Sug's Turkey and Stuffing Casserole

8 oz box stuffing 2 1/2 c chopped turkey or chicken 1 c chicken broth 1/2 c chopped onion 1/2 c chopped celery 1/2 c mayo 3/4 t salt 2 eggs 1/2 c milk 1 stick butter 2 cans cr of mushroom soup Melt butter in 9x13 pan, coating the pan. Pour excess butter in bowl with all ingredients except soup, eggs, and milk. Pour mixture into 9x13 pan. Mix 1 can soup, eggs, and milk pour over casserole. Refrigerate overnight or freeze for later. Spread one can of mushroom soup over the top. Bake at 325 for 40 min. Sprinkle with cheese if you like and bake another 10 minutes. Serve with cranberry sauce.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Found this recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/3 cups pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 tablespoons coconut oil 

I threw in some blueberries (yum) and chocolate chips (in separate pancakes -- almost too rich). 

These were GREAT pancakes!

Chicken Veggie Stir Fry

I am reposting this from Allrecipes.com. Every time I try to find it (again), I lose it, so I am copying it here.

I like this recipe because it has ingredients that I generally have on hand (never have broccoli -- we live without it. Never have sesame seeds, either.)

1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half -

cut into thin strips

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

7 snow peas

1 cup fresh broccoli florets

1/3 cup julienned sweet red pepper

4 medium fresh mushrooms, sliced

3/4 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup cold water

3 tablespoons soy sauce

Hot cooked rice

1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted

 

In a skillet or wok, stir-fry chicken in oil for 6-8 minutes or until juices run clear. Remove chicken and set aside. In the same skillet, stir-fry peas, broccoli and red pepper for 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms and onion; stir-fry for 3-4 minutes. Combine cornstarch and sugar; stir in water and soy sauce until smooth. Add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Return chicken to the pan; cook until mixture is heated through and vegetables are tender. Serve over rice. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

After posting this and linking to this, I dug through more comments and found a recipe for homemade dishwasher detergent.

If I can spend less money and still get clean dishes, I'm all about it!

1/3 cup Borax
1/3 cup Washing Soda (not baking soda)
1/3 cup salt
4 envelopes lemon kool-aid, unsweetened ( or citric acid)–each envelope only costs 8 cents
Using a funnel, add the above ingredients to a 32 oz plastic bottle with a lid (I use an old white vinegar bottle). Add just enough warm water to cover ingredients, cap and shake well. Mixture will foam–release lid to let Co2 escape. Add more water, shake. Continue until bottle is full. Mixture will smell like a lemon drop. Fill dispenser with the mix; shake before each use. I use white vinegar in my rinse aid dispenser.

*(all of the above was copied and pasted. I have yet to try any of this. I do know you can buy plain citric acid in many pharmacies).

Hot Cocoa

Swiping a recipe from Deana:

Hot Cocoa

1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar
4 cups milk

Combine cocoa powder, sugar and 1/2 cup of the milk in a saucepan. Heat to just boiling, then add rest of milk. Heat without boiling.

Deana's editorial: "I melted some leftover candy canes in it and added a dash of my french vanilla coffee creamer. Super yum. Swiss Miss, it was nice knowin' ya."

Eclair Cake

A family favorite, SUPER easy!

In a 9x13, make a graham cracker crust.

(I crush a sleeve and a half of crax, melt 3/4 stick butter, throw in some cinnamon, mix together in 9x13 and bake at 350* for about 10-15)

Allow to cool completely.

In a separate bowl, combine 3 c. milk and 1 lg. box of instant vanilla pudding.

Stir until it begins to thicken. Then slowly fold in 1 container of Cool Whip.

Spread evenly over the crust.

Melt 1 tub of chocolate icing in microwave for about 45 seconds.

Pour slowly over pudding mixture. Spread evenly.

Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Pumpkin Muffins

I was asked to make these for teacher appreciation this week.

IF I had to make them again (for myself) I would leave the chocolate chips out (I'm not a huge chocolate fan -- go figure).

3 cups flour,
2 tsp baking powder,
2 tsp baking soda,
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Stir these together

In mixer beat

1 16 ounce can pumpkin

2 cups sugar

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups veg oil

Add to dry ingredients just until mixed an stir in 2 cups choc chips.

