Apple Crisp

I made this apple crisp from allrecipes.com for dessert last night. It was really really good.

Apple Crisp II


recipe image
Rated: rating
Submitted By: Diane Kester
Photo By: [jessica]
Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 45 Minutes

Ready In: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
Servings: 12
"This large 9x13-inch crisp is made hearty with cooking oats mixed into its sweet crumbly topping. Underneath are all the lovely things that compliment apples -cinnamon, brown sugar and butter. Serve warm with rum raisin ice cream or a big dollop of freshly whipped cream."
Ingredients:
10 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored
and sliced
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water


1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).
2. Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.
3. Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes.

Cheesy Potatoes and Rolls

My husbands family has a tradition of having ham, cheesy potatoes and rolls for Christmas dinner. Now it's our tradition too. These recipes are my mother-in-laws and they are delicious!

60 Minute Rolls (makes 2 dozen)

3 ½ to 4 ½ c. flour

3 T. sugar

1 t. salt

2 pkgs. Yeast (or 2 tablespoons)

1 c. milk

½ c. water

¼ c. margarine or butter

In a large bowl thoroughly mix 1 ½ c. flour, sugar, salt, and undissolved yeast. Combine milk, water, and margarine or butter in a saucepan. Heat over low heat until liquids are very warm (120 degrees to 130 degrees F.). Margarine does not need to melt. Gradually add to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes at medium speed of mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add ½ c. flour and beat at high speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough additional flour to make a soft dough. Turn out onto lightly floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; place bowl in pan of water at about 98 degrees F. Let rise 15 minutes. (If you are not in a hurry, you can skip this step and just let it rise about 45 minutes or so on its own). Turn dough out onto floured board. Divide in half and shape into whatever shapes you want and put on greased pans. Cover; let rise in warm place, free from draft about 15 minutes. Bake at 400 about 12 minutes or until done. Brush with melted butter, remove from baking sheets, and cool on wire racks.

Au Gratin Potatoes

Boil 6-8 medium potatoes—cool, peel and cube.

Mix together the following:

1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese

¼ c. chives or finely minced onion tops (optional)

1 cube margarine or butter

1 pint sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

Heat until cheese melts and fold into potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until bubbly.

(Sometimes I cut the margarine in half and use real sour cream (not low fat or non-fat)) I think the real sour cream is better for this recipe.

Sausage Egg Casserole

I made this casserole for Christmas breakfast. It was SO good. I wish I would have made it the night before like the recipe suggests, because it took a little bit of time to put together, but it was so worth it! Next time I will make it the night before. I also made the Country breakfast casserole and Jalapeno cheese grits which are oldies but goodies. The 2 casseroles are from allrecipes.com and the grits are from Bobby Flay's wife on the Food Network.

Sausage Egg Casserole


recipe image
Rated: rating
Submitted By: KNITWIT
Photo By: Sheri O.
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

Ready In: 9 Hours 40 Minutes
Servings: 12
"Assemble the ingredients the night before, and bake this casserole in the morning. Stand back and wait for the compliments. I've made it with fat free cottage cheese, egg substitute, and reduced fat sausage; the taste is still wonderful!"
Ingredients:
3/4 pound ground pork sausage
1 tablespoon butter
4 green onions, chopped
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
10 eggs, beaten
1 (16 ounce) container low-fat cottage
cheese
1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

2 (4 ounce) cans diced green chile peppers,
drained

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
Directions:
1. Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, and set aside. Melt butter in skillet, and cook and stir the green onions and mushrooms until tender.
2. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, cottage cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and chiles. Stir in the sausage, green onions, and mushrooms. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend in the melted butter. Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Pour into the prepared baking dish.
5. Bake 40 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Country Breakfast Casserole
Submitted by: Kristin
Prep Time: 15 MinutesCook Time: 50 Minutes
Ready In: 1 Hour 15 MinutesYields: 8 servings
INGREDIENTS:
1 (16 ounce) package
breakfast sausage
1 chopped green onion
2 cups shredded Cheddar
cheese
6 eggs, lightly beaten (I usually add 2-3 extra eggs)
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 (2.64 ounce) package
country gravy mix
6 slices bread, cut into 1 inch
cubes (I used shredded frozen hashbrowns instead of bread)
2 tablespoons melted butter
(optional)
paprika to taste (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
1.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease an 11x8 (I use 9 x 13) inch baking dish.
2.
Brown sausage in a large skillet; drain fat.
3.
Combine sausage with green onion and spread evenly across the bottom of the baking dish. Top with shredded cheese. Whisk together eggs, water, milk, and gravy mix; add mixture to baking dish. Arrange bread squares evenly on top. If desired, drizzle melted butter over bread, and sprinkle with paprika.
4.
Bake 40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Set aside 10 minutes before serving.

