Cream Cheese Puff Pastry with Strawberry Jam

Made with frozen puff pastry dough.  Bake the dough per box directions.  Once cool, ad the cream cheese filling, which is made from beating cream cheese and powdered sugar in a mixer until it tastes just sweet enough.  Top the cream cheese with a flavored jam.

Mozzarella, Basil, and Tomato Appetizer

This was an easy appetizer.  Made my cubing mozzarella cheese, I used fresh mozzarella, and placing it in one layer in a dish.  Poke one toothpick through each cube of cheese.  Then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, I wish I had also used some balsamic vinegar.  next put a leave of basil on each toothpick, and then a grape tomato, serve cold.  Tasty and colorful.

Chicken Pot Pie

Preheat oven to 400 deg F.  Bake a pie crust until brown and done, while baking, melt butter and heat olive oil in saute pan, cook a cup of onions and 1/2 cup celery until done, then add 6 T of flour to make a roux, then add 2 cups of chicken stock, cook until thick, add one cup of milk.  Boil 1 cup of chopped carrots, 1 cup of cubed red potatoes, and 2 chicken breasts cubed, while cooking onions and celery.  Once the carrots and potatoes are done, add it to the roux mixture with half a cup of frozen corn.  Add mixture to the baked pie crust, and cover with another pie crust and cut out vent holes.  Bake in the oven until golden brown.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Sweet and Sour Chicken is make by cutting chicken into bite size pieces and dredging in corn starch.  Saute the chicken in olive oil until golden brown and crispy.  Once the chicken is done pour in the sweet and sour sauce, which is made from 4 T ketchup, 1/2 C vinegar, 1/2 C sugar, 1 T soy sauce, and 1 tsp garlic.

Oreo Cupcakes

Filled cupcake liners with chunks of oreo cookies, then topped with chocolate cake batter.  Bake until done.  I topped with cream cheese and confectioners sugar icing.

Broiled Fish and Orzo

Seasoned the fish with Tony's and lemon juice, then broiled it until just done.  For the orzo dish, I sauteed the dry orzo in olive oil until brown, then added enough chicken stock to cook the orzo until tender.  Once the orzo was done cooking, I added fresh basil from my garden and some parmesan cheese and let it melt.

Boiled Shrimp

Picked up some fresh gulf shrimp, boiled them in seasonings until pink and tossed with some lemon juice and sauteed onion.  Served with Cocktail Sauce mixed with Horseradish.