Desserts · Fruit

Twinkie Dessert

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Unbelievable, I really cannot tell you how surprised I am that I actually found this recipe in a very good recipe book. But there it was in black and white. Randy use to tell me about this and how he and his roommates use to buy Twinkies and make this back in college. So that tells you how old this recipe is. He has informed me that I should try it, because he loved it. He  is thrilled that I have agreed to make it. So, here it is….Twinkies, I still cannot believe I am going to the store to buy Twinkies. Think I will go right before the store closes when no one is in there. I’m afraid that if people see me buying them, they will think, “poor lady, she obviously cannot control her eating habits and had to run into the store to stock up on sweets to get her through the night.” They will probably picture me, sitting in front of the TV, watching soap operas with unwrapped Twinkie packages all around me on the floor. But, anything for my man, so here it is.

1 large box Twinkies

1 can Eagle Brand

1 large box vanilla instant pudding

1 large Cool Whip

2 packages frozen strawberries

Cut Twinkies in half and put in a 9×13 inch dish. Slice strawberries on top. Mix pudding according to directions on box. Stir in Eagle Brand and Cool Whip. Spread on top and chill several hours before serving. (And please don’t tell your company or family where you got the recipe) Just tell them you saw this on-line and it sounded interesting…I owe you!

Daily Thoughts

Free Popcorn, Flat Tires & Fresh Coffee

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I thought an update might be appropriate since many of you have commented on the fun and cheap, (oops, I forgot, we are trying to be classy) I mean inexpensive Saturday that Randy and I had a couple of weekends ago.

We have now learned something else, very important. The more expensive the car dealership, the better the snacks you get. This past Saturday, we woke up to a flat tire which meant that we called AAA (the ones who come out to fix your car, no, we didn’t turn into alcoholics from just having a flat tire, that would have been AA) But back to the story. We had them put on the spare in order for us to get to the dealership where we were told it would only be a few minutes and they would have a new tire put on and we could just wait in the “lounge” until they called us. Well, I can tell you that I am headed back there next weekend after the grandkids leave. Not only were we treated to free cookies, free popcorn, free soda and free coffee, but oh this is good……they had  massage chairs that you see in the malls. So Randy and I just went on over, flopped down (yes, when you are as big as we are, you flop down), in the chairs, turned on the back roller, the up and down massager that makes you feel like a limp noodle and even had the leg massager that vibrates your legs. It was a wonderful morning. Having popcorn, coffee and watching TV all the while sitting in these glorious chairs.  We were so sorry when they called us that the car was ready. We weren’t through with our massage yet….but we paid for our new tire, which cheated me out of a new outfit the whole rest of the year, and headed out to other car dealerships, still trying to find Randy a car. We discovered that the AutoMall is not where we wanted to buy a car. They only had warm bottled water, no massage chair and a salesman that wore a really bad rug….(on his head, not one wrapped around him)…That did it. We decided that even if it were necessary to sell a couple of the grandkids (don’t think badly of me, we have plenty of them) to buy a car where you are treated like royalty, then that’s what we would do. So when you see “grandkids for sale” on Ebay, you will know that we have found just the perfect snack dealership, I mean, car for Randy. I’m asking Randy for a gift certificate to the Lexus Dealership Lounge for Christmas.

Casseroles · Chicken

Chicken & Dressing Casserole

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It is true what they say, if you wait long enough, things come back in style and they were right. (have you ever found out who “they” are?)

The popularity of casseroles is coming back. Maybe it is the time crunch everyone seems to have, or economics or just plain wanting something easy and fast. The following casserole was a great seller when we used to have Mistletoe Market at our house in October. It was a gathering of different ladies who would sell jewelry, purses, holiday goodies and frozen casseroles which I made. Here was one that was so easy to make and it keeps well in the freezer for company at holiday time.

1 chicken, cooked and deboned

2 tables butter (to sauté the onion/celery)

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped onion (to make this easier, just buy the container of mixed chopped onions/celery mix in the fresh veggie section of your grocery store)

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup milk

1 package herb stuffing mix

1/4 cup butter

2 cups chicken broth.

Saute the onion, celery mixture in about 2 tables of butter until onion is clear and celery is tender (about 10 minutes). Set aside.

Place chicken in bottom of a 9×13 greased baking dish. Combine soups & milk. Pour over chicken. Add onion/celery mixture to dry stuffing mix and sprinkle this mixture over top of the soups. Melt butter in chicken broth. Pour over stuffing and bake at 350 for 35-40 min. Serve with green veggie and salad.

