Spinach Dip

New Year's is here, and I am making spinach dip. LOVE IT. I know almost everyone has a recipe for this, but in case you don't... YOU DO NOW!

1 pkg Frozen chopped spinach
1 C mayonnaise
1 C sour cream
1 pkg Knorr's vegetable recipe mix
1 t. dill weed
1/2 C. chopped parsley
1/2 C chopped green onions

Thaw spinach and squeeze water out. Mix all ingredients together. Serve in a bread bowl or some such thing. I like a sour dough bowl, I like the extra zing. My MIL uses a Hawaiian bread bowl, but personally, I think it is too sweet.

Recipe--Taco Spread- appetizer

Ready for another appetizer for your Christmas party, or anytime really? This one is good, I had it at a party during the summer and just had to have the recipe for it. It is so easy to prepare.

1 small container sour cream
1 pkg cream cheese
1 pkg taco seasoning mix

Mix with electric mixer until creamy. Spread on shallow sheet pan. top with assorted taco toppings that you like ie.....

Lettuce
Tomatoes
Black olives
Onions
Cheese
Whatever floats you boat

Then sprinkle with a small amount of chili powder. Serve with tortilla chips.
***Of course you can make it low in fat by using fat free or low fat sour cream and cream cheese.***

Recipe--Crab stuffed Mushrooms

Just in time for Christmas or New Year's, here's a great appetizer recipe that is sure to please.

1 lb Mushrooms, washed and stemmed. Small ones work better
1/4 C. imitation crab meat, or the real thing is great, chopped very fine
1 t. garlic, or to taste
1/4 t garlic salt or plain salt
1/4 C mozzarella cheese, very finely chopped
3 T Parmesan cheese
1/4 C Italian bread crumbs
1/4 C mozzarella cheese (for garnish)
1/4 C melted butter

Mix all ingredients except mushrooms, garnish cheese and butter in bowl. Stuff washed mushrooms, (gently pack down). Place in pan and add butter. Bake @ 375* for 35 min or so until shrooms are tender, and tops are light brown. Garnish with mozzarella cheese and bake another 5 min.
Now this is the problem. I am a dumper kind of cook. I just dump ingredients and adjust as I go, so this may not be exact. I suggest you nuke a teaspoon of stuffing in the microwave first and taste to make sure it meets your standards. Adjust spice, salt... etc as needed. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Let me know how they turn out for ya. By the way, I have made them with lobster meat also, and they are yummy that way too.

And the Winnner Is.............

My first giveaway is over, and I had a wonderful time with it. The cookie votes have been tabulated and the results are....
#1--Chocolate Chip

#2-Oatmeal, write in's of oatmeal with choc chips ranked high

#3-Mexican Wedding
Sugar
Other--I think this would be the above mentioned oatmeal w/choc chips

#4--Peanut Butter
Chocolate

If you are thinking of giving your neighbor's, friends, family cookies, you might want to keep this in mind.

And for the what you are all waiting for......The winner of the measuring cups and 1/2 of Amish cinnamon. Sunnymommie! She said" I love cinnamon cookie. They are yummy."

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!
Send me your email, or address and I'll get your prize off to you.

Recipe--"Red Lobster" cheese-garlic biscuits

Someone at work years ago gave me this recipe, and I have been in heaven ever since. These are my favorite, I am such a garlic freak. I should have been Italian. Sorry I don't have a picture, my family delved into them to fast to take the picture. that's how good they are!

2 C. Bisquick mix
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese-heaping
2/3 C. milk
1/4 t. garlic powder *not garlic salt*

Topping

2-4 butter
1/2 t. garlic
3/4 t/ parsley

Mix all ingredients except butter & garlic. Drop by spoonfuls onto an greased cookie sheet. Bake @ 450* for 8-10 min. Mix garlic into melted butter & brush on top. (personally, I take something and just put the biscuit into the butter, swirl it around and take back out.)

