~Rustic Flavor ~

Taco Pockets

2013-07-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

My husband grew up on cabbage pockets and didn't really like them. Some of you know them as Runza's. He said that the school made them a lot for lunch. Them seem to be a popular item where I live and every one is a little different from the other. I wanted to make something today that would be easy to transport if my daughters wanted to bring some food with them to the fair today. (they didn't) But these little discoveries of mine are really good - so I may start to make them more often.

I started with my favorite bread dough.

And I divided it into 20 equal pieces.

I cooked 1 lb. ground beef with 1 chopped onion and 1 T. Garlic.

I drained the grease and added some taco seasoning

and about 1 C. Salsa.

I grated 8 oz. of cheese.

And the assembly begins....

I rolled out the dough into circles and put the taco meat on top.

I added some cheese.

I folded them up and put them on a cookie sheet.

I didn't grease the cookie sheet - but you could if you wanted to .

The pockets didn't stick too bad but they would come off

a little easier if you sprayed the cookie sheet with

some non stick spray.

I baked these taco pockets at 350* for about 20 minutes.

I have to admit that I didn't really time the baking.

I usually use my nose and my eyes as a timer -

but I think it was about 20 minutes.

I was able to get 20 taco pockets and they were a big hit!

Even my husband liked them...WIN!

Karo Corn

2013-07-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

I was introduced to this sweet treat from my college roommate Jennifer Parker (well now her name is Jennifer Taylor). I have no idea where she got the recipe from but it has become a quick go to snack when I need to provide something for a crowd!

Karo Corn

1 C. Butter (you can use margarine but butter is better!)

1 1/2 C. Sugar

1/2 C Karo Syrup

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

Mix butter, sugar and Karo in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil. Boil for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Pour over 3 batches of plain popped popcorn.

I have a trusty air popper. I honestly cannot believe it is still working (It's about 25 years old). I clean my kitchen sink real good

and pop my popcorn into it.

Then I make the syrup

And pour it over the popcorn

I stir it up real good - do this kind of quickly if you can

Then I pile it into a bowl and enjoy!

This is so fast and easy it's no wonder I enjoy making this!

(and eating it also)

Broccoli Cauliflower Salad

2013-05-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

I am sure there are 100 versions to this recipe but I will admit that this seems to be my go to salad when I need to feed a crowd. It is easy to make ahead and you can adjust the size of the salad based on how many people you need to feed. I made this one big since it was coming with us to an FBLA Banquet. I first had this years ago at a church activity. I have added a little bit of my own taste adjustment and have been using it ever since!

Chop 2 heads of Broccoli

Chop 2 heads of Cauliflower

Broccoli and Cauliflower should be about equal amounts.

Take the seeds out of 4 Roma tomatoes

Dice the tomatoes

Chop 6 boiled eggs

I boiled them the day before so they were ready to go.

Chop 1 bunch of green onion

Chop 1 pkg pre cooked Bacon

You can cook it up fresh if you want

Add one can sliced water chestnuts

I quarter my chestnut slices before adding them

Stir it up and put a lid on it. You don't want to add

the dressing until you are ready to serve the salad.

Dressing is:

1 C. Mayo

(DO NOT use Miracle Whip)

1/3 C. Sugar

2T. White Vinegar

Mix in a small bowl or container and pour over

salad right before serving.

This is so delicious!

I hope you give it a try!

Pizza Rolls

2013-04-24T16:09:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday I knew we would have a long day and the family would be hungry after church. I made up these pizza rolls thinking they would be easy to eat without re-heating or plates. Not everyone in the family was crazy about them...they are a lot of bread...but my youngest daughter really liked them and said she would take them to track meets. She has 3 track meets this week so I made them again to send along with her. These are so easy and you can fill them with anything. Let your imagination go wild and

fill them with whatever you want!

Use your favorite bread recipe. I will give you the ingredients for the one I use. It is not my recipe and I would credit the source if I could remember where it came from.

Just mix all the ingredients in a bowl and set it aside to raise.

2 T. Yeast

1/2 C. Warm Eater

1/2 C. Sugar

2 Eggs

7 C. Flour

1 tsp. Salt

2 C. Scalded Milk

3 T. melted Butter

After it has raised punch it down and work some flour into it.

The dough will look like this

Divide into 20 pieces

Roll out a piece of dough

Add 4 or 5 pepperoni pieces

Add about 1 T. Pizza Sauce - (or more)

Add a chunk of Mozzarella Cheese.

I used an 8 oz. block and cut it into 20 pieces.

Roll it up - egg roll style

Place on a greased cookie sheet

Bake @ 350* for 30 minutes.

