Chicken Tikka Masala

	Sorry for the crap picture, I couldn't find my camera. I topped mine with sour cream and chopped scallions. Marinade ( the day before): 1lb chicken breast cut into chunks** 1/2c sour cream 1/4t each of ground: cinnamon, coriander,  turmeric,  cardamom, chili powder, chili flakes, nutmeg, pepper & salt. 1t fresh garlic, minced/paste/whatever 1/2t fresh grated ginger I mixed everything in a baggy and set in fridge in a dish (in case something happened so raw chicken juices didn't leak everywhere. ** My trick with chicken for slicing into chunks is to let it freeze completely then thaw in the fridge over night so it is just crystallized and MUCH easier to slice than the completely raw chicken. Next Day!: Marinated chicken Broccoli florets Cauliflower florets Snap peas Salt and freshly ground pepper 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 large onion, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger Sprinkle/dash of each: cinnamon, coriander,  turmeric,  cardamom, chili powder, chili flakes, nutmeg, One 35-ounce can peeled tomatoes, finely chopped, juices reserved, or could use crushed tomatoes or diced Pinch of sugar 1 cup heavy cream  1/2c sour cream OPTIONAL: RICE. Cook according to directions and serve with the chicken tikka masala once finished. In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the 2 tablespoons of oil until shimmering. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden, about 8 minutes. Add the spices , chile powder and cayenne and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the chicken and fully cook. Add the tomatoes with their juices and the sugar and season with salt and pepper. Cover partially and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Add the cream and  cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 10 minutes longer. Check seasonings. Steam the veggies in the microwave, like 5 min or so. Stir in the steamed veggies; simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, and serve.  I added more spices than what my recipe says because I wanted more of a kick so add your spices to your liking. I did not serve with rice because I can't have it but it would be delicious served with it. The nutrition facts I have tho do not include the rice and this is for about a cup and a half serving. Calories: 363 Carbs: 21 Fat: 22 Protein: 24

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

I did the exact same recipe as this lady.

Recipe:

Crust:

1 & 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs

5 T. butter, melted

2/3 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cookie Dough:

5 T. butter, room temp.

1/3 c. packed light brown sugar

3 T. sugar

1/4 t. coarse salt

1 ts. vanilla extract

3/4 c. flour

1 c. chocolate chips

Cheesecake Filling:

10 oz. cream cheese, room temp.

1/4 c. sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla extract

As you can see I had a few issues spreading the stuff...

Topping:

1/3 c. chocolate chips

1 t. shortening

Preheat oven to 325°.

For the crust:

Line an 8 x 8 pan with foil and grease it well.

Crush graham crackers into crumbs to make 1 & 1/2 cups. Add to butter and stir until crumbs are moistened. Stir in chocolate chips.

Press crust mixture into bottom of pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Set pan on wire rack to cool.

For cookie dough:

Using mixer and the paddle attachment, mix butter, brown sugar, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract at medium speed until smooth. Adjust mixer speed to low and add flour. Mix just until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Set aside.

For cheesecake:

Using mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract, beating just until blended.

Pour batter into cooled, baked crust. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls over the top of the filling. The dough is crumbly and you'll have to squeeze/roll it if you want balls. I put in as many dough balls as I could, then just crumbled the rest over the top. It seems like a ton of cookie dough, but it is just so good, so go ahead and use it!

Bake about 30 minutes, or until set. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Place in the refrigerator to chill several hours.

For the topping:

Combine the chocolate chips and shortening and melt in the microwave at 30 second intervals at 50% power. Stir after each interval; repeat until melted.

Drizzle over the bars before serving. Note: Bars will look better if you cut before drizzling - I found that if you drizzle over the whole thing, chill, then cut, the topping breaks and doesn't stay where it belongs very well. 

