Lemonade Slushies

For Valentines Day Doug's family sent us these cute heart-shaped pans, so we decided we would make a fun treat in one.

Mix lemonade (or any other kind of juice you would like) and fill the pan slightly less than 1/2 full. Put it in the freezer. Take it out about every 20 minutes and run a fork through it until it has reached the slushy consistency you would like. Dish into cups to serve or just eat it out of the pan if you have a cute one like this!

Homemade Blueberry Muffins

2 cups flour
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup butter

Sift & blend as for pastry (I just use 2 knives to cut the butter into the flour/sugar). Reserve 1/2 cup of it for topping.

In a separate bowl mix the following together and then add to above ingredients.

1 cup sour milk (milk + 1 tbsp vinegar) or buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg

Mix the two together and blend only until moist (the batter may still be lumpy). Fold in 1/2 cup frozen blueberries (I do a little more).

Spoon into muffin cups 3/4 full & sprinkle the reserved topping on top.

Bake 350 for 15-20 minutes. Yields 12-15 muffins.

Garlic Chicken Farfalle

I made this tonight for dinner, and can I just say Yummy! It was very easy too. I just let the chicken marinade all day while I ran errands, and then it took me as long as it took the pasta to cook to do the rest, and when my husband ate it, he was hooked, as was my little boy. It makes quite a bit, so either do it for a meal with friends, or plan on having a lot of leftovers. It was fantastic!

16 oz. Farfalle (bowtie) pasta
1 c. heavy whipping cream
3-4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
2 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed OR garlic salt (I do a spoonful of crushed garlic)
1 Tbsp. pepper
1/2 c. butter
1 lb. bacon, crumbled (pre-cooked/crumbled bacon works)
1 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
1 (12 oz) Lawry’s mesquite marinade with lime juice


In the crock pot cool chicken and bottle of marinade on low for 6-8 hours. Pull marinated chicken out of the juices, allow to cool a little bit, and shred (it just falls apart). Set this aside. About a half-hour before serving, boil the pasta. In a small saucepan, melt butter, add garlic, whipping cream, pepper, parmesan cheese, and crumpled bacon. Whisk together on low heat for 3-4 minutes. In a large bowl, pour over cooked, drained pasta, add chicken and stir through. Sprinkle a little bit more shredded parmesan cheese on top.

Lasagna

1 lb. ground beef
1 (32 oz.) jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 c. ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 tsp pepper
Lasagna noodles (uncooked)
1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 lb. cheddar cheese, grated

Brown ground beef; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Put the 1/2 cup water in the empty spaghetti sauce jar, then add to meat and sauce.

In a bowl, combine ricotta cheese, egg and pepper. Spread onto uncooked lasagna noodles. In baking dish, spoon 1/2 cup meat sauce, then alternately layer noodles with ricotta mixture, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, and meat sauce--forming 2 layers. Bake in 375 degree oven for 60 minutes. Top with parmesan cheese. Let sit for about 10 minutes.

Banana Bread

This recipe is my Mom's, and my favorite Banana Bread Recipe. I actually made this today, since my freezer was overflowing with frozen Banana's. When ever I have brown Banana's I just throw them into my freezer until I'm ready to make my Banana Bread, then I pull them out, microwave them to defrost them and then they are ready for bread making.

2/3 C. Sugar
1/3 C. Shortening
1 C. Mashed Bananas (I usually add more than this)
2 Eggs

1 3/4 C. Flour
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 C. Chopped Walnuts (optional)

Cream the sugar and shortening, then add the eggs and bananas and mix well. Then add in the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour mixture into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hours.

Makes: 1 loaf

German Potatoe Soup

This Soup has to be one of my favorites, seriously, it's so creamy and yummy and deceiving that it's actually good for you cause it's full of lot's of vegetables. It's a good way to hide your kids veggies that they don't like. My Aunt Susan is the one that the recipe credit goes to. She made this for us on our trip to Chicago a few years back, and i've been making it ever since.

3-6 Potatoes peeled and cubed (save the peelings)
2-4 Carrots cut into thick slices
Any other vegetables you have lying around (i've used broccoli, celery, squash, peppers, beans, mushrooms etc.)
4-6 Cubes Chicken Bullion or 4-6 C. broth
2 Tbsp. Butter or Extra virgin olive Oil if you are watching fat intake.
1 lb uncooked Bacon cut into small pieces

In a large sauce pan place all of your vegetable, cover them to the top with chicken broth and boil until vegetables are soft to a fork insertion.

In a frying pan place the peelings you saved from your Potato's, along with the butter and the bacon, cook the bacon while sauteing the peels at the same time.

Once vegetables are cooked and bacon is cooked add bacon to the pan with vegetables and stir. then place 2-4 cups of soup mixture in blender and puree, proceed until all soup has been pureed. Then serve with a dollop of sour cream and some chives or parsley.

Toffee Apple Dip

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 bottle Mrs Richardsons Butterscotch
1 pkg Skor toffee bits

Mix the cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth. Spread on a platter. Pour butterscotch on top. Then add toffee on top of that. Eat with thinly sliced green apples.

Microwave Lasagna

This is my mom's recipe that has morphed out of other recipes she has used over the years. It was one of my favorite meals growing up and has found a prevalent home in our repertoire of meals lately.

Ingredients:
8 oz of lasagna noodles (My mom is particular about the kind she uses (American Beauty) - but they should at least be the traditional kind, not the oven-ready kind)
2 lb Ground Beef
26.5 oz Spaghetti Sauce (Again, my mom is specific - she uses the Hunt's Traditional flavor)
16 oz Cottage Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
16 oz Mozzarella Cheese

This is a dish that you prepare all the elements, throw them together, then let them cook.
Cook the noodles as directed. Cook the ground beef seasoning it to taste with salt, pepper, and garlic powder/cloves as desired. Add the entire can of spaghetti sauce to the beef. Open the cottage cheese container and pour Parmesan cheese into it (this will look like a big mountain peak of Parmesan cheese sitting on the cottage cheese - the measurement is not precise, but use as much as you think you can stir into the cottage cheese without making a HUGE mess) stir together. Shred all 16 oz of Mozzarella Cheese.

At this point you are ready to assemble the lasagna. Spray a 9 x 13 pan. Layer 1/2 of the noodles, followed by 1/2 of the meat, then 1/2 of the cottage/Parmesan mixture (this you want to do by dotting it around on the meat and trying to spread it, recognizing that it will not form one solid layer), top with 1/2 of the grated mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layers in the same order.

Now it is time to throw it in the microwave. Cook at regular power. My mom used to cook it 20 minutes in our old microwave, but finds that each microwave is different - we do about 17 minutes in our microwave. After that time is up, it's ready to serve! It only takes about 30 minutes from start to the table!

German Chocolate Brownies

1 German Chocolate Cake Mix
3/4 cup margarine
1/3 cup evaporated milk
Mix first three ingredients together, put 2/3 batter in 9x13 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 7 minutes.

1 16 ounce package of caramels
1/3 cup evaporated milk

Unwrap caramels and melt with evaporated milk in microwave until runny. Stop frequently to stir. Drizzle caramel over cake mix. Sprinkle 1 cup chocolate chips and chopped walnuts if desired over top. Drop remaining 1/3 cake mixture over top. Bake at 350 for 17 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

Sloppy Joes

1.5 lbs ground beef
1 cup water
1 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp mustard
1 onion chopped
1/2 cup diced green pepper
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste

Brown hamburger with chopped onion & green pepper, drain grease/ Combine water, ketchup, sugar mustard and Worcestershire. Add to meat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until consistency is thick. Serve on hamburger buns.