Black Bottom Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350.

8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
6 oz chocolate chips
1 pkg Devil's Food cake mix

Combine cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt, mix until well blended. Mix in chocolate chips and set aside. Prepare cake mix according to package instructions. Fill paper cupcake liners 1/3 full with cake batter. Top with heaping tsp of cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with additional sugar. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Off a cream cheese package

Cream Cheese Potato Soup

6 cups water
7 tsp chicken bouillon granules
1 pkgs (8 oz) cream cheese, cubed
1 pkg frozen hash browns
1-1/2 cups cubed cooked ham (I used turkey ham)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dill weed (I left this out)

In a large pot, combine the water & bouillon. Add cream cheese; cook & stir until cheese is melted. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered for 18-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

This was a Macey's sample and they had the recipe for it. This is the only time that I tasted it and wanted more for that night, so I bought everything then. It was a big hit for the whole family and it was REALLY fast and easy. I doubled it because I like to have leftovers.

Black Bean Dip

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, rinsed and drained
1 med onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp garlic
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
juice from 2 limes
2 avocados, chopped (add last)

Mix all together and serve with tortilla chips.

ward newsletter recipe

Chicken Divan

2 (10 oz) packages frozen chopped broccoli
2 cooked boneless chicken breast halves, chopped
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup mayo
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Place broccoli in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Top with chicken. In a small bowl, blend the soups, mayo and lemon juice. Pour the mixture over the chicken. Top with cheese. Bake 35-40 minutes until bubbly and lightly browned.

ward newsletter recipe

Sweet and Sour Chicken

3 pounds chicken breasts
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 beaten egg
4-6 tbls cornstarch or flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup chicken stock
3 1/2 tbls ketchup
1 tbls soy sauce

Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt and pepper. Let stand for one hour or more. Preheat oven to 325. Dip chicken in beaten egg, then in cornstarch or flour. Brown in hot oil. Place in baking dish. Cover with following sauce: Mix sugar, vinegar, chicken stock, ketchup and soy sauce in saucepan and heat. Pour over chicken. Bake uncovered for 1 hour. Turn chicken once or twice. Makes 6 servings.

ward newsletter recipe

Zesty Bean Dip

2 cans (16 oz) refried beans
1 pkg taco seasoning mix
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream

In a medium saucepan, mix refried beans, taco seasoning, and tomato. Simmer 20 min, stirring occasionally. Add cheese & sour cream last.

Macey's recipe

Caramel Apple Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
1 can apple pie filling
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup caramel topping
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 9x13 pan. In a large bowl, gently mix dry cake mix with remaining ingredients, blending well. Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Tastes best with whipped topping mixed with brown sugar to taste. Serve chilled.

Macey's recipes

Chicken & Rice Casserole

2 Cans (14 oz) green beans, drained
3 Cups diced cooked chicken
1 onion diced & sauteed
1 (8 oz) can water chestnuts, drained & chopped
1 (4 oz) can pimentos
1 can cream of celery soup
1 cup mayonnaise
1 (6 oz) box long-grain & wild rice, cooked according to pkg directions
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together and pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes till bubbly.

Macey's recipes

My Changing White Bread

I'm working on this, so far I haven't been able to make a decient loaf of plain white bread. My french bread is fine but not this one yet. I will get it sooner or later though. So here's my base as of this moment, I took it off another recipe and I am not sure I will make it this way again but it's a start.

Makes 3 loaves of white bread.

About 11 cups flour
1.5 Tbl sugar
2 Tbl yeast
1 Tbl salt
4.5 cups very warm water
1/2 cup softened butter

Combine half the flour with everything else. Beat at high speed for 3 minutes. Add flour a cup at a time till not too sticky. Knead for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic, adding a little more flour as necessary.

Place dough in a large buttered bowl, turning to butter top. Cover with a clean towel or buttered lid (don't seal it) and let rise for about 1 hour in a warm place, free of drafts. Punch dough down. Separate into three balls. Roll into loafs. Raise double in size. Bake 350 for 40 min.

Great Biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3/4 cup whole milk

Directions

1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal.
3. Add milk and stir with a fork just until a dough forms.
4. Knead 6-8 times. Can roll out to 1/2" thickness and cut into 2 in squares or form into balls.
5. Place on a buttered baking sheet, (or baking stone with a little cornmeal sprinkled on it) about 1 ½ inches apart.
6. Bake until golden, 12 to 15 minutes.