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I actually mixed all this stuff up in a ziplock baggy. Worked alright. I also didn't have an egg for the cheesecake part so I just added a little milk. My cookie dough batter was too dry (I didn't exactly measure) so I added a little milk, so now the top of the cookie dough looks like raw cookie dough BUT IT'S STILL DELICIOUS AND I'M SURE IT'LL HARDEN UP OVER NIGHT. :D

Savory Dill Pancakes & Potato Latkes

SAVORY DILL PANCAKES:

1 1/4c ap flour

1t cumin

2t baking powder

1c (or a little more depending on thickness) milk

1/2c cucumbers

Scallions- I used white onion cause it's what I had on hand.

Fresh dill

1t Salt 

pinch of pepper

Make 6hrs ahead before need & keep in fridge.

Little olive oil in the pan, 2" around. Fry until the little bubbles pop.
 Serve alone or with the Gravlax. I topped mine with sour cream.

POTATO LATKES:

4 large peeled baking potatoes

2 large eggs

1 large onion

3 tablespoons potato starch (I just used flour)

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

vegetable oil for frying

Shred the potatoes in a food processor. Squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible (I put portions of the shreds in a kitchen towel and squeeze until they are practically dry). Place the shreds in a bowl. Immediately mix the eggs in (this helps keep the potatoes from browning). Add the potato starch, salt, pepper and baking powder. Heat about 1/4” vegetable oil in a heavy pan over medium-high heat. Shape latkes by hand, squeezing liquid out if there is any, and place them in the hot oil, leaving space between each one so that they brown well and become crispy (if they are too close they will “steam” and become soggy). Press down on the latkes to keep them evenly shaped. Fry for 2-3 minutes per side or until the pancakes are golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels. Makes 12-15

I had some dill leftover from the salmon so I used that in it too.  I forgot to squeeze out the liquid so they didn't fry quite properly but that was my issue. :P I served it with sour cream and applesauce. Delicious!

Chicken Pepper Soup

Introduction

I used up leftovers in the fridge. Turned out delicious and very flavorful!

Number of Servings: 10

Ingredients

2# boneless, skinless chicken breast
1c green bell pepper, chopped (about 1 large pepper)
1c red bell pepper, chopped
2 small white onions (or whichever onions you prefer), diced
1 can/box of chicken broth
3c water
1/2t Italian herb seasoning
1/2t basil flakes
1 "dash" of crushed red pepper flakes
1/2t garlic powder
1/2t onion powder
1t sea salt
1/4t black pepper

Tips

I did this in my crock pot and added the noodles half an hour before I was ready to eat.

Directions

Put raw chicken breast in pot with box of broth and enough extra water to cover chicken. And add all seasonings.
Boil until cooked thru.
Chop all of your vegetables.
Dice or shred chicken.
Since I boiled the chicken in the broth I used a mesh strainer to get out the boiled up fat and gross bits.
Put all veggies, chicken, strained broth into the pot. Check seasonings.
Cook until vegetables are tender, add the noodles Cook until they are tender.
Serve.

Serving Size: Makes 10 1-cup servings

Nutrition Info:

• Servings Per Recipe: 10
• Amount Per Servin: 1c
• Calories: 82.6

• Total Fat: 1.4 g
• Cholesterol: 29.8 mg
• Sodium: 376.1 mg
• Total Carbs: 5.6 g
• Dietary Fiber: 0.9 g
• Protein: 11.7 g

Garbage/Jambalaya Soup

As I think about it, this reminds me of the jambalaya I make. So maybe I should call it jambalaya soup. lol.

1# chicken breast, cut into small chunks

3 bell peppers, I used red, green, & yellow, small dice

2 stalks of celery, small dice

1 small white onion, small dice

1T chopped garlic (or 2-3 cloves)

1/3c chopped cilantro

1/4t nutmeg

1/2t garlic powder

1/2t onion powder

1/4t chili powder

1t red pepper flakes

1t black pepper 

2t salt

1 box of chicken broth

I also added in my leftover tomato & leek casserole about a cup.

