Pigs in a Blanket

For this recipe you will need:

• Package of Cocktail Smokies (tiny sausage wieners)
• 2 packages Refrigerated Cresent Rolls

Preheat oven to 375 degrees or according to your cresent roll cooking directions...Unroll package of cresent rolls, and cut into pieces that will fit around the cocktail smokies. Wrap the cocktail smokies, place on a baking sheet and cook for about 8-10 minutes or according to the cresent roll cooking instructions. 
Enjoy!

Sand Tart Cookies

For this recipe you will need:

• 2 1/4 cup self-rise flour (sifted)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• box of powdered sugar
• 2 t. vanilla flavor
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Cream butter, margarine and sugar together until smooth, slowly add flour until smooth, add pecans and vanilla flavoring. Shape into 1 inch balls. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 275 degrees for 1 hour. Yes, you read it right 1 hour. When done, dip the cookies in powdered sugar when they are still warm and again when the cookies cool. Note: I use a zipper bag for my powdered sugar to make it easier and faster to coat the cookies.
Enjoy!

Easy Slow Cooker Beef Stew

For this recipe I used a crock pot
For this recipe you will need:

•  1 1/2 Pounds of Stew Beef Meat
• 4 Medium Potatoes (peeled and chopped into cubes)
• 1/2 Onion (chopped)
• 2 Carrots (peeled and chopped)
• 1 Can Stewed Tomatoes (optional, sometimes I add stewed tomatoes and sometimes I don't, it's good with or without them)
• 1 Can Corn (undrained)
• 1 Can Green Beans (drained and rinsed)
• Bag of Frozen Baby Lima Beans
• 1 package McCormick's Beef Stew slow cooker seasoning pack
• 3 cups water

Wash meat and put it into the crock pot, add potatoes, carrots, onion, stewed tomatoes (if adding them), corn, green beans, and baby lima beans, in a large measuring cup, mix water with the seasoning pack and pour it into the crock pot. Stir together. Cook on high for 5-6 hours, or on low for 6 to 8 hours.
This is an economical and easy way to feed a crowd.
Serve with Garlic Bread or French Bread

Enjoy!

Cocktail Meatballs

For this recipe you will need:

• Ground Beef (1 to 2 pounds depending on how many people you will be serving)
• 12 oz. bottle of Chilli Sauce (found in the condiment section of the grocery store, near the ketchup ect)
• 2 cups of Grape Jelly
• Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Dried Onions

 Put the ground beef in a large bowl, generously sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dried onion. Mix together and then form the ground beef into 1 inch round balls. Place them in a skillet, cook on medium heat until they are well browned and no longer pink inside. Remove from skillet and drain on a plate. Now, in the same skillet, add the bottle of chilli sauce and grape jelly. Stir these together until  they are melted and are mixed well.  Put the meatballs back into the skillet and gently stir them in the sauce.  Simmer covered on low for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally....the longer they cook the better flavor they will have. Serve these warm with toothpicks nearby.
Enjoy!

Fried Chicken Strips with Honey Mustard Sauce

For this recipe you will need: 

• Boneless skinless Chicken Strips (enough for your size family, I use a little over a pound for 4 people), 
• flour, 
• eggs, 
• milk, 
• vegetable oil,  
• your favorite seasonings, I used garlic powder, seasoned salt, chicken seasoning and soul seasoning, (whatever seasonings that you have and like will be fine) 

Directions: 

*Wash chicken strips, shake off excess water and set them on a plate, place some flour in a gallon size plastic zip bag, set aside

*Beat the egg and about a Tablespoon of Milk in a wide shallow bowl or deep plate, set aside 

*Season chicken strips generously with seasonings, and dip them in the egg/milk mixture 

*Now put a few in at the time in the zipper bag of flour, zip and coat chicken strips, then place on a plate until ready to fry. 

*Now put enough vegetable oil in a deep skillet, to fill it about 1/3 of the skillet, see my pics and judge how much oil to put in the skillet, you don't want to put too much oil, because adding the chicken is going to make the oil rise and you don't want the oil to overflow at all. 

*Now heat oil on Med-high heat for about 5-7 minutes until it's hot enough to fry in....you can test the grease to see if it's ready to fry in by placing a pinch of flour in the skillet after several minutes of heating, when the flour sizzles, it's hot enough to fry in. Note: As a safety precaution, never turn your back on grease or leave it unattended, it can get hot quickly. 

