Redstone Restaurant Famous Cornbread

Redstone American Grill is a small restaurant chain with locations in several U.S. states (3 are in Minnesota) Redstone is an upscale casual restaurant.  The menu itself is a high end barbecue featuring steak, chicken, pork and fish cooked on a wood fired grill. The Lodge Cornbread is one of the starters with maple butter and one of our favorites.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbs baking powder
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
7 oz creamed corn  (1/2 can)
2 oz diced green chilies, drained well (1/2 can)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shredded Monterrey jack & cheddar cheese


1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Mix together all ingredients in the order given
3. Pour into greased 8" or 9" iron skillet
4. Bake 25 minutes.  insert toothpick- to check if done.
5. Serve warm

Tupps Tidbits:   we used a Calphalon nonstick,  9" cake pan

This is awesome & to die for!  We had very nice results - moist crumb, delicate  with a crispy crust and just a hint of peppers, yumo!  We would definitely compare to Redstone Grill cornbread although at Redstone there is a caramelized crust & maple butter.  It was ffabulous tasting & easy to make. This recipe is DEFINITELY KEEPER IN OUR HOUSE!!!

Where did we find this one? www.food.com

Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin

Crock pot or Slow Cooker recipes are great escapes.  You can literately set it and forget it for few hours. We like them because the cooking and clean up is easy.

Ingredients:
1.5 - 2 pounds lean pork tenderloin

Marinade:
1 cup chicken broth,
1 tbs dijon mustard

1 tbs rice wine vinegar
1 tbs lite soy sauce, low sodium
2 tbs honey
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 cloves, garlic, minced
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
kosher or sea salt to taste

Glaze:
2 tbs honey
2 tbs lit soy sauce
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
2 tbs ketchup
1 tbs sesame oil
1 tbs dijon mustard

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl combine all marinade ingredients.  Trim away all visible fat from tenderloin and discard. Cut tenderloin into 2 pieces and place in marinade, ensuring all sides are coated.  Cover and allow tenderloin to marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Place tenderloin and marinade in slow cooker, cook on low 4-6 hours or until it shreds easily with a fork.  Remove from slow cooker. To prepare glaze, add all ingredients to a small saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook about 5 minutes or until desired thickness.  Pour glaze over tenderloin.

Tupps Tidbits:  crock pot meal makes meat tender due to the  low & slow cooking 

Sox (our cat ) in the Crock pot carrier!

Crock pot recipes rarely call for added oils or fats and are generally healthy so long as you trim the fat from your meat. This recipe was very healthy but lacked enough flavor.  NOT A KEEPER in our house. We would definitely use the pork in a stir fry recipe or shred for pork sandwiches with some barbecue sauce. It beats ordering greasy (and expensive) take out!




Where did we find this one? skinnnyms.com

Spinach Dip Bites

Superbowl Sunday... it is all about the food not really the great game right? Just kidding. But we decided to fuel up with this tasty appetizer. They look warm and cheesy on this cold & snowy February day! I hope it will have football fanatics in our house (at Leo's Sports Bar) cheering for more.

Ingredients

2 cups frozen spinach, chopped and thawed
1 6 ounce jar artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/2 tsp minced garlic
2 Tbs. grated parmesan cheese
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp garlic salt
pepper to taste
1 can seamless crescent dough

Instructions
  Preheat oven to 375

• In a bowl, combine spinach, artichoke hearts, garlic and parmesan cheese. Blend in cream cheese and half of the mozzarella cheese.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
• Using a rolling pin, lay out dough on a cutting board and lightly stretch to a 8 X 12 rectangle.  Cut dough into 2 inch squares, so you have 24 squared total
• Lightly grease a mini muffin tin and place a square in each slot, gently pushing down to create an indent (you don't need to mold to the cup).
• Scoop one teaspoon of you spinach mixture on top of each crescent square and gently push into tin (bites will mold to your tin while baking). Spread the remaining mozzarella cheese over the tops of each cup.
• Bake at 375 for 15 - 17 minutes, until golden brown.  Let cool for 5-10 minutes before moving from tray.

Tupps Tidbits:  we recommend the seamless, non reduced fat crescent dough as stated in recipe

This is a fabulous version of spinach/artichoke dip. I have to admit I could not stop eating them and either could the football fanatics!  We used reduced fat non-seamless crescent dough but I would not recommend it.  It was a little challenging with the seems and getting them to stick together in the muffin tin.  Also, the reduced fat dough bakes a bit quicker, making it easier to over bake and dry out.  It did make too much filling. which we served later by heating it up and serving with crackers. This was a quick appetizer to make and serve to a crowd. They disappeared quickly.  KEEPER in our HOUSE.

Where did we find this one?  http://lilluna.com/spinach-dip-bites/

Dilled Tilapia

Have you heard of Wildtree products?  They are simple &  healthy herbs, spices and culinary blends that are free of preservatives. Wildtree is a home based business which my niece, Jennifer Halvorson  is a Senior Team Leader.We recently received a few items from her as a gift and thought we would give them a try!  If you go to their web site they have a ton a great recipes to use with their products.
.

Ingredients:
6 tilapia loins or fillets
1/4 cup Wildtree Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil
2 1/2 tsp Wildtree Dill Dip Blend

Method of Preparation:
Brush tilapia with Wildtree Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil and season liberally with Wildtree Dill Dip Blend. Preheat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the remaining oil.  Place fish in the skillet and saute until golden brown; about 2- 3 minutes on each side.

TUPPS TIDBITS:  using a basting brush to evenly coat the Wildtree oil on the tilapia

We loved the dill on the Fish. Even though traditional food pairings like lemon and dill on seafood are classic combinations we had never prepared it that way. It was definitely a healthy recipe and we enjoyed it  but we decided this was  NOT A KEEPER in our house.  We felt the fish could have been coated with a bit more seasoning to our liking.

Where did we find this one?   www.wildtree.com