Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

I made this last night for dinner and it was super good. It is Kristin Burton's recipe from our church cookbook.

2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 large cans of white chicken meat
1 (16oz.) sour cream
1 small can diced chilies
1/2 t. salt
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/2 chopped green onions
8 lg. flour tortillas

Mix together chicken soup, chicken, 1 3/4 cup sour cream, green chilies, salt, and onions. Soften tortillas in a little oin in a skillet for a few seconds. Drain on a paper towel. Pour a small amount of the filling, just enough to cover the bottom of the 9X13 pan. Fill the tortillas with the filling and some cheese. Roll up and place in pan seam side down. Repeat for remaining tortillas. After all of the enchiladas are assembled, pour the remaining sauce on the top. Top with cheese and remaining sour cream. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

I had never used canned chicken for anything. It was surprisingly good and much faster.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Here's a yummy, easy, festive-looking Christmas side dish, courtesy Paula Deen from Food Network! I took it to my office Christmas party today, and everyone loved it! The saltiness of the pretzel crust, mixed with the melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese/Cool Whip mixture, plus the sweetness of the strawberry mixture, is delicious!


Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
See this recipe on air Sunday Dec. 17 at 7:00 AM ET/PT.
Show:
Paula's Home Cooking
Episode:
Christmas

Ingredients
2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 cup melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar, plus 3/4 cup sugar
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1 (8-ounce) container whipped topping
2 (3-ounce) packages strawberry gelatin dessert mix
2 cups boiling water
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen strawberries
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple
Whipped topping or whipped cream, to garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. For the crust, mix the pretzels, butter, and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Press this mixture into a 9 by 13-inch pan and bake for 7 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool. In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and 3/4 cup of sugar. Fold in the whipped topping, and spread over the cooled crust. Refrigerate until well chilled. In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water, and allow to cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pineapple, and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until serving time. To serve, cut slices and serve with a dollop of whipped topping.

Next party, I'm bringing stuffed mushrooms, which are lots of fun. I'll post on that next week when I decide what recipe I'm going to use.

Secret ingredient Waffles

These are seriously the best waffles I've ever eaten: so light and crispy! I got it from Simple and Delicious. The secret: club soda instead of milk!

Light 'n' Crispy Waffles

2 cups Bisquick
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup club soda

Mix all ingredients except club soda well. Add club soda and stir until smooth. Bake in waffle oven!

Broccoli Cheese Rice Casserole!

I also had many requests for this recipe. It is Leeanne Paris' recipe from our church cookbook. This is the same recipe I took to our class Thanksgiving party.

2 c. uncooked rice
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can broccoli cheese soup
1 lb. broccoli
1 lb. velveeta

Cook rice according to directions. Steam broccoli or cook according to package. Mix cooked rice, broccoli, and soups together. Cube velveeta and melt in microwave, stirring every minute. Add velveeta to soup mixture until thoroughly mixed. Pour into a 9X13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge, but will take longer to cook. ENJOY!

Christmas (Or Anytime) Toffee

I had many requests for this recipe over Thanksgiving, especially the two Kim Mauck's so, here it is. I hope you aren't on a diet!

1 lb. butter
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 oz. slivered almonds
2 giant Hershey bars
chopped nuts (pecans)

Melt butter and sugar in a saucepan stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until it reached 265 degrees. Add slivered almonds and continue cooking until it reaches 300 degrees. Pour onto a greased jelly roll pan and immediately put broken up Hershey bars on the top. When it is melted smear it all over. Top with chopped pecans. YUM!

Pumpkin dump cake

I'm also thinking about bringing this recipe to Thanksgiving: super-easy and a yummy alternative to pumpkin pie (which I've never been a big fan of). I copied and pasted from allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup margarine, melted
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Mix well, and spread into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle cake mix over the top of the pumpkin mixture, and pat down. Sprinkle chopped pecans evenly over the cake mix, then drizzle with melted margarine.
Bake for 60 to 80 minutes, or until done. Top with whipped topping when ready to serve.

Corn Casserole

At Kerri's request, here is my Corn Casserole. Kim, you could make this for T-giving. It is super easy. I made it for life group on Sunday and had many compliments.

