These make-ahead roll-ups are delicious, nutritious, and easy as can be to put together!  If you’re giving a party, or just need something TOMORROW, these are perfect!

Ingredients:

1 8-oz package cream cheese (I use Neufchatel)

2 4-oz cans green chilis – chopped and drained

1 2-oz can ripe olives – chopped and drained

1 2-oz jar pimentos, diced and drained

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon Texas Chipotle Habanero Hot Sauce

1 pound smoked chicken slices, thin

8 flour tortillas (medium size)

Texas Habanero or Raspberry Chipotle Salsa

What to do:

In a medium bowl, mix together softened cream cheese, chilies, olives, pimientos, garlic powder, and Texas Chipotle Habanero Hot Sauce.  Spread on one side of each tortilla.  Place a chicken slice on top of this mixture and roll up tightly.

Wrap each tortilla roll tightly in plastic wrap, OR jam several roll-ups inside a plastic baggie.  Refrigerate overnight.

Serve with salsa.

Enjoy.

Your guests will eat these roll-ups until there are no more.  You’ll have to make them again so your family can have some.

This is a great recipe for those nights when everybody is starving and time is short – you know, EVERY night!

Texas Salsa Pinto Beans only takes a few minutes, from start to finish.  It’s especially good when you serve it with fresh hot cornbread.

Ingredients:

1 small chopped onion

1 minced garlic clove, OR one teaspoon powdered garlic

1 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cans (15 oz each) pinto beans, rinsed and drained

2/3 cup Texas Habanero Salsa

What to do:

Saute the onion, garlic, and cilantro in the vegetable oil for a few minutes.  Stir in the beans and salsa and stir until everything is hot.

That’s all!  Eat up!

I don’t have a lot of time to cook, yet I love to prepare good meals for my family.  Time-saving recipes and hints really help me a lot.

Today’s Texas Tip is about marinade.  Marinating meat can make even the cheapest cuts tender and flavorful, but marinating takes up a lot of that valuable, non-existent TIME element that I just don’t often have.

I have, however, discovered a way to marinate my family’s beef, pork, chicken, and pretty much any kind of meat, without losing either flavor quality or time!

It’s easy, too.  When you get home from the grocery store, re-package all the meat in strong freezer bags.  Add the marinade to the basg and then put them in the freezer.

As the meat defrosts, it marinates itself!

As for the marinade itself. . . I usually just use one of the delicious Texas Pepper Jellies.  If the store was running a special, and I bought several different kinds of meat, I would also use any of the Texas Grilling and Finishing Sauces, or, if my son was visiting,  some Habanero or Raspberry Chipotle Salsa.

There is just something about having been frozen together, and then thawing together, that gives any kind of meat that absolutely delicious Texas  perfection!  And now, it’s ready to throw on the grill or the broiler!

There’s nothing like spicy baked apples to make your whole house smell WONDERFUL!  Baked apples are also a nutritious snack for your hungry just-home-from-school kids, as well as a fabulous dessert!

My husband is reading over my shoulder, and he told me to say that adults who are just home from work love Zesty Texas Baked Apples, too.  (He always eats two at a time, in fact!)

Ingredients:

(This batch will serve three people, more or less)  (Less, if one of them is my husband.)

3 large tart peeled and cored apples  (I use Granny Smith apples.)

1 tablespoons lemon juice.  (Use fresh-squeezed, not that bottled stuff.)

2/3 cup Texas Apple Jalapeno or Habanero Pepper Jelly (depending on how HOT you like it!)

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

A cinnamon stick for each apple

What to do:

Place the apples in an ungreased baking dish.  Drizzle with lemon juice and set aside.

In a smallish saucepan, combine everything else and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved and the butter is melted.

Fill each apple core and then drizzle the rest all over the outsides of the apples.  Stick a cinnamon stick in each core.

Bake, uncovered, at 375 for about 20 minutes or until the apples are tender.  Serve warm.  Set out the whipped cream or Cool Whip; some people will want it.

You can also cut the apples into wedges; this often works better with younger children.  Just toss the pieces into the baking dish, pour the pepper jelly mixture over them and stir it all up, and serve it in a cereal bowl!

Throw some raisins or nuts in the mixture for a change of pace!

I’m serious; your house will smell absolutely AWESOME.  Your neighbors will be drooling.

This is the perfect weekend breakfast, and it’s also a fantastic Sunday brunch entree!  In fact, Texas apple/sausage pancakes are absolutely delicious no matter when you have them.  My daughter pours apple syrup over them, but my husband prefers Texas Apple Cinnamon Grilling and Finishing sauce.  As for my son – he likes to roll his pancakes up and dip them in Texas Habanero Salsa.  He also likes to sprinkle some oregano in the batter for HIS pancakes.

Ingredients:

3/4 pound bulk pork sausage

1 egg

1/3  cup milk

2/3 cup Texas Apple Jalapeno Pepper Jelly (Apple Habanero if you like it hotter)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup pancake mix

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup shredded apples (with or without the peeling)

What to do:

In a skillet, cook the sausage until no longer pink; chop it fine as you stir.  Drain THOROUGHLY.

