Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Cheesy Potatoes

Cheesy Potato Recipe

2 bags of frozen hash browns
½ cup chopped onions (or 1 T minced onions)
½ cup butter
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
2 cups shredded cheese

Stir all of these ingredients together then put into a large casserole dish (9x13).

Crush 2 cups of cornflakes. Stir in ¼ cup of melted butter. Spread on top of casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Pizza Salad

1 head iceberg lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
1/2 pound salami, cut into strips
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese 1
tomato, chopped
1/2 cup pitted black olives, halved
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, salami, mozzarella cheese, Cheddar cheese, tomato, olives and chives. Mix well to combine.Prepare the dressing by whisking together the tomato sauce, oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic powder, oregano and pepper. Pour enough dressing over salad to coat, toss and serve. Makes 6 servings

Cracker Barrel's Hashbrown Casserole

2 lbs. frozen hashbrowns
1/2 cup melted butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 pt. sour cream
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups grated cheddar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups crushed cornflakes
1/4 cup melted butter
DEFROST hashbrowns.
COMBINE next 7 ingr. and mix with hashbrowns.
PUT all in a 3 qt. casserole.
SAUTE cornflakes in butter and sprinkle on top.
COVER and BAKE at 350 for about 40 min.

Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust:
1−1/2 cups graham crumbs
5 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 Tbsp. sugar

Filling:
3 − 8oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
Whipped Cream

Mix crust ingredients together, just till coated and crumbly. Press onto the bottom and 2/3 up the sides of an 8" springform pan. Bake for 5 mins. at 350. Set aside. Combine cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl, mix until smooth with an electric mixer. add pumpkin eggs,and spices, beat till smooth and creamy. Pour into the crust. Bake for 60−70 mins.or till the top turns a bit darker. Remove from oven and allow to come to room temperature, then refrigerate. After it has thoroughly chilled, remove the pan sides and cut.
Serve with whipped cream.

Making Baby Food

Equipment you'll need
You'll need a tool to grind or puree the food. A blender or food processor will work, but a hand-turned food mill with stainless steel blades for different textures of food is best. You'll also need storage containers or ice cube trays for refrigerating or freezing leftovers.

Food to buy
Choose the freshest fruits and vegetables and try to use them within a day or two. When fresh isn't available, frozen is fine. Good fruits to start with include apples, apricots, bananas, blueberries, mango, peaches, pears, plums, prunes, and raspberries. (Some experts suggest waiting to introduce berries until your baby is 10 months old because he'll be better able to digest them then.) Good vegetable choices include asparagus tips, avocados, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, peas, potatoes, sweet peppers, sweet potatoes, and winter squash. (Some babies find corn hard to digest, and a few are even allergic to it.)

Caution: Some vegetables (even if they're organic) — particularly beets and spinach, but also turnips, carrots, and collard greens — can be high in nitrates. Babies who ingest a high level of these chemicals can develop a type of anemia. The level of nitrates in your vegetables depends on the soil and water in which the vegetables were grown. Well water, in particular, can be especially high in nitrates because of chemical fertilizer runoff. To be on the safe side, you may not want to use any of the vegetables mentioned above when making your own baby food, or you may choose to use them sparingly as your baby gets bigger. If you do serve them occasionally, don't save any for leftovers because the nitrate level can increase during storage. (Baby food companies test commercial baby food for these chemicals, so store-bought baby food should be free of nitrates.)

How to prepare
First, wash your hands, the produce, and all the bowls and utensils. Peel and pit the fruit if necessary. All vegetables — and some fruits like apples and prunes that need to be softened — should be cooked before pureeing or grinding. To preserve vitamins and minerals, bake, broil, or steam the produce until soft. If you boil the food, use as little liquid as possible and add some of the leftover liquid when mashing the food (or add it to the family's soup stock). To puree or mash fruits or vegetables, simply add a little liquid (breast milk, formula, or cooking water) to the produce as you blend or grind, until the consistency is soupy. As your baby adapts to solid foods, you can add less liquid. If the fruit has seeds, strain before serving

To prepare meat and poultry, remove the skin and trim the fat after cooking. Then puree the cooked meat in a blender or grind up with a little liquid. For older babies you can simply chop the meat into small pieces.

