Bread Pudding in the Future

I made a batch of Grandma Jone's Foundation Sweet Dough Christmas Eve and let it rise in the fridge overnight, then I made a double batch of Cinnamon Rolls Christmas Morning. Actually I made the equivalent of four 8" X 8" square pans of cinnamon rolls using one large lasagna pan and two 8 X 8 ones. Unfortunately no one ate 6 of the rolls I left at home. You see they get stale pretty fast. Today I decided to rip the 6 rolls into small pieces to make bread pudding with in the crock pot like Sandra Lee does on Food Network. This evening I ripped up the rolls and they are air drying on a piece of aluminum foil so I can make the apple bread pudding Saturday morning. I'll have to dig up a good recipe for bread pudding.

Balsamic Italian Dressing and Marinade

BALSAMIC ITALIAN DRESSING

I packet GOOD SEASON'S Italian Dressing Mix (or use store brand which is cheaper)

1/2 Cup Canola Oil

1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar

3 Tb Water

Shake up well and pour over a salad.

AS A MARINADE :

Pour salad dressing over the chicken as is or add 2 Tb Soy Sauce, a few cloves minced Garlic and 1-2 Tb Brown Sugar to the marinade if you want to and mix well before pouring over chicken or into a zip lock bag.

Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise. Poke the chicken with a nail type tenderizer and place in the marinade. Let marinate at least two hours, or even 4 or more. Turn chicken over after an hour and spoon marinade on top.

After placing the chicken on the grill pour the marinade in a small saucepan and add the 2 tsp sugar and stir. Let simmer for at least 5 minutes and use as a dipping sauce with the meal.

Mini Meatloaves

I needed to make something in a hurry for supper with a pound of 80% lean Ground Beef. I decided to make meatloaf but didn't want to wait an hour to bake it. I decided to make mini meatloaves instead since they only take 30 minutes to bake. . My daughter who teaches Family and Consumer Science suggested I put a depression in the tops with my thumb and fill them with BBQ sauce. She got that recipe from the KRAFT foods website.. So I did 2 like that as taste testers, I did three filled with ketchup which didn't go over as well (except by me) and 3 with cheese filling and cheese on top. IN the end it was a great thing to make for my husband's diet. I opened up a can of wax beans for his side dish. Isn't that horrible of me? I AM a lazy cook sometimes. I usually have only one side dish with a protein. And I am a 70's teenager who likes ketchup on her meatloaf.

American Perogies or Perogie Lasagna?

12- 16 Lasagna Noodles (I cook 2 extra in case they tear)

8 oz or more shredded cheese (mild or sharp Cheddar) Maybe you'd like an extra 8 oz of cheese to sprinkle on potato layers as you assemble it?

2 Pounds Onions

3-4 Pounds Potatoes

Milk for mashing potatoes

1 Cup Butter

Directions:
Put the water on to boil the noodles to al dente.

Chop the onions and saute in the butter until soft and golden brown then set aside.

Then begin peeling the potatoes and put them on to boil until tender also. Or use instant potatoes. How much? I have no idea... I'd say 2 cups to a layer.

As soon as the noodles are done separate them on some wax paper.

Mash the potatoes, add the shredded cheese and a little milk and about a 1/2 cup of the onions. Divide into 3 or 4 equal portions and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350-375 degrees.

Spread a large spoonful of onions on bottom of dish. Now place 4 noodles to overlap.

Spread a portion of potatoes on noodles and sprinkle with extra cheese if you wish.

Keep repeating until you use up the potatoes and noodles and optional extra cheese.

Spread the remaining onion mixture on top then cover with aluminum foil and bake for about an hour. This stays pretty hot. Wrap it up in thick towels to keep warm until served.

NOTE I use my deep sided glass Pyrex Lasagna dish for this recipe. Hey be creative. If you want more onions cook a double batch and spread some out on the potato layers, but I find 2 pounds is plenty and I still put a scattering of onions on the potato layers this time. The first time I made this I used nearly 5 pounds of potatoes and a pound of cheese and it was way too much. The one I just put in the oven was probably 3-4 pounds of potatoes. Just make sure you have 2 cups of potato/cheese mixture for each layer of noodles. I had potatoes topped with onions on top layer with 4 layers of noodles.

Crock Pot Bake Beans

Last night Mom called me to see if I would make a crock pot of bake beans for a funeral dinner tomorrow. I agreed but I have no 7 pound can of Furman's Pork and Beans and only a 1/2 pound of bacon which I can't spare right now. Well as usual I have the brown sugar and ketchup and onion for the sauce. Since I work day shift I just make the bake bean sauce and give it Mom the day before and she mixes it with the baked beans in the crock pot and lets it simmer until she takes it to the church in late morning. See even though I don't attend the Methodist church I grew up in I still donate "bake beans" (as I call them) to the funeral dinners and bake pies for the church suppers. Right now I'm low on funds for the bake bean supplies so mom buys them. She has to prepare it at her house anyway if it's a weekday funeral. Here's the recipe:


CROCK POT BAKE BEANS

7 Pound can Pork and Beans

1/2 Pound bacon

1 Large Onion chopped

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Cup Ketchup

2 Tb Mustard wet

2 Tb Worcestershire Sauce

Marjoram

Cut a pound of bacon down the center of the package and then cut one half into 1/2 inch slices. Now cook in a skillet until brown and crispy. Remove most of the bacon grease but leave about 2 TB. Now add the chopped onion and let it cook until soft and golden. Now pour into a small bowl and add the other sauce ingredients and stir well to dissolve the sugar. Make sure you taste this delicious sauce before you refrigerate it. I just LOVE this sauce! It's delicious! I should sell it!
When ready to make the sauce just mix it with the pork and beans (drain 3/4 of the sauce that the beans come in) in the crock pot set on HIGH and forget about for a while.

