Cream Cheese Chicken Filling

Serves 8 – 10

8 oz cream cheese (softened)

4 stalks celery (finely chopped)

1 green onion (finely chopped)

2 cans or 1 pint jar of chicken (drained)

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together and serve.

This is good with scones, on sandwiches or on crackers.  I use the low fat cream cheese.

Scones

Serves 4 - 6

1 Tbs instant yeast

1 cup warm water

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg

¼ cup oil

3 ½ - 4 cups flour (whole wheat or white)

Mix yeast, water and 1½ cups flour with dough hook. Cover and let rest 5 – 10 min.  Add rest of ingredients except flour and mix. Turn on low speed and add rest of flour until dough pulls clean from sides of bowl. Knead for 5 minutes.

Spray counter with Pam and roll out dough until ½ inch thick. Cut into scone sized pieces with pizza cutter, then move the pieces a little apart from each other so they are not touching and let rise for one hour.

Ready to rise

Heat oil in pan at medium heat. Add scones and cook one side until lightly browned, then turn and cook the other side.

Second side cooking

Serve with chicken filling, peanut butter, honey, jam or jelly, butter, cinnamon sugar, tuna, or nutella.

Other options:

You can fry this scone dough right after it is mixed. Just take pieces and stretch and flatten them into a circle and fry. They are a little different, but faster.

You can also bake these scones instead of fry them. Bake on greased or silicone lined cookie sheet at 350° for 12 – 15 min.

How to Dice a Mango

Mango should be soft enough to give a little when squeezed. That is when it is ripe. You can't tell by color.

Peel mango with knife, then make slices toward the pit horizontally and vertically. Then cut the sliced sections away from the pit.

Melon Salad

So many melons on sale this week. Here is what I made.

Watermelon
Cantaloupe
Honeydew
Mango

Cut them into small pieces, mix and serve. It makes a big salad and this is such a good snack also. Guilt free goodness!

Spaghetti

Serves 4 – 6

spaghetti noodles (about 1" diameter  when held tightly in hand)

5 cups water

½ tsp salt

Bring water and salt to boil in saucepan. Break spaghetti in half and add to water. Bring back to boil and cook for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Water should just cover spaghetti, add more if needed.

½ lb hamburger

½ chopped onion

½ chopped bell pepper (optional)

1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 – 14 oz can diced tomatoes

1 tsp Italian seasoning

½ tsp granulated garlic

½ tsp salt

pinch of sugar

Brown hamburger with onion and pepper. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until spaghetti noodles are done.

Simmering sauce

Come and get it

Mix noodles and sauce together to serve.

Parmesan rolls or breadsticks are good with this. And of course a green salad.

Parmesan Rolls

Makes 12 rolls
1/2 batch roll dough (half white and half wheat flour)
2 Tbs Parmesan cheese
1 Tbs melted butter
2 Tbs raw sunflower seeds

Roll out one half of the dough into about a 12 inch circle. Brush melted butter on, then sprinkle cheese and sunflower seeds. Cut into 12 triangles with pizza cutter. Roll into rolls.
Place on cookie sheet. Let rise 1 hour, then bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

Cut into 12 pieces

Roll up

I only used 1/2 the dough so I made cinnamon rolls with the rest.

Potato Soup

Still soup weather here! Is it really May?

Water is just about equal height with potatoes

Serves 4

Scrub and dice 5 medium potatoes. I leave the skin on. Cook in saucepan with 2 cups water and ½ tsp salt. Cover and bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and simmer about 20 minutes.

2 Tbs butter

¼ cup chopped onion

2 Tbs flour

2 cups milk (can use ½ cup cream for ½ cup of the milk)

½ tsp salt (or garlic salt if desired)

pepper to taste

¼ cup shredded cheese

In another saucepan heat butter until melted. Add onions and sauté for a minute or two. Mix milk and flour together in shaker and add to butter and onions. Add salt and pepper. Stir until bubbly and slightly thickened.

