Nacho Cheese Sauce

I found the basic recipe for this sauce on the internet. But I added to it and the result is below:

3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp corn starch
1 can evaporated milk
2 oz cream cheese (cubed)
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
1 small can/bottle salsa or pico de gallo
paprika - enough for flavor

Melt butter and cornstarch over medium heat in a sauce pan. Sitr. When butter melted add milk and cream cheese. Stir until cheese melted and sauce incorporated. Then add shredded cheeses and stir until melted. Remove from heat. Add salsa/pico de gallo and paprika. Serve with chips.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

This taste just like buffalo wings without the mess. My family can't get enough of it. We hope you enjoy it too. (It is spicy.)

2 big cans of chicken
1 cup ranch dressing
2 cups shredded jack cheese
2 blocks cream cheese
1 small bottle (6 oz) of Frank's hot sauce

Combine and heat in crock pot. Serve with chips.

hints: I have just boiled a chicken breast and cut into small pieces. Also I just combined and heated on the stove and then after it was hot put it in small bowls for my family to eat out of. Yes, you put the whole bottle of hot sauce in. We hope you enjoy!

Bakerella

I came across this lovely little baking blog via Pioneer Woman's cooking spot (did you make those cute PW Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies? I want to. They look so yum!).

Anyhoo... {Bakerella} has a darling site of cakes and cupcakes and such. If you don't want to make any of those goodies, at least take a peek on her site because her photos are so gorgeous - especially with her festive holiday treats and this pink frosted yellow cake.

Spinach Salad

My sister in law made this the other night and it was a huge hit.  So tasty!

Spinach Salad

1 pkg washed spinach

1 head iceberg lettuce (or packaged)

1 block swiss cheese

1 lb. bacon (bagged real bacon bits works great)

1/2 c. rinsed cottage cheese 

1 c. sliced mushrooms

1 purple onion

1 pkg grape tomatoes

Dressing:

1 T. poppy seeds

1/2 -3/4 c. vegetable oil

1/4 c. sugar

1 t. salt

1/2 c. white vinegar

1/2 t. dry mustard

Put dressing on salad right before serving.   (the note on the recipe says it makes a lot of salad)

Simple Chicken - Slow Cooker Style

I found this recipe on Beth's Mess. It's really simple but we really like it.

Here's the original recipe that Beth shared.

Ingredients:

4 frozen chicken breasts
1 package dry Italian dressing mix
1 c. warm water OR chicken broth

Directions:

1. Place chicken in cooker.
2. Sprinkle dressing mix on top.
3. Pour water/broth over chicken; cover.
4. Cook on low 8-10 hours.


My alterations: I used frozen chicken tenderloins (it doesn't have to cook quite as long). I also add a can of cream of chicken or celery because I like the sauce a little thicker to put on the rice or noodles.

Jell-O Pretzel Salad

This is the one from the family cookbook. Someone mentioned that it didn't set up fully so you may want to use half water/half pineapple juice. Amy might know. :)

Ann’s Jell-O Pretzel Salad (Amy DeMordaunt)

2 2/3 cup coarsely chopped pretzels
1 large package frozen strawberries or raspberries
1 1/2 cubes butter
3/4 large carton Cool Whip
12 ounces cream cheese
2 cups pineapple juice
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large package Jell-O

Beat cream cheese and sugar. Set aside. Mix pretzels and butter. Press into a 9x13 dish. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Spread cheese mix over pretzels. Spread cool whip over cheese. Chill. Dissolve Jell-O in hot pineapple juice. Add strawberries. Allow to set. Pour over top and refrigerate. Also excellent with graham cracker crust instead of pretzels. Much easier too!

Recipe Help!

I need a recipe for the pretzel cream cheese jello salad. Didn't Grandma make this? All my recipe books are packed... Thank you for the last minute help. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Berry Pie

While I'm still gathering Thanksgiving recipies from friends here is another one that comes from Brenna Palkki. I usually just make the Marie Calendar Rassleberry pie, which is pretty good, but this is better.

filling :
6-8 cups berries (thawed)--we use a mix of blackberries and rasperries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt

topping:
1/2 cup flour
2 Tbs butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
oats if desired--we use 1/2 a cup or so

1. Mix together sugar, flour, salt. Add berries.
2. Let mixture stand 1/2 hour. Stir again.
3. Pour into unbaked crust. Crumble topping mixture on top.
4. Cover edges of pie with foil. Bake 375degrees F for 20 min. Remove foil.
Bake 25-30 min more until golden. Cool on wire rack.

Serve with vanilla ice cream!

