Ranch Chicken Pasta

I got this from Kelly Vestal when we were in dinner group. We love eating this and it is so easy. Sometime I will cook mushrooms with it or put some grape tomatoes in it. I always think of Kelly when we make this dish.

1 Cup prepared ranch (bottle or homemade)
4 Chicken breasts pounded thin
½ cube butter
1/3 Cup white cooking wine
10 oz. angel hair or fettuccine noodles
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
-I typically double the sauce recipe-

Sauté chicken in butter until brown and cooked through. Transfer to dish and cut chicken into strips and set aside. Pour wine in skillet; cook over med/high heat, scraping up any bits from chicken. Cook 3-5 minutes. Whisk ranch in and add chicken. Pour sauce over cooked noodles and add desired amount of cheese.

Food Network

I love the food Network. I love learning new things. I don't try a hole lot but I am trying more. So to night Brian and I wanted to try some new things. We looked on the food network website. (On Sundays we have breakfast for dinner.) Being Sunday we had to have all the stuff in the house to make it. So we found crepes and some hot chocolate that was so good. Both recipes just happen to be from Paula Dean who I like.

CREPES
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen, 2007
Ingredients
• 3 eggs, large
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted, plus more for pan
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• Pinch salt
Directions
Various toppings: whipped cream, chocolate sauce, jams, powdered sugar, etc.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the eggs. Add remaining ingredients and whisk vigorously until combined, small lumps are ok. Set batter aside to rest for 20 minutes.
Heat an 8-inch nonstick saute pan over medium heat. Lightly brush the pan with melted butter. Pour 1/4 cup batter into the hot pan, twirling the pan so the batter spreads out evenly into a very thin layer. Cook about 30 seconds until the crepe comes away from the sides of the pan. Gently flip the crepe over with your fingers or the help of a rubber spatula and continue cooking another few seconds. Transfer to a plate and repeat cooking crepes until all the batter is used.
Now the crepes can be filled and topped to your liking. Try whipped cream, chocolate sauce, hazelnut spread, butter, jam, caramel sauce, powdered sugar, peanut butter, fresh fruit etc.


DREAMY CREAMY HOT CHOCOLATE
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
Ingredients
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 6 1/2 cups hot water
• Mini Marshmallows (optional)
Directions
In a large saucepan, combine sweetened condensed milk, cocoa, vanilla and salt; mix well. Over medium heat, slowly stir in water; heat through, stirring occasionally. DO NOT BOIL. Top with marshmallows, if desired.
Tip: Chocolate can be stored in the refrigerator up to 5 days. Mix well and reheat before serving.

We put real whipped cream on it. It was so rich and good. With the crepes we didn't put the cocoa in. It's good with ham lunch meat and cheese. Enjoy!

Bev Tanner's "Dinner In A Pumpkin"

It makes a lot so it is good for Halloween parties or Ward parties or sharing one with a friend. It is some work to do these but the kids get a kick out of it.

2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 lb of sausage
3 stalks of celery (or to your liking)
1 green bell pepper
1 onion
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
4 ounces of sliced mushrooms
1 4-ounce can of water chestnuts
2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar
2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 box of instant white rice
2 large pumpkins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Thoroughly cook ground beef, sausage, celery and onion together and set aside.
In another bowl mix together cream of mushroom and chicken soup. Add in 4 ounces of sliced mushrooms, water chestnuts, brown sugar and soy sauce. Then add in prepared instant white rice. Thoroughly cooked, together.
Take two large pumpkins and scoop out the interiors and discard. Be sure to keep the cap of the pumpkin for baking.
Fill both pumpkins with meat mixture and rice mixture and thoroughly stir in pumpkins. Place caps back onto pumpkins and bake in preheated oven for one hour. Then enjoy your pumpkins!
Be careful because pumpkins will be very hot.

Meatballs

I make these for potluck parties. They are good and feed a bunch of people. But when I make them for us, we put them over rice. The home made sauce is a sweet sauce but it is so yummy. I've just made it to have with hamburgers.

3lbs hamburger 2cups oatmeal
2eggs 1-14oz sweetened condensed milk
1onion diced 1T pepper
1T chili powder 1T garlic powder
½ tsp salt

Combine above ingredients & form into walnut-sized balls. Bake @ 350for 20 minutes. Turn half way through baking. Put meatballs in crock-pot & pour sauce (below) over them.

Sauce
2cups ketchup, 2cups brown sugar
2T liquid smoke (if desired)
Put ingredients in small sauce pan, bring to a boil, and stir often.

Hamburger Soup

This is fast and the kids love to help put stuff in the pot.

Brown 1 lb ground beef with 1 onion chopped and 2 cloves garlic in a large stock pot Add 2 cans beef stock, 1 C. water, 2 can diced tomatoes, 2 T. sugar, 1 ½ C. frozen corn, 2 C baby carrots (I cut them in 3rd) 3 potatoes peeled & diced, 1/3 C. taco seasoning, ½ C. potato pearls. Salt & pepper to taste. Set a side 1 C grated mozzarella cheese.
Cook for until vegetables are tender. Add cheese to individual servings.