Serving tips
• Serve the food no warmer than body temperature.
• Avoid heating meals in the microwave because it heats unevenly and can create "hot spots," sections of the food that are much hotter than others.
• Only dip the serving spoon into the amount of food you think your baby will eat at that feeding, because you'll need to toss what's left over. That's because your baby's saliva will thin the mixture and potentially cause bacteria to grow in the food.
• Don't season or sweeten your baby's food. He may be sensitive to certain spices, and he doesn't need the extra sugar.
• Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container and use them up within a couple of days. Or you can freeze leftovers in ice cube trays. After they're frozen solid, remove the cubes and store them in plastic freezer bags in the freezer. Fruits and vegetables frozen this way will last six months; meats, fish, and poultry will last about ten weeks.

Butterscotch Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 (3.4-ounce) package butterscotch pudding mix
1 cup nuts or 1 cup raisins or 1 cup dates

Lemon Frosting
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup butter

Mix bread ingredients. Pour into 2 greased, floured, wax paper lined pans. Bake 1 hour at 350ºF degrees. Blend ingredients for lemon frosting and spread over tops of loaves after cooled.

Zucchini Quiche

3 cups of thinly sliced or shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/2 cup of grated cheese
1 cup of Bisquick
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon of oregano
2 teaspoons of chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon of seasoned salt (opt.)
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 cup of oil
4 beaten eggs

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Mix all ingredients. Bake in 13"x9" greased dish, 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Cut into squares, about 2"x1".

Layered Veggie Salad

One bag of shredded lettuce on the bottom
One cucumber chopped up
Half of a green pepper chopped up
Half a bag of frozen peas
Two boiled eggs
Layered all of those and then spread a little bit of crumbled bacon
Topped with the dressing, then some more bacon, and shredded cheese.

Sometime I put shredded carrots and green onions into the salad too.

Dressing:
2 Cups mayonaise
2 Tbsp sugar
and about 1/3 cup ranch dressing

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

My Favorite Salad Dressing

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1/3 cup vinegar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp onion juice
1 Tbsp poppy seed

I just mix it all together in the blender.

Low-fat Pumpkin Cookies

Easy version:

Ingredients
1 spice cake mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions: mix cake mix and pumpkin together and drop by teaspoosnfull onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 8 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. One cookie equals one weight watchers point.

OR

1 cup flour -- all-purpose
1 cup flour -- whole-grain wheat
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves -- ground
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
15 ounces pumpkin -- canned
1 egg
1/4 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 325Grease large baking sheet with non stick cooking spray; set aside. Stir flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and ginger in largemixing bowl until well combined. Add pumpkin, egg and syrup in a small bowl and mix together well. Add to flour mixture and beat until well combined, but do not over mix. Scoop 2 tablespoons dough onto baking sheet. Flatten with moist spatula or fork. Continue with the rest of the dough. Bake 15 minutes or until browned.

Yield = 30 cookies Per cookie 81.4 calories, .3 g fat, 1.4 g fiber = 1 weight watchers point

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

Ingredients

9 Lasagna noodles
2 jars (16 ounces each) Alfredo Sauce
2 cups chicken, cooked and diced
1 carton (16 ounces) cottage cheese
2 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Cook lasagna noodles. Place three noodles in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Layer 1/3 of the Alfredo sauce, half of chicken, half of cottage cheese, and 1/3 of mozzarella cheese. Repeat: noodes, 1/3 alfredo sauce, the rest of the chicken, remaining cottage cheese and 1/3 of mozzarella cheese.
Top off with three noodies, remaining sauce and remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.