1 Box Jiffy Cornbread mix
1 can corn
1 can creamed corn
1 egg
1/3 cup milk

Stir and pour into a greased 8X8 pan and bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes until golden.
Easily doubled for a 9X13 pan. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Kim's [higher calorie] family recipe:

1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
1 can creamed corn
1 can whole-kernel corn
1 egg
8 oz. sour cream
1 stick butter

Stir and bake in a greased 9x13 pan at 350 degrees for 50 mins to 1 hour.

Easy Crock pot Roast

Here is mine...........
It is from the top of my head and my memory so, forgive me.

Easy Sunday Roast

Get a roast, (Say, 4 lbs.).
Brown it in the skillet on all sides.
Put in the bottom of the crock pot.
Add potatoes (halved), carrots (baby, so you don't have to peel then), and some onion, chopped.
Pour one can of Cream of Mushroom soup over roast and veggies, then add one can of water.
Don't stir.
Sprinkle one envelope of Lipton onion soup on the top.
Don't stir.
Cook on low on Saturday night for 12-14 hours and it will be ready for Sundee lunch.
OR cook on high for 6-8 hours for weeknight dinner.
YUM!

My first roast!

So any meat besides chicken breasts, steaks, pork chops, and ground beef is generally a little frightening to me. Whole chickens, big roasts or hams, no way. Too high maintenance! All that basting and gravy-making and stuffing--not for me. So I took a baby step this weekend to making a roast: I took a small arm roast (cows have arms?) and made a gravy of water, soy sauce, onion soup mix, garlic, and sauteed onions, and cooked it for a couple hours after browning the meat on the stove. Then I put the meat and onion mixture on French bread, put mozzarella cheese on top, and used the juice for au jus! Roast beef sandwiches! They were delicious. The recipe is on Taste of Home, but it's a subscriber-only recipe, so I don't think you'll be able to see it. Here's the link, nonetheless, and I pasted the recipe here:


INGREDIENTS
1 boneless beef rump roast (4 pounds)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large sweet onions, cut into 1/4-inch slices
6 tablespoons butter, softened, divided
5 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon browning sauce, optional
1 loaf (1 pound) French bread
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese

DIRECTIONS
In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, brown roast on all sides in oil; drain. In a large skillet, saute onions in 2 tablespoons of butter until tender. Add the water, soy sauce, soup mix, garlic and browning sauce if desired. Pour over roast. Cover and bake at 325° for 2-1/2 hours or until meat is tender. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing. Return meat to pan juices. Slice bread in half lengthwise; cut into 3-in. sections. Spread remaining butter over bread. Place on a baking sheet. Broil 4-6 in. from the heat for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Top with beef and onions; sprinkle with cheese. Broil 4-6 in. from the heat for 1-2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with pan juices. Yield: 12 servings.

Audrey or readers, if you have a great recipe for roast that actually keeps the meat moist and flavorful, please post it!

Corn bread Ranch chicken

This one came from Taste of Home somewhere...

Mix one box Jiffy cornbread mix and one packet of Ranch seasoning in a big Ziploc. Dip chicken breasts in milk, and then toss in Ziploc bag. Cook in olive oil four minutes on each side, or until juices run clear.

Very fast, and tastes sweet and tangy at the same time! I do this recipe or a similar one about once a week; Jay calls it my specialty. The other way to do it is to mix 2/3 Italian or plain bread crumbs and 1/3 Parmesan cheese (these are ratios, not amounts), and dip your meat in egg, then this mixture, then cook the same as above. It would probably be healthier to bake it, but I've never tried that.

Believe it or not, my first beef-vegetable stew!

That's right, I'd never made beef-vegetable stew on my own before now! I have great taco soup, potato soup, and chicken tortilla soup recipes, and had never gotten around to fiddling with beef-vegetable. But the wind had a bit of a bite to it Tuesday, so I tried my hand at--and it was great! Here's what I did:

1 lb hamburger meat
1 lb frozen corn
2 sm. cans tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes (mine were basil and oregano flavored)
3 cups diced potatoes
2 cups frozen green beans
1 packet Lipton onion soup mix

Brown hamburger meat while you bring all the other ingredients to a boil in a soup pot (add water until soup reaches desired consistency). Then add hamburger meat, cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 30mins or so. Meanwhile, bake a pan of cornbread.

YUM!

Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It's melt in your mouth delicious with tortilla chips, and I don't even really like artichokes!

