Asian Green Bean Salad

I have written about Carrie Muntz before, Carrie is a great cook & has shared some wonderful recipes. Southwestern Shredded Beef, Carrie's Lemon Cheesecake, Cheesy Potatoes, and more. Tom Muntz was my dad's best friend and roommate in college, fortunately for my mom Tom married Carrie, so my mom had a best gal pal to hang out with while, Tom & my dad play! Carrie is an excellent cook and shared her Asian Green Bean Salad recipe.

4 oz linguine
1 1b green beans trimmed
2 C Celery cut on the diagonal
1 C thinly sliced Red bell pepper
½ C green onions sliced
1/3 C cut cilantro

Dressing
¼ C Red Wine Vinegar
¼ C. Lite Soy Sauce
2 T dark Sesame Oil
2 t grated fresh peeled ginger
½ t sugar
¼ t black pepper
3 minced garlic cloves

Boil water for linguine, when 3 minutes left in cooking time add green beans. Pour off and cool slightly with running water.

Mix linguine, green beans, Red pepper, green onions & cilantro in a salad bowl.

Wisk all dressing ingredients together. Pour over linguine mixture & toss.
Serve warm or chilled

Carrie's Lemon Cheesecake

This recipe comes from my parents good friend, Carrie Muntz, Carrie has a surplus of lemons on her trees, which is why I shared a recipe for Limoncello. This is a delicious almost fat free cheesecake, I think this would be beautiful at a Bridal Shower.

Crust: Cooking spray

1 3/4 cups fat-free vanilla wafer cookie crumbs

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Filling: 1 (8-ounce) packages fat-free cream cheese

2 (8-ounce) packages low-fat cream cheese

1 cup fat-free sour cream

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Lemon Curd: 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest

6 tablespoons lemon juice

1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits

Make crust: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Lightly spray a (9-inch) spring form pan with cooking spray. Mix crumbs and melted butter in a bowl. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and 1 1/2 inches up side of pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly golden and crust is set. Cool on rack.

Make filling: In large bowl with electric mixer on medium-high, beat cream cheese and sour cream for 2 to 3 minutes until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, just until incorporated. Beat in zest and juice. Pour into crust. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 minutes, or until center is almost set, but still slightly jiggly. (Do not over bake, as it will firm as it cools). Let cool completely.
Make lemon curd: In the top of a double boiler, combine lemon zest, lemon juice, egg, egg yolk, and sugar or sugar substitute over gently simmering water. Whisk until hot and frothy, about 5 minutes. Gradually whisk in butter and continue whisking for 7 minutes or until thickened and coats back of spoon. Remove from heat and cool for 30 minutes.
Run a thin blade around the edge of the spring form pan and remove sides. Transfer to a serving plate. Spread lemon curd over top. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Garnish with raspberries and zest, if desired. Cool cheesecake in refrigerator several hours or overnight before serving.

Cheesy Potatoes from Carrie Muntz

What isn't better with cheese? These potatoes are the ultimate comfort food. This recipe comes from Carrie Muntz who also shared Festive Tossed Salad and Lemon Cheesecake. I like to have this with a simple roasted chicken.

30 oz Bag frozen shredded hash browns
¼ C. melted butter
1 & 1/2 cup sour cream (just take ½ cup out of a pint of sour cream & add the rest)
1 can cream of chicken soup (can be low fat)
12 oz cheddar cheese grated (half for in the potatoes, half for top)
Bunch green onions diced (keep green tops for the top)
Sprinkle with pepper and a little salt

Mix all ingredients except potatoes
Add potatoes
Put in 9 X 13 baking pan
Top with the remaining cheese and sprinkle green onion tops
Bake @ 350 for 1 hour
*If you allow the potatoes to thaw in the fridge, it’s easier to mix and will not take as long to cook, maybe 40 – 45 minutes until bubbly.

