Swig Sugar Cookie Bars

         INGREDIENTS:

• ½ cup softened butter
• ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp Canola or Vegetable oil
• ½ cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• pinch of baking soda approx 1/16 of a tsp
• a little extra granulated sugar for sprinkling on top of dough before baking (about 1-2 TBSP)
• FROSTING RECIPE:
• ¼ cup softened butter
• 1 ounce softened cream cheese
• 1½ cups powdered sugar
• pinch of salt
• dash of vanilla
• 1-2 tbsp milk or cream
• DIRECTIONS FOR FROSTING: Mix butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla with a hand mixer or whisk. Add in the milk or cream until nice and smooth. Frost bars when they are completely cooled.

INSTRUCTIONS:

DIRECTIONS FOR COOKIE BARS: Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease a 9x13 pan and set aside
Using your mixer thoroughly cream butter, oil, granulated sugar and powdered sugar until combined
Add egg, water and vanilla and mix until well combined
Add flour and sprinkle in salt, baking powder and baking soda, mix for approx 1 minute or until completely combined
Spread/press cookie mixture evenly into greased 9x13 pan. ( like to use a sandwich baggie on my hand to press it down evenly. Spray baggie with cooking spray if necessary)
Evenly sprinkle 1 tbsp of sugar over the uncooked bars before placing them in the oven
Bake at 350 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until edges are just barely turning a light brown. Do not over bake or bars will be dry.
Let cool completely and frost with frosting recipe before cutting.

Pasta Salad

My friend Sher just shared this recipe she made up on Facebook. If I don't post it here, I'll never make it. But it looks delicious.


1 box rotini pasta (she prefers Rainbow)

Cook pasta, rinse in cool water until cooled.

Add:
1 can whole olives
1 container grape tomatoes
1 sliced cucumber
1 cut up red onion, add desired amount
1 container feta cheese

Mix together with enough Italian salad dressing to coat everything.

Also suggested, mozzarella cheese and cut up pepperoni.

Carne Asada

I had some requests to explain how to make this. It's pretty easy if you have the right ingredients, similar to a steak. This recipe was verbally given to me by my friend Fernando Morales Llan.

It is great for a BBQ, but you need to make completely different sides (beans, rice, etc.)

Here is what you need:
3-4 lbs of the Ranchero cut of meat
      *I usually get this from a Mexican Market. But if you don't have one, it is just flank steak thinly cut. About 1/2 an inch or slightly less.

Carne Steak and Meat Seasoning. I get this at the Mexican Market, but I've seen it at Walmart and Winco.

Directions:
I sprinkle the seasoning over the steak, covering it completely and let it marinate overnight.

The next day I grill the meat until it's cooked. Since it's so thin, it doesn't take long. I let it sit, for a bit, then I slice the meat and it's ready for tacos.

I serve it with Queso Fresco cheese (I get this at the Mexican Market deli.)

I also put salsa on it.

Grandma's Potato Salad

This recipe came from my Grandma. This is my favorite recipe and it's so much easier when I make this with an Instant Pot.

Original Recipe:
10-12 potatoes
1 dozen eggs (I usually do 18)
1/2 red onion

--Boil potatoes whole until fork-tender. Hard boil eggs. Peel potatoes while still warm. Dice potatoes and out in large bowl. Peel eggs and cut up and put in bowl. Add onions. Make sauce and add potato mixture. Salt and pepper to taste.

Sauce: 1 quart mayonnaise, 2-3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar. Mix and add to potatoes.

Instant Pot Adaptation:
I bought two Instant Pots just to make this recipe.

Cook eggs using the 6-6-6 method. Put the desired amount of eggs on trivet and a cup of water in Instant Pot. Start on manual for 6 minutes, NR 6 minutes, then put in ice bath for 6 minutes.

Put potatoes in other instant pot with trivet for 15 minutes, with one cup water, QR.

Cheesy Italian Tortellini

This is a recipe I got from my mom. The ingredients on this one can add up really quickly, but it tastes REALLY good. I use this one sometimes when I want to impress someone.

1/2 lb. ground beef (I use turkey)
1/2 lb. Italian Sausage (I prefer not spicy for this recipe)
1 container (15-oz.) refrigerated marinara sauce* (I prefer Buitoni brand)
1 can (14 1/2-oz.) diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings, undrained**
1 package (9-oz.) refrigerated cheese tortellini (I prefer Buitoni brand to anything else.)
1 cup shredded mozzarella or pizza style cheese (4-oz.)

Break beef and sausage into large pieces in a 10-inch skillet. Cook over medium heat about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until brown. Spray inside of 4- to 5-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Mix beef mixture mixture, marinara sauce, and tomatoes in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 8 hours. Stir in tortellini; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and cook on low heat setting about 15 minutes longer or until tortellini is tender.

4-6 servings.

*To make your own marinara sauce: Saute 1-2 garlic cloves, chopped onion and green pepper in olive oil. Add 2 1/2 cups canned tomatoes (or fresh), 1/2 tsp. oregano and 1 Tbsp. chopped parsley. (If using fresh tomatoes add 1/2 tsp. salt.) Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. (FOR THE RECORD: I have never made this sauce recipe because I think it sounds gross.)
**A can of plain-diced tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasonings can be used.

Chocolate Eclair Cake

This recipe is from the food blog, the Girl Who Ate Everything. It's a great "fancy" dessert.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs

Filling:

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 large box (5.1 ounces) vanilla instant pudding
• 3 cups milk

Topping:

• 1 8 oz . container cool whip (just enough for a thin layer. I don't use the whole container) or one batch of homemade whipped cream
• chocolate syrup or homemade chocolate sauce

1. Instructions:
2. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9"X13" glass baking pan.
3. For the Eclair Crust: In a medium saucepan, melt butter in water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in flour. Mix in one egg at a time, mixing completely before adding another egg. Spread mixture into pan, covering the bottom and sides evenly. Mixture will be very wet. *If the sides of your pan are too greased you won't be able to get the mixture to stay up the sides so make sure to just lightly grease. No big deal but I like the crust to go up the sides a bit.
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown (Mine only took 25 minutes.) You may want to check it occasionally-you don't want to overcook the crust, it will ruin the cake! Remove from oven and let cool (don't touch or push bubbles down).
5. For the Filling: Whip cream cheese in a medium bowl. In separate bowl make vanilla pudding by beating the pudding mix and the milk for 3 minutes and put in the fridge until set. Make sure pudding is thick before mixing in with cream cheese. Slowly add pudding to cream cheese, mixing until there are no lumps. Let cool in fridge.When the crust is completely cooled, pour filling in. Top with layer of cool whip however thick you want it. Serve with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. *If you want to make this even better use homemade whipped cream.

Guava Cake

I'm not sure where this recipe came from, but we've had it for about 20 years.

1 pkg. white cake mix

1 can frozen concentrate guava juice, mixed with only 2 cans water (NOT PREMADE)

Bake according to package directions, substituting guava juice for water.

Frosting

8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 small pkg. Cool Whip

In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese with mixer until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla and beat in. Slowly fold in the Cool whip and refrigerate until ready to use.

Gel Guava Topping:

2 cups guava juice

½ cup sugar

¼ cup cornstarch

In a medium saucepan, bring the guava juice and sugar to boil. Make a paste out of the cornstarch and a small amount of water. Remove guava juice from heat and stir in the cornstarch mixture. Return to heat and bring back to boil and boil for one minute. Cool in refrigerator.

Assembly:

To assemble cake: Ice the cake with all of the cream cheese mixture. Glaze the top of cake with guava gel. Refrigerate until ready to serve.