Jello Flavor Cookies

We love these cookies at our house. You can use cookie cutters or a cookie press. Frost if you like but with the jello flavor it is not needed.

1/2 C margarine
1/2 C butter
1 C sugar
1- 3 oz package of jello (any flavor)
3 eggs
3 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1. Cream butter, margarine, sugar and Jello until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time and beat thoroughly.
3. Add dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Chill for several hours
5. Use cookie press or roll 1/3 of the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut and bake at 375° for 8 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet. Cool and frost if desired.

Microwave Peanut Brittle

I love this recipe because it is so easy for one of my favorite holiday treats.

1 1/2 C unsalted peanuts
1 C. sugar
1/2 C light corn syrup
1/8 tsp. Salt
1 TBSP butter or marg.
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda

In a large glass bowl combine: peanuts, sugar, corn syrup and salt. Cook on high for 7 minutes (mixture will bubbly and peanuts are browned). Quickly stir in butter and vanilla, Cook on high for 2 minutes. Add baking soda, stir quickly just until mixture is foamy. Pour on a greased baking sheet. Cool until firm. Break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.
*You can use salted peanuts just omit the 1/8 tsp of salt.

Rob's Family Sloppy Joe's

1 1/2 Lbs ground beef (cooked and drained)
1/2 onion (or however much you want)
1 cup Ketchup
2Tb mustard
3Tb Brown sugar
1t vinegar ( we used apple cider)
2Tb Worcestershire sauce
* salt and pepper to taste

Brown hamburger with onion. Mix remianing ingredients in a bowl, add to beef & onions. Let simmer on low heat for 3-5 minutes or until desired consistance is reached.

Soy Sauce Chicken

This recipe is one that Mom makes that I love to make for my family.

4-6	Chicken Breasts
1 cup	Soy sauce
1 cup	Sugar

Directions:
1. Cut chicken into strips. (or you can use the little drumsticks)
2. Mix soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl.
3. Take chicken and soak in the soy sauce mixture for at least 5 minutes.
4. Cover baking sheet with foil.
5. Remove chicken from sauce and place on baking sheet and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Bars

peanut butter bars

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I plan on trying Rice Krispies next time)
• 1 lb powdered sugar (3 to 3 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 (12 ounce) bag milk chocolate chips

Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and peanut butter and mix well. Blend in melted butter until well combined. Press mixture evenly into a 9 x 13 inch pan. Melt chocolate chips in microwave or in double boiler. Spread over peanut butter mixture. Chill until just set and cut into bars (these are very hard to cut if the chocolate gets “rock hard”).
recipe from from thewickednoodle.com

Stuffed Shells (with alfredo sauce)

I tried something new for dinner tonight and it was so yummy that I am excited to share it...

Stuffed Shells

20 Jumbo Shells (cooked for about 15 minutes and cooled)
4 chicken breasts cubed
1 T olive oil
1 small onion
1/2 C cheddar cheese

Fry chicken with 1 T of olive oil and 1 small onion. Mix chicken with Alfredo sauce (recipe below). Spoon mixture into shells and place in a 9x13 baking dish. Poor extra sauce over shells and top with shredded cheese and bake for 20 minutes at 350.

Alfredo Sauce

2 C milk
1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
2 T flour
1 t salt
1 T butter
3 garlic cloves (or use 2 tsp garlic powder)
1 C grated Parmesan cheese

Place milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat and add garlic. Let the garlic saute for about 30 seconds, you don’t want to burn it.

Then add milk mixture to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more. It should be much thicker now.

When it’s nice and thickened remove the pan from the heat. Add the cheese, stir it up and then cover immediately. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using. It will continue to thicken upon standing. Also, if you have leftovers in the fridge, the sauce will thicken almost into a solid. Just re-heat and add a little milk and it will be back to normal again.

(sauce recipe from Our Best Bites)

Zesty Chicken Bowls

This is a recipe Rob and I made up after trying it at Taco Bell. And even though we loved it we were poor starving students at the time and couldn't afford to go out. so why not make your own version, Here is ours.

