Italian Parmesan Chicken (aka Miracle Whip Chicken)

Here's a recipe Mary picked up while we lived in Provo, and she has adopted it as her own over the years.  It is a family favorite, and quick and easy to make!  Probably not authentic, but tasty all the same!  I recently searched for this recipe in every cookbook we own, and I finally found it!  I have added my sweetheart's modifications, since she adds 'em by taste and memory, so enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup Parmesan Grated Cheese
• 1/3 cup Miracle Whip Salad Dressing
• 1 - 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts (raw).
• 1 Tbsp Water
• Dash of Italian Seasoning (¼ to ½ tsp)
• Dash of Garlic Power (¼ to ½ tsp)

Directions:

1. Thaw 1 to 2 pounds of boneless chicken breast.
2. Quarter meat to provide manageable serving sizes.
3. Place chicken in small baking pan (e.g. cake pan) lined with tinfoil
4. Stir together equal amounts of Miracle Whip Salad (increase sauce to ½ cups each if needed)
5. Add water and seasoning to Parmesan whip mixture.
6. Spread sauce over chicken breasts evenly.
7. Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, or until well done (no pink!).

Recommendations:

• Serve over Mashed Potatoes!  The sauce becomes the gravy!
• The chicken does not need to be pre-cooked or even browned.
• Quartered/thin slices of chicken are recommended to insure doneness when cooking.
• Feel free to substitute mayonnaise if you did not grow up with the tangy zip of Miracle Whip!

Original recipe is credited to Sharese Mohlman

Michael's Simple Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Preperation Time : 20 minutes
Churn Time : 40 - 60 minutes (depending on ice cream maker)
Yield : about 1 quart

This recipe starts with a story... making homemade ice cream really began for me back when I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in the Great Ohio!  It was there that I had my first opportunity to experiment with homemade Ice Cream.  :-)

Growing up, I do not recall ever having had homemade Ice Cream.  My father did experiment with a couple of tasty recipes sort of like ice cream, but we did not own an ice cream maker.  Actually, the icy cold recipe that my Dad was famous for was homemade pressurized Root Beer made from Hires Extract and dry ice!

For many years (during our time living in Orem and Provo), my Father owned this large, heavy, steel pressure cooker that was perfect for making root beer!  At least, that's all I ever remember it having been used for.  It had clamps on the sides to secure the lid, and a pressure gauge that rather got my imagination going because I remember the "red danger" zone.  One of my early real-world physics lessons occurred the first time my father demonstrated the art of carbonating root beer in the kitchen!

I watched with fascination as my Dad added the necessary water, sugar, and extract.  Then, after dropping in the block of dry ice, he quickly clamped the lid down!  The pressure built rapidly, so if he wasn't quick enough, the mounting pressure would "pop the lid" and he would have to clamp it down again.  A small steel stem rose from the surface of the lid, and allowed the carbon dioxide gas to escape.  This kept the pressure cooker from exploding.   To keep the pressure just right, you placed a little steel weight on the escape nozzle.  Once placed, the hissing immediately ceased, and the pressure would build!  Presently it reached a point at which the pressure actually lifted the steel weight, which would then start "dancing" on the nozzle, making little hissing sounds.  This equalized pressure prevented a balance of carbon dioxide (released from the melting dry ice) from escaping, effectively infusing it within the root beer brew.  :-)

As a young boy of nine or ten, I remember sneaking into the kitchen whilst the root beer was pressurizing.  I was fascinated with the little weight as it hissed and danced, and presently I realized that if I pushed it down, my own strength stopped the carbon dioxide gas from escaping!  What joy!  What fun!  I closely watched the pressure gauge as it steadily climbed.  Growing concerned, I released it after a few moments, and the weight would dance frantically for several seconds, and then slow back down.  Fascinating!  Fortunately I wasn't foolish enough to hold it down too long.

Although I do have a memory which is likely a dream.  In it, I was helping prepare for my Dad's birthday party while a batch of my Dad's famous root beer was being prepared.  Nobody was monitoring the pressure cooker, and the weight somehow became jammed.  The pressure built and built unchecked.  Then we heard a loud BANG!  The house seemed to shake just a bit, and it sounded as though a train had derailed.  Running into the kitchen we saw the pressure cooker with dry ice mist billowing up while root beer rained gently from the ceiling.  Looking up, we saw the steel lid of the cooker stuck in the ceiling!  The pressure from the explosion had sent the lid sailing right up into the ceiling, embedding it firmly in the underlying sheet-rock!  After that, the pressure cooker always sort of scared me.

But that's not the story I was going to tell... 😏  The actual story occurred much later, when I was 20 years old.  While I was serving my mission, my missionary companion and I found an old wooden ice cream maker in the closet, left from a previous missionary.  Unfortunately it had a leak in the barrel, and it was a "manual crank" ice cream maker.  We prepared the recipe that came with the box, and then we poured ice along the sides of the canister, but we didn't know it required salt to lower the melting point of the ice.  We used sweetened condensed milk in the recipe, so it was extremely rich.  It sure looked like it would make delicious ice cream!  We sealed the canister and excitedly took turns churning it!

Well, we were novices at the art of ice cream making, and after nearly an hour of taking turns cranking it, we eagerly opened the aluminum container to see what we had produced!  we couldn't figure out why the ice cream mixture hadn't risen!  On the contrary, it had actually sank!  Well, it was fairly cold, and it did look sort of like ice cream... but it was DENSE!  Very, very dense!  Years later I realized that because of the difficulties we encountered, and the lack of rock salt having been added, the ice cream maker never froze it properly.  The temperature never got cold enough.  The ingredients also settled and became more compact, rather than filling with the necessary tiny air bubbles and expanding as it should have.  That's the secret to making it creamy!  Instead we ended up with a dense, circular slab of frozen cream, probably 200 calories per tablespoon!  Instead of making 1½ quarts of creamy ice cream, it made 2 cups of collapsed, super rich calories.

So, after that I gave up on homemade ice cream... for about two decades.

Then, fairly early on in my marriage, when my oldest daughter had just entered Elementary School, I chanced upon an electric ice cream maker at a local thrift store!  I purchased it excitedly, brought it home, and sadly discovered that the motor was weak, and it promptly burned out on my first attempt to make ice cream.  So, I donated it to our local landfill.  Discouraged, I decided ice cream was much easier to buy!

Then a few years ago, I decided to try my luck once more and purchased an electric RIVAL ice cream maker from a garage sale down the street.