They will expand and touch each other but that is not a problem

Just pull them apart and enjoy! These are great Hot or Cold!

Oreo Truffle Brownie Bites

2013-04-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

What do you do when your daughter needs a kind of fancy dessert for the Dessert Bar at Prom? You make some delicious chocolaty Oreo Truffle Brownie Bites. Did I mention that I like super easy foods that look and taste like you spent forever on them?

This is a perfect example.

I took a box Brownie mix and mixed it up according to package directions. Then I put it into mini muffin pans.

I baked it at 350* for 15 minutes

Then I took this great mini tart shaper

And shaped the brownies to have an open center

And removed them from the pans

I took a whole package of Oreo cookies and ran them through my food processor to turn them into crumbs. I mixed the Oreo crumbs with an 8 oz package of softened cream cheese to make my Oreo truffle filling. I actually did all of this before I mixed the brownies and I put it in the fridge to firm up a little bit. I took the truffle filling and a 1 tsp. sized cookie scoop and I filled the brownie bites with the Oreo Truffle Filling.

Then I took a package of Bakers White Chocolate

and melted 3 squares in a 2 C. measuring cup in

the microwave for 1 minute.

Using a fork I stirred the chocolate until it was smooth and

drizzled it all over the Oreo Truffle Brownie Bites

If you are in a hurry you can put them in the fridge for the chocolate

to harden or if you have time you can just let them

sit out until the chocolate is firm. Delicious!

Chicken Tortellini Soup

2013-03-12T18:37:00.000-07:00

It wasn't even cold today. I have no idea why I was in the mood for soup. I think I had read about some Tortellini soup on another blog and I felt like I needed to have some. I didn't measure anything so sorry to all of you cooks that like to have exact measurements. This is very similiar to what I like to do for Chicken Noodle Soup but a lot easier. I found Chicken Breast Tenders on sale today for $2.90 per package. And that is pretty much how the idea for this meal was born.

I diced the chicken and put it in a large stock pot.

I added 1 chopped onion and one heaping spoonfull of minced garlic.

I added 1 bunch of chopped celery and about 2 C. Cut Baby Carrots

I found these Great concentrated stock things from Knorr.

They are about the same cost of a 32 oz can of ready made stock

and you add each pack to 3 1/2 C. water so I almost got 4 times

the stock for the same price. It was a fun discovery for me.

Since my pot of soup was big I added 2 packs of stock

And filled the pot with water

Since I like my soup with more yummy pieces of food than broth

I added 2 (19 oz) packages of Cheese Tortellini

I turned the heat on the stove and just let that boil away until everything was cooked. It was about 40 minutes total.

The soup was delicious and since I made so much there will be pleanty

for me to enjoy over the next couple of days!

Karo Corn

2013-03-06T17:23:00.000-08:00

My kids needed popcorn to take to church tonight. Brenna likes the Boy Scout popcorn that we have that is extra buttery and microwave ready. I do not. Shelby does not either. She wanted some sweet Kettle Korn which I tried to make....unsuccessfully. After 2 burned batches I decided it was time to pull out the old college stand by. My roommate Jennifer gave me her recipe for Karo Corn when we were college roommates ~~over 20~~ a couple of years ago. Needless to say it is still a good recipe and Helen said we needed to make it more often and the girls took both the sweet and savory popcorn with them tonight. That just goes to show you that there are recipes in our past that we put aside for a while that maybe should be resurrected.

Hope you like it as much as we do.

Karo Corn

In a clean kitchen sink pop 3-4 batches of plain popcorn.

I use a hot air popper and just pop it right into the sink.

In a heavy sauce pan combine

1 C. Butter or Margarine

1 1/2 C. Sugar

1/2 C. Karo Syrup

Stir and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 3-4 minutes.

Remove from the heat and add 1/2 tsp. Vanilla.

Pour the sauce all over the popped popcorn

and stir well with a wooden spoon.

There you have it. Super fast. Super tasty. Karo Corn.

Thanks Jennifer!

Getting High Tech

2013-03-05T13:05:00.002-08:00

I am one of the least high tech people I know. I don't even own a smart phone and have no ability to scan a QR myself but for some reason I think I needed one for my blog! Well at least my kids can scan the QR on their phone. I wonder when I will ever need one of these little guys but hey there was a free QR generator web site I went to and I had a lot of fun doing it! Special thanks to my friend Jacob for helping me!