1. Sautee everything but chicken (and the casserole) for about 10 minutes.
2. Then add the chicken.
3. Simmer on low for awhile.
4. The end.

Would be good with kielbasa if not on this diet. Rice would be really delicious too!

Tomato & Leek Casserole.

Please read my notes for additional/better ideas.

Ingredients:

• 4 leeks, cleaned, sliced into narrow rings (white part and light green part only)
• 3 – 5 tomatoes, sliced
• 1 tsp of Italian herb blend
• 2 Tbl of crushed crumbs from breadsticks or crackers
• A light dusting of cayenne (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Oil the bottom of a 9 X 13” heat-proof pan with olive oil spray. Spread ½ of the leeks in the bottom.  Top with half of the tomato slices.  Dust on the tsp of Italian herb blend.  Layer with the other half of the leeks and the other half of the tomatoes.   If you are going to put on the cayenne for zip, dust it on now.  It won’t take much.  Be careful.

Sprinkle on crumbs.  Spray one more time with olive oil spray and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crumbs begin to brown. Ready to serve.

This dish will re-heat just fine in a microwave or oven if you’re taking it to work or another event.

MY NOTES:

I sliced the (did about 6 large) tomatoes into wedges and shredded the leeks (about 8 all diff sizes) in food processor.

Mixed in salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, italian seasoning mixed all together. Let sit  1 1/2 days. Drain off the excess juices.

Just before cooking added 1 pint of heavy cream and topped with breadcrumbs.

Cooked for over an hour, DELICIOUS.

Brad said it would be good with italian sausage in it. Mom suggested parmesan cheese and chicken. Honestly, this would probably be pretty good served leftover with scrambled eggs!

Easy Way To Juice A Pomegranate.

1. Really great technique is to:  
2. Roll it around on the counter until you get all of the jewels popped. 
3. Make a small incision and squeeze over a container getting as much as you can out. 
4. Cut the pom open and hold the pom under water and get the jewels out, the membrane will float and the jewels sink. 
5. Get as much of the membrane from the water as possible and put the jewels in a mesh strainer. 
6. Put your container on a plate or bigger bowl to catch extra juice but just squeeze the jewels as they pop and release juice! 
7. Throw out the jewels that now lost their liquid ruby juice and is now in a cup to be put in the fridge. 

Oh yeah. Pomegranates are great. They are going on my xmas list.

Chicken & Rice Corn "Chowder" In 15min.

1 can cream of chicken soup
1 chx breast, shredded  (mine was already cooked and in the freezer so it just needed to be thawed)
1 can corn
2c instant rice
4c water
garlic salt
onion powder
basil flakes
black pepper

1. Bring the water to boil. Add the rice. (This is where I added the chicken so it thawed and heated thru)
2. Cook for 5min, then drain off maybe a cup of water, I just drained it until the water level was a little under the rice.
3. Add the corn and soup.
4. Add the spices.
5. Cook until heated thru.
6. I served this with my homemade bread!

TADA!

Lemon Cream Cake

This is also from the same website as the bread post. Lemon Cream Cake
I borrowed Yammie's picture to further entice you to make it!

The only thing different that I did was one half of my 9x13" pan was a raspberry curd instead.

1 1/2 handfuls of frozen (but then thawed a little) raspberries, pureed then strained thru a sieve type thing. If it doesn't equal 2/3c add a little water. I added a little lemon zest too and then just make it the exact way you do the lemon curd only without the lemon juice.

I used 1qt of heavy whipping cream and whipped it all up in the mixer and added 1/2c sugar and a little lemon zest.

The cake gave me a little trouble since I did it in a 9x13. I probably cooked it 30-40min but PLEASE test it before you let it go that long. My main issue was that the bottom was still a little goopy. Trust me, it really wasn't a big deal to have it goopy, don't worry about it.

Everyone really liked it. :)

Think of a lemon meringue pie minus the meringue and crust and put it with cake instead. It's delicious.