 

 

Casseroles · Starches

Zesty Corn Macaroni Casserole

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It was just so exciting to find this long loved recipe that I had been looking for the last 10 years. When Randy and I first married, we used to go to Colorado for a week and stay where his mom and dad would park their travel RV. It was always such fun to sit around the campfire with people that had been camping together for as long as 25 years. They had seen each others kids grow up. They had experienced marriages, divorces, deaths, but most of all, they experienced friendship that grew over camping together for many years. It was at one of these camp cookouts that one of my mother-in-laws friends brought this casserole. I couldn’t quit eating it. It was one of those foods that became a comfort food and when I lost it, I was so disappointed. This past week, while at my daughter’s house, I was looking through her cookbooks and found this cookbook that came from all the wonderful cooks there at the campground where my inlays used to go. Leafing through, I saw “the recipe”…..I cannot tell you how excited I was. So here it is and you won’t believe how easy it is to make. Great for those church dinners or a side dish to any meat.

1 cup macaroni(uncooked) (isn’t that awesome, you don’t even have to cook it before using it)

1 can Rotel Tomatoes with green chiles

1/2 cup chopped onions

1 can undrained whole kernel corn

1 can cream style corn

1 cup Velveeta cheese, cubed

1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)

Combine all ingredient6s and pour into a 9×13 inch greased baking dish. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes at 375. Remove the foil and bake 30 min longer uncovered to give the casserole a crusty topping.

Makes 8 servings

Daily Thoughts

GrandkidsTakes Priority

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Since I am headed to hug some grandkids tomorrow, I will not be back until Oct 2nd. If I can use my daughter’s computer without having to share it with the 3 year old, I will write this week, but if not, will see you on the 3rd…..blessings and lets continue to pray for this country! In God We Trust……TKbakesalot

Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Vegetables

Bruschetta Chicken & Veggies

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Tonight, since I am leaving town tomorrow for a week to go see grandkids, I figured that I should feed Randy a home cooked meal so he would appreciate me. After a friend of ours gave me this recipe last week, I have been waiting to try it and tonight was the night. It is so easy and so different. We loved it. Since bruschetta is one of those favorite dinners that we have on Friday or Sunday nights, I knew that this had to be a hit.
2-4 chicken breasts, uncooked
2 tomatoes
*1/4 to 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (if using 2 chicken breasts, use the 1/4, 4 breasts use 1/2 cup)
*1-2 tables butter  (if using 2, 1 tables, if using 4, use 2 tables butter)
2-4 fresh basil leaves
1-2 tables olive oil (yes, depends how many chicken breasts you are making)
In small saucepan, put the balsamic vinegar and the butter and cook over medium heat until the mixture is reduced by half and is thick. Set aside.
In the olive oil, sauté the chicken breasts and season with seasoned salt, seasoned pepper, garlic powder and onion powder (be sure these are not garlic and onion salt, but powder)
Brown the chicken on both sides and place about 1/4-1/2 cup liquid and place skillet over pan. Cook until chicken is tender and is completely done. (liquid can be chicken broth, white wine or water)
When ready to serve, place chicken over pasta, rice or asparagus and place a fresh basil leave on top. Place sliced fresh tomatoes on top of basil leave and then drizzle the balsamic reduction over the top one the tomatoes allowing to drip onto chicken. We served this with broccolini and brussels sprouts that I had sautéed in a skillet with bacon and onions. Made a delicious dinner that we didn’t miss having starches, which we are really trying to cut back on. 
Desserts

Snickerdoodles

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Soft, Chewy Snickerdoodles

I know, I know, there are a million zillion recipes out there for these delightful little cookies, but I happened to buy bagged  4.25 lb Gold Medal flour instead of the flour that comes in the paper sack and this recipe was on the back. It is different than the others I have made because of the cream of tartar. This told me immediately that this cookie would be softer and not as crisp as the other snicker doodles I have made, and that made me immediately just go to the kitchen to make them. I just ate 4 of them. There are so soft and delicious and just perfect to leave for Randy when I go out of town to see grandkids. I always use more cinnamon sugar mixture than they call for because I can never get enough cinnamon flavor.

Makes about 5 dz.

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup softened butter (I use 1 stick butter and 1 stick Parkay or you can use 1/2 cup shortening added to the butter) Just end up with 1 cup, whichever mixture you want to use. But if you use all butter, the cookie will tend to be crispier)

2 eggs

1/2 teas vanilla

2  3/4 cup flour (all purpose)

2 teas cream of tartar

1 teas baking soda

1/4 teas salt

1/4 cup sugar added to 2 to 3 tables cinnamon (this is to roll the cookies in before baking them)

Heat oven to 400. Mix the 1 1/2 cups sugar, butter, shortening or margarine and eggs together. Add 1/2 teas vanilla to mixture and beat until creamed well.