Chicken Enchiladas

2013-03-04T21:53:00.000-08:00

I must be in a Mexican food mood lately. Yesterday I made Fajitas for the family. They were delicious. Today I made Chicken Enchiladas .... also delicious. I don't make them like everyone else that's for sure. I usually always do an enchilada casserole as opposed to rolled individual enchiladas. I personally feel that I get more servings that way. Tonight we had a great dinner and I was still able to make 2 lunches for Erick. Here is my version of Chicken Enchiladas.

I am not picky about what cut of the chicken I use. If I have chicken breasts I use them, If I have thighs then I use them. I happened to find a really good deal on chicken thighs so that is what I used today. They needed some prep work but it was worth it. I cut the chicken thighs into bite sized pieces and chopped one onion.

I also added about 1 T. Minced Garlic.

I put all of that into a skillet and added salt and pepper to taste.

I cooked the meat until it was no longer pink and I drained the fat.

In a mixing bowl I combined about 30 oz of Green Chili Sauce

with 16 oz. Sour Cream. I used Stokes brand today but I have used other brands also and it has been good.

I places 1/4 of the green chili mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 pan

and topped with 4-5 flour tortillas.

I placed 1/2 of the green chili mixture over the tortillas

and topped with the cooked chicken.

I topped the chicken with about 1 1/2 C. shredded Mozarella cheese

and topped that with 4-5 flour tortillas.

I placed the remaining 1/4 of the green chili mixture on top

and covered with about 1 1/2 C. shredded Mozarella cheese.

I covered the pan with foil and baked at 350* for 1 hour

Delicious Chicken Enchiladas!

Layered Jello Salad

2013-03-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

Is Jell-O a salad or a dessert? I was raised that Jello was a salad. Of course my mom never got very fancy with her Jell-O. It was always a can of fruit in the Jell-O - use the fruit juice as the cold water in the mix. I was awed when my sister in law put her Jell-O liquid into the blender and made a frothy top to her Jell-O salad. I have a friend who insists that Jell-O is a dessert and it even says so on the box. Perhaps if I treated Jell-O as a dessert instead of my Chocolate Cake or my Chocolate Brownie Trifle or even my Chocolate Chip Cheesecake I would be a little less jiggly (to reference Jell-O) ... But since you can see the theme of my desserts seems to be Chocolate you can see why

Jell-O is not the first thing I think of when making dessert. It is actually not even the first thing I think of when making Salad. I make Jell-O rarely and it is eaten as a snack and it usually is plain with nothing in it. I took the challenge to bring Jell-O to an event today and it was not bad. I made a pretzel crust which I personally am not so sure I liked. Maybe I should have put Jell-O on the top and the bottom and skipped the crust...hummm...I might try this again!

Pretzel Crust

2 C. Crushed Pretzels

1/2 C. melted Butter or Margarine

3 T. Sugar

Crush your Pretzels in a zipper baggie

Mix them with the melted butter and sugar and

press into the bottom of a 9X13 pan

Bake @ 350* for 7 minutes

Set aside to cool and make the filling

Filling

1 (8 oz) pkg softened cream cheese

1 C. Powdered Sugar

1 8 oz. Container Cool Whip

Mix with your hand mixer and spread on the cooled crust

Place your pan in the fridge and let it cool while you do your Jell-O

Jell-O Top

1 (6oz) box Raspberry Jell-O

2 C. Boiling Water

1 (12 oz) bag Frozen Raspberries

You can use any flavor Jell-O and fruit that you want.

Mix the Jell-O and boiling water and whisk to dissolve the powder.

Let it sit for about 5 minutes on the counter to cool down a little.

Add all the Raspberries. Be sure they are straight out of the freezer so they cool the Jell-O down.

Pour over your filling layer

(I used a ladle to avoid splashing)

Put this in the fridge overnight or for several hours until set.

Serve and enjoy!

Chicken and Dumplings

2013-02-21T16:31:00.001-08:00

Today was a snow day. No school for the kids. I worked from home. My husband went to work and thankfully made it there and back without incident. This cold snow was the perfect weather for some comfort food. This is the only picture I took..and it's not even a good one! The recipe is easy. It's something I don't remember my mom making so I pretty much just faked my way through it. I am sure there are others who make it differently or even better but my family must have liked it because the pot is empty. Here's my quick and easy recipe:

1 lb. Ground Chicken

2 C. Chopped Carrots

1 Chopped Onion

1 T. Minced Garlic

1 (26 oz) can Cream of Chicken Soup

Water

1 Batch of Biscuits

Brown ground chicken along with carrots, onion and garlic in a large stock pot. Add condensed soup and a full can and a half of water. Mix your biscuits. If you don't want to use my recipe then use your favorite, or open some canned biscuits. Roll your biscuit dough into a log and cut nickle sized pieces off and drop into boiling chicken mixture. Let the dumplings cook for 4 or 5 minutes and you are done. Dinner is quick and easy!

