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| Need a last minute holiday main dish or appetizer? You can throw this together in a minute. :-) Cranberry Meatballs 1 bag of frozen or homemade meatballs, approximately 1 and 1/2 pounds or 50 meatballs 1 can of cranberry sauce 8 ounces of ketchup or chili sauce 2 Tbsp. brown sugar 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar Throw all together in crock pot and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until done. Or bake at 350 degrees for an hour. |
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| Italian Beef Sandwiches and Rotisserie-flavored Chicken Sandwiches 18-quart roaster recipe Many-Cheese-Macaroni for 50 5 pounds of pasta, like elbow, penne or ziti 1-2 cups of chicken broth 3 sticks of butter, divided 1 large block of Velveeta 2 jars of alfredo sauce or white cheese sauce 32 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese 12 ounces of shredded parmesan or Italian cheese 16 ounces of mozzerella 2-4 cups of Whole Milk, or to your liking Boil pasta in two large pots on the stove, adding a bit of oil to the water, to prevent sticking. In the mean time, heat up the roaster to 300 and place 2 sticks of butter in the roaster with the chicken broth. Add the Velveeta and when it starts melting, add the alfredo sauce and the other cheeses. Stir, every few minutes, keeping an eye, so it doesn't scorch. When the pasta is ready, drain well and add to the roaster, stirring in the milk....1 cup at a time, to your preference, Cook for 30 minutes in the roaster, checking for scorching often. May want or need to turn the temp down. Each roaster varies, so may need to cook more or less than this. |
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Simple Italian Beef for Buns. It doesn't get any easier than this. 8 ounces of Italian Dressing per pound of beef stew meat in the crockpot all day or until falling apart. If you have time to brown meat first, it does taste a bit better that way. |
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| Our precious son Drew has shown us how interesting and fun trains can be! He has given me a whole new appreciation for trains and the men who have run them through the years. So, at Christmas time, we are thrilled if we can find anything involving trains. Are you lucky enough to have a Holiday Train come through your town? We've been blessed to see the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train with friends for many years now as it arrives in our town each December and collects food for the food shelves. Dear church friends had us for hot chocolate and cookies following this years very cold Holiday Train event! |
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| Jackson Street Roundhouse plans Holiday events each December. This year, friends Linn and Max joined us for the fun! |
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| NEW APRONS! My precious mom has been gone for 12 years now, but every November two of her dear friends from Bible School take me out for brunch in memory of Mom's birthday. They brought Drew and I special gifts this year. Kathy made us delicate paper angels-no photo yet... And Char made Drew and I these not-too-feminine-aprons for our cooking jobs and events! If we look exhausted, we are! We had just finished a meatloaf dinner and no-bake pies, for 100 people at The Covenant Church. God keeps us going though! :-) |
 3 different Meat Loaves and Italian Shoe String Fries |
| Here are 3 recipes we made at the church last Wednesday. We made four meat loaves, including Pioneer Woman's Bacon Meatloaf which is not shown here. Drew doesn't always plate foods as "pretty" as I might like but he's a good photographer, and I am proud of all he learns and does, so here is his picture of a variety of the food we made. As usual, we have fresh fruits and veggies and cooked veggies also. And as always, change things up for your own tastes! Many of our simple recipes are very flexible or forgiving. :-) On this night, we got the most compliments on the cranberry turkey loaf! Italian Fries Olive Oil Spray 1 bag of frozen shoestring french fries Italian Spice or Rosemary Shredded Parmesan Asiago Romano Cheese Line a cookie sheet with foil. Spray with Olive Oil Spray. Place fries in a single layer. Sprinkle Italian Spice and Cheese over all. Spray lightly with the olive oil. Bake for about 20 minutes or until done. Add salt or garlic salt, if desired. BELOW: All of these loaves below were made in 8 x 12 or 9 x 13 pans. Cut recipe in half if you prefer to make a loaf size. Since we are quantity cooks, we make larger sizes than most families. Or divide