Trisha Yearwood's Key Lime Cake

My usual tradition for St. Patrick's Day would be to make my mom's pistachio cake- oh so good.  But this year I found this recipe for Trisha Yearwood's Key Lime cake and it sounded delicious!  I just had to try it.  My husband is a big fan of key lime flavors as well, so we gave it a go.  And yes, it was divine!  I didn't have time however to do the layered look, so I just baked the entire mixture in a 9x13 dish for 35 minutes.  Turned out wonderful!

Trisha Yearwood's Key Lime Cake

■1 3-oz package lime-flavored gelatin
■1⅓ cups granulated sugar
■2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
■½ tsp salt
■1 tsp baking powder
■1 tsp baking soda
■5 large eggs, slightly beaten
■1½ cups vegetable oil
■¾ cup orange juice
■1 Tbsp lemon juice
■½ tsp vanilla extract
■½ cup Key lime juice (from about 25 small Key limes or 4 large regular limes)
■½ cup confectioners’ sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 9-inch-round cake pans.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the gelatin, sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir to mix well. Add the eggs, oil, orange juice, lemon juice, and vanilla. Divide the batter evenly among the 3 pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  (I just baked mine in a 9x13 dish for 35 minutes.)  Test if it's done by lightly touching the tops of the layers or inserting a toothpick. Cool the layers in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn them out onto racks.

3. While the layers are still hot, mix the lime juice and confectioners’ sugar and pour it over the layers on the racks. You can pierce the layers with a fork to allow the glaze to soak in better. Allow the layers to cool completely as you prepare the icing.

CREAM CHEESE ICING

■½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
■1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
■1 (1-lb) box confectioners’ sugar
Comment from heidibakes.blogspot.com: (I used lime zest & lime juice in my icing)

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar until the mixture is smooth and easy to spread. Spread the icing between the layers and on the top and sides of the cake.

My cake turned out more like this (still just as delicious):

Gluten free: use GF all purpose flour (I used King Arthur's brand)


Recipe and photo found on heidibakes.blogspot.com

Cabbage, Potato, and Smoked Sausage Skillet

With it being the month of March, I always love to try new things that are festive to St. Patrick's Day.  This recipe was a super easy, week night meal that I tried after work one day.  And it was good!  The sausage adds so much flavor to this dish, which I loved.  It was a fun, easy St. Patrick's Day meal!

Ingredients
½ large head of cabbage, roughly chopped (or an entire small one)
1 large mild onion, chopped
1 lb smoked sausage, or favorite sausage enough for 4 servings
1 pkg. Simply Potatoes diced with onions
½ to 1 cup chicken broth
1 dash seasoning salt
½ teaspoon paprika
1 dash pepper


Directions
Heat pan and sausage, and potatoes. Season with the seasoned salt lightly, and add the paprika. Cook and stir over medium heat until potatoes are cooked about halfway through.
Next add the chopped cabbage and 1 cup of chicken broth. Cook, stirring occasionally until cabbage is crisp-tender and most of the liquid evaporates.


Gluten free:  double check your sausage of choice and chicken broth, other than that it's gluten free!

Recipe and photo found on: keyingredient.com

Chickpea Potato Curry

At first I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this recipe, but wanted to give it a shot.  Result = Husband and I LOVED it.  Very good.  And so, so easy.  I will be making this one again for sure.  Next time I'm coing to substitue chicken thighs for the chickpeas and see how that tastes!


INGREDIENTS2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
Two 15-ounce cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
One 14 1/2-ounce can fire-roasted or stewed tomatoes with chiles (See Muir Glen. If you can't find canned tomatoes with chiles you can add half a 4-ounce can of diced green anaheim chiles to a 14.5 ounce can of tomatoes.)
6 baby (new) Yukon Gold potatoes (about 12 ounces), quartered
1 medium onion, diced (about 2 cups)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter (or ghee if you have it, or you can sub olive oil)
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1-2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)

METHOD1 In a large pot, heat the butter over medium-high heat and sauté the onions and ginger until the onion begins to brown, about 4-5 minutes. Add the salt, cumin, coriander and cayenne, stir to combine and cook for another minute or two.
2 Add the remaining ingredients, stir to mix and simmer vigorously for about 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Add more salt to taste.
Serve the curry in bowls over rice. Great accompanied with plain yogurt.
Yield: Serves 4-6.

This recipe is gluten free!!  :)

Recipe and photo found on simplyrecipes.com

Lemon Chicken and Rice

Don't let the name of this dish deceive you!  It is absolutely delicious!  It sounds super simple and boring, but there is actually a ton of flavor in this dish.  And all of the flavors just mesh so well together.  I made this meal on Valentines day for me and my super special other half.  And it was divine!  It had such a nice fresh, citrus, herb, with a tiny kick taste.  I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out with all of the different flavors but we just gobbled it right up.  And it is so fast to throw together too.  This will definitely become a regular around my kitchen!  Next time I am excited to try it with shrimp! :)

Lemon Chicken and Rice

Ingredients:

• 1cup basmati or long grain brown rice  (I used jasmine rice)
• 16oz low sodium chicken broth
• 1tbsp Earth Balance Buttery Spread or regular butter
• 1tbsp minced garlic
• 1tsp red pepper flakes (if desired) (I did use about 1/2 tsp, just enough for a small kick)
• 1 lemon
• 1/2lb – 1lb (chicken breast, shrimp, or canned chicken) (I used chicken)
• 2tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. In a pot add in broth, rice, butter, and garlic; bring to a boil.
2. Once that starts to boil add in red pepper flakes, cover, and reduce heat to low.
3. Let simmer for 15-25 minutes depending on rice.
4. Take off lid and add in cooked protein choice, squeeze fresh lemon in pot, and add cilantro.
5. Mix all together and cover for another 3-5 minutes.

