Toll house pie

1 unbaked pie shell
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cups butter
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 325.

Beat eggs on high speed until foamy. Beat in the flour and sugars. Beat in the butter. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Pour into the pie shell.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted halfway between the edge and center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Creamy Chicken and Rice

My friend Julie gave me this recipe several years ago, and I forgot about it until the recipe card fell out of another cookbook the other day. It is definitely worth keeping in the rotation! I picked up some Velveeta at Costco the other day, and Abigail asked me what it was. I had to think, and then described it as "kind of fake, melty cheese," which made another lady in the aisle chuckle. I mean, I love the stuff, but my Tillamook roots make it hard to label it cheese.

5 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup butter or margarine, divided
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 tsp chicken bouillon granules
1/2 to 1 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
4-5 cups cubed cooked chicken
12 oz velveeta
2 cups sour cream
1 tube of Ritz, crushed

Spread rice into greased 9x13 and set aside.

In a saucepan melt 1/4 cup butter, stir in the flour until smooth. Gradually add the milk, bouillon, seasoning salt, garlic powder and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring a lot, for 2 minutes, or until thick and bubbly.

Reduce heat, add chicken, cheese, sour cream. Stir until the cheese is melted. Pour over the rice.

Melt the remaining 1/4 cup of butter and toss with the cracker crumbs. Sprinkle over the casserole. Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes.

Mexican Chicken Lasagna

Mexican Chicken Lasagna ~ one of my favorites! 1/4 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves
1 pkg 8oz cream cheese
2 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (in my case, whatevers in the fridge!)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can 28oz red enchilada sauce
4-5 flour tortillas or, 12 corn tortillas
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
Additional chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Soften cream cheese in microwave until very soft. Add chopped cilantro and 1 1/2 cups cheese. Mix together. Spread enough enchilada sauce over bottom of 9x9 pan to cover. Layer the following: 2 tortillas, enough enchilada sauce to cover tortillas, half of the cream cheese mixture, chicken and half of chopped onion. Repeat layers. Top with remaining cheese, cilantro and remaining enchilada sauce.
Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes
Note: to keep this from being too spicy I cook my chicken in broth in a crockpot. To spice it up, you can cook your chicken in salsa or a southwest seasoning.

Rømmegrøt

or Sour Cream Porridge


I found this in a Norwegian cookbook. The cookbook says it is one of the oldest recipes in Norway, always served on special occasions. It was an adventure to cook. I can certainly say that I have never boiled sour cream before!

We served it with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top, but the cookbook says it can also be served as a main course, along with cured meats and a red fruit juice.

2 cups sour cream
3/4 cups flour
2 cups milk
dash of salt
cinnamon sugar

In a saucepan, bring sour cream to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring frequently, then add half the flour and whisk it carefully. Skim off any butter (from the sour cream) that rises to the surface and set aside. (I didn't get any....)

Stir in the rest of the flour, 1 Tbl at a time. Stir in the milk. Simmer, whisking, for 5 to 6 minutes until the porridge is very smooth. (I had lumpy issues here, and ended up getting nice and smooth in my blender. I'm sure the Cuisinart has been around since early Norwegian times, right?) Season to taste with salt.

Serve with reserved (which I didn't have) butter and cinnamon and sugar.

Cheesy Chicken and Corn Casserole

Ingredients
1 can cream of chicken
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice
1 can corn, drained
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions
Stir the soup, water, rice, corn, and onion powder in a 12 x 8 inch shallow baking dish.
Top with chicken. Season chicken as desired. Cover.
Bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes or until done. Top with cheese.

This one was good but a bit meager. I would probably double the recipe next time (and it would still probably fit in the pan!) I would not, however, double the corn. It ended up being pretty corny-- no pun intended!

Mia's Enchiladas

The above is the view pre-baked. Here's what you'll need:
1 1/2 ground beef
1/2 onion
3 cups shredded cheddar
1 1/2 cups sour cream (DON'T use lite or fat free... that would ruin the whole thing!)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can sliced olives*
2 T chopped parsley*
1 small can diced green chiles*
*Any of these can be omitted if they are not to your liking
1 package (about 10) burrito size tortillas

2 cans enchilada sauce

Brown ground beef with chopped onion. Drain and put in a large mixing bowl.

Add all other ingredients (except tortillas of course), EXCEPT hold out one cup of cheese and only add one half can of enchilada sauce. (Save 1 1/2 cans for later)

Spray bottom of a LARGE baking dish, then pour in some enchilada sauce until the bottom is covered. Microwave tortillas until they are warm. Assemble each enchilada by placing 1-2 large scoops of filling into tortilla. Spread evenly and roll. Place about 10 in a pan. Cover with the remaining enchilada sauce. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Sprinkle last cup of cheddar over the top for the last five minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

We had lunch at church yesterday, and while Zachary picked cake for his dessert he had his eye on some chocolate chip cookie bars. So when I asked him if he felt like cooking anything it was a quick request to make these. They turned out very tasty, and have a lighter texture than regular cookie bars.

1 cup butter or margarine, melted
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9x13" pan.

Mix butter and sugars together. Add the egg and vanilla and mix. Add flour, soda, salt and mix. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spread into pan and bake for 25 minutes. Cool before cutting into bars.