Jalapeno Cheese Grits

Recipe courtesy Stephanie March (Bobby Flay's wife)





Ingredients

* 2 cups quick-cooking grits
* 2 1/2 cups grated extra-sharp Cheddar
* 1 stick unsalted butter
* 1 tablespoon hot sauce (recommended: Tabasco)
* 3 large eggs, well beaten
* 2 jalapenos, finely diced
* 1/4 cup canned chopped green chiles
* Garlic salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook the grits according to the directions on the back of the package. Remove from the heat and add next 6 ingredients (Cheddar through chilies). Stir well and season with garlic salt, to taste. Pour into a buttered 9-inch baking dish and bake for 1 hour. Let cool slightly before slicing and serving.

Creamed corn with bacon

We had this as a side dish for Christmas Eve. It's my family tradition to have tamales and green chili soup on Christmas Eve. Matt and I were watching the Food Network and saw this recipe & Matt said wow, that looks good, so I surprised him and made it to go along with our tamales. This corn was really good. Next time I will cut back on the lime and cilantro though. It was a little over powering. I still think nothing beats the Rudy's like cream corn in a previous post, but if you were making Mexican food this corn would be a perfect addition to the menu.

Creamed Corn with Bacon

Recipe courtesy Michael Symon

Prep Time:
25 min
Inactive Prep Time:
--
Cook Time:
55 min


Serves:
4 to 6 servings as a side dish

Ingredients
Corncob stock:

* 5 shucked ears corn (kernels removed and reserved*)
* 1 bay leaf
* 2 cloves garlic
* 1/2 onion peeled and quartered
* 1 tablespoon whole coriander seed
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 quarts water

Corn saute:

* 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/4 pound thick-cut bacon cut into lardoons
* 1 cup diced yellow onion
* 1 clove garlic minced
* *Reserved corn kernels
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups reserved corncob stock
* 1/2 cup creme fraiche
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves
* 1 lime, zested

For the stock:
Directions

Place all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a lively simmer and cook to reduce liquid to 2 cups, approximately 30 minutes. Strain and reserve, keeping stock warm.
To finish the corn:

Begin heating a large saucepan, and glaze bottom with the extra-virgin olive oil. Add the lardons and cook over medium heat, rendering the fat and browning the pieces, stirring as needed. Add the onion and sweat, about 45 seconds. Add the garlic and continue to cook, stirring, another 30 seconds. Add the corn and salt, continuing to cook for another 2 minutes. Add the reserved corncob stock and bring to a simmer, cooking until the liquid reduces to approximately 2/3 cup. Add the creme fraiche and simmer 3 minutes or until the mixture begins to thicken. Add the butter and stir. Remove pan from heat; stir in cilantro and lime zest. Check for seasoning and serve.

Kristin's Pretzel Hugs

My friend Kristin brought these delicious little bites to a party last week. I had to make them immediately! They were a big hit at the party. Everyone kept asking how she made them. They looks like they've been dipped in chocolate and then drizzled. Then Kristin said she used Hershey's Hugs to make them!

You just lay out the pretzels on wax paper. Put a hug on each pretzel. Put it in the oven for a VERY short time, just until they start melting and then take them out and drop 2 M&M's on top and press it down gently and then stick them in the freezer for about 5 mins. SOO good, so fast and so easy! Thanks Kristin!

Chili & Soup

We had some friends over for a Gingerbread house making party on Saturday night. I made some chili and soup to eat while we built the houses. I made the simple chili I usually make and then my friend Tracy's SUPER yummy potato corn chowder.

Kerstin's super easy chili

Brown 2 lbs of ground beef with 1 large diced onion. Add 3 cans of chili style tomatoes, 1 can drained black beans, 1 can drained kidney beans, 3 large cans ranch style beans, 4-6 T of Fiesta brand easy chili seasoning mix. Let simmer for about 30 mins.

