Sweet & Sour Meatballs

This is another family favorite that comes from our family cookbook. (Thanks to my cousin Sharon!)  Sometimes if I'm too lazy I'll just scramble up the meat with all the ingredients in it instead of making the meatballs and serve with rice. You can also serve as appetizers. Very yummy! 

Ingredients

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 cup ketchup

2 Tbsp mustard

2-3 shakes of worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp soya sauce

1/2 pkg dry Lipton onion soup mix

Form meatballs and fry

Sauce

1 cup water

2 Tbsp ketchup

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1/2 cup vinegar

Mix ingredients and boil a couple mins until clear. Pour sauce over cooked meatballs and rice. 

Manicotti

This one is one of my favorites. I love the ricotta and spinach in it. Nice to have a meatless dinner sometimes and you definitely don't miss it in this meal it has a lots of flavor and will fill you up! I'm not sure where I got this recipe from but I have used it for years! So good!
(thanks to Kraft Recipes for the picture)

Ingredients

Pkg of manicotti pasta
Block pkg of frozen spinach
1 (6oz) ricotta cheese (you can use cottage cheese if you want)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup bread crumbs
Salt and pepper
Romano or Parmesan cheese
Your favorite pasta sauce (I will include the recipe for the one I use)

Instructions
1.Cook manicotti in boiling salt water just until tender -you don't want to cook too much or they will split easy.
2. To thaw the spinach I put the package under warm water then when the spinach comes out easily I put it in a colander and run under warm water again until thawed then squeeze as much water out as you can with your hands.
3. Mix all ingredients together well in a bowl.
4. Pour a bit of the sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
5. Stuff the manicotti. The easy way to do this is using a pastry bag without a tip or a wide mouth tip. You can spoon it in with a teaspoon also. Hold the bottom of the manicotti when filling to hold the filling in place but don't over stuff as it may split the pasta.  Fill as many as pan will hold  (I'm not sure how many that is I forgot to count maybe 10ish)
6. Pour more pasta sauce on top to cover well. Sprinkle with Romano or Parmesan cheese.
7 Bake at 375 degrees for about 30-45 mins.

Pasta Sauce

1 large can of tomato juice
1 tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, chopped (or 2 tsp minced) or more to taste.
2 tsp basil
1-2 jalapeno peppers (depending on how hot you like your sauce)
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Heat olive oil in pan and add garlic. Saute a bit over med/high heat. Add tomato juice and paste stir together and add remaining ingredients except the jalapenos. Cut the jalapeno pepper in half lengthwise and take out the seeds. (if you want hotter keep them in) add to sauce.   Cook until boiling turn down and simmer for about 15-20 mins. This is actually great to make the day before because the flavors taste so much better and it thickens up a bit. Take out the jalapenos before using the sauce. The sauce recipe comes from my children's grandmother who grew up in Sicily.

Tatertot Casserole

This is probably the most loved dish by my kids I think.  Even my picky Autistic boy loves this (who never likes his food combined together) It's very easy and yummy! This recipe (with a change I made) comes from a family cookbook so I'm not sure where she got it from.  There are a lot of variations out there of this casserole. This one is the one we love!



Ingredients

1 bag of tatertots
1 can of mushroom soup
1 small onion, chopped
minced garlic -about a heaping tsp or however much you like. (optional)
1 can of evaporated milk
1 lb of lean ground beef
A bunch of frozen veggies (we use about 2 cups of the peas, carrots, green bean combo)
Seasoning salt -couple of shakes
Grated cheese for on top.

Directions

1. Cook tatertots according to package-nice and crispy.
2. While tatertots are cooking brown meat and onion in frying pan. Add soup and milk to the meat and stir well to combined. Add veggies and simmer 5-10 mins (to speed this up I usually microwave the frozen veggies for a bit before I put them in)
3. Pour meat mixture into a 9x13 pan and top with cooked tatertots. Cover with grated cheese to your liking and place in 350 degree over until cheese is melted.

My husband and I like to top ours with some hot sauce :)

Chicken Enchiladas

So this picture isn't really how they look but everyone uses enchilada sauce and this recipe doesn't. You would be lucky to even find enchilada sauce in my town.  When we head across the border we stock up on enchilada sauce but I use it for my smothered burritos..which is super easy and I will post that recipe as well. But for this one I use salsa and it is so easy and so yummy! I got the recipe out of a family cookbook and I'm not sure where she got the recipe from or if she created it. It's one of my family's favorites though. 