Divide into muffin cups. Bake 400 for16-20 minutes. Makes 2-3 dozen muffins.
Minutes.

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

I gained 5 pounds reading this recipe...

Walnut Cilantro Pesto

Antique Mommy is at it again!

This looks like a pesto I could actually make -- since I do know how to operate a food processor!

And, since I LOVE me some cilantro, I do plan on trying it.

Passing it along.

Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup

A yummy favorite at my house, this is like queso with some chicken chunks thrown in -- and just that nutritious!

4 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can Ro-Tel
1 pint half and half

1 pint milk

1 small pkg. Velveeta

3 chicken breasts, cooked, diced

salt, pepper, chili powder and cumin to taste

avocados and tortilla chips for serving

Melt Velveeta in microwave. Combine all other ingredients until warm, not boiling. (It's VERY easy to burn the milk on the bottom of the pan -- take your time with this soup). Great in a Crock-Pot on low. Serve over tortilla chips and/or avocado.

Cinnamon Honey Butter

Saw this from one blog to the other... Here is where I first saw it posted.

"2 Sticks Softened Butter

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

1 Cup Honey

2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon

Using the whisk attachment in your mixer, blend all ingredients until it is smooth and has an even consistency. Occasionally scrape down the sides of the mixer with a rubber spatula to ensure even mixing. Scoop all of it into a Ziploc bag and pipe it into the small quilted Ball jars. You don't have to use the plastic bag but it helped me from getting it all over the place and seemed to make clean up a cinch."

Sounds VERY yummy!

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Got this when I made a plea for what to do with leftover Rotisserie chicken. Obviously, the amounts are not exact for veggies, etc. but cook to your family's likes and dislikes.

Chicken

package of Wild Rice (cooked)

Carrots

Celery

Onions

4 c. chicken broth

1 can condensed milk

Saute' vegetables, combine all ingredients. Simmer.

Paninis

Someone suggested paninis for my 'what to do with rotisserie chicken' question.

Paninis are a favorite around here, though I confess that I forget about them from time to time. One of our favorites is like so:

Chicken cut into bite size pieces

(if it isn't already cooked, cook it with pesto sauce)

Basil pesto sauce -- mix with cooked chicken -- a tablespoon or two.

Sliced red bell peppers

Grated monterrey jack cheese

Sliced sourdough bread

It helps to soften the red bell peppers (cook with chicken) but not necessary.

Mix chicken with pesto, put on bread with bell peppers and cheese and grill like a panini. Simple, yummy.

Rotisserie Chicken, a dozen ways

So, today I have a leftover Rotisserie chicken. Yes, a whole one. Sam's sells them for $5, so I always buy 2. I usually use the 2nd one for chicken salad for sandwiches, but wasn't in a chicken salad mood (AND had nothing planned for dinner tonight so I needed it anyway). I posed the question on facebook: What should I do for dinner with leftover rotisserie chicken. Holy cow. Got quite a response. I will link to a recipe if I have one!

• Chicken Spaghetti
• Tortilla Soup
• Quesadillas
• Chicken Sour Cream Enchiladas (okay, who am I? Betty Crocker? What the heck?)
• Chicken Pot Pie
• Chicken salad
• Fettucini Alfredo
• Chicks-in-a-blanket (I made that name up -- chicken w/ grated cheese wrapped in crescent rolls cooked according to directions)
• Etouffe' (again... Betty Crocker? What?)
• Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup
• Chicken Tacos
• Chicken and Dumplings
• Fajitas
• Paninis

So, what are you waiting for? Get cooking!

Tortilla Soup II

SuperMom already posted one Tortilla Soup recipe. Mine is a hair different (minus the hair, though I was served Tortilla Soup with hair in it at a very fancy local restaurant when my husband came here to interview for his job, though that is an entirely different story).

Start your can opener:

2 cans cooked chicken or 4 cooked chicken breasts
2 cans chicken broth
1 can Ro-Tel
1 can Whole Kernel corn, drained
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can Ranch Style Beans
1 can Enchilada sauce
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Combine and heat (hello, Crock Pot). Serve with grated cheese, tortilla chips, avocado slices, and sour cream. And... if you are really feeling fancy, jalapeno cornbread muffins.