Tracy & Bryan Glatt's Corn Chowder

Large soup pot

Canola Oil

Thick slice of salt pork (or 5 slices of thick bacon)

1 large onion –chopped

3 cans of cream style corn

6 large potatoes – cooked and cut to bite-size (Tracy doesn't cook them beforehand and neither do I. Just dice them and let them slowly cook in the soup.)

5 ½ cups of canned milk – (2 cans of Carnation evaporated milk) measure each can in a 2 cup measuring cup - fill with water to make each can measures 2 cups, the last cup & ½ is water.

5# Hormel ham – cut to bite size pieces (you can reheat so ham is hot when you add to the chowder)

Salt & Pepper to taste





First prepare potatoes, cook until tender. While potatoes are cooking, I start the chowder - Cook salt pork, canola oil and onions in soup size pot, on med-high heat, cook till onions are lightly browned (do not cook too high or onions will burn). Remove salt pork or bacon, leaving drippings. Add creamed corn, heating until bubbly. Add milk. Add potatoes. Add ham, salt & pepper. Bring to a boil then let simmer for about 10 – 15 minutes. Serve with crescent rolls, corn bread or jalapeño bread.

1-50 point Choco Chip Muffins!

I finally got around to cooking our enormous Halloween pumpkin, so I decided to make pumpkin muffins. I make 2 different recipes. 1 my mother-in-law sent me from Our Best Bites that she tried when my sister-in-law Laura made them when she was visiting her and another one I always love to make from the Lion House Pumpkin bread recipe. I just added chocolate chips to the Lion House recipe and cut down the cooking time. The one from Our Best Bites is suppose to be 1 weight watchers point per muffin without the choco chips. I'm guessing the Lion House recipe is about 50 points per muffin!

Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Our Best Bites

2 spice cake mixes (Duncan Hines, although not pictured, is the best for this recipe)
1 30-oz. can pumpkin
1 12-oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Okay, super-tricky here. Preheat oven to 350. Combine cake mixes and pumpkin. Add in chocolate chips.


Spoon mixture into lined muffin tins. This can make as many as 48 muffins or as few as 36, just depending on how full the tins are filled. These really don't rise very much, so you can fill the tins pretty full. If aesthetics are a concern, keep in mind that how they look going into the oven is very much what they will look like coming out of the oven. So a cookie scoop works great to keep things on the prettier side.
Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of one of the muffins comes out clean.

Lion House Pumpkin Bread
1 1/3 C Veg oil
5 eggs
1 can (16 oz) pumpkin
2 C flour
2 C sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
2 pkg (6 oz) instant vanilla pudding
1 C nuts

Grease pans. Mix well oil, eggs, pumpkin, beat well. Seperate bowl: sift flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Stir in pudding and nuts. Pour into pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Makes two loaves.

Ribs & more

Matt has some co-workers over for dinner on Thursday, so I decided to attempt ribs for the first time. Very risky, because bad ribs are...bad! I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. They were SOO easy and SOOOO good. The only thing I changed in the recipe is that I marinated the ribs in the foil with a dry rub on them for 8 hours and then the bbq sauce on them for 4 hours before baking them for 2 1/2 hours at 300 degrees. Then I opened the foil and put more bbq sauce on them and cooked them uncovered for 10 minutes at 450 degrees to carmelize some sauce on the top of them. I served the ribs with baked beans, macaroni & cheese, cream corn, Pioneer Woman's famous texas sheet cake and my families favorite poppy seed cake. It was all very tasty!

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake
Combine in a mixing bowl:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a saucepan, melt:
2 sticks butter
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa. Stir together.
Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
In measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup buttermilk.
Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.
While cake is baking, make icing:
Chop 1/2 cup pecans finely.
Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in a saucepan.
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat.
Add:
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb minus 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Stir together.
Add pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.
Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you’ve just made the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever.


Pat's Baked Beans (I used black beans, kidney beans, great northern beans, pinto beans and baked beans)

6 slices bacon
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans
1 (16 ounce) can great Northern beans,
drained
1 (16 ounce) can baked beans
1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained

1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of drippings, crumble and set aside in a large bowl. Cook the onion and garlic in the reserved drippings until onion is tender; drain excess grease and transfer to the bowl with the bacon.
3. To the bacon and onions add pinto beans, northern beans, baked beans, kidney beans and garbanzo beans. Stir in ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and black pepper. Mix well and transfer to a 9x12 inch casserole dish.
4. Cover and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.

