Potatoe Soup~ Cold Weather Comfort Foods

  You will need:

• 9 potatoes pealed and diced
• 1 onion diced
• 2 carrots diced small
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 4 cups milk
• 2 chicken bouillon cubed dissolved in 1/2 cup hot milk
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 8 slices bacon cooked crispy and crumbled
• grated cheddar cheese

In a large pot melt butter, add onion and carrots until both are tender. Stirring frequently. Once they are tender. Whisk in flour and stir well, cooking for a minute, then add potatoes, milk and dissolved bouillon cubes. Cook over med heat until potatoes are soft about 20 minutes. Stir occassionally. When pototoes are soft, Add the half and half, salt and pepper. Cook for an additonal 15 mintutes and simmer until ready to serve. When ready to eat, serve in bowls and Serve with crumbled bacon and grated cheddar cheese on top.

Enjoy!

Homemade Chilli For Hot Dogs

You will need:

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt (season more to taste later)
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• sprinkle of red pepper
• sprinke of black pepper
• dried bay leaf
• 1 tsp. seasoned salt
• 1 tsp. dried onion
• 2 tsp. chilli powder
• Your favorite brand of hot dogs and buns

Cover the ground beef with water in a small pot, use a spatula to crumble the ground beef. Add all of the other ingredients and bring it all to a boil, continue stirring and crumbling up the ground beef with the spatula. Reduce the heat and cook for about 30 min.or longer...the longer it simmers the more flavor it will have. Using a slotted spoon to drain the chilli onto each hotdog and bun.... and add your other favorite condiments like mayo mustard, ect.... This is enough chilli for 8 hotdogs.

Enjoy!

This post is dedicated to Riley, he taught me this method for making hot dog chilli....I tweeked it a little  bit and put my own spin on it, but I will always remember him when I make this. 

Rich Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake is so rich.

For the cake you will need:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk 
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract 
• 1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour 2 9" cake pans
Combine dry ingredients in large bowl, add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract. Beat with electric mixer 2 minutes on medium speed, stir in boiling water, (batter will be thin). Pour into pans, bake 30-35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Remover to wire racks. Cool, then frost. 


For the frosting you will need:

• 1 stick of butter or margarine 
• 2/3 cup nestle's powdered cocoa
• 3 cups powdered Sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla flavoring

Melt butter or margarine in a medium bowl in microwave, then stir in cocoa powder. Then alternately add powdered sugar and milk until well blended and until it is desired spreading consistency. Add the vanilla flavoring. Add more powdered sugar or milk if need. Makes about 2 cups. Spread on chocolate cake.

Enjoy!

Southern Style Stewed Cabbage with Bacon

What you will need:

• Head of Cabbage
• 4 Slices of Bacon
• 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 1 Cup of Water
• 2 Teaspoons Sea Salt

Slice the head of cabbage, wash cabbage, and set aside. In a large dutch oven pot add bacon and oil and cook for a little while about 5-10 minutes on medium high heat until it starts to cook, but not get crispy. Add the salt, cabbage and water to the pot and cover, let it come to a boil, stirring often for a couple of minutes, reduce heat to med-low and cook covered until tender. (I like my cabbage very tender, so I cook it about an hour or so). Stirring ocassionally. After it has cooked season to taste with more salt if desired. This cabbage is tender and tasty, it tastes even more flavorful, after it has been removed from the heat and been allowed to sit uncovered for a while, after it is done. It seems that the longer it sits the more tasty it is, because it soaks up the bacon juices.

Enjoy~

For a healthier lower fat version, leave out the bacon, add beef or chicken broth instead of the water, this will add  extra flavor, when cooking any vegetable. 

Easy Oven Baked BBQ Boneless Chicken Breasts with Onion and Bacon

This is so easy....

This will feed a family of 4

What you will need is:

• 1 lb. package of boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Your favorite BBQ Sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays Honey Barbecue Sauce)
• Chicken Seasoning Salt (I use the Spice Treasures Brand at Dollar General)
• Garlic Powder
• Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Sliced Onion
• 4 Slices of Bacon

Spray a 13 by 9 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray. Wash the chicken and lay them in the pan, sprinkle generously with spices on both sides, place onion slices on top of the chicken, then lay bacon slices on top also. (For a nicer presentation, you could wrap each chicken breast with the bacon). Pour barbecue sauce on top. Cook at 350 degrees covered with foil for 45 minutes then uncover for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the chicken is done and no longer pink inside.

Enjoy!

