs and ½ cup Alfredo sauce. Mix well. Add bread and spinach. Mix well. Add ground beef, garlic salt and pepper to taste. Gently mix. 

In bottom of slow cooker sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, shape meat mixture into a loaf, mounded so it does not touch the sides. Cover. Cook on high 4 to 5 hours or low 8 to 9 hours. Remove from slow cooker. Heat remaining Alfredo sauce. Serve sauce with meatloaf. Makes 5 to 6 servings.

I
f you have not used your slow cooker to make a meatloaf before you should give it a try.  A big complaint that people have about meatloaf is that it is dry.  If you make it in the slow cooker, it will the moist and tender every time you make it.

This recipe is a new twist on a good old comfort food standby.  The creamy Alfredo sauce is a nice change from the usual ketchup topped meatloaf. 

My husband Stan is not a big cooked spinach fan, so when I first made this recipe he only took a small slice.  After his first bite he went back for seconds and probably would have gone back for thirds if our foreign exchange girls hadn't clean it out.

Giveaway! 

Enter my giveaway, for your chance to win a copy of my cookbook, 

MY KIND OF COOKING, and a kitchen plaque!  

For more details, check out my post about the Giveaway.

Check out my friend Bo's

Le Creuset French Oven Giveaway! 

Linked up with:

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully 
follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Stop by and visit Ashley, at What Does A Songbird Sing.  She posts recipes and exercise tips on her blog, and who couldn't use a little more of both!

Nacho Cheese Chicken Chowder

Nacho Cheese Chicken Chowder

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 (14.5 ounce) cans Mexican style tomatoes, undrained

1 (10 3/4 ounce) can nacho cheese soup

1 (10 ounce) package frozen whole kernel corn

Shredded Mexican style or cheddar cheese

In slow cooker, combine chicken, tomatoes, soup, and corn.  Mix well.  Cover.  Cook on low 4 to 5 hours or high 2 to 2 1/2 hours.  Sprinkle each serving with cheese. makes 6 servings. 

When I get really busy the slow cooker comes out.  Lately my slow cooker has been working overtime.  

This recipe is perfect for those days when you wake up feeling like you are already running behind.  Cut the chicken up the night before, and in the morning it will only take you 2 minutes to have it in the slow cooker.  When the kids get home from school, have them turn the slow cooker to warm, and you will have a meal waiting when you get home.

After cooking in the slow cooker for several hours, the flavor of the chowder is deep and rich, with a mild Mexican flavor that is sure to please the whole family.

Check back on Friday, when I will be posting another 

slow cooker recipe called, Meatloaf Florentine.

Giveaway! 

Enter my giveaway, for your chance to win a copy of my cookbook, 

MY KIND OF COOKING, and a kitchen plaque!  

For more details, check out my post about the Giveaway.

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully 
follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Stop by and visit Ashley, at What Does A Songbird Sing.  She posts recipes and exercise tips on her blog, and who couldn't use a little more of both!