these recipes and freeze one half. Cranberry Turkey Loaf 3 pounds ground turkey or beef 4 eggs 1 - 2 cups of breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs 1 cup chicken broth Salt and Pepper to taste Any spice of choice 1 can of cranberry sauce 1 cup of ketchup 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1 tsp vinegar Mix the first 4 ingredients and spices together in large bowl. Pressed in greased 8 x 12 foil pan. Bake for 45 minutes at 350-375 degrees. Mix cranberry sauce, ketchup, vinegar and brown sugar in small bowl. Spread on top of turkey loaf and then bake for about 50-60 minutes more or until completely cooked through. This recipe below was inspired by "true friend Linn" as Drew calls her! She made us Turkey/Parmesan/Ranch Burgers on the grill one weekend last year and I was hooked, so I made up a Turkey Meatloaf that was sort of similar! I think she used Ranch powder in the burgers. Thanks Linn! Parmesan Ranch Turkey Loaf 3 pounds of ground turkey 4 eggs 1-2 cups of Italian Breadcrumbs 1 and 1/2 cups of Shredded Parmesan Asiago Romano Cheese 8 ounces of ranch dressing, liquid, not powder 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan or cheeese of choice Mix first five ingredients. Pressed into greased 8 x 12 foil pan. Bake for 1 and 1/2 hours at 350-375 degrees. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of cheese on top and bake for 15 minutes more. Pizza Loaf 3 pounds of ground meat of choice (beef, italian sausage and/or turkey) 4 eggs 1-2 cups of Italian Breadcrumbs 2 cups of mozzerella cheese 1 jar or cans of pizza sauce For topping if desired: More 1 more jar of pizza sauce, 1 cup of shredded cheese of choice and 1/2 cup baby pepperoni's Mix first five ingredients together. Pressed into greased 8 x 12 foil pan. Bake at 350-375 degrees for one and a half hours. Then we put more pizza sauce on top and sprinkle with cheese and baby pepperoni's and bake for 15-30 more minutes! |
| Last week, Drew and I threw this together at work. When testing it out before serving it, I liked the tiny piece of chicken I had tried. We made alot and there were no leftovers, so hopefully others liked it too. Even some kids ate it. Quick Hawaiian Chicken 3 pounds of chicken tenderloins 2 bottles of Lawry's Hawaiian Marinade/Sauce 2/3 cup honey Dash of soy sauce, to your liking 2 cans of pineapple tidbits, mostly drained We put the chicken tenderloins in sprayed pans (use two 9 x 13 pans for this amount) and baked for about 60 minutes at 350....from frozen. Also, you need to cook things longer usually, when cooking in large quantity. We turned the tenderloins half way through cooking. Then we poured in this Lawry's sauce, honey, soy sauce and pineapple after the tenderloins were cooked through and baked for another 20 mintues or so. We served it with rice and chow mein noodles. Should serve 8-12 people easily? |
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| Drew and Better Half digging out the shed, after our foot of snow last night! Winter is back. We were so spoiled last year! |
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| Once we were shoveled out late last night, we went for a drive in Better Half's 4-Wheel Drive heading towards downtown. Drew captured this house which looked great against the snow! But then I spotted something at another home! Better Half pulled up for a closer look and THERE it was! "FRA-GEEEE-LE!!!!!" The Lamp! If you have never seen A Christmas Story, the movie...it's a favorite in my family. My brother Paul got me hooked. He looked like "Ralphie" when we were kids or that's how he felt, having blond hair and being the only kid in our family forced to wear glasses. One year he gave me the movie and said "you have to watch this Bits! -his nickname for me- You'll love it as much as I do." He was right! |
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| Drew tried to snap a couple of shots of The Leg Lamp. I've seen the lamp in catalogs... but never seen it in anyone's house window till today! |
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| My sissy has the decorating gene in our family. She can make even an old piano look beautiful, with her gorgeous candlesticks and these purple-glittered pointsettias that Drew picked out at Lunds! |
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| Drew snapped a couple of shots while church friends were decorating the main tree during committee meetings last week. Our music director looks like a teenager up on that ladder. You would never guess her age, looking at her! She's been on staff for over 35 years! Can't believe it. |
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