Toffee Bars

2013-02-13T18:25:00.000-08:00

I need to go grocery shopping. The kids open the cabinets and I can count on hearing "There's nothing to eat" The reality is as long as I still have things I can cook for dinner I am not very motivated to go shopping. The girls are out at church activities tonight. You can bet that they will be hungry when they get home so I decided to try a new recipe from my old Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. It's not bad. If the girls like it I would make it again. The nice thing is from start to finish this took 45 minutes. That's something I do like! It has a few steps but none of them are very hard.

First combine 1/2 C. Butter or Margarine, 1/2 C. Sugar,

1/4 tsp. Salt and 1 C. Flour

Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 pan

Bake at 350 * for about 10 minutes

Honestly I didn't time the crust.

When my toffee layer was done I took it out.

For the Toffee - in a heavy sauce pan combine 1 can (14 oz) Sweetened Condensed milk and 2 T. Butter or margarine. Stir constantly. Bring to the point of bubbling and cook for 5 minutes. I started out with a spatula but found that a whisk worked better for this process. Once 5 minutes is up it will be thick and smooth. Stir in 2 tsp. Vanilla

I used an offset spatula and spread the toffee mix over the crust

Put back into the oven and bake 350* for 15 minutes

While it is baking make your frosting. Now I didn't think the recipe looked like enough frosting so I doubled it. In hind sight I would have had enough but hey...I am not going to complain about too much chocolaty frosting. I will give you the recipe for a single batch.

Combine 1 square unsweetened chocolate with 2 T. Butter or Margarine in a heavy sauce pan. Stir occasionally until melted together. Add 1 tsp. Vanilla, 1 1/2 C. Powdered Sugar and 1 T. Hot water. Mix well.

Take the finished toffee out of the oven and spread

the chocolate frosting on top

Immediately cut into bars. I actually took a bar out while it was still hot with no problem. These are soft on the bottom with the crust, chewy in the center getting more firm as it cools and chocolaty on the top. All in all I would say not a bad treat for the girls when they get home!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2013-01-31T21:24:00.000-08:00

My Niece is getting married in September. She asked me to make her wedding cake. I am by no means a professional but what she is wanting seems like something I can accomplish. She wants Red Velvet Cake. Personally I don't think Red Velvet has a lot of flavor but after researching several recipes I learned that it is basically a chocolate base with red coloring. I have 2 recipes I want to try to see which one I like the most. One is my Chocolate Cake recipe which I plan to add red food coloring to. The other is this recipe. I clipped it some time ago when I researched Red Velvet for another event. I never made it so I wanted to give it a try. My daughter needed cupcakes for the concession stand at the school basketball game tomorrow night and I figured it was a great time to test this Red Velvet recipe. I do not know where it came from and I am unable to give proper credit. If it is yours I will gladly credit you in this post. This is not my recipe.....but let's just say that when my oldest daughter tasted this tonight she said "I don't care what the other cake tastes like. I will be eating several pieces of this cake at the wedding" So here we go.....

Red Velvet Cake

1 pkg (18.25 oz) German Chocolate Cake Mix

1 pkg (3.4oz) Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix

1 C. Sour Cream

1/2 C. Water

1/2 C. Vegetable Oil

1 (1 oz) bottle Red Food Coloring

3 Large Eggs

Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix it all together.

It's pretty easy!

I made cupcakes so I baked this at 350* for 20 minutes. A cake will take longer but I don't have the exact time since I didn't make cake!

Going into the oven.....

Coming out of the oven......

I have been wanting to try the new Cool Whip Frosting.

I even had a coupon....

OK....I forgot to give the cashier the coupon....

And here they are...all frosted with a dusting of cocoa powder!

Yes, they are a little fancy for a school basketball game...

but we eat first with our eyes, right?

Good Enough

2013-01-23T07:38:00.000-08:00

There are days when all I can do is open a can of Manwich, brown some ground beef and cook some frozen french fries. Is this wrong? Definitely not. I find that I compare my cooking to all these other blogs out there wanting to do the next big thing, the greatest invention in cooking. It's just not fun to me to compete. Seriously...do these people cook like that every night? And how can they afford to do that? Sometimes simple is better. And dinner from a freezer some nights is just good enough. As I enter into this second year on my blog I will think less of trying to impress and just post what I do every day. Sometimes I will make unlikely substitutions....For example today. I think for dinner I will make Beef Enchiladas but I am running low on tortillas and have no plans to go to the store today so I think I will turn it into an Enchilada Lasagna. I have plenty of noodles and I will just use them in place of the tortillas. Think outside of the box...if you don't have all the ingredients to make a recipe then use what you have to adapt it. Cooking is supposed to be fun!

