I got a GREAT zucchini recipe from my cousin Jody-it's the best thing I've tried with zucchini so far...I changed it a little bit though...I added the chicken and the chicken broth and I cubed the zucchini instead of slicing it.
Zucchini Casserole 4 chicken breasts-cooked and cubed 2 1/2 C cubed zucchini
1 C chopped onion 1 1/2 C shredded carrot 6T butter 2 pkgs (boxes) stuffing mix (stove top or store brand) 2 cans cream of chicken soup 16 oz sour cream
Saute zucchini, onion and carrots in butter until tender crisp. remove from heat and stir in soup, sour cream, and stuffing.
Mix in 1/4 - 1/2 box of chicken broth. Cover the bottom of a sprayed 9x13 pan with the cooked cubed chicken. Bake at 350 for 30-40 mins.
This is a good recipe, but I think I'm going to try it with no peanut butter mixed in with the chocolate...let me know if you try it what you think of it. I got it from Taste of Home. I LOVE their recipes! I always used their recipes when I was doing catering and never had a complaint about the food-ever! Most of the time people were asking for the recipe!
This was wayyy easier than dipping all those buckeye balls-and then trying to cover up the toothpick hole in the top!
Directions: In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup peanut butter, butter, confectioner's sugar and salt until smooth; set aside.
In a microwave, melt the chocolate chips, candy bars and remaining peanut butter; stir until smooth.
Drop teaspoonfuls of chocolate mixture into paper-lined miniature muffin cups. Top each with a scant teaspoonful of peanut butter mixture; top with another teaspoonful of chocolate mixture. Decorate with sprinkles if desired. Refrigerate until set. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 3 dozen.
I took my family's favorite dessert to my nephew's farewell party on Saturday as a thank you gift for my sister-in-law for being a picker for hire for me. It went really fast! It always does. I thought I'd share the simple recipe with you so you can enjoy it too!
Bake 1 box of brownies according to directions on box. Cool completely. Mix 2 small boxes of fat free, sugar free chocolate pudding with milk (use amount specified on box) and set aside.
Smash two double packs of Heath bars in the package with a rolling pin until small chunks. Thaw 1 large cool whip container-I usually use fat free.
Break up the brownie into small pieces and line the bottom of a glass bowl or trifle dish with brownie. Cover with a layer of chocolate pudding. Cover with a thin layer of Heath bar chunks. Cover that with a layer of cool whip.
Repeat layers until you end up with cool whip on the top and sprinkle with heath bits. it is better when it has a chance to sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving.
Today is the day for the big family Christmas party at my Dad's brother's house. It is the one time a year that all the brothers and their families get together. There should be about 35-40 people there. We are doing appetizers this year instead of a full turkey dinner.
I am bringing pigs in a blanket and asparagus beef roll ups. The pigs in a blanket are just mini sausages rolled up in crescent roll dough and baked. The asparagus beef roll ups are as follows:
36 asparagus spears (trimmed)
1-8 oz carton spreadable chive and onion cream cheese
3-5 Tbs. prepared horseradish
36 slices deli roast beef
Blanch asparagus spears for 3 minutes and immediately immerse in ice water. Blot dry with paper towel. Mix together cream cheese and horseradish. Blot dry each slice of roast beef and spread with cream cheese mixture. Place an asparagus spear at the edge of the beef slice and roll up. Arrange on platter, cover with wrap and chill for 1 hour prior to serving.
This is what my dishes to pass look like:
My mom is making buffalo chicken dip a swiss cheese dip and a cheese ball.
We tried a new snack mix recipe yesterday. I found a recipe on line, and my mom and I modified it to our taste.
1-17.9 oz box Crispix cereal
2-12oz cans of peanuts
1-1 lb. bag mini pretzel twists (I think butter braids would be better)
6 qts popped popcorn
2 family size bags of plain M & M's
Glaze:
2C. butter
2/3 C. Karo Syrup
2C. Brown Sugar
Directions:
Melt butter. Add in corn syrup and brown sugar. Bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes and remove from heat.
In a large bowl, mix together all other ingredients (except M&M's). After the glaze mixture has cooled a bit, pour it over ingredients in large bowl. Stir to coat well. Pour onto sprayed cookie sheets and bake at 250 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and either pour onto wax paper to cool or into large bowls to cool. When mostly cool, add in M & M's. Store in airtight containers.
I made a TON of this for gifts this year-hope you enjoy the recipe as much as we do!
2C Brown Sugar
1/2C Karo Syrup
2 Sticks Butter
1/4tsp Cream of Tartar
Combine and bring to a boil. Cook 3-3 1/2 more minutes. Remove from heat. Add 1/2 tsp baking soda. Pour over 6 quarts popped popcorn. Mix well. Bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour on cookie sheet. Dump out on wax paper to cool.