Ingredients

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups finely chopped, precooked chicken

1 1/2 cups salsa 

1/2 pkg brick cream cheese

2 Tbsp margarine

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp onion salt

 8 small flour tortillas

(I usually double everything and use 6 large flour tortillas)

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt margarine with onion salt in large skillet. Stir in chicken and 1/4 cup of the salsa. Add cream cheese and cumin. Stir until melted. Remove from heat. Add 1 cup of the cheese. Spoon equal amounts of the mixture onto the tortillas. Roll and place in non-greased baking dish with the seam side down (I usually put some salsa on the bottom) Top with remaining salsa and cheese. Bake for 20 mins. Serve with sour cream or our favorite is jalapeno sauce on top! Yum!

Creamy Herbed Pork Chops

These are so yummy and easy to make.  It calls for fresh ground black pepper but it also has you season on all sides with Montreal steak seasoning so depending on how much you put on..which we tend to use a far bit..you might want to omit the black pepper as it can have quite a powerful pepper taste with all of it. Or ease up on the Montreal seasoning if using the pepper. Whichever you prefer. But is is tasty when you put that gravy over top of those chops. Serve with new potatoes or mashed and some string green beans or asparagus ...Mmmm so good :) This recipe is from allrecipes.com. 

Ingredients

4 thick-cut pork chops

2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, or as needed

1 Tbsp dried basil

1 tsp instant beef bouillon granules

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 cups milk

Directions

1. Season pork chops on both sides with Montreal steak seasoning. 

2. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large skillet over med to medium high heat. Cook shops in melted butter until browned and just done in the middle, about 7 to 10 mins on each side. Add remaining butter to the pan as needed so that about 3 tbsp pan drippings remain in the pan when the chops are finished cooking. (you might need to cook with a lid for a bit to create some juices as well) Transfer pork chops to a plate and return skillet to medium-high heat. 

3. Mix flour, basil, and beef bouillon together in a bowl. Stir black pepper into skillet with the pan drippings and cook for a min. Add flour mixture and cook, stirring constantly until browned. Pour milk into flour mixture; cook and stir constantly until mixture is thick and bubbly. Pour sauce over pork chops and serve. 

Flourless Chocolate Cake

I've been wanting to try a cake like this for awhile.  My sister eats gluten free and our family was getting together today so I decided this would be a great time to try it. It is definitely for the chocolate lover. Very yummy and chocolaty. I didn't do the Chocolate glaze but for those that love going over the top with chocolate, go for it! I doubled this recipe and cooked it in a 9 inch springform pan. I think I will try cooking it in a mini muffin tin next time as it seemed to be a lot of chocolate as a slice but was really yummy with some vanilla frozen yogurt (or ice cream if you wish) and fresh strawberries.
Recipe from About.com gluten-free cooking. 

Ingredients

6 1 oz squares coarsely chopped semisweet chocolate (I used choc chips)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 cup cocoa

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

For Glaze

2 1-oz squares coarsely chopped semi sweet chocolate squares

1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/2 tsp milk or light coconut milk

1 1/2 tsp agave syrup or honey

1/8 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spray a 7-in tart pan with removable bottom with cooking spray. If you don't have a tart pan, use a 6 or 7 inch springform pan (or cook in muffin tins) Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and spray the paper, dust with cocoa (I used a springform pan so I didn't line the pan as I wasn't going to turn it out onto a plate).

1. Melt 6 oz of chopped chocolate and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium low heat. Stir until chocolate and butter are melted and smooth.
2. Add sugar and salt and reduce heat to low. Cook while stirring for about one minute, until sugar starts to dissolve.
3. Remove pan from heat. Whisk in eggs, one at a time. The mixture will look smooth and glossy.
4. Sift cocoa into mixture. This prevents lumps. Whisk until the cake batter is smooth.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated over for about 30-40 mins. Check with toothpick to see if done. (I doubled min so I cooked it for about 50 mins. It was still wet when I checked it but took it out anyways, it will set more as it cools)
6. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 mins. Invert the cake on a plate if not leaving in a springform pan. You can sift powdered sugar on top if not using the glaze.
7. To prepare the glaze, melt 2 oz of chopped chocolate and 1 1/2 tbsp of unsalted butter in the same saucepan you used to make the cake. When melted and smooth, remove the pan from heat. Add milk and Agave syrup or honey and vanilla and stir until smooth and glossy. let the glaze cool for about 3 minutes before pouring it on the cake.
8. Pour all of the glaze in the middle of the cake. use a silicone or rubber spatula to spread the glaze evenly over the cake, allowing the glaze to evenly run down the sides for the cake.  

Biggest Loser Pancakes

These pancakes are super yummy and taste a lot like french toast. I add Strawberries and powdered sugar or bananas, chopped pecans and a drizzle of pure maple syrup. So good! You could also substitute honey instead of sugar. 

