Cranberry Sauce

Hate cranberry jelly? Yeah, we all do. I never tried cranberry sauce till my sister-in-law made this for Thanksgiving when we were in Logan a few years ago. It's absolutely wonderful and really brings out the great flavors in the turkey, and nothing makes leftover turkey taste better than this cranberry sauce!

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
2 cups cranberries
1 cup water

In medium saucepan, mix sugar and water. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Boil rapidly for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add berries then return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes or until berries pop. Serve warm or chilled. Refrigerate leftovers in tightly sealed container.

Dad's Stuffing

I watched a cooking show this morning on PBS devoted to turkeys and stuffing for Thanksgiving. She did a stuffing with bread crumbs and wild rice, and while it looked fine, I was positive it couldn't be as good as Dad's! So, getting into the Turkey Day spirit, I thought I'd post Dad's recipe here (and, Dad, if you notice anything off or missing, let me know so we can fix it...this is how I always make it). Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 bags seasoned stuffing mix
turkey drippings or chicken bouillon (1 per cup of water)
apples, chopped (to taste)
1 cup chopped celery
onions to taste (fresh or dried minced)
raisins or dried cranberries

Following recipe on stuffing box, replace water with drippings or bouillon. Microwave celery with 2 tbsp water for 2 minutes. Add apples, celery, onions & raisins & toss.

Cover and bake according to time and temperature on box instructions, removing lid for the last 5 minutes.

Homemade refried beans

A super cheap way to make great beans. This recipe makes about 2 1/2 store bought cans worth and costs a lot less.

Takes 24 hours to make so plan ahead.

1 bag of pinto beans
salt
cilantro (optional)
mexican spices (optional- there is bulk Mexican spice at Winco)
garlic salt (optional)
1/2 onion (optional)
bacon grease or vegetable oil

1. Sort through beans carefully and throw out any bad looking ones or rocks.

2. Put beans in crock pot and cover with water. There should be at least an inch of water over the beans. You won't be using this water for cooking so it doesn't really matter. Just make sure there is enough water for the beans to soak up. If there isn't enough water, the beans will stay hard. Let soak overnight with the lid on. (I like to check before bed and make sure there is enough water. Often I add a little more to be safe.)

3. In the morning, drain the beans and refill with clean water. Again, about an inch over beans.

4. Add spices. I just guess here and add whatever sounds good at the moment. If you need specific amounts, there are some good recipes online.

5. Cook on high until the beans are soft (usually all day).

6.** Use bacon grease (adds a ton of flavor but if you don't have it, vegetable oil is an acceptable alternative) to frying pan and heat. Scoop out beans and water a cup at a time and mash with a potato masher. When pan is too full, spoon out mashed beans into container and continue the process.

7. Serve with sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, salsa, guacamole in tortillas. They are also really good for nachos.


*You can freeze what you will not eat in a week.

**I have a friend who skips this step. She just mashes them in the crockpot. I've never tried this because I love the way the bacon adds flavor.

Guacamole

The number of avacados that you use depends on how much you like to eat and how many people you are feeding.

Make right before eating.

Avocados- 1 large or 2 small for every two-three people
Fresh Cilantro, finely chopped
Garlic Salt
1/2 Lime

1. Cut avocados, scoop out pit and reserve. Scoop out flesh and put into bowl.
2. With fork, mash the avocado.
3. Add cilantro and garlic salt to taste.
4. Squeeze lime and add juice to guac.
5. Add pits back in to help delay the browning process. (I'm not convinced this works but my Mexican friend swears by it.)

Weeknight Lasagna Toss

I found a fantastic new recipe in my food & family magazine that came in the mail today. It's a lasagna recipe that you make in the skillet and it only takes 40 minutes! You can find the recipe for Weeknight Lasagna Toss here or you can look it up, along with tons of other recipes, at www.kraftfoods.com (I can't post it because it doesn't belong to me).