Pot Roast with Carrots and Thyme

You will need:

• 2 Pounds Chuck Steaks (cut into bite size pieces)
• 2 Yellow Onions sliced
• 6 Slices Bacon
• 5 Carrots Peeled and sliced into chunks
• 2 Tablespoons Flour
• 6 Dried Prunes
• 1 teaspoon Thyme
• 1 Cup Beef Stock
• 12 oz Can of beer of choice

In a large pot, cook bacon on medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon, let it cool, chip it up and save it for later. Add onions, salt and pepper to taste and cook over med-low heat until carmelized about 20 min. Remove onions, leaving the grease in the pot. Wash meat season with salt and pepper, now brown the meat in the grease. Once the meat has all been browned on all sides, add all of the cooked ingredients together back to the pot, then stir in the flour, Cook for a couple of minutes then add the beer. Stir well then add the beef stock, thyme and dried prunes. Stir well again, and then transfer the ingredients to a 13 by 9 inch baking pan, cover pan with foil. Cook in the oven at 325 degrees for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until tender.
Serve with Mashed Potatoes and Enjoy!

Baked Pork Chops with Crushed Tomato Sauce

You will need:

• Large package of boneless pork chops, (about 2 pounds)
• 1 Tablespoon Veg. oil
• 1 Can crushed whole tomatoes
• 1/2 Cup Ketchup
• 1/4 Cup light brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tablespoon Mustard
• Salt and Pepper

Put oil in a skillet, wash the meat put the meat on a plate and then sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper, brown the meat on both sides, then place the meat on a greased baking pan. Mix the remaning ingredients together in a mixing bowl and pour it over the pork chops. Bake uncovered for 45 min. to 1 hour until tender.
Enjoy!

Easy Homemade Cheesecake

You will need:

• 2 (8oz) pkgs. cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• ready made graham cracker pie crust

Let cream cheese sit out at room temperature until soft, cream together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with electric mixer until blended well. Add the eggs and mix well. Pour into pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 min. Refrigerate several hours or overnight before serving.

Serve with fruit toppings if desired..... I like mine "plain" just like it is.

Enjoy!

Southern Fried Rice with Bacon, Ham, and Carrots

This quick Recipe is courtesy of my husband's mother...my version varies a little from hers because there is not really a recipe. The reason I say this is because she just throws it all together.... I was given no real measurements, but I have watched her years ago, and saw how she made this and this is what I came up with. Of course, I think it's not as good as her version, but it's pretty yummy. This is a recipe that you can season to taste and add what you like to it, .....you can vary the ingredients according to your taste buds seasoning with salt and pepper to taste on this. Rice is so versatile.

What you will need:

• 1 Box of Success Brown Rice (this is the boil in the bag rice and you will be using 2 of the 4 bags that the box comes with). Cook Rice according to the package directions and set aside or you can cook regular white rice or jasmine rice. 
• 4 Tablespoons Butter or Margarine
• 2 Slices Bacon (Optional)
• 1/2 Vidalia onion chopped or a couple of green onions chopped
• 1 Carrot peeled and grated
• 2-3  Slices of cooked smoked ham cut into small pieces, (I used about a hand size piece of left over ham steak, but you can purchase ham steaks or use the deli ham slices cut up)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook rice according to package directions, set aside.
Cook bacon in a skillet on medium heat until it is done, (slightly crispy), remove bacon from skillet, and after it's cooled, chip it up and set aside for later. Add butter to the bacon grease along with the onion, and carrots, saute' until they are tender, about 10-15 minutes, then add the cooked ham and cook for an additional 5 minutes until it is warmed. Add cooked rice and cooked bacon back to the skillet, stir and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to low, cover for about 5-10 minutes until ready to serve, stirring occasionally.

I serve this as a side dish with grilled meats or barbecue dishes and baked beans, but since there is meat in this dish you can always add more meat to the rice and serve it as a main dish.

Enjoy !

For a healthier lower saturated fat version, leave out the bacon and ham, and cut the margarine or butter by half. 

Cream Corn Casserole Old-Fashioned Southern Style

 This will feed a crowd and the ingredients will fill a 13 by 9 Casserole Dish, (sorry for the picture showing just half of a casserole dish...I forgot to take the picture, until we'd eaten half of it).

You will need:

• 2 Cans Cream Style Corn
• 1 Can Whole Corn (do not drain)
• Jiffy Cornbread Mix
• 8 oz Sour Cream
• 1 Stick of butter or margarine melted

Grease 13 by 9 inch casserole dish, mix all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl , pour in the baking dish, cook uncovered for 45 min. to 1 hour, at 350 degrees until light golden brown around the edges.
That's it. This is so easy and fast, tastes sweet creamy and delicious...I've been told that this tastes similar to the fresh cream corn grandma used to fix in the iron skillet.
Enjoy!

