New Recipe Book

I'm a hoarder. I hoard recipes like it's nobody's business. I clip them from magazines, newspapers, websites, etc. Before I had a scanner I kept them all in a photo album. Once I got a scanner I started scanning them into the computer. Well, recently I have had to open up the computer, go to my recipe folder, and hunt for the recipe I was looking for. Especially when it came to our all time favorites. I'm slowly building up this recipe book with our favorites new and old. Some are recipes that my mom grew up on, that she gave to us kids, and now my boys are growing up on them...Banana Bread, Gingersnaps, etc.

So, while running around Pinterest I found a recipe book made from a 5 x 7 binder (which I had on hand along with page protectors).  This recipe book was a wonderful idea, because I had a ton of scrapbook paper on hand to use up. I also knew that this book would only hold our tried and true recipes that were our absolute favorites or recipes handed down.

The cover

 The title page I just put a 1" circle of the scrapbook

paper so that it would be easy to find.

 

 Then a strip of the paper would be cut and pasted to the edge

of the recipe so you know which section you are looking at

 

 

 I will add pictures of the boys helping to make the recipe

or just pictures of the process or after product.

I'm really liking the book and I'm sure it will be around for a long while that the boys will get used to seeing and enjoy looking at for years or even their wives and children when they get older as they want a certain family recipe.

Taco Pizzahttp://theromanhousehold.blogspot.com/

Here is another keeper recipe. The boys ate it up and Daddy went back for seconds if that means anything at all. It was super quick to make and had quite a bit of flavor and yumminess to it. A definite quick meal on those weekdays when you get home a little later than usual or you just are unsure what to make.

 

Taco Pizza

 

Ingredients:

1 can pizza dough (can be found near the biscuits section at the store)

1 can refried beans

1 lb ground beef/turkey

2 cups shredded cheese - Mexican blend

1 can sliced olives

1 roma tomato

shredded lettuce

1 onion, chopped

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F

2. Open pizza dough and spread over greased cookie sheet. Cook for about 3-5 minutes.

3. Brown ground beef/turkey and onions, drain.

4. Heat up refried beans and spread over warm pizza dough.

5. Add ground beef/turkey, onions ontop. Then sprinkle with cheese, olives, tomato, lettuce and more cheese.

6. Bake again for about 2-3 minutes or until cheese has melted.

7. Remove from oven and cut and serve. We cut ours into 8 squares.

8. Add sour cream and guacamole if desired.

 

Enjoy!!!

Honey Graham Cracker Chicken

I'm always looking for good chicken recipes since we plan to eventually have enough chickens to supply our meat in the freezer. Needless to say this recipe is beyond easy and very good. The chicken turned out super moist. We paired it with some mixed veggies (which ended up being just broccoli and cauliflower...Matthew ate all the carrots).

Honey Graham Cracker Chicken

Ingredients:
Honey Graham Crackers
Honey
Chicken Breast or Tenderloins

Directions:
1. Crush up the graham crackers into a large Ziploc baggie. I used about 6-7 whole crackers.

2. Take the chicken breast and smother it in the honey...I poured honey into a small bowl and just used my hands to scoop some out and slather on the chicken breast.

3. Place the honey covered chicken into the baggie of cracker crumbs and shake around. Then place on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Drizzle with extra honey.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 425F.


Fresh Strawberry Upside Down Cake

Most everyone likes Pineapple Upside Down Cake, but not many have heard of Strawberry Upside Down Cake...I made one up this past weekend and it was delicious. Definitely refreshing and it wasn't overwhelmingly sweet either. This is a keeper recipe and will be making it again.

Fresh Strawberry Upside Down Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups crushed fresh strawberries
1 box (6oz) of strawberry flavored gelatin
3 cups miniture marshmellows
1 box yellow cake mix + ingredients on box

Directions:
1. Crush the strawberries and place on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish and sprinkle with gelatin powder

2. Pour marshmellows over the top

3. Prepare your cake batter as indicated on the box and pour over the strawberries and marshmellows.

4. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350F for 40-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

5. Let sit for about 15 minutes before turning over onto serving tray. Can be served warm or chilled with a dallop of cool whip ontop.

Lemon Cake Cookies

While my sister was here a couple weeks ago we made some delicious cookies. We both love lemon and we both found this recipe and it was yummy...I think I ate five of them within the hour of cooking the first batch.

Lemon Cake Cookies

Ingredients:
1 box cake mix (you can use any flavor...lemon, strawberry, chocolate, etc)
1 egg
1 8oz tub of cool whip, thawed
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Mix together cake mix, egg and cool whip together in a bowl. The batter is going to be very, very sticky.

2. Roll spoonfull balls in the powdered sugar and place on cookie sheet...use parchment paper to line your sheet...believe me...you be thankful you did.

3. Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes and let cool.

They are divine and taste like Lemon Bars.

Skillet Carmel Apple Pie

I'm all for trying something new and lets say this was a recipe that will be a keeper. It required a little more prep since I don't normally do the caramel and I made the crust from scratch, which is how I have been making my pie crusts this past year. It just is so easy it seems kind of sad that in the past I've bought the pre-made crust at the store.

So, back to the pie...this will melt in your mouth and you will go back for seconds. Be sure to add a scoop of Vanilla or Butter Pecan Ice Cream to the pie when you serve it.

Skillet Caramel Apple Pie

Ingredients:
3 lbs Granny Smith apples
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp flour
pie crust

Directions:
1. Peel and slice apples. Toss them with sugar and cinnamon. I add the flour to this part because it causes the juices to thicken and not be so runny.

2. Melt stick of butter in the skillet...add the brown sugar and stir constantly until sugar mostly dissolves (mine was still very noticeably there).

