Thanksgiving Blessings Snack Mix

Bugles: Shaped like a cornucopia of Horn of Plenty, a symbol of our nation’s abundance.
Pretzels: Arms folded in prayer, a freedom sought by those who founded our country.
Candy Corn: The sacrifices of the Pilgrims’ first winter. Food was so scarce that the settlers survived on just a few kernels of corn a day.
Nuts or Seeds: Promise of a future harvest, one we will reap only if seeds are planted and tended with diligence.
Dried fruit: Harvest gifts from our bountiful land.
M&Ms: Sweet memories of those who came before us to lead us into a blessed future.
Hershey’s Kiss: The love of family and friends that sweeten our lives.

Cheesy Green Chili Crockpot Chicken

This is a super easy recipe and it's yummy!

You will need:

1 Can Cheddar Cheese Condensed Soup or Nacho Fiesta Cheese Condensed Soup
1 Cup Sour Cream
1 8 oz brick of cream cheese
1 small can of chopped green chilies
2 Tablespoons of Milk
About 1 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast (there is enough sauce to do up to about 1.5 lbs or so)

Mix soup, sour cream, green chilies and milk in a bowl and stir until mixed. Pour half in the bottom of crockpot (we use a crockpot liner, makes clean up easy) and then put the chicken on top and pour the rest of the sauce on the chicken. Cube the cream cheese and put it on top (or I softened it and mixed it in with everything else today and we will see how it turns out but I am sure it will be fine). Cook on low about 6-8 hours.
Pour over rice or egg noodles or wrap up in a warm tortilla for a yummy easy dinner.

I made this up after we tried one that had two cans of cheddar cheese soup, one can of cream of chicken and  just sprinkling the chicken with pepper and garlic powder so if you or you kids don't like chilies, that's another option.

The Udder Potatoes

I found a recipe in the latest issue of Scouting magazine that I just HAD to try. (We get this publication because James used to be the counselor in the bishopric who was over scouts and all the re-chartering stuff. There's not much in there of great interest to me.)
It's actually a dutch oven recipe, but I thought I could just tweak it a little and cook it in a regular oven. At the end of the page, the guy who'd submitted the recipe states, "I guarantee once your Scouts get a taste of this dish, if you ever ask them if they want scalloped or cheese potatoes again, they will all cry out, 'No! We want the udder ones!' "
My kids are lousy potato eaters, so how could I resist a recipe with such a guarantee??? Oh, and the submitter also said, "I should probably warn those who are health-food conscious that further reading of this column could be hazardous to your health. These potatoes are not low-calorie and definitely not low-fat." That being said, these potatoes turned out so yummy that my kids all liked them, and I ate nearly half the bowl in the first sitting. (Yikes!) So here is how I made it.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound bacon, chopped
1 32oz package frozen hash browns
1 green onion, chopped
sprinkling of seasoned salt
sprinkling of Greek seasoning
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
4 tablespoons butter, cut into slices

While bacon is cooking, combine hash browns, onion, and seasonings in a casserole dish. Drain the fat from the bacon and add it to the mixture. Mix gently until evenly distributed.

Pour cream over potato mixture and place butter slices on top. Bake, covered for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover and bake another 10 minutes, or until slightly browned on top.

After removing it from the oven, stir it again to distribute the cream in the bottom of the dish before serving.

Enjoy!!!

Freezer cooking, and 5 recipes

A while ago I mentioned freezer cooking and never did anything about it. So now here I am to tell the world about the wonders of freezer meals. The ones you make yourself, not the ones you find at the grocery store. These are a lot better.

What is it?

You cook several meals at a time and store them in the freezer, ready for dinner. You can do once a week cooking, once a month cooking, or twice a month cooking, or whatever. I was doing once a month cooking, but it is just too much for me to do on my own at one time. It's great if you can do it with a friend, but I decided it would be better for me to do twice-a-month cooking, usually on Saturdays.

Generally, you make enough of one recipe to last two or three meals, and freeze in meal-sized portions. Most meals will still require some preparation on “eating day,” such as cooking rice or pasta, or adding cheese.