It had a cute invisible penguin on the side of the basin that appeared and darkened when the temperature dropped and became cold enough.  Hoping that the proverbial "third time" was the charm, I tested it for the first time last summer.  And it worked!!!  It made delicious ice cream.  But it took some effort and research to understand what worked, and what didn't.  I had read through a dozen recipes, discounting the more complex recipes as unnecessary for my needs.  In fact, I disregarded any recipe that required boiling the milk and cream first (i.e. scalding the milk), as heating it too long or high would ruin it!   And even if you cooked it just right, you would still need to wait additional time for it to chill.  Often a couple of hours or even overnight.  While this technique does make it creamier, I have found that chilling it alone--and bypassing the additional steps--makes it plenty creamy.  The physical churning process of an electric ice cream maker does just great.  Perhaps I am missing out on true old-fashioned ice cream this way, but the time I save by skipping and chilling the cream makes it well worth it.  I still chill the canister.  In the end, my "express" approach is very yummy!

And now... for the rest of the story!  Or in this case, the actual recipe!

First, let me say how delicious homemade ice cream is!  Keep in mind, though, that the cost of ingredients (including bagged ice and rock salt) is more expensive then just purchasing a half gallon from your local grocery store.  But what a fun family activity making ice cream from scratch can be!

Someone once said, "Ice cream is usually considered to be junk food."  And certainly the mass-produced stuff sold by the cardboard or plastic carton definitely falls into the category of something we shouldn’t eat very often.  It is yummy enough, and I have bought many dozens of cartons through the years.  Unfortunately, many store-bought ice creams contain all sorts of fillers and chemicals– and often low-quality, skim milk.  So, the biggest advantage of making homemade ice cream is the quality ingredients you have the option of using.  I suppose it almost turns into a "healthy food." Almost!  ;-)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream 
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 – 3/4 cups of sugar
• 2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1 vanilla bean (optional- see note below)
• Combine the milk, sugar, and vanilla beans (if using) in a blender.

Recipe Adjustments:

• Half'n'Half works great too!
• For greater nutrition, try skipping the cream and using 4 cups whole milk instead!  It worked just fine.
• The vanilla beans are optional- however they do add a nice bit of extra flavor, as well as the classic “bean specks.”

Ice Cream Preparation:

• Wash and dry all parts and equipment that will come into contact with the ice cream.
• Except the motor drive assembly, of course... don't wash that!
• Place the metal canister in the freezer to get it chilling.
• Combine the milk and cream, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt.
• If using a real vanilla bean, thoroughly blend until the bean is chopped into teeny tiny pieces!
• Blend until everything is combined.
• Pour chilled ice cream mixture into cooled canister.  
• Important!!! Fill Ice Cream canister only 3/4 full!  Mixture will expand during freezing.
• Place canister in your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Ice Cream Machine Instructions:

1. These directions are fairly standard, so give 'em a whirl, but please use your device instructions if you have them!  If not, do a search for your ice cream maker model on the World Wide Web.
2. Insert DASHER (aka plastic beater) into canister, centering it in the bottom indentation.
3. Place cover on Canister.
4. Gently set canister into Ice Cream Bucket.  Ensure that canister is centered and that it engages with the bottom of the bucket.
5. Place Motor Drive over ice cream canister so that the stem of the dasher engages the shaft of the motor drive (top).
6. Rotate canister slightly until the motor drive engages the cover of the ice cream canister.
7. Fit the four tabs (bottom of motor drive) into the matching set of holes found on the top edges of the bucket.  Rotate the motor drive counter clockwise to secure to bucket.
8. Plug the power cord into a convenient outlet; make sure the cord is placed so that it is protected from the feet of wandering children or distracted adults.
9. Once plugged in, the motor will immediately engage.  At this point, the bucket should be empty except for the ice cream canister and mixture.
10. While the ice cream maker is running, distribute 2 inches of ice around the bottom of the bucket.
11. Sprinkle approximately ¼ cup of salt. uniformly over the first layer of ice.
12. Note that the dasher within the dasher does not move.  The ice cream canister rotates around it.
13. Continue to add layers of ice, with salt between layers, until ice level reaches the top of the rotating canister.
14. Churning should complete between 30 - 40 minutes, or until the motor stops (when thick).
15. Adding Mix-in's.  Five minutes before completion is a great time to add any mix-in's.
16. Unplug the motor and detach and remove the motor drive assembly.
17. Clear the ice and salt away from the top of the ice cream canister.
18. Wipe carefully to remove any accumulated salt and water before removing the cover.
19. Lift out dasher and scrape clean with a rubber spatula, or simply hand it to an eager child!
20. Pack ice cream down into ice cream canister since the dasher will have left air pockets.
21. Serve and enjoy!  Best and creamiest when fresh from canister, though it freezes well.

Adding Mix-in's :

There are two good ways to add your favorite mix-ins to an ice cream base! The first is to add them while the ice cream is still churning. Add your ice cream mix-ins just before your ice cream is finished. They only need to mix for a few minutes.  Five minutes should be plenty.

Alternatively, once your ice cream is complete, use a large spatula to gently fold the ingredients into your ice cream. This is a great way to handle more delicate ingredients like fresh berries. It also means you can make one batch of ice cream and turn it into several flavors. This is perfect for families with different tastes. Everyone can have their own special bowl of ice cream.  :-)

Mix-in Ideas :

• Chocolate Chips - classic flavour and one of the easiest options.
• Mini M'n'M's.  This is my children's favorite thing to add!
• Cookies & Candy - Break up cookies and candy bars into small pieces and they are perfect additions to many ice cream flavors!
• Cookies & Cream - most recognizable is small chunks of Oreo sandwich cookies.
• Fresh Fruit - Stick with fruits that have a great texture when frozen. Strawberries, cherries, and blueberries are great choices. Just give 'em a rough chop and toss them into your ice cream. Try tropical fruits like pineapple and mango, although you will want to dice these fruits into even smaller pieces.
• Nuts - Almonds, peanuts, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, and cashews all make great additions to ice cream. Think about how they are used in traditional flavors like Rocky Road. 

Important Points:

• Should the ice cream maker stop before the churning is complete, check to see if large ice cubes are jammed against the rotating ice cream canister.
• Since this recipe is completely uncooked, it is a good time to use raw milk and cream, if you have them. If not, then try to choose the best quality milk you have available.
• In case you missed it above, fill Ice Cream canister only 3/4 full!  Mixture will expand significantly during the freezing process.
• Some people swear that homemade ice cream is a great use of goats milk!  I haven't tried that.

Well, feel free to explore and enjoy the art of making ice cream in your own home!  Don't get too uptight and perfectionistic, the way I did when first giving it a try again last year.  I had been emotionally scarred from past failures, and was worried that I would make a mistake.  I needn't have worried.  As long as you follow the directions for freezing it properly in the ice cream maker (with ice & rock salt), the recipes are very forgiving.  Experiment, and stumble upon the next great ice cream flavour!

Ummm... do I win the prize for the longest recipe description?  ;-)
It was a journey... so hop on and enjoy!