Updated so that I will remember this next time: Sarah, a double recipe of this does NOT fit in your 6 qt. crock pot. Here is what you do: pour everything except the chicken into the lg. crock pot. Cook the chicken (frozen as it can be) in smaller crock pot. Pause to give thanks for crock-pot liners. Once chicken is cooked and after soup has cooked a while, ladle some of the soup into smaller crock pot while you dice chicken. Divide chicken between two crock-pots.

Baked Potato Soup

This is my absolute favorite type of potato soup, VERY easy to do once you have 3 baked potatoes. (If you don't, that is why God invented microwaves -- they can be baking while you do the rest of this stuff...)

Brown together:

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. flour

Slowly add:

2 1/2 c. milk

Add 2 cans chicken broth (I make one of them Roasted Garlic chicken broth)

Simmer until thick -- 15-25 minutes.

Stir in 3 diced baked potatoes.

Serve with cheese and bacon bits.

Cobbler Recipe

Antique Mommy posted what looks like an awesome cobbler recipe.

Wanted a place to remember it!

Easy Special Sandwiches

I saw that my friend Judy had shared this recipe with someone on Facebook.

Totally ripped it off and slapped it up here on the blog!

Remind me that it's here (why, oh why, did the font just get smaller and I can't do a darn thing about it? Blogger makes me cuckoo!) Won't this be great with soups in winter and fall?

24 rolls (I like the Hawaiian brand)

deli meat of choice – I use three different kinds
cheese of choice

Marinade
½ stick melted butter
1/4t Worcestershire
1/4t poppy seeds
3/4t dry mustard
1 1/2t dry minced onion

Cut rolls in half, making a top and a bottom, like a sandwich
Place bottoms in 9x13 pan
Layer with your selection of meats and cheeses
Place the tops on each one
Prepare Marinade
Pour marinade over sandwiches
Refrigerate 2 hrs or overnight
Bake @ 350 for 15 minutes
Slice rolls apart & Enjoy!

Tammy's Cornbread Recipe

One type of food that I never really ate before moving to Texas was cornbread. And let me just tell you there are many different ways to make it. I have taken some of my Nana's tricks, along with a delicious recipe from my MIL and tweaked it into my own.

Tammy's Cornbread Recipe

To make it taste as good as it possibly can, a cast iron skillet is a must have. I use my 11 or 12" skillet.

2 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread Mix - I use Jiffy because my Nana used Jiffy which makes it the best. But she used it because it is a sweet cornbread mix.

Add 2/3 Cups Milk
2 eggs
1 small can creamed corn
1 small can corn niblets
1-2 cups of grated cheese (cheddar or colby jack)
1/2 cup chopped jalepeno's, or chopped green chille, or chopped green onion

Mix all up together. Let this mixture set for a couple of minutes to rest.

In the meantime put about 2 tablespoons real butter in your cast iron skillet and put it in your 425 degree preaheated oven. You will want to double check that temp. with what the Jiffy Box says and go with the box.

Once butter is melted take cast iron skillet out of oven and pour rested batter in skillet. Put back in oven and cook until brown on top. Takes about 20-25 minutes. Once brown then pull out of the oven and serve with warm butter, or as Paula Dean calls is Buttuh.

In Texas we serve cornbread with bar-b-que, soup, stews, black eyed peas, a bowl of beans.....

Some older folks might even pour milk over it in the morning and make cornmush, but I haven't fallen in love with it that much yet!

Laundry Detergent

I've actually taken to making my own laundry detergent. Yada, yada, environmentally-safe. More importantly, it's CHEAP!

Found the recipe here and wanted to put it somewhere I could find it!

So... that link is currently broken (gone?) so here is the recipe as I remember it:

1 cup Borax
1 cup Arm and Hammer WASHING (not Baking) Soda
1 Bar Laundry Soap, grated (I use Fals-Neptha)
1/4 cup "laundry booster" (optional) (Oxi-Clean)

Some of my thoughts/ notes:

Go ahead and buy several bars of the Fals-Neptha soap. Drug Emporium is the only place I have found them. I make a triple batch every time I make it. Also, USE THE CUISINART to grate the soap. I did it the 'old fashioned way' one time. Awful and do not recommend that.

So far, I've made 7 batches of this, for a total of about $12. (Still have some Borax left, but the 'laundry booster' will only make it 7 batches). That is lasting me about half-again as long as a $18 box of Tide. It's a little bit of a mess to make, but worth it to me!