Gingerbread Cookies! (no molasses required!)

This recipe was super easy, and the cookies turned out delicious!  I did learn however, that you must follow the recipe exact or they will not turn out!  I tried using shortening instead of butter and the dough just crumbled, even after adding a few tablespoons of water! So trust me, USE BUTTER!

1 (3.5 oz) pkg butterscotch pudding mix (I used vanilla)
1/2 cup BUTTER
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon

I add a pinch of nutmeg :)

-In a medium bowl, cream together the dry pudding mix, butter and brown sugar until smooth.  Stir in the egg.  Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon; stir into the pudding mixture.  Cover, and chill dough until firm, about 1 hour

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease baking sheets.  On a floured board, roll dough out to about 1/8 inch thickness (I did about 1/4 inch thickness and they came out nice and soft), and cut into man shapes using a cookie cutter.  Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

-Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are golden at the edges. (I baked them for 8.  I checked them at 8 and the edges were already browning, the came out perfectly)  Cool on wire racks

*This recipe only resulted in about 18 cookies.

Beef Stew

1 lb stew meat
2-3 carrots-peeled & chopped
1 celery stalk-chopped
4-5 medium russet potatoes-peeled and cubed
1 package beef stew seasoning (follow instructions on back) OR 2 cups beef broth, 1 cup water, garlic powder, thyme, salt & pepper

Brown stew meat on all sides
Combine all ingredients in slow cooker, cover, and cook on low 6-8 hours
Serve with rolls
Enjoy!!!

SNICKERDOODLES!

This seasons favorite cookie! (for me this year anyway! aside from delicious pumpkin chocolate chip)

1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
2 tbs white sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets
In a medium bowl, cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each. Sift together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until well blended.
In a small shallow bowl, stir together the 2 tbs of sugar with the cinnamon. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and roll the balls in the sugar mixture. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cookies should be slightly golden at the edges. Remove to cool on wire racks.

YUM!

Spiral Stromboli

I found this recipe in my Taste of Home magazine, made it last week, and it was great! Both my boys and my husband LOVED it! I'm actually making it again this week!

1 loaf Pillsbury Crusty French Bread
4 thin slices deli Ham
4 thin slices deli Turkey
Cheddar Cheese

Unroll french bread onto a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle cheese (I didn't measure but I think it was probably about a cup and a half) then layer ham and turkey. Roll dough jelly-roll style, press and seal seam, and place on a baking sheet seam side down. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 2-3 minutes before slicing and serving.

1 loaf was enough for my family of 4, but we definitely didn't have any left overs!

Chicken Alfredo

Sorry, it's been a while! Here's a quick easy recipe!

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 box of whole grain penne pasta
1 package frozen broccoli
1 package frozen peas
1 jar Ragu Cheesy Alfredo Sauce
Parmesan cheese (optional)

--Cut chicken into bite sized pieces, season to taste (I use pepper, garlic powder, and little bit of seasoning salt) Cook chicken in skillet, covered, on medium heat, stirring occasionally.
--While chicken is cooking, start boiling the pasta
--7-10 minutes before pasta will be done add frozen veggies to the pasta and let it cook with the noodles
--drain pasta/veggies, combine chicken, pasta & sauce in a casserole dish
--sprinkle parm. cheese on top and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until heated through!

*I have also just combined the chicken, pasta and sauce in the pasta pot, covered and let it heat through that way :)

Blueberry Streusel Muffin

You'll never bake from the box again!!!

1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries

::Heat oven to 400
::Prepare struesel topping (listed below)
::Grease the bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups, or insert paper muffin cups
::Beat milk, oil, vanilla, and egg
::Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, and mix just until four is moist. Batter will be lumpy
::Fold in blueberries
::Divide evenly among muffin cups.
::Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of the streusel topping and bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown


Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons firm butter or margarine
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

::Mix all ingredients until crumbly

Minestrone Soup (or something like it)

I Googled minestrone soup recipes, got a basic idea of how to make it, and kind of made my own recipe and I LOVE IT! I've actually got some cooking in the crock pot right now, and tonight I'm adding sausage! It smells so good! We'll see how it turns out!!! Here's my recipe!