1 Year Anniversary

2012-12-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

One year ago today I created this blog. I did this because I have people asking me all the time for my recipes. I also thought it would be a good virtual cook book for my kids when they are out on their own and craving some of moms recipes. I thought it would be fun on this anniversary to let you know some interesting facts about

this blog over the past year.

I have done a total of 76 posts in the past 52 weeks. Some of my posts have been shard on the websites of other bloggers. I also have put some of the recipes on my Pinterest page. When I make a post I share it on Google+ as well as Facebook. This has really circulated the blog. I have had a total of 5,250 page views and counting in the past year. Because I am able to track audiences, and traffic sources on my blog I can see that people are not just using their computers to view my recipes, but they are looking at my blog on I Pads, I Phones, I Pods, Android Tablets, and Blackberry devices. I have a viewing audience from around the world. I am amazed at who looks at this blog.

My top ten locations are:

United States

Russia

United Kingdom

Canada

Germany

India

Australia

Philippines

Israel

Singapore

I have earned a total of $1.88 on this blog....yes I can earn money! I know it is not a lot but I am dependant on you, my viewing audience to click on those ad's on my blog. When you do I earn money.

Some of my most popular page views are:

The Cake Plate with 525 views

Tie Dye Frosting with 263 views

Edible Diorama with 228 views

Cinnamon Knots with 106 views

Tex-Mex Casserole with 71 views

Some of my least popular page views are:

Beefy Noodle Soup with 6 views

Garlic Bread Sticks with 10 views

Ham and Potatoes with 10 views

Zucchini Muffins with 11 views

Banana Bread with 12 views

I really enjoy checking the blog after I create a post to see how popular it is, who is looking at it and how many countries I am reaching. It is fun to share a recipe with a professional blogger and have them review it and share it with others. This is how my Cake Plate post became so popular...I shared it with The Southern Fried Bride. Thanks for taking the time to view my humble little blog. I cannot believe a year has gone by. I look forward to several more anniversaries!

Beefy Noodle Soup

2012-12-20T18:19:00.000-08:00

I was not planning on posting this recipe when I was cooking dinner tonight but I just have to say....it was really good. So I figured I needed to share, and needless to say this is the only picture you will get. The recipe is so quick and simple it would make a great last minute meal.

Brown 1 lb. ground beef with a little garlic, salt and pepper in a large soup pot. I didn't measure anything...just put in what you like. Drain fat from browned ground beef and add some cut carrots, 1 pkg onion soup mix, 1 jar spaghetti sauce....I used Bertolli Fire Roasted Sauce.....and enough water to fill the pot about 2/3 full...or maybe a little more. Add about 1 lb pasta to the pot and bring to a boil. Cook and stir occasionally until pasta is done. You may need to add a little more water if you need more broth. This was so delicious I am excited to have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Peppermint Bark

2012-12-14T07:11:00.000-08:00

As I have gotten older I have realized the the marathon baking days are over. It is just better for me to do it in batches. I did a small amount of Holiday Baking last night. I made Peanut Butter Balls, Oreo Truffles, and Peppermint Bark. In the next day or two I will be making some Christmas Tree Spritz cookies and maybe some Sugar Cookies. I will apologize now that these pictures are so bad....Seems I get better photos when I take them during the day. The up side to this camera situation is that my Husband is getting a really nice one for Christmas... I can say that here because he never reads my blog...so I am sure the secret is safe! I will have to "borrow" his camera for some future posts. Now on to the recipe for Peppermint Bark. It could not be any easier.....

You will need 1 pkg. Chocolate Almond Bark and 1 pkg. White Almond Bark. Also you will need 1 box of Peppermint candy canes and 1 tsp. Peppermint extract.

I like to melt my chocolate in a double boiler. You can use whatever method you prefer. Melt the chocolate almond bark and spread evenly on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

Let the chocolate harden before moving on to the next step.

Last night we just ran an errand while we let the chocolate set up.

While you are waiting for the chocolate you can unwrap the candy canes and put them into a gallon sized zip lock bag. Using a kitchen mallet take your frustrations out on those candy canes!

Next chop and melt the white almond bark.

While it is melting add 1 tsp. peppermint extract.

Once the white chocolate is melted spread it evenly over the milk chocolate in the cookie sheet.

Immediately spread the crushed candy canes over the top of the white chocolate and gently press in to the chocolate so the pieces stick.