We layer in the bowl

Rice

Refired beans

small handful of lettuce

chicken ( cut to bite size)

tomatoes

peppers

olives

salsa

guacamole/or sliced avocado

tortilla strips/chips

Serve with ranch dressing.

anything else that you feel needs to go on there-Great let me know, I probalbly just forgot it.

--
Rob and Suzie

Grandpa's Homemade Ice Cream

Dad’s Vanilla Ice Cream
From Martin Davidson
My Dad’s ice cream that we all look forward too.
Makes 6 quarts.

7 cups Milk
2 cans Evaporated Milk
1 can Eagle Brand Milk
1 cup Sugar
1 Tbs Vanilla

Directions:
Mix together and put in ice cream maker. Let run until machine stops (about 30 minutes).

Peach Pie

Ingredients:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
Double Pie Crust (your favorite recipe, or store-bought)
8 to 10 large fresh peaches, pitted, peeled and sliced
1 egg whisked with 1 Tablespoon water
course sugar for topping, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium bowl, use a fork to combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter. Mix until crumbly.

3. Scoop in one layer of peaches into an unbaked pie crust (9 in). Top with some of the crumbly sugar mixture. Layer more peaches and more crumbles. Continue until you've used up all of your peaches and crumbles. Top the pie with your 2nd pie crust, as desired. I cut mine into strips and created a lattice topping. If you'd like to cover the pie completely with the 2nd crust, just be sure to cut a few slits into the top crust to give that crust a chance to breathe while baking. Crimp the edges decoratively.

4. Brush the top with the egg wash, and sprinkle with coarse sugar if you wish.

5. Bake on the center rack in the oven for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. I start checking on my pie at 45 minutes, just to make sure the crust isn't browning too quickly and all looks good. Then I check every 15 minutes until I'm satisfied that it's done. Mine took an hour and 15 minutes, and it was nice and golden brown along the crust with the peach filling bubbling a bit in the center.

6. Cool until ready to eat. It's quite good warm... with vanilla ice cream.

Recipe found at www.recipegirl.com

Pie Crust

1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup plus 1 T Crisco
3 T cold water

Cut Crisco onto flour and salt, then add water. Don't overwork. Roll out between wax paper sheets. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

Recipe given to me by Cathy Barrett and it is the best and easiest crust I've made. It works well for cream pie, fruit pies, and pot pies.

Hawaiian Grilled Chicken and Pineapple Rice MMMM!

These are two of our new favorite recipes! I got them from http://realmomkitchen.com I cooked about six chicken tenderloins in half the sauce. I could have put more chicken in that amount of sauce, but it was nice because I put it in a baking dish to marinate and the chicken was completely covered so i didn't have to flip it. I tenderized them with the back of my knife, then let them marinate all day. I cooked them in a preheated broiler for three minutes, flipped, five minutes, flipped, then the broiler turned off and wouldn't turn on so I let it sit in the heat until the rice was done, about 7 min. It was perfect.

My husband is not a huge fan of pineapple but he enjoyed this rice with the chicken. It isn't as pineapplee as you would expect. I only put in half the tidbits. Next time I will use a little more green onion. mmmm! I have been wishing for leftovers all weekend, but there just weren't any. haha

Hawaiian Grilled Chicken

· 1 cup of soy sauce

· 1 cup water

· 3/4 cup brown sugar

· 5 diced green onion (reserve some for garnish)

· 1/4 cup chopped onion

· 1/4 tsp minced garlic

· 1/2 tsp sesame oil (If you don’t have this you can use veg. or canola, but sesame adds nice flavor)

· 1 cup coconut milk

· 5-8 boneless skinless chicken thighs

1. Combine every thing except the chicken into a gallon sized resealable freezer bag. Mix well.

2. Add the chicken to the bag and seal. Place in the fridge to marinate for at least 4 hours but overnight is even better. Rotate the bag half way through the process to get both sides of the meat soaking good.