Pigs In The Straw (Lazy Piggies)

2-3 Pounds Hamburger

2-3 eggs

1-2 cups Cooked Rice

1 small chopped Onion or 1 TB Onion Powder

2 cloves Garlic minced

Salt and Pepper to taste

Thyme and any other herb you like to taste.

(2) 14 Oz cans diced tomatoes or more if you like.

Onion chopped large or onion powder sprinkled on top.

Cut head of cabbage into quarters. Remove outer leaves (may be dirty) and remove core from each. Slice in 1/2" to 1 " slices and break apart into a dutch oven. Add a couple cups of water and let come to a boil. Turn down and steam 5 to 10 minutes and drain.

Meanwhile mix the hamburger, onion, garlic, eggs, cooked rice, and seasoning. Set aside.

Place half the cabbage on the bottom of a greased baking dish. Then form the meat mixture into ovals and place on cabbage. I use a dry measuring cup to keep them the same size- usually 1/3 cup. When finished place the rest of the cabbage on top and cover evenly with diced tomatoes and chopped onion too if you wish. Cover dish with aluminum foil.

Bake in a 350-375 degree oven for 1 and 1/2 hours.

Deboning Chicken Breasts

Today I bought 9 LB 12 OZ of split chicken breasts for 99 cents a pound. 2 Family Size packages with 4 breasts in each costing $9.85 for both. After looking on YouTube for a refresher course on how to debone them, I got quickly to work. By the time I was done I had 3 meals worth of chicken breasts with 3 breasts in a package, except for one which had 2 breasts plus a breast sized bunch of scraps I managed to get off all the bones. On top of that I got 3 and 1/2 pounds of bones and skins to make broth with which I also froze. I guess it was worth all the trouble considering the boneless skinless breasts were about $4.00 a pound and selling in $20.00 packages.

NOTE: When you think about it, I paid $.99 a pound for 3 and 1/2 pounds of skin and bones and they will be made into soup. But I ended up with the same amount of breasts I usually buy on sale (Tyson boneless skinless chicken breasts for $10.00 to $12.00 for a 5-6 pound package @ $1.99 a pound).

ON-COR Classics Chicken Parmagiana

I was grocery shopping on a limited budget yet again and I needed an inexpensive quick supper to prepare and serve when I got home. Well the grocery store had these Family Size ON-COR Classics Breaded Chicken Parmigiana (6 patties) with Tomato Sauce on sale 2 for $5.00. So I bought them! It took 20 minutes to cook them in the microwave. For a side dish I had to add some Whole Grain pasta I already had on hand and about one extra cup of Meat Spaghetti Sauce I had on hand (I sieved it to remove the hamburger). My son wanted his two chicken patties on hamburger buns I had in the freezer. So I admit, it was an incomplete meal- no veggies or salad but it filled us up. I made myself regular angel hair pasta because of my IBS-C and I had a piece of bread with margarine with my suace covered pasta and chicken patty, and it was a nice light meal. I already had pureed vegetable soup for lunch so I don't feel too bad about the veggie free supper.

Roasted Green Beans

Roasted green beans? All the TV Chefs are roasting veggies now! Well I tried it and it did work. The beans which were tossed in Canola oil, salt and pepper first were drier of course and the flavor was unlike anything I ever had before bean-wise. But they got too dark in spots because I left them in too long by baking them for 25 minutes at 425 degrees.

Turkey Meatball Vegetable Soup- IBS Friendly

3/4 Pound Turkey meatballs (Optional)

4 Cans Chicken broth

2 Stalks Celery Finely chopped

1/2 Onion finely chopped

2 Carrots finely chopped

1 Sweet Potato/Yam cubed small

2 med Red potatoes cubed small

2 Cups Green beans frozen.

1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash original

I made up my turkey meatballs and baked them 1/2 hour before adding them to the crock pot which was already filled with sauteed onion,celery and carrots, and the potatoes. I de-glazed the jelly roll pan I baked the meatballs on with some of the hot broth from the crock pot. It turned the broth a nice brown color.

NOTE: Last time I made this I omitted the turkey meatballs and pureed the soup. also added 2 cups pureed roasted butternut squash to the soup to improve the flavor.

Crock Pot Chili

1 Pound Ground Beef browned and drained

1 quart tomatoes pureed

1 can petite diced tomatoes

Large can Red Kidney Beans- don't drain

1 10 oz can Campbell's Tomato Soup

1 10 oz can Rotell Chilies and Tomatoes

4 cloves minced garlic

1 Tb Onion powder

1 tsp Mrs. Dash original

1 Tb Worcestershire Sauce

1 Tb Brown Sugar

Throw it all in the pot and cook on high about 5 hours and turn down to low until serving time.