Icebox Lemon Meringue Pie

You will need:

• 1 Ready made Graham Cracker Pie Crust
• 1/2 Cup Bottled Lemon Juice
• 14 oz. Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk (such as Eagle Brand, just make sure you don't accidentally pick up evaporated milk)
• 2 Eggs Separated
• 4 Tablespoon Sugar

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Crack eggs and separate the yolks from the whites in two small bowls. You will need the yolks for the filling and the whites for the meringue topping. Now, In a med. bowl, combine lemon juice and canned sweetened condensed milk and stir well with a spoon or hand whisk, add yolks, stir and pour in the pie shell. Now in another bowl beat the eggs whites with an electric mixer until they start to get fluffy,(keep mixing it takes a little while) gradually add the sugar and continue beating until the whites are stiff, and will hold a peek, but not dry. Pile this on top of the pie filling. Bake at 325 degrees until lightly browned about 10 minutes. Cool Completely and then refrigerate for several hours until chilled well before serving.

Enjoy!

Easy Chicken Salad for Spreading on Crackers

You will need:

• 12.5 oz. Can of Great Value Chunk Chicken Breast in water fully cooked (drained and crumbled)
• 4 Heaping Tablespoons Mayo (I used Kraft)
• 3 Boiled Eggs chopped
• 1 Heaping Tablespoons Sweet Pickle Relish
• Seasoned Salt and Pepper Sprinkled to Taste

Mix ingredients together in a bowl, put in the refrigerator until chilled, serve in individual bowls with the crackers of your choice (I used Townhouse Crackers). This is good spread on bread for chicken salad sandwiches also.
Enjoy!

My sweet Mama made her chicken salad this way for sandwiched.

Southern Stewed Squash

You will need:

• Small yellow onion sliced
• 1-2 slices bacon
• 1 cup water
• salt and pepper
• 3 Tablespoons veg. oil
• 3 Large Yellow Squash

In a large skillet add veg. oil, bacon, onion, sliced squash, and water. Salt and Pepper generously. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat cover with lid and stew on low-med heat til tender, stirring occasionally. Once they are tender in about twenty minutes, uncover and cook about thirty minutes more or until a lot of the juice has cooked out. Serve with fried cornbread or serve as a side dish.
Serves 4

Enjoy!

Mexican Enchilada In a Skillet

You will need:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1/2 cup of your favorite Salsa (I've used both Chi Chi's brand and Pace brand before)
• 1 can tomatoe soup
• small chopped onion
• 4-6 oz. grated cheddar cheese for the topping
• 10 Mission Brand soft yellow corn tortillas (6" size) cut into 1-2 inch pieces
• Salt, pepper, garlic powder sprinkled
• can of Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce

Brown the ground beef in a skillet with chopped onion, sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder, drain fat and return to skillet. Add the water, salsa, tomatoe soup and cut up corn tortillas bring to a boil and stir, then cover and reduce heat to low for about 5-8 minutes stirring occasionally. Top with grated cheese and cover until melted. Put on serving plates and drizzle the skillet enchilada with heated enchilada sauce on each individual plate. Serve with chips and salsa, chips and guacamole dip (click HERE for my recipe for guacamole dip), refried beans or rice.
Serves 5
This recipe is about as easy as it gets, when you need something quick! This was a Campbell's Kitchen Recipe I found in a magazine....I changed a few things to suit my taste...like adding the enchilada sauce, onion, salt, pepper and garlic salt.
Enjoy!

Ground Beef Vegetable Soup

You will need:

• 1 Pound ground chuck 
• 1 Cup chopped yellow onion 
• 1 Cup chopped celery
• 1/2 Cup green bell pepper
• 1/2 tsp. Salt

Cook above in a small amount of cooking oil in skillet until vegetables are tender and meat is done. About 10 minutes, stir frequently. If there seems to be a lot excess grease, spoon some of it out with a large spoon.
Next you will need:

• 1 Can beef broth 15 oz.
• 2- Cans tomatoes 15 oz.
• 1-Can Kernel corn  (undrained)
• 1/2 tsp. Black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. Garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Seasoned Salt and more to taste
• 4 Peeled cut up potatoes 
• 1 Can green beans 15oz.  (drained)
• 1/2 a bag of family size frozen lima beans or small pkg. of frozen lima beans 

Put the above in a soup pot and add meat and vegetables. Bring to a boil and simmer for about and hour. The longer it simmers the more flavorful it will be. Soup will thicken like a chowder.
Serve with garlic bread
Enjoy!