I borrowed Yammie's picture to further entice you to make it!

60 Minute Fluffy White Sandwich Bread

Firstly, THIS BREAD IS AMAZING.

In MY notes, I corrected the 2T yeast to 1 Pkg (which is 2T) of Active Dry Yeast.
I will definitely be making this again and again.
It is now my go to bread recipe.

1 cup warm water (probably somewhere between 105º and 115º. I just get it hot from the tap. Don't get it too hot or it will kill the yeast.)

2 tablespoons yeast (1pkg active dry yeast)

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

3 cups bread flour (all-purpose works too)

2 teaspoons salt

Mix together the yeast, sugar, water, and oil. Let it sit for about five minutes.

Add the flour a little and a time, mixing in your stand mixer with a dough hook.

Add the salt.

Knead for 10 minutes, in the stand mixer or by hand.

Let the dough rise in a greased bowl (I used the same bowl).

Spray or brush it with oil and let it rise 30 minutes or until doubled.

Punch it down and form it into a log.

Put it in a well-greased loaf pan and grease the top with spray.

 Preheat oven to 425ºF.

 Let the dough rise for about ten more minutes until it's pretty much doubled.

 Slice the top with a sharp bread knife or any serrated knife.

Bake at 425º for about 10 minutes and then lower the heat to 350º and bake for 5-15 minutes more.

You'll want the top to be very brown. When it's done it should slide easily out of your greased pan and it should sound hollow if you tap it. Allow to cool before cutting... if you can wait.

Easier than Hamburger Helper Turkey Helper

1lb ground turkey
1 can cream of chicken soup (Plus a can and a half of water)
1c macaroni noodles
seasoning salt
pepper

1. Cook turkey, make sure to season it!
2. Add the cream of chx soup, water, and noodles.
3. Cook for 15min on low until noodles cooked.

See. Easier than hamburger helper. It's not even really worth a recipe but I figured I'd put it up anyway.
I served this with green beans and canned pears.
Actually a good pearing get it? see what I did there?
hehe.

Anyway, you could use chicken in this too. :) Or hamburger of course.

Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce

I made a few changes. I just did it in a 9x13" pan and tore up probably 10 slices of bread and a few leftover pancakes that needed to be used. I tore the bread up a day before and let it sit out over night instead of toasting it in the oven, kind of over kill.  Besides running the milk and sugar mixture for the rum all over the hot stove and burning it to it, I didn't do the veg oil and flour, I just used butter and melted it. Then I just added all the paste to the simmering milk and whisked it in and let it cook for awhile to thicken and added rum extract. But you can do it however you like, it still tastes good. :)

BREAD PUDDING:

6 slices day old bread

1t cinnamon

1/2c raisins

2T melted butter

4 eggs

1/2c + 2T sugar

2c milk

1t vanilla

1. Break bread into small pieces into 1 1/2qt baking dish.
2. Sprinkle cinnamon & raisins over bread.
3. Drizzle butter over all.
4. Toast in 350F oven.
5. Combine eggs, sugar, milk, & vanilla.
6. Add to toasted bread mix.
7. Bake at 350F for 30 min or until firm.

RUM SAUCE:

2c milk

1/2c butter

1/2c sugar

1T vegetable oil

2T flour

1T nutmeg

1T vanilla

Rum to taste

1. Place milk, butter, & sugar in saucepan & bring to boil.
2. Heat oil in small skillet & stir in flour to make smooth paste.
3. Add some milk mix to flour mix and blend well.
4. Return flour mix to milk mix in pan.
5. Cook & stir until thickened and smooth.
6. Add nutmeg, vanilla, & rum.
7. Serve over pudding!

Good & Easy Hot Dish!

1# hamburger

Onion

Brown and season with lawrey's and pepper.

Then add (all chopped)

1/2c green pepper, celery, whole kernal corn.