This recipe is amazing. It's pretty versatile. I substituted frozen chopped spinach for half of the green peppers they called for. The thing I loved best was that my kids actually ate it. Alex asked for seconds and thirds!

You don't have to sign up (it's free) to look at recipes, but I would recommend it. By joining you can create your own recipe box to store the cool recipes you want to try.

Anyway, I thought I would share since I loved this recipe so much. Hope you like it too!

Buttermilk Pancakes (you don't have to use "actual" buttermilk for these!)

I got this amazing recipe from my friend in our last ward. These are seriously the best pancakes I've ever had! Restaurant quality from home. ;) They make lots, though, so be prepared!

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 cup flour
2 cup buttermilk (or 2 cups milk soured with 4 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar)
¼ cup oil
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda

Mix together wet ingredients. Sift dry ingredients together and add gradually to wet mixture to form batter. Let stand a couple of minutes. Cook on hot griddle and serve with Buttermilk Syrup (below).

Buttermilk Syrup
Ingredients:
½ cup butter
1 tbsp karo
½ cup buttermilk (or ½ cup milk soured with 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar)
½ tsp soda
3/4 cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla

Boil all ingredients EXCEPT vanilla for 1 minute. Then add vanilla. Can store leftover syrup in refrigerator.

Moon Cake

So I got this recipe from a friend, and it's just so good!!

In a small saucepan, bring to a boil:

1 c. water

1 cube butter

Remove from heat and add:

1 cup flour

Stir until it forms a ball. Then let it cool for 10 minutes. Put dough ball in mixer and add:

4 eggs (mixing in one at a time)

Spread batter on large greased cookie sheet (I use a jelly roll pan) and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. I took mine out after about 28 minutes because I thought it was getting too brown - so watch for that in your oven.

Let the pastry shell cool in the pan.

Make 2 small packages of vanilla pudding according to package directions -including the 5 minute set up time. Then add one 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened to room temperature. Mix with hand mixer until pretty smooth - I wasn't able to get mine totally smooth - I don't think I let it warm up enough. Spread the mixture over the pastry shell.

Spread 1 small container of cool whip over the top of the pudding mix and then drizzle chocolate syrup over the top. Top with slivered almonds if desired.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 lb breaded chicken strips (already cooked)
2 C carrots (chopped into circles)
1 med onion
½ C peas
2 C celery (chopped)
¾ C milk
2 C cream of chicken soup (or one 10 oz can)
2 Pillsbury Pie Shells

Sauté onions in butter. Add carrots and celery.
Cook for a couple minutes and then add peas.
Add cream of chicken soup and milk (add more milk if you
want it more soupy). Add chicken. Pour into pie shell and cover it with
other pie shell. Bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Creamed Eggs on Toast..... "YEAH TOAST!!"

1/4 C butter

3 1/2 TBS flour

2 C milk

6 hard boil eggs, sliced

6-8 slices of bread, toasted

Melt butter in a skillet, stir in flour. Cook over medium heat for several minutes, stirring constantly. Add milk gradually. Cook until thickened, fold in egg slices. Serve over toast. Sprinkle paprika on top for a delicious, nummy breakfast!!

Enjoy! :)

Paprika Chicken

Total cook time: 30-40 minutes

1/2 cup flour

2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. ground black pepper

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts halves

1/4 cup butter

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1/4 cup diced onions

3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp. ground red pepper (optional)

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Mix the flour, paprika, garlic powder, and pepper(s) on a plate or large bowl. Thoroughly coat chicken with the dry mixture. Cook chicken uncovered for 10-15 minutes or until browned on both sides. Set chicken aside.

Stir in onions and soup, bring to a boil (will only take a minute or two.) Return the chicken to the skillet. Reduce to low heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Plate chicken and stir sour cream into soup/onion/butter sauce.

It should look like this:

This is spicy, but not too much so that the little ones can't eat it. It goes great with corn on the cob or green beans.