*Now, carefully place each chicken strip in the grease, once they are all in, time it and cook it 3 minutes on each side for approximately 12 minutes or until no longer pink. After a few minutes of cooking on Medium-high heat, You can reduce the heat to medium, if the grease seems to be getting too hot.  

Drain on a paper towel lined plate

Serve with Honey Mustard Sauce or your favorite dipping sauce. 

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Honey Mustard Recipe (below)

My sweet oldest son came up this Honey Mustard recipe himself years ago, when he was only around 14 years old...he came up with this, because we could never buy one that we all really liked....I thought he was so smart to think this up, and I must say that it's the best we have ever had, and I make it all the time. Special thanks to my precious son, for inventing this recipe for us to enjoy and for always being such a joy to us all of these years that have seemed to have flown by.  If we knew how, we'd bottle your honey mustard, and market it, and sell it with your name on it, but the best I can do is give it honor here on my blog for all to enjoy!  It will always have your name on it Austin. Love you :)

For this Honey Mustard Recipe You Will Need:

• 2  Heaping Tablespoons of Mayonnaise (just use a spoon from your regular silverware drawer)

• 2  Heaping teaspoons of Mustard (just use a spoon from your regular silverware drawer)

• 1 to 2 Tablespoons of Honey (add Tablespoon to taste until desired sweetness)

• Sprinkle Seasoned Salt, and Pepper to taste

Mix ingredients together in a small bowl, serve as dipping sauce for chicken strips.

NOTE: For an optional different twist on this sauce, I sometimes add about a 1/2 teaspoon of prepared Horseradish to the honey mustard to give it a kick, I'm the only one in the family that likes it with a kick though lol.

Enjoy!

Powdered Sugar Donuts

 For this recipe you will need:

• A Can of Refrigerated Biscuits
• Vegetable Oil
•  Powdered Sugar
•  A Top to a water bottle or drink bottle

You'll be using this bottle top, down below to cut the donuts...Let's get started...Separate the biscuits, you'll cut the center of the biscuits and save the centers too, these are your donut holes...

  After you cut a hole in center of each biscuit with the bottle top....set them aside, you are going to fry them... 

 *Pour some powdered sugar into a gallon size plastic zip bag

*Now, pour some vegetable oil into a skillet, fill the skillet a little less than half full, remember the donuts will make the oil rise in the skillet and you don't want that oil to overflow. 

*Let oil heat for about 3-5 minutes on med-high heat, stay near the oil, (note: as a safety precaution, never turn your back on oil, it can get hot quick), after a few minutes of heating the oil, test the oil to see if it's hot enough to cook in, you can do this by sprinkling a little pinch of the powdered sugar into the oil, it should sizzle when it's ready,this is how you will know that the oil is ready and hot enough to add the donuts.  

*Now, gently add the donuts to the oil (note:when you first add the donut, if the donut doesn't begin immediately cooking and bubbling, your grease isn't hot enough, take it out and wait a little longer before adding the donuts) 

*After adding the donuts, be ready to turn them with thongs or a fork, because they will brown on bottom quickly.  You can turn down the heat to medium now...


*Flip the donuts once they are golden brown on bottom, they won't take long to cook maybe 20-30 seconds to brown on each side. You'll want to stay right there with them and keep a close check on them

*Drain them on paper towel lined plates....

 Now cook the donut holes....and drain...

Then immediately put donuts and donut holes in the powdered sugar that you have ready in the gallon sized plastic zip bag. Zip the bag and shake until well coated. You can do this in batches, I usually coat half of them and then the other half....the sooner you can get the donuts in the bag of powdered sugar, the better the coating will stick...

They will look something like this when they are done...

Enjoy!

Special thanks to my beautiful mama for cooking this for me when I was a little girl and for passing this easy recipe down to me, so that I could fix it for my family too....these donuts have always been a favorite...the kids love it. She would cut her center hole with a knife, I got inventive with the water bottle top! It makes it easier, and I'm all about making things easier! 

Potato Salad

You will need:

• 6 Potatoes... peeled, washed and diced  into small cubes and cooked until tender. (I use 1 potato for each person that I'll be serving, then I usually add one more just for good measure) To cook the potatoes, I put the diced potatoes in a large saucepan, cover them with water, and add 1 tsp. Salt, bring them to a boil, on medium-high heat, and boil them uncovered for 12 minutes or until fork tender.