1 can Kidney Beans
1 can Black Beans
1 can Great Northern Beans
1 can Cut Green Beans
1 can Corn
1 can Tomato Sauce
2 cans Vegatable Broth (they didn't have cans when I went grocery shopping last week, so I bought a 32 oz box, I dumped it all in today)
1 - 1 1/2 cups water
1 can Diced Tomato's (the first time I diced my own fresh and it was really good)
2-3 Carrots-chopped
1 Celery Stalk-chopped
1 Small Onion-chopped
1 small zucchini squash-peeled & sliced
Bay Leaves (I used dried, and just sprinkle maybe 1/2 tsp in)
Thyme (again I just sprinkle it in, I don't measure)
Minced Garlic (I use dried)
Salt & Pepper
Small Shell Pasta (I used half of a 16 oz package)
Parmesan Cheese

-Combine Beans, Corn, Tomato Sauce, Broth, Water, Carrots, Celery, Onion and Seasonings in crock pot.
-Cover, cook on low 6-8 hours
-30 minutes before serving, add zucchini
-I cook the pasta right at the end of the cooking time, and then add it into the soup. But a lot of the recipes I saw, said you can put the pasta in with everything else and let it cook with the soup, however, a lot of the reviews said the pasta soaked up a lot of the moisture and they added more water or it ended up like a stew.
-Tonight I'm browning 1/2 lb of Italian Sausage about 30 minutes before serving and adding it to the soup, we'll see how it turns out, but it sounds super yummy!!!
-Sprinkle Parmesan Cheese on top and serve with bread sticks, french bread, or garlic bread! Enjoy!!!

Crock Pot Lasagna

This seemed so much easier, and tasted so much better than regular oven baked lasagna! I made a big 6 quart crock pot full of this, and it didn't last long enough for left overs the next night. My husband and 4 year old both had seconds the night I made it, and gobbled the rest up for lunch the next day!

::1 lb ground beef
::1 jar spaghetti sauce (I use Ragu, homemade would be GREAT in this!)
::1 small onion-chopped
::1 can tomato sauce
::1 container cottage cheese (16 oz I think?)
::Mozzerella Cheese (I used probably 3 cups?)
::Parmesan Cheese (I used probably 1 cup?)
::Lasagna Noodles (uncooked!)

-Brown beef & onion
-combine beef, spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce in small bowl
-put a small amount of sauce mixture on bottom of crock pot, just enough to cover the bottom
-Layer Noodles (break to fit), sauce, & cheeses. I did 3 layers and used up all ingredients except noodles.
-Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours

I love this recipe because you don't have to boil the noodles, they soak up all the moisture in the crock pot and it turns out perfectly every time! It's not messy like an oven baked lasagna, you can cut it into perfect serving sizes and it's not a mess! This is a recipe I'll be using often!!!

Beef & Bean Enchilada Casserole

1 lb ground beef
1 can black beans
1 package enchilada sauce (prepared)
6-8 corn tortillas
2-3 green onions-chopped
1/2 red pepper-chopped
shredded Mexican style blend cheese

:::Brown Beef

:::Spray casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray, and line with tortilla's

:::In small bowl combine black beans, beef, and 1 cup enchilada sauce

:::Put beef/bean mixture on top of tortilla's and top with cheese, onions & peppers

:::Warm in 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, or until cheese is melted

*This recipe was super easy and super yummy! The plan was to make enchilada's for dinner, but I got a late start and didn't feel like rolling them.

Time To Freeze!

After 3 months of much enjoyed maternity leave, I'll be returning to work in less than two weeks! Which means, I'll be going back to relying on some quick, easy, and yummy recipes on the weekends to make my life a bit easier! Over the next week or so, I'm going to try making some soups and casseroles that I can keep in my freezer so on the days that I'm exhausted from working 12 hours, I can pull something out of my....freezer! If you have any suggestions, or recipes that freeze well, please email them to: megcancook@yahoo.com

Also I've been contemplating on whether I should start adding authors to the blog so you can just come here and post recipes yourself instead of emailing them to me. But I don't know who even uses this blog besides myself...so if you think it'd be easier to be an author, give me your email address and I'll add you as an author!