Gluten free:  this recipe is gluten free!  Even better!! :)


Recipe and photo found on skinnymom.com

Creamed Dried Beef

Have you ever had egg gravy before?  It's a white sauce with boiled egg chopped and mixed in served over warm toast.  Well, this is exactly the same thing, only using dried beef.  It's a good, hearty, filling, classic meal.  Since me and my husband love egg gravy, we really liked this dish as well.  Once thing you should know, (and don't forget!!), is that 3 jars of beef is way too much.  It makes it just way too salty.  The woman who posted the recipe said to only use 2 jars of dried beef if it was the first time making it to see how salty you might like it.  So that's what I did.  Even that was a bit too much.  So next time I will either double my white sauce or only use 1 jar of dried beef next time.  Other than the saltiness, it was great!  And super easy, took 5 minutes to make.  Also, most of the ingredients you have around your kitchen most of the time anyway.  Such an easy, weeknight meal.

Ingredients

3 jar(s)	dried beef  (I used 2, but will only use 1 next time around)
1 stk	butter  (I used margarine)
1/2 c	flour
4 c	milk Directions 1  Tear (I cut with scissors) dried beef into small pieces and set aside. In saucepan, melt butter over low heat. After completely melted, add flour and mix in with spoon until no lumps show. Add milk and turn heat to high, stirring constantly until it boils. Turn heat back down to medium, stirring constantly, until desired thickness is achieved. Stir in dried beef. Serve over warm toast. Gluten free: substitute GF all purpose flour. Recipe found on justapinch.com, photo found on asweetandsavorylife.com.

Slow Cooker Chicken Rice Curry

Ok, so this was one of the easiest curries I've ever made!  Plus, me and my husband quite enjoyed it!  My husband is Indian too, so he is a tad pickier than most about his curry.  We really liked this one because it had more of an authentic flavor to it than other recipes we have tried.  The only difference from the usual curry that we are accustomed to is that it has almost no heat to it.  Usually the curry we eat it has some serious spice to it, but this is extremely mild...like no heat.  So if you do like spice, then you will want to add some cayenne pepper, or anything else you think would taste good to add heat to the dish.  We still enjoyed it without the spice though so it was all good. :)  I did leave the raisins out, however, because neither me or my husband will eat them, I used 6 chicken thighs instead of breast halves (I like the meat better myself), and I added about 1/2 tsp of onion salt as well.  Lastly, I did not do the last step of adding instant rice to the slow cooker at the end.  Instant rice and curry just don't mix, in my opinion.  So I just cooked my meat and gravy on low for 8 hours and about 30 minutes before it ended, I made my own jasmine rice in a separate rice cooker.  You can decide which method you prefer.  I hope you enjoy this recipe!  It is seriously easy, no need to be intimidated, which curry can often induce.  And the meat was so tender, I could barely keep it together to serve it on my rice!  Very yummy, indeed.

Makes 6 servings.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH plus 20 minutes on HIGH

4 bone-in chicken breast halves (about 2 pounds), skin removed
1 tablespoon McCormick® Curry Powder
1 package McCormick® Chicken Gravy Mix
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 medium Golden Delicious apple, unpeeled, cored and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup McCormick® Onions, Chopped
2 McCormick® Bay Leaves, broken in half
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Garlic Powder
1 cup instant rice

1. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Cut each breast half into 2 pieces. Sprinkle chicken with curry powder.

2. Gradually stir Gravy Mix into broth in slow cooker until well blended. Add seasoned chicken and remaining ingredients except rice; stir well. Cover.

3. Cook 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH.

4. Gently stir in rice. Cover. Cook 15 to 20 minutes longer on HIGH or until rice is tender. Remove bay leaves before serving.

Slow Cooker Tip: For best results, do not remove cover during cooking.

Gluten free:  use a GF gravy packet- the only flavor I had available to me at the time was Savory Herb, instead of chicken, but with the chicken broth included in the recipe, it was still delicious.

Recipe and photo found on mccormick.com

Taco Tater Tot Bake

Me and my husband really enjoyed this dish!  It was similar to any tater tot casserole, with a twist of Mexican!  Delicious!!  The only change we made, was we only added about 2/3 bag of shredded cheese.  If we had used the whole thing, it would have been a bit too greasy for us.  But with 2/3 bag, it was perfect!


Ingredients:1lb ground beef
1 small onion (diced)
1 garlic clove (minced)
1 small can black olives (sliced)
1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen corn
1 (4 ounce) can green chilies (diced and drained)
1 (12 ounce) can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 (16 ounce) bag shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 (16 ounce) package frozen tater tots
1 (10.5 ounce fluid ounce) can enchilada sauce

Directions:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Heat a skillet to medium high heat. Add ground beef, garlic, and onion and cook while breaking the meat apart with a spoon or spatula until the ground beef is completely browned. Drain off any excess fat. Add taco seasoning mix, green chilies, frozen corn, and black beans to the ground beef. Cook until heated through.
Step 2: In a large bowl combine ground beef mixture, ¾ of the Mexican cheese blend, and all of the tater tots. Stir well to combine.
Step 3: Pour about 1/3 of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Add the tater tot mixture to the baking dish and lightly pat the mixture down into a solid, even layer. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the tater tots.
Step 4: Place into the oven and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. During the last few minutes of baking, top the casserole with the remaining Mexican cheese blend and the sliced black olives. Return to the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
(Makes 6 Servings)


Gluten free:  use a GF taco seasoning mix (I'm always able to use Kroger brand without a problem), and GF enchilada sauce.

Recipe and photo found on blogchef.net