LOADED POTATO SOUP

You need a potato masher for this so you can mash down the baked
potatoes into the broth as they cook. 

This is one of those recipes you have to estimate on. 

Bake up a bunch of potatoes, let them cool, then
scoop potato into a soup pan.
I use three large baked potatoes and it makes about six servings.
Add your chicken broth until you have the desired thickness. 
Remember you are also adding milk or half and half later.
Heat the broth and potatoes, mashing while heating to break

down the potatoes. 

Dice up a bunch of onions, celery, and carrots.
Sauté those in some butter until they are soft.
Add vegetables to the potato and chicken broth. Season with
pepper, salt, parsley and garlic powder
Let that stuff cook until the potatoes break down more
that will add some heft to the soup.
After that cooks for a little while...
add in some half and half or milk, whatever you
have handy to make
it creamy. Add some shredded cheddar. 
Let it simmer for a while.
While it is simmering, cook some bacon,
 nice and crisp and then crumble it.
When you are ready to serve, top with
some shredded cheddar and bacon and some chives or
chopped green onion.  

Molly's Corn Casserole

 1/4 cup melted, cooled, plus more, softened, for pan
1 (8.5-oz.) package Jiffy corn muffin mix
2 TB granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half
2 cups frozen corn, thawed, drained
1/2 shredded cheddar cheese
1 (15-oz.) can creamed corn 
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. paprika
chives

Preheat oven to 400°. Grease a 2-qt. baking dish with 

softened butter. In a large bowl, whisk Jiffy mix 

and granulated sugar until a few lumps remain.

In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, whisk eggs, 

milk, cream, spices syrup and melted butter. Add egg mixture to 

dry ingredients and stir until just combined. 

Stir in thawed corn, creamed corn and cheese.

Pour corn mixture into buttered pan. Bake casserole 

until set and top is golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes.

Top with chives. Let cool slightly before serving.

 

Susie's Candied Cranberries

1 twelve ounce bag fresh cranberries
2 cups 7Up or Ginger Ale
1 cup orange juice
1 cup powdered sugar (make sure it's fresh)

Combine the cranberries, soda and orange juice in a bowl.
Cover and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
After the cranberries have soaked, preheat oven to °200
Drain the cranberries, place in a large zip-loc bag, add the powdered
sugar and shake well until the cranberries are coated in sugar.
Transfer the coated berries to a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake 5 minutes. Be careful not to over bake.

Cool completely before placing in storage containers.

 

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

 8 oz Philadelphia brand cream cheese DO NOT SUBSTITUTE (do not soften, it should still be firm)
¼  cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla
1 egg
(Jumbo eggs are too large, only use yolk if all you have is jumbo)

1 cup canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
3/4 cup evaporated milk
½ cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten/1 egg, 1 yolk if jumbo 
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
Dash salt
One 9 inch deep dish pie shell

Beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and 1 egg with a
mixer until smooth and well blended.
Spread into the bottom of pie shell.
Mix pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, 2 eggs,
spices and salt with a whisk until well blended. 

Pour over cream cheese layer. Unless you have a very deep pie shell, you will probably
have a little bit of pumpkin mixture left over.
Bake on a baking sheet at 350° for one hour and fifteen minutes, or until set.
Garnish with maple syrup and pecan halves.

MABON APPLE CARAMEL CAKE

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla
1 stick butter, softened
2 cups flour, sifted
Pecans

Beat sugar and butter until creamed
Add eggs, one a time, beating afterward
Add soda, salt and vanilla
Add flour
Blend in apples and pecans.
Bake in buttered 9 x 13 at 325° for 45 minutes
or until golden and toothpick comes out clean.

Topping:
1 stick butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup evaporated milk
Cook until it comes to a boil
Take off of heat and
Then stir in 2 tsp vanilla

Poke holes in cake and pour topping all over.
Spread over cake with spatula, so topping drips into poked holes.

PERUVIAN CHICKEN MARINADE

1/3 cup soy sauce

 2 tablespoons fresh or bottled lime juice

Tsp garlic powder

1 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 

Black pepper to taste

 5 TB olive oil
Chopped onion

Whisk all ingredients (but onions) well.

Pour over three chicken breasts or 4 to 5 boneless chicken thighs. 
Top with chopped onion. 

Marinate 4 hours if cooking in oven or on grill. 

Marinate 1 hour if cooking in slow cooker. 

350° for 1/2 hour in the oven. 

4 hours on high in the slow cooker. 

You can use fresh garlic, but it tends to over power the marinade, so use sparingly. 

BACON STUFFED FRENCH TOAST

Sliced white bread (like Wonder) or thinly sliced french bread

Cooked bacon

Cream cheese, softened

Brown sugar

Eggs

Prepare as much bacon as you will need. Three rashers for regular bread, 

two for smaller slices of French bread. 

