White-Chocolate Cherry Shortbread

YUM!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup cold butter
• 12 ounces white chocolate baking squares with cocoa butter, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 drops red food coloring (optional)
• 2 teaspoons shortening
• White nonpareils and/or red edible glitter (optional)Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread cherries on paper towels to drain well.

  2. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in drained cherries and 4 ounces (2/3 cup) of the chopped chocolate. Stir in almond extract and, if desired, food coloring. Knead mixture until it forms a smooth ball.

  3. Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1-1/2-inch rounds.

  4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are set. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

  5. In a small saucepan, combine remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and the shortening. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Dip half of each cookie into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. If desired, roll dipped edge in nonpareils and/or edible glitter. Place cookies on waxed paper until chocolate is set. Makes about 60.

Peppermint Popcorn Bark

1 big bowl of popcorn...I popped my own...but you could use microwave...no butter though!
1 6oz box candy canes, crushed
1/2 of the big package Almond Bark
1 tsp peppermint extract

Place popcorn in a very large bowl - the biggest one you have. Pour crushed candy canes on top of the popcorn. Melt almond bark according to instructions on the package. Add the peppermint extract or oil to the almond bark and pour over popcorn. Stir until all the popcorn is coated. Pour popcorn on wax paper and allow to harden. Once the popcorn has hardened, break into pieces and enjoy!

Spinach Scramble

I am trying to eat a little healthier...and wanted to try to cook breakfast for a full week and this is what I came up with. It's really good!...and healthy:-) I figure a small portion of this...a piece of toast with peanut butter (natural) and a small glass of OJ would be a good place to start:-)

Ingriedients:
12 eggs srambled
salt and pepper
tbls olive oil
1 bell pepper
1/2 large onion
1 package of mushrooms
1 bunch of fresh spinach
2 cloves garlic

Directions:
Chop up onion, bell pepper and garlic...saute in olive oil until tender...add mushrooms...saute another 5 min...then add spinach...saute about 5 min until spinach is wilted and most of the moisture has evaporated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper...stir. Add scrambled eggs and cook on med, stirring frequently, until eggs are done. Add a little more salt and pepper at the end.

Put in large container and enjoy throughout the week!

Banana Bread

This is yummy! You can add nuts...raisins or anything you want..I just made it plain to get rid of some bananas I had that were going to go bad...and it was GREAT!!!!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

WT Breakfast Casserole

This was a little WT...but who cares...it was good!

Ingredients:
Frozen fries (I used the crinkle cut kind)
6 eggs scrambled (with milk and /or sour cream)
salt pepper
4-5 slices of bacon cooked and chopped
a handful of cheese

Directions:
Put a few handfuls of fries in the bottom of the baking dish....scramble eggs and add on top of fries...sprinkle with salt and pepper.....add bacon....top with cheese....bake on 375 for about an hour or until the eggs are done! YUM! and EASY:-)
This is perfect to heat up quickly in the morning so your kids can't eat something instead of pop tarts or any other sugary stuff...

Red Velvet Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks

Red Velvet Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks

• 1 box of Red Velvet Cake Mix
• 1 cup of All-Purpose Flour
• 2 sticks of softened butter
• 1 egg
• 2 cups of White Chocolate Chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, add butter and mix until soft and fluffy. Slowly add cake mix and flour. Once combined, add egg and mix completely. Add white chocolate chunks, and mix for a minute or so until well combined. Form dough into one inch balls, and place into the oven for 8-10 minutes.

Baked Lemon Chicken

Found this on Pinterest (my new fav website!!) Super easy...and really good...and it's even healthy! It doesn't get much better!

1/4 cup good olive oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic (9 cloves)
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1½ teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Warm the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add the garlic, and cook for just 1 minute but don’t allow the garlic to turn brown. Off the heat, add the white wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, and 1 teaspoon salt and pour into a 9 X 12-inch baking dish.

Pat the chicken breasts dry and place them skin side up over the sauce. Brush the chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle them liberally with salt and pepper. Cut the lemon in 8 wedges and tuck it among the pieces of chicken.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts, until the chicken is done. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and serve hot with the pan juices.

