Bacon Chicken Alfredo Sauce

4 C heavy cream
1/2 C melted butter
1 cube chicken bouillon crumbled
2 cups Italian cheeses (Asiago, Parmesan, Romano)
1 T cornstarch
Garlic (either fresh or powder)
Mushrooms (optional)
Bacon (I used precooked and just chopped it up. If you use raw, cut and cook before adding)
Chicken (I used canned)
Onions

Mix ingredients together in a crock-pot.  Cook on low for 4-5 hours.  You can also add a can of Alfredo or a homemade Alfredo it make it thicker.

Chewy Brownies

2 C Sugar
2 cubes butter
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
sprinkle salt
1/4-1/2 C cocoa
1 1/2- 2 C Flour

Mix sugar, butter and eggs.  Add vanilla. Stir in salt, flour and cocoa.  Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick or fork come out dry.

Frosting:
1 cube butter
3-4 Tbs cocoa
6 Tbs milk
1 lb powdered sugar (2 2/3 C powdered sugar)

Heat cocoa, butter and milk until cocoa is melted.  Pour powdered sugar in.  Mix until smooth.  Pour on top of brownies.

Baked Beans - Mom Dummar

2 1/2 lg. (short & fat) cans pork & beans (I use beans from scratch) Cook 2-3 c dry beans

( I usually cook beans 1 part beans with 2 to 3 parts water and often add bullion cubes

and put in pressure cooker 1 hour) ( You can also cook beans first in crock pot several hours

until desired softness - then use more water)

1 lb bacon - cooked and crumbled

1 lg onion choped

1 green pepper chopped

1 or 2 cans tomatoes

1/4 c catsup

1 C brown sugar

1 can pineapple tidbits

Cook in crock pot. I often pour out into baking pan and put on oven if desired thicker sooner.

All of the lab obove ingredients may be varried more or less according to your taste.

Raspberry Cheesecake Salad

3 small packages cheesecake pudding
3 cups milk
12-16 oz. cool whip (I use whipping cream)
1 package graham crackers
1/2 cups sugar
1 cube melted butter
1-2 bags frozen raspberries

Mix pudding and milk and whisk until pudding is dissolved.  Mix in cool whip and refrigerate for 1 hour.  Crush graham crackers and mix sugar and butter with graham crackers.  Mix into salad.  Fold in frozen raspberries.

Cafe Rio Pork Tacos

4 lbs of pork roast
3-8 oz cans tomato sauce
3 tsp pressed garlic
3 c brown sugar
4 tsp cumin
1 1/2 c Dr. Pepper (I use root beer)
4 Tbsp molasses
1/2 tsp salt
5-6 drops tobasco sauce
1 Sarrano chile

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot, cover and cook 10 hours on low.  When pork falls apart or shreds easily remove from juice.  Simmer the juices until it reduces to 1/3-1/2. Put the pork back in the crock pot with a little juice (so it doesn't dry out while waiting for the juice to simmer) and shred.  Then add the juice back in for flavor.

Cafe Rio Rice

3 cups water (1 1/2 cups if  made in rice cooker)
4 tsp chicken bouillion
4 t garlic-minced
1/ 2 bunch cilantro
1/2 can green chiles
3/4 tsp salt
1 T butter
1/2 onion
1 1/2 cups rice (not minute rice)

Blend cilantro, green chiles, and onion together in food processor or blender.  Bring water to a boil and add all the ingredients including the blended ingredients. Simmer covered on low for 25-30 minutes. Watch carefully as this can burn easily.

Cafe Rio Dressing

1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (made as per recipe with 1 c buttermilk and 1 c mayo) (I use regular ranch packet with 1 c milk and 1 c mayo)
2 tomatillos (tomato like vegetable with a husk around them)
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 glove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalepeno (use the seeds too if you like it spicy)

Use a food processor or blender to blend all the ingredients.