3. Put one pie crust over butter mixture and fill with apple mixture. I then cut a couple pats of butter and put into the apples...this helps keep it moist while being cooked.

4. Cover with remaining pie crust. Cut a few slits to let the steam out. I brush with a little bit of milk and then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (like I use for toast).

5. I cover the edges with aluminum foil for the first 45 minutes of cooking...keeps the edges from burning. The last 15 minutes of cooking just remove it and let it finish browning.

6. Definitely put this on a cookie sheet because it will bubble over and make a huge mess in your oven.

7. Cook at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

8. Let cool completly and serve with ice cream.

Chicken Taco Chili

I tend to make most dishes using chicken as you may have noticed. I think besides chicken being an inexpensive meat to feed my family of four on a budget, we want to eventually have enough chickens here on the farm to eat, breed, and produce eggs for baking and eating. So, when I came across this dish, I knew I had to try it out. The blog it's from i no longer active so I can't link back to it for you.

I did adapt it by cutting the seasoning in half and adding an onion. It was really good and a keeper for sure. It  is a chili, but if you use a slotted spoon you could easily adapt it into taco fillings.

      Chicken Taco Chili

Ingredients:

1 can black beans (I make mine from dry and have them frozen in the freezer...2 cups)

1 can kidney beans (I make mine from dry and have them frozen in the freezer...2 cups)

1 can corn

16oz tomato sauce

28oz diced tomatoes

1/2 Tbsp taco seasoning

1/2 Tbsp chili powder

1 onion

5 chicken breasts (3 of mine were small and 2 were large)

Directions:

1. Spray your crockpot with cooking spray (believe me...it will make clean up a breeze)

2. Place chicken breasts in pot (I use frozen ones)

3. Cover with beans, corn, seasoning, onion, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes.

4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

5. Remove the chicken and shred...return to pot and serve.

This is addicting in such a way that I have eaten leftovers of it for three days in a row and could still eat more.

Slow Cooker Sausage and Potatoes

Being a stay-at-home mom does not mean my life it by any means easy to organize. Some days I don't even know what to cook for dinner after spending the day at the park or cleaning house or doing story time at the library or going to museums...I just sit there and stare into my fridge for hours it seems before something comes to me. I do try to plan our meals weekly...makes the grocery bill smaller...but sometimes it just gets away from me. So, back a few months our grocery store there was a really great deal on 2.5lb sausages, a buy one get one deal. I couldn't pass it up. So, I've had these sausages in the freezer and had used up the Pork roll sauteeing it with obrien potatoes and onions. What to do with the Beef though. Then I thought about my slow cooker and you now have Slow Cooker Sausage and Potatoes.

Slow Cooker Sausage and Potatoes

Ingredients:
1 lb Kielbasa or smoked sausage
4 Medium Potatoes (I used only 3)
1 Onion
2 cans of green beans (I used 1)

Directions:
1. Cut up sausage into bite sized pieces.
2. Cut up potato and onion into cubes and quarters.
3. Put all ingredients into slow-cooker and add water...just enough to cover the ingredients...I ended up using 3 cups.
4. Cook on Low for 6-8 hours

My boys both gobbled it up. We didn't need to add anything...although my oldest and I did dip the items into Ketchup. It was yummy.

Cream Cheese Crock-Pot Chicken

This dish far surpasses the Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken dish I make more often than not. I really think this dish went above and beyond in both flavor and texture.

Cream Cheese Crock-Pot Chicken

Ingredients: 

4-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts

8oz cream chesse (don't use fat free)

1 can black beans (I used 2 cups of pre-cooked pinto beans I have in my freezer)

1 can corn

1 can diced tomatoes

Directions:
1. Place chicken in the slow cooker, add cream cheese, beans, corn, and tomatoes.

2. Place cooker on Low for 6-8 hours

3. Serve over rice with tortillas

* Note: You can add spices if you prefer, but we added nothing to this other than what came out of the cans...not even salt and it was absolutely perfect. All the boys gobbled it up.

Sweet & Sour Bean Chili

I got this recipe from my sister and decided to give it a try. Now this calls for canned beans, which I used this time around, but in future I hope to have all my dry beans and packed into the freezer for use. So, back to the yumminess of this recipe. This does take a little bit of prep before it can be put into the slow cooker, but not enough to throw it off. The prep work can easily be done the night before if you have to leave early in the morning and want to have a warm bowl of chili when you get home.

Ingredients:
2-4 onions (depends on if you like them...we used 2)
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 cup vinegar (I used Apple Cider Vinegar)
1 lb ground beef, browned
1 cup ketchup
3 Tbsp chili sauce (this is found near the ketchup and usually made by Heinz)
2 cans great northern beans
1 can green lima beans
1 can baked beans (I used the Busch's beans with the brown sugar and bourbon flavor)
1 can kidney beans, drained (only these beans get drained)

Directions:
1. Chop onion...add to skillet with ground beef and brown the beef. Drain the grease.

2. Add brown sugar, vinegar, and mustard and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Place in slow cooker and add beans, ketchup, and chili sauce.

4. Let cook for 6-8 hours on Low or 2-4 hours on High

Chai Tea

A few years ago a neighbor knocked on my door and in her hand she had a little canister full of homemade chai tea. I  LOVE chai tea and will take it over any other drink, except water.

Chai Tea

Ingredients:
2 cups non-dairy creamer
1 1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea (I used Lipton)
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom (I used a Guatemalan Cardamom)
1 tsp ground cloves

Directions:
1. In a large bowl combine all ingredients.

2. In a food processor, blend about 2 cups of the mixture for 30-45 seconds, or until it resembles a find powder.

3. Place two spoonfuls into a mug and add boiling water. Stir until dissolved and enjoy.