Lay your slices of bread out to dry a little. It will absorb the egg mixture

better that way. 

Mix one TB each of cream cheese and brown sugar for as many pieces as you will need. 
Each piece has two slices of bread.
This takes a while to mix well. 

Spread cream cheese mixture on the inside of two slices of bread. Add bacon

and make a sandwich. 

Mix eggs.

Dip the sandwiches lightly in the egg mixture and fry in butter until golden

brown. 

Serve with maple syrup. 

PECAN PIE COOKIES

1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup softened butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

Filling:

1 cup chopped pecans

½ cups brown sugar

¼ cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°. 

Combine all cookie ingredients except flour and baking powder.

Beat until creamy. 

Add flour and baking powder, mix until well blended. 

Shape dough into 1 ¼ inch balls. 

Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. 

Make indentation in each ball with thumb, rotate thumb to hollow out slightly. 

Combine all filling ingredients in a bowl. 

Fill each cookie with a 1/2 tsp of filling. 

Bake 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Makes three dozen.

**Note: This recipe is weird. In order to get the dough to filling ratio to work out you need two batches of the dough and 1 1/2 batches of the filling. 

PUMPKIN PANCAKES

1 1/4 cup flour
2 TB sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp each cinnamon, ground ginger, salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 cup milk or buttermilk (if buttermilk, 1 1/2 cups)
3 TB canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 TB melted butter or oil (I use oil)
1 egg

Whisk dry ingredients together.
In another bowl, combine milk, pumpkin puree,
butter or oil (mix these first) and egg. Mix well.
Fold wet mixture into dry mixture.
If batter is too thick, add small amounts of buttermilk until
desired consistency is reached.
You will want to cook these pancakes at
a lower temperature and a bit longer than
regular pancakes, due to the extra moisture of the pumpkin.
Serve with maple syrup & pecans.

VARIATIONS: Apple: Use applesauce instead of pumpkin.
                         Spice/Pecan: Leave out the pumpkin and put the pecans in the batter.

MOST EXCELLENT BAKED BEANS

Let me start out by saying that this is what the Sweet Potato Queens would call a "trailer trash" recipe. I have attempted and failed making baked beans from scratch. They never seemed to come out as good as these do. So I decided to go back to the tried and true "adding stuff to Campbell's pork and beans" method.
This recipe will make about three average servings.
You can double or triple it as needed.

1 can Campbell's Pork and Beans - 19 oz (or two 10 oz)
Black pepper (no salt, there is plenty in the canned beans)
A bunch of chopped up onion
2 TB brown sugar
A big splat of ketchup
A big splat of mustard
2 slices of bacon, crumbled

Mix all this stuff together, cover and let sit in the fridge for a few hours. It makes the flavors combine.
Then heat at 400° until bubbly.

KATHY'S FLUFFY EGGS

2 eggs
2 slices of bread
Butter
Parmesan cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Chives

Preheat oven to 350°
Toast two slices of bread, butter lightly and put on a cookie sheet
Separate two eggs, leaving the yolks whole in a separate bowl
Beat egg whites until stiff
Using 3/4 of the egg whites, pile them on top of each slice of toast, then make a deep well
in the middle of each pile of egg whites
Carefully place a whole yolk inside of each well and add salt and pepper
Use the remaining egg whites to cover and seal yolks
Sprinkle the top of each with Parmesan cheese and shredded cheddar
Bake for 12-13 minutes, then sprinkle with chives

Note from Molly: I think two slices of cooked bacon on each piece of toast before you start piling and adding eggs and cheese would be a delicious addition to this. Mmm, bacon.

MOLLY'S SINGLE LAYER CHOCOLATE CAKE

*Note: The buttermilk is what makes this cake so moist. Don't add the cocoa powder or chocolate chips and it makes a nice, one-layer golden cake.

1/3 butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla

1 cup cake flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°.
Beat sugar and butter. Add egg, buttermilk and vanilla and beat.
Whisk dry ingredients then whisk into wet, slowly, three portions at
a time. Pour into buttered 9-inch round cake pan.
Put in oven for 10 minutes, then remove and sprinkle chocolate chips over batter.
(If you mix them in with the batter and put them in from the start, the chips all sink to the bottom)

350° 40 minutes or until
center springs back.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar or frost with your favorite icing.

EGG AND HASH BROWN PIE

3 cups hash browns with onions, cooked
6 eggs, mixed well
Cheese of your choice (American, cheddar, mozzerlla)
Crumbled bacon
Chives, salt & pepper

Press the cooked hash browns into a pie pan, sprinkle crumbled bacon and cheese over hash browns,
pour eggs over that and season.
Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until set.

