Daughter Lexie's favorite recipes

By Susan McClanahan

We are delighted this week to be celebrating our daughter's 20th birthday, and now, we no longer will have any teenagers in the house. Lexie is a very "artsy" young lady who enjoys music and theater productions. She is an architecture student, and she loves her studio classes, where she can be creative and build things with her hands. She also enjoys good food and is pretty adventurous in trying new and different types of food.

In celebration of Lexie's birthday, I am sharing just a couple of recipes that she has enjoyed this past year.

Happy 20th birthday!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

• 4 chicken breasts, cooked until done and shredded
• 1 bottle (12 ounces) Frank's Hot Sauce

Combine these two ingredients together and spread in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

• 24 ounces bottled ranch salad dressing
• 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup finely diced celery

Combine these ingredients together in a saucepan and heat until all are smooth and creamy. Spread over the chicken and hot sauce layer.

• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Top with this cheese. Bake in a 350-degree oven until bubbly and slightly browned. Serve with celery sticks or tortilla chips.

Favorite Salad

The amounts of these ingredients are totally dependent on how many servings you are preparing and your personal preference of ingredients; increase or reduce as you desire.

This is a combination of ingredients that Lexie has grown to enjoy in a large salad.

• Nicer mixed greens, bag salad is fine
• Green onion tops, sliced
• Crisp bacon pieces
• Roasted pecans
• Grape tomatoes
• Dried cranberries
• Shredded Parmesan cheese
• Cooked, rinsed and cooled cheese-filled tortellini
• Brianna's Home Style Rich Poppy Seed Dressing

In a large bowl, or single-serving-size bowl, combine ingredients, except dressing, in the amounts you desire. Just before serving, top with desired amount of poppy seed dressing.

For a larger salad to take to a potluck or carry-in dinner, I use a large rectangle storage container and layer the ingredients, place the lid on and carry to the dinner. Just before serving, gently toss with the dressing or let each person add their own.

Garlic Lemon Butter Salmon

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 cup butter, cut into 16 pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 salmon fillets (1 pound)
• 1/2 cup butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 lemon, cut into 8 slices

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine water and lemon juice in a bowl. Arrange the 16 smaller pieces of butter in 2 rows on a baking dish and top with garlic slices. Place salmon fillets over each row of butter and garlic.

Melt remaining sliced butter in a bowl with minced garlic, about 40 seconds. Spoon about half the melted butter-garlic mixture over salmon and top with lemon slices. Pour about half the lemon juice mixture into the baking dish.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Baste fillets with juices in the baking dish, then pour remaining butter and lemon juice over the fish. Continue baking until salmon is easily flaked with a fork, about 10 minutes more.

Quick Shrimp Pad Thai

This is a great, fast version of American-style pad Thai, with an appealing combination of sweet, sour and spicy flavors. Look for the noodles in the Asian section of markets.

• 8 ounces pad Thai noodles
• 2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
• 2 Thai bird chiles or 1 Serrano with seeds, stemmed and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 3 large shallots, thinly sliced (1 cup)
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 12 ounces shelled and deveined medium shrimp
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• Roasted peanuts, lime wedge, chopped cilantro and bean sprouts, for serving

Put the noodles in a large bowl and cover with very hot water. Let soak until just pliable, about 5 minutes. Transfer the noodles to a colander and drain, shaking and tossing the noodles once or twice.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice and chiles.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil until shimmering. Add the shallots and garlic and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the dry pad Thai noodles and stir-fry until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to curl and turn pink, about 2 minutes. Scrape the noodles and shrimp to one side of the pan and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the empty side of the skillet. Add the eggs and cook, stirring occasionally, until nearly set, about 1 minute. Add the scallions and toss everything together, keeping the eggs relatively intact. Add the fish sauce mixture and stir-fry until the noodles are evenly coated, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the pad Thai to a platter. Top with peanuts, cilantro and bean sprouts and serve with lime wedges.

Ranch Chicken

• 4 chicken breast halves
• 1 cup bottled ranch dressing
• 1/2 packet of Hidden Valley Salad Dressing and Seasoning Mix
• 3/4 cup cornflake crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a shallow bowl, pour in the bottled ranch dressing. In another shallow bowl, place cornflake crumbs, Parmesan cheese and 1/2 packet of dry dressing mix. Stir to combine. Dip each chicken breast in the ranch dressing, removing any excess, and then dip in cornflake crumb mixture. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet until chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes.

Italian Cream Cake

This recipe uses the convenience of a boxed cake mix as the base, and I can honestly say I can't tell that much difference from scratch in this recipe.

• 1 box (18.25 ounces) good quality white cake mix
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 3 egg whites
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained
• 1/2 cup sweetened flake coconut
• 2 cups chopped pecans, divided
• Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat 2 (8-inch) cake pans with cooking spray; set aside. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, butter, buttermilk, egg whites and extracts. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Fold in crushed pineapple, coconut and 1 cup pecans. Divide batter into 2 prepared cake pans. Bake in preheated oven for 31 to 36 minutes or until tester inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes then turn out on to wire racks to cool completely.

When cake is cooled, make the cream cheese frosting and stir in the remaining 1 cup pecans into the frosting. Frost the top of the bottom layer, place on the top layer and frost sides, so the entire cake is covered.

You may choose to top with toasted coconut that has been browned in the oven on a sheet pan until dark golden brown. Slice and serve. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Beat well until light and a little fluffy.

Have a great week and, until next time, happy birthday Lexie, and happy cooking.