Texas Sheet Cake

Cake

Ingredients:

2 C sugar
½ t salt
1 C water
½ C sour cream
1 t soda
2 C flour
2 cubes butter
2 eggs

In large bowl put sugar, flour & salt. In heavy pan bring butter, water and cocoa to a boil. As is boils immediately add dry ingredients. Add sour cream. Add eggs and soda. Mix until well blended, batter will be thin. Bake in greased cookie sheet with high sides at 370 degrees, 20-25 min. May use 2 9 x 13 pans.

Frosting

Ingredients:

6 T canned milk
1 t vanilla
2 C powdered sugar
1 C butter
4 T Cocoa
1 C chopped nuts (if desired)

Melt butter and cocoa in heavy pan, add milk. When bubbly, stir in sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add nuts. Spread over hot cake. Serves 24-48.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

Ingredients:

16 cups popcorn (2 regular bags of microwave)
1/2 c Peanut Butter
1/2 c Sugar
1/2 c Light Kayro Syrup

Pop the popcorn and set aside.
In a microwave safe dish mix PB, sugar and Kayro syrup. Put in microwave for 2-3 minutes. Pour over popcorn and stir until completly covered. Put on wax paper to cool.

Baked Potato Soup

Baked Potato Soup (makes 10 servings)

Ingredients:
4 large potatoes
2/3 c Butter/margarine
2/3 c Flour
¾ t salt
¼ t white/black pepper
6 c milk (any)
1 c sour cream
10 bacon strips crumbled
1 c shredded cheese

Bake potatoes; cool peel and then cube them. Set aside.
In large sauce pan melt butter; stir in flour, salt and pepper until smooth
Gradually add milk; bring to a boil and stir constantly for 2 minutes
Remove from heat; whisk in sour cream
Add Potatoes

Meatloaf and Ketchup Sauce

Meatloaf and Ketchup sauce

Ingredients for meatloaf:
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground sausage
10-15 club or Ritz crackers
½ c milk
1 T minced onion (you can use fresh)
1 t salt
1 t pepper
½ packet of meatloaf seasoning

Ingredients for sauce:
1 c Ketchup
½ c BBQ sauce
2 T brown sugar

Crumble crackers and put in bowl; add milk; set aside until soft
Combine meat and all ingredients into medium bowl including crackers. Shape into a loaf and put in a glass dish. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. (When you pull it out to check the middle a lot of grease will come out. I usually just let as much out as I can and pour it out of the pan. The middle will be slightly pink because of the sausage). Mix sauce ingredients and add to the top of meatloaf. Put back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes.

Creamy Veggie Soup

Ingredients:
1 medium onion- chopped
¾ c Butter/margarine
½ c Flour
4 cans Chicken Broth
2 c milk
2 c half & half cream (I use fat free half & half but you don’t have to)
1 t dried basil
½ t salt
½ t pepper
¼ t garlic powder
5 cups chopped veggies (steamed)


Sauté onion in Butter until tender. Add flour; cook and stir until bubbly. Gradually add chicken broth; cook and stir until thickened (about 5 min). Stir in milk, cream, basil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook gently until heated through. Add veggies.

Variation of Mom's pizza crust

Thought I'd share an idea I had for Mom's pizza crust that actually worked out really well. After pressing the dough out on the pizza pan, I spread extra virgin olive oil on the outside edges with a pastry brush. After cooking, it made the crust just firm enough without being bone hard and actually added a little flavor. :)

Garlic chicken pizza

This is an amazing recipe I discovered and tried out over the weekend. It's just as good as a certain take-and-bake chain we all know...

Ingredients
Sauce:
1 c Ranch dressing
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp parmesan
1 tsp garlic salt
Dash Italian seasoning
Pinch chopped green onions

Toppings and Crust:
1 c cooked, diced chicken
2 Tbsp green onion, chopped
1/4 c tomato, chopped or diced
1 sm can mushroom stems and pieces
1 cup of mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 pizza crust

Mix ranch, garlic, parmesan, garlic salt, seasoning and green onions. Season to taste.

