Mandy and Jace

WARNING…these are fattening and delicious. Proceed with caution

I was introduced to these little balls of deliciousness a couple of years ago at a friends bridal shower. I remember having one and falling in love. Since you can’t eat just one I kept sneaking back up to the table pretending that I was talking or looking at photos and grabbing more. I probably had 5 or 6 by the end of the night.



I knew that night that I had to learn to make these. I just can’t make them very often or I would be in very LARGE trouble (pun intended).

The cool thing about these is they are cheap to make and you can make them into any cake flavor you want. White…delicious, strawberry…refreshing, red velvet…oh my!

Cake balls
1 box of your favorite cake mix
1 carton of white or buttercream icing
1 package of chocolate or vanilla almond bark
extra icing for decoration



Make the cake according to the directions on the box. Cool fully.

Crumble the whole cake into a large bowl. Pour the entire carton of icing into the crumbled cake mix and stir together.

Roll the cake mix/icing mixture into small balls. You may have to get your hands wet to keep the cake mix from sticking to your hands. Place onto sheet trays and put in the freezer for 1 hour to harden.

After an hour melt several squares of the almond bark into a bowl. Dip the cake balls into the bark using a fork to coat them completely. Heat more almond bark as needed. Place on a sheet tray lined with wax paper.

If desired drizzle a different colored icing on top. Let them sit for 20-30 minutes to harden. Store in an air tight container.

Here’s another one of our faithful recipes. We make fajitas all the time. It is another must have recipe, especially if you live in West Texas or if you don’t and need a Mexican food fix.



You can also make the chicken in bulk and put it in the fridge. It keep well and makes killer nachos or on-the-go burritos.



Chicken Fajitas
makes enough for 2 people

2 chicken breasts
1/2 onion, julienned
1/2 bell pepper, julienned
1/2 serrano pepper, minced
your favorite fajita seasoning
1 lime
6 corn or flour tortillas
extras:
rice, refried or pinto beans
chopped cilantro
sour cream

Season the chicken breasts liberally with your favorite fajita seasoning.

Put some oil or butter into a saute pan and heat on medium high heat. When hot add your chicken breasts and cook for 3 1/2-4 minutes on each side until fully cooked. Set aside to rest.

Pour your onion, bell pepper and serrano pepper into the pan with the chicken juices and cook until soft. Remove from pan.

Squeeze lime juice over both the chicken and onion/pepper mix

Cut the chicken into cubes or strips however you prefer.

Warm 2-3 tortillas in the microwave for about 10 seconds and fill with the chicken, peppers and onion, and any extras that sound good to you.

Serve immediately with a side of rice and beans.

The next several recipe posts are going to be some of our go-to dishes. We always make things like rice, sauteed chicken, stir fry, and fajitas or tacos. They are our faithfuls that we rarely screw up. We try to stick to what we know for one night a week then branch out on the other night. I hate messing up dinner so it’s better for my ego if we do one really good meal and one not so good.

I have to admit we have come a long way in our meals since we got married three years ago. We ate chicken and mashed potatoes at least twice a week. I was pretty sure I was about to start clucking if we didn’t branch out soon. So one way we branched out was to change the potatoes to rice. I never liked rice until I married Jace and he got me to reluctantly start eating it. Now most of my meals consists of some kind of rice. I’ll eat it plain for lunch or breakfast, put it in soups or make it as a side dish. This recipe is really easy and the salsa in it gives the rice TONS of flavor. I make a big batch of this probably every other week and eat on it for several days. It’s so good! We normally use Julios salsa but any salsa will work. The other day I had some salsa from Rosa’s that was really good too. You can make it as mild or spicy as you want.



Quick Spanish Rice
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cups white rice
1/4 cup salsa (more or less depending on how spicy you want it)
1 carton chicken broth
salt

Pour the oil into a pot set on medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add the rice and cook for about 2 minutes to toast the rice. Add the salsa and stir to coat all of the rice. Add in half the carton of chicken broth and reduce the heat to medium. Cook until the rice absorbs the liquid and is soft. Add more chicken broth during cooking if needed.
Pour the rice into a serving dish and salt to taste.

For some reason I always forget that there are other ways to make potatoes other than mashed. I could seriously eat mashed potatoes for every meal. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, these potatoes come in second right under mashed potatoes. They are salty and tender and very, very good. You have to be careful not to overdo the salt. This recipe calls for rock salt which is the same salt you would use when you are making home made ice cream. Only use what the recipe calls for and if you don’t like things too salty you may put a little less. More is not better in this case. You can use any type of small potatoes in this recipe. I was originally going to use fingerling but my local grocery store was out so I used baby potatoes.



Salty Baby Potatoes
adapted from Alton Brown

1 pound rock salt
2 pounds baby potatoes, cleaned
2 quarts water
4 tablespoons butter
pepper
1 tablespoon freshly chopped chives

Put the potatoes, salt and water into a large pot and bring to a boil. Cook until they are fork tender, about 25 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the water, pour the butter over them and toss to coat. Top with pepper and chives. Serve immediately.

Every Texas girl needs to know how to make a killer pot of beans. They are staples in all potlucks and BBQ’s everywhere and I promise when you walk in with a great pot of beans everyone will love you. This recipe is really easy and delicious. I usually make mine in a big pot on the stove, but sometimes if I’m too busy I’ll throw all the ingredients into my crock pot and let it go. The only thing that could make them any better would be a cast iron skillet full of cornbread. Is your mouth watering yet?

Another cool thing about pinto beans is they are a great source of protein and lots of other nutrients. Since I am trying to eat healthier, I really like getting the most nutrients out of what I’m eating without adding more calories. I have a couple of tips and tricks to make any bean better for you.

• Rinse and soak the beans for at least an hour before eating

Beans contain phytic acid. Phytic acid binds to beans and decreases the body’s ability to absorb the nutrients. When you soak them you wash that acid away, making them better for you. I figure if you are going to eat them you mights as well get the most nutrients out of them you can.

• Add a little bit of Kombu

Don’t freak out on me when you read this but Kombu is a dried seaweed. When you add it to your beans during cooking it decreases their… uh… gasousness, tendorizes them and adds calcium, iron and B vitamins. You can buy it online here and learn more about it here and lots of other places if you search for it. I promise you can’t  really taste it but it does add a little more depth to the flavor. You don’t need it but it does come in handy.

Pinto beans
4 cups dried pinto beans
4 slices bacon, optional
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pepper
2 thumbsize pieces of kombu
water


The night before you want to cook the beans (or at least an hour before) soak the beans in water. When you are ready to cook them rinse them well and pour them in your pot. Pour enough water into the beans to cover them by 1-2 inches. put in the raw bacon, salt, pepper and kombu and bring the beans to a boil. When they are boiling reduce to simmer and cook for 2-3 hours or until they are tender. If cooking them on the stove keep an eye on them so they don’t run out of water. Add more if necessary. I leave it in, but If you want to you can remove the kombu before serving.