Macaroni & Cheese
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup cottage cheese (not lowfat)
2 cups milk (not skim)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Pinch cayenne
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound sharp or extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
½ pound elbow pasta, uncooked.
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees and position an oven rack in upper third of oven. Use 1 tablespoon butter to butter a 9-inch round or square baking pan.2. In a blender, purée cottage cheese, milk, mustard, cayenne, nutmeg and salt and pepper together. Reserve ¼ cup grated cheese for topping. In a large bowl, combine remaining grated cheese, milk mixture and uncooked pasta. Pour into prepared pan, cover tightly with foil and bake 30 minutes. 3. Uncover pan, stir gently, sprinkle with reserved cheese and dot with remaining tablespoon butter. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes more, until browned. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.Yield: 6 to 8 servings.


Cream Corn Like No Other
Submitted by: DIANA YOCKEY
Rated: 5 out of 5 by 260 members Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 15 Minutes
Yields: 8 servings

INGREDIENTS:
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen
corn kernels, thawed
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup freshly grated
Parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a skillet over medium heat, combine the corn, cream, salt, sugar, pepper and butter. Whisk together the milk and flour, and stir into the corn mixture. Cook stirring over medium heat until the mixture is thickened, and corn is cooked through. Remove from heat, and stir in the Parmesan cheese until melted. Serve hot.

BBQ ribs

INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds pork baby back ribs (make sure to remove the silver skin, kind of a thin layer of skin against the bone side of the ribs)
1 (18 ounce) bottle barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays original bbq sauce)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Tear off 4 pieces of aluminum foil big enough to enclose each portion of ribs. Spray each piece of foil with vegetable cooking spray. Rub the ribs with the rub mixture (see below). Put them in the fridge overnight. First thing in the morning brush the ribs liberally with barbeque sauce and wrap them back up and put them back in the fridge until you're ready to cook them.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
3. Bake ribs wrapped tightly in the foil at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 2 1/2 hours. Remove from foil and add more sauce, if desired.

This is what I used for the rub: 1/4c. brown sugar, 1 1/2 Tbsp. paprika, 1 Tbsp. salt, 1 1/2 Tbsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. onion powder.

POPPY SEED CAKE

1 pkg. yellow cake 1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding

1/2 c water 1/2 c orange juice

1/2 c oil 5 eggs

2 t poppy seeds 1 T almond extract

Mix 5 min at medium speed. Bake in a sugar and cinnamon coated bunt pan. Bake 45 min at 350. Cool and drizzle with a mixture of powdered sugar, butter, and almond extract.

Adam's Spankin' good chili!

I named this chili myself. My friend Adam (more commonly known as Spanky) gave me this recipe for chili that he won the Rackspace chili contest with. It's delicious!!

I adjusted things a little to lower the heat level, so here's what Adam did followed by the little adjustments I made:

Adam's Spankin' good chili!

1/2 pound Peppered bacon-Dice it up along with a whole white/yellow onion (your choice, I did white), about 5-6 big cloves of garlic and three good sized Serrano peppers seeded. Cook bacon about half way and then add onion, garlic, peppers diced and a couple of bay leaves. Sauté till onion is clear in color. Add the beef. I did 3 lbs. I did 2 lbs of 80/20 and 1 lb of 70/30. I then added 9 T (that's right, table!) of Fiesta Quick Chili seasoning and about 1 T of crushed red pepper seeds. Cooked till all was brown and let simmer for about 30 minutes. I then added 1 can of tomato paste, 1 can rotel, 1 can diced tomato and 1 can of kidney beans rinsed. Then 2 cans of ranch style beans. You know the ones with the black label. MMMMMM! I then let that simmer for about an hour on low. Serve it with cheese and red onion diced! BAM! The next thing you know, 1st place. I didn't drain any grease. You can.