Canned spaghetti sauce

8 quarts of blended tomatoes. (Blended, if blender is nice)
4 Tbls oregano
1-cup sugar
½-cup olive oil (make sure it is olive oil)
8 onions chopped (chopped small puree)
3 Tbls  salt
48 oz. tomato paste (4 12oz or 8 6oz) gallons are available.
1/2 Tbls cayenne pepper.
8 bay leaves
3 Scant Tbl basil
½-cup lemon juice.
1 stalk celery (optional)
If fresh tomatoes usually about 30-40 medium tomatoes will make eight quarts. (Steam and put through Vitoria juicer.)
Mix all ingredients  and simmer a couple of hours stirring often.  Put in roaster in oven to thicken.
Pour into jars.   12 lbs. 25 minutes  I like to due it in quarts and in pints, pints are perfect for pizza suace

Sweet and Sour Chicken

2 large chicken breasts

1/2 tsp. garlic salt
Cornstarch
1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp. water
1 C. sugar
1/3 C. vinegar
1/3 C. ketchup
1/4 C. chicken broth
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. soy sauce

Cut chicken in pieces and sprinkle with garlic salt. Let sit one hour. (I usually just put the garlic salt in the cornstarch because I always forget this step.)  Dip in cornstarch, then in beaten egg. Fry in hot oil until brown. Place in casserole dish. Combine sugar, vinegar, ketchup, chicken broth, salt, and soy sauce. Microwave for five minutes, stirring mixture halfway through. Pour over chicken and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until the sauce is thickened. Makes 6-8 servings.

Kickin' Craisin Cookies

I got this recipe from a mystery fiction book called Key Lime Pie!  It is really good!!!

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
21/2 cups quick oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of cayenne pepper
11/2 cups Craisins
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add Craisins, chocolate chips, and nuts, using a wooden spoon to mix (dough will be too thick for most mixers). Drop by tablespoons or use a 1-inch scoop to make dough balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet about two inches apart. Bake 6 to 9 minutes or until just browned—do not overbake. Allow to cool on pan 2 minutes before moving to cooling rack. Cookies should be crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside.
Makes 3 dozen.

Chocolate Pancakes

I made this and was a little concerned that the kids wouldn't like it since they have hit quite the picky streak but they loved it.  They even liked the syrup that goes with it.  I hope you enjoy!

Chocolate Pancakes

1 1/2 C. Flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 TBS sugar
6 TBS cocoa
1 1/4 C. warmed milk
4 TBS butter or margaine, melted
2 eggs, beaten

Mix and sift together dry ingredients.  Add milk, butter, and eggs and beat until smooth.  Add extra milk if the batter is too think.  Cook as you do regular pancakes.  Serve warm.

Syrup

2 C. sugar
1 8 oz. can evaporated milk
1 TBS butter

Boil sugar and milk, stirring constantly until all sugar is dissolved.  Cook over high heat until the mixture starts to boil.  Do not leave unattended, as it comes to a boil quickly.  Remove from heat and add butter.  Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir and enjoy.

Pancakes cooking

Cooking the syrup

The stack of finished pancakes

Pancake with syrup added and it's already being enjoyed!

Matt's Shrimp Pasta

This is just a little family favorite of ours.

1 pkg. Penne Noodles
Olive oil
red onion diced
Garlic chopped finely
lemon juice
Shrimp (raw, this can be frozen then thawed, but don't get the pre-cooked kind it WILL NOT work out.)

cook the penne noodles to your liking.

While the noodles are cooking, add in a skillet or frying pan: olive oil, onion, and garlic. The amounts on this will vary depending on how much you like onion and garlic. Put enough olive oil to cover the bottom of your frying pan. Saute them until they are slightly golden.
Add the lemon juice. This will be about equal to how much olive oil you put in. mix it well with your spoon (add just a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes if you want) then add the shrimp.
Cook the shrimp until it's nice and pink. If you cook the shrimp too long, it will turn very tough so this might take some practice to find just the right pinkness for your liking.
**Keep the heat at a medium level so your other ingredients don't burn.**
Pour over noodles and add some Parmesan cheese! Eat up!

bagels!

Here is a great bagel recipe that I just tried today! It's fabulous!