Drain potatoes and add milk mixture. Stir. Sprinkle cheese on top and stir in just before serving.

Note: I like to add other vegetables sometimes. This is how I do it. When I am sautéing the onion, I add the other veggie too.

Some options are carrots, broccoli, bell pepper, spinach, peas.

Another option: Add chopped ham or bacon to the soup.

This soup has red bell pepper added

I served this with parmesan rolls.

Breakfast Sandwiches

For each sandwich you will need:
2 pieces of toast
1 fried egg ( I break the yolk while cooking so it won't run)
1 or 2 pieces of bacon or ham
a few hash brown potatoes (cooked)
Slice of cheese if desired

Make the sandwich with mayo and ketchup.

Note: Last night I put avocado on mine and skipped the mayo and ketchup. Yum!

Cornbread

From Boarding the Ark Today

This is not exactly what their recipe says, it is what I really did.

½ cup yellow cornmeal

½ cup whole wheat or white flour

1 Tbs. honey or sugar

½ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ cup milk (or 1 Tbs milk powder and ½ cup water, or ½ cup canned milk)

1 egg

1 Tbs oil

1 Tbs applesauce, optional

Mix cornmeal, flour, honey, salt and baking powder. If using powdered milk add powder with dry ingredients. Whisk in milk, egg, oil and applesauce just until smooth. Fill muffin papers about half full.

Tip: Applesauce keeps cornbread moist.

Note: I left out the oil and put 2 Tbs applesauce.

Bake 400° for 10 min. Makes 10 muffins.

Taco Soup

The weather outside still has me turning to warm comfort food. I am grateful for my warm house.

½  lb. ground beef (cooked and rinsed)

1 - 15 oz can whole kernel corn (drained)

1 - 15 oz can Mexican style tomatoes (or regular diced tomatoes)

1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce

2 – 15 oz  cans beans, drained (black, pinto, white, kidney, whatever you like)

1 pkg. taco seasoning (or 1 Tbs chili powder and 1 tsp cumin)

½ tsp salt

1 – 4 oz can diced green chilies (if desired)

Add all ingredients to pot and let simmer for 20 min. (or more) on stove.

Serve with sour cream (or plain yogurt), grated cheese and tortilla chips.

Note: I had a bell pepper that needed to be used, so I left out the chilies and added ½ chopped bell pepper and ¼ chopped onion. It gave the soup a fresh taste.

I served cornbread with it and it was a nice change from chips, although some of the family still had chips too.

Not Good

I tried a new recipe for dinner last night and it was not that good. I was kind of excited for it because it used all food storage items. Maybe I'll keep working with it, maybe I'll just get rid of it.
I was going to throw out the left overs and McKay wanted to keep a dish for himself to warm up for lunch today, so it wasn't awful, just not good. I guess we'll see if he really eats it.
The point of the story is, don't be afraid to try new things. It is only one meal. It might be good, or if not, adjust it or don't make it again.

Quick Pasta Dishes

I love to serve pasta in the summer. It is easy, quick and fresh vegetables are always plentiful. Chop and add them liberally. Adding a grated vegetable is sometimes easier for children to accept. Good luck with that. If you have a child who just won't try it with the vege's, spoon a serving out before adding them. 

Here are some ideas to get you started.

Cook enough pasta for your family. Follow package directions. Choose whatever shape of pasta you desire.

To cook about 4 servings of rotini pasta, bring 6 cups water and ½ tsp. salt to a boil. Add 2 ½ Cups rotini.

When the pasta is ready, drain and add one of the following:

Chicken and Noodles

Add 1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup, 1 can cooked chicken and 1 cup frozen peas. Cook until warmed through.

Note: for a lower calorie version add 1/2 can soup and 1/4 cup plain fat free yogurt.

Alfredo Noodles

Add 1 bottle of alfredo sauce. Chicken and broccoli may be added if desired.