My adjustments:

I did the peppered bacon (it gives the chili a very smoky peppery flavor), white onion, 6 big cloves of garlic minced, 1 good sized serrano pepper seeded and diced (instead of 3), the 3 lbs of meat Adam suggested, 9 T of Fiesta brand chili seasoning, 1 small can of tomato paste, 2 cans mild rotel, 1 can diced tomato, 2 cans rinsed kidney beans, 2 cans ranch style beans. I cooked everything just as he outlined. YUM!

Pound Cake

I made this pound cake from allrecipes.com last night for dessert. It was really good. I did 2 loaf pans instead of 1 big pan. It still took about 90 mins to cook. I served it with vanilla pudding, whipped cream & mixed strawberries and peaches on top.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake



Ready In: 1 Hour 45 Minutes
Servings: 12

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
3 cups sugar
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese,
softened

6 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar and cream cheese. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and baking powder; mix well. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees F for about 1 hour and 30 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing. Cake ages and freezes well.

Cheese Bread

My sister-in-law Laura has passed along many many awesome recipes and this is another awesome one she sent me this week. I made it for dinner tonight. SOOO good. & I love a good recipe that I don't have to let rise! I will be making this many more times. Laura said she freezes it in slices so she can just reheat a couple slices at a time. She found the recipe on My Kitchen Cafe, one of my favorite cooking blogs.

http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2009/03/simple-and-delicious-cheese-bread.html

Simple and Delicious Cheese Bread
adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

**If the toothpick comes out with what looks like uncooked batter after testing the bread for doneness, try again in a different spot since the toothpick may have hit a pocket of cheese the first time. You definitely don't want to overbake the bread or it will be dry. According to the original recipe, the texture of the bread improves as it cools, so if you can, resist the urge to slice the bread while it is still very hot. I can attest that this leftover cheese bread makes excellent toast. Use a toaster oven or baking sheet in a 425-degree oven for 5 to 10 minutes (a conventional toaster can be messy because the pockets of cheese will melt and burn).**

3 ounces Parmesan cheese, shredded on large holes of box grater (about 1 cup)
3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
4-5 ounces sharp or extra-sharp cheddar cheese, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 1/4 cups whole milk (2% milk may be substituted but don't use skim milk)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 large egg lightly beaten
3/4 cup sour cream

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position in the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 5 by 9-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray, then sprinkle 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese evenly in bottom of pan.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cayenne, salt, and pepper to combine. Using a rubber spatula, mix in cheddar cheese cubes, breaking up clumps, until cheese is coated with flour. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, melted butter, egg, and sour cream. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined (the batter will be heavy and thick). Do not overmix. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan; spread to sides of pan and level surface with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan evenly over surface.

Bake until deep golden brown and toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes; invert loaf from pan and continue to cool until warm, about 45 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.

NOTE: I suggest putting a sheet pan under the loaf of bread. The cheese oozed out of mine while cooking & got on the bottom of my oven.

Chicken a la Sheena

I made this last week for my friend Trenda's baby shower & got some requests for the recipe, so here it is! I'm sorry I forgot to take a picture.

This has been a favorite recipe in my family for several years since my mom got it from a friend. It's a super easy, really tasty dish that serves a lot of people.

CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM ALA SHEENA JOYCE


(British Friend in Maryland and changed by Torie)

This is a recipe you change and develop as you go along.


In bottom of crock place:

2 ½ pound of raw chicken tenders

2 cans sliced or mushroom pieces (Or fresh sautéed)

In a bowl mix remaining ingredients and pour over chicken.

3 jars Classico Tomato Alfredo sauce

2 cups sour cream

1 cup milk

fresh garlic several cloves (I used about 5 cloves) and salt a pepper (3 packages of linguini)

Four snipped sun dried tomatoes (Kerstin used ½ a bag-too much if cooked all day

She cooked it seven hours, 4-5 hours is how the recipe reads, but they sauté the chicken first.

Peanut Butter Everywhere!

My sister-in-law Heather and I were asked to help with a primary activity next month where they're going to be making FHE packets. They asked us to come up with a little recipe book of FHE treats and to demonstrate how to make one of the treats. I saw the Peanut Butter Crunch Snack Balls on My Kitchen Cafe's blog awhile ago and had it tagged to try. I thought they would be a good option since we don't have any peanut allergies in our ward. Then I also remember my sister-in-law Holley telling me about some peanut butter balls she makes for her friends all the time when I was in Seattle last. Holley's a great great cook. I decided to try both of them yesterday. They were both really really really good. & they're both good food storage recipes. Holley's are definitely much less labor intensive.