1 1/2c carrots

Then 1c uncooked minute rice

16oz stewed or diced tomatoes

1c water (just use the water that you rinse the can out with)

Use a big stock pot. Bake 1 hour at 350F or until rice fully cooked.

We serve ours with cottage cheese and peas!

PLUM SYRUP!

Ok, so this started out as a way to use up 2 plums that I had.
It turned it to amazingness.
I will end up putting the full bottle into the freezer to save for later.

This recipe makes 2 cups.

2 plums
1/4c pineapple
1/4c strawberries
1 1/2c sugar
1 1/2c water
1t lime zest
2T cornstarch
Just a little bit of water to thin cornstarch


1. Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.
2. Pour syrup thru strainer and mash the fruit. (I used a potato ricer and the pineapple wouldn't mash but still got flavor out).
3. Put back on stove and bring to boil.
4. Whisk in cornstarch to thicken syrup.

Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken

Sorry for the poor quality.


2 Chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 "shakes" each of the following: soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar.
1/2t hoisin sauce
1T honey
salt and pepper

Combine these ingredients and marinate in the fridge for an hour or 2.

1 can pineapple chunks (we actually only had slices on hand and I cut those up, I think the "tidbits" are a little too hard)
SAVE THE JUICE!
1c broccoli florets
1/2c snow peas or snap peas whatever
2T minced white onion
3T corn starch
a "dash" of crushed red pepper flakes, optional
2T brown sugar (goes into the sauce)

1. Save one half of the juice for the sauce the other half you can drink.
2. Drain the chicken marinade into the reserved pineapple juice.
3. Put the cornstarch in with the chicken chunks and toss to coat.
4. Heat a skillet on high with veg oil.
5. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown.
6. Add in the pineapple sauce, onion, and pineapple chunks.
7. Cook for 5 min.
8. The sauce will start to thicken because of the cornstarch from the chicken in the pan.
9. Toss in your broccoli, peas, whatever other veggies you want and turn down on low, cover, so the veggies can steam.

TADA!
We served ours with rice.

Grandpa's Cafe

My grandpa (dad’s dad) owned a cafe since I’d been born and he sold it when I was 12.

I worked at his cafe for a few summers a couple days a week from age 10-12.

He had a VERY cheap special. 2 cakes, 2 eggs, 2 links. (2 Pancakes and 2 sausage links)

I remember one day he was trying to teach me how to read a clock face and apparently I made him so bad by not understanding that he said “You disgust me” and that upset me so much that the next time he asked me to come work I didn’t want to.

I remember this group of 3 came in and the ONLY thing they said to me for their order was “scrambled eggs and water.” I even double checked what they said. So, that’s what I put in for the order. My grandpa asked me if I wasn’t sure they wanted the SPECIAL. And I said “no all they said was ‘scrambled eggs and water’. My grandpa had enough faith in me that that’s all he made them. I took it to their table and these jerk offs gave me a nasty look and asked where their food was. Luckily my grandpa never reprimanded me for it and he fixed their order in less than 10 minutes. They didn’t leave me a tip.

I remember having a tan bowl with my tips. Usually I’d get change which was fine cause I LOVED playing spin the coins. Most people hold the coin up with their left pointer finger then flick the side of the coin with their right finger. I grip both sides of the coin and twist really fast. I’d start a chain of them.

I’d also spend my time adding up the prices on the menu.
My grandpa actually gave me $10 plus all my tips for working a day. :) Some days if it was from 8am to 8pm he’d give me $20!

His cafe was closed from 2-4. Usually we’d take a nap on the  “oh so cold” booths cause the air conditioning was on high and it’d get REALLY cold. Other days if he needed to get something from the store we’d go to dairy queen and get sundaes!

He had a big stereo that had a cd player. If there weren’t a lot of customers he’d let me pick some polka cds from his collection OR I could play one of my 50-60s cds.

I kind of miss my grandpa’s cafe…

General Tso's Chicken!

This stuff is AH-MAZ-ING.