In a large bowl, beat the egg, milk, pepper jelly, and oil, and stir in the pancake mix and cinnamon.  Fold in the shredded apples and sausage.

Pour (or spoon) the batter onto a lightly greased hot griddle.  Flip the pancakes when bubbles form on the tops.  Cook until the OTHER side is golden brown.

Serve hot, and pour the topping of your choice over it.

Be ready to make more.

Oh, and your house is going to smell WONDERFUL for hours.  Mmmmmm, wonderful!

It’s summer.  I hope you’ve been able to go fishing!

What could be better than fresh-caught fish, sizzling over an open fire?  The next best thing would probably be that same fresh-caught fish sizzling over your kitchen stove.

It’s the batter that “makes” the fish fillet, and our batter is the BEST!  It’s also quite unique; I bet y’all have never used batter like this.  Once your family tastes it, you’ll never make any other kind.

Ingredients:

1 pound fish fillets, whatever kind your family likes best.  Be sure the fillets are completely thawed.

2 cups pancake mix (Not baking mix – PANCAKE mix)

1/4 teaspoon pepper

5-ounce jar of any Texas Pepper Jelly – alternate until you’ve tried them all!

Oil for frying

What to do:

Put the pepper jelly in a shallow bowl; put the fillets in there and let them stand for about fifteen minutes.  Be sure the fillets are covered with pepper jelly.

One at a time, remove the fillets from the bowl of pepper jelly and coat with pancake mix.  Sprinkle with pepper.

In a large deep skillet, heat about a quarter inch of oil and fry the fish for just 2-3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes with a fork.  Drain thoroughly.

The pepper jelly will give your fish fillets a flavor like none  other – absolutely delicious!

(After you’ve marinated all the fish, discard the pepper jelly.)

School is starting, and a nutritious hot meal that can be, start to finish, ready to put on the table in less than an hour is what many families are looking for.  Texas Pineapple Ham and Rice is one of my family’s favorites.  It’s also a great way to use up leftovers!

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice (can be left over)

2 cups cubed or shredded fully cooked ham (again, leftovers are great with this recipe!)

1 5-oz jar Texas Pineapple Habanero Pepper Jelly

3/4 cup crushed pineapple, undrained

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice (fresh-squeezed is best)

1 teaspoon ground mustard

bread crumbs, if your family likes a toasted bread crumb topping

What to do:

1.  Spray or butter a large baking dish

2.  In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the bread crumbs and spoon into the baking dish.

3.  Bake, uncovered, at 350 for about a half hour.  Cover with crumbs (if your family likes the bread crumb topping) and bake another five minutes or so.  Sprinkle with cheese, if you wish.  We like the cheese in my house.  (Sometimes, I add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese to the other ingredients.)

4.  Eat up.

Here’s another simple suggestion to kick that glass of orange juice up a few notches:  Add a spoon or two of Texas Mandarin Orange Habanero pepper jelly to it!

Stir thoroughly, add some ice cubes and a straw, and drink up!

My husband will occasionally add a shot of vodka to his Texas Orange Juice, but you didn’t hear that from me.  It’s really, really good, though. 

Sometimes it’s the super easy tips that can turn an ordinary everyday food into something EXTRAordinary and EXTRA delicious!

This one is really simple.

To make a can or jar of store-bought spaghetti sauce taste zesty, fantastic, and homemade, just add a few spoonfuls of Texas Pepper Jelly to it and mix well.  Yes, that’s all it is!  The difference will be unbelievable; your family will never guess your secret unless you tell, or forget to hide the “evidence” in the trash can.

Use any flavor of Texas Pepper Jelly you wish; I’ve experimented with almost all of them, and my husband genuinely believes each batch of spaghetti sauce was homemade.  I won’t ever tell him, either.

Get out your crockpot; this is a really easy recipe!

Everybody loves applesauce, and homemade applesauce is even better.  Best of all, though, is applesauce with a kick of jalapeno or habanero!  Impress your entire family with some homemade spicy applesauce. It’s really very simple to make from scratch.

Ingredients:

Approximately ten large tart apples, peeled and cubed

1/2 cup sugar  (I use Splenda, and you can always add more sugar if your family likes it sweeter.)

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2-oz jar of Texas Apple Pepper Jelly – jalapeno or habanero, depending on how “hot” your family likes things.

What to do:

1.  Combine cubed apples, sugar, water, and cinnamon in a slow cooker; stir gently.  Cover and cook on low for about 7 hours or until apples are tender.

2.  Add pepper jelly and stir.

3.  Serve.  My family prefers their applesauce cold, so I usually put the applesauce in a covered container in the refrigerator overnight.  If your family likes warm applesauce, however, just put it in a bowl and let them dig right in!  The pepper jelly turns plain ordinary applesauce into a real treat!