Fresh Salsa

YUM! We made this at the Pampered Chef party I had...with the manual food processor...YOU MUST GET ONE...they ROCK!!!

Ingredients:
3 tomatoes
1 small onion
1 jalapeno
1 handful of fresh cilantro
garlic salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
1/2 lime juiced

Mix all of it up in the manual food processor...and it's done!! I added garlic salt because I didn't have any fresh garlic...but either will do. It was YUMMY! I wanted to also add black olives...but the hubby doesn't like them...so I left it out this time:-)

There is NO jar salsa that's better then fresh salsa!!

Cheesy Chicken and Pasta Bake

• 3 tablespoons butter
  
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/2 box penne pasta (I used wheat pasta)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 package white or cremini mushrooms
• 1/2 cup shredded provolone
  
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
  

1. Preheat oven to 400. Butter baking dish. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 3 minutes short of al dente; drain pasta and set aside.
2. While pasta is boiling, heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Season chicken with salt and pepper; cook until opaque throughout, 3 to 5 minutes. While chicken pan is still hot, toss the mushrooms in and saute until golden brown (3-4 minutes). Use a little extra olive oil if needed.
3. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot , melt butter over medium. Add flour and garlic; cook, whisking, 1 minute. While whisking constantly, gradually add milk; bring to a simmer. Keep whisking frequently as sauce thickens, about 1 minute more. Add mushrooms; cook 1 minute. Take the pan off the heat and and gradually stir in provolone and Parmesan. (save a little of each cheese for topping)
   
4. Add chicken and pasta to pot; season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle a little cheese on top.
5. Bake, uncovered, until top is golden and bubbling, about 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

for the record...I didn't take this picture....I pulled it off the website.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

YUM! These are yummy and easy:-)

I decided to cook the meat before stuffing the peppers to speed up the process a little...and they were still delicious!

Ingredients:
3 bell peppers (any color)
1 lb hamburger meat
1/2 onion chopped
garlic salt
Worcestershire
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup rice (cooked)
italian seasoning

Directions:
Brown the meat with chopped onion...once brown...drain grease....add tomato sauce (whole can), italian seasoning, garlic salt, worcestershire sauce and pepper to taste...then stir in cooked rice.
Stuff each pepper with mixture and bake on 375 for about 30-45 min. Once they are almost done...top with a little shredded cheddar until melted. YUM!!!

You could add any other seasoning you want...I added a can of corn to my meat mixture tonight...it was good! Play with it...

Tex-Mex Chicken Casserole

I had some leftover filling that I had used for the stuffed jalapenos so I decided to try a casserole with it. It was YUMMY!

This is what the filling was made of:
1 8oz container of cream cheese (at room temp)
1 chicken breast (cooked and shredded)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

I added a few spoons full of chopped jalapenos to the filling and mixed it all together.

Other ingredients:
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Layer corn tortillas, chicken mixture, cheddar cheese, chopped onion, black beans...then repeat until dish is full...finishing with cheese on top. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes or until bubbly! Would be great topped with sour cream, cilantro and salsa too!

Bacon wrapped stuffed Jalapenos

YUM!!! My friend Stacey made these and I tried one the other day at work. They were YUMMY! So, I had to try them out. DELICIOUS!!!

Ingredients:
8-10 Jalapenos
1 8oz container of cream cheese (at room temp)
1 chicken breast (cooked and shredded)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
pepper
garlic salt
1 package of bacon

Directions:
Mix the cheeses, pepper, chicken and garlic salt in a bowl. Cut jalapenos in half and scoop out the centers. Stuff each pepper with cheese mixture and wrap with 1/2 slice of bacon. Put on foil lined cookie sheet and bake at 400 for 40 minutes! ENJOY!!!!

Taco Seasoning

I have never been a fan of the packaged taco seasoning...so I decided to make my own. Glad I did...it's sooooo much better then the package stuff and you can make a big amount and store for anytime:-)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Add more red pepper if you want it spicy...this recipe has a little spice to it...but not much. Great flavors!!!!! Much much better then the packages. You use it the same way though. Add all of this recipe to a pound of cook hamburger meat...then stir in about 1/3 cup of water...simmer for about 5 minutes!