Variations
Add 2 chopped green onions and/or a clove of garlic with the milk.

Wisconsin Cauliflower Cheese Soup

Yields: 9 cups

2 tablespoons butter (1/4 stick)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1 can (13 3/4 to 14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
1 head (2 1/2 pounds) cauliflower, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (about 4 oz)
1 cup pepper jack cheese

In a large pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic for the last minute or so. Stir in flour and salt; cook 2minutes (or until it starts to smell nutty, should not be brown but golden is ok), stirring frequently. Gradually whisk in milk, chicken broth, and 1 1/2 cups water; add cauliflower and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 10 minutes. In blender (with center part of blender cover removed to allow steam to escape), blend cauliflower mixture at low speed in small batches until very smooth (can use a hand wand). Return cauliflower mixture to saucepan; heat over medium heat until hot, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in mustard, pepper jack cheese, and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese until melted and smooth. Garnish soup with remaining cheese.

Nuts About Berries Salad

Raspberries
Blueberries
Strawberries sliced
Blackberries
1/4 cup Cinnamon Almonds chopped
Romaine lettuce
Poppy Seed Dressing

Top lettuce with berries and then almonds. Drizzle with poppy seed dressing.

Mock Zupas Vermont Maple Blueberry Salad

Ok, I haven't played with these recipes yet but with summer coming I wanted some more salad recipes. These may just be ingredient lists but as I make them I will play with them and add proportions.

1/2 cup Blue Cheese crumbled
1/2 cup Blueberries
2 Granny Smith Apples thinly sliced and cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup Cinnamon crusted Almonds chopped (include crumbs)
Romaine lettuce broken into bite sized pieces
Maple Vinaigrette

You can buy candied nuts with the bagged nuts in most grocery stores, or you can make your own (recipe at the bottom).

Maple Vinaigrette

1/2 large shallot
2 T. apple cider vinegar
3 T. pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/3 C. extra virgin olive oil

Blend together everything but the oil. Then add oil gradually to emulsify.


Toss the dressing with the lettuce, and the nuts with the blue cheese. Layer in a bowl the lettuce, apples, nut mixture, and top with blueberries.

Spinach Mango Salad

Creamy mango dressing

• 1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and roughly chopped (or 1 1/4 cups frozen mango cubes, thawed)
• 4 teaspoons nonfat plain yogurt
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In blender, purée mango, yogurt, and vinegar until silky smooth, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in salt and pepper and set aside. (as a note can add up to 2 tsp honey or sugar and an additional 1/4 tsp salt, can also replace vinegar with lemon juice)

Salad

• 3 cups (3 ounces) baby spinach leaves
• 8 arugula leaves
• 1/4 fresh mango, finely diced
• 2 teaspoons fresh chives, sliced into 1/2-inch lengths
• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil (opt)
  
• 1/2 cup feta cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
  

In a small bowl, toss mango, chives and oil together then toss everything.

Homemade Big Hunk

1 larger bottle Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts (lightly salted)

3 smaller jars Kraft Marshmallow Cream

2 1/4 cups light corn syrup

2 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

6 Tbsp butter, melted

1/4 tsp salt

Butter a large cookie sheet. Scatter peanuts equally on cookie sheet. Place marshmallow cream in a LARGE bowl, set aside. In a large saucepan, combine corn syrup and sugar. Place over high heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until mixture comes to a boil. Clip on candy thermometer. Cook to 280 degrees F, or to soft crack stage. Remover from heat and let stand 2 minutes undisturbed. Without scraping, pour entire batch into marshmallow cream and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add butter, vanilla, and salt and stir with wooden spoon until butter in incorporated. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly across peanuts. Allow to stand at room temperature until firm, about 3 hours. Cut and wrap in wax paper.

Chicken Enchiladas

6 TBSP Honey
5 TBSP Lime Juice
1 TBSP Chili Powder
1/2 TBSP Garlic powder

Make into sauce and marinate about 1 lb of shredded chicken for about 30 minutes. Put 1/2 Cup green enchilada sauce in the bottom of a casserole pan. Put the chicken mixture into ... Read Morethe tortilla's with a little bit of cheese and roll them up. After placing all the enchilada's into the pan mix the rest of the enchilada sauce with 1 Cup of Sour Cream and pour this over the pan. Put some cheese over and pop into the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Cheddar studded Turkey Burgers

The original idea for this came from Rachael Ray. However, I never found the rare, pricey ingredients she always wants in there, so this is my poor man's version. Richard loves it!