Brown meat. Add onion soup mix and rice. Chop cabbage and put in bottom of 13 x 9 dish. Spread meat mixture over top. Mix soup and water and pour over meat. Cover with foil and bake 1 1/2 hours at 325 degrees.
Here is a recipe that my family loves-maybe your family will like it too!
Ingredients
1 29 oz. can pumpkin puree
3 eggs
1/2 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 C. white sugar
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 18 1/4 oz. pkg. spice cake mix
1/2 C. coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 C. melted butter
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, eggs, brown sugar, white sugar and milk. Stir in cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Pour into pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over the pumpkin filling. Sprinkle pecans over the cake mix. Drizzle melted butter over all. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Is very yummy served slightly warm!
When we buy bananas, we usually buy one ripe and ready to eat bunch and one very green bunch. This past week there was so much fruit in the house, the bananas got over-ripe. I like to eat bananas when they are just past the green stage-once it has spots on it, I don't care for the sweeter flavor. I made a ton of banana bread tonight and boy did it make the house smell yummy!!
This is the BEST recipe I've ever found for banana bread. Try it yourself and let me know what you think!
1/4 C. Butter, softened
3/4 C. Sugar
2 Eggs
3/4 C. Ripe, mashed bananas (about 2 med.)
1/2 C. Sour cream ( I used Fat Free and it turned out just fine)
2-1/4 C. Flour
1 tsp. Cinnamon
3/4 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 C. Chopped walnuts
1 C. Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in bananas and sour cream. Combine dry ingredients and add to banana mixture until just moistened. Fold in nuts and chocolate chips.
Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.
I made 5 loaves!! One is almost totally gone already and it hasn't even had a chance to completely cool!! I'm sure the bread will all disappear by this time tomorrow!
Had a fun day today! Five Families came over for an end of summer potluck! We had some really yummy food to go along with our burgers and dogs-kids running around-a little sand volleyball-and a lot of catching up and visiting!! Fun Times! Adam even had 3 of his friends spend the afternoon with us.
I made a pumpkin dump cake-YUM! Why do I only think of pumpkin as a fall dessert? I plan on making this more often! Here is the recipe in case you want to try it...
Ingredients
1 29 oz. can pumpkin puree
3 eggs
1/2 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 C. white sugar
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 18 1/4 oz. pkg. spice cake mix
1/2 C. coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 C. melted butter
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9x13 pan.
In a large bowl, combine
pumpkin puree, eggs, brown
sugar, white sugar and milk.
Stir in cinnamon, ginger,
cloves and salt. Pour into pan.
Sprinkle dry cake mix
evenly over the pumpkin filling.
Sprinkle pecans over
the cake mix. Drizzle melted
butter over all. Bake in
the preheated oven for
50-60 minutes, or until the
edges are lightly browned.
Is very yummy served
slightly warm! Extra yummy
served with a scoop
of vanilla ice cream!! Enjoy!!!
I just LOVE Chili's chips and salsa! I could just eat that and skip the meal! When I find a dish (or any menu item) that I like, I usually go searching online for the recipe. This time I found one that comes really close to Chili's salsa, and my family eats it just as fast as the guacamole! I usually make a double batch every week to two weeks. It is super easy and has just the right amount of zip.
Start with a large (28 oz) can of whole tomatoes-I usually get them at Walmart because they are cheaper than anywhere around. Drain off most of the liquid or juice as they call it on the can. Then throw them into your blender (yep! I said blender!)
Vidalia or yellow onions. Chop about 3/4 of a cup (give or take to your taste).
Next add your spices. I usually add in somewhere between one and a quarter to one and a half tsp. of garlic salt (not powder-you need the salt with the tomatoes), and one to one and a quarter tsp. of ground cumin. (I think the stuff smells like stinky armpits myself...but it does ad a nice taste to the salsa).
Then add a whole big can-28 oz. Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies (sorry if the picture is confusing-I could only find the small can in my pantry). Drain all of the liquid off -if you like thinner salsa, leave some liquid. We like ours thick, so I drain the cans.
Then pulse your blender 6-10 times and viola! you have super easy, super yummy salsa that goes quick! You can cut the recipe in half if you don't have 2 (always hungry) teenage boys living in your house-or just do a Google search for the Chili's salsa recipe. It is cheaper than buying store bought salsa, and we like it way better! We haven't bought prepared salsa in months and months since I found this recipe.
A quick dip you can make with your salsa includes mixing a brick of cream cheese, some shredded cheddar and some salsa-mmmm, mmm,mmmmm! Mash it all together with a fork and leave some bigger clumps of cream cheese. It will be a very thick dip. You can use regular tortilla chips or lime tortilla chips.
Hope you get a chance to try the salsa and the dip and you find it as delish as we do!
My family has been devouring homemade guacamole lately...and I have to say, it is pretty easy to make (if you can handle a pinch of this and an pinch of that-I have a friend who would literally start twitching if she couldn't measure each and every ingredient).
Here's how easy it is...only 5 ingredients!