Celeste's Tomato Soup

Celeste has been picking up the culinary touch during the past couple of years, and she has created her own blend of spices to enhance the traditional canned tomato soup!  It actually tastes quite good.  My main complaint with tomato soup fresh from the can (even Campbell's) is that it tends to taste bitter, and even a touch metallic, depending on how long it has sat in food storage.

Celeste likes extra flavour too, and her unique combination of spices tastes very good.  It actually reminds me of a basil tomato soup, and it greatly improves the canned experience.  So I made her measure out the ingredients tonight, and thus the recipe has been solidified! :-)  She makes her soup the way all great chef's do... she sprinkles everything into the soup until it tastes just right.

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of tomato soup
• Italian Seasoning (sprinkled to taste)
• McCormick Season All Spice  (sprinkled to taste)
• Salt & Pepper added to taste (be conservative since the other spices include salt)

Directions:

1. Bring two standard sized 10¾ oz. cans of Tomato Soup to a simmer.
2. Excepting Progresso, most canned soups call for adding water or milk. Use water. 
3. Add the spices to taste.  These spices really make the soup more flavourful!
4. Have the cheese sandwiches grilling while the soup is heating
5. Only heat to a simmer, avoiding a boil.

Note:  Celeste often swaps one of the cans with Progresso 19 oz. "Hearty Tomato" or "Tomato Basil" soups.

Celeste's recipe goes very well with grilled cheese sandwiches (we cut them angle-wise into two triangles) and dip them in the soup.

Sesame Chicken and Rice

My children love the traditional modern Americanized Asian classic of "Sweet & Sour" Sesame Chicken that can be found at most Chinese/Japanese/Thai restaurants.  And what's not to like about sweet, deep-fried meat? ;-)

However, I was never raised with fried foods; my mother generally baked everything we ate... even fried chicken was oven-baked.  The only time my parents dusted off the electric frying pan and poured in some oil was when making homemade cinnamon-sugar doughnuts, or filleting trout and perch caught in the Deer Creek Reservoir when I went boating or ice fishing with my Dad.

So, I only fry on occasions as well.  I've tried a few different recipes for frying up sesame chicken, and they've been alright.  Most have been fairly intensive in preparation, so I haven't repeated them.  I have a lot of experience cooking and baking, and I love to tweak recipe's.  So how nice it was to stumble across this recipe!  Simple, fast, and requiring only minor modifications.

I did throw in half a can of pineapple tidbits, and substituted finely diced onions for green shoots.  Also, I didn't have any sesame oil; that's an ingredient I would like to add to or pantry.  The chicken came out tender and delicious!  And I'm pretty sure it wasn't rabbit.  As an aside, my wife has become quite adept at skinning rabbits, and when cooked right, rabbit taste like chicken!  So if you have some on hand to process, feel free to substitute some good rabbit meat for the chicken.  :-)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Chicken Breast Strips (or diced chicken)
• 1 Tbsp + 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• ¼ cups Apple Cider Vinegar
• ⅓ cups thinly sliced green onions (or finely chopped yellow onion)
• 3 Tbsp each of Honey, Brown Sugar, and Sesame Oil
• 1 Tbsp grated fresh Ginger (or ¼ tsp ground)
• ¼ cup each of Flour and Cornstarch
• 3 Tsp Olive Oil
• 1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds (optional, but recommended for appearance)
• 2 cups long-grained white rice, cooked.
• ½ can of pineapple tidbits (optional)
• Steamed vegetables (recommended!)

Instructions:

1. Place raw Chicken and 1 Tbsp soy sauce in a sturdy zip-lock bag.
2. In a medium bowl, combine 2 Tbsp soy sauce, vinegar, onions, honey, brown sugar, sesame oil, and ginger.  Set aside.
3. Sift flour and cornstarch and pour into the bag with the chicken marinade.
4. Shake and roll bag to coat Chicken; let your kids do this until Chicken is coated thoroughly!
5. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
6. Stir-fry chicken tenders 4 - 5 minutes, or until no longer pink.  Don't over-cook!
7. Stir bowl of sauce mixture into pan of chicken, and add sesame seeds.
8. Stir until bubbly and thickened.  

Serve over hot rice!  2 cups of white rice can be easily prepared by rice to a boil in 4 cups of water, and then dropping heat to low for 20 minutes until water is fully absorbed.

As a mix-in, add a generous helping of pineapple to make it truly sweet  & sour!  My kids love it that way, and makes it more of a Hawaiian Chicken Stir-fry.

But feel free to expand on this recipe and steam whichever vegetables your family loves!  Fresh steamed broccoli, sliced carrots, water chestnuts, sugar-snap peas, peppers, and mushrooms.  It's a good way to sneak a salad into the main dish!

German Pancakes

Here is a recipe for a breakfast dish that I had never consumed nor heard of, but of which my sweetheart was familiar with.  Although it is great for the morning, we generally have it as a dinner course, partly due to the fact that it can be prepared so quickly!  :-)

While there are many variations to German Pancakes, some of which take more than an hour to bake, this one can be prepared and cooked in 30 minutes.  For those hectic nights that you want to prepare something quick, give this a try!

There are a myriad of recipes out there, and I'm not sure where our favorite disappeared to, but this comes close to matching what we like.  I took it from a Hyrum City Sesquicentennial cook book, with the recipe submitted by Eileen James in Hyrum.  I then doubled it and made some other modifications.  If you have some eggs available, give it a try!

Ingredients:

•   ½ cup butter
• 1½ cups flour
•   ⅔ cup sugar
•   ½ tsp salt
• 6 - 8 eggs
• 3 cups milk

Instructions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Cut butter into several pats and scatter them in a large glass cake pan.
• Heat pan for five minutes while oven is heating until butter is mostly melted.
• Increase heat to 400 degrees.
• Mix all ingredients together; if you have a large blender, that mixes it well!
• Blend until smooth.  Immediately pour into pan.
• Bake for 20 minutes. Edges will expand and firm up.  Center will be moist.
• Lower heat to 350 degrees until done (firm and light brown, but not scorched!)

Serves 6 - 8 people.

Cut into slices and serve hot.  Drizzle maple syrup or sprinkle powder sugar.  Enjoy!

Additional Notes:

• Previous recipes make a smaller amount, so the slices are thinner.  Because our family tends to consume this and still want more, this recipe variant makes extra thick slices.  
• If you want to experience the thinner  variety, or don't have as many mouths to feed, cut the ingredients back some... only 6 eggs, and less flour.
• Also, some recipes go WAY overboard on butter, calling for more than a cube of it!
• This version is healthier, though you can cut the butter even further if you like.
• Definitely use butter, not margarine!

POSTUM Drink

I have many memories of my father heating up a quart or two of hot water after ice fishing on Deer Creek Reservoir.  He added to that water a drink unlike anything else I have tasted.  It is not hot chocolate, nor is it coffee like some people incorrectly assume.  It is Postum.  It is a caffeine-free drink that would warm us to the very core.  It is made from whole wheat, wheat bran, and molasses.