Spaghetti With Meatballs!

I know what you're thinking. Spaghetti? Lame! Not just any spaghetti though! Instead of using just ground beef in the sauce like normal, I attempted meatballs, and it actually turned out pretty great! It put a little twist into the "same old, same old" and was a little more exciting than just Spaghetti : ) Here's what I used and what I did:

1 lb ground beef
1 jar Ragu
2/3 cup bread crumbs (I didn't actually measure, I eyeballed it until it looked right, and this seemed like a pretty good estimate of what I used)
1 egg
A few dashes of Italian seasoning
1 tsp. Seasoning Salt (again didn't measure, just added what I thought would taste good)
1 tsp. Minced Garlic (^same as above)
Spaghetti Noodles (enough to feed your family)


:::In a small mixing bowl, mix together ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, and seasonings. After everything is mixed together well, form meat into golf ball sized meat balls.

:::Put meat balls into a frying pan, COVER and cook on LOW heat. Turning meatballs occasionally.

***NOTE*** The meat balls take about 15-20 minutes to cook through, and if you don't cover them they will not cook through, they will burn on the outside before they'll cook on the inside. So it's very important that you cover them and cook them on very low heat. I learned my lesson the hard way = ) I think next time I'll be baking my meatballs, just the way I did in the Sweet & Sour Meatballs recipe. I'm a better baker, than fryer!

:::When meatballs are cooked through, drain grease, add spaghetti sauce and let simmer about 10 minutes on low until sauce is heated through!

:::Serve over Spaghetti noodles, add a green salad and some garlic bread for a complete meal!

YUM!

Country Style Mashed Potatoes!

6-8 Red potatoes, unpeeled
1-2 TBS sour cream

Boil potatoes until cooked through. Add sour cream and with an electric mixer, mash until the potatoes are creamy, yet slightly lumpy!

Serve with country style gravy! I LOVE these mashed potatoes! The peels in them are delicious!!!

Mom's Mashed Potatoes

My mom makes the best mashed potatoes. They're always so creamy and fluffy! Here's her secret!

3-4 medium russet potatoes, peeled
1 TBS mayonaise
1 TBS butter

I always cut my potatoes up so they cook faster. Boil potatoes until they are cooked through. When I cut mine into 4's it usually takes about 20-30 minutes.

Drain water from potatoes and add mayo and butter. With an electric mixer, mash potatoes until they are creamy and fluffy!

Serve with choice of gravy!

They turn out perfect every time! Yummy!

Baked Red Potatoes

I LOVE these potatoes! They are my favorite!

6 Red (or new) Potatoes, Rinsed, Unpeeled
2 TBS Olive Oil
Thyme
Garlic Salt
Seasoning Salt
Pepper

Cut potatoes in half, then cut the halves in quarters so they are basically bite sized.

In a Ziplock bag, combine potatoes, oil, and seasonings. Shake until potatoes are well coated.

Bake on a foil lined baking sheet at 450 for about 30 minutes.

YUM!!!

Easy Cheesy Potatoes (a.k.a.:Funeral Potatoes, Grandma's Potatoes, etc...)

I don't know why, but I had a sudden craving for funeral potatoes the other night. I had most of what I needed on hand...and what I didn't have...I didn't use! Here's what I did, and they turned out pretty good!

1 bag frozen, shredded, hash browns
1 small onion-chopped
1 small (8 oz) container sour cream
1/2 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 package (2 cups?)Shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I didn't measure, and we didn't have any cheddar left)
Bread Crumbs (didn't measure, just added enough to make it look right)

:::In a medium sauce pan melt together sour cream, soups and about 3/4 of cheese.

:::Combine hash browns, onion, and melted soup mixture in a casserole dish. Mix until potatoes are evenly coated.

:::Sprinkle remaining cheese and bread crumbs on top and bake at 375 for about 30 minutes.

They were good and it was an easy shortcut!