General Tso’s Chicken
Yields 2 servings

• Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 t hoisin sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2c flour
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (I used vegetable oil)
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 6 green onions, chopped, plus more for serving
• 1/2t grated fresh ginger
• 1/2t minced garlic 
• 1c broccoli florets
• 1/2c snow peas
• Crushed red-pepper flakes, optional
• Sesame seeds, optional
• Cooked rice, for serving

Directions: (oh ftw, I MOSTLY eyeballed all this stuff. I tried to guess at how much I put in but it won't hurt if you just eyeball it.)

1.  I marinated the chicken it really adds to the dish and helps it! I diced the chicken, added 1/4t hoisin sauce, 1T rice wine vinegar, 1T soy sauce, 2 dashes of sesame oil, 1/4t fresh grated ginger, 1/4t minced garlic, and 2T brown sugar. I let that sit in the fridge for at least 3 hours. Any amount of extra time you have will help the chicken so it doesn't need to be that long but it's better if it's marinated that long!
2. So then I drain the chicken from the juices and coat the chicken with the flour and cornstarch.
3. I heat up 2T veg oil in a nonstick pan and cook until the chicken is done. Remove from pan.
4. Add 2T veg oil. Saute the scallions and ginger and rest of garlic. Add the broccoli and peas and whatever veggies you want and the crushed red pepper flakes.
5. Add (eyeball) hoisin, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and brown sugar.
6. Add the chicken and toss to coat.

Serve with rice!
This isn't very saucy so if you wanted more sauce you can mix the sauce ingredients with 1/2c of water and some cornstarch and then you'll have to let it cook to thicken.

Without counting the marinating time, this took like 15min because I had all the veggies pre-chopped and in the freezer so I just threw them in the pan.

It was so good even Bradley liked it!! :D
You could easily change this up and instead of using the crushed red pepper flakes you can use orange juice and zest to make orange chicken! :)

Dirt Cake

1 block (8oz) cream cheese, softened
2 pkgs vanilla pudding
3c milk
1 tub (8oz) cool whip
1 pkg gummy worms
1 pkg oreos

1. Prepare pudding according to directions but use only the 3c of milk.
2. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the cream cheese.
3. Add the pudding to the cream cheese and beat until combined.
4. Stir in the cool whip.
5. Put oreos in ziplock baggy and beat the crap out of them until they're crushed.
6. Put 3/4 of oreo mixture in bottom of 9x13 pan.
7. Top with pudding mixture.
8. Sprinkle remaining oreos on top and top with gummy worms.

A few notes about this:

• I also crushed up some animal crackers (because my husband got into the oreos and those were the only ones on hand. You could use the chocolate version of those as well!) and on a positive I can tell people there's dead animals in it too! HA!
• I found some gummy "rocks" on sale, I put those on top as well!
• My mom once couldn't find gummy worms so she used gummy dinosaurs instead!

It's a cute dessert that people of all ages enjoy. This was the cake I have wanted for my birthday for probably 16 out of my 19 (almost 20) years and I still love it! Oh! And since I'm making this for Easter I make throw on some egg shaped gummy/candy things too!
Hope you like it!

Italian Polenta Porridge & Chicken Sausage

1c corn meal
3c water
1 1/2c crushed tomatoes
2 chicken sausage links, cut up in bite sized pieces (Mine were precooked.)
Pepper (black and white) & salt (I used garlic salt) to taste
Mozzarella cheese

1. Bring the 3c water to a boil.
2. Slowly pour in corn meal while whisking constantly.
3. Add salt and pepper.
4. Cook for 10min.
5. Add crushed tomatoes.
6. Let cook until cornmeal is soft I probably left mine for 15min.
7. Add chicken sausage.
8. Cook another 5min to let sausage heat thru.
9. Check seasonings.