Mix the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt together. Add to creamed mixture and using mixer, mix on medium until flour and butter mixture are well blended.  At this point, I cover the bowl and refrigerate for a couple of hours to make handling the dough to form little balls so much easier. You should put about a tables of dough into each ball. Mix the sugar and cinnamon tougher and roll each ball into this. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake about 8-9 minutes, depending upon your oven and size of balls that you made. I like them to be soft and chewy, so I tend to take them out before they feel completely done. Remove them from cookie sheet and place on paper towels you have laid out on the counter. I like the paper towels instead of cooling racks. It keeps the cookies a little softer and not as crisp as they tend to get on cooling racks.

Daily Thoughts

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Brownies

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FYI, this time of year brings the need to bake something pumpkin. For those of you who are new to this blog, if you want a fabulous recipe that combines both cream cheese and pumpkin, be sure to type in this recipe in the search box at the bottom right under the archives. This was posted back in Oct of 09 and it is such a great dessert for this season.

Also another FYI. Randy and I decided that we would see just how little money we could spend on food and entertainment yesterday, just for the fun of it. Thought we would share in case you are wanting to do something a little different other than eating at Cheesecake Factory or heading to the movies for a Saturday.

A friend of Randy’s had told him about a fantastic donut shop over in Glendale, so off we go to see if these donuts are actually worth driving the 10 miles for. We got to the donut shop, still with his coffee and my Dr Pepper in hand and both of us ordered a HUGE cinnamon roll. It was so light, not greasy and just the perfect amount of cinnamon and glaze. We were absolutely thrilled to have found this place. Breakfast….$2.00. It was then and there that we decided to see just how  cheaply we could entertain ourselves until 5:00 p.m. We then proceeded to Costco to pick up a few items, all the while sampling the “free goodies” that they are known for. We indulge in free popcorn, free fruit juice and free granola bars. We left Costco and headed to our car dealership because we are beginning the search for a new car for Randy. He has had his car for almost 11 years and since it takes him about 2 years to actually pull the trigger on which car to buy, we feel like we need to begin the search now. So, we enter the dealership and the smell of popcorn permeates the showroom floor. Now, I know, we have just sampled the free popcorn at Costco, but can you really ever resist popcorn, especially if it is free. So while RC is talking to the sales guy, I sneak over to where people are sitting, waiting for their cars to be serviced. I have just walked into a little bit of “snack heaven”. There are coffee machines, juice machines and the popcorn machine. Otis Spunkmayer cookies are just laying out on a tray. Well, you guessed it. I find a napkin, pick up a couple of those little cookies and put them in my purse for afternoon coffee and grab a container of popcorn. I make Randy at least “seem” interested long enough for me to finish the popcorn so I can mosey on over to grab another little sack of popcorn. DO NOT JUDGE ME! The donut didn’t fill me up for long.

Randy sends the sales guy over to find a certain color of car while he makes his way over to the coffee machine. Who needs Starbucks when we have car dealerships? He grabs a cup and decides on the hazelnut latte. I tell him that if he will go get a couple of the cookies, that our afternoon snack will be covered. He does.

Since my purse won’t hold anymore snacks, we leave with a booklet in hand and tell the young man that we will be back if we decide upon that brand of car. It is now around 11:00 and we head to run a few errands. After about 45 minutes, Randy tells me he has a surprise for me. I cannot imagine what it might be. The last time he said that, all the surprise was, was that a certain favorite restaurant of ours had reopened from being closed for vacation. So I have learned not to get too excited about his “surprises” . Sure enough, we drive on over to Monrovia and he pulls up in front of where we go get a massage ever so often. I am thrilled, I cannot believe that he is treating me to a massage. When I look at him and smile and tell him how sweet he is, he just looks at me and says, “oh no, we aren’t going for a massage, we are going to our cheapie mexican food place next door.” Are you serious, we have had donuts, free samples at Costco and the car dealership and he is hungry? I couldn’t believe it. But he reminded me that we were suppose to be at a party at 5 and if we were going to be eating dinner at 5, we needed to hurry up and eat lunch so we would be hungry by that time. So, here we are at ll:30 eating once again. I order a cheese enchilada and a shredded beet taco, he orders a number 2 combo. My lunch was $2.70 total, that’s right, you read correctly. $2.70 and since you get free chips and hot sauce, we don’t order a lot. Why pay for food when the hot sauce bar and chips are sitting right in front of you. We leave stuffed and head to another car dealership. Since we are thirsty, we figured we would go to one that we know always offers you a free bottled water. The day is unseasonably warm and we are trying to act truly interested, even though our clothes are beginning to stick to our backs. We are not going to leave until we get our free water. After looking at a couple of cars, I guess Victor (our sales guy) figures that if two old geizers are out in 100 degree weather looking at cars in the middle of the day, we really must be interested. Guess we finally earned our water. As soon as we get it, we sit in one more car, ask a question or two and then tell him we just can’t take the heat anymore. So we head to our car, deciding that it should last a few more years and head home. We are hot, we are tired and we are stuffed. We had entertained ourselves all day for under $20.00…Saved enough money to buy a membership to Sams for the following week. We aren’t allowed in Costco anymore, they know our faces and our appetites now. We go to the dinner party right at 5, we didn’t want to chance missing a free meal.