Southwestern Shredded Beef Carrie Muntz

Recipes that cook in the crock pot are great for weekdays. This Shredded Beef is amazing and almost as simple as the Crock Pot Chicken.

Southwestern Shredded Beef Carrie Muntz

1 3 to 3 ½ lb. boneless beef chuck pot roast
1 T. ground cumin
1 T. chili powder
1 14 ½ oz can stewed tomatoes
2 4oz cans diced green chile peppers
1 C. chopped onions
¼ cup snipped fresh cilantro

Trim fat from meat, cut into pieces to fit in slow cooker.
Combine Cumin, chili powder, ¼ t salt & 1/8 t pepper. Rub on to meat. Place in cooker.
Add undrained tomatoes, chile peppers, onion.

Cover cook on low for 10 – 12 hours.

Cut and shred the meat.
Serve on buns with cheese and cilantro.

Brisket Tacos

Sometimes my mom will send us a gift card to On the Border, a chain Mexican place. I normally don't get excited about chain restaurants but they make these amazing Brisket Tacos. I of course decided that I could make them at home. They turned out so well Matt declared him his #2 favorite dinner!

You need to start by making Carrie's shredded beef, this is more than enough beef so you can still have sandwiches. Note to the Baca-Johnson Families:This would be a great Wii Bowling League dinner!

Shredded Beef (half of Carrie's recipe)

1 bottle barbecue sauce

1 chipolte pepper

shredded Monterrey jack cheese

shoe string onion rings (You can buy these frozen or make your own)

tortillas

Place the shredded beef in a sauce pan, cover with barbecue sauce, add a chipolte & stir until heated through. Serve in warm tortillas, top with cheese & onion strings.

If you want to make your own shoestring onions:

1 large vidalia onions
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup flour
3 tablespoons McCormicksLemon Pepper Seasoning

1 teaspoon Accent Seasoning
1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
Canola Oil for Frying

Slice onion,form into rings and cut rings in half

Combine egg,milk and sugar into a large baggie or bowl.

Combine flour and seasonings into another large baggie or bowl.

Dip onions in egg mixture than into flour mixture and place into a 400'degree deep fryer for 3 minutes or until lightly browned.

Burrito Pie

Carrie Muntz was kind enough to also share her Burrito Pie recipe with us! This reminds me of the Frito Pie that my mom made when we were kids, which we loved, but grown up. Casseroles are a great thing to throw together when you have a bunch of friends popping by!

2 lbs Ground Beef
1 C chopped onion
2 t garlic
1 2 oz can sliced black olives
1 4 oz can diced green chili peppers
1 10 oz can diced tomatoes with chiles (Rotelle)
1 16 oz jar taco sauce
2 16 oz cans refried beans
12 8” flour tortillas
9 oz shredded Colby Jack cheese

In 4 – 6 quart pan or large fry pan:
Brown Beef, add onion & garlic sautee
Mix in olives, chili peppers, diced tomatoes, taco sauce & refried beans
Stir together: reduce to low & simmer for 20 minutes.

Spread a layer of meat in a 4 qt casserole dish
Cover with tortillas
Add a layer of meat mixture sprinkle with cheese and repeat until all tortillas are used.
Top with Cheese.

Bake 20 -30 minutes until bubbly

Make your own Rally Pie

The Red Sox nation extends to Morocco! My mom's neighbors growing up in Medway, Massachusetts were the Sia Family. Jessica (pictured on the left) is one of the Sia's granddaughters. She lives & Morocco with her husband. She made her own Rally Pie for game 3, here is what she wrote:

Well it was a bit of an adventure making the rally pie over here. No cool whip, and no heavy cream (at least not that we could understand)- but we found some whipped cream in can and mixed that in instead. I also had some issues with the cake coming out of the pan and then cutting it in half, so I had to just kind of merge things together- then I went a little overboard with the filling and after putting the top layer and chocolate on, it kind of over flowed. Anyway, all that to say, it may not look great, but boy is it delicious!