We of course did not drink it straight.  My father would add a healthy amount of evaporated milk, and a few spoonfuls of sugar.  This turned it to a light caramel color that I have always associated with Postum.  My Aunt is also a big Postum consumer, and drinks it several times a week at night.

Not everyone likes it, but it is a safe drink, and 100% Kosher.  And it tastes great!  At least the way my father made it. :-)

Here is an approximation of my Dad's formulae:

1. Procure a container of Postum.  
2. Boil 16 oz. of water; remove water from heat
3. Add two rounded teaspoons of Postum
4. Mix until fully dissolved.
5. Add 1/3 cup Evaporated Milk
6. Add 1½ tablespoons Sugar (more or less to taste)
7. Stir until mixed.  Serve hot!

Serving Size: 2

NOTE:  Kraft ceased manufacturing of Postum back in 2007, but "Eliza's Quest Foods" purchased the recipe and Postum Trademark from Kraft and manufacture it once more, albeit on a more limited scale.

Guittard Shortbread Rounds with jumbo Chips

 Little Cookies with big chocolate chips that melt in your mouth!

Here's another recipe I recently picked up, and which found success at work.  I took it from the outside packaging of Guittard Chocolate Baking Chips.  These chips are jumbo sized, and seemed the perfect remedy (i.e. comfort food) to the cold I was coming down with.  They turned out different than I was expecting, but extremely easy to make.  Think of the shortbread cookies with almonds pressed down in the center, and you will have the foundation flavour that these cookies are built on.  Sprinkle them with powdered sugar when they are fresh out of the oven, and it's a tasty alternative to the traditional Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (6 oz.) jumbo Milk Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit
2. Cream butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at low to medium speed until light.
3. Gradually add flour until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
4. If dough seems dry or crumbly, it will stick together when shaped with your hands.
5. Using the palms of your hands, roll rounded teaspoons of dough into 1-inch balls.
6. Place dough balls on ungreased cookie sheets and bake 13 - 15 minutes.
7. Cookies will still be pale.  Let stand 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheet.
8. Dust with powdered sugar for a touch of sweetness.

Yield:  3 dozen 1-inch round cookies

Oatmeal Cranberry (Craisins) White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Here is a delicious recipe for White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies!  I came across this earlier this year (2015) when in the mood for white chocolate chip cookies with a fruity burst of extra flavour.

This is more of a gourmet cookie recipe, but without the difficulty often associated with such confectionery delights.

Not fully content with the original recipe, I modified it some, but have unfortunately forgotten what each of those modifications were.  I added vanilla, of course, and some wheat flour.  I do recall that this recipe was an instant success with my entire family, and my colleagues at work were raving about the cookies all day long.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1½ cups white flour
• 1/4 cup wheat flour
• 1½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 2/3 cups Craisins (aka dried Cranberries)
• 2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 365 degrees 
2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well.
4. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate mixing bowl.  Combine the oats.
5. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition.
6. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.
7. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
8. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until lightly golden brown on top, and the edges are set.
9. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes, and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
10. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies.

The baking time is very important with this cookie recipe. You must watch the cookies closely! Take the cookies out of the oven at between 9 to 12 minutes. The cookies will appear soft and undone in the centers, but will eventually firm up as they set.  Allow the cookies to cool for 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet after you remove them from the oven.

Additional Notes:

If you have them, use silicone baking sheets!  We acquired our first silicone baking sheet as a gift sometime around 2010.  The difference in baking was incredible!  I quickly purchased a second baking sheet the next summer.  The cookies will not flatten out as much, the sheets do not require greasing, and the bottoms of your cookies will bake to the perfect firmness without burning.

NOTE:  I have located the other recipe I had referenced when I first baked these cookies, and attempted to recreate the perfect recipe from both.  I will test and update my own recipe the next time I bake it, as I will likely remember what I changed.  This recipe is close.  The extra wheat flour accounts for altitude, and add a smidgen of healthiness.  ;-)

Banana Shake

Here is an approximate recipe for the Banana Shake that I remember Dad making for us whilst living in Orem.  Perhaps Mom made it as well, but my memories were of Dad blending it up on many a hot summer day.

It is a fast, easy recipe, and I realized this evening that it had been a long time since I last made it for my children... possibly since before Sariah was born.  To many a happy smile, I blended it up as an appetizer for my kids while the casserole cooked...  Sariah was my official taste-tester, and after a sip (that turned into a long gulp), she immediately responded, "I want my own, Daddy!"

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas
• 2 cups milk
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 6 ice cubes

Directions:

• Cut each banana into 2 or 3 pieces.
• Drop banana segments into your trustee Oysterizer blender.
• Add sugar and milk, altering milk quantity as needed for banana size variance, and desired concentration.
• Start blending, and add ice cubes a couple at a time.
• Serve to smiling faces.  Or, watch as a happy smile appears. :-)

NOTE:  While many Banana Shake/Smoothie recipes do not call for vanilla, I have always considered it an essential ingredient.  First, I love vanilla in deserts and drinks.  Second, while the banana flavour does over-power even a healthy dose of vanilla, the richness that results from using it is unmistakable.  Yum!

Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler

This is one of the easiest Dutch Oven Cobbler recipes I have tried, and recommended for a no-fail cobbler. I recommend you start with it.  Success in the Dutch Oven is easy!  And certainly very tasty after a long hike, or when the air becomes cool.

Ingredients:

   *  1/2 package Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix
   *  1 large can sliced peaches in heavy syrup
   *  1/4 stick butter, cut into thin slices
   *  lots of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Be sure to gather the following items before leaving on your trip:
      a.  ten inch Dutch Oven, oven gloves, lid lifter, long tongs, and lid stand
      b.  bag of charcoal and charcoal chimney
      c.  mixing bowl, can opener
   
2. Once at your destination, determine where you will cook and place the pot of finished cobbler.
      a. A metal pizza pan placed on top of trivets works well.  You'll need one for each Dutch Oven dish.
   
3. Start the charcoal in the charcoal chimney, or in the fire pit if one is available.
   
4. Open the box of cake mix and pour half of it into a bowl.
   
5. Slice the butter int thin slices and place them in a container of ice water (to prevent melting)
   
6. Place one ring of charcoal briquettes under the dutch oven
   
7. Open the can of peaches, and pour the peaches and syrup into the bottom of the Dutch Oven.
   
8. Add the cake mix evenly over the top of the peaches.  Do not try to stir the cake mix and peaches together.
   
9. Place the slices of butter on top of the cake mix in a checkerboard pattern.
   
10. Sprinkle everything with lots of cinnamon.
    
11. Place the lid on the Dutch Oven and put 1½ rings of charcoal on the top lid.  It should produce about 350 degrees.
    
12. Cook for approximately 40 minutes, rotating the lid about 180 degrees about half way through to make sure heat is oven. 

