Thursday, September 30, 2010

Oatmeal Cookies (a Lion House recipe)

Made these yesterday. I had forgotten how good they are. I didn't use the raisins as I don't like raisins in my cookies.

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup shortening (okay, I used butter)
2 eggs
½ cup milk
2 cups rolled oats
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
2 cups flour
1 cup raisins (opt)
½ cup nuts (opt)

Cream together sugar and shortening. Add eggs and milk and mix well. Then add rolled oats. Sift together dry ingredients and mix in until smooth. Stir in raisins and nuts. Drop on cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 10 min or until lightly browned. Makes 3-4 dozen cookies.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Taco Seasoning Mix

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Mix in a small bowl. Equal to 1 package Taco Seasoning Mix. We had chili this weekend, seasoned them with this.

Chewy Gooey Chex Mix

1 cup butter
1 cup karo syrup
1 cup sugar
6 cup rice chex
6 cup honey grahams
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup cashew halves
1 cup coconut

Stir butter, light karo syrup, and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil for 3-4 minutes. Pour over the top of all the mix. Mix well. Spread mix on wax paper and let sit for 1 hour or longer.

Another Variation, not as gooey:

1 cup light Karo syrup
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter (NOT margarine)
1 pinch baking soda
18 cups mixed Golden Grahams cereal or Kix cereal or Chex cereal or Crispix cereal, and nuts

1. Preheat oven to 250°
2. Melt together Karo syrup, sugar and butter in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil.
3. Add butter flavoring and baking soda, mix.
4. Pour over cereal mixture (use whatever quantities of cereal and nuts that you desire to make 18 cups).
5. Spread on a large, flat cookie sheet and bake at 250° for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and spread Chex mixture on waxed paper, separating cereal pieces. Let cool completely.

Poppy Seed Chicken

I can't remember if I already posted this or not. We had this at girls camp in June several years ago. It had snowed all day and we were all freezing, huddled together in our cabins. My good friend Debbie was our camp cook and around 4:00 that afternoon she put on her snowsuit and left our cold, cold cabin to fix this dish. In near-blizzard like conditions. I helped her as best I could, but she is and will remain my hero because as soon as we all had a hot meal inside of us our spirits (and the weather) improved dramatically. This, to me, is the ultimate comfort food and meets all the criteria. Our memories really are all tied up with the smell and taste of food and the hands that prepared it.

6-8 chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
16 ounces sour cream
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 stick butter, melted
3 cups cooked white rice (can increase rice to extend recipe to feed more)

Boil chicken, and shred into bite-size pieces. Mix soup and sour cream, and stir in chicken and rice. Spoon mixture into a greased 9" x 13" casserole dish. Sprinkle crushed crackers over the chicken mixture, then sprinkle poppy seeds over the top. Drizzle melted butter over the top. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly. (This is a great make-ahead dish, and making it the night before enhances the flavor.

New Fav Meatloaf

Everyone liked this meatloaf when I made it a couple of weeks ago. Everyone. That means it's a keeper.
This makes 2 large loaves.



3 lbs. ground beef

1 lg. onion, chopped finely

1 (8oz.) box stuffing mix (any flavor)

1 8oz. can of tomato sauce

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
 (I actually used A-1 and it was good, too)
1/4 tsp. pepper

1 c. sour cream

1 packet of dry ranch dressing

2 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. oregano

1 egg



Sweet Sauce (Topping)


2/3 c. ketchup

1/2 brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. prepared mustard



Heat oven to 350 degrees.

 Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

 (Can use your mixer to combine everything)


Divide into 2 loaf pans and bake for 1 hour. Drain any fat from pans and top with sauce/topping. Bake 30 minutes more.

Rootbeer Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups brown sugar

1 cup butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons rootbeer flavoring

3 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon soda





In bowl whisk flour and soda.

 In mixer cream the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes. Beat in eggs. Mix root beer flavoring with the water and alternately add the flour with water mixture. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. The dough will still feel really soft, but works fine.

 Heat oven to 400 degrees. Drop dough onto cookie sheets with a cookie scoop. Bake 6-8 minutes. Let them cook long enough or will be too soft when they cool. Cool on wire racks.

 When the cookies are cool frost.


Frosting


2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter
 (softened)
1 1/2 teaspoons rootbeer flavoring

2 tablespoons hot water

Mix rootbeer flavoring with hot water. In a mixer beat all ingredients until creamy.