Fudgenut bars

I found this recipe in my new cookbook (from my MIL, her neighborhood cookbook). It was really yummy. However I tried to fit it in a 10x15 cookie sheet and it was not working, so I put it in a 9x13 baking dish and baked it about 5 minutes longer.

1 c. margarine
2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 c. quick rolled oats

Cream margarine and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Add dry ingredients. Mix together, set aside.

Fudgenut filling:
1 (12 oz) pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1 c. chopped nuts
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter, chocolate chips and milk in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until completely melted. Remove from heat. Mix in nuts and vanilla.

Spread about 2/3 of the oatmeal mixture in 9x13 pan (I greased it). Then pour fudgenut mixture evenly over dough. Dot the remaining dough over top of the fudgenut mixture. Bake in 350 F oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool.

Chicken a la King

I haven't made this in a long time, but I had celery and mushrooms that need to be used up, and I wasn't in the mood for stuffing, so I pulled out this recipe from Jo Ann L*s cookbook
I pretty much followed it exactly. I didn't have slivered almonds, and I used fresh mushrooms.

1/2 c. butter or margarine
1 c chopped celery
4 oz can mushrooms or fresh sliced
1/2 c. flour
2 c. chicken broth
2 c. diced cooked chicken
1 c. milk
1 Tbsp. parsley flakes
cooked rice
slivered almonds, for garnish

Melt butter in a large skillet. Add celery and mushrooms. Saute until tender. Stir in flour and let simmer 1 minute. Slowly add chicken broth. Cook about 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly until thick. Add diced chicken, milk and parsley. Simmer 10 minutes. Serve over hot cooked rice or in baked puff pastry shells. Garnish with slivered almonds, if desired. Makes 6 servings.

Rye dinner Rolls with Crisp Tops

I made these for the gourmet baby shower/dinner I went to on Tuesday night. Since other people were making the recipe too, I pretty much followed it exactly, except that I used the stand mixer to knead the dough, and I don't have parchment paper.

Rye Dinner Rolls with Crisp Tops

For rolls:

• 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 scant cup warm water (105-115°F), divided
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar
• 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for kneading and dusting
• 1/3 cup light or dark rye flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt

For rye-crisp tops:

• 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons light or dark rye flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large egg white

Make dough:
Stir together yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and sugar in a large bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)

Stir flours, salt, and remaining scant 3/4 cup water into yeast mixture with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms.

Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and knead with lightly floured hands until dough is elastic and smooth but still supple and slightly sticky, 6 to 8 minutes. Form dough into a ball.

Put dough in an oiled large bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let rise in a draft- free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 to 2 hours.

Make rolls:
Punch down dough (do not knead). Remove from bowl and fold into thirds like a letter. Divide into 16 pieces and roll each piece into a ball, transferring to a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and loosely covering with plastic wrap (or towel). Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Lightly brush each ball of dough with some of egg white. Gently lay a round of rye-crisp dough, egg-wash side up, on top of each roll. Bake rolls until golden-brown, about 20 minutes. Cool to warm or room temperature.

Make rye-crisp tops while rolls rise:
Stir together flours and salt, then stir in water and oil until a dough forms. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 4 or 5 times. Divide into 16 very small pieces. Roll out each piece on lightly floured surface to a thin round (about 2 inches; shape need not be perfectly round) and arrange in 1 layer on a sheet of parchment.

Beat egg white with a pinch of salt and lightly brush some of it onto rounds. Let stand, uncovered, to dry slightly while rolls rise.

Assemble and bake rolls:
Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle.

Lightly brush each ball of dough with some of egg white. Gently lay a round of rye-crisp dough, egg-wash side up, on top of each roll. Bake rolls until golden-brown, about 20 minutes. Cool to warm or room temperature.

Cooks' notes: •Dough can be formed into balls and allowed to rise slowly, covered well with plastic wrap and chilled, 8 to 16 hours. Bring to room temperature while making rye-crisp tops.
•Rolls are best the day they are baked but can be frozen (first cool completely, then wrap well) 1 month. Thaw, then reheat on a baking sheet in a 350°F oven until warmed through, 5 to 10 minutes.

BBQ pork sandwiches

I really can't believe I never added this recipe. It comes from my MIL, and there are lots of variations. But this is the basic recipe.

3-4 lbs pork (loin, chops, country style ribs etc)
1 18 oz bottle BBQ sauce (Bullseye, Kraft, KC Masterpiece - whatever, and lots of flavors to choose from: Honey, Mesquite etc.)
1/2 c. ketchup
1/4 c. brown sugar

Cook the pork with water in a slow cooker until done (2-4 hrs on high), or overnight on low. It should just fall apart. Discard water. Shred the pork. Mix with BBQ sauce, ketchup and brown sugar. Simmer in slow cooker a long time (2-3 hours on high or 6-8 hrs on low) Stirring occasionally. Serve it on hamburger buns or rolls. Sooooo good! You can also use chicken instead of pork.