3. Remove chicken from marinade and grill over medium to low heat. There is a lot of sugar in this marinade so you don’t want it to burn. Grill for around 5-7 minutes per side. (if you use breasts it will take longer)

Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything.

Pineapple Rice

· 1 (20 oz) can of pineapple tidbits, drained and juice reserved

· 3/4 cups uncooked long grain rice

· 1/2 tsp salt

· 3 diced green onions

1. Take your reserved pineapple juice and add enough water to get 1 3/4 cups of liquid.

2. In a medium sauce pan, combine the liquid, rice, and salt.

3. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer for 18 minutes until rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed. It is ok to have a very small amount of liquid in the rice.

4. Add the pineapple to the rice. Fluff the rice with a fork, mixing in the pineapple at the same time. Cover and let sit for a few minutes to warm up the pineapple.

5. Add the green onion to the rice and fluff again with a fork while mixing in the green onion. Serve. Makes 6 servings.

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens.

Becky's Peach Cobbler

Makes 7x11 dish, double for a 13x9 dish.

Set oven at 350° bake 40 minutes.

¼ cup	Butter	2/3 cup	Milk
1 cup	Flour	1 can	Peaches (29oz) (or qt bottle)
1 cup	Sugar	½ tsp	Nutmeg
1/8 tsp.	Salt	¼ tsp.	Cinnamon
1 Tbs.	Baking powder	½ tsp.	Lemon peel (optional)

Directions:

1. Melt butter in baking dish.

2. Sift together dry ingredients.

3. Add milk and stir well.

4. Pour mixture into dish—Do not stir.

5. Top with peaches, including juice—Do not stir.

6. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.

7. Serve warm with whip cream or ice cream.

Chinese Sundays A.K.A. Hawaiian Haystacks

I've had people asking for this recipe (we had it at a work party that I was in charge of). When I first had this it was served at my Grandma Lamarr's house it was the strangest thing and she told us that on our first one (that we made small) we had to put all the ingredients. It has been a family favorite ever sense.
Yes, this has two names. I grew up calling it Chinese Sundays whereas my husband's family calls it Hawaiian Haystacks. This is what we served for our wedding dinner. The funny thing about this recipe is that everyone makes it a little different. So I am just going to list the ingredients that we use.

Ingredients:
Rice
Chopped Chicken (or turkey)
Shredded Cheese
Chinese Noodles
Chicken Gravy (I like to use cream of chicken soup)
Celery
Pineapple
Tomatoes
Green onions
slivered almonds
shredded coconut
Maraschino Cherry (top it with a cherry to make it a sunday)

Other toppings that I've seen people add
Sunflower seeds
Olives
Bacon bits

Directions:

Measurements will depend on how large of a group you are serving. In our family we like to line the ingredients on the counter in the order listed above and go through the line because you just put a spoonful of each ingredient on your plate. I like to put the gravy on at the end too.

And you know it is good when the kids lick their plates clean!

Just try it

Ok so I look at a TON of different blogs.
A friend showed this one to me and I have tried a few things from it. You have to look at it and try one thing, just for me. It is fun. I have done the pinwheels on there and done a few different things stuffed in side them. MMmmm, so good.
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/

Try and let me now what you think and what you tried!

Chicken Puffs

This is one of my favorite meals that I can whip up quickly for my family.

preheat oven 350°
makes 8 puffs

2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

8 oz. Cream Cheese
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 cup Chopped Celery (optional)
Chopped cashews (optional)
Parmesan cheese
Crescent rolls (1 package)
1/2 milk

Directions:
In a large bowl mix together cream cheese, chicken and 1/2 the can of cream of chicken soup (also add the chopped celery and cashews if desired). I also add some pepper, salt and onion powder at this point for flavor. Then set aside.
On a baking sheet place triangles from the roll package out. Put a scoop of the chicken mixture on each triangle. Pull corners together sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top and bake 16-20 minutes or until golden.
Meanwhile, for gravy take remaining soup and mix with 1/2 cup milk, simmer.
To serve place a spoonful of gravy on each puff.