Queso Chicken

I had some leftover queso from the weekend and I didn't want it to go to waste...so I decided to use it with chicken. It was yummy:-)

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (pounded so they are even...not thin...just even)
garlic powder (I use the kind that has a mixture of spices in it)
salt and pepper
1 onion sliced
queso

Directions:
Sprinkle garlic, salt and pepper on chicken and brown chicken in skillet on med high heat. Once chicken is brown...lower heat to med low...add onions. Let cook until onions are soft and chicken is no longer pink in the middle.
Pour queso over top of check...ENJOY!
Now how's that for simple!!!!

Goulash

This stuff rocks! You can make a huge pot of it for nothing...that's my kind of cooking! The only thing I changed on the recipe I found is adding corn and a little more seasoning then they call for....it was GOOD!

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 med. onion
• 1 can corn (drained)
• 1 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce and 1 (1 lb. 13 oz.) can undrained tomatoes
  
• 1 8oz can water
  
• 2 c. macaroni noodles (6-8 oz.)
• 2 tsp. pepper
• 2 tsp. salt
• garlic seasoning...and any other seasoning you want to add for more flavor"=_
  

INSTRUCTIONS
In Dutch oven, brown ground beef. Drain excess fat. Add onion. Continue frying until tender. Add rest of ingredients. Cover; reduce to simmer 20 minutes or so until macaroni is tender. Leftovers rock too !

4th of July Cake

This was sooo yummy! Maybe it isn't the prettiest thing you have ever seen...but hey...I tried:-) It was goooood though!

I made my pound cake in a bigger pan instead of a bunt pan....and put whip cream and berries on top...that's it:-)

http://simplyum.blogspot.com/2011/06/pound-cake.html

Potato Salad Red Hot and Blue style:-)

Have you ever had the potato salad at Red Hot & Blue?? It's the BEST...and I made it for our 4th cookout...it was soooo good! This will definitely be the potato salad recipe I use in the future.

4 lbs Red Bliss potatoes

4 large eggs

1/2 cup finely chopped green onion top

1 1/4 cups mayonnaise

1 3/4 teaspoons celery seeds

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

Steam the potatoes for approximately 45 minutes (you can boil them, but they tend to be slightly mushier in the end result). Set aside to cool enough to handle. Boil your eggs, then do the same. When cool enough, peel the eggs ONLY (do NOT peel the potatoes -- the skin gives it part of it's unique texture and taste).

In a large bowl, mix the remaining ingredients together until thoroughly mixed. Chop the potatoes and eggs into bite-size pieces and add to bowl. Mix GENTLY -- you want salad, not mush -- until blended.

Serve at room temp for up to 2 hours after making -- refridgerate leftovers. It tastes best when room temp, but is delicious cold too -- so if you are making this in advance, it's fine to chill it.

This is really some of the best potato salad I have ever put in my mouth....sorry for the bad picture:-( I was in a hurry...will take a better picture next time I make it:-)

Cream Corn

I have never made cream corn before but I LOVE it! We had a bunch of fresh corn so I figured I would try it out and see how it turned out. It was really good...creamy...flavorful....and yes...BAD FOR YOU!

Ingredients:
4 ears of corn
Salt and Pepper
bell pepper chopped
1-2 cups of heavy cream
1/2 stick butter

Directions:
Clean corn...boil for about 20 minutes...let cool.
Cut corn off cob into a sauce pan...and make sure you scrape the corn to get the juices too. Bring to med heat...add chopped bell peppers, 1/2 butter and pepper. Stir fry for about 10 minutes until you can smell the corn starting to caramelize. Reduce heat to low and add cream. Stir togehter and let cook for about 30 more minutes....ENJOY!!!! OMG...enjoy:-)

Pound Cake

Ok...so I am not that great at baking....every once in a while something turns out ok....that's why I am SOOOO proud of myself. I figured I could make a pound cake without messing it up...and I did! It's DELICIOUS!!!!

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup veg shortening
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
1 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
With a mixer, cream together the better and shortening. Add sugar, a little at a time. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir dry ingredients in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Mix in vanilla. Pout into a greased and floured bunt pan and bake for 1 hour, until toothpick comes out clean.

YUMMMMMM!