Desserts · Fruit

Apple Cobbler

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In the 70’s, my neighbor Cam, who was the best cook and would always bring us samples of her goodies, made these and brought them to us one night. I had forgot about them until I saw the recipe posted on JustAPinch.com…..they are just so different. Easy, even if you don’t like to make pie crust, you can do this, I promise….so great to take to dinners and have to serve company…the perfect way to begin your Fall season of apple recipes.

INGREDIENTS

APPLE FILLING
– 6 c apples, peeled and sliced
– 1/2 c cup flour
– 1 c cup sugar
– 1 tsp tsp cinnamon
CRUST
– 3 3/4 c flour
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1 Tbsp sugar
– 1 1/2 c shortening
– 2 eggs yolks plus water to equal 1 cup , reserve 1
egg white.
ICING/FROSTING
– 1 c powdered sugar
– 2 Tbsp milk or light cream approximately
– 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS

1.   Mix apple slices, sugar, 1/2 cup flour and 1 tsp cinnamon for the filling. Set aside.

2.   Mix the remaining ingredients as pie crust, reserve 1 egg white. Divide dough in two pieces. Roll out 1/2 of the dough to fit a 10×15 inch jelly roll pan with sides.

3.   Cover with apple mixture. Roll out top crust. Cover with top crust. Brush top with egg white. Slit crust. Bake at 350 for 45-60 min.

4.   Mix 1 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla with enough cream or milk to make thin frosting. Mix well and spread over hot crust.

70’s my neighbor, Cam, who was the best cook and would always bring us samples of her goodies, made these and brought them to us one night. I had forgot about them until I saw the recipe posted on JustAPinch.com…..they are just so different. Easy, even if you don’t like to make pie crust, you can do this, I promise….so great to take to dinners and have to serve company…the perfect way to begin your Fall season of apple recipes.

 

Cakes · Chocolate · Desserts

Linda Cooper’s Pralines

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Bunco is at our house tonight so thought I would surprise the ladies and make some fudge and pralines. Linda Cooper gave me this recipe in the 80’s and we have made it ever since for holidays and have given away plates of them. They are easy to make, you don’t need a candy thermometer, just a chair to sit on while you stir it for 20 minutes.

This recipe is scrumptious as a filling on a layered chocolate cake which you then pour chocolate ganache over the top.

2 cups sugar

2 cups chopped pecans

1 cup  Pet Evaporated Milk

3 tables white Karo syrup

3 tables butter

1 teas vanilla

In heavy saucepan, bring to a boil the milk, sugar and Karo. When mixture begins to boil, set timer for 20 min ,stirring constantly (even when you are waiting for it to boil) and cook for the 20 min. (on a really low humid day, I only cook  mine for 18 min because I don’t want it to get too hard). When mixture has boiled for 18-20 min, take off heat and add the butter and vanilla. Stir and beat until the mixture starts to get thick. At this point, add the pecans and continue stirring until mixture is beginning to firm up. At this point, drop by teaspoons full on a sheet of waxed paper. Allow to cool and take to the TV room and eat as much as you want.

*If you use this as a filling for chocolate layer cake, I would only cook no longer than 18 minutes. As it begins to firm up as you are stirring it after you have taken it off the heat. Pour it on the bottom layer of a chocolate cake. When it has hardened, put the top layer of the cake on top and then pour your favorite recipe of ganache over the top. (You don’t want the filling to be as hard as the candy, so I wouldn’t cook it as long if you are using it as a filling.)