Easy Cranberry Chicken

Meal!

If you should be reading my blog, I'm undergoing some health tests right now and so that's why no new posts or recipes.  Contest available on my Pinterest page, if you are interested.  Hope to be back up and running in the near future.  God bless ya'!

For making egg salad, use a potato masher in a big bowl on the eggs before mixing with the other ingredients.

For easy-peeling, hard-boiled eggs, I found
this idea on the internet somewhere.......

Church friends and my sissy made these

cute tissue paper flower bouquet for our women's

salad luncheon at church last week. 

I thought they turned out great! 

Here's just some of the mini pizza's
we made last week at one of the churches. 
It's a good thing son snapped this
one photo before they were all gone.
We made, sausage, pepperoni and a combo of them. 
We also made Alfredo and Chicken Alfredo ones also.


Supplies
English Muffins
Bagels
Pizza Sauce
Alfredo Sauce
Baby Pepperoni Bites
Italian Sausage Bites
Grilled Chicken Bites
Pizza Cheeses/Mozzarella
Toppings of Choice

Line cookie sheets with foil.
Line foil with muffins/bagels halves. 
Spread sauces on halves.
Sprinkle with toppings and cheese. 
 Bake at about 375 degrees for 10 minutes
or until cheese melts and heated through.
 

Simple Open House Buffet for 50 people or more!

Swedish Meatballs/Chicken ala King,
salads, cookies & bars at one of our jobs
with Connie & Dougy!

A Birthday Lunch

Pulled Pork, Rotisserie Chicken
& Italian Beef Sandwiches,
potato salad, six-layer salad,
strawberry glaze salad & a cheese ball!  :-)
Recipes to follow...

 If you are up for a kitchen giveaway,
just say so in the comments!

BBQ Chicken Tenderloins

 

If you are blessed to have a 6 quart roaster, you may know the joys of owning one.  Son and I put 3 pounds of chicken tenderloins in our roaster, poured a little chicken broth and BBQ seasoning on top and baked them for about an hour at 300.  We poured in 8 ounces of cola and 12 ounces of BBQ sauce and cooked for another 30-45 minutes, checking once or twice.  They came out perfectly and we served them with corn and mashed potatoes. You could do this in the slow cooker for several hours, if you don't have a roaster.

Pasta Turkey Meatball Soup

This is Drew's quick version of Olive Garden's Pasta Soup.
This can be multiplied easily to serve up to 100.


32 ounces broth, of choice
2 pounds of turkey meatballs
16 ounces of D' Italia Pasta
2 cans/jars of pizza sauce
1 large bottle of V-8
1 bag of shredded carrots
1 small can petite, diced tomatoes
2 cans of red kidney beans
2 cans of white navy beans
Italian Spice
Parmesan or Italian Cheese for the top

Heat meatballs in broth until cooked through, in large stock pot. 
Add pasta and stir frequently.
Add all other ingredients except cheese and heat on low,
until ready to serve.





 

Mac-N-Cheese Soup

We make this for the kids at the church who don't care too much for soup. 

1 pound pasta of choice
16 ounces of broth
1 large can of evaporated milk
1 package of Velveeta, cubed
8 ounces of Kraft Triple Cheese
Spices of choice
More milk for thinning, as desired
Add diced ham or bacon or a vegie, if desired

Boil the pasta, drain and add the broth and milk.
While heating on low, add cheeses, stirring constantly.
When cheese is melted, add more milk and spices as desired.
Don't let the milk boil or scorch.
Stir until heated through.
 

Quick Valentine Treats

 

M & M Pretzel Rings

 

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Spray foil-lined pan. Place pretzel rings on foil. Unwrap Hershey Kisses and place in center of rings.  Put in the preheated oven for 3-5 minutes!  No longer or they will burn. As soon as you pull them out, have the M & M's and push them gently into the Hershey Kiss. Let cool.  Then place pan in freezer for 30 minutes.  Throw treats into a freezer bag and they will keep for several weeks in freezer.  We stock up on pretzel rings by New Years as they are hard to find around here after the holidays.  These work great for any holiday, as you just change the M & M colors.

 

Peanut Butter Balls

 

Crush one package of Nutter Butter Cookies finely.  Food processor works well or a rolling pin with cookies in a Ziploc bag.  Mix cookie crumbs and one package of 8 ounce cream cheese in mixing bowl with electric mixer till mixed well.  Shape into small balls.  Dip into melted chocolate almond bark or spoon chocolate in a fast sweeping motion over the balls and freeze for 30 minutes.  Place in freezer bag when firm.  Will keep several weeks in freezer.

Cornbread & Bean Dish

 

I use my slow cookers for about 75% of the meals I make at home, but here's a simple one that you can make an hour before dinner time. Not overly healthy, but will do in pinch. 

 

2 cans of baked beans (two 26 oz. or one 26 oz. and one 16 oz)

1 package of Lil' Smokies, or wieners, cut into bite size pieces

2 tbsp. of apple cider vinegar

4 tbsp. of brown sugar

2 tbsp. of mustard

1/2 cup or so of BBQ Sauce or ketchup

Drop of liquid smoke

2 packages of cornbread/corn muffin mix & what you need to make them, eggs, milk

 

We use 8 x 12 foil pans for these and spray them. Pour everything into the pan, except cornbread mixes, milk and eggs.  Gently stir.  In a separate bowl, mix up the cornbread mixes together, as directed on the package. Spoon over the top of the bean mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, depending on when the cornbread seems done and the bean mixture it heated through.

