Crock Pot Chicken Alfredo

Ingredients

2-4 chicken breasts

1 cube butter

1 pkg Good Seasoning Italian Dressing, dry (I used Montreal chicken seasonings instead)

8 oz cream cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 can water or milk

pasta or rice.

Instructions

Place the chicken, butter, and dry italian dressing in crock pot. Cook 3-4 hours on low.

Take chicken out and shred it

Add cream cheese, cream of chicken soup, and water or milk.

whisk together until most of the lumps are gone. Put chicken back in for about an hour. Serve over pasta or rice.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts

2 apples

1/3 vine of grapes

4 celery sticks

1/3 cup diced walnuts or pecans

miracle whip or mayo

cooked bacon (optional)

salt & pepper

Instructions

Boil the chicken until cooked. Dice up all ingredients and put them into a big bowl. Mix in miracle whip until there’s just enough to make ingredients start to stick together. Serve immediately or refrigerate until you’re ready to eat it! (great for planning ahead and leftovers). Serve sandwiched in bread or rolls.

Notes:

These measurements are estimated. Paralee Richins and Diedre made them and just told me what she put in them and I just made up how much of what goes in and they turned out great. Use however much of each ingredient you want according to what you like. This just gives you a feeling for about how much I used.

Aunt Dove’s Rolls

Ingredients

3 cup water

3 eggs (either warm them under warm water or set them out the night before)

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup sugar

1 TBS salt

3 cups flour

1 cup flour

2 TBS fresh instant yeast

3 cups flour

1/2 cup melted butter

Instructions

Put all of ingredients in the first section into a Bosch mixer and whip them up

Mix the 1c flour with yeast, add the the mixture and whip until spongy (at least 2 min).

Add flour until dough barely starts to come away from edges (about 3 cups)

Let dough rest and rise until very light

Roll dough and cut into circles, dip melted butter and fold over, put in pan. Let it rise

Bake for 10-12 min at 400 degrees. serve hot.

The ones in the picture are made with wheat flour. They taste better with white.

Cinnamon Rolls - Shaw Family Recipe

Everyone I shared these with kept telling me they were so good and unlike other cinnamon rolls, which was weird to me because I grew up with this kind so it's the normal kind to me. The difference is a sticky syrup you add in the middle. It's dang good!

Ingredients

1 TBS sugar

1 1/2 TBS Yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1 egg (beaten)

1 can evaporated milk

1 can hot water

1/2 cup oil

1/3 cup sugar

1TBS salt

3 cups flour

4-5 cups flour

1/2 cup light Karo syrup

1/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 can of Cream cheese frosting (optional)

Instructions

Put sugar and yeast in a small bowl. Pour warm water on top and set aside.

Mix all the 2nd set of ingredients in a mixer such as a bosh or kitchen aid with a dough hook, or mix by hand in a large bowl until thoroughly mixed. Add the yeast mixture and 4-5 more cups of flour until dough is just stiff enough to be handled. Beat until smooth and glossy. Let raise until double (about 1 hour).

Heat Karo syrup, butter, & brown sugar until boiling in a sauce pan on stove

Roll out dough to a large rectangle. Cover with a coat of butter then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Use above mixture to dribble over the dough and to partially cover the baking pans. Roll the dough and cut with dental floss or thread. Arrange in pans and let raise 1/2-1 hour. Bake at 325 degrees F for 20-25 min. That way the caramel stays soft and pliable.

Add frosting if you wish

Quesadilla Cups with Nectarine Salsa

It tastes really good when you substitute in mangos and cucumbers, but both are great! I got this at a pampered chef party and love love love it! I bought a mini muffin pan just to make these but I bet you could make them flat on a cookie sheet.

Ingredients

4 oz chihuahua or Monterey Jack cheese

3 6 in flour tortillas

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 medium firm, ripe nectarine (or mango)

1/4 cup roasted red peppers (or cucumbers), drained and patted dry

1 serrano pepper (seeded for hot, take out seeds for mild)

2 TBS finely hopped red onion

2 TBS finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 lime

1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut cheese into twenty four 1/2 in cubes. Brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Stack tortillas and cut into eight wedges for a total of 24 wedges. Press tortillas into cups of min muffin pan. Place one cheese cube into each cup. Bake 5-7 min or until edges of tortillas begin to brown and cheese is melted.

Meanwhile, for salsa, dice nectarine (or mango) and roasted pepper (or cucumber). Finely chop serrano pepper, onion, and cilantro. Juice line to measure 1 TBS. Combine nectarine, peppers, onion, cilantro, juice and salt in a bowl and mix well.

Remove pan from oven. Cool cups in pan 2-3 min. Carefully remove cups from pan to serving platter. Divide salsa evenly among cups. Sprinkle with addition finely chopped cilantro if desired. Serve immediately.

Image from Pampered Chef Website

Frozen Fruit Pops

Abigail is trying to finish up her 4-H Quick Meals project and the recipe for these fruit pops is part of the project. They are so easy and they tasted sooooo good yesterday when we were canning all day. Here is the recipe.

2 to 3 cups sliced or diced fresh, frozen or canned fruit
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar

Puree the fruit in a blender until smooth or mash fruit in a bowl. (Good fruit choices include strawberries, peaches, applesauce, watermelon and others.) Add the sugar. The amount of sugar you add will depend on the sweetness of the fruit. Pour the sweetened fruit into 4 to 5 small paper cups. Add a popsicle stick and freeze until solid.

Chili Chip Casserole

What you need:
1lb ground beef (When it's just Ethan and I, I go cheap and just use 1/2 a pound)
diced onion
1 can ranch beans
1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
Taco Seasoning
Tortilla chips (if I've got any crumbs from the bottom of a bag, or a bag that's been left open and gone stale, I use those for this)
Grated Cheese
Toppings:
Salsa, sour cream, hot sauce, ranch dressing, whatever else sounds good to you...

What you do:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Brown your hamburger in a large skillet with the diced onion. Drain the grease. Stir in the cans of beans and tomatoes. Add taco seasoning until it tastes yummy.
Grease a 9x13 pan and spread a layer of slightly crushed tortilla chips on the bottom. On top of the chips, spread a layer of the meat mixture. Add a layer of grated cheese. Repeat each of the layers one more time, then finish with a layer of crushed chips and grated cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melty and everything is warm all the way through.
Serve with whatever toppings you like (I know the ranch dressing sounds weird, but it's Ethan's favorite, he also puts on some salsa and hot sauce at the same time as the ranch).

No-Bake Cookies

This is the only picture I got of the no-bake cookies that we made/served at Carolyn's Baby Shower, so it'll have to work. 

I used to make these quite a bit, and they always set up. Right after marrying Cameron, he told me that his family is cursed and that their no-bake cookies never set up right. Since then, every time I make these cookies they don't set up! I was telling that to Em and Chip as I was making these, and Chip walked over, bonked me on the forehead and said "You are healed". Guess what...the cookies set up! The cookie demon who keeps cookies from turning out right left me. ;) They were yummy!

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in peanut butter, oats, and vanilla. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper. Let cool until hardened.

Dirt Cake

I know...I already posted this, so I'm not going to do the recipe again...but I wanted to post another photo of a recent dirt cake we did for Carolyn's Surprise Baby Shower. It was great fun! For the recipe, go here.