We are all sitting around in our Red Sox shirts, and we just watched Carrie Underwood sing, and here goes game 3!! We'll probably only make it a few innings given the time difference, but who knows!!

Anyway, thanks again for the great recipe. I will definitely be making this again. I hope you enjoy the photo- again, it looks really bad, but it sure was good.

Jess

Jessica-
Thanks for sharing your Rally Pie adventure & photo! Way to improvise!!! :)

Other readers, if you make a recipe send me a picture & I will post it. Have a great weekend!

Festive Tossed Salad

When ever we are invited somewhere for dinner I always insist on bringing something. I am always a little disappointed when asked to bring salad, it is not that I don't like to make salad, I just always want to impress with my dish. This recipe comes from a family friend Carrie Muntz.

The bright colors of the dried cranberrys with the lettuce will surely impress.

Dressing:
½ C Sugar
1/3 C Red wine vinegar
2 T Lemon Juice
2 T finely chopped Onion
½ t salt
2/3 C oil
2 – 3 tsp poppy Seeds
Salad
10 C torn Romaine Lettuce
4 oz shredded Swiss Cheese
1 medium apple cored & cubed
1 medium pear cored & cubed
¼ C Dried Cranberries
½ to 1 C Chopped Cashews

Blend in food processor or blender ingredients for the dressing.
In salad bowl combine salad ingredients (not cashews)
Drizzle with desired amount of dressing add cashews & toss.
Serve immediately
10- 12 servings

Limoncello

My parents are in California visiting their friends the Muntzes. My mom was commenting on Carrie's lemon tree. I can't think of a more fun use for an excess of lemons than making some Limoncello.


15-20 lemons - clean, unwaxed with nice plump skins. The skins should give off a lemon sent
2 (750-ml) bottles 80-proof vodka. The cheap stuff is fine.
4-6 cups water
2-4 cups sugar (more if you want it thicker or sweeter)
For this recipe you also need a 2-3 litre glass jar with a sealed lid. The jar should be washed and rinsed very well or sterilized. You don't want anything in your limoncello but what you put there. You could use an old-fashioned sun tea jar.
You will also need the bottles you want to put the final brew in. I get mine at Cost Plus and I save nice glass bottles from other beverages I've purchased that have good reusable tops. Pellegrino bottles work well.

Step 1
Wash and dry the lemons. Only use the ones without blemished peels or pare off any spots and the stems, ends.
Remove the peel from the lemons with a sharp peeler or fine grater, carefully avoiding the bitter white pith. If any white pith remains on the back of a strip of peel, scrape it off. If you get any of the white part in the batch, the limoncello will be bitter and you don't want that!

Put the peels in a glass jar and add the vodka about two inches below the top and seal tightly.
Leave the jar to steep in a cool, dark place until the peels lose their color, at least 2 weeks. The longer you leave it the better, try to do 2 months, stir it once a week.

Step 2
Put the water and sugar in a saucepan, stir and slowly boil until it turns clear. Let the syrup cool
Put the cooled syrup in the jar with the lemons (you might have to divide the batch into two jars at this point, depending on the size of your jar).
Put the jars back in the closet for at least two weeks. Longer is fine too.

Step 3
Strain out the lemon peels through a coffee filter or cheesecloth and pour the limoncello into another container. Press down to remove all the vodka and oils that you can from the peels before tossing them in the trash.
Stir the liquid with a clean plastic or wooden spoon.
Put the liqueur in clean bottles, seal tightly and leave the finished bottles for at least 1 week before using.

Now you maybe thinking, what will I do with all this delicious Limoncello. Well if you are nice you can share it with your friends. Or here are some at home uses:
-straight up frozen in limoncello shot glasses (best if you put them in the freezer too)
-spiking a tall glass of cold lemonade or iced tea
-splashed in glasses of champagne
-over ice cream or angel food cake
-splashed on a fresh fruit mixture
-in cranberry juice
-in sparkling water, tonic or soda.