Holley's Peanut Butter Balls (the chocolate covered ones)

1 c of Peanut Butter
1 c of powdered sugar
1 c rice krispies
1 T of butter
1 t vanilla
Mix all together (I add a little more powdered sugar if it seems too wet to roll into balls)
roll into balls...fairly small ones but you can do them whatever size
Melt Chocolate chips in a double boiler? not sure what that's called but I just put a metal bowl on top of a pot of simmering water.
I usually use about 2 cups of ch chips and then add 1 t of vegetable oil (I used chocolate almond bark coating) and dip the balls in to coat and then put on wax paper on a plate and put in the freezer or fridge. they are so yummy!

Peanut Butter Crunch Snack Balls
adapted from Michelle N.

Makes about 120 balls.

2 cups honey
6 cups peanut butter (creamy or crunchy) (I used half & half)
3 cups rice krispies
1½ cups grape nuts
3/4 cup applesauce
2 cups coconut
3 cups crushed cereal (I used crushed corn flakes)
1½ cups chocolate or butterscotch chips - or substitute dried fruit, like raisins (I did some chocolate and some craisins)
5-8 tablespoons powdered milk
4 cups crushed mini-wheat cereal

Mix all but last two ingredients and mix until well combined. Add powdered milk, like flour, to make a soft, cookie-like dough. Form into 1” ball and roll in crushed mini-wheats. A scoop works very well for this. Refrigerate or freeze.

Banana-Cream Cheesecake

I saw this recipe in the Kraft recipe magazine that comes free in the mail occasionally. I tried it a couple of Sunday's ago. It was really easy and tasty. I didn't have a white cake mix, so I used a lemon one. It just made it a little extra lemony.

Banana-Cream Cheesecake
- kraft.com
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/banana-cream-cheesecake-111264.aspx


1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix, divided
4 eggs, divided
3 Tbsp. oil
2/3 cup packed brown sugar, divided
2 bananas, sliced
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1-1/2 cups milk
1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

HEAT oven to 300ºF. Reserve 1 cup dry cake mix. Mix remaining cake mix with 1 egg, oil and 1/3 cup sugar with mixer. (Mixture will be crumbly.) Press onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of greased 13x9-inch baking pan; top with bananas.

BEAT cream cheese and remaining sugar with mixer. Add reserved cake mix, remaining eggs and lemon juice; beat 1 min. Blend in milk. (Batter will be very thin.) Pour into crust.

BAKE 45 to 50 to min. or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 4 hours. Top with COOL WHIP. Refrigerate leftovers.

Caramel Bars & Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

I took these to my young women's class for 2 birthdays last week. I got the idea for the peanut butter cup cookies from a woman in my ward that made them a couple of weeks ago. For those you just use your favorite peanut butter cookie dough and put a heaping tablespoon of the dough in a mini cupcake pan. Then cook them according to cookie directions and when they come out of the oven and are still hot put a peanut butter cup in the middle. They're really good.

I found the caramel bars on allrecipes.com. They are seriously good good & easy.

Caramel Bars

- allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 32 individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
* 5 tablespoons heavy cream
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 cup rolled oats
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 cup butter, melted
* 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt together the caramels and heavy cream, stirring occasionally until smooth.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir in the melted butter until well blended. Press Half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan. Reserve the rest.
3. Bake the crust for 8 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove and sprinkle with chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour the caramel mixture over the top and then crumble the remaining crust mixture over everything.
4. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 12 minutes, or until the top is lightly toasted. Cut into squares while it is still warm.

Penne Rustica

I took dinner to a family last week and decided to try this recipe from yourhomebasedmom (see my side bar). It was very tasty. Not a healthy dish by any means, but good. I saved some of it in my fridge to reheat for my family later on in the week. I don't think this is a great make ahead dinner because it's cream based, so when you reheat it it makes it a little too oily. The flavor is great though. Just needs to be eaten right when it's made.