Garlic Fried Chicken

My step daughter Haley is with us for a month this summer. She is a SUPER picky eater and I am trying to find things that she likes. I know she is a chicken and potatoes kind of girl...so I thought I would try this recipe out and see what she thought. She LOVED it! She ate more food then I have seen her eat in a LONG time!!! YAY!!

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts (cut into strips)
garlic powder
pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
garlic and herb bread crumbs
veg oil

Directions:
mix eggs and milk in bowl
put bread crumbs in separate bowl and put some pepper and garlic powder in them (as much as you want...I probably used a teaspoon of each...maybe a little more)
roll chicken around in egg mixture then roll around in bread crumbs
Fry chicken in med heat (veg oil) for about 10-15 minutes or until chicken is done.

Serve with mash potatoes/gravy and a veggie:-)

YUM!!!

Grilled Corn

This is by far the best corn I have ever put in my mouth! My friend Shanda made it at a cookout once and I have been wanting to make it ever since:-) It's so easy...and REALLY good!

5-6 ears of corn..cleaned
butter
salt and pepper
green onions


put a dab of butter on each ear of corn and wrap it in foil. Put on top rack of med high grill, and close. Cook for about 45 minutes...turning corn a few times. Pull corn off the grill..let cool for a few minutes. Unwrap corn and cut off cobb into bowl. Add a handful of chopped green onions...pepper and a little butter..serve immediately. YUM!!!!

Simple Brisket

This was another version of a Brisket that I wanted to try...it was easy and DELICIOUS!!! Really really tender...juicy...and tasty! I want to smoke a brisket at some point in my life...but until I get a smoker...I am stuck with an oven:-)

7 lb untrimmed brisket
salt
pepper
garlic seasoning

Sprinkle generous portions of seasonings all over brisket...rub it in well. Let brisket sit out long enough to get to room temp.

Put in a roasting pan and in a 350 oven uncovered for 1 hour.

Add 2 cans of beef broth to pan, cover brisket tight with foil. Reduce oven to 300 and cook for an additional 4-5 hours until meat is fork tender.

Easy as pie!!!

Grilled Watermelon

So...I have heard about grilled watermelon...but had never tried it until today. I am not quite sure what I think of it. It's different...not bad...different. What do you think??

Pat piece of watermelon with paper towel...brush with olive oil...place on hot grill...and grill for about 3-4 min on each side. Pull off grill and sprinkle with salt and pepper...that's it!

Poor Man's Meal (2)

So I stumbled upon some videos on youtube that I think are super neat:-) It's a 91 year old woman sharing the recipes that her mother cooked during the great depression. I decided to try one of them tonight. It was awesome....and super easy...and obviously cheap! The video is below. The only thing I added was a little garlic powder and pepper....but that's it! You really should try this...I mean...hot dogs and potatoes....who doesn't like them???

Cheese Cake Bites

I thought these would make a good little bite sized dessert for the Easter cookout...and boy did they:-) They were all gone quickly!! I only got one...but it was good:-) These are really simple to make too!

Graham Cracker Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 butter melted

Cheese Cake Bites:
2 8oz packages of cream cheese at room temp
1/2 sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Cherry pie filling


Combine everything and mix well.

Preheat over to 375. Line a mini muffin pan with paper liners. Place small amount of crust mixture in each cup and press down.

Cream together cream cheese, sugar with a mixer until fluffy...add eggs one at a time,,,mix. Add vanilla...mix.

Pour small about of batter in each cup to fill them in. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges appear to be set.

Allow to cool completely before adding cherry topping. Refrigerate until serving:-)

Chicken Chimichanga

YUM!! These were awesome:-) Joel LOVED them!

I used my chicken taco recipe for the meat:

3-4 chicken breasts (Frozen or thawed) Put the chicken breasts in crock pot...add a can of diced tomatoes, a can of corn and a can of green chilis. Turn on high for 4 hours.... Shred chicken.Drain any extra juices from the meat mixture before using for the chimichanga's.

Heat up can of refried beans
Spread beans on flour tortilla, add some chicken mixture and a little cheese. Roll up and put on hot griddle with a little butter for about 2-3 minutes until brown...flip and do the same thing to the other side....ENJOY!!!!