Homemade bagel recipe

4 cups bread flour

1 Tbls sugar

1 1/2 tsps salt

1 Tbls vegetable oil

2 tsps instant yeast

1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don't have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.

Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.

Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.

Pre heat your oven to 425.

Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be! This is the only part of the process that can take a little practice before your bagels will look really professional. Don't get discouraged if they don't look perfect, it just takes practice!

Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil and rub it around.

After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!

Let them cool for at least 20 minutes, get the cream cheese ready, and feast on what's got to be one of the best weekend brunch treats possible!

You can add any toppings you like to these. To make sesame, onions, poppy seed, caraway etc. etc. bagels just have a dry plate ready with the seed or spice topping spread out on it. After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the seeds, and then place the seed side up onto the baking tray. Bake and flip as for plain bagels.

Award Winning Chili

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1-2 cups chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
2 garlic cloves-chopped

Brown together and set aside.
In large pot mix:

28 oz. can stewed tomatoes or 1 quart bottle of home-canned tomatoes
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 cups water
2 Tbs. Chili powder

Heat, mash tomatoes if they are chunky.  Add:

1 whole bay leaf
1 Tbs. salt
1/4 tsp. Tabasco
2 (15 oz) cans pinto beans (drained)
1 (32 oz) can chili beans
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans (drained)
1 envelope dry chili seasoning
2 more cups of water

Add browned ingredients and cook entire mixture over low heat for 2 hours, covered.

Cream Cheese Chicken

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or Tenders
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 Cup butter
1 envelope Italian dressing mix

Melt the cream cheese, butter, soup and dressing mix in a sauce pan on the stove.  Place chicken in crock pot and pour mixture over it.  Cook 6-8 hours on low or 4-6 on high.

Cranberry Chicken

Chicken breast tenders
1 16-oz. can cranberry sauce (jellied or whole berry)
1/2 C. Catalina salad dressing
1 envelope onion soup mix

Arrange chicken in a baking dish.  Combine cranberry sauce, Catalina dressing, and onion soup mix.  Pour over chicken pieces and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  You can put it in the crock pot also but the sauce becomes very running if you do.

Breakfast Burritos

Ground sausage
small red onion
yellow, red, & green bell peppers
eggs, (I usually like to 90 1 doz. And do extra to put in freezer)
cheese
tortillas

Brown the sausage, dice up the onion and peppers and add to the sausage. Add the eggs and cook them up.
Sprinkle the cheese on the tortilla then spoon the filling onto the tortillas and wrap up folding ends in. Serve

Salsa

2 C cider vinegar
30-40 medium tomatoes (8qts)
5 large onions
6 green bell peppers
3 large red bell peppers (opt)
10 large jalapeno peppers (may use canned)
2 yellow hot peppers
2 T. Taco Seasoning
5 long green peppers (anaheim)
1/2 C. Salt
1/2 C. Sugar
10-15 cloves garlic or (1 T.powder)

Use gloves to chop hot peppers, remove seeds.  Cook about 3 hours or until thickened. I cook in oven in a roasting pan to thicken sooner and less chance of burning. Stirring occasionally.
Pour into jars and put lids on. Pressure 101b. Pressure for 10 minutes.

Soft Sugar Cookies

1 C. butter
1/2 tsp. almond flavoring
2 C. Sugar
1/2 t. salt
2 eggs
4 1/2 C. Flour
1 C sour cream (or 3/4 C buttermilk)
1 tsp. Vanilla

Mix together. Refrigerate.  Roll out and cut with cookie cutters, or make balls.  Bake until light brown on bottom 350 degrees.  Butter frosting - with almond flavoring

Peanut-butter Crisscrosses

2 cubes butter
1 C. brown sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 1/2 C sifted wheat flour
2 tsp. Soda
1 C. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 C. Peanut butter
1 1/2 C sifter white flour
1/2 tsp. Salt

Mix together. Spoon onto cookie sheet. Press slightly both directions with fork dipped in granulated sugar.
Bake 350 degrees 10 minutes