Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Here’s the easy part – Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them together.  How hard is that?

Roll the dough into 1.5-inch balls, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.

Dip a fork in sugar and use it to flatten the balls, creating a cross-hatch pattern on each cookie. Dip the fork in sugar again each time you flatten a cookie.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Happy Baking!

~Nikko & Amy

These are quite easy to make, you can do these by hand, use a hand mixer, or stand mixer – Stand mixer is by far the easiest way to go!

Start by toasting your walnuts in a dry pan over medium high heat just until you start to smell them.  You can also do this in the oven, but stay near because they can burn quickly.  The easiest way to process the walnuts is in a food processor.  I add the walnuts and a tablespoon or so of the flour and pulse them about 20 times until you get a uniform fine chop on them.  Place in a bowl and set aside.

Put a cup or so of powdered sugar in a wide bowl and set aside.

After you have processed the walnuts cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until you get a nice creamy consistency.  If you are using a mixer make sure to scrape down the sides of your bowl so everything is well incorporated.  This should only take you a few minutes.  Add the flour and mix until you get a smooth batter, again you may need to scrape down the sides of your bowl.  Fold in the walnuts.  Form the dough into a ball or log, cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes or so to make it easier to work with.

When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350.  Using about a tablespoon at a time roll the dough into balls and place on a sheet pan about 2 inches apart.  Bake  at 350 for 20 min, then cool the cookies on a rack.  Once the cookies are cool roll them in the powdered sugar and put on a serving plate.

Happy Baking!

~Nikko & Amy

Heat a pot to medium high heat.  Add the olive oil and butter to the pan then add the onion and a pinch of salt -  cook until translucent.  Sprinkle the chicken with the paprika and add to the pot.  Cover the pot with a lid and cook 10-15 min or until the chicken is done.  Remove to a plate and set aside.   Do not discard any drippings from the pot.

Put the eggs and water into a bowl and whisk together.  Add the flour to the water and eggs and mix well.  Bring a pot of water to the boil.  Add the batter half teaspoon at a time into the boiling water.  Once they start floating, cook for another 2 minutes.  Drain and add the the dumplings and add to the pot the chicken was cooked in.  Add the chicken back to the pot and bring everything up to temperature.  Eat & Enjoy!

Bon Appetito…

~Nikko

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4 Chicken breast – boneless skinless, tenderized if thick
2 Eggs, scrambled
3 Tbsp Lemon juice
1 Cup Flour
½ tsp each Garlic powder & paprika
1 Stick Butter
2 Cups Chicken broth

Beat eggs with lemon juice. Combine flour with garlic and paprika. Place chicken breasts in eggs then coat with the flour. In a large skillet melt butter and brown chicken. Add chicken broth to skillet and simmer covered for 20 minutes or until tender.

Bon Appetit…

~Nikko

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Combine pudding mix, milk, sour cream and half the cool whip. Mix well, then alternate layers of  the pudding mix, wafers, and bananas, ending with the pudding on top. Finish with cool whip or sprinkle crushed wafers on top of last layer of pudding. Eat & Enjoy!

Happy Cooking!

~Nikko & Amy

SOUR CREAM BANANA PUDDING (very large)

3 pkgs. Instant Vanilla Pudding
5 cups Milk
8 oz. Sour Cream
8 oz. Cool Whip
4 or  5 Bananas
1.5 boxs Vanilla Wafers

Combine pudding mix, milk, sour cream and half the cool whip.
Mix well, then alternate layers of  the pudding mix, wafers, and bananas, ending with the pudding on top. Finish with cool whip or sprinkle crushed wafers on top of last layer of pudding.

(Note: To reduce size of pudding, follow one of the recipes below)

2/3 RECIPE

2 1/3 pkgs vanilla pudding
2 1/3 cups milk
5 1/3 oz. sour cream
51/2 oz. cool whip
3 bananas (approx)
2/3 box vanilla wafers (approx)

Topping as directed above.