Pasta Salad 2

This is a delicious and easy summer pasta salad! I made it for a cookout we had recently and everyone LOVED it....Joel keeps asking me to make it again:-)

Ingredients:

Whole wheat pasta (one package of the spiral kind)

1 red bell pepper chopped

1 cucumber - de-seeded and chopped

pepper

Italian dressing (not a lot)

Colby jack cheese chopped into small cubes (however much you want)

salami (chopped into cubes) however much you want

red onion chopped

Mix everything together and let chill in fridge for about an hour before serving...YUMMY! Very light and delicious! You could also add black olives....carrots....etc...whatever veggies you want!!

Chicken with mushroom and onion gravy

It's been a while since I have tried a new recipe. A friend of mine gave me a version of this...and found a similar recipe that was only 286 calories per serving. That's not too bad. So I decided to make it! It was super easy and had LOTS of flavor!! I will be making this again for sure! Yes, I made mashed potatoes with it...but I only used a little butter and sour cream....it's all about portion control!

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts
salt
pepper
garlic
mushrooms (about 2 cups sliced)
1 med onion sliced
1 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 tbs flour
3/4 cup of white wine
canola oil
thyme


Directions:

Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of chicken breasts. Add canola oil and bring to med high heat ...add chicken and brown on both sides cooking almost all the way. Remove chicken and sit to the side...keeping it warm. I put mine on a plate and stuck it in the microwave. Add onions and mushrooms to the pan...stir for about 2 minutes...then add wine..stir to break up all the bits off the bottom of the pan. Boil until wine mixture is almost gone...then add your garlic...stir. Next sprinkle the flour over the mushroom mixture...stir until all the flour is mixed in...then add the chicken broth...bring to a boil and stir until mixture starts to thicken....add a little salt and pepper here if needed and some herbs.... Place chicken breasts on top of mixture...cover pan....and let simmer for about 10 min or until the chicken is done.

You can always add herbs to this....but I don't keep lots of fresh stuff around...and am not a big fan of dried herbs...so I just added a touch of thyme...and that's it.

ENJOY!!! YUM!,,,,great comfort food without all of the calories!

Tomato Salad

YUM!

Ingredients:
grape tomatoes
fresh parmesan cheese
pepper
balsamic vinaigrette

Directions:
Cut grape tomatoes in half. Mix in bowl with parmesan cheese, salt/pepper, and about 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinaigrette. Serve!

Bacon wrapped Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:
Pork tenderloin
Teriyaki, garlic and green onion sauce
3 slices of bacon

Directions:
Marinate tenderloin in teriyaki sauce for at least a few hours. Remove from marinade and put in baking dish, Wrap 3 pieces of bacon around the tenderloin. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until pork is done (depends on size...about 30 minutes per pound). Right before it's done brush it with BBQ sauce.

YUM!

Brussels Sprouts

If you don't like brussels sprouts you should try this recipe...they are YUMMMM!

Ingredients:
brussels sprouts
1/2 stick butter
salt
pepper
garlic (about 3 cloves)
fresh parmesan cheese

Directions:
Boil the sprouts for about 10 minutes...you want them to be cooked but not mushy. Once they are done....drain them and rinse with cold water...let cool long enough to be able to hold them. Cut ends off of each sprout and cut them in half.

Melt butter in pan on medium heat. Lay each sprout flat side down in pan. Sprinkle with pepper, garlic and salt. Let cook for about 10 minutes until the bottom of the sprouts are caramelized. Sprinkle fresh parmesan on top of the sprouts right before you serve them. These are DELICIOUS!

Pear Pie

My Mom gave Joel and I the "Fruit of the Month" gift for Christmas this year! I LOVE the fruit of the month. Every month you get a box of different fruits! This month we got pears...yummmmmm. We had so many of them I was afraid they would go bad before we ate them all. I decided to make a pie. I am not a baker...at all. I would rather cook anything then attempt to bake a pie. I found a recipe that was probably the most simple recipe there is...so I figured I might have a shot of making this one edible:-)

It turned out great! If you like Pears you will love this pie. It was VERY simple...and delicious...especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Ingredients:
Box of ready made pie crust...top and bottom
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbls flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon zest
5 cups (5 pears) peeled and sliced pears
2 tbls butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:
Combine sugar, salt, flour, cinnamon and lemon rind on bowl
Arrange pears in layers in a 9 inch pastry lined pan, sprinkle sugar moisture over each layer...dot with butter...repeat with layers until pie is full. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Roll out remaining dough, cut slits to let steam out while cooking....moisten rim of bottom crust...place top crust over filling...fold edge:-) Sprinkle a little sugar and cinnamon on top.

