Parmesan Chicken

Tanya gave me a cookbook from her ward for Christmas, and I decided to try one of the recipes tonight from the things I happened to have. It was good!

4 Chicken breasts
1 sleeve of Ritz Crackers crushed (2 c.)
5 T. Parmesan cheese
8 oz. sour cream
1 t. season all
1/2 t. garlic salt
salt and pepper to taste

Combine crackers, cheese, and seasoning on a plate. Coat chicken in sour cream, then roll in cracker mixture. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Recipe from: Coralyn Grant

Carmel

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Combine sugar, butter, and corn syrup. Microwave on high 5 minutes. Stir. Slowly pour sweetend condensed milk. Microwave on med high for 17 minutes stirring every three minutes using a wooden spoon that is clean until soft ball test. (put a little drop into cold water, if it is easily molded into a ball, and is soft, it's ready). Stir in vinilla. Pour into a well buttered 8 x 8 pan and pie tin. Let set. Cut up and enjoy!

Mints

My Mom used to make these every Christmas. I'm spending Christmas with her this year and we made these mints. I really like them so I thought I would share the recipe.

4 Tbls butter or margarine
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp peppermint extract
1/2 tsp salt

Mix well

Add and knead like bread dough until smooth while adding 1 lb powdered sugar.
Divide into 3 parts and add about 1 drop of food coloring to each portion. Knead to distribute the color evenly. Roll into ropes and cut into small pieces. Layout on was paper to dry slightly before storing.

Easy Ministrone Soup

I got this recipe from my Mother-in-law who told me that it was the only soup recipe her boys like when they were young. I took it to a pot-luck today (ok, I made Mark make it because I was busy) and it was a hit! We were the only ones with and empty pot when we left.

1/2 - 1 lb. lean hamburger (I like it a little on the meaty side so I go toward the 1 lb.)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup diced celery
2 Tblspn. brown sugar
3 cans Campbell's Minestrone Soup (condensed)
1- 16oz or more can of porn n beans
1 tblspn. Worcestershire sauce (opt.)
3 soup cans of water

Brown hamburger, onion, and celery. Drain. In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Zesty Meatloaf

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 can Campbells tomato soup
1 1/3 cup French Fried Onions
2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 egg
3/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Mix ground beef, 1/3 cup soup, 2/3 cup onions, and remaining ingredients with your hands. Shape into a loaf and place in loaf pan. Bake @ 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Remove from oven and drain off fat. Top with remaining soup and sprinkle with remaining French fried onions. Bake 5 more minutes.

Additional tip: Don’t use the leanest ground beef

Steak Fajitas

This is a recipe that Mark and I have kind of made up. It's not perfected yet, infact sometimes the steak is a little tough, but I'm not sure if that's because I buy cheap steaks or what else it may be...

3-4 cheap beef steaks, cut into strips
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
salt & pepper to taste

Fry the steak with the peppers until cooked through. Serve on tortillas with cheese, sour cream, salsa, tapitio (I don't know how to spell that), ranch, corn, or whatever you want to serve it with.

This is one of Mark's favorite meals. I hope others enjoy it too.

Calzones

This is one of my favorite things to make when I have practically nothing in the house. I almost always keep Rhodes Rolls on hand, and the rest of the ingredients can be substituted for whatever you want. I like to put in sausage, mozzarella cheese, 1 can of diced tomatoes (drained) and sometimes mushrooms. I also often do ham with cheddar cheese. My sister in law likes to do mozzarella, broccoli, chicken and tomato sauce. Really you can put anything you want in there as long as the meat or veggie (if it is a hard vegetable) is precooked. Tonight I am doing chicken (from a can), diced tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil.

Rhodes Rolls thawed to room temperature - they don't have to be risen, just soft enough to mold them.
Pre-cooked meat - cooled
Cheese
Anything else you'd like to add!

Combine all the filling ingredients into a bowl. Flatten a roll into a circle and place a spoonful of filling on the roll. Then you can either fold it over to make a half circle, or put another flattened roll over it. Then you just press the edges together with fork. I usually do a few of each for different portion sizes. I like to dab a bit of olive oil on the top of the calzone and put a little parmezean cheese on. Then cut a small vent in the top of the calzone so they don't explode in the oven. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes! If you don't put sauce inside the calzone I often serve with pasta sause on the side.

I really like this recipe because you can really use just about anything you have on hand. If you want some more complicated fillings, they have a few different ones on the rhodes website.