Let the pan cool and harden...then you can cut into pieces. I was able to get 96 little pieces out of my pan...and lots of yummy crumbs!

Turkey Noodle Soup

2012-11-23T17:03:00.001-08:00

This is my absolute favorite thing to make the day after Thanksgiving. I love using up the leftovers and creating a meal that is fast and delicious! When I make my Thanksgiving Turkey I make lots and lots of Gravy. I start by taking the neck, heart, gizzard etc. and placing them into a pot with water, salt, pepper, onion and garlic. I cook it while the turkey cooks and keep replenishing the water as it boils down. Then I remove the neck and gizzard and heart that I had in there and add all the turkey juice that I have from my bird. I cook my bird in a cooking bag so it is east to just pour the additional turkey broth into the gravy pot...and trust me you will need a pot. I thicken it with cornstarch and my Thanksgiving gravy is done and always delicious. I put that leftover gravy in the fridge and the next night I dump it into a big pot...like this....

I chop up leftover celery and carrot sticks from the

relish tray and add them to the pot.

I chop up leftover Turkey and add it to the pot.

I use both dark and white meat.

I dump a bunch of dry noodles on top.

It's about a pound - but I don't measure it.

I fill that pot up with water and give it a stir.

You can add some more salt and pepper for flavor if needed.

Just let that boil together until the noodles are cooked.

And there you have it. Super fast and super delicious Turkey Noodle Soup made from Thanksgiving leftovers. Add a leftover dinner roll and your meal is complete!

Chicken Parmesan

2012-11-19T17:07:00.000-08:00

Maybe I should call this Chicken Mozzarella because there is no Parmesan in this dish at all. This is a pretty simple meal - no actual recipe so I will just walk you through the steps. It did take about an hour or a little more to prepare so it's not super quick

but it was pretty good.

I took a package of boneless skinless chicken thighs and placed them between wax paper and pounded them semi flat. I breaded them with seasoned flour, egg, and then flour again and fried them in oil.

I put the fried chicken into a 13x9 pan

and poured a bottle of Marinara sauce over the top

and covered that with mozzarella cheese.

A lot of mozzarella cheese!

I covered that with foil and placed it in the oven

at 350* for 30 minutes.

While the chicken was cooking I started a box of pasta to boil and made up some garlic herb marinade.

When the pasta was cooked I tossed the marinade on it for flavor.

A quick warm up of some green beans in the microwave

and dinner was done!

It was delicious. I think my family would have rather had the plain fried chicken but it's good for them to expand their pallet once in a while!

Ham and Potatoes

2012-11-05T17:07:00.000-08:00

First I will say that looking at these photos just really makes me want to get a good camera! Now for the food.....Ham and Potatoes. Ultimate Comfort Food. This is a go to recipe that I am sorry to say I just toss together. No measuring. I will do my best to give you approximate measurements but I really just toss it all in and go. These potatoes are made with Heavy Whipping Cream. They are not low fat. This recipe needs to either be made the night before and put in the fridge to sit or made in the morning before work or errands and let it sit all day before cooking. The potatoes need to soak up that whipping cream

and need time to just hang out.

Take frozen shredded hash browns and pour them into a 9X13 pan.

No measurement ... just fill it up about 3/4 full.

Add about 1/4 Cup Dehydrated Onion.

You can use a small chopped onion instead if you want.

Add about 1 T. Minced Garlic.

Sprinkle on some salt and pepper.

Add 2 C. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese.

Add 2 C. Diced Cooked Ham.

Stir it all up.

Pour 1 pint of Heavy Whipping Cream all over the Potatoes.

Cover with foil and put in fridge over night.

I usually mix mine up in the morning, cover it with foil and leave it out all day. I cook it at 350* for 1 hour. If you are cooking it cold from the fridge you will need to increase your cooking time....

for an additional 30 minutes.

Hot, Delicious, Comforting....Ham and Potatoes...

Super easy but not low fat!

Fried Bread

2012-10-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

Just one look at this and I don't have to tell you it is not healthy. Deep fried bread covered in butter and powdered sugar. Fried bread is something that my husband introduced me to. My mom would make scones that were like sopapillas and we would eat them maybe once a year if we had a lot of people over. We would drizzle honey on them or use jelly. I make fried bread often. When I make it I usually do it on a Sunday. I don't know why...I guess it could just be the structure of the day. It is easy to get up and put the dough together. It will rise while we are at church and when I come home all I have to do is fry it up. It makes for a fast delicious meal after church. It's not very healthy. I suppose it would be healthier if I made Navajo tacos out of them. We will just have to save that for another day! We eat the fried bread plain, with butter and powdered sugar, with jelly, with peanut butter and maple syrup and I also like Jalapeno jelly on mine if I have it. It's about the only time I will eat jalapeno jelly.