*****Put into a bowl and top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

It was really pretty good!! I added some cream cheese later to make it a little more rich. If you don't want this as "soupy" just add another 1/2-3/4c polenta. This recipe will make about 4c polenta. If you want more for this dish I suggest cooking up a chicken breast and serving with it, that'd be pretty good.

:)

*****EDIT: Just now realized that if you do not want this like porridge, you can cool it for 45min or so and then reheat in the oven or in microwave and it will be a bit more thick! :)

Hashbrown Casserole!

1# Hashbrowns, frozen

1 1/2c Sour cream

2 cans Cream of chicken soup

2 bags (2c each) of shredded cojack cheese

1 small, minced White onion

1# Italian bulk sausage

1# ground beef

Lawrey's salt

Pepper

1. Cook the Italian sausage then drain.
2. In the same pan cook the hamburger and onion, making sure to season with Lawrey's, pepper, and I added garlic powder. Drain.
3. Mix all ingredients except 1c of cheese  together in a big bowl.
4. Check seasonings!
5. Transfer to a VERY WELL greased 9x13 pan.
6. Preheat oven to 350F.
7. Put hashbrown mix in 9x13pan, top with remaining cheese.
8. Cook for 1hr.

I decided to cook this in a Crockpot so, my mommy told me to cook it on high for 1 hour, then on low for 3-4hrs.  If you do a double batch like my mom usually does (but she doesn't use the meat) she cooks it for 1 hour on high then 6hrs on low. However after making it, it really doesn't take that long to cook and Brad thinks it'd be better cooked in the oven. He did like it but the hashbrowns were a little too "mushy" but it had good flavor. So that's a plus. Also, you can add any meat you like! Ham or bacon would be really good in this too! We also served this with greenbeans on the side cause I demanded it even tho Brad said we didn't need them. :D

Hope you like it!

Crumb Topped Apple Bars

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 stick Salted butter (if don't have on hand, just buy butter and add 1t salt)
• 4  tablespoons cold water  (only add one tablespoon at a time: may need more or less than suggested!)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 12  tart cooking apples (such as Rome Beauty or Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (5 cups)
• 1/2c fresh pineapple (can used canned pineapple tidbits or crushed, but drain juice)

Directions

1. For dough: In a large bowl, Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening into 1 1/4c flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the cold water over part of the flour mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to side of bowl. Repeat, using 1 tablespoon cold water at a time, until all of the flour mixture is moistened. Using your fingers, gently knead the dough just until a ball forms.

2. Preheat oven to 375F.

3. Press dough into a greased 11x7" pan (this is all I had on hand! If you have a 9x13 pan use that but may need to increase dough recipe!)

In an extra-large bowl, combine sugar, the 1/3 cup flour, the cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg; add apples and pineapple. Toss lightly until apples are coated. Spoon apple mixture into dough-lined pan; spread evenly. Sprinkle with Crumb Topping (pan will be full).

4. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until apples are tender. If necessary to prevent overbrowning, cover top with foil for the last 5 to 10 minutes of baking. Cool slightly in pan on a wire rack.

5. Serve warm or cool completely. Cut into rectangles.

Crumb Topping

Start to Finish: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3T softened butter

Directions

I had some leftover juice (probably 1/3c)  from the apples (I didn't drain the water good enough!) so I used up the leftover juice in the crumb topping!

Mix all ingredients together, crumble on top of apple mix.

Had a few mix ups in this one just because I didn't want to fart around with "old" recipe, so I changed/altered it. I also didn't really measure anything , just eyeballed it. So, if it doesn't turn out, that's ok, I imagine it will still taste good!  While I was peeling all the apples I put them in a bowl of water with a little lemon juice to keep them from browning. Well, I didn't get quite all the water drained so the bars came out a tiny bit soggy but still delicious! Oh, btw I just got a huge bag of granny smith apples at the store, used 12 and had 6 leftover so I peeled and sliced those too, put them in a Ziploc baggy, labeled contents and amount and dated it and put in freezer for some other time!

GOOD LUCK! HAHA!