Give Me S'Mores cake

I made this awesome cake for Trent's 1st birthday. It definitely took more work than a box cake BUT, wasn't that hard. And, it really tastes like a S'Mores! Cake:
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tsp. baking powder
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

Marshmellow Frosting:
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups miniature semisweet choc. chips, divided

Line two 9-inch round baking pans with waxed paper and grease the paper; set aside. In a large bowl, cream the shortening, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine cracker crumbs and baking powder; add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition.

Transfer to prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes or, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool (note: I let mine cool longer.. until the cake came away from the wax paper easily)

In a large saucepan, combine the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar over low heat. With a hand mixer, beat on low speed for 1 minute. Continue beating on low over low heat until frosting reaches 160 degrees, about 8-10 minutes. Pour into a large bowl; add vanilla. Beat on high until stiff form peaks, about 7 minutes.

Place a cake layer on a serving plate; spread with 2/3 cup frosting and sprinkle with half of chips. Top with remaining cake layer. Frost top and sides of cake; sprinkle with remaining chips.

Florida Seafood Casserole

Florida Seafood Casserole 1/3 cup minced onion
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup milk
1 cup half-n-half cream
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup peeled cooked shrimp
1 cup flaked crabmeat, cooked
1 8oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped pimento
1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided

In a small saucepan, saute onion in butter. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until smooth. Gradually whisk in milk and cream. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat, stir in rice, shrimp, crab, water chestnuts, lemon juice, pimento, parsley and 1/2 cup cheese.
Spoon into a greased 2-1/2 qt. baking dish. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining cheese just before serving.
Note: I left out the water chestnuts and parsley (because I didn't have them!) and doubled the recipe. It was very yummy!

Chicken and Stuffing Skillet

I think this came off of a soup label once upon a time....

1 Tbl butter
4 chicken breasts
4 Tbl butter or margarine
1 box of Stovetop stuffing
1 can of cream of whatever
1/2 cup milk
cheddar cheese

Melt the butter in a big skillet and then cook the chicken until done. Move the chicken to a plate, but in the same skillet boil 1 1/2 cups water and 4 tbl butter or margarine. Remove from heat and gently stir in the stuffing mix. Cover and let sit for 2 minutes. Fluff up and put the skillet back on the burner. Arrange the chicken on top. Stir together the cream of whatever and the milk and pour on top. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let heat through.

Indian-Thai Curry

This one is my own creation. Sort of.
Start with cubed chicken and cook with oil and garlic until done but not too brown.
Pour in one jar of Trader Joe's Indian curry sauce and one jar of coconut milk. Simmer for 20 minutes until chicken is fully cooked and sauce has become creamy. Serve over jasmine rice.

Tropical/BBQ Pork sandwich mix

This is a "dump and create" mix that I concocted one day. Sometimes those work, and sometimes they don't! This time, it really, really, really worked well, if I do say so myself!
Unfortunately, there are no exact measurements yet and probably won't ever be...:)

In the morning Put 4 pork chops (I use boneless) in your crock-pot. I dump them in frozen.
Then put in:
a "squirt" of mustard
a "big squirt" of ketchup
a "large handful" of brown sugar
the juice from 1 large or 2 small cans of pears or peaches (serve the fruit later with dinner!)

cook on low all day. When the meat is tender and done, take it out and shred or chop into tiny pieces.
Then thicken the "juice" from the crock-pot on your stove with corn starch in water. Make it pretty thick. Dump back in the pork, and you have a beautifully yummy tropical/bbq pork sandwich mix to serve on hamburger buns!

Pasta with shrimp and tomatoes

I had this huge craving for shrimp, so...

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups diced tomatoes
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons butter
salt and black pepper to taste

1 (16 ounce) package linguine pasta

1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the garlic; cook 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, and wine. Bring to a simmer and cook 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Once the tomatoes have simmered into a sauce, stir in the butter and season with salt and pepper.
Fill a large pot with lightly-salted water; bring to a rolling boil; stir in the linguine and return to a boil. Cook the pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through but is still firm to the bite, about 11 minutes. Drain well in a colander set in the sink.
Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the shrimp and cook until pink on the outside and no longer translucent in the center, about 5 minutes. Stir the shrimp into the pasta sauce, then stir the sauce into the linguine to serve.

Desi's easy rice and chicken mix

My mom used to make this mix when we were kids. It's simple and versitile, freezes easily and you can add other ingredients to jazz it up.

2 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup salsa
1/2-1 block cream cheese (depending on how thick you want it)
shredded cheese to taste (whatever you have on hand)
4 or more cooked chicken tenderloins, or whatever cooked chicken you have on hand

Mix the ingredients together and serve as burritos.

Sometimes I add 1/2 cup peas or 1/2 cup corn, or both to the mix. It also tastes pretty good as a sandwich mix, or served sloppy-joe style over hamburger or hot dog buns.
Mix a double batch and freeze some-it thaws beautifully.

Snickerdoodle Pie

I clipped this out of a magazine a few months back, but I can't remember from where. It is good served both warm or cold, although is very different each way.
Pie crust recipe of your choice

1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbl sugar

4 Tbl butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar

• Put a pie crust in a 9" pie pan. Place in fridge to keep cool while preparing the filling.
• Mix cinnamon and 1 tbl sugar together.
• Place an oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and place on the low oven rack.
• In a large bowl whisk together the melted butter, buttermilk, egg yolks, flour, vanilla, salt, and 1 cup of sugar. Pour into chilled pie shell. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
• Place on preheated baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Without opening the oven reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake until pie is set, puffed and golden, 20-30 minutes longer.
• Let cool on a wire rack and serve, or refrigerate and serve cold.