Raw Apple Cake

This is one of my grandma's. It is yummy!

Mix together2 C. sugar, 1 C. oil. Stir in 2 eggs 2 tsp. vanilla. Add 3 C. grated raw apples (with peelings). Blend in mixture 3 C. flour, 1 tsp. baking soda,
1 tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. salt. Batter will be thick. Pour into oiled 9x13 baking pan. Sprinkle the top with ½ C sugar & 1 tsp. cinnamon mixture.
Bake @ 325 for 45 to 60 min.

Kittencal's Chocolate Buttercream Frosting/Icing

I got this recipe from Julie Carroll. It is so good!
Choose the amount of cocoa powder you desire for either a light, medium or dark frosting --- this frosting *freezes* very well so double the recipe and freeze one batch for next time --- *NOTE* for an ultra creamy fluffy milk chocolate frosting add in 1 to 1-1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip topping at the end of mixing the frosting and beat on low speed until blended ---
5 min | 5 min prep
SERVES 24 , 2 cups
• 1/2 cup butter, softened (you can use margarine but the flavor will not be the same)
• 2 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/3 cup half-and-half cream or milk (can use unwhipped whipping cream in place of half and half)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (for light)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (for medium)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (for dark rich)
1. Cream the butter in a small bowl.
2. Blend in the cocoa powder (the amount desired for a light, medium or dark flavor), vanilla, confectioners sugar, alternately with the cream.
3. Beat with an electric mixer, until the desired texture is achieved.
4. **NOTE** because of the additional cocoa powder more cream may have to be added in to reach desired consistency.

Cinnamon-Spiced Pecans

These are so yummy! You kind of think of the fall and winter time because of the spices used. But I love them anytime of the year!

1 egg white
2 T cold water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. allspice
1/4 t. cloves
1/8 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
4 cups pecan halves

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Mix water and egg white in gallon sized zip-lock bag add 4 cups pecans and shake in bag until all are coated well. Mix dry ingredients together and pour over nuts in bag, shake and coat them all well. Spread them out in a single layer on large sheet cake pan or cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes. Carefully turn nuts over and bake another 30 minutes. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Angle Food Cake Topping

I love Angle Food Cake. I could eat a hole one myself. One of my favorite toppings is Orange Whip Cream. It is so good.

In a small sauce pan combine the zest of one orange and the juice of 2 oranges. Put over med-high heat and bring to a light boil stirring often. Then stir in 1 T corn starch 3T water mixture. The orange juice will thicken up. Take off heat and let that cool. Whip up 2 cups heavy cream adding vanilla and sugar to taste. Finish by whipping in the cooled orange gel. Now the topping is ready. Enjoy!

The Best Taquitos

This makes a ton. Great for a party, also a good one for a dinner group meal or freeze and have another day. No matter what they are good!

Chicken Taquitos from Olivia Wood

1 baked chicken
1 14 oz can enchilada sauce
1 package flour tortillas, about 12-20 depending how much chicken you use (8-10 inch will work)
shredded cheese
olive oil
Shred the chicken. Add the enchilada sauce (probably not the whole can, just until all of the chicken is coated), and stir. Warm the tortillas on a skillet one at a time. Once warm fill with a small amount of chicken and some cheese. Roll one side of the tortilla over the filling and then finish rolling as tight as you can get it. Put into a pan of hot olive oil to cook. Put the seam side down. Turn when brown. Brown each side and put onto a paper towel to get the extra oil off. Top with your choice of salsa verde, pico de gallo. (green salsa and fresh chunky salsa), guacamole, sour cream, etc. Serve with beans, rice, and or tortilla chips.

Fresh Salsa

This is so yummy!

Fresh Black Bean Salsa

1 15oz can Black Beans, rinsed and drained
1 17oz can Corn drained (4-5 ears if you have some)
2 cups Grape Tomatoes cut in to fourths and seeded (I like the sweetness of these but you can use what you have on hand)
1 Large Avocado deiced
1/4 Chopped Oinon
1/4-1/3 Chopped Fresh Cilantro (1T dried)
1 T Red Wine Vinegar
3-4 T Olive Oil
1 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Pepper

One of my fams fav

Colby asks for this one all the time. It is an easy to do meal.

Mexican Hot Dish

Brown 1 lb lean hamburger & 1 chopped onion with 2 clove garlic minced
Add 2 T Chili powder, 1T Dry Cilantro, 1T Cumin & salt/pepper
Add 2 cans tomato soup+1 ½ cans water.
Let simmer 15 min.
Place in 9x13 pan & pour corn bread dough on top
(I use 1 box jiffy corn muffin mix)
Bake @ 375 for 25 min. We serve in bowls with sour cream on top.