Recipes

The first few recipes are favorites I brought over from the old blog site and include the recipe.  Future recipes will simply be listed with a link to the blog post they were shared in.



*The Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings

2 Granny Smith apples
2 8-ounce cans crescent roll dough
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 12-ounce can Mountain Dew
Ground cinnamon to taste

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel apples, then core and cut each into 8 equal wedges.

Wrap each apple wedge in 1 piece of crescent roll dough, beginning at wide end and ending at the point.  Place the rolls seam side down in a buttered 8 x 10-inch baking dish.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan on low heat.  Add sugar and vanilla.  Stir for a few seconds.  No need to dissolve the sugar; you want the mixture to be grainy.  Pour the butter/sugar mixture evenly over the rolls.

Next, pour the can of Mountain Dew all over the top.  Yeah, it’s weird and it’ll look kinda funny, but TRUST ME.

Sprinkle the top with cinnamon (or I really, really like Pampered Chef’s Sweet Cinnamon Sprinkle which is a mix of cinnamon, sugar and coconut).

Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream, spooning on some of the syrup from the bottom of the pan.

VARIATIONS:  Substitute ripe peach, pear, or apricot slices for apple.  Substitute ginger ale or lemon-lime soda for Mountain Dew.

*Harvest Corn Chowder

1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1-1/2 t. minced garlic
1/2 t. poultry seasoning
1/4 t. dried thyme, crushed
1 T. olive oil
4-oz. pkg. ham, chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 c. water
1 T. chicken bouillon granules
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1-1/2 c. chicken, cooked and cubed
1-1/2 c. milk
3/4 c. half-and-half

In a saucepan, saute onion, pepper, garlic, poultry seasoning and thyme in oil for 5 minutes; add ham. Heat for an additional 5 minutes; stir in potatoes, water and bouillon. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Mix in corn, chicken, milk and half-and-half; heat until warmed through. Serves 5.

*Maple & Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin

*Sunshine Cake

Cake
1 package of yellow cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil*
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
4 eggs
1 (11 ounce) can of mandarin oranges, undrained

 *For High altitude: Add 1/4 cup of flour and decrease oil to 2 Tbsp.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of a 13×9 pan. Beat cake mix, (flour-if High Altitude), oil, walnuts, eggs and mandarin orange segments with juice on low speed for 30 seconds. Then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool for about 1 hour before frosting cake. 

Frosting
1 (26 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 large package of vanilla instant pudding
1 (8 ounce) container of non-dairy whipped topping (my Mom uses Cool-whip)

Stir undrained pineapple and pudding mix together until completely mixed.  Fold in non-dairy whipped topping.  Frost cake.  Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Note:  Store leftovers in refrigerator.

*Nana's Corn Spoonbread

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

2 eggs, beaten

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 can cream style corn

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup melted butter

1/3 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp sugar

Grated parmesan cheese, to taste 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 2-quart casserole with Pam.

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients but the muffin mix.  Stir to mix.  Add muffin mix.  Stir well.

Pour into casserole dish and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Return to oven and bake an additional 15 minutes or until center is firm.

*Items that can be added to mix before baking:  shredded cheese, red or green chilies, cooked and crumbled bacon.....pretty much anything that sounds good to you!

*One Pan Chicken Dinner 

The basic recipe calls for:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cans of green beans
• 5 medium redskin potatoes
• 1 packet of Italian dressing mix
• 1 stick of butter

That’s it!  Seriously.

First preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Next grab a pan.  The recipe says to use a 9 x 13, but I used a larger lasagne pan and found it to be a good size.  I sprayed mine with nonstick cooking spray just in case, but I don’t think you’ll need to.

Cut your chicken breasts in half, cross-ways not length-wise.  Place them in a line in the center of the pan.  Put your (drained) green beans on one side and the redskin potatoes (cut into quarters) on the other.  Sprinkle the Italian dressing mix over the whole thing.  Lastly, melt the stick of butter and drizzle it over everything.

It will look something like this.

Cover the pan with foil and bake for an hour.

Now let me tell you a few things I did different and thoughts I’ve had for the next time.

I mixed sliced Baby Bella mushrooms in with the beans.  They were good.  I also sliced the stick of butter into pats and spread those evenly over the whole thing and it worked out just fine.

You could change this up so many ways.  The beans don’t have to be canned, fresh or frozen would work.  Heck, they don’t even have to be beans.  Rumor has it Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli all work just as well.  Or why not mix them?  And why not throw some carrots in with the potatoes?  You could even change up the spices by using the zesty Italian mix or there is a garlic and herb one….or just about any spice mix you like.

The bottom line is that this is simple, quick and totally delicious.  The foil seals the heat and juices in so everything is tender and infused with flavor.  Just be careful when you peel the foil back because all that steam will come out in one big whoosh.

*Crockpot Pierogi Casserole

Ingredients:

3 boxes Mrs T’s classic cheddar mini pierogies –
4 cups chicken broth
1 block cream cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 pound kielbasa – sliced
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in the crock-pot. Cook on high 3 – 4 hours until most of the liquid is absorbed.

If you are not going to be home to give this a stir about half way through the cooking time, you may want to warm the chicken broth and cream cheese together in a sauce pan before adding it to the crock pot. The cream cheese may not melt evenly or could be lumpy if you are not able to give it a stir to break it up.

There are so many different flavors of frozen pierogies on the market today, you could mix any flavor combination to add a little something extra to this dish. 

*Broiled Zucchini Slices w/ Cheddar and Chives