NOTE:  I make no claim to the originality for the actual recipe.  There are variations on it in some form in almost every Dutch Oven cookbook.  This happens to be one of the easiest cobbler recipes, and it is tasty and sure to please!

Cache Valley Chocolate Chip Cookies

I picked up this recipe from a friend in the Hyrum 14th Ward, Shauna Johnson, while exchanging recipes for a Ward Cookbook.  She also happened to be the photographer of our Family Portraits on two occasions.  Just because she was a great photographer does not mean that I promise these to be the best Chocolate Chip cookie recipe you have ever eaten.  I'm sure that the Mackay family recipe (also contained within this recipe blog) is, in fact, superior.  

But, I needed a quick recipe when my decades old recipe book went missing.  The cookies from this recipe are decent, especially if you follow the tasty enhancements I have introduced. ;-)  Some day I will find the recipe that my sweet sister (Michelle) sent me while on my mission.  It's a hot pink recipe card, and is the Chocolate Chipper recipe our multi-talented Mom mastered! :-)   I rather thought I had entered it here already (to no avail), so I will have to add it when I come across it again.  Then you can decide which recipe you like best.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 5 cups flour (4 cups white, 1 cup wheat)
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 12 - 16 oz. chocolate chips
• 2 cups rolled oats (raw, not quick cooking)

Directions:

• Cream shortening, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla until fluffy.
• Mix in baking soda, salt, and four (just a little at a time), until well-blended.
• Mix in Chocolate Chips.
• Bake at 370 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes.
• Cool for 3 - 5 minutes; move to wire rack for cooling.

Yield:  6 - 7 dozen.  This recipe makes a lot of cookies, so plan on sharing!

Tips:

• If you have never used oatmeal in cookies before, try it!  It add's a thick fluffiness to the cookies that is both rich and satisfying.  No more flat cookies, even on the silicone sheets!  I added 2 cups rolled oats, whereas the original recipe rolled none.
• I swapped 1 cup of butter for the 2 cups of shortening.  Although fat is never healthy, natural fat seems desirable over artificial fat.  Shortening is best on a monetary budget, but sacrifices taste.
• I also replaced 1 cup of white flour with wheat flour, hoping to add a touch of nutrition.  2 cups wheat with 3 cups white would probably still taste great, but too much wheat flour tends to make your cookies increasingly thick and dry.  Find the balance that is right for your house.

NOTE:  Mom may already have posted the recipe I've been searching for... Oatmeal Chocolate Chippers

Katie Richey's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

Here is a great recipe from a friend in our BYU 93rd Ward... where Mary and I attended while newly married.  Celeste was less than a year old at the time.  This easy-to-make treasure is from a friend of ours, buried in our Ward Cookbook all of this time.

Although the recipe calls for a chocolate cake-mix, it has the consistency of brownies, similar to most other "bar" confectioneries you may have tried.

Ingredients:

• 1 Chocolate Cake Mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup Chocolate Chips (semi-sweet)
• 1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1/2 cup Chunky Peanut Butter
• 1/4 cup Water

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix together cake mix (dry), eggs, and oil.
3. Mix in Peanut Butter
4. Stir in Chocolate Chips
5. Pat the mixture into a 9" x 13" pan.
6. Bake 14 - 17 minutes or until golden brown!

Please note that I added water to the mixture, which the original recipe did not ask for.  Depending on elevation, cake mix, and size of your eggs, this may not be necessary.  If you don't like how it turns out, try dropping/altering the amount of water you use.

Twice-Baked Potatoes (Speed Nuke Method)

Yes indeed, it is the delectable flavour of Twice Baked Potatoes... but in half the time!  Less than that, actually.  Thanks to the modern technology of microwave ovens, this is a recipe that produces potatoes that honestly taste every bit as good as the 2½ hour conventional oven approach!

In my opinion, the end-result is every bit as moist, creamy, and flavourful in the Microwave oven, and my children love them!  So unless you fear radio-active side-effects, this recipe is a great time-saver when you are scrambling for something to make when 6:00pm rolls around.

Ingredients:

• 4 - 6 large baking potatoes
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese + extra grated cheese!
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 4 strips of crispy bacon, crumbled or sliced (Michael's addition)

Directions:

1. Scrub and prick potatoes with a fork
2. Place on a glass plate or microwave-safe dish
3. Cooke 3 - 4 potatoes at a time on high for 6 - 7 minutes
• Cook until potatoes are tender!
4. Cut cooked potatoes lengthwise.  Let sit five minutes to cool.
• This is to avoid burned fingers in the next step! ;-)
• You still want the potato innards hot enough to melt the butter...
5. Scoop potatoes from shell into a mixing bowl.
6. Mash potatoes and mix with butter, milk, sour cream, shredded cheese, salt, and pepper.
7. Place potato skins on the glass plate or dish.
8. Fill skins with mashed potatoes mixture
9. Add bacon pieces/crumble to the tops of the potatoes
10. Sprinkle with additional shredded cheese
11. Microwave on high 1 - 2 minutes or until cheese is melted
12. Prepare to double the recipe next time when your family asks for more!

Recipe Etymology:  This recipe comes from a cook-book Mom gave Mary last Christmas as a gift for her birthday.  I first tried this last month whilst Mary was face painting, and I needed to make something quick for the family upon arriving home from work.  Entitled the "Quick & Easy Cookbook," it was just what I needed.  It has some great recipes within, including this one!   Yummy-yum yum!

Oh, and here is how they should have looked, were I to have used fuller sized potatoes,  took more time artistically placing the grated cheese, and adding the fancy green onions for a final garnish...

Michael's Sunday Slow-cooked Roast

This recipe has been a favorite of my family as I have tweaked and developed it over time.  I generally use Beef Roasts, but this recipe has also worked well with good quality pork loin roasts.

I like things that are sweet, so this recipe uses a healthy coating of cinnamon-sugar along the top.  I like garlic too, so I mix the two.  A strange combination, perhaps, but it works.   I may try substituting brown sugar, as it would hint of the delicious spiral hams at Christmas. :-)

Experiment away, but this is the way I generally prepare it.  Because the size of roasts vary significantly, there are no absolute measurements.  Using a crock-pot or slow roaster, it's really quite difficult to ruin a roast.  :-) 

Ingredients:

 * Roast (3 - 4 lbs)
 * Garlic Cloves
 * Cinnamon-Sugar mixture
 * Onion Soup Mix Packet 
 * McCormick's "Season All" Seasoning
 * 1/2 of a medium Onion (sliced)

Directions:

1. Prepare a medium-sized Crock Pot, and pour 1/3 cup water into base.
2. Take your favourite style of roast (tenderloin, rump, chuck, etc.) and place in crock pot. 
3. Cut ½" deep slits across the short side of the roast, spacing them 1" apart, along the length of the roast. 
4. Take some fresh or minced garlic cloves, and work it into the cuts you made, according to taste. 
5. Sprinkle a healthy amount of mixed cinnamon and sugar across the top of the roast. 
6. The cinnamon-sugar adds a hint of sweetness, similar to a holiday ham. I also rub some extra into the slits. 
7. Also sprinkle desired amount of "Season-all" seasoning, or use salt & pepper instead. 
8. Pour a packet of onion-soup mix across the top of the roast. 
9. Slice up half of an onion to make decorative and tasty rings to drape across the roast.
   