BAKED POTATO BAR

We did a baked potato bar at the church the other night,
thanks to new friend Maddie
who wanted to work at the church with us. 
The potatoes were on sale and I hoped with extra hand to help,
we could get them all scrubbed and baked within 4 hours. 
We did the meat sauces in advance to save time.
For those who wanted to top their
potatoes with meat, we offered
Grilled Chicken in Alfredo Sauce, Beef Chili &
Shredded BBQ Chicken--shown above.
We offered cheeses, broccoli, bacon bits, onions, tomatoes,
corn, beans, sour cream, ranch dressing, butter, chives, etc...
for other toppings.

Baked Potatoes for a Crowd
Scrub Potatoes. Wipe dry.
Poke a fork into each potato, 4-8 times.
Roll into olive oil.
Sprinkle with Italian or Pizza Spice
(Maddie's suggestion & we liked it!)
Place on foil-lined baking sheets. 
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes,
turn potatoes and then continue
to bake another 30 minutes or until potato
feels soft inside, but crisp on the outside.
We did 60 pounds for 100 people. We had plenty.

Easy Shredded BBQ Chicken

3 pounds of raw chicken breasts or tenderloins
8 ounces chicken broth
1-2 cups of BBQ sauce, to your liking

Cook chicken and broth in 5 or 6 quart slow cooker
for 4-6 hours. When fully cooked,
shred with forks and add BBQ sauce. 
Heat through for about an hour and serve.

                                    WRAP IT UP!

 Last night we did a salad bar/wrap bar at the church. 

We cooked up pulled pork (recipe on another post),
taco-flavored, shredded beef and
rotisserie-flavored shredded chicken
(on another post also). 
To go with we offered wraps or taco chips,
rice, beans, corn, lettuce,
tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, sauces & dressings, etc... 
I think it went well, thanks to

friends Melinda, Maddie and Austin and all their work! 

 

Shredded Taco Beef

 

3 pounds of stew meat

8-12 ounces of broth of choice

1-3 packets of taco seasoning,
depending on how spicy you like it

 

Put in the crock pot on low for 8-10 hours or
until you can shredded it apart. 

Serve immediately or freeze.

 

 

YUMMY HAM BALLS!

I am posting two different Ham recipes. 

One was grandmas. I have updated it a bit. 
Grandma did not glaze her ham loaves.  I insist on it!

 I grind my own ham with the Kitchen Aide attachment,

but you can check with your butchers or grocery stores.
I even found one pound packages of ground ham at
Lunds/Byerly's stores, which I had never seen before.

Some stores will and some won't grind ham.

The loaves freeze well before baking. 

The balls freeze well after baking for about 40-45 minutes and then cooling.

I put them in the freezer for 30-45 minutes and then toss

them into a freezer bag.  When needed, I put them into a crockpot

and cover with the glaze.  Cook on low for 3-4 hours or until ready.

 

 

Updated Ham Balls or Ham Loaf

 

                  2 and 1/2  - 3 pounds ground, fully cooked ham                   

2 and 1/2 - 3 pounds of ground beef and/or pork

3 cups of graham cracker crumbs

2 cups or more of cream or whole milk

4 or 5 eggs

 

Put crumbs, milk and eggs in a bowl and mix well.  Let sit for 5 minutes.

With very clean hands or disposable food service gloves or in a good stand mixer,

mix the meats together. Add the soggy crumb mixture to the meats

and mix thoroughly. Place in greased loaf pans,

depending on size of pans, you will need 3-6 pans. 

Bake for 30 minutes and then spread the glaze on top and

bake 45 - 60 minutes more, depending on size of loaf pans.

Or roll into 1 inch balls and bake for

about 30 minutes on greased 9 x 13 pans at 375 degrees. 

Add the glaze and stir well. Bake for 30 minutes more.

Glaze/Sauce

 2 or 3 cans of tomato soup

2 cups of light brown sugar

1/4 cup of vinegar, white or apple cider

1 tsp. of dry mustard or mustard of choice

 

 

Grandma's Ham Loaf
2 and 1/2 pounds ground ham
2 pounds ground beef
1 pound lean ground pork
3 eggs
2 cans tomato sauce

(I think this was like the 15 or 16 ounce size cans, Grandma never wrote that down)

Salt and pepper to taste
Cracker crumbs to hold mixture together

Mix all ingredients thoroughly together. Bake in loaf pans at 350 degrees
for 1 and 1/2 hours. This makes a large amount and can be reduced as your
needs fit. Can glaze if desired.

Layered Jell-O

 

Friend of the family Joanne, from church,

makes 7 layers of Jell-O and I love her recipe,

but I rarely take the time to make that many layers. 

Last week, I remembered one morning that I was supposed

to bring Jell-O to a holiday lunch.  Oops! 

 

Here's two layers with Cool Whip on top! 

Make more layers if you have time in a 9 x 13 pan! 

This was an 8 x 8 pan. We just could not get good pictures of this.

Sorry. Let each layer chill in the fridge for at least 45-60 minutes. Well worth it!

Spray the pan well. 

 

Jell-O and Milk Mixture Layer:

1 three ounce package of Jell-O dissolved with 1/2 cup boiling water,

1/2 cup cold water and 1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk.

 

Jell-O and Water Mixture Layer:

1 three ounce package of Jell-O dissolved

with 3/4 cup boiling water and 3/4 cup cold water