ed's trail mix

Traditional trail mix, be gone! Well... maybe not forever because I LOVE traditional trail mix- peanuts, raisins, chocolate candy pieces and pretzels... so good! But, I wanted to switch it up and make enough to last a decent way into football season. Oh, did I mention that it's football season? I've lost my fiance for at least the next 6 months. And then it will be baseball season again.

I think this may be the perfect combination- chocolate covered raisins provide the sweet and chocolate. Swedish fish come in for the chew and fruit. Bugles are salty and crispy almost like a potato chip. Teddy grahams are sweet and cookie-ish. Goldfish are cheesy and crunchy. Finally, the Gardetto's mix (basically a zesty Chex mix) is savory and twangy.

Glorious, glorious trail mix. This seriously make a bunch of trail mix...

Yea. It made about 2 gallon sized resealable bags worth of trail mix. This should last a while.

Ed's Trail Mix
1 bag Swedish Fish
1 bag chocolate covered raisins
1 bag traditional Bugles
1 bag honey Teddy Grahams
1 bag cheddar Goldfish snacks
1 bag Gardetto's (or zesty Chex Mix)

Combine all above ingredients in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Transfer into 2 large resealable bags and remove all air. Enjoy!

jalapeno popper wontons

Hello! These were awesome! And really easy too! So, I suggest you make them as soon as possible!

You can make the jalapeno part of this mix as hot as you'd like and here's how. If you want it super hot, leave the ribs and the seeds in. If you want it a little cooler, take them out. Either way, make sure you REALLY wash your hands afterward. The oils from the peppers will linger for a long time on your hands.

Super softened cream cheese, monterey jack cheese and diced jalapenos make up the mix. Cream them together.

Cream them until it's completely combined and looks like this. Now, it's time to start the assembly.

Instead of buying both wonton and egg roll wrappers this week, I just went with the egg roll wrappers (since I'll need them for another recipe I'm doing soon). Just slice them down the middle and they work just fine.

Place a large dollop of the cream cheese mixture (about a Tablespoon) onto one side of the wrapper. Wet the edges of the wrapper with water and seal it up completely.

Until you have a little jalapeno popper ravioli! Repeat until the cream cheese spread is gone.

When all the cream cheese mixture is gone, place the wontons in the fridge and let them chill out for about 15 minutes.

Time to fry! No need to deep fry, just about an inch of oil in the pan and fry on either side for about a minute. That's really all you're going to need.

After taking them out of the oil, sprinkle on some salt, and try to not scarf them down before they are cool.

Jalapeno Popper Wontons

Found these babies at Key Ingredient!

1 package refrigerated wonton wrappers, room temperature

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened

2 jalapenos, minced

1/2 cup shredded monterey jack cheese

Vegetable oil, for frying

In a large bowl, cream together minced jalapenos, monterey jack cheese and cream cheese. Place a large dollop, about a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture on one side of a wonton wrapper. Moisten each edge of the wonton and fold over. Make sure all four sides are completely sealed, and then repeat with each wonton. Place the ready wontons on a sheet pan and place it in the fridge for 15 minutes. While the wontons are in the fridge, heat about 1 inch of oil in a large skillet. After 15 minutes, drop wontons in batches and fry on either side until crispy and brown. Drain on a paper towel and season with salt. Enjoy!

copy cat ruby tuesdays pasta salad

I worked at Ruby Tuesdays for a long time... as a waitress, bartender and expediter. The one thing I miss the most from that job is the salad bar. Always fresh vegetables to eat and the croutons? Oh, so good. And since I love a good pasta salad, I loved the ham and pea pasta salad they had on the bar. Well, we don't go to Ruby Tuesdays much any more, so I tried to create my own. This is pretty close!

Fun Fact!!! Bell peppers come in both female and male! Here's how to tell them apart- when at the grocery store while choosing peppers, grab each one and turn it over. Take a look at the bottom- if it has 3 ridges, it's a male. The female, like you see above, has 4 ridges and will stand up on the table when you set it down. The also taste slightly different. A male will be more bitter and a female more sweet, but a female will have more seeds and will be harder to clean out. I however, don't mind having to clean them out because the sweeter pepper is what I want!

You can use whatever pasta you want, but I like the swirly kind you see above, because it holds more of the sauce. But, it's also the kind that the use at Ruby Tuesdays, so I wanted it to be traditional.

The sauce for the pasta salad is ranch, mayonnaise, all seasons salt, salt and pepper. That's it!

The fixings of the salad are ham, cut into strips, the diced bell pepper and peas. Make sure the peas are partially defrosted, but not the whole way, or they'll just mush up as you mix. Stir them into the sauce and then add your pasta. Make sure you let the salad rest in the fridge for a while to let the flavors come together. And then... devour!

Copy Cat Ruby Tuesdays Pasta Salad
1 pound rotini pasta, prepared according to package directions
3/4 cup ranch dressing
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon all seasons salt
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoons black pepper
2 cups cooked ham, cut into slices
1/2 cup frozen peas, partially defrosted
1 bell pepper, diced

Cook pasta according to package directions, and drain thoroughly. Let this cool completely. In a large bowl, whisk together ranch dressing, mayonnaise, all seasons salt, salt and pepper. Stir in diced ham, partially defrosted peas, diced bell pepper and cooled pasta. Wrap with plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator until completely cold, or longer if possible. Serve cold and enjoy!

wicked chicken rigatoni

Wiki-wiki! That's my attempt at sounding like a DJ. Not very convincing. And this is called "wicked" chicken rigatoni, but it's not TOO wicked. Just mildly spicy. To us, anyway. I got inspired to make this dish from an episode of Diner's, Drive-Ins and Dives, and so this is my spin on that dish.

