Self-Rising Flour Substitute

As a substitute for self-rising flour, place 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt in a measuring cup.  Add all-purpose flour to measure 1 cup.

Pumpkin Pie Tip

Try substituting eggnog for the milk in your next homemade pumpkin pie.

Cafe Rio Recipes

Cafe Rio Pork

1 small bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
3 cloves garlic—minced
5-7 lbs pork butt

Directions:

Cook all together in a crock pot for 7-10 hours, shred meat, and cook 1 additional hour.

Café Rio Rice

3 cups water
3 t chicken bouillon
4 t garlic–minced
½ bunch cilantro
1 can green chiles—or equivalent fresh
½ onion
3 c instant rice

Blend cilantro, green chiles, and onion together in food processor. Place all ingredients, except rice, in pot on stove and bring to a boil.  Take pot off burner, add rice, and cover for 5 minutes.

Café Rio Dressing

1 ranch dressing packet (make as per recipe)
2 tomatillos (tomato like vegetable with a husk around them)
½ bunch of cilantro
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1/2 lime

Use a food processor to blend all the ingredients well. Refrigerate.

Serve with black beans, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, cheese.

Caramel Squares

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup flour
3/4 cup margarine or butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda

Mix together and spread mixture on bottom of lightly greased 9X13 pan.  Make another 1/2 of this recipe and set aside for crumb topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until top is golden brown.

32 caramel squares
3 TBS. margarine or butter
3 TBS. of milk

Melt caramels, margarine, and milk together over medium heat on stove.  Stir and mix well so mixture will not burn on bottom of pan.  When it is melted, pour over the baked, cooled oatmeal crust.  Do not pour over the crust when the crust is hot.

16 oz. bag semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

Sprinkle chocolate chips over caramel mixture.

Sprinkle reserved crumb topping over the chocolate chips.  It will not cover all of it, so sprinkle it evenly with gaps in between. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Chocolate Cake

This is the cake I made for my mother's 60th birthday.  Delicious!

1 Cup butter
1 Cup water--boiling
5 T. heaping cocoa
2 Cups flour
2 Cups sugar
½ t. salt
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 t. soda -- dissolved in little water
1 t. vanilla
½ Cup sour cream

Mix butter, water and cocoa together. Add dry ingredients. Mix the eggs, soda and vanilla in separate bowl and add to mixture. Gently mix in the sour cream; do not over mix. Bake in two 8" or 9" round cake pans (buttered and floured) for 50 minutes at 325 degrees. Remove from pans. Chill. Cut off the edges and frost with chocolate buttercream frosting.

The Best Cake

One of my sister-in-law's friends made this cake. I was skeptical as I saw everyone dive into this non-frosted cake. Where was the frosting? Turns out the cake is perfect without frosting--a whole bag of chocolate chips inside the cake is all it needs! Try it out for yourself:

yellow cake mix
chocolate instant pudding
vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup water
1 package chocolate chips

Mix ingredients and pour into greased bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

The Best Cornbread Ever

This is a really great, sweet cornbread. It takes 5 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to bake. I was experimenting with cornbread recipes for an upcoming missionary zone conference meal. This is the first and last recipe I made!

1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups milk

Mix dry ingredients, make a well and add oil, butter, eggs, and milk into the center. Stir until just mixed (batter will be runny, but don’t be alarmed!). Bake in an 8" square pan at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. This doubles perfectly for a 9×13-inch pan.

My Favorite Soup--Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup

A friend at BYU made me this soup on a very cold, snowy Sunday. It was so delicious that, of course, I asked for the recipe. Twelve years later, it is still my favorite soup, and now I think it is Cameron's favorite soup--he ate 3 bowls of it tonight!

5 c. cubed potatoes
2 c. carrots, cubed diagonally
1 c. onions, chopped
1 ½ c. celery, chopped
10 oz. frozen broccoli
6 tsp. chicken granules (I used chicken bullion cubes)

8 T. butter
4 T. flour
2 c. milk
1 lb. cubed Velveeta
1 T. dry mustard
½ t. pepper

Bring water to a boil and dissolve chicken granules or cubes in water. Cook potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery until tender (about 20 minutes). Sometimes I add more water if the veggies absorb most of it.

Add broccoli towards the end, a couple of minutes before you add the cheese mixture. Broccoli will get mushy if you cook it too long.

Meanwhile, in another pan, melt butter and add flour. Gradually add milk. As it thickens, add Velveeta, dry mustard, pepper, and salt to taste. Pour all of this into steamed vegetables and broth.

Cereal and Yogurt Tips

I'm never quite sure how to tell if cereal is "healthy." I happened to catch short segments on a morning news program with information on how to choose healthy cereal and yogurt.

For cereal, you want the following:

1. At least 3 grams of fiber.
2. Less than 8 grams of sugar.
3. The word whole, grain, or oats in the first ingredient listed.

For yogurt, you want the following:

1. Zero grams of fat.
2. At least 20% of daily calcium, or 200 mg.
3. Around 12 twelve grams of sugar per 6-ounce container. Fruit added to the yogurt will increase the amount of sugar. Make sure sugar isn't coming from high fructose corn syrup.
4. 90-120 calories per 6-ounce container.

Sour Cream Chili Bake

This is the recipe that got Matt to eat chili! I didn't use the word chili (which Matt has always refused to eat) when serving this dish, and Matt loved it! And kids will eat anything with Fritos on top of it. I got this recipe from my favorite food storage blog.

1 lb. Ground Beef
¼ c. Chopped Onion
1 can (16 oz.) Kidney Beans, Drained
1 can (15 oz.) Tomato Sauce
1 envelope Taco Seasoning mix
1/4 c. Dehydrated Onions
1 can of Corn, Drained
1 c. (4 oz.) Shredded Cheddar Cheese
3½ c. Fritos
1¼ c. Sour Cream

Cook ground beef and onion until meat is browned and onion is tender; drain. Stir in beans, tomato sauce, taco seasoning, corn, onion and ¾ C. cheese. Sprinkle 2 ½ cups Fritos in bottom of 8×8 baking dish. Cover with Chili. Bake at 350 degree for 20-25 minutes. Spread sour cream of chili. Top with remaining corn chips and cheese. Bake 3-4 minutes longer.