Bean and Pasta Salad 

Add 1 drained can of black beans, 1 can (drained) kidney beans. If desired add chopped bell pepper. Add about ½ Cup Italian salad dressing and mix.

Pizza Macaroni

Add 1/2 - 3/4 cup pizza sauce. Chopped spinach and grated zucchini are good additions to this one. Top with parmesan or grated cheese if desired.

Applesauce Oatmeal Pancakes

Makes about 8 pancakes

½ cup whole wheat flour (best if made from soft white wheat)

½ cup oatmeal

½ cup milk (or 1 Tbs. powder milk and ½ C. water)

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

2 large egg whites (or 1 egg)

1 Tbs olive oil

Place ingredients in medium bowl and whisk until well blended.

Heat griddle to 375 degrees (medium). When griddle is hot, pour about ¼ cup of pancake batter per pancake. Cook until bubbles appear and edges are puffed. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden.

These are slow cooking pancakes. Don't rush them.

Note: I added 1/2 cup fresh blueberries to batter before cooking. After they were cooked, I put on a little butter and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. They were delicious.

Fried Rice

Serves 4 - 6

broccoli

onion

bell pepper

celery

zucchini

carrots

pre cooked chicken or canned chicken

ham pieces

1 egg

peas, fresh or frozen

½ tsp. olive oil

1 ½ cup cooked rice

Vegetables are ready

Wash and prepare veges into bite sized pieces or smaller. Use any or all of the above in desired amounts. Heat oil in large fry pan and add vegetables. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes, then add meat if desired and stir in. If you want to add an egg, push the rice and veges to the side of the pan and break egg into cleared spot. Scramble the egg and then mix with the rest of the fried rice.

For flavoring add:

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp garlic

1 Tbs honey

1 Tbs. soy sauce

1 tsp sesame seeds

salt and pepper to taste

Mix into rice and serve.

My beautiful helper

Buttered Noodles

Serves 4-6

4 cups dry pasta (any kind you want)

8 cups water

1 tsp salt

Cook noodles as per instructions on package. Drain.

Return cooked noodles to pan and add the following:

4 Tbs parmesan cheese

1 Tbs dry herbs (Italian Seasoning or Herbs of Provence, or whatever you like)

1 Tbs butter

½ tsp granulated garlic if desired

Heat and stir until butter is melted. Then if desired add:

3 cheese sticks (cut into bite sized pieces)

Serve with chopped spinach to top with.

Note: For food storage replace butter with olive oil.

I served this with a fruit salad, butternut squash and bread as sides.

Brown Gravy

2 Tbs. butter

2 cubes beef bouillon

2 Tbs. flour

2 cups cold water

Melt butter in sauce pan. Add bouillon cubes, smash them and stir them in. When the bouillon cubes get into the butter, they will soften enough to smash down.

Shake flour and water in a shaker until there are no lumps, then stir into butter and bouillon mixture. Stir over medium heat until slightly thickened. Serve hot.

Meatballs (Marilyn's Favorite)

Serves 6 to 8

1 pound extra lean hamburger

2 slices bread (broken into small pieces)

2 eggs

1 tsp garlic salt

a few shakes of pepper

Mix all ingredients together with fork. Shape into 1 inch balls.

In skillet, heat ½ Tbs olive oil over medium heat. Add meatballs and cook until brown. Turn meatballs over to brown all sides.

Serve with rice and gravy or Marilyn loves the Panda Express orange chicken sauce you can buy at Costco instead of gravy.

First side cooking

I like brown rice, Marilyn prefers white, so I mix them. Brown rice needs to cook longer and this is how I do it:

In saucepan put 3/4 cup brown rice, 1/2 tsp salt and 2 cups water. Bring to boil. Turn heat to low and cover. Cook for 40 min.  Add 3/4 cup white rice and 1 1/2 cups water. Stir together with brown rice. Cover and cook for 20 minutes more. 

For this meal I also added 1 cube chicken bouillion when cooking the rice to give it a little flavor.