UPDATE: Make the dip in a smaller pan than 9 x 13; it got a little dry in such a thin layer. Also, it needs a bit more of tangy flavor or spice to it--perhaps more garlic? Some chopped onions? Chopped green onions on top, maybe? Must consider...

UPDATE: Frozen spinach! You can't find the fresh stuff anywhere, although I hear it's safe again now.

Best fruit dip

1 8-oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
3 Tbs. brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbs. maple syrup

Whip it all together and chill for an hour or so. I find the whipped cream cheese to make the smoothest mixture. Feel free to adjust amounts to your taste. I always taste the brown sugar and maple syrup bit out. Serve with slices/chunks of apples, bananas, strawberries, and pineapples. This is what I'll be taking to the OU/Texas watch party this weekend, along with Hot Artichoke Spinach dip, which is AMAZING! Coming soon.

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

4 boneless chicken breasts, thawed
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chilies
1 C. frozen corn
1 C. enchilada sauce
4 green onions, sliced

Place chicken in bottom of crock pot. Sprinkle with taco seasoning and brown sugar, toss to coat. Add green chilies, corn, and enchilada sauce. Cover and cook on low 6-7 hours (Or high 3-4). Stir chicken mixture with fork until chicken breaks apart and shreds. Stir in green onions. Cook an additional 15 minutes. Serve in taco shells with desired toppings. Enjoy!

This recipe is from Heather Stone. Okay Kim, your turn!

Poppyseed Chicken

Poppy Seed Chicken
4 chicken breast (cooked and chopped)
1 Can cream of Celery Soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 small package slivered almonds
1 8oz Sour cream
1 Tbs. Poppy Seeds
1 tube Ritz crackers (crushed)
1 stick of Butter (melted)

Spray and 11 x 13 casserole dish with Pam. Place chicken on bottom of dish. Mix Soups almonds, and Sour cream. Spread mixture on top of chicken. Mix crackers, poppy seed, and butter. Spread on top of chicken mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

UPDATE by Kim: I've made this twice now, and we love it! One thing I tried this last time is to put cooked egg noodles underneath the chicken, and it was GREAT!

Pumpkin Banana Bread

Thanks Kim for letting me join your Kitchen Blog. Now for the first post!

1 1/2 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Shortening
2 eggs
2 large very ripe bananas
3/4 C. solid pack pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 C. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C. chopped nuts (optional)

In large mixing bowl, cream sugar and shortening. Beat in eggs, mashed bananas, pumpkin, and vanilla, mix well. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and nuts. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 9X5 loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes ir until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Now, what to do with the left over pumpkin in the can. Add 2 eggs, 1/2 c. sugar, some evaporated milk (about 1/2 cup), and some pumpkin pie spice and pour into a little dish (mine was about 5X7) lined with a Pillsbury pie crust and you have a mini pumpkin pie. Serve with cool whip. YUM!

Next up, Poppyseed Chicken!

Easy Chicken Parmesan

Okay, this recipe might be a no-brainer, but it is so easy and good that I wonder why I don't make it more often. All you do is thaw your chicken breasts, beat them down to uniform width, and then dip them into beaten egg and water. Then dip them into a one-third/two-thirds mixture of Parmesan cheese and Italian-style bread crumbs. Cook them in olive oil for about five minutes, or until light brown on both sides. Then put them into a baking dish, dump some spaghetti sauce on top, and sprinkle a good handful of mozzerella cheese on top of that. Cook it at 350 for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, cook your noodles and prep some sort of green side dish. (I made good ol' broccoli this weekend, what with the spinach scare and all.)

Rainy Day Baked Potato Soup

Here's a yummy, easy Baked Potato Soup recipe. Diane gave it to me, and she got it from Pat Duncan.

Ingredients:
3 baking potatoes (or five or six red potatoes--my preference)
5 strips of bacon
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup instant mashed potatoes (I use the loaded baked potato mix for a little extra flavor)
1 stick butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk
Salt, pepper, Garlic salt
Add-Ins: Cheese, chives

Bake potatoes in microwave or oven. Meanwhile, fry bacon crisp and mix broth and potato mix. Melt butter in large soup pot (while it's melting, cut baked potatoes into chunks) , add flour. Then add milk. Stir frequently so this is a smooth sauce. Add potatoes and broth mixture. Add desired seasonings. Let simmer for 20 minutes or so. Serve it up with cheese on top!