NOTES:

• Cooking Time varies by weight and temperature: HIGH (3 -4 hrs) or LOW (5 -7 hrs) 
• I recommend the low temperature, if you have 6 - 8 hours to cook it in.  High heat will take half the time (3 - 4 hours), depending on the size of the roast.  
  
• You can certainly add the roast while frozen, although it is recommended to thaw it the night before. 
• To make a full meal, I like to create a bed of sliced potatoes (red or russet) to set the roast on, with sliced carrots on the sides.  Smaller red potatoes are best quartered, and dropped in.  Easy!

Mary's Honey-Lemon-Mustard Chicken

Main Ingredients:

• 4-5 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or Thigh's
• Paprika ~ a few pinches
• Lemon Juice ~ sprinkle to taste

 Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. Curry
• 1 cap Lemon Juice (1½ tsp.) 
• 3/4 cup Honey 
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup Mustard

Directions:  

1. Line a small or medium sized pan with tin foil.
2. Apply light cooking spray.
3. Place Chicken in the pan and sprinkle with lemon juice and paprika. 
• Just a smidgeon of Paprika... it's purpose is aesthetic as much as taste.
4. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and cook for 20 - 25 minutes, until lightly cooked. 
5. Remove pan and drain most of the juices. 
6. Pour sauce over the top of the chicken and cook another 10 - 15 minutes, or until tender.

NOTE: We like to spoon the excess sauce over mashed potatoes as a fun alternative to gravy!

Nacho Bake

This recipe was picked up from Noelle McDowell, a good friend of ours while we were living in Provo, attending a BYU Young Married ward.  Great people, and some good recipe's.  She and her husband, and their two daughters, lived in a cozy apartment atop a mortuary.  What does that have to do with this recipe?  Nothing, really... but it exemplifies the interesting lives each of us were living at at the time as our marriages were just beginning. 

I made this for dinner tonight as I was thumbing through our recipe books, and it matched the ingredients we had available.  Celeste and Samuel weren't sure what to make of it, but Ruth and Sariah wasted no time in digging in.  Following their younger siblings example, Celeste and Samuel took a few tentative bites, and then ate with gusto.  They absolutely loved it.

This recipe is not unlike one that mom used to make when we were young.  I swapped in normal diced onions for the green onions, and added sliced black olives.  It turned out great, and since all four of our kids loved it, it's officially a keeper.  With children ranging from 1 to 11 years old, each with their own palette of tastes, not all recipes turn out as successful. :-)

NOTE:  This recipe is best consumed the same night.  Left-overs may keep for a couple of days, but it won't be quite the same experience.  Cover with tinfoil, and reheat in the oven at low heat (not the microwave) for best reheating and retention of crispness.

Ingredients

• 1½ lbs. Ground Beef
• 1 can (14½ oz.) Diced Tomatoes, undrained
• 1 package Taco Seasoning Mix
• 1½ cups Sour Cream (12 oz.) ~ divided
• 8 cups Tortilla Chips (10 oz. bag)
• 8 oz. Cheddar Cheese (shredded)
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup Tomato (chopped)
• ¼ cup Onion (Yellow or Sweet Walla-wall) ~ (chopped)
• ¼ cup black Olives (sliced)
• ¼ cup Green Onion (diced / optional)

 Directions

• Begin browning of meat; as the juices begin to flow, add diced onions to saute.
• Drain meat when no longer pink, and after onions have softened.
• Add tomatoes, water, and seasoning mix.
• Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes while stirring occasionally.
• Stir in 1 cup of the sour cream.
• Place ½ of the chips into a 13 x 9 inch baking pan.
• Cover chips with half of the meat mixture and half of the grated cheese.
• Repeat layers.  Add sliced olives, distributing evenly across the top.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
• Top with remaining sour cream, chopped tomato, and green onion if desired.
• Or place as condiments at the table for people to individually add per taste.

Serve with a tossed salad, blueberry muffins, or anything else that sounds good with it.

Best Dang Crockpot Beef Stew EVER

This is from AllRecipes: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-beef-stew-i/detail.aspx but a couple minor changes.

Ingredients

• 1-2 pounds beef stew meat, cubed

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 2 onion, chopped

• 2 beef or vegetable bouillon cubes 
• 4 cups water

• 5 potatoes, diced

• 2 c. carrots, sliced

• 3 stalks celery, chopped

Directions

1. Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and pepper; sprinkle over meat, and stir to coat meat with flour mixture. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, onion, bouillon cubes, water, potatoes, carrots, and celery.

1. Cover, and cook on Low setting for about 6-8 hours.

Crazy Cake

This was one of my all-time favorite desserts to make--and eat!--when I was a child. My mom acquired this recipe somewhere and we all loved it! A very moist chocolate cake. Sift together into ungreased 9" x 13" pan: 3 cups flour 2 cups sugar 2 t soda 6 T powdered cocoa 1 t salt Make 3 indentations into mixture. Pour 2 t vanilla into one, 2 T white vinegar into one and 1/2 cup oil into the third. Pour 2 cups cold water over all and stire with a fork. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes. Frost with favorite chocolate frosting. Can add chopped walnuts on top.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chippers

Cream: 2 cups butter 1 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 1/2 cup sugar Add: 4 eggs 2 t hot water 2 t vanilla Add: 3 cups flour 2 t salt 2 t soda Add: 4 cup oats 12 ounces chocolate or butterscotch chips Bake at 350 degrees about 8 minutes.

Great Chocolate Chippers

One of our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes! It's a little fancier than some as it contains coconut. Cream: 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 2 t vanilla Add: 2 1/3 cup flour 1 t soda 1 t salt 1 cup chopped walnuts 12 oz. chocolate (or butterscotch) chips 1 cup coconut Bake 10 minutes @ 375 degrees.

Pumpkin Bread

This yummy recipe was from our Provo friend and neighbor, Pam Pulley. We traditionally make it in October to celebrate fall. Combine: 2 cup flour 2 baking powder 1/2 t soda 1 t salt 1 t cinnamon 1/2 t nutmeg 1 cup pumpkin 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup evaporated milk 2 eggs 1/4 cup soft margarine 1 cup chopped walnuts 1 cup chocolate chips Pour into greased pans and bake @ 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes.

Frozen Fruit

This is fun and refreshing as well as healthy! Can be used as a salad or dessert. We used our home bottled fruit and had this often with Sunday dinner.