Most of the recipes I use I have adapted into freezer meals myself. A lot of recipe books out there use a lot of high-fat, high-sodium, high-whatever ingredients that I try to avoid in general. I also personally don’t like some of their methods, since there are things that just shouldn’t be frozen*. My method requires a bit more work on eating day, but the vast majority is done on cooking day. I also utilize a lot of frozen vegetables—stock up on them when they’re on sale, and it cuts out a LOT of work, and it probably won’t be any more expensive than buying fresh vegetables.

Why?

Well, I started doing it because I was sick to death of spending my evenings cooking dinner and then cleaning up after it. Freezer cooking really cuts down on the amount of dishes to do every night. I also don’t have to rack my brains to figure out what to have for dinner every night, because I made the decision when I planned my menu. If dinner is already mostly ready, then it’s much less of a temptation to just go get a pizza or burgers for dinner.

How?

Take time to make a plan. I like to list each dish and specific things to do for each dish, preparation in one column and cooking in another. Then I can cross things off as I go. Make your shopping list the day before you go shopping.

Divide your work up into two or three days:
Day one: shopping
Day two: prep (chopping, preparing sauces, etc. Anything that isn’t cooking.)
Day three: cooking
I sometimes combine shopping and prep day. If you want, add a day four for cleaning. I for one am not ashamed to leave my dishes in the sink or on the counter til I can rest up, then attack them the next day.

*There are some things that just don’t freeze well, like pasta, cheese, rice, potatoes, etc. Pasta gets mushy, rice gets gummy, cheese (dairy in general, really) gets…just gross, and potatoes get mealy. It’s really best to wait until eating day to cook these things. Commercially frozen potatoes are ok.

These are the things that I made this past Saturday. They're divided up into two sections: cooking day and eating day. There may be additional ingredients listed under eating day. The ingredients listed under cooking day are really a doubled recipe. The ingredients listed under cooking day are a single recipe, since, at least when I do it, I make enough of one recipe for two meals, then thaw half at a time to eat. So the eating day ingredients are half of the cooking day ingredients. If that makes any sense.

Slow-cooked Pork Ribs
This recipe comes from a recipe for a pork loin roast. I used pork ribs cuz they're a lot cheaper and easier to cook.

Cooking day:
2 to 2 1/2 pounds boneless country-style pork ribs
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper sauce
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into eighths
1 medium onion, cut into fourths
4 garlic cloves, crushed

Place pork ribs in large bowl. In blender, place orange juice, lime juice, cumin, red pepper sauce, allspice, pepper, onion, and garlic. Cover and blend until smooth. Pour over pork ribs; cover bowl. Refrigerate at least 4 hours but no longer than 24 hours.

Place in slow cooker with 1 cup water. Cook on low 6 to 8 hours, or high 3 to 4 hours.

Divide in half (including the remaining juices) and freeze.

Eating day
Thaw and heat. Make a gravy out of the liquid. It’ll be green, but it’ll be tasty. These are really good served with garlic mashed potatoes. Pineapple goes really well with it, too.


Chicken Taco Grande

Cooking day:
2 tablespoon oil
2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/3 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chopped onion
2/3 cup water
2 pkg (1 oz) taco seasoning mix or use this recipe

Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat until hot. Add chicken; cook 5 minutes or until no longer pink in center, stirring frequently.
Add corn, bell pepper, onion water and taco seasoning mix; mix well. Heat until bubbly. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 to 15 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; divide in half and freeze.

Eating day (remember, this is for one half of the recipe above):
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Cheddar cheese
2 cans refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
lettuce, tomato, whatever taco toppings you like.

Thaw one meal’s worth. Stir in cheese

Unroll both cans of dough; separate into 16 triangles. Arrange triangles on sprayed cookie sheet with short sides of triangles toward center, overlapping into wreath shape and leaving 5-inch round opening in center. Lightly press short sides of dough to flatten slightly.

Spoon chicken filling onto widest part of dough. Pull end points of triangles over filling and tuck under dough to form ring. (Filling will be visible.)

Bake at 375°F. for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with taco toppings.

Cajun Burgers
For these, I used ground chicken that I ground with my KitchenAid food grinder attachment. They would be good with ground beef as well.

cooking day:
1 pound ground beef (or chicken, turkey)
1/2 cup diced pepper
1/2 cup diced onion
3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
1 egg
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Cook onion and pepper in skillet over medium heat until onion is translucent.