Mandarin Cookie Salad

For the first time ever I find myself faced with having to do Thanksgiving alone with my own little family. We have always gotten together with friends or family, but being in a new town we haven't established a group of friends. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, but I am trying to be positive. I have been gathering recipes that I want to make and remembered this yummy salad we have had the past two years on Thanksgiving. The recipe comes originally from Ashley Tanner. It is sooooo yummy. Believe me you will go back for seconds and thirds on this one.

2 cups buttermilk
1 pkg large vanilla instant pudding
1 container of cool whip (somewhere between sm & large, however much you want)
20 - 24 oz of drained mandarin oranges
1/2 a package of Sandies Pecan Cookies broken up
Mix the buttermilk & pudding
Fold in Cool Whip
Add Mandarin Oranges & Sandies Cookies
Stir

Festive Potpourri

Mary gave me this idea for a festive potpourri. I hadn't thought of using cranberries before. I generally forget that I can put yummy smelling stuff on the stove, but today that was a needful thing.

Here are the ideas of things to add to the pot with water:
~apples
~cranberries
~lemons
~limes
~oranges
~grapefruit
~cinnamon sticks

Now - I wouldn't suggest adding all of the above at the same time, but wouldn't grapefruit & orange be a yummy one on occasion.

For today I added cranberries, lime, lemon, and cinnamon. I think I overloaded the pot a bit. Oops! One tip is to just make sure the water doesn't boil away... so be watchful.

Thanks for sharing the idea Mary! Comment if you have other yummy stovetop potpourri recipes.

Easiest Artichoke dip ever

14 oz. can of artichokes (packed in water, not oil)
2 cups of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, split
1/2 cup of mayonaise (or, if you're like me and puke at the thought of Mayo, use Plain Greek Style Yogurt)
Salt and pepper

Mix Artichokes, 1 cup cheese, and Mayo in microwave safe dish. Microwave until hot.

Pour mixture into bake-safe pan. Put remaining 1/2 of cheese on top. Broil until toasty.

Mmmmm then you can eat with pitas, pita chips, or just tortilla chips. YUMMY!

If you want a spinach-artichoke dip, just add thawed and drained spinach (like, from the freezer section).

Yummy Lemon Cookies

I first had these cookies at a stake event a few months ago. I loved them so much I searched the internet for a recipe. I found one that came close. I made a couple of changes/additions and the result is below.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1 pckg cake mix (I used a yellow cake mix)
2 eggs
1/3 vegetable oil
juice of 1 lemon
lemon zest

Mix ingredients until well blended. Add 1/2 - 3/4 package white chocolate chips. Drop by the teaspoonful onto cookie sheets.

Bake for 6-9 minutes. Bottoms will be lightly browned.

Cake Balls and a great cleaner

Yesterday we made these cake balls from Pioneer Woman. They were fun for the kids. Warning though - shredding the cake into crumbs took longer than I expected, so leave yourself plenty of time. Totally worth trying!

Also, I tried the new (to Idaho at least) Jet Dry Dishwasher Cleaner this morning and I think it has magical powers. It totally worked! You know the scummy gummy stuff that collects around the edge of your dishwasher (esp. at the bottom)? While it didn't get rid of it all, it loosened it so that after two Clorox wipes, it was GONE. It got rid of a chocolate stain in there too. Excellent.

Streusel Coffee Cake

This Streusel Coffee Cake recipe used to be on the back of the Bisquick box. A friend made this for us so we looked up the recipe and made it this morning for breakfast.

Streusel Coffee Cake

Cinnamon Streusel
1/3 cup Bisquick® mix
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons firm butter or margarine

Coffee Cake
2 cups Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup milk or water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Grease 9-inch round pan. In small bowl, stir streusel ingredients until crumbly; set aside.

2. In medium bowl, mix coffee cake ingredients until blended. Spread in pan. Sprinkle with streusel.

3. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Heat oven to 425°F. Use 9-inch square pan. Stir 2 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour into the 2 cups Bisquick® mix. Increase milk to 3/4 cup. Bake 15 to 20 minutes.

These were some suggestions in the reviews:
(suggested 1/4 cup sugar in batter)
(suggested 1 tsp vanilla in batter)
(suggested double topping and use knife to swirl into batter)
(suggested add 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce to batter to help moisten the cake)
(suggested add cinnamon to batter)

I just added a little more sugar in the batter, a little vanilla, a little cinnamon in the batter, and 2 Tbsp applesauce.  The reviews indicated that the original recipe was a little dry.  I did not follow High Altitude directions.

Homemade Tomato Soup

I remember a year or so ago, there was a request for tomato soup. My friend Marne shared this one with me and I thought I'd pass it along.

TOMATO SOUP (Marne Southwick Clark)

(If you would rather use fresh tomatoes than bottled, quarter and squish a little over 2 quarts worth of tomatoes. Add 2 tsp. salt and cook them for about 30 minutes.)