Where we live we have a food truck that goes to the fair, to Corn Fest, Fleming Fall Festival, Sugar Beet Days, and all the other events that take place locally. It also sometimes parks in the Home Depot parking lot. It is called Grebble. They make funnel cakes, deep fried Twinkies and a few other things. Of course they make Grebble. It is like a fried bread but is a little more puffy than dense. Not really a doughnut but very addictive. They will cover the Grebble in cinnamon sugar or plain white sugar. Today I took some of the fried bread dough and coated it in plain white sugar. It was pretty good. Not exactly like Grebble but definitely much cheaper....and you could stand in line for an hour to get Grebble. That's how popular it is around here.

Here is my fried bread in plain white sugar.

You can use any regular bread recipe. I will give you a couple later in this post. All you do is deep fry the bread dough. Shape it however you would like. I keep a small bowl of oil to dip my hands into while shaping the dough. This keeps it from sticking to me. I will also give you a recipe for a puffy fried bread similar to a scone or sopapilla which you can make if you don't have time to allow your dough to rise. It is a non yeast dough and you can cook it immediately.

Once your dough is ready to fry shape it however you like it. I lay mine out all over my counter while I am making it like this.

I put it in my pan in batches and fry it up.

We end up with a big bowl of fried bread that we snack on the rest of the day and my husband likes to take it for breakfast in the morning.

To make a puffy fried bread (not pictured) mix 4C. Flour, 2 T. Oil, 2 T. Sugar, 2 T. Baking Soda, 1 1/2 tsp. Salt, 1 3/4 C. Warm Water. This will not rise since there is no yeast in the recipe. Just combine it together and fry it up right away. It will puff in the hot oil as it is cooking. I got this recipe from a girl scout troop cook book my niece made when she was little. Troop 1902 submitted by Darcie Sherlock.

The recipe I used today came from my Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. Heat 2 1/4 C, milk for 2 minutes in the microwave. Mix 1 T. Yeast, 2 T. Sugar and 1 T. soft Margarine. Add warm milk and whisk together. Add 6 C. Flour and 1 tsp. Salt. Stir together with a fork as much as you can then get your hands in there and mix it all together and knead slightly in the bowl. Spray the lid for the bowl or some saran wrap with oil and cover. Let it sit until double or do what I do and go to Church or run some errands and when you come back

it will be ready to go.

My husband prefers this recipe. It came from Ann Marie Lovin in the "What's Cookin' in the Greeley Colorado Stake" church cook book that I have. She calls it Pot Luck Pan Rolls. This is the recipe I usually make for fried bread. I didn't use it today because I need new powdered milk, but it is the one I usually use and for some reason it is the one my husband prefers. Mix 1 T. Yeast, 1/3 C. Sugar, 2 Eggs, 1/4 C. Powdered Milk and 1/2 C. soft margarine in a bowl. Add 1 1/2 C. Warm Water and whisk together. Add 6 C. Flour and 1 1/4 tsp. Salt and stir together with a fork as much as you can. Just as above get your hands in there and mix it all together kneading a little in the bowl. Spray the lid for the bowl or some saran wrap with oil and cover. Now let that rise just like above and you are good to go.

Whatever recipe you use weather it is yours or mine your family will love fried bread. Eat it plain or dress it up either way is yummy. In fact my husband is eating a piece right now with some leftover chili.

Blueberry Muffins

2012-10-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to make these for a while now but have just been putting it off. These actually have cream cheese in them and I almost named them Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins but decided against that since you really can make this recipe without the cream cheese. I just happened to have some leftover whipped cream cheese from when we had Bagels and decided it would be good in the muffins. It was good. In fact I ate the two on the plate that you see in the picture on top and when I turned around they were practically gone. There is one left and I would have eaten that too but I resisted! I used dehydrated Blueberries in this recipe but you really can't tell. They cooked up great...which only encourages me to try my oatmeal blueberry cookie idea that has been spinning around in my head for a couple of years!

Blueberry Muffins

1 3/4 C. Flour

1/3 C. Sugar

2 tsp. Baking Powder

1 Egg

3/4 C. Milk

1/4 C. Margarine

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/3 C. Cream Cheese - optional

3 oz pkg Dehydrated Blueberries

In a mixing bowl combine milk and egg with a whisk. Add soft butter and if you are using cream cheese add that also to the milk and egg and whisk together. I used whipped cream cheese so this came together easily. Add Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder, Vanilla and Salt. Stir together with a fork until well combined. Add Blueberries and stir together. Drop by spoonful into lined muffin cups.