In a medium bowl, mix the ground beef, pepper, onion, bread crumbs, egg, green onions, 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning, and mustard. Form into 4 or 5 patties.

Cook on grill, or broil (what I did), 4-5 minutes per side, to internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Allow to cool, then freeze in meal-size portions. Tip: first, freeze on a pan lined with wax paper so the burger don’t stick together in a bag. Then put them in a plastic freezer bag.

Eating day:
Thaw. Heat in 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until heated through. I suggest heating in an oven so that they don't get soggy. Then place a slice of cheese on each burger and broil until cheese on each burger melts. Serve on buns with burger fixings and bbq sauce.


Italian Soup

Cooking day:
1 lb ground beef, chicken, or turkey
1 1/2 cup chopped frozen carrots
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onion, quartered then halved
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoon dried parsley
3 teaspoons dried basil
3 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoon salt

In medium skillet, cook beef, chicken, or turkey until browned through. Remove from skillet. Cook onion in olive oil until translucent. Stir in garlic and cook until tender (about 30 seconds).
Combine chicken, onion mixture, carrots, and spices; dive in half and freeze.

Eating day:
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 3/4 cups water
1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup ditalini pasta

Thaw. In med or large pot, combine meat mixture, tomato sauce, water, and beans. Heat until boiling, reduce heat and simmer 1 hour. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.


Honey Chicken Stir-Fry

Cooking day:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
6 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 (16 ounce) package frozen broccoli stir-fry vegetable blend

Stir-fry chicken in 2 teaspoons oil. In small bowl, combine garlic, honey, soy sauce, and pepper. Allow to cool. In two freezer bags, combine chicken, frozen vegetables (still frozen), and sauce. Freeze immediately, before vegetables thaw.

Eating day:
Thaw in skillet over medium heat. Bring liquid to a boil. Cook 5 to 7 minutes, until vegetables are done. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I combined a recipe for cottage cheesecake and pumpkin cheesecake to make this. It is exceedingly delicious. Mmmmmmmmmm. Also, I jacked the picture from allrecipes.com, so I can't take credit for it. As I was looking through pictures, though, I found one that had a praline sauce on top, and it looked really good. I think I'll have to try that next time. And, seriously, you can't tell that it uses cottage cheese instead of cream cheese. It's just delicious.


Graham cracker pie crust
2 cups 2% low-fat cottage cheese
2 eggs
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground nutmeg

Blend cottage cheese until smooth. For a denser cake, allow cheese to drain in coffee filter for a couple hours (or overnight), then continue.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a blender, combine cottage cheese, eggs, flour, vanilla, sugar and salt. Blend until smooth. Pour one cup of mixture into prepared crust. To remaining batter add pumpkin puree, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Blend well and pour over batter in crust.
Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until filling is firm. Allow to cool completely and refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.

Perfect Brown Rice

I love using whole grains when I cook, but brown rice has always been difficult to get right. If you cook it like white rice and just steam it, it turns our really mushy and not really very appetizing. But I found this way to cook brown rice that makes it tender, not mushy. Anyway, I found the instructions here at saveur.com. Basically, you boil the rice like you would pasta for 20 minutes, then you drain it and let it steam in the remaining liquid for another 10 minutes. It works! The down side is, of course, that any of the "enriched" vitamins will go down the drain, but there's other ways to get your vitamins.

Check it out:

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Perfect-Brown-Rice

Delicious Sloppy Joes

I love these sloppy joes. They're so easy and so delicious. I was really rather pleasantly surprised the first time I tried them. So much better than Manwich (I'm not knocking it--but these ARE better). The picture and original recipe came from Rachel Ray on foodnetwork.com.



1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
1 1/4 pounds ground beef sirloin (or whatever—I used ground chicken thighs)
1 large onion, chopped
1 large red or green bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste

In a bowl, combine brown sugar, seasoning blend, vinegar, W sauce, tomato sauce, and tomato paste. In skillet, brown meat over medium high heat. Remove meat, and sauté onion and pepper until onions are translucent. Add meat and sauce mixture to skillet. Stir to combine. Reduce heat and simmer for about five minutes, or until it reaches desired consistency. Serve on crusty rolls or hamburger buns.