• 3 Boiled Eggs..... cooked, peeled and diced (To cook the eggs, I put eggs in a medium saucepan, cover them with cold water, bring the eggs to a boil on medium-high heat and then boil them on medium high heat, timing them for 12 minutes. After they are done, I put the pan in the sink and run cold water over them for a couple of minutes. I immediately peel the eggs while they are still a little warm, so that the peeling doesn't stick to the eggs. NOTE: To save time....If you have a big enough saucepan, you can cook the boiled eggs together with the diced potatoes, just make sure to put the potatoes and water in the saucepan first, then carefully add the eggs so you don't crack the eggs, and be sure you have enough water to cover it all.

• 2 Tablespoons Sweet Pickle Relish

• 1/4 of a yellow onion, chopped into tiny pieces

• 1/4 tsp. yellow mustard, you can add a little more to taste

• Sprinkled Black Pepper to Taste

• Seasoned Salt to Taste

• Mayonnaise, you'll use about 3-5 Heaping Tablespoons of mayo, just add the mayo until it is the desired consistency and creaminess that you like.

Mix all of the ingredients above in a large bowl, adding black pepper and seasoned salt to taste.

Serve with Barbecue and Baked Beans 

Enjoy!

This post is dedicated to my sweet Grandma C. I used to love to get in the kitchen with her as a teenager, she made everything so easy. She would let me help her and taught me so much about cooking. She's the one who taught me to make this potato salad,when I was 18 years old. 

Baked Pork Chops

 This is easy easy, line a cookie baking sheet with foil and grease it.

You will need:

• Thin Center Cut Pork Chops
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Seasoned Salt
• Garlic Powder
• Black Pepper

Wash pork chops, then put them on the pan, carefully pour worcestershire sauce over each pork chop, sprinkle one side with seasoned salt, garlic powder, and black pepper.

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven uncovered for about 30-40 minutes. Timing will really depend on the thickness of the porkchops. For this recipe I like to use the thin pork chops, they turn out so tender and just right.
 

I like to serve these pork chops with green beans and mashed potatoes topped with saurkraut. You can find these two side dish recipes here on my blog, by continuing to scroll down the blog page.
Enjoy! 

Sauerkraut with Mashed Potatoes

Here's what you will need below:

• Homemade Mashed Potatoes are used for this recipe, you can use your own favorite recipe or you can get my recipe for Homemade Mashed Potatoes HERE (you'll have t scroll to the bottom of that post to find it)
•  You'll also need,  1 can of sauerkraut (drained, but I don't drain all of the juices off of the sauerkraut, I like to leave a little. I drain the can just by leaving the opened lid of the can on the can and then simply draining the liquid off into the sink)
• 3 Smoked Bacon Strips
•  1/2 teaspoon Salt
• Sprinkled black pepper
• enough water to cover the sauerkraut

Place bacon strips in medium saucepan, cook on med-high heat until there is some grease in the pan, but "not" until the bacon is crispy. Add slightly drained sauerkraut, salt, and sprinkled pepper to the saucepan, then cover with water. Bring to a boil, then cover pan with lid, and reduce heat to low to med-low and cook for an hour or so.

Use a large spoon to spoon saurkraut and juices over homemade mashed pototoes.

Enjoy!

*For a healthier lower saturated fat version, leave out the bacon and use beef broth instead of water. 

Special thanks to my sweet German Mother-In-Law, who has always cooked this during the holidays and she finally got me to try this a few years ago. I'm glad I got brave and decided to give it a try.  I had been missing out on such a delicious combination ....I'd never even wanted to try sauerkraut​ before, and who'd have ever thought that mashed potatoes would be great with sauerkraut? I sure would have never thought that I would like it, but I love it and it is one of my favorite dishes. I cook it all the time. 
I believe she uses a different pork meat in her recipe, but I used bacon (if you've looked much at my recipes....I use bacon to season a lot of my vegetables and foods)  

Green Beans seasoned with Bacon

You will need:

• 1 Can Green Beans (drained and rinsed, use the amount you need for your size family, 1 can feeds 3 people)
• Slice of Bacon
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• Sprinkled Pepper to taste
• teaspoon of white vinegar (optional)
• enough water to cover the beans

In a saucepan, cook the bacon on medium-high heat until there is some grease in the pan, but "not" until the bacon is crispy. Add the green beans, and salt, sprinkled pepper,  white vinegar (optional)  then cover with water. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low and cook for about 30- 45 minutes.
Enjoy!

For a healthier lower saturated fat version, leave out the bacon, and add beef broth to the pot instead of water. You can do this to help give flavor to any vegetable (chicken broth works great too).