I made 12 muffins with this recipe.

Bake at 400* for 20 minutes

Now you can see how these were gone as soon as a turned my head!

Peanut Butter Balls

2012-10-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

My kids love these. Last night we wanted some candy. We didn't have any. I figure if it is not in the house we won't eat it. But yesterday it was worth it to make some candy. These peanut butter balls are so fast and easy and if you want you can dress them up in mini muffin cup liners. I think I may have introduced you to these before in the form of Peanut Butter Cups but I am doing it again!

Peanut Butter Balls

1/2 C. Creamy Peanut Butter

3 T. Butter or Margarine

1 C. Powdered Sugar

1/2 Pkg. Chocolate Almond Bark

Ok - I cheat when I dip chocolate....

no tempering for me....

almond bark is just fine for this family!

Combine Peanut Butter, Butter and Powdered Sugar. Roll into walnut sized balls....or smaller. Dip into melted chocolate. Let cool on wax paper on a cookie sheet. If you have never dipped before I like to use a plastic fork that has the middle 2 tines broken off. With the leftover chocolate I made Chocolate Covered Popcorn. I like the sweet and salty combo. I just pop a bag of my favorite microwave popcorn. Pour the leftover chocolate over it and stir it up. Pour it out on to wax paper on a cookie sheet and let it cool.

Zucchini Muffins

2012-10-07T12:29:00.002-07:00

I know I have mentioned to you before how much my family loves zucchini bread. In fact I have done a post about it. You can find that recipe here. Interesting fact is that this is the first recipe I ever put on this blog after my creation post. We often have zucchini bread on a Sunday morning. It is a fast breakfast as we are trying to get out the door for church. I decided to try something new with the very same recipe. Muffins. Just make the zucchini bread recipe I linked you to above and place them in muffin cups! I got 24 muffins from the recipe. I filled them about 3/4 full. I debated putting a streusel topping on them with some oats and butter and cinnamon but decided against it today. It would be delicious however. My family gobbled these up. In fact my husband said they tasted better than the bread....we all know there really is no reason for that, since it is the same recipe but hey - who am I to argue? The muffins only take 20-25 minutes to cook and the bread takes at least an hour or more so I figure I am getting off easy on this one!

My hope from this post is that you will look at the recipes you use and love and try them in other ways. My daughter suggested using this recipe for zucchini pancakes or waffles!

Cheese Souffle

2012-10-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last post. I guess you can say that life has really gotten away from me lately. I have been pretty busy with the girls and Homecoming, and doctor appointments. Shelby has a project going at Church where she is learning to master a skill from a family member. She has chosen to do 10 hours of cooking with me. She is choosing the recipes and I will say that she had decided on some harder recipes that require a variety of techniques. The first one she made was this Cheese Souffle. I myself have never made a Souffle so this was a first for both of us. I of course turned to my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.

Cheese Souffle

6 T. Butter

1/2 C. Flour

Dash Cayenne Pepper

1 1/2 C. Milk

3 C. Shredded Cheddar Cheese

(I used a cheddar jack cheese)

6 Egg Yolks

6 Egg Whites

First you need to take a strip of tin foil and cut it to the length that will go around a souffle dish. Fold the foil into thirds and butter the side of the foil that will be on the inside of the dish. Wrap it around the souffle dish and tape it together like this....

Set the dish aside while you work on your Souffle.

For your cheese sauce melt butter in a medium to large sized sauce pan. Stir in flour and cayenne pepper. Add your milk all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add the cheese 1 cup at a time stirring until melted.

Set the cheese sauce aside while you work on the next step.

Separate your egg whites from the yolk.

Beat the egg yolks with a fork and then slowly combine the cheese sauce with the yolks stirring constantly. Once combined set the cheese sauce aside while you work on the next step. Beat your egg whites in a bowl until stiff peaks form...The tips will be standing up straight.

Gently fold about 2 C. of the stiff egg whites into the cheese sauce.

Gradually combine the remaining egg whites and cheese sauce together folding to combine. Pour entire mixture into your ungreased souffle dish that you prepared with foil earlier. Bake at 350* for about 50 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Be kind to your souffle and don't make a lot of heavy movements in the kitchen....

you don't want it to fall!

Traditionally you would place 2 forks in the center of the souffle and pull it apart to serve....but we just took a spoon and scooped it out. To me it tasted like cheesy scrambled eggs. I learned that I didn't see what all the fuss was about as far as a Souffle is concerned, and Shelby learned that she really does not like to cook too much! I will say that for someone who does not like to cook she made

a perfect looking souffle!