Penne Rustica
Ingredients:
12 oz. grilled chicken breast (marinate in olive oil and garlic salt overnight, then grill on barbecue for best flavor)
½ pack thick bacon
48 oz. (3 boxes) penne pasta
2 large red bell peppers- diced
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
½ tsp paprika

Gratinata Sauce:
2 tsp butter
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 cup marsala wine OR 1/3 cup apple juice + 2 tbsp red wine vinegar +enough chicken broth to equal 1 cup
1 tsp dijon or dry mustard
1 tsp salt1 tsp chopped rosemary
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
8 cups heavy cream

Directions:
Sauté garlic in butter in large pan. Add marsala wine, mustard, salt, rosemary, cayenne pepper, and heavy cream.Cook pasta according to directions. Cook bacon. Slice chicken into medium-bite size pieces.Combine sauce, cooked pasta, diced chicken, cooked bacon, bell peppers, parmesan cheese, and paprika and mix thoroughly. Spread in pans. Top with chopped rosemary and mozzarella cheese.

Bake @ 475 for 10 minutes. If frozen, thaw in refrigerator the day of. Cover with foil and bake @ 375 for 1 hour. Remove foil during the last 15 minutes.
Number Of Servings: Yields one 8×8 and two 9×13 casserole dishes.
Preparation Time: More than an hour

Honey Lime Enchiladas

My sister-in-law Laura sent me this recipe a long long time ago to try & then I kept seeing it on various blogs with everyone saying how amazing it is. I finally got around to trying this last Sunday. I loved them. You have to like sweet/heat combo to like them though. Matt is not so big on the sweet/heat combo, so he said he would like them better with a lot less honey. Next time I will cut the honey by at least half. They were really really good though. & super easy!

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas
from Brittany at The Sisters' Cafe

http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2008/03/honey-lime-enchiladas.html

6 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons lime juice (1 large lime)
1 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded (I used 3 small chicken breasts)
8-10 flour tortillas
1 pound monterey jack cheese, shredded
16 ounces green enchilada sauce
1 cup heavy cream (to lighten them up, I have substituted sour cream with good results)

Mix the first four ingredients and toss with shredded chicken. Let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour (I tossed mine together in a ziploc bag in the morning and let it sit in the refrigerator all day). Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and leftover marinade. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until brown and crispy on top.

*Freezable Meal: Freeze prior to baking. To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake enchiladas, covered (without thawing first) for 1 hour. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer, until brown and crispy on top.

Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins

I LOVE Lion House's pumpkin bread recipe. It's SO SO good. I was at my friend Cristina's a few weeks ago and she was making pumpkin chocolate chip muffins from a recipe she just got from a friend. The muffins were really good & I wondered how close the recipe was to the Lion House bread recipe. Well...they're the EXACT same recipe except the muffins have choco chips in them. Bread or cupcakes, they're both SOOO good.

Lion House Pumpkin Bread
1 1/3 C Veg oil
5 eggs
1 can (16 oz) pumpkin
2 C flour
2 C sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
2 pkg (6 oz) instant vanilla pudding
1 C nuts (I don't add)

Grease pans. Mix well oil, eggs, pumpkin, beat well. Seperate bowl: sift flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Stir in pudding and nuts. Pour into pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Makes two loaves.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Bake

I tried this for dinner last week. It was simple and really tasty. Not the most amazing casserole I've ever had, but good & I will make it again.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Bake
Submitted by Melanie @ allrecipes.com

2 Packages reduced sodium Stuffing mix
1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 lb sliced deli ham, cut into 1 inch stips
1 cup swiss cheese shredded
2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
2 cups cooked chicken ( I used shredded--but I think cubed would be better)

Prepare stuffing mixes according to directions on box. Meanwhile in a bowl, combine soup and milk. Put chicken in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle with pepper. Layer with ham, swiss cheese and 1 cups of cheddar cheese, soup mixture ans stuffing. Sprinkle with remaining cheddar cheese. At this point you can freeze. Thaw in refrigerator overnight. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes longer

Carmel Popcorn

My sister-in-law Laura gave me this recipe. IT'S SERIOUSLY GOOD STUFF! The whole family enjoyed it. Madeline calls it sticky popcorn. It's a gooey carmel corn which is the way I like it.

Best Ever Caramel Popcorn

1 Cup Butter
1 Cup Light Corn Syrup
2 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

Bring to full boil. Boil 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour over popcorn. I use about 1 1/2-2 batches of air-popped popcorn (I used 2 bags of microwave popcorn)