Peppery Potato Soup (Crock Pot)

2 cans chicken broth
4 small baking potatoes, halved and sliced crosswise
1 large onion, quartered and sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup half and half
1/4 c all purpose flour
1 tbsp butter

Combine broth, potatoes, onion, celery, salt and pepper in Crock Pot and mix well. Cook on LOW 6-7 hours. Stir half and half into flour; stir mixture into slow cooker. Cover and cook one hour. Slightly mash potato mixture with potato masher. Cook uncovered 30 minutes or until slightly thickened. Just before serving, stir in butter. Garnish with celery leaves and parsley if desired.

Pizza Dough

This was originally from the Food Network, but Chris has made it his own over time. He adjusts the amount of honey each time he makes it, usually adding a little bit more than the recipe calls for.

Here is the original recipe.

1 package of active dry yeast
1 tsp honey
1 cup warm water
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbls EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

Mix yeast, honey and 1/4 cup of water in a bowl. Set it aside.
Mix flour, salt and oil in a mixing bowl. Add the yeast mixture.
Mix until dough comes away clean then knead for 2-3 minutes.

Cover with damp cloth. Allow it to rise for 2-3 hours.

Spicey Breaded Roasted Chicken

1 1/3 c (crushed) cornflakes or rice crispies
1 tbls canola oil
2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp balck pepper
1 tbls Dijon mustard
1/2 cup mayo
4 pieces boneless skinless chicken

Combine mayo and Dijon.

Combine dry ingredients and oil in large ziplock bag.

Dip chicken in mayo/mustard mixture. Toss in dry ingredients. Roast on pan at 425.

Spiced Apples and Ice Cream

3-5 Gala Apples, chopped
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
1/4 - 1/2 cup butter
Vanilla Ice Cream
Caramel Ice Cream Topping


Melt butter in skillet. Sautee the apples. Spice to taste. Serve over ice cream. Serve with caramel on top.

My apologies

I have received a much deserved chiding. I have neglected this site for far too long. So today I come back in full force. My treasured recipe book has been found and returned to me, so I have many gems to share! Get ready, the next few days should be filled with several yummy recipes!

meatloaf

This is one of my favorite recipes from my Betty Crocker cookbook. Though I do twist it up just a little. If you want a good cookbook you should check this one out. It has a bit of everything! And the best part, it has an emergency substitution chart in the back...SCORE! I'm always forgetting some ingredient and it's nice to know I can look in the back of my book for a good subsitute. Anyway, I'm posting this recipe just for my good friend, Joyce. I hope you enjoy!! Y

1 1/2 lbs of lean ground beef
1 cup milk
1 tbs worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp dried sage leaves (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp pepper
1 clove garlic finely chopped (or 1/8 tsp garlic powder)
1 large egg
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 small onion chopped
1 cup ketchup divided
1/2 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp mustard

Heat the oven to 350. Mix all the ingredients except 1/2 cup of ketchup and the last 2 ingredients listed. Spread mixture in an ungreased loaf pan (though I use my stoneware casserole dish). Mix the other 1/2 cup of ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard together then spread on top of the meatloaf. bake uncovered for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes until juice is clear and a meat thermometer reads 160. Drain the meatloaf and let stand for 5 minutes before serving. I usually serve my meatloaf with mashed potatoes and a veggie.

Note: I've fed this to people who claim to hate meatloaf and they end up loving this. My family loves it...even my husband who swore he only likes his mama's meatloaf...of course that was before he had mine. ;)

Chicken Noodle Soup

It's been way too long since my last post. I've made plenty of yummy meals thinking "I need to blog this!" But I'm a procrastinator and I can't remember most of what I wanted to post. So I was determined to post this since we all loved it! And since my resident vegetarian has been MIA this week I could devote all my attention to a yummy meat filled meal! :)

This was adapted from a recipe in my Betty Crocker cookbook (I love that cookbook!)

Total prep/cook time: appx 1 hr 30 mins

3-3 1/2 lbs cut up chicken (I had 3 1/2 lbs of fresh bone-in breasts so I used those)
6 cups cold water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 chopped stalk celery
2 chopped medium carrots
1 chopped small onion (I roughly chopped it)
2 sprigs of thyme
1 tbs chicken bouillion granules
4 cloves of garlic-smashed but not crushed
1 cup of chopped asparagus
1-1 1/2 cup of egg noodles
1 cup boxed chicken stock (optional)

Start by making the chicken and broth. Now, really you're supposed to make the broth, discard the veggies, cut new veggies and make the soup. But I thought that was a waste of veggies and time. Remove excess fat from chicken, place chicken (giblets-except liver, and neck if you're using a whole cut up chicken) in a 4 quart pot. add remaining ingredients except noodles and asparagus and heat to boiling. Skim any foam from the broth and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for about 45 mins or until chicken is fully cooked (use a meat thermometer or check if juices run clear). Remove chicken from the broth and debone. Using only breasts really helped this process go quickly. You might want to let the chicken cool...my poor fingers. waiting for the chicken to cool is a good time to skim the fat from the broth. Cube chicken then add back to the pot. Add the noodles and asparagus and heat to boiling then reduce the heat and allow to simmer uncovered for 7-10 minutes or when noodles are soft. Serve with bread or crackers (my daughter loved that I added goldfish crackers to swim in her soup).

Note: Now, when I made this I had a box of chicken stock in my fridge and I didn't feel like I had enough "juice" (as my daughter would say) once I added the noodles. So I added probably a cup of stock. Then today when we reheated it I added another cup of stock. It was chock full of chicken and noodles and so yummy and really didn't take much effort! Next time I might add shredded cabbage and/or squash just to play around with it a little. I hope you enjoy this recipe!!