*I got this recipe from Liz Nelson

"Cafe Rio Pork"

This recipe was from a ward Relief Society cookbook, which in my opinion are some of the best ones out there, given to me by my sister-in-law Tanya. This is my new favorite recipe, I make it all the time, though I think I like it a lot better than Vaughn does.

1 pork loin roast (about 2.5-3 lbs.)
1 green can El Pato Sauce **
1 yellow can El Pato sauce **
1 small can tomato sauce
1 1-1/2 C. brown sugar - I don't like it too sweet, I use a scant 1 C.

Shredded cheddar cheese
1 can canned green enchilada sauce
1 can black beans
Tortillas - the uncooked ones from costco are the best, you have to fry them yourself, but so worth the extra effort!!

Put pork loin roast in crock pot with 2 c water, cook on high 8-10 hours.
Shred pork and drain any remaining water from crock pot. Place shredded pork back in crock pot with both kinds of El Pato, the tomato sauce, and brown sugar. Cook until heated through.
To serve enchilada style, layer on tortilla, rice Cafe Rio Pork, and black beans, then roll up the tortilla, pour green enchilada sause on top of the burrito, prinkle with shredded cheese and broil for a few min until cheese is melted.

**El Pato can be found in teh Mexican section, it is about the same size can as the tomato sause.
- This recipe was submited to the cook book by Pam Lynn

This is Stephanie, I just wanted to add a note. I had trouble finding the El Pato sauce, but here are the actual names:
The yellow one is called "Salsa de Chile Fresco" and on the other side it says "tomato sauce (mexian hot style)"
The green one is called "salsa de Jalopeno" and on the other side it says "Jalapeno Salsa"
Just thought it would help you find them! Thanks for posting this recipe Amy!

Grandma Oram's Famous Pumpkin Cookies

Grandma Oram always makes them around the holidays, and all her grand kids can't get enough of these. A little different then the ones that I grew up with, but really good!Bake time: 10-13 mins.
Oven Temperature: 375

Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1 tsp. cinnamon
a touch of water (Grandmas said about 1/2 tsp.)
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream shortening, sugar, and pumpkin. Add egg and mix. Add "a touch of water" and mix.
In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients (cinnamon, flour, baking soda, and salt). Mix dry ingredients and pumpkin mix. Soon into small balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake.

Frosting

Ingredients:
3 Tbs. margarine
4 tsp. milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 tsp. vanilla

Heat margarine, milk, and brown sugar over a burner until the brown sugar is dissolved (about 2 minutes). Cool slightly. Add powdered sugar, and vanilla. Spread on cooled cookies. (you may need more powdered sugar to get the right thickness).

Enjoy! :D

Pumpkin Cookies

One of Steph and my favorite treats around the holidays is making pumpkin cookies. Our mother used to always make them around Thanksgiving.

Cookies:

1 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups canned pumpkin
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Cream shortening and sugar together. Beat in the eggs pumpkin and vanilla. Sift the dry ingredients together add the mixture and mix well. Drop the dough by rounded teaspoon full onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for ten minute or until lightly brown. Frost when cool.

Frosting:

1 package 3 oz. cream cheese softened
1 half cup margarine softened
1 lbs. powdered sugar

Mix all the ingredients together until creamy then frost the pumpkin cookies.

Hamburger Casserole

Here is a Nelson family favorite that I made the other night. I really like it.

1 lb Ground Beef, cooked and drained
Spaghetti (I always just estimate, I probably use about 1/3 lbs.)
1 can tomato soup
1 can alphabet soup (I think the Campbell's kind is actually called vegetable soup)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 TB Mustard

Mix together and put in baking dish. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Bake covered at 350 for 45 minutes.

Campbell's Beef Taco Bake

Welcome to my new recipe blog! I realized that I've been trying a lot of new recipes lately, and that sometimes I have troubles finding recipes in the first place. So I decided for convenience of access, and to share them with the world, I would start a recipe blog! Anytime I try a new recipe, or make a family favorite, and we like it, I'll post it all the blog for all to enjoy! I got this recipe from Holli, and I already shared it with Amy, but this is what I'm making tonight, so it'll be the first one up!

If anyone would like to contribute to this blog (in other words be able to post recipes as well) please let me know!

Bake Time: 30 mins.
Oven Temperature: 350
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:
1 lb. lean hamburger
1 can tomato soup
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup milk
1 can black beans, drained
6 flour OR 8 corn tortillas
1 cup grated cheese
sliced olives

Directions: Brown hamburger and drain. Add soup, salsa, milk, and black beans. Cut tortillas into about 1 inch pieces. Add tortillas to mixture. Pour mixture into 9" x 13" pan. Top with cheese, and olives. Bake.