To cook the chicken, I sliced them into cutlets and pan seared them in butter. Yes, butter. It makes them so crispy and tasty.

See how golden and delicious the butter makes them? You barely need to season them because the butter brings out the flavor anyway.

Pull the chicken from the pan and let it cook enough to be handled. Then, dice the chicken into pieces and set aside. It's time to make the sauce.

Onion, garlic and LOTS of red pepper flake is the start of this. Add the red pepper flake so that it can become aromatic and pungent. Let this brown up a bit until it looks like...

...this! The pepper flake will turn the onion slightly orange and it's all good.

To that, add a large can of tomato sauce and the half and half to start the rest of the sauce.

You get this orangey kind of sauce, and then let it come to a simmer.

Here's where the sauce becomes more like a tomato alfredo... LOTS of parmesan cheese is dumped in to cream it up even more. At this point, give the sauce a taste and make sure it doesn't need a little more pepper or salt.

Stir in the pasta and chicken...

And this is what you'll come up with! It won't be as wicked as you think, but you can always add more red pepper flake at the end!

Wicked Chicken Rigatoni
2 Tablespoons butter
2 chicken breast, sliced into cutlets
1/8 teaspoons black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon miced garlic
1 small onion, diced
1 Tablespoon crushed red pepper flake
1 28 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup half and half
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 lb rigatoni pasta, prepared according to package directions

In a large saute pan, melt the butter. Season chicken breast with salt and pepper and place into hot butter. Sear on both sides for several minutes, until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Diced chicken and set aside. In the same pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and saute onions, minced garlic and crushed red pepper flake until soft and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add in tomato sauce and reduce heat. Stir in half and half and bring heat back up to a low simmer. Add in grated parmesan cheese and stir until completely melted. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Add in rigatoni and diced chicken and stir to combine. Serve immediately and enjoy!

stonehenge potatoes

I know this is a strange name for potatoes, but don't they kind of look like Stonehenge? Call them Taterhenge? Enough weirdness. This is a pretty simple way of making some delicious taters.

I hate peeling potatoes, but in this case it's necessary. And it's totally worth it. Peel the potatoes, make sure they are clean and then cut them in half. Stand them up in a shallow baking dish.

Pour in enough chicken stock to cover about a half inch of the potatoes. This is all you need!

Now, sprinkle on some black pepper and salt, and garlic powder as well. The last step is to top each piece of potato with a sliver of butter. This way, the butter will melt down the potato and make is delicious and fluffy and perfect.

Just about 40 minutes later, and here we are! A perfectly cooked potato is 140 degrees inside, but I usually just use the fork test. If it's fork tender, it's all done.

Stonehenge Potatoes
4 large baking potatoes, peeled
4 Tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
Chicken stock

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice the peeled potatoes in half and place them in a shallow baking dish. Add enough chicken stock to cover about 1/2 inch of potato. Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper, to taste. Top each halve of potato with 1/2 tablespoon of butter and place in oven. Bake in preheated oven for about 40 minute or until internal temperature is 140 degrees and fork tender. Enjoy!

coconut chicken

Ed described this as "awesome" and I was slightly tempted to just call it "awesome" chicken, rather than coconut chicken. And really, it was pretty "awesome".

I make the sauce first so it can be put in the fridge before being served. I want it to be nice and cold. Whole grain mustard, dijon mustard, chicken stock and Sriracha sauce all together.

Little glass ramekin and into the fridge it goes until later.

 Next comes the chicken. These are pretty big chicken breasts, and I want them to be quite a bit thinner. The solution? Slice them right down the middle.

That's better. Chicken cutlets.

Whisk the egg for dredging...

...and now for the breading! Panko breadcrumbs, sweetened coconut, all purpose flour, black pepper, garlic powder, mustard powder, onion powder, ground ginger and salt. Good stuff!

So time to assemble. Chicken, into the egg wash!

Liberally coated in the breading...

And onto the pan!

Repeat times three and then into the oven. 425 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. Not very long at all!

And here is what emerges! Serve it along side that mustard sauce we made earlier and you are "awesome"!

Coconut Chicken
Saw this over at Southern Bite!
1 1/2 lbs chicken breast, sliced into cutlets
2 eggs
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
1 Tablespoon chicken stock

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, combine together dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, Sriracha sauce and chicken stock. Place in fridge to keep cold. Whisk eggs together in a shallow bowl. In a seperate shallow bowl, mix together coconut flakes, flour, panko breadcrumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, ground ginger, mustard powder, black pepper and salt. Dredge chicken breasts through whipped eggs and then into the coconut mixture. Place breaded chicken breasts on a well greased baking dish. Repeat with each chicken cutlet and then place pan into the oven. Bake in preheated oven for 25- 30 minutes or until cooked through. Serve chicken with mustard sauce and enjoy!