Soaked Whole Grains--Oatmeal Banana Pancakes

Once upon a time I happened upon this web site. It expounds the benefits of soaking your whole grains before you use them, for nutritional benefit and what not. I don't know about nutritional benefits (if they really are all that), but I can say that it seems to improve the final texture and taste of the finished product. The short of the story is this: soak your whole grains in an acid medium for at least 12 hours before cooking with them. An acid medium can include cultured buttermilk, yogurt, lemon juice, and vinegar (1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar per 1 cup of water). Heat the acid medium to bath-water temperature before adding it, then let it soak at room temperature for at least 12 hours. And leaving buttermilk out on the counter overnight is not going to make you sick. Anyway, you can find more details and recipes on the web site. Here's something that I tried this morning. Note: do remember that you have to start it the night before. I added blueberries as well, and topped them with strawberries. They were REALLY good. :)


Whole Wheat-Oatmeal-Banana Pancakes

1 cup uncooked rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups cultured buttermilk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons dry milk powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 banana, mashed

Place the rolled oats into the jar of a blender and blend until the texture resembles coarse flour.

Combine the blended oats, whole wheat flour, and buttermilk. Allow so soak at room temperature for at least 12 hours.

Whisk together all-purpose flour, brown sugar, dry milk powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside.

Whisk together the egg, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Stir in the mashed banana. Add to buttermilk mixture. Add dry flour mixture and stir just until moistened.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle over medium-high heat. Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto the griddle, and cook until bubbles form and the edges are dry, about 2 minutes. Flip, and cook until browned on the other side. Repeat with remaining batter.

Broccoli Salad

I'm not a huge fan of raw broccoli or onions, but I really like this salad. Use any kind of nut or seed you like (sunflower seeds, cashews, here I used toasted walnuts). I love the colors in this salad, too. To make it healthier, replace half the mayo with lain low-fat yogurt and reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup or so. Still delicious. You could try turkey bacon, too, but I'm afraid that would take the deliciousness down a notch.


2 heads fresh broccoli
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1/2 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
3/4 cup raisins or craisins
3/4 cup your favorite nuts of seeds
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Cut the broccoli into bite-size. Combine with the onion, bacon, raisins, your favorite nuts and mix well.

To prepare the dressing, mix the mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar together until smooth. Chill for at least an hour. Stir into the salad and serve.

I only stirred in enough dressing to cover the salad, and I actually had quite a bit left over. I find that much more appealing than to have the broccoli swimming in dressing, but do what you want.

Pao de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread)

After my husband and I went to Tucanos (a Brazilian grill) we kept craving their cheese puff rolls. So we found this recipe to try, and it's pretty close. Evidently, to be really authentic to Brazil, you'd have to use Queijo Minas, but it's not available in the US. But Parmesan is pretty good, too. Some people say to use half Parmesan and half Mozzarella, but I haven't tried so I don't know. Do what you want! Also, you can find manioc flour (aka manioc starch, or tapioca starch/flour) in any Mexican or Asian food market, or probably also in the specialty food section of your grocery store, though it's probably cheaper at an Asian or Mexican market.


3 cups sweet manioc starch or sour manioc starch
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bring the milk, salt, and oil to a boil. Remove from heat. Slowly add manioc starch, stirring constantly until thoroughly mixed. Add the cheese and eggs. Knead until smooth.

Form into balls approximately 2-inches in diameter and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake until golden brown (15-20 minutes).

Eat while hot.

P.S. Manioc flour is NOT like wheat flour. These rolls will not be light and fluffy, but have more of a rubbery, cheesy texture. It's delicious. Trust me.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Sorry I've been neglecting this blog for the past few months. Mostly, it's been too darn hot to cook much. I've started doing once-a-month cooking, too, which I'll post about later, if anyone's interested. But, anyway, a kind neighbor gave me some zucchini from her garden the other day, so I decided to make a little treat. The muffins are very moist and delicious. They're not overwhelmingly chocolaty, either, just a hint. A sneaky way to get some vegetables in the morning!


3 eggs
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease or line two 12 cup muffin tins with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl beat the eggs. Beat in the sugar and oil. Add the applesauce, cocoa, vanilla, zucchini and stir well.

3. Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until just moist.

4. Pour batter into prepared muffin tins filling 2/3 of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack. Store loosely covered.

Cake Mix Made With Melted Ice Cream

So, I got some Ben and Jerry's Flourless Chocolate Cake ice cream. It is the richest chocolate ice cream I have ever had. It is so yummy so I just took a very small scoop the other day right after I opened it (about 4 bites) and my sweet husband put the rest away for me, in the FRIDGE! lol
Needless to say, the next morning when I was surprised when I saw it there when I went to get the milk for Leata and Taylor's cereal. When I posted this on facebook as my status, Katherine so kindly posted a recipe for cake made with cake mix and melted ice cream. I left the ice cream in the fridge and hoped that I would get time to make the cake in the next few days.

Today, for Mother's Day, my mom, sister, brother, mother in law, father in law and sister in law all came for dinner. It was a great opportunity to make this cake.

The link Katherine sent was this: http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/recipes/what_kind/cakes/incredible_melted_ice_cream_ca_1.php

Serves 16
Preparation Time: 5 to 7 minutes
Baking Time: 38 to 42 minutes
Assembly Time: 10 minutes

vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
flour for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix (I use a chocolate cake mix)
2 cups melted ice cream, your choice of flavor (This cake was made with B&J's Flourless Chocolate Cake ice cream.)
3 large eggs

(I also added about 3/4 cup of chocolate chips)

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside.

3. Place the cake mix, melted ice cream, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with the rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look thick and well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the rubber spatula.

4. Place the pan in the oven.

5. Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 38 to 42 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a small rack, then invert it again onto a second rack so that the cake is right side up to complete cooling, 30 minutes more.

6. Meanwhile prepare the Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting, or another frosting that would go well with the flavor of the ice cream in the cake. Place the cake on a serving platter and frost the top of the cake with clean, smooth strokes.

This frosting was delicious and went well with the chocolaty theme!

Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting

2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 large marshmallows
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Sift the sugar and cocoa powder together into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

2. Place the marshmallows, butter, and milk in a medium-size heavy saucepan over low heat. Stir until the marshmallows are melted, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Pour the confectioners' sugar and cocoa mixture over the marshmallow mixture. Add the vanilla and stir until the frosting is smooth and satiny.

3. Use at once to frost the top of the cake of your choice.

Wow what a YUMMY chocolaty cake. If you are not a chocolate fan you could do whatever flavors you like but it was such a yummy moist cake! I really enjoyed the small, rich slice I had. A.J. assures me it was as yummy as I thought too! I might try it sometime with strawberry ice cream for a pink cake for my girls!

Applesauce Spice Cake

I made this as a "healthy" alternative for Lacey's birthday cake. It uses apple juice concentrate instead of refined sugar. Lacey liked it, except for the dates. I doused mine in caramel sauce and topped it with vanilla ice cream. It was pretty yummy that way, too.

3 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped dates
1 1/2 cups ground almonds (optional)
2 Macintosh apples - peeled, cored and finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 9 x 13 baking pan.

Beat the eggs until they drop like ribbons from the beaters. Continue beating and add the oil in a thin stream. Beat in the 1 cup applesauce and the 1 cup unsweetened apple juice concentrate then mix in the flour gradually until well blended. Add the baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground almonds, dates, and apples. Fold together until well mixed.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F about 40 minutes or until the cake tests clean with a knife or toothpick. Cool completely before frosting.

Frog Eye Salad

I seriously could eat this all day. I'm pretty sure I have before.

1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tablespoons flour
1 3/4 cup pineapple juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
16 oz acini di pepe
1 (9 oz) container cool whip
2 (20 oz) cans pineapple tidbits (drained)
2 cans mandarin oranges
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 teaspoon oil
2 teaspoons salt.

In a small sauce pan, combine sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, egg yolks, flour, pineapple juice, and lemon juice. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Cool completely. Meanwhile, Boil acini de pepe, oil, and slat for 10 to 20 minutes. Drain. Cool. Mix with sauce. Add fruit, marshmallows. Stir in cool whip. Allow to set in refrigerator overnight.

