A Southern Girl

Crack Dip – Seriously good stuff…

Recipes

I bring this dip to every get together and it’s always a huge hit. This is another one of those super easy crowd-pleasers. Great things happen when you mix bacon, ranch, and cheese. Before you know it, 1/2 (or all) of it’s gone!

 

crack dip

Here’s an easy printable recipe

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Crack Dip – Seriously good stuff…
Prep time:
Total time:
Ingredients
  • 1 24 oz Sour Cream
  • 1 4.3 oz pkg Crumbled Bacon Bits
  • 1 pkg Ranch Dressing Dry Mix
  • 1 Cup Shredded Cheddar
Instructions
  1. Combine dry ranch mix and sour cream, mix well. Add bacon bits and cheese and mix until combined. That’s it!
  2. Serve with Ruffles or Fritos.

 

Spicy Garlic Pasta

Recipes

Oh em gee… this is good. I try not to eat pasta all that much because of the whole bad carbs vs good carbs thing, but I couldn’t resist this one. You could always substitute whole grain pasta if you chose to. This is great as a side dish, or as a meal.. just add garlic toast. Heaven…

Spicy Garlic Pasta Recipe... these noodles are packed with flavor!

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I love recipes like this because they are so forgiving. There’s no need for exact amounts of anything. You can always adjust it to your own personal tastes.

Spicy Garlic Pasta
Recipe Type: Pasta
Author: A Southern Girl
Ingredients
  • 8 oz spaghetti
  • 3 garlic gloves finely diced
  • 1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (plus an additional Tbsp)
  • 1 Tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
  • 1 Tbsp Grated Parmesan Cheese
  • 1 1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
  • Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Instructions
  1. Add 1/2 Tsp of salt to boiling water and cook pasta until it’s al dente. You want a little bit of resistance when you bite into it, not undercooked and definitely not overcooked. While pasta is cooking add your minced garlic along with 1 Tbsp of olive oil and cook garlic over a medium heat until it just starts to brown. Be careful not to burn it. Just as it starts to darken to a golden color, remove from heat. Set aside. When pasta is done, drain and add remaining olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic, parmesan, salt, and pepper to taste. Toss well and serve immediately.

 

 

Pretzel Turtle Bites

Recipes

These are so easy and so good… a little salty.. a little sweet.. chewy, crunchy… yum. I called them Chocolate Caramel Pecan Pretzels.. which was a mouthful! Someone informed me that they are Pretzel Turtles. That’s sooo much easier to say. I never knew they had a name. Thanks! 😉

Chocolate Caramel Pecan Pretzel

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Pretzel Turtle Bites
Ingredients
  • 1 bag of pretzel snaps
  • 1 bags of Rolo Minis (or 2 if you are taking them to a party, like I plan to do. 😉 )
  • 1 bag of pecan halves
Instructions
  1. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper and cover with pretzels. Then put one Rolo on each pretzel.
  2. Pop them in a warm oven for about a minute until chocolate is softened.
  3. Then immediately top each one with a pecan and push down slightly. Boom! Done. 🙂

 

chocolate caramel pecan pretzel 2

This is the kind I used. You could use full sized Rolos if you like.

chocolate caramel pecan pretzel 3

chocolate caramel pecan pretzel bites

Coke Ham.. It’s the yummiest ham ever!

Recipes

My Grandma made ham this way… my Great-Grandma did too. For as long as I can remember, it’s been a tradition in our family to have Coke Ham at the holidays. We aren’t too crazy about turkey in this family.. so the turkeys get pardoned at our house at Thanksgiving… Christmas too. 😉 The Coke helps break down the fat, and tenderizes the meat. At least, that’s what I assume it does. I totally just made that up. I’m not really sure what kind of magical sorcery happens when it cooks, but whatever it is.. it’s yummy.

Coke Ham

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It doesn’t get any easier than this either, and the flavor is awesome.