This recipe comes from biggest-loser-recipes.com

Ingredients

6 egg whites
1 cup rolled oats, dry
1 cup cottage cheese
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

In a blender, blend all ingredients until smooth. heat a griddle or large non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. Spray with non-stick cooking spray For each pancake our 1/4 cup of batter onto griddle. Flip when they start to bubble. Cook until golden brown. Repeat with remaining batches, spraying the griddle as needed. Makes about 10 small pancakes.

Creamy Ham and Potato Soup

This soup is so yummy, it is prefect for a cold day or pretty much any day! You have some left over ham in the fridge..this is a great recipe to use it in. 

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes. 

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup carrot
1 cup diced cooked ham
3 1/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp ground pepper to taste
5 tbsp butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk

Instructions

1. Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, carrot, ham and chicken broth in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10-15 mins. Stir in the salt and pepper.
2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 min. Slowly stir in milk so that lumps don't form and until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 mins.
3. Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through.
4 Top with cheddar cheese, chives, and bacon if desired. Serve immediately.

Kung Pao Chicken

We are big fans of Panda Express but don't have it in Canada and Kung Pao Chicken is my husband's favorite....so he has been going through some withdrawals.  We have come across sorta the same things here and there but nothing really as good or satisfying until..... YAY! I found the recipe they use at Panda Express.  It didn't list all the ingredients they use I noticed so I just looked at the picture and took a guess and tried to remember and whalah! So yummy! and really...not that hard to do. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do. 

Ingredients

1 pound or 2 good sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced very small, rinsed and drained. 

1 Tbsp cooking wine (I used white wine vinegar)

3 Tbsp soy sauce 

1/3 cup water (I didn't use this)

12 whole dry chili peppers (smaller than 3 inches; if longer, cut in half) -I couldn't find any in town so didn't use. But will use them next time I go in the city and fine them. 

1/4 cup diced green onion -don't go into the green part too much and cut about 1/2 inch think.

1 tsp minced ginger (I just squeezed some from a tube add as much or little as you like to taste)

1 tsp minced garlic (We like garlic so I added more than this)

1 small zucchini (about 1-1/2 cups, chopped 

1 red pepper, chopped

1 tsp crushed red chili pepper flakes. (since we didn't use the actual chili peppers I added more- only do this if you like it hot) 

1/2 Tbsp Cornstarch mixed with 1/2 Tbsp water (I didn't use this either)
1 tsp sesame oil
2 oz dry roasted peanuts (not knowing or wanted to know how much 2 oz is I chucked in 2 handfuls in)

Marinade
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 egg (haha..I laughed when I saw this)
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1. Combine marinade ingredients. Add chicken; refrigerate at least 1 hour.
2. Combine wine, soy sauce and water (I didn`t use the water), set aside
3. Heat wok (or frying pan) on high heat about 10 sec or until getting hot. Add 2 Tbsp oil and heat well. Remove chicken from marinade (which for me it pretty much all came out except a little bit) and add to wok. Stir-fry until just done (if you cut the chicken small enough it should only take about a min for this). Remove and drain if needed.
4. If using the chili peppers add them now. Stir-fry until they darken. if wok becomes too dry, add 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil.  Add green onion, ginger, garlic, pepper and zucchini. Stir fry for about a min, add crushed red chili flakes and stir for 5 secs.
5. Return chicken to wok; stir soy sauce/wine mixture and add; stir until sauce is mixed into the chicken and veggies well. (if you used water with the sauce wait until it boils then add cornstarch mix to thicken) Add sesame oil and peanuts. Stir and fold until ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Serve with rice or Chinese noodles..whatever you prefer. So very good! (my husband adds chili paste to his rice)

Hawaiian Haystacks

This is so easy and great because people can put on what they want and it can be as healthy as you want it to be using brown rice or quinoa and low fat soup and cream cheese. You can change this up to whatever your liking. I use Jasmine rice cooked in chicken broth and use the Creamy Italian Chicken posted in this blog.  So very good!

Toppings you can try:

cheese (whatever you like)

chow mein noodles

cut up celery

chopped peppers (any kind sweet or hot or both)

frozen peas thawed

shredded coconut

pineapple

green onion

tomatoes

slivered almonds. 

mushrooms

No-Bake Banana Split Dessert

Made this dessert for a staff lunch. Was pretty yummy and easy to do but would probably use real whipped cream the next time I did it...I just prefer that over cool whip. I also used chopped peanuts instead of walnuts as there was an allergy.  The crust was a little thick for me but I don't think I measured out the ingreds for that part very well. Was still good though and pretty to look at when done.  Recipe came from Brown Eyed Baker.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

For the Cream Cheese Layer:

12 oz (1&1/2 blocks) of cream cheese

1/4 cup granulated sugar

8 oz Cool Whip topping. (I used a bit more than that)

For the Fruit & Toppings:

3-4 bananas, sliced

1 (20oz) can crushed pineapple, drained well

2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced

8 ounces Cool Whip topping (I didn't really measure this)

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (or whatever kind of nuts you like)

Chocolate syrup (I used my chocolate sauce found on this blog)

Maraschino cherries

Directions

1. Grease a 9x13 baking dish; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter, stirring until all of the crumbs are evenly moistened. Dump the crumbs into the prepared pan and press into an even layer. Refrigerate while you prepare the next layer. 