Skillet Lasagna and Bacon-Ranch salad

I forgot to take pics of our meal Friday night; we were too hungry! I had my mother-in-law over for dinner, but I was short on time and energy, so I made a really easy Italian meal from Simple & Delicious: Skillet Lasagna! You don't have to cook it in the oven, and it's ready in about 30mins from start to finish!

The side dish was salad with a homemade, easy dressing. This one came from the Pink Tea Room cookbook. This lady in Calera turned her living room into the Pink Tea Room and served amazing food there. Then she published a cookbook! The great thing is, most of her recipes are pretty simple, except for her ridiculously complex pie crust. The dressing is called Bacon Ranch Viniagrette, and it's sweet and sour and yummy on spinach:

1 packet of Ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup veggie oil
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 T. light brown sugar
4 T. bacon bits (I just fry up four short slices of bacon and crumble them)

Enjoy!

Beef Stroganoff

The Betty Crocker Bridal cookbook has a great beef stroganoff recipe. However, DO NOT add the sour cream until the very end. (If the sour cream gets too hot, it curdles or something.) I added it at the beginning and remembered just in time to turn the heat down, so the other stuff didn't get to simmer together like it was supposed to. Ah well! It turned out great, with a side of roasted asparagus (Martha Stewart recipe): After washing and snapping asparagus, place on cookie sheet with a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roll the asparagus around on the sheet to get it evenly coated. Then sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. Cook at 400 for 8 or 9 minutes. Fast and delicious!

Thrown-together meals

J's been busy this week, so I haven't done much cooking. However, one night I did make one of my favorite slapdash meals: Gourmet breakfast burritos!

I don't really like breakfast burritos, but these things are great!

Cook smoked sausage (or I buy the pre-cooked kind, so I just warm them in a skillet) OR Polska Kielbasa. Keep warm.

Then fry up some potatoes (I like sliced new potatoes).

Scramble some eggs.

Serve all piled up with salsa in a flour tortilla!

Tabouli!

Yum, yum, how I love tabouli! Unfortunately, I didn't get this recipe online, so no links here. I was picking up some fresh fruits and veggies in Wal-Mart, and spied a package of "Taboli" wheat, made right here in Oklahoma! It's a company called Bishop Brothers, out of Bristow, and the recipe on the back was good. I think I'll add some minced garlic next time for a little more kick, though. Good add-ins (they were suggested on the bag) were green onions and chopped cucumber.

Alas, I thought I had a pic of this, but I don't. I'll try to post one, because it is a truly beautiful food! I'm going to buy some pita bread today so I can fully enjoy it in all its Greek glory.

A Tabouli haiku:

Tiny bits of health
Tomato, wheat, parsley
Crunchy, munchy, yum!

Shrimp fajitas!

Tonight was an example of a little bit of a bunch of stuff going a long way. I had half a bag of frozen shrimp, one bell pepper and as much onion as an onion-loving girl like myself could want. Of course, I always have Guaca-Salsa, Cheddar Jack cheese, and Tostitos restaurant-style salsa on hand, so I grabbed this stuff, too.

Thus, Shrimp Fajitas were born! I threw the stuff in a pan, and after they'd gotten pretty well cooked, I added about half a cup of water and about half a bag of fajita seasoning and let it cook a little longer.

P.S. I have newfound respect for food stylists, a career I heretofore considered utterly silly. It's tough to make especially my sloppy style of cooking look appetizing on film.

French turkey

I tried another TOH recipe last night: Turkey with mushrooms and sour cream, a dish that is supposed to be decidely French, so I thought hmm..tres bien! Uh....not so much.

Don't get me wrong; the dish was excellent, but it turned out more like quick turkey and rice than Turkey with mushrooms and sour cream on a bed of hot rice.

First of all, the sour cream sauce went totally awry. I didn't have as much sour cream as the recipe called for (my 8oz was only short a couple spoonfuls, though!), but that couldn't have been the only reason the sauce came out looking like a lumpy gravy (that's the muck in the Pyrex cup), instead of a smooth white sauce. Hmmm...don't really know what happened there. Maybe it was because I also had to substitute chicken broth for water and chicken bullion (but that should be pretty comparable, though, right?). I don't know. Here what I did when I saw the sauce staying muddy brown: I panicked. I scanned the fridge for more sour cream or something comparable to sour cream (here I go again with my crazy substitutions!), and grabbed a squeeze bottle of mayonnaise! What was I thinking?