Bake at 450 for 10 minutes...then turn heat down to 350 for 35 to 40 more minutes....brush with butter right before it's done. YUM!!

Teriyaki Stir Fry (Chicken)

This was DELICIOUS!!!!!

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1/2 orange bell pepper sliced
1/2 red bell pepper sliced
1/2 red onion chopped
about 1/2 cup Teriyaki, garlic and green onion sauce (or any other kind you like)

Directions:
Chop chicken into bite size pieces add to mixing bowl. Also add chopped onion, bell peppers and teriyaki sauce to bowl. Mix together and put in fridge for at least an 1-2 hours.

Saute on med-med high heat for about 10 minutes or until chicken is done and serve over rice,,,YUM!

Green beans:
I had fresh green beans and I cut the ends off....blanched them for about 5-7 minutes in salted boiling water. Drain and dry beans. Add to saute pan with a little olive oil and butter...bring to med heat. Add green beans and saute for about 5-6 minutes...right before they are done add a few squeezes of lemon juice...a few cloves of garlic pressed, a few dashes of soy sauce and some pepper. THESE ARE SUPER TASTY and go great with the rice and chicken:-)

BBQ Sausage Stir Fry

Sounds different huh?? It is...and it's yummy! I usually stir fry sausage, onion, bell pepper and cabbage with a few seasonings....garlic...pepper. This time I decided to change it up a bit and it tasted COMPLETELY different...and GOOD!

Ingredients:
1/2 link smoked beef sausage...YUM!
1/2 head green cabbage chopped
1/2 onion chopped
small red bell pepper chopped
pepper
garlic powder (a few dashes)
cajun seasoning (a few dashes)
BBQ Sauce ( 3-4 tablespoons)
water ( 3-4 tablespoons)

Directions:
slice sausage into bite size pieces and saute on med to med-high heat for about 3-4 minutes...then add onion, bell pepper, garlic, cajun seasoning and a little pepper. Saute for another 4-5 minutes until everything is starting to brown and the veggies are cooked...but still a little crispy. Add chopped cabbage and about 3 tablespoons of water...enough to break up the browned bits off the bottom of the pan (CAN YOU SAY FLAVOR!!!). Continue to saute for another 3-4 minutes until the cabbage is cooked but still has a little crisp to it. Poor in BBQ sauce and stir together for another minute or so and then serve!! DELICIOUS!

Sweet Glazed Pork Chops

OMG! These have a great flavor!!! LOVE THEM!

Ingredients:
4-6 thin boneless pork chops
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp of each:
cayenne pepper
pepper
garlic powder
ground mustard
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter

Directions:
Mix brown sugar with spices. This does NOT make them spicy....if you want spicy add more cayenne pepper. Pat rub all over pork chops. Heat skillet to med high heat with olive oil and butter. Cook pork chops about 3-4 minutes on each side until done. If you are using thick chops you can finish them in the oven to keep them from drying out. The brown sugar caramelizes and makes a great glaze!! YUM!

Beef and Cabbage Stew

This is delicious!!!

Ingredients:
1/2 head green cabbage chopped
1/2 yellow onion chopped
3 carrots peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon cumin
salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic pressed
1 lb ground sirloin
1 can kidney beans drained and rinsed
1 can corn drained
2 cups water
24 oz tomato sauce
2 beef bullion cubes

Directions:
Saute chopped onions for about 3 minutes then add ground sirloin until cooked through. (If you aren't using sirloin then you will need to drain the grease before moving to the next step) Add garlic, carrots, cumin a little salt and pepper then stir in water, tomato sauce and bullion cubes..stir. Bring to boil then add chopped cabbage...reduce heat to summer and let simmer until ready to eat...at least an hour. Serve with grill cheese sandwiches! YUM<