Recipe--Buffalo Style Chicken Wings

12 chicken wings (about 2 lbs)
1 env. Lipton onion soup mix
1/4 C butter
1 T white vinegar
1 clove garlic (I just dumped some powder in to taste)
1 1/2 t. ground red pepper
1/2 t. ground cumin
2 T. water

Cut tips off chicken wings. Halve the remaining wings at joint. Heat broiler. In food processor or blender, add soup mix, butter, vinegar, garlic, red pepper, cumin and water until blended. Set aside. Broil chicken 5-10 minutes. Turn wings over, broil 5-10 more minutes. Brush with half the soup mixture, then broil 2 minutes or until crisp. Turn wings again and brush with remaining soup mixture. Broil 2 more minutes or until crisp. Serve with blue cheese dressing if desired. I didnt have any cumin, and they were still mighty tastey.

Recipe-- Homemade Noodles, as in chicken and Noodles

I'm sorry I did not get this up before Thanksgiving, my computer was having Issues At least you can still make them for Christmas or any other time you get a hankerin' for some good old fashioned chicken and noodles, or beef and noodles.

3 C. flour
4 egg YOLKS
1/2 to 3/4 C water
2 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
Extra flour to use when rolling out.


Put flour in large bowl and make a "puddle" in the center. (photo above)



then add egg yolks and water.


Stir until it is all incorporated, mixed whatever.

Turn out onto a well floured board
Knead until as my Momma used to say "It is as smooth as a babies bottom." About 15-20 min.






Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough "rest" until "softened". About another 15-20 min

Roll out dough either by hand, or with a noodle machine. Use PLENTY of flour so the dough will not stick to anything.








Lay rolled noodles on cookie sheets to dry. Dry overnight.

This is two cookie sheets worth. 1/2 batch, and it will make a HUGE batch of chicken and noodles. Just add to your broth and cook until tender.

Recipe--Low-Fat Apple Cinnamon Muffins

These muffins may be low in fat, but they are high in taste. You can tell that they are healthy,they are heavy and dense but very good. They stick with you, and you will not feel hungry again in an hour. Give them a try, your whole family will love them.

1 1/4 C flour
3/4 C. wheat germ
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 C chopped apple
1/2 C. walnuts or pecans

3/4 C. applesauce
1/2 C. skim milk
2 egg whites, slightly beaten
3 T. vegetable oil


Heat oven to 400*. Line muffin pan with paper liners. In medium bowl combine first 8 ingredients: set aside. In large bowl combine remaining ingredients. Add dry ingredients; mix just until dry ingred are moistened. Do not overmix. Fill muffin cups almost full. Bake 20-25 min or utnil golden brown. Serve warm or store tightly wrapped in the freezer.

Recipe--Swiss Steak

 

This is a dinner that my Mom would make many a Sunday. It is to die for, a real meat and potatoes kind of dinner,and it makes it's own gravy to put on those potatoes. How easy is that. Now this is one of those recipes that I have made for years and so I just dump and go. Don't worry, you cant really mess it up.

A piece of Swiss Steak.
flour
oil
salt pepper and whatever seasonings you might like
2-3 cans beef broth
mushrooms (optional)

Cut the fat off of the Swiss steak, then flour both sides, and season. Place in hot oil in a skillet, and brown on both sides. In a 13 x 9 pan or something like it, put 2 cans of the beef broth. Place meat into beef broth pan with mushrooms if wanted and put foil TIGHTLY over to seal. Bake for 2-3 hours @ 350-400*. Check to make sure it is not getting dry. Then, put some flour into the last can of beef broth, let's say about 1/3 C. Wing it, it may take more or less depending on how much broth the meat itself has made. Put into pan and bake another 30-60 minutes. It should be VERY tender when it is done, and should have plenty of gravy.
Growing up in the Midwest, we always served this with mashed spuds, homemade rolls with butter, green beans. Now I have broccoli and a salad with it, but still kept the rolls and spuds.
ENJOY AND DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE ME A COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW HOW YOU LIKE IT.

Recipe--Baked Parmesan Chicken

My friend Melanie gave me this recipe and it is totally yummy, and best of all because you bake it, it is a bit lower in fat. Not that you can tell I care from most of my recipes. Of course when I made this tonight, I was out of mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce, so I used what I had. You know what, it was still good. So here we go....