 

Coke Ham.. It’s the yummiest ham ever!
We usually get a large ham since we have a lot of mouths to feed. The one in the photo is about a 20 lb cured ham.
Ingredients
  • a ham
  • large roasting pan
  • 2 liter bottle of Coke
Instructions
  1. Place the ham in a large roasting pan, pour the Coke in the pan until it comes up a couple of inches on the ham.
  2. Cover with a lid if you have it, or heavy duty foil.
  3. Bake for 8 hours at 250, basting several times.
  4. I usually put mine in the night before and let it cook all night long. By morning, it is fall-off-the-bone tender, and juicy. Mouthwatering good!
3.2.2885

This year I bought an electric Oster Turkey Broiler that sits on the counter top. It was awesome! It kept the oven free for any other baking I needed to do. Money well spent.

Robert Reed’s aka Mike Brady’s Beef and Biscuit Casserole

Recipes

Here’s a story.. of a man named Brady..(well, you know the rest)

I’m always searching for new recipes to try, and I stumbled across The Dead Celebrity Cookbook. Morbid? Maybe a little. Intriguing? Absolutely.. so of course I had to have it. This is one of the recipes featured in this gem of a book.. I made it tonight and we loved it! I’ll be making more recipes from the book along with other celebrity favorites and sharing them here on my blog. Click the link below the recipe if you would like one for yourself. 😉

 

beef and biscuit casserole

Robert Reed’s aka Mike Brady’s Beef and Biscuit Casserole
Ingredients
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1/2 cup onion – chopped
  • 1/4 cup green chilis – chopped
  • 1 – 8 oz can of tomato sauce
  • 3/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 3 tbsp dried minced onion
  • 1 can of Grands Flaky Layers Biscuits
  • 1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar/monterey jack cheese
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 egg slightly beaten with fork
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375
  2. In large skillet, cook ground beef, chilis, and onion until beef is browned. Drain. Add tomato sauce, minced onion, chili powder, and garlic powder. Mix well and bring to a simmer.
  3. Split raw biscuits in 1/2 (peel layers apart into 2 equal halves) place 1/2 of biscuits in the bottom of a greased 8×11 casserole dish. (I pressed mine to fit the shape of the dish)
  4. In separate bowl, combine sour cream, 1/2 cup of the cheese, and beaten egg. Mix well then add to beef mixture.
  5. Spoon evenly over biscuits and top with remaining biscuits (I smashed them down to cover more area) and then top with left over cheese.
  6. Bake for 30 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.

You now have a meal Alice would be proud of. 😉

 

 

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Chicken Diablos

Recipes

We were in Austin last month and we ate at a place called The Oasis. The view overlooking Lake Travis was gorgeous. If you are ever in town, it’s a must see. I had the Chicken Diablos off the menu and my tastebuds fell in love. I decided to do my best to recreate them tonight for dinner. I got pretty close, if I do say so myself.

 

Chicken Diablos

 

What you’ll need

3 boneless chicken breasts

bacon cut in halves or thirds depending on size of strips

jalapeños halved and sliced into strips and then cut in half again (you’ll want each piece to be about 1/2 inch long)

3/4 cup sweet bbq sauce

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

toothpicks

 

Hammer, beat, pound (whatever the proper term is for this) the chicken out until its about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into small, a little larger than bite sized pieces. Wrap the chicken around a strip of jalapeño and then wrap bacon around the chicken. Secure with a toothpick. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 375 until bacon is crisp. In a small bowl, add bbq sauce and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Mix well and brush over chicken. Return to oven for an additional 5 minutes. Serve with left over bbq sauce for dipping.

 

View from our table

Lake Travis Sunset

Banana Bread

Recipes

The smell of banana bread is filling my house. It is wonderful!  That has to be one of the best aromas in the world.. the smell of fresh baked bread. Mmmmm… mmmmm

 

banana bread

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What you’ll need

3 ripe bananas

3/4 cup of sugar

1 3/4 cups of flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup butter (save the butter wrappers!)

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tablespoon of milk

 

Cream butter, sugar, and milk in large mixing bowl on medium speed with mixer. In separate bowl combine flour, soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add dry ingredients to mixing bowl a little at a time and mix until combined. In the bowl that held the dry ingredients, add 3 ripe bananas and mash well with a fork. Add bananas and mix well. Pour into buttered loaf pan (this is where the butter wrappers come in handy 😉 ).  The loaf pan I used is 9 1/4″ x 5 1/4″.  **I dusted the bottom of the pan with cinnamon and sugar. It gives the bread a yummy crust on the bottom. Use flour instead if you like. Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes. Bread is done when knife or toothpick comes out clean.