4 ripe avocados
Some chopped red onion (however much you like-start with less and add as you taste)
A dash or two of salt and pepper (to taste)
A squirt of lemon juice (to taste-can be fresh or bottled)
Mash the avocados with a large tine fork, but leave some lumps. Then mix in the rest until you reach YUM!
Well, it looks like we ended up with about 1125-1135 people for Easter breakfast yesterday at church. We got so busy once we got the buffet lines set, I totally forgot to snap some pictures! We had 50 round tables set up in the gym with half of the tables with white tablecloths and half lilac. The buffet line was lilac tablecloths with white skirting-same for the beverage table and coffee cake table. I did get a few early shots of the food in the fridge though- I love our church's walk in refrigerator and freezer!! They both hold an amazing amount of food! Too bad I'm not doing the church picnic (for 1500) this year-I'd LOVE to show you just how much we can pack in!
This is called breakfast casserole. It is a recipe from Taste of Home. It has hashbrowns, eggs, ham, green pepper, cheese and onions. We made 15 of these full size pans. We had a little extra ham at the end, so we went back and sprinkled some extra on them.You can find these recipes on the Taste of Home website or scroll back a few posts and I have them here on my blog.
This is Blueberry French Toast casserole. It is also from Taste of Home. It has white bread, eggs, syrup, vanilla, cream cheese and blueberries in it. When it baked, it was taller than the pan! We made 15 of these as well.
This is called Festive Fruit Salad, it is also a recipe from Taste of Home. What can I say, they have AWESOME recipes! The topping for this fruit salad is so good, people were asking for it a couple weeks before the breakfast! The topping has cream cheese, cool whip, lemon juice and powdered sugar-yum!
The bags on the shelves are scrambled egg product from GFS. One of my volunteers who was manning the beverage station, brought one to me during the breakfast rush and asked how much water he adds to it to fill the 5 gallon jug with orange juice! I was soo thankful that he asked me BEFORE he dumped it in the jug! LOL! We went through about 48 bags. What is great about the eggs like this, is you don't have to crack all those eggs, and they boil in the bag! I was skeptical at first, but it is a quick and less messy way to make scrambled eggs-especially for a crowd!
Ten pound bags of pancake mix. We went through 60 pounds. One of the ladies helping with the breakfast panicked and sent someone to the store, and had them buy another 50 pounds-we never ended up using it... We also served oatmeal with pecans, raisins, brown sugar and milk (that they could add themselves), yogurt, bananas and coffee cakes and mini donuts-and of course, sausage and bacon!
We had 33 gallons of orange juice all made up and ready to go. We used all of it plus another 18 gallons. We also had coffee-regular and decaf.
These are some pretty Easter flowers my hubby got for me! I LOVE the purple!!
I won’t be online for a few days. I will be busy preparing, cooking and serving Easter breakfast to our church congregation. I’m planning for about 1200, and we are serving scrambled eggs, pancakes, blueberry French toast casserole, breakfast casserole (with hasbrowns, cheese, eggs, green pepper and onion), oatmeal, fresh fruit salad (with THE best ever topping), coffee cake, bacon, sausage, coffee and orange juice-whew! Just typing all that was tiring! LOL!
I have a GREAT crew of volunteers to help this year and I’m looking forward to meeting and working with all of the newbies-as well as reconnecting with some faithful helpers who go wayyy back!
I hope you all have a great day focusing on and remembering what Easter is all about--the gift of eternal life through Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. Enjoy your time with your families and savor every moment!
Here are the recipes we are using, just in case you are interested in trying them out for your self...
Blueberry French Toast Casserole
12 Slices white bread cut into 2" cubes
16 oz. Cream cheese cut into 1" cubes
1C. Frozen blueberries
12 Eggs (beaten)
2 C. Milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 C. maple syrup
Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Spread half of the bread cubes in bottom of pan.
Spread cream cheese cubes over bread. Spread 1/2 C. blueberries over cream cheese and bread.
In a large bowl, mix the beaten eggs, milk, vanilla extract and maple syrup. Pour over the mixture in the baking pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Pull out of fridge and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour.
Blueberry Sauce:
1 C. Sugar
2 T. Cornstarch
1 C. Water
1 C. Frozen blueberries
1 T. Margarine
In a sauce pan, mix the sugar, cornstarch and water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook another 3-4 minutes. Mix in the remaining blueberries (1/2 C.). Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until blueberries burst. Stir in the butter and pour over the baked French toast casserole.
Garnish with whipped topping if desired.
Breakfast Casserole
12 Eggs 1-12 oz. can Evaporated milk 1 tsp. Salt 1/2 tsp. Pepper 1-30 oz. pkg. Frozen shredded hash browns 2 C. Shredded cheddar cheese 1 C. Chopped onion 1C. Chopped green pepper 1C. Cooked ham (cubed)
In a large bowl, combine eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Stir in hash browns, cheese, onion, green pepper and ham. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
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