1/3 RECIPE

1 pkg vanilla pudding
1 2/3 cups milk
2 2/3 oz. sour cream
2 2/3 oz. cool whip
2 bananas  (approx)
1/2 box vanilla wafers (approx)

Heat a fry pan to medium heat. Add a bit of oil to the pan. Crack the egg into the pan and let it cook for about a minute. Salt and pepper the egg and flip carefully.  Squish the egg down a bit to break the yolk.  Let cook for about another minute. Slather some mayo on both pieces of bread. Remove the cooked egg from the pan and let the oil drain off. Add the egg to one of the slices of bread and cover with the other mayo side to the egg…  You can add a slice of American cheese if  you want to get crazy.  Eat & Enjoy!

Happy cooking!

~Nikko

Preheat your oven to 350.  In a large skillet, cook the beef and onion over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink.  Drain off any fat and set aside.  Add a cup of the enchilada sauce to the bottom of a 8×9 baking dish.  Heat the corn tortillas in the oven until they are pliable.  Place one of the tortillas in the sauce and then flip over to coat.  Spoon some of the beef mixture down the center of the tortilla, add some cheese and onions.  Roll up tightly then place seam side down in the baking dish.  Repeat until the dish is full, add some cheese and onions on top of the enchiladas.  Cover with foil then put in the oven for 20 minutes.  Uncover and bake 5-10 minutes longer.  Let sit for a few minutes, then serve.  Eat & Enjoy!

Happy Cooking,

Nikko & Amy

You need a package of your favorite hot dogs, standard roll of crescent rolls, and either mustard or ketchup (for the eyes).

Start by preheating the oven to 350 (or whatever your package says).  If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough; pinch the dough together at perforations, creating 1 long rectangle. Press perforations good to seal. If using dough sheet: Simply unroll dough. With knife or kitchen scissors, cut the rectangle lengthwise into 1/4 inch pieces. Wrap pieces of dough around each hot dog, stretching dough slightly to cover hot dog 3/4 the way up, then leave a space and wrap more of the dough to make a hat.  You want to leave enough room to dot the eyes to make the face. On ungreased large cookie sheet, place wrapped hot dogs and bake 13 to 17 minutes or until dough is light golden brown and hot dogs are hot. With mustard, draw features on “face.”

We hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

Cheers,

Nikko & Amy

Some say you have to use a comal (the cast iron pan they usually use to bring fajitas to the table), or a cast iron skillet to make this dish.  They work well and add a nice charred flavor to the salsa, but if you don’t have one a sheet pan works just fine…

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees.  Put the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and jalapenos on a sheet pan and roast them in the oven for 15-20 minutes.  From here the easiest way is to put the roasted items in a blender or food processor along with the cilantro, cumin, salt, and lime juice and blitz it all up.  You could do it by hand but that would not be too much fun.  You could also use a stick blender but that would take some work as well...  Once you have it to the consistency you like, you can eat it straight away - or I would suggest putting it in the fridge for a few hours so everyone can get to know each other.

Happy Cooking!

~Nikko

Put the puff pastry on a well-floured counter and bash it with a rolling pin. Usually we need to be quite delicate with puff pastry, as it needs to puff up a lot, but for palmiers it needs to puff up only a little. Roll the pastry out into a rectangle about 12 by 14in (30 by 35cm) and 1/8in (3mm) thick. Spread the tomatoes over the puff pastry and sprinkle over the rosemary.

With the shortest end facing you, take both long edges of the pastry and roll them toward each other to meet in the middle. Brush a little egg down the center to stick the two halves together. Carefully lift onto a large baking sheet, making sure it will fit in your refrigerator first, and put in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to chill and harden.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Remove the roll from the refrigerator and, using a very sharp knife, slice it into 1/2in (1cm) thick pieces. Lay each piece on the baking sheet and brush well with the beaten egg, then bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until puffed up, crisp, and golden.

Remove the palmiers from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet. To serve, pile them high on a plate. These are great little canapes for waiting guests.