Anyhoo, the idea of a bed of hot rice didn't really appeal to me too much, so I cooked minute rice and then added some cream of mushroom soup and chicken broth. Now that's a bed of creamy, yummy rice!

Overall, Jay and I gave the meal two thumbs up, despite the minor catastrophes during its preparation. I even had Jay going for a minute when I told him I'd tried to make caviar (the mushrooms were chopped a bit too fine, and did resemble yucky fish eggs a little).

Chunky Apple Cake

I made this last night for Diane's b-day dinner. It was excellent! (So excellent I forgot to take a picture until I'd already eaten my piece--this is J's half-eaten piece.) Anyway, it should be excellent: it won Taste of Home's apple recipe contest! Find the recipe here. It's not like an ordinary apple cake: it's like half apples and half very stiff cake batter. The crowning glory is a de-lish butterscotch sauce (easy, too: butter, brown sugar, and whipping cream) that you pour over each piece. It soaks it in like a sponge!

P.S. Thanks for the fish tip, Audrey! It's really hard for me to remember to defrost meat; I rarely decide what I'm going to cook until about an hour before dinnertime.

Good ol' Southern meal

Dinner was pretty good, but not so healthful:
Fried fish
Fried okra
Corn on the cob

Note to self: Fried okra does not count as a vegetable. Do not serve next to a fried entree, such as deep fried fish. I'm feeling a little bit of the not-so-fresh feeling right now...

Unearthed the Frydaddy tonight, filled it with half a bottle of veggie oil and tossed some cornmeal-coated fish in. How big of a pain is it to defrost frozen fish? Anyone have a better way to freeze fish so it doesn't get all partially cooked and mutilated and torn apart when you defrost it? What do you do, Audrey? I used Pa-in-law's famous fish coating recipe, but it wasn't so good to me. I think I overcooked the fish, so the flavor wasn't as full. I think the recipe is kind of a secret, so I'm afraid to publish it here. I'll give one secret ingredient: Ranch dressing. That's all I'm going to say.

No more Mexican corn!

Why oh why did I think cream cheese corn would be good if it was Mexican cream cheese corn?! I never like cream cheese corn--non-sweet cream cheese is never good for me. Yet, I had NO side dishes for Mexican casserole, so I thought Mexican cream cheese corn would be good. Yuck!

Ingredients, in case you care: frozen corn, frozen chopped bell pepper, cream cheese, butter, minced garlice, and chopped onion. All those ingredients are so good individually and in other recipes, but in this one, it was a mixed-up mess.

Mexican cream cheese corn: Unsuccessful venture into unknown recipe territory!

Pot o' beans

I've had a request from one of my (okay, my only) reader (love ya, Liss!) about how I make beans. Yes, they're a favorite in our family, ALWAYS mashed up with cornbread, unless you're weird like my husband. (He eats them with ketchup, with cornbread on the side, the sicko.)

My last pot was AMAZING and PERFECT--my first time for this! So now I'm an expert. The previous pot stunk up the whole house, I burned them so bad. I do not recommend cooking beans on heat higher than medium.

Here's what I do:

Quick-rinse the beans by rinsing them in a colandar, then dumping them in the pot and then filling it up with water. Do this three times. Fill the pot half-full with water and place it on the stove on medium heat. While the burner is warming up, add chunks of onion and the meat of your choosing. Note on the meat: A very seasoned, savory hambone is the absolute best, but bacon will do as well. In fact, my PERFECT pot of beans was done with bacon. Add a couple tablespoons of salt. I've learned it's best to add a small amount of salt early, and then add the rest when you can taste the beans later.

Bring this to a boil and then cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for three hours or so, adding water every half-hour or so.

That's it! It's a fine art, beans-making.

Breaded pork chops, fried spinach, roasted onion potatoes

Great dinner tonight, if I do say so myself...and I do. (I must get this from my Nana--quick, but hilarious side story: At an after-worship ice cream social, I told Nana her homemade vanilla was excellent. She answered: "Yes it is! It was so good I had to get a second bowl!" I laughed and said, "If you do say so yourself!" Nana said, "That's right! I'm not afraid to brag on myself!" Oh, Nana, gotta love it--and emulate it!)