Cheesy Chicken Mexican Rice Casserole

1# chicken breast
1 can nacho cheese soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 cup white rice (not instant)
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
1 can stewed tomatoes, Mexican version
1 cup milk

1. Mix all ingredients except chicken together in a bowl.
2. Put chicken into a 9x13" pan, pour soup and rice mixture over chicken.
3. Bake at 400F for 1 hour.

TA-DA! It turned out pretty good! This would even be good served with tortillas or tortilla chips! Enjoy!

SUPER CHEESEY HASHBROWN CASSEROLE!

2 bags frozen hashbrowns)
1 can cream of chicken soup
2c sour cream
5c of sharp shredded cheddar cheese (lots of cheese, I know.)
1 green or red bell pepper, diced
1/2 large onion, diced
2t garlic powder
2t salt
2t white (or black) pepper

1. Chop the onion and bell pepper into a small dice.**
2. Add the seasonings and sour cream and cream of chicken soup and 3 cups of cheese.
3. Mix everything together.
4. Put mixture into a 9x13" greased baking pan.
5. Top with remaining cheese.
6. Bake in oven at 350 for 1hr and 20min. (If you're using the frozen hashbrowns may be done sooner, also, leave covered for the first hour.)

My version didn't get very brown on top but I'd rather have gooey cheese rather than crispy cheese so that is up to you.

I also make this at work and put crushed corn flakes on top but If you're like me, you'd much rather have CHEESE.
OK.
 I'm going to go stuff my face with this deliciousness now! :D



**You can add meat to this as well to make it a great breakfast casserole!

Even my aunt's dog liked it. :D

THE BEST HOMEMADE CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS EVER!!!!!!!

Brad and I made this meal together and it was super delicious!



4 Chicken breast
Lawrey's seasoning salt
Garlic Salt
Pepper
Enough water to cover chicken in crock pot


1. We cooked the chicken in the crock-pot in 1.5 to 2 hours on high.
2. Brad just adds the water to cover the chicken and a little more and adds quite a few shakes of the seasonings.

Once chicken is cooked, strain off the broth to get all the gross floaty bits and put the broth in a stew pot. Since the chicken was so tender I just shredded it into the broth.

While I was shredding, Brad made the dumplings. He did it mostly by eyeball measuring. But, if I had to guess,

2 1/2c Jiffy baking mix
1c milk, 2%
1/2c chicken broth
salt and pepper (just a few pinches)

He beat the batter for quite awhile and it was still fairly tacky when we were plopping them into the soup but it worked great! Oh, last night we made roast and so I threw in some of the cooked carrots and we minced in some celery. You can add even more veggies if you like and it'd be really good if you cooked them in the crock-pot with the chicken to add even more great flavor! We taste tested the broth before we started adding the dumplings and decided it needed a little more garlic salt and pepper.

So, We got the broth and chicken to a raging boil and started forming small balls with the dough and plopping them in! You'll want to stir every few minutes also. Once you get all the dumplings in, turn it off and (brad doesn't think you're supposed to cover the pot but he did anyway) cover the pot and let it sit for 5min. Since we had the pot at a nice rolling boil the dumplings were cooking nicely.

Brad's definition of a good dumpling is when it's like bread on the inside, which is exactly how they turned out!

And the baby definitely loves the chicken and dumplings! He is kicking away! :)

I hope your attempt at chicken and dumplings turns out just as fantastic! I've already had 3 bowls while typing! Ha! Enjoy!

Brad's Noodle Dish

This recipe is all a guestimate kind of thing but I will do my best to give you a general idea.

Half a bag of noodles
--You boil the noodles in the following:
oregano powder
garlic salt
pepper


Once noodles are done, drain.
Add butter and milk.
Add more garlic salt and pepper to taste.

That's it.
Also. I love his green beans that he makes.
He cooks them in butter and seasons with Lawrey's. That's it. They're delicious and so much better than plain green beans.