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (3 breast)
2 T. melted butter
1 egg beaten
1/4 C dry Italian bread crumbs
1/2 C. Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400*. Spray cookie sheet with PAM. Mix egg & butter, dip breast. Mix crumbs & Parmesan and dip breast into it to coat. Bake 20-25 min. DO NOT OVER BAKE. The last couple of min. put some mozzarella cheese on the chicken and let it melt. Serve with marinara sauce if desired.

There ya go, easy peasy lemon sqeezy.
Let me know how you like it

My First Give Away

 

I am so excited to have this new blog site, so to start it off, I am going to be having a give away. What you may ask am I giving away? Well let me tell you my friend. I will give to the winner a set of my favorite measuring cups, the metal kind that seem to last forever and not get destroyed like every other set I have owned! And!.... a 1/2 Cup of cinnamon that I bought in an Amish store. What is so special about Amish cinnamon? Well.. it says 4 1/2% I'm not really sure what that means, but it is the best tasting cinnamon I have ever had, and you can use about half of the amount you need because it seems to be stronger than the junk you normally buy in stores.
Here is how you enter to win...and trust me this is painless. Vote in the poll on the right there, then leave a comment and let me know what your choice is. That is one vote.
Mention this in your blog and make a link to this blog and you will get another two entries.
Become a follower and that will be another entry. Easy huh???
Since this is a blog is brand new, and doesn't have any followers yet, I will give it until December 10th for the deadline. That should still give you plenty of time to try out your new cinnamon in your Christmas cookies. YUM YUM

Recipe--Blueberry Pie

My kids love to watch this show called Word World. In it everything is made up of letters, literally. If you want a boot you get the letters and squish them together and walla, you have a boot, house, animals whatever. The other day, someone on the show made a pie, my husband loved it, it actually said p i e, he thought it was so cool that I should do it. So ..OK! I did, tonight I made the tool man the best blueberry pie around and made it to say P I E. The kids of course thought it is so cool, even Kate my 17 yr old. My tool man loved it. Enjoy the pictures, and if you want to make it yourself here is the recipe.



CRUST--
2 1/2 C. Flour
1 heaping C. Crisco
1/2 C. ice cold water w/
1/2 t. vinegar in it

Cut shortening into flour, then gently mix in water. Roll out yadda yadda yadda.

Blueberry Pie Filling

4 C. fresh or frozen blueberries
3/4 to 1 C. sugar
3 T. flour
1/2 t. grated lemon peel
dash salt
1/2 t each cinnamon and nutmeg
2-3 t lemon juice
1 T. butter

the recipe says to combine then put into pie shell. but personally I can never get this to work, the blueberries seem to still be runny at the end. So......what I do is combine all but the butter in a pan, cook it until thick, add the butter, let it cool then put it into the shell and bake at 400 for 35-40 minutes. It comes out perfect every time. Add a scoop of ice cream, and you got yourself love on a plate. Enjoy

Recipe--Penne w/Chicken & Broccoli

Don't you just love a yummy home cooked dinner that tastes like you went out to a restaurant? Boy I do, and this one is it! Add a salad and some garlic bread and you will think you were at your favorite Italian joint. Now I like to change things up a little, so instead of putting exact amounts sometimes I just wing it. Go with it, it will be fine.

Oil & butter
3 boneless chicken breast
flour
salt & pepper to taste
garlic powder/ or 1 clove garlic peeled and minced
3/4 lb penne
4 C. broccoli FLORETS
1C grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 C BUTTER ( not margarine, that will taste yucky)

In large pot bring 5 Quarts of water to a rolling boil, and add pasta. Cook till al denta. when done Reserve 1 cup of water (Very important)
Cut chicken into strips. Heat some oil and butter in a skillet. In a large Ziploc bag, add flour and pepper, then add chicken to coat, shake off excess. Immediately place in hot skillet. Lightly brown on both sides, Stir in garlic but do not let garlic brown. Cover and keep warm.
Steam or Microwave broccoli until tender yet still a little crisp. When all has been cooked, mix gently in a large bowl.
Make sauce by melting 1/2 C butter, add Parmesan cheese and the cup of water from the pasta. Stir together, then pour over the rest and stir gently to not break up the broccoli. Serve with additional cheese.
This is a family favorite, even the kids LOVE it. The picture above was taken after we had devoured most of it. And as the old commercial said....."Try it you'll like it!"

Please leave a comment and let me know how you liked it.