Browned butter breadcrumbs and broccoli

I love this recipe and I think it came from a Weight Watchers cookbook I had. Before I lose the paper with it again, I thought I had better record it for posterity sake!

12 ounces of fresh broccoli florets
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 and 1/2 Tablespoons of butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Steam the broccoli. While it is cooking, put the Panko breadcrumbs in a large skillet; cook over medium heat about 3 minutes or until lightly browned - stir frequently. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the butter to the pan. Cook 1 - 2 minutes or until butter is lightly browned, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Drain the broccoli of any excess water. Add the broccoli, salt, pepper to pan and toss to coat with the browned butter. Place in a serving bowl and top with the panko breadcrumbs. Serve immediately. Sometimes I am just in a hurry so I put the panko on while its all in the pan, and stir it all up to mix.

Mock Cafe Rio Rice

For those of you that love Cafe Rio inspired recipes...

Ingredients

- 4 tbls butter
- 2 1/2 cups rice
- 4 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- juice of 4 small limes or 4 tbls lime juice
- 4 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 1/2 tsp cumin


Instructions


Mix all in rice cooker or pot until done. Enjoy!

I have to confess, I have not tried this yet but its on the menu for tonight!

Thai Salad

1 pkg. Angel Hair Pasta
1/2 bunch cilantro
1/2 bunch green onions
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
2 Tbsp. Chunky peanut butter
2 Tbsp. Sesame Seed Oil
1 Tbsp. red chili flakes

In a medium bowl add chopped cilantro and chopped onions and all other ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Cook pasta and drain (DO NOT RINSE PASTA)

Pour the mixed ingredients over the hot drained pasta and toss well. It will look like soup at this point, but don't worry. Stir every so often as it is cooling and the noodles will soak up all the liquid!
Let cool then refrigerate, and serve cold!!


Got this recipe from my Dad's cousin in California!! Super Yummy!!

Fried Wontons

my kids love hamburger anything, so they loved these! we served them with fried rice.

1 package wontons

1 lb hamburger
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 tsp salt
1 tsp seasoning salt
1 egg

we cooked the veggies, then the hamburger, mixed it with the seasonings, and let it cool a bit and added the egg. then we stuffed the wontons with about a teaspoon filling each, formed them into triangles and fried them. be careful when filling them all to not let them dry out, you can just put a wet paper towel over them as you go. we served them with soy sauce for dipping and fried rice.

I let my kids put the filling in the wontons, they had fun, I did have to seal the edges of all of them when I fried them. they did a good job overall though, a fun way for them to help with dinner.

Kevin's Sweet Potato Casserole

A very good friend of mine, Kevin, sent me this recipe with some background info. It sounds wonderful and his recipes have always ROCKED. LOL I should add him as a contributor! Here's the scoop-

"So Dawnie’s work party this year was held at Ruth’s Chris. So it was good. And Fancy. One of their “signature” sides is a sweet potato casserole. You might remember that my late Grandpa Purcell was the national authority on sweet potatoes and yams. I have never once in my life eaten a forkful of yams and thought,” mmmm…..I would like some more of that!” That is, until Monday night. Ruth’s Chris has the best sweet potatoes ever. Of course I had to do some research yesterday, and I was able to find a recipe last night. I put it to the test, and it did not disappoint! Here it is, and you should put in on the Utah Mom’s blog!!"

So this is for Kev!

3 C Mashed Sweet Potato (5-6 medium sweet potatoes, baked and mashed)
1 C granulated sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, well beaten
½C butter, cut into small chunks

1 C brown sugar
1/3 C Flour
1 C Chopped Pecans
¼ C Melted Butter


To Bake the potatoes:

Wash each potato and rub the entire skin with table salt. Pierce with a fork and place on a cookie sheet. Bake @ 400 degrees for 60-75 min

Peel and mash the potatoes (I threw them into my Kitchen Aid mixer) add the sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs and butter chunks. Mix very well, until the mixture is combined and a little fluffy.
Pour mixture into a butter casserole dish.

Combine Brown sugar, flour, pecans and butter to form a crumble. Top potato mixture with crumble. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serve Warm