Spread sauce on pizza crust. Make a thick layer. Add chicken and onions first and then add remaining toppings. Top with mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle parmesan over entire pizza.

Cook at 350º for 15 minutes or until cheese is golden throughout. Let cool approx 2 - 5 mins before serving.

Mom's Buttercream Frosting

Easy and quick...

1 cube butter
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 T. milk
4-5 cups powdered sugar

Beat with hand mixer the butter, vanilla, and milk. Add powdered sugar gradually until thick enough to frost with.

Mom's Pizza Sauce

To go along with the crust, you know.

1 can tomato paste
1 can tomato sauce
Spices (Italian seasoning, garlic salt, pepper, basil, oregano) I don't know amounts, I just add until it looks like enough. I guess you could say season to taste?

Mom's Pizza Crust

I've always had great luck with pizza dough using this recipe!

1 pkg active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water (between 110 and 120 degrees - I use a candy thermometer)
3 1/2 -4 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt

Add yeast to water and stir until lumps are gone. Add dry ingredients. Knead on floured board or countertop for about 5-10 minutes or until dough is elastic and smooth. Let rise about 30 minutes. Makes 2 pizza crusts. I usually make one pizza crust and make rolled breadsticks with the rest of the dough. Add toppings to pizza and bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. Bake breadsticks for about 12 minutes or until just golden brown.

Wesson Oil Cake

This is Grandma Johnson's recipe. It's for a chocolate cake.

3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2 tsp salt
1 c. milk/w 2T vinegar (or lemon juice)
2 tsp soda
2 eggs
1 c. hot water
1 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. cocoa (If it's not chocolate-y enough for you, try adding a little more cocoa)

Mix all ingredients and bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

Dad's Sweet Muffins

Okay, they may not REALLY be dad's, but I think he made them a lot when we were growing up.

1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Beat egg. Stir in milk and oil. Mix remaining ingredients just until flour is moistened. Batter should be lumpy. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Apple cinnamon variation: Add 1 c. grated apple with the oil and add 1/2 tsp. cinnamon with the flour. Sprinkle top with sugar and cinnamon. Bake as directed above.

Note: I think this recipe has been altered for high altitude. I live at about 400 ft or something like that and mine were a little too dense. So for me, I'm omitting about 1/2 cup of flour from mine.

Jen's 'Famous' Veggie Spaghetti

This is my own recipe that I made up to be a little more healthy. We prefer it over spaghetti with meat in the sauce most of the time.
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 can Italian style diced tomatoes
1 large garlic clove - crushed
1/2 cup green pepper - diced
1/2 cup onion - diced
1/2 cup black olives - chopped
1 can mushrooms (stems and pieces)
1/4 cup butter
Spices (I use Italian seasoning, Garlic salt, pepper, basil, oregano)

Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a large frying pan. Saute garlic, onion and pepper together in butter until tender. Add mushrooms, olives and tomatoes. Mix together and cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add tomato sauce, paste, and spices. Mix together and then add spices to taste. Add remaining 2 tbsp of butter and simmer on medium low heat for about 10-15 minutes.
Serve over spaghetti noodles with parmesan cheese.

Best Dang Brownies

Promised Rachael I'd post this one...

Ingredients:
-Brownie batter-
1 German Chocolate cake mix
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups milk chocolate chips
-Caramel sauce-
1/3 cup milk
14 oz pkg caramels, unwrapped

Mix together cake mix, milk and butter. Pour half batter into an ungreased 9x13" pan. Bake at 325º for 6 minutes.

In a small sauce pan, melt caramels in milk and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.

Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over hot cake. Spread melted caramels over chips. Using spoonfuls, drop remaining batter over cake. Bake for 18 minutes at 325º. Cool completely before serving.