CRANBERRY ORANGE MUFFINS

      


  

     1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
     and mixed with a little sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt


The zest of a large orange
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk + 1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Chop cranberries and mix with sugar.
Set cranberries and sugar aside.
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add all ingredients except cranberries and pecans.
Stir well. Batter will be thick.
Fold in cranberries and pecans. Spoon into muffin cups. Fill cups to the top. Sprinkle tops with sugar. Bake 375° for 30-35 minutes. 

MOLLY'S MOST EXCELLENT PANCAKES

First of all, to make the very best pancakes ever, you need an electric griddle. They cook pancakes to perfection. You will never have to throw the first one away because you didn't gauge the pan temperature, the griddle does all the work. And they clean up very nice with a little baking soda and water.
Also, USE BUTTERMILK. Truly good pancakes are all made with buttermilk.

1 cup flour
2 TB sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt

1 1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk)
1 egg
1 TB oil
Fresh or frozen blueberries, if desired.
(If using frozen, thaw them out first and dab with a paper towel to drain
excess moisture)

375 electric griddle

Whisk the dry ingredients, then add the buttermilk, egg and oil and stir until well blended.
If you are adding blueberries, add them to the pancake rounds after you pour the batter on the griddle. The blueberries don't get mushed by the stirring process that way.
This recipe makes about 5 or 6 pancakes, double it for more.
Any leftovers freeze well if you wrap them up  nice and tight.

HRH JILL'S LARRUPIN' GOOD SWEET POTATOES

In HRH Jill's Veryown Words...


Okay, to make this larrupin' sweet potato stuff, you first want to boil a bunch of sweet potatoes. You want to end up with about 3 cups worth of mashed ones, so how ever many taters that is, use that many. You boil the sweet potatoes with the skins on, and after they're boiled, the skins just slip right off in your hand, practically. On the other hand, trying to peel one raw sweet potato, let alone a whole potful of them, would be enough to sour you on this recipe from the get‑go.

So boil 'em, them peel 'em, and dump them in a big bowl and put in AT LEAST 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup milk, 1 stick butter and 1 running‑over teaspoon of vanilla. You also need just a dash of salt in there or it will taste flat. The sugar part you have to do to taste: Start with a cup, and if it needs more, then by all means, put more. After you get done tasting and testing, then beat in 2 eggs. Trust me, you do not want to put the eggs in first and then go tasting to see if you've got enough sugar in there. After all that's done, put the tater stuff in a greased casserole dish. (You can make a vat of this and freeze it.)

The topping is the kicker. You want 1 cup of dark brown sugar, 1/3 cup butter, 1/3 cup flour, 1 cup of shredded coconut and 1 cup of pecan pieces. Stir that all up together and spread it over the top of the taters. Bake at 350 degrees for about a half hour.

MINI MEXICAN PIZZAS

3–4 large tortillas, or enough to cut out 12 small circles
½ cup chopped onions
1 cup browned lean ground beef
1/2 cup salsa
2 tsp dry taco seasoning
1/2 cup refried beans
1/2 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese

Preheat oven to 425ºF
Grease 12-count muffin tin
Lay each tortilla out and cut 3-4 circles using an empty can or glass
Press each circle into a muffin cup
Brown ground beef and onions until done, drain
In a small bowl, combine meat/onion mixture, salsa, taco seasoning and refried beans
Scoop a small amount of mixture into each tortilla cup
Top with shredded cheese
Bake for 10-12 minutes until cheese is melted
Let cool a bit and serve with sour cream and taco sauce

WANDA'S PUMPKIN BREAD

3 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
15 oz canned pumpkin
2/3 cup water
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups of flour SIFTED, added one cup at a time, stir after each addition
2 teaspoons baking soda
Nuts - if desired

Grease two loaf pans well. Preheat oven to 350°
Mix ingredients in order, stirring well after each addition. 
Blend until batter consistency. 

Pour into greased loaf pans.
Bake one hour to one hour and fifteen minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean.

CHICKEN OR BEEF FAJITA SOUP

1 TB olive oil
¾ cup chopped onion
¾ cup chopped green pepper
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

3 TB Fajita seasoning mix
½ tsp Mrs. Dash Southwestern Seasoning (optional)
½ teaspoon cilantro
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

2 cups cooked chicken, cubed

or

1 pound ground beef, cooked and crumbled

1 14oz can diced tomatoes

1 cup red kidney beans
1 cup frozen corn

Cooked rice (optional)
Tortilla chips and hot sauce for serving (optional)

Sauté onion and green pepper in olive oil until tender.

Add stock, then add all ingredients except for the kidney beans and corn.

Cook on low for an hour, then add the kidney beans and corn and cook for 15 more minutes.

Add cooked rice before serving.