Sensational Strawberry Shortcake

I made this for Mother's Day today. I didn't change much. I didn't have real whipping cream, so cool whip had to suffice. I also didn't use more than 1/4 c. sugar on the strawberries. I haven't tried it yet, so I hope it's good. As for the baking, some reviewers suggested it was too dry and to shorten the baking time. I only baked it for 30 minutes, mostly because I had to take it out of the oven so we weren't late to church. I didn't have a sprig of fresh mint, but that would have been great.

Sensational Strawberry Shortcake

• 1 quart strawberries, sliced
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 dash ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 cups sweetened whipped cream
• fresh mint

In a bowl, gently stir strawberries and 1/2 cup sugar; chill. Meanwhile, in another bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; cut in butter until crumbly. Combine milk and egg yolks; mix well. Add to crumb mixture, stirring just until moistened. Divide and pat into two greased 9-in. round cake pans. In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; spread over dough. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake at 300 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until golden. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. (Layer will be thin.) Cool completely. Place one cake layer on a large serving plate; spread with half of the whipped cream. Spoon half of the strawberries over cream. Repeat layers. Garnish with mint if desired.

Sweet and sour chicken

I got this recipe from my new cookbook (my MIL's neighborhood cookbook she gave me for my birthday). I played around with a couple of recipes. I omitted the green pepper because I didn't have any. Otherwise I would have used it. I only used a couple of chicken breasts.

1 tsp salt
6 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 egg
A little water
4 chicken breasts

sauce:
1/4 c. ketchup
1 green pepper, diced
1/3 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. white vinegar
1/4 c. pineapple juice
1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Cut chicken into pieces. Mix salt, egg, cornstarch and a little water. Add chicken. Mix until chicken is covered. Cook in hot oil until browned.
For sauce: mix all ingredients together. Bring to a boil over med-high heat. Then to thicken, mix in 2 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with a little water; stir until mixture reaches desired thickness.

poppy seed muffins

I know I've made these before, so I don't know why I haven't posted the recipe. It's from the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. I added the almond extract.

1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. poppy seed
1 beaten egg
3/4 c. milk
1/4 c. cooking oil
1/2 tsp. almond extract

Grease twelve 2 1/2 inch muffin cups or line with paper baking cups; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl dry ingredients. Make a well in the center of dry mixture; set aside.
In another mixing bowl combine remaining ingredients. Add egg mixture to dry mixture. Stir till just moistened.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each one 2/3 full. Bake in oven 400 F for 20 minutes or until golden. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm. Makes 10 to 12.

Classic 100% whole wheat bread

I got this off of the flour bag. I can't find one of my recipe books that has my favorite wheat bread recipe. I know I had it when we moved. I used it a couple of times, but a week later it went missing. So this will have to do for now. OK, so I like to cut corners. I just put all the water in and let the yeast sit in all the water. And I've never baked a loaf of bread longer than 30 minutes. This one went 25 minutes (no foil needed). So we'll see if it's any good.

2 1/2 tsp instant yeast ( 1 pkg active dry yeast) dissolved in 2 Tbsp water
1 1/3 cups water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey, molasses or maple syrup
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 c nonfat dry milk
1 1/4 tsp salt

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir till the dough starts to leave the side of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple. (You can use bread machine or electric stand mixer). Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow to rise till puffy though not necessarily until doubled in bulk, about 60 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled surface and shape it into an 8 inch log. Place log into 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan, cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and allow the bread to rise for about 1 hour or until it's crowned about 1 inch above the edge of the pan.
Bake the bread in a preheated 350 F oven for about 40 minutes tenting it slightly with aluminum foil after 20 minutes. Remove the bread from oven and cool it on a wire rack before slicing.

Ham Bone Soup

I found this recipe to use up our leftover ham bone from Easter- yah, I'm a little behind in posting things. I didn't have a green pepper, instead I put in a bag of frozen veggies. I also didn't use that much bouillon, only 4 I think. I thought it was really good.

Ham Bone Soup

• 1 ham bone with some meat
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 (15.25 ounce) can kidney beans
• 3 potatoes, cubed
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and cubed
• 4 cups water
• 6 cubes chicken bouillon

1. Place the ham bone, onion, tomatoes, kidney beans, potatoes, and green pepper into a 3 quart or larger slow cooker. Dissolve the bouillon cubes in water, and pour into the slow cooker.
2. Cover, and cook on High until warm. Reduce heat to Low, and continue to cook for 5 to 6 hours