Combine:

1 quart pears, drained and chopped
1 quart peaches, drained and chopped
1 can fruit cocktail, drained
1 can pineapple chunks, drained
1 T. lemon juice

Cover and freeze till slushy. Put in individual serving dishes and pour lemon-lime pop over top.

Waldorf Salad

Combine:

apple chunks
celery slices
raisins
Miracle Whip
1/2 t cinammon--optional

Aunt Lil's Layered Salad

From our Provo neighbor and dear friend, Janell Miller. This is also a hit at summer picnics!

Layer in a 9" x 13" pan or large glass salad bowl:

1 head lettuce, torn
1 package frozen peas, slightly thawed
1 onion, sliced and separated into rings
2 ribs chopped celery

Mix and pour over:

1 cup sour cream
2/3 cup sugar

Spread evenly with spatula and then pour over and spread:

1/2 cup mayonaise
3 T red wine vinegar

Top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Cover. Refrigerate 6 - 15 hours before serving.

Indian Summer Salad

Yet another easy, healthy salad!

Combine and chill:

1# grated carrots
1/2 cup crushed pineapple and juice
1/4 cup raisins or Craisins

Spinach Salad

This is a very good but not low-cal salad! Makes enough for a crowd--a large Tupperward bowl works well--and is always a crowd pleaser! To make it a little more elegant, use a glass salad bowl as it is layered. I used to make it for our annual July 4th picnics!

Layer:

1 bunch spinach--washed, dried, torn
1 head lettuce, torn
1 purple onion--sliced and separated
3/4 # sliced mushrooms
1# grated cheese
1# bacon--cooked, drained and crumbled

Dressing:

Blend in blender:

2/3 cup white vinegar
1 cup oil
2/3 cup sugar
1 green onions, chopped in 1" pieces, stems included
1 1/2 t salt
1 t yellow mustard
2 t celery seed

Sunshine Salad

Another easy, healthy salad that the kids can make and enjoy!

Combine:

1# grated carrots
a can drained Mandarin oranges
1 small can pineapple tidbits

Serve chilled.

Easy Fruit Salad

Mix the following with Cool-Whip:

1 -2 large apples, chopped
1 - 2 large oranges, chopped
1/2 - 1 can drained fruit cocktail
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Hawaiin Fruit

A simple, fresh fruit salad that is good with Asian dishes. Easy for the kids to make! Our kids used to like making this with their meals for their "cook nights."

Combine:

2 cans drained Mandarin oranges and 2 cans drained pineapple tidbits. Top with browned coconut. Serve chilled.

Beefy Chicken Breast

Spread bottom of pan with packaged chipped beef, cut up (a few Budding 3 oz packages). Place raw chicken breasts on top. Pour 1-10 3/4 oz. can of cream of chicken or mushroom soup mixed with 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 c. sour cream. Bake at 350° until done.  OR, can be done in electric frying pan.

These are just easy and tasty.

Impossible Quiche

Makes 1 pie.

This was one of Nathan's favorite meals to make as a kid (other than leftovers and make-your-own) because it is delicious and always turns out!

Place 1 c. cubed ham or bottom of lg. pie pan.

Add 1 c. grated cheese and 1/3 c. green or yellow onions.

Mix: 4 eggs, 1 c. Bisquick, 2 c. milk, 1 t. salt, 1/4 t. pepper.

Pour over ham.  Bake at 400° for 50 minutes.

Sweet Potato Souffle

Cook and skin about 12 cups yams.  Melt 1/4 c. margarine (or butter buds) in 9"x13" cake pan.

Add: yams, 1/2 c. milk, 1/2 c. sugar,  and 2 eggs.

Topping:
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. margarine - soft, but not melted
1/2 c. chopped nuts

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

This has been a Monson family tradition since we lived in Provo at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Eryn Michelle's Microwave Peanut Brittle

Blend:

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. light Karo syrup
Dash salt
1 c. raw peanuts

Microwave 7-10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes until light brown.

Add:
1 T. butter
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla.

Spoon onto sprayed wax paper - small patties or one large sheet.  Cook, break apart and enjoy!

Wonderful Wild Rice Soup

Cut 4 oz. of bacon into small pieces and cook. (Or you can use a cup of chopped, cooked ham.)

Place in crock pot. 

Add:
2-10 3/4-oz cans condensed cream of potato soup
1 pkg prepared Uncle Ben's instant wild rice
2-2-oz cans non-fat or 2 % evaporated milk
1-2 cups grated mild cheddar cheese

Put on warm all day long and thin with additional regular milk, if desired.  

The original recipe is from Mom (Kathryn)'s co-worker but used a pound of bacon, whipping cream and much more cheese - so this is very tasty but a healthier version that Kathryn adapted.

Navy Bean Soup

Mom has very good memories of this - her mom used to make it and Mom thinks this is pretty darn close.

Boil and simmer ham bone until meat falls off the bone. Discard the bone and cut up the ham.

Add:

1-2 T minced garlic
1 chopped onion
Boil until done. Add 16 oz. canned white beans or soak and cook 1 pound dried beans instead.

(If you want to do this in the crock pot, boil the ham bone, onion and garlic first.)

Whole Wheat Pancakes

The story behind these is that we used to make them on cold winter mornings with freshly ground whole wheat flours. The eggs are optional since at the time they said that eggs were unhealthy! However, they are saying eggs are good for you now.  We no longer have the grinder since it went mildewy in Minnesota.  (Nice, warm, humid Minnesota basement.)

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 c. oil (opt)
2 c. milk
2 eggs (opt)

Blend until lumpy. Bake on griddle sprayed with Pam at 350 and serve with honey.

Hummingbird Lady's Bean and Corn Salsa

We had a memorable night feeding hummingbirds at Pastor Corrinne Thul's beautiful home up Logan Canyon near 2nd Dam in 2010. And this was one of the hors d'oeuvres.

Combine:
2-16 oz. cans white beans
2-16 oz. cans black beans
2-16 oz. cans corn
2 cups salsa
2 chopped avocadoes.

Serve with corn chips.

Nancy and Bill's Green Salad

Toss:
Large bowl chopped romaine
1 yellow pepper, diced small
1 orange pepper, diced small
1 peeled cucumber, diced small
3 ribs celery, diced small
8 oz grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
2 grated carrots

With Paul Newman's Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Courtesy of Nancy and Bill Carr at our annual 4th of July picnic.

Suzie's Fruit Salad

Toss equal parts:
Red and green grapes, whole or halved
Chopped apples
Vanilla yoghurt (not necessarily equal parts)..


Quite elegant, actually!

From the kitchen of Suzanne Leale Gray

Kathryn's BBQ Meatballs

We all love 'em....

You can make the meatballs using any recipe or just use frozen pre-made meatballs.