Anyway, I made a meal in about 45 minutes, but about 15 minutes in the middle was downtime to talk with Hubby and clean up my little kitchen messes, making for shorter cleanup time after. The longest thing; the thing I have to start first--even before defrosting the meat---was the roasted onion potatoes. Dice new potatoes and use the recipe from the back of the onion soup mix box. Once you've got that in the oven for 35 minutes, start the other dishes. Defrost the meat, and then, if you're using frozen spinach, stick four cups or so in the microwave for defrosting. While that's going, get started on the breaded pork chops--so easy and good! Get the dippers ready: Beat an egg in a shallow dish, and then a mix of bread crumbs, salt, and Parmesan or Romano cheese on wax paper, and then warm some olive oil in a pan. In another pan, melt 1/8 stick margarine AND veggie oil. Throw in some minced garlic and let the mixture get almost clear and very thin. Now, wring out the defrosted spinach really good with a clean dishtowel (watch out; it's hot!). Then toss in the spinach. Now dip the chops in the egg and the read crumb mixtures, and then put them in, and the spinach and chops can both cook at once, for about five minutes.

The chops are really moist and flavorful--I might even use Italian bread crumbs next time, so that there's more spices on them. The potatoes have a big, bold onion flavor--use less mix if you don't like the taste of onion so much (me, I love it!). The spinach is not as limp and mushy as it has been for me with other recipes, because you cook it so fast, and the butter and garlic make it a little less sharp-tasting.

GREAT, easy dinner!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This recipe is a possible contender for my first-ever Simple & Delicious submission. It's a combination of chicken tortilla soup recipes from All Recipes. Perhaps I should rethink the name though, considering there's no tortilla found in the soup.

Here it is, straight from a wrinkled, broth-spotted piece of yellow legal pad paper:

Ingredients:
1/2 an onion, chopped as fine as you like it (I use my mechanical chopper for a fine cut)
1 t. minced garlic
2 big squirts of lime juice
1/2 jar of salsa
1 can creamed corn
1/2 bag of frozen sweet corn
1 can green chiles
1/2 box chicken broth
1 can cooked chicken OR 2 uncooked chicken breasts, sliced
1 packet fajita seasoning
A couple dashes of cayenne pepper
Tortilla chips, Mexican cheese, sour cream, guacamole

Saute the onion and garlic in lime juice in a big soup pot. When onion is clearish, add the rest of the ingredients, except the fajita seasoning and cayenne. (If you're using cooked chicken, don't add it until you add the seasoning later.) Bring these ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer until chicken is cooked through. Add fajita seasoning and cayenne, cook a little longer. Serve over corn chips, with Mexican cheese, sour cream, and guacamole as add-ins! (Wal-Mart's Guaca-Salsa is AWESOME)

Delicious meal in a bowl!

Goal for this blog

I love Taste of Home and Simple & Delicious magazines, and all the recipes in it are written by home cooks like me. Actually, they're not like me, because they must be organized to have actually written down a unique recipe and kept it on hand. My unique recipes are usually spur-of-the-moment deals that are the result of emergency substitutions, leftover rebirth, or wild combinations of favorite flavors. I forget what all went into it as soon as it's edible.

One of my goals for this blog is to document one of my tasty, unique recipes and see it published in one of these great mags.

Oh what a proud, happy day that will be!

Great meatloaf

Definitely going in my reliable recipes file. Even Hubby, who professes not to like meatloaf, got seconds! The good stuff: lots of finely chopped onion, parsley, and a topping of ketchup, brown sugar, and dry mustard.

I quadrupled the recipe for our weekly after-church meal, making two 9 x 13 pans of it, and it was just enough. (Perhaps I should quinutple it next time even?)

From the BH&G cookbook!

Welcome to my kitchen!

Well, this place is pretty plain, but words will fill it up better than nothin'. I'm having problems remembering which recipes were good, which ones took forever, which ones I want to try, etc. So here I am, with another blog! I'll chronicle my attempts at whipping together dinner every night for my hubby, and the occasional guests. It's generally haphazard; 30-minute meals are my specialty (although I've never tried one of Rachael Ray's).

I cooked a ginormous amount of meatloaf this afternoon because it's my turn to bring meat tomorrow for the after-church meal. I'll post tomorrow on how it turned out.