1/2 cube butter
2 Tbsp. oil
1 chopped onion
1-2 garlic cloves (optional)
2 quarts bottled tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup flour
4 cups chicken or beef broth, DIVIDED
1 cup cream, evaporated milk, or any milk
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat butter and oil. Add onion (and garlic if desired) and sauté until tender.

Add tomatoes, bay leaf, and other spices. Simmer 10 minutes.

Mix flour with 1 1/2 cups broth. Stir broth mixture into tomato mixture. Add remaining broth and cook for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

Ladle soup out into a blender, and blend until smooth (you will have to do this 2 or 3 times per batch of soup).

Pour from blender, through a strainer (if you want to get rid of any skins and seeds), and into a large bowl.

Add cream or milk to soup, and add salt and pepper to taste.

And if you're making this soup, you've got to try these new mini Premium soda crackers. Mary recommended these to me when I was sick a while ago. We all love them - even Maxie! They are so cute and little and so you don't have to crumble them to dust to put in your soup - unless, of course, you like cracker dust! Really - they are yum.

Pie Crust Cookies

I found this recipe in the Family Fun magazine.

Aut-yum Leaves

Heat the oven to 375.

Whisk one egg with a teaspoon of water and set it aside.

On a floured surface, roll out a prepared pie crust so it's about 1/8 inch thick. Use a large leaf-shaped cookie cutter (4 1/2 -inches wide) to make as many dough leaf pairs as possible.

For each pocket, spread about 4 teaspoons of mini chocolate chips and peanut butter chips on a leaf, leaving a 1/2-inch margin at the edge.

Brush egg wash onto the edge, place a second leaf on top, and press the edges to seal. Brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle it generously with raw sugar.

Bake the leaves on parchment-covered cookie sheet until their edges are just beginning to brown, about 12 minutes. let them rest on the sheet a few minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

We didn't have a leaf cookie cutter but we did pumpkin shapes. You can also try adding jam and cream cheese, choc chips, walnuts, and marshmallows. We just did most with choc chips. And I tried one with mini carmel bits and choc chips.  We used Pillsbury premade pie crust and it worked great.  I just sprayed that flour-grease on the counter and rolled it out.  

Hannah thought it was fun to make, but gross to eat. Abe thought it was fun to make and yummy to eat.

Frozen Peach Salad

Here's a recipe that I love to make during fresh peach season. It allows you to enjoy peaches in a slushy salad all year long.

1 scant cup sugar
1 ½ c orange juice (actual juice, not concentrate)
¾ c lemonade (actual juice, not concentrate)
1/3 of large can crushed pineapple
6 c diced peaches (approximately 13-14 medium peaches)

Mix together and immediately freeze in pint bags (I use 4 bags per batch). When ready to serve, partially unthaw (for approximately 20 minutes) and serve as slushy frozen fruit salad in bowls.

F.Y.I. To chop peaches I use a Pampered Chef chopper and only chop each peach half 6-7 times.

Southwest Chicken Burritos

The original recipe for this I got from a friend, but I am posting it how I like to do it.

• 4-6 frozen chicken breasts
• 2 c. salsa
• 1-2 cans black beans, rinsed/drained
• 1 can olives, drained (whole, diced, or sliced)
• 1 c. frozen corn OR 1 can of corn, drained
• package of cream cheese

Place frozen chicken on bottom of crock-pot. Then add remaining ingredients, except the cream cheese , and cook on low for 6-8 hours (or on high for 4 hrs). 20 minutes before serving stir in the cream cheese and shred the chicken. Fill tortillas and top with cheddar cheese and any other favorite burrito toppings.

Chicken & Veggie Stew with Biscuits

I have been using my slow cooker a ton since we moved and I thought I would share some of the recipes I have been using because they are simple to throw together in the morning and then you have a nice meal later for dinner. The last time I made this recipe I made these biscuits wo go with it and they turned out really good. I made some with and without the pepper.

4-6 Chicken breasts (frozen)
1/2 onion
2-3 Celery stalks
2/3 Carrots
2 Potatoes
2 cans of Cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup

Put all these ingredients into your slow cooker with the chicken on the bottom and the soups on top. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Top each serving with a biscuit.

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I made these tonight to go along with our hamburgers and they were a big success. And I think they are more healthy than regular potatoes, at least I like to think so. Almy kept asking for "more please."

1 - 1 1/2 lb sweet potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (preferably the easy release kind).
Peal the sweet potatoes. Cut into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide on each side.
Place the sweet potatoes into a sealable plastic bag. Add oil, salt, paprika and cinnamon. Seal the bag and shake well to thoroughly coat the fries. Spread the potatoes out onto the baking sheet in a single layer.
Cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes. Transfer immediately to a paper towel lined plate and serve warm.