The Burger:
1 lb Ground Turkey
handful of cubed cheddar chunks
1 Tbs Chili powder
1 Tbs Cumin
1 Tbs dried onion (or whatever the fresh equivalent is. I'm a crier.)

Mix together in a bowl and make into patties the size you want. I usually get 4-6 large patties.

The sauce:
Ranch Dressing seasoned with Garlic Powder

Directions: After fully cooking the patties, put them on a bun and instead of Ketchup and Mustard, use the Sauce. TASTY!

about 20 min total

Tip: The kids aren't so fond of this one, so when I'm feeling like a nice mom, I mix together the meat, make Richard and my patties and freeze the other uncooked patties for another day. Works great!

BBQ Pork sandwiches the easy way

My Mom sent me a bunch of food storage a couple of years back. Among themany things i didn't know what to do with was canned pork chunks. These ones were canned by my mom at the LDS church store house.

One of our family's faves is BBQ pork on rolls.

1 can pork chunks

BBQ sauce of your choice.

Dump into a sauce pan and stir and heat to boiling. We dump it on Judy's rolls or sandwich bread in a pinch. i like mine with sliced cheese on it but I'm the only one.

It takes about 10 min. Serves 4

Campbell's Golden Mushroom Pork and Apples

Ingredients: 2 cans (10 3/4 ounces each) Campbell's® Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup 1/2 cup water 1 tbsp. packed brown sugar 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed 8 boneless pork chops, 3/4-inch thick 4 large Granny Smith apples, sliced 2 large onions, sliced (about 2 cups) Directions: Stir the soup, water, sugar, Worcestershire and thyme in a 3 1/2-quart slow cooker. Add the pork, apples and onions. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours* or until the pork is cooked through. *Or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours. Serving Suggestion: Serve with a field green salad tossed with toasted walnuts, blue cheese crumbles and red wine vinaigrette with Texas toast or garlic bread. For dessert serve a fruit and yogurt parfait; layer strawberry yogurt with chunks of pineapple and green seedless grapes, then sprinkle with granola. Serves 8.

Granny Smith apples are light speckled green in color, though some may have a pink blush. They are crisp, juicy and tart apples that are excellent for cooking or eating

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

My sister's recipe again. she rocks!

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cak e will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world ?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Chicken Portobello Lasagna

I haven't tried this is was from that email exchange thing, and I don't have a printer.

Chicken Portobello Lasagna

Yield

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 (10-oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 (6-oz.) PILGRIM'S PRIDE EatWellStayHealthy Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, diced
• 1 (8-oz.) package sliced fresh baby portobello mushrooms
• 1 (10 3/4-oz.) can reduced-fat cream of mushroom soup
• 1 (8-oz.) container reduced-fat sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (8-oz.) block 2% reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 6 no-boil lasagna noodles
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Drain spinach well, pressing between paper towels.

2. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add chicken and mushrooms, and sauté 10 minutes or until chicken is done and mushrooms are tender. Remove from heat. Stir in spinach, soup, and next 3 ingredients; fold in cheese.

3. Spoon one-fourth of chicken mixture in a lightly greased 8- x 8-inch baking dish. Arrange 2 noodles on top of mixture. Repeat layers twice; top with remaining chicken mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

4. Bake, covered, at 350° for 45 minutes; uncover and bake 15 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Note: To make ahead, prepare recipe as directed through Step 2. Cover and chill at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes; proceed with recipe as directed.

Artichoke and Olive Pasta

Here is another recipe from my ward newsletter.

8 oz very thin pasta, cooked and drained

Sauce

1TB olive oil
1 can (13.5 oz) artichoke hearts, drained
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 tsp italian seasoning blend
2 cans (14.5 oz) italian style stewed tomatoes
1 can sliced black olives

Chop artichokes and saute in oil. Add garlic and seasoning. Add tomatoes and simmer 5 minutes. Add olives and serve over pasta.