Sauce:
Blend 2 cups ketchup, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 t. tobasco sauce, 1/2 t. garlic powder and 1/4 cup chopped onion. 

Put about 3 lbs of frozen meatballs in a single layer on a baking tray (one with edges).  Cover with sauce and cook at 350° for 1 hour.  Yummy if served on brown rice!

Skinny Chili

When first fall weather hits, you've gotta make this!

Brown and drain:
1 pound lean ground beef
8 stalks celery, chopped
2 chopped onions
1 chopped green pepper.

Add to the meat mixture and simmer until hot:
4-16 oz. cans of chili beans (in seasoned sauce)
2-16 oz. cans of plain stewed tomatoes
2-16 oz. cans of mexican seasoned stewed tomatoes

Add additional seasoning if desired (but with mexican tomatoes & seasoned chili beans, it is quite yummy!)

Quick Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies - Terri Viehweg

Terri Viehweg was with Mom in the primary presidency in Hyrum.  This makes about 5-6 dozen cookies.

2 dry spice cake mixes
1 lg can (~29 oz)
12 oz. bag chocolate chips.
Chopped walnuts are optional.

Blend and bake at 350 for about 8-10 minutes per batch.

Swedish Pancakes

This recipe is special to me for several reasons. First and foremost because I have many fond memories of Dad making this tasty recipe for breakfast! I also connect because I have Swedish blood in me! And since my father served an LDS mission in Sweden, he got to taste how the Swede's make it.

Now that I have made it for my own family, they love this recipe too! Celeste, Samuel, and Ruth all devour the pancakes, made more healthy by the wheat flour my Dad has chosen to use. Most recently, Ruth even ate six pancakes filled with a variety of jam's! Quite a healthy appetite she has for a little girl of two years! I've cooked up Swedish Pancakes at least four times this year, and I keep tweaking the recipe to match that which I remember my father making. With this version of the recipe, I have gotten very close.

When we went to visit my parents last Saturday, Celeste and Samuel excitedly told their Grandpa that Daddy made Swedish pancakes! I spoke to Dad about it, and he said that the choice to use wheat flour was his own. Many of the Swede's cook them with white flour, which allows them to be even thinner... much like crepe's. Of course, many Swede's are only getting started with the jam. They often sprinkle powder sugar on top before rolling them up.

Ingredients:
  - 1 cup wheat flour
  - 2 tsp cinnamon
  - 1/2 tsp salt
  - 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  - 2 eggs (beaten)
  - 1 tsp vanilla
  - /4 cup sugar
  - 1½ cups milk
  - 1/3 cup melted butter

Directions:

1. Pour wheat flour into a medium mixing bowl. Stir in cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and sugar.


2. Beat eggs until lightly mixed. Add vanilla and stir.


3. Combine egg mixture to flour mixture. Stir until blended.


4. Add milk and stir until ingredient compounds are sufficiently integrated.


5. The pancake batter should be runny. Thicker batter creates thick pancakes; you want the pancakes to be fairly thin so that they can be rolled up once the jam is spread. Add additional milk if necessary to reach the desired consistency. You'll have to experiment based on altitude, humidity, and personal preference.


6. Melt butter in Microwave; add to the pancake batter and mix.


7. Cook on electric griddle at 275 - 300 degrees. You can also cook them in a frying pan using medium heat over the stove. A grill is preferred for heat consistency.


8. Using a small measuring cup, pour batter as circles 4" in diameter.


9. As with most pancakes, flip when the bubbles start to pop.

Serve: Hot! Spread a line of jam or jelly down the middle of the pancake, and roll it up like taco. Then consume! Instead of meat, your taste buds will be greeted with the sweet flavour of your favorite jam or jelly. I have used apricot, peach, strawberry, raspberry, boysenberry and grape. But my favorite has always been apricot!


Notes: This recipe is not a perfect recreation of what my father recited to me over the phone several years ago. The recipe that my Dad gave me called for many approximations, making it a very inexact science. For instance: a dash of salt, a bit of nutmeg and vanilla, and "enough milk to make it runny." ;-) Certainly with such a fantastic and tasty breakfast dish, I wanted to distill measured ingredients that I could consistently make them myself. I have been tweaking the recipe every time, and now the pancakes cook up very close to the way I remember Dad making them.

I've also cut the recipe back... almost in half. Dad's original recipe calls for a full 2 cups of wheat flour! I quickly learned that while it doesn't initially seem like too much, the amount of batter grows dramatically as you add the other ingredients. If you choose to use 2 cups of flour, don't forget to double everything else in the recipe. After adding "enough milk to make the batter runny," you will fill a large mixing bowl! It's fine for a hearty family of two adults and five teenagers, but if you have a smaller family like we do, 50 pancakes is a tad too many! Unless you have a duck pond nearby that you can take the left-overs to feed! :-) So I recommend the measurements that I have used, and then calibrate the recipe to your family's appetite thereafter.

Don't forget to mix in the melted butter at the end. My father adds it to keep the pancakes from sticking in the frying pan. It's not a problem on my stick-free electric grill, but I still use the butter because it adds a touch or richness to the flavour.

Last of all, I have a special request for Dad: Please try my reduced recipe, and comment on how close I am in both flavour and consistency. I'd be very curious to get your feedback since you are, after all, the one who perfected it while we were growing up. Michelle, Nathan, and Thayne: Feel free to critique it also! After all, you each grew up eating it too. :-)

Cranberry Jell-o Salad

I'm trying to mimic Mom's salad, but not sure exactly how she makes it so I improvised a bit.  Let me know if it's close or what changes can be made....

Ingredients:

2-0.3 oz sugar-free raspberry jello packets
1-14 oz. can of whole berry cranberries
3 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 T lemon juice
1-6 oz. can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 medium Granny Smith apple, chopped
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Directions:

When you chop the apple up, mix in with the lemon juice & pineapple to prevent discoloring.  Follow directions to make the jello - once the powder has dissolved, mix in the apples & pineapple and boil a few more minutes.  Mix in the cold water (from jello package) and remaining ingredients.  Pour all into a bowl and put in refrigerator to set.  Tastes best if done the night before.  Once it's set, stir it up and enjoy!
 

Creamy Corn

One of my friends made this a few years ago and I tried it out yesterday for Thanksgiving meal... Yummy and easy! (But terribly unhealthy, I'm sure..)

Ingredients:

2 cans corn
1 large sweet onion (chopped)
1 T olive oil
4 oz. cream cheese
Red pepper (to taste: I used about 1/2 T)
Seasoning salt (to taste: I used about 2 t)

Directions:

First,   saute the onion in the olive oil - use medium or medium-low heat, so the onion won't brown but become translucent. This might take 10-15 minutes, but is worth it.
Meanwhile, drain the corn and mix with the cream cheese in a medium pot.  When the cream cheese has melted, and the onions are ready, mix in the onions and seasonings.  Enjoy!