Bayou Chicken Pasta

This is originally an Emeril recipe, but I simplified it to something that I would actually make. Yummy! Pretty much any cajun or creole seasoning will work.

1 pound linguine
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons cajun or creole seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 cups heavy cream or evaporated milk
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 cup reserved pasta cooking water
Parmesan cheese

Set a large 1-gallon stock pot of water to a boil and add the kosher salt. Place the linguine in the pot and stir until the water returns to a boil. Cook the pasta until tender, but with a bit of resistance (al dente), about 12 minutes.

While the pasta cooks, prepare the sauce. Set a 12-inch saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the butter and olive oil to the pan. Once the butter has melted, season the chicken with 1 tablespoon of the seasoning and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and add the chicken to the pan. Sear the chicken until well browned on both sides, about 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the onions to the pan and saute until the onions are softened and lightly caramelized, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic to the pan and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the cream, remaining 1 tablespoon of seasoning, remaining 1 teaspoon of salt, and the chicken to the pan and bring to a boil. Cook the sauce until the cream is reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, linguine and the reserved cooking water to the pan and cook, tossing to incorporate for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove pan from the heat and add Parmesan and toss to blend. Serve immediately.

Strawberry Pie

One of our favorites--full of fresh fruit deliciousness.

2 cups water
1 package cook-n-serve vanilla pudding
1 package strawberry gelatin (sugar free, if desired)
4 cups Strawberries
graham cracker pie crust

Bring water and pudding mix to boil, take off stove, add pkg. jell-o and stir up. Let cool.

Clean and slice the fresh strawberries. Line the pie crust with strawberries. Pour cooled pudding mixture on top. Allow to set in refrigerator for at least one hour or until firm.

Egg-free Cornbread

I went looking for this recipe because I wanted cornbread, but I discovered that I had no eggs. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this recipe is. If you like your corn bread less sweet (as so many southerners do) just reduce the amount of sugar. I actually increased it from the original recipe (which called for 2 tablespoons) because my husband likes his cornbread sweet.

1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons oil

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk and the oil, and stir until just blended.
Spread the batter into a nonstick or lightly oil-sprayed 9-inch square baking dish, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serve hot.

Crockpot Pork Chops

My husband has requested that I make these again. That's a compliment!

8 pork chops (or fewer)
salt & pepper
2 onions, chopped (or dried onion)
2 stalks of celery, chopped (unless you don't have any)
1 green pepper, cut in strips (unless...)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour over the meat and veggies in a crockpot.
Cook on low for six hours.
YUM

Saturday's menu

Saturday we had the in-laws over for dinner, so I thought I'd share what we had, since I thought it turned out beautifully.

For the main dish, we had:

Italian Barbecued Chicken with Polenta
You can find the original recipe by Rachael Ray here. I've just taken out the polenta ingredients and instructions. I also used chicken tenders instead of bone-in chicken.

4 bone-in chicken thigh and leg or chicken breasts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
2 teaspoons grill seasoning
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 thick cut slices pancetta or bacon, chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped
1 to 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cups chicken stock

Preheat oven to 400 F.
Season the chicken liberally with salt and pepper, poultry seasoning, and grill seasoning. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet and brown the chicken a few minutes on each side to put some of it's flavor and drippings into the pan then transfer to oven and roast 15 minutes more or until juices run clear. Meanwhile, add 1 more tablespoon olive oil to the pan and cook pancetta or bacon, if using, until crisp. Add onions, garlic and rosemary, cook 5 minutes then add the vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire, tomato sauce and 1/2 cup chicken stock, reduce heat to low and let sauce simmer 5 minutes more.

For a side, we had mashed potatoes to which I added yogurt (in place of sour cream--you get the same result with a lot fewer calories), a teensy pat of butter, and some cajun seasoning from the grocery store.

And some broccoli and baby carrots, steamed for 10 minutes, then topped with mozzarella cheese and cajun seasoning and heated in the oven until the cheese was melty.

Also, some one hour rolls, recipe here.

Quick Cheese Bread

I made this the other day when I wanted bread to go with dinner but was short on time. I recommend using sharp cheddar cheese to add flavor. Yummy!

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cheese. In another large bowl, beat together egg, milk and oil. Stir the flour/cheese mixture into the egg mixture, stirring until just moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.