3. In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the Cool Whip until thoroughly combined. spread the cream cheese mixture on top of the graham cracker crust. 

4. Arrange the banana slices in a singer layer on top of the cream cheese filling, top with an even layer of the crushed pineapple, and then an even layer of the sliced strawberries. 

5. Cover with the Cool Whip, smoothing the top. Sprinkle with the chopped nuts, then drizzle with chocolate syrup. Top with maraschino cherries. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight. 

Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake

This is a very moist and delicious coffee cake. It's perfect for a nice brunch. I baked mine in a 9" springform pan and used fresh blackberries and partially frozen raspberries... I also added almond extract to the batter and glaze and used Oikos Vanilla Yogurt along with the sour cream called for. This recipe is doubled from the original which I found on Allrecipes.com. 

Ingredients

2 cups fresh raspberries (or whatever combination you want, If you use frozen make sure it's not too thawed that there is too much juice.)

6 tbsp brown sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup white sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sour cream (I used 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup Oikos vanilla greek yogurt) 

4 tbsp butter, melted

2 tsp vanilla (I used 1 tsp almond and 1 tsp vanilla)

2 eggs

4 tbsp of milk

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/4 cup sifted confectioner's sugar

1 tsp milk

1/4 tsp almond (or vanilla) extract

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9" springform pan or cake pan with cooking spray. 

2. Combine raspberries and brown sugar in a bowl. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, bakding powder, and salt. Combine sour cream, butter or margarine, extracts and eggs in a separate bowl. Add to flour mixture. Stir just until moist. Add 4 tbsp of milk and mix. Spoon 1/2-2/3 batter into the prepared pan. It is a little finicky to spread, it's easier if you put small spoonfuls around the bottom then gently spread. Top with berry mixture then spoon remaining batter on top of berries. Top with almonds. 

4. Bake for 50-55 mins or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. let cool for 10 mins on a wire rack.

5. Combine confectioner's sugar, milk and extract. Stir well and drizzle over cake. 

SO DELICIOUS! ENJOY!

Creamy Crock Pot Italian Chicken

Love this recipe and have made it often. So so yummy. 

4-6 (depending on size) frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 envelope dry Italian salad dressing mix

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 block of cream cheese

Place chicken in sprayed (with Pam) crock pot. Mix package of salad dressing mix with cream of chicken soup together and add on top of chicken. Cook on high for about 6-8 hours or low head 10-12. For the last half hour you can remove the chicken and shred if you would like or leave whole. Add block of cream cheese to the soup mixture and blend well. Add chicken back to crock pot. 

Serve with egg noodles, pasta or rice. Really good with broccoli added as well. Or make into a pasta dish and add a little bit of chicken broth, sundried tomotoes, spinach and cooked pasta.

Side note: put it over rice for Hawaiian Haystacks. Soooo good!

Fudge Chocolate Sauce

This is my go to chocolate sauce. You can use it for so many things. Dip bananas and strawberries, drizzle over icecream and brownies, once cooled you can put it in the middle of an icecream cake. So very yummy. This sauce gets pretty thick in the fridge so you'll need to warm it up a bit to use for dipping. 

Ingredients

6 Tbsp margarine

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup evaporated milk

Directions

Melt the margarine in a saucepan. Add a mixture of the cocoa and sugar. Add milk gradually stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly and boil for 3 mins. 

Oven Fried Chicken Drumsticks

My family had been craving some fried chicken and I didn't really want the fried in oil part so I came across this recipe and tried it. Very yummy.  I added some Cajun spice to it for a little more kick and you could add whatever spices you like as well. Thanks to Diana Rattray for the recipe. This recipe calls for 20-24 chicken drumsticks but I only used 12 and only did one 9x13 pan. 

Ingredients

20-24 chicken drumsticks

1/2 cup flour

2 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp curry powder

2 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 cup butter

Directions

Heat oven to 450 degrees. In a food storage bag, combine flour, salt, pepper, paprika, curry powder, and poultry seasoning. Line 2, 13x9" pans with heavy duty foil. Place 1/4 cup butter in each pan. Place pans in oven to melt butter. Coat chicken with seasoned flour mixture, shaking about 3 legs at a time in the bag. Place chicken in prepared pans in the melted butter. Bake, uncovered for 30 mins. Turn over and bake 15-20 mins longer, or until tender and nicely browned.