Crockpot Southwestern Chicken

1 small bag frozen corn
1 can black beans
2 large frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts (it’s safest to thaw them first before placing in the slow cooker, although I usually add them frozen)
1 16-oz jar medium salsa, such as Pace medium picante sauce
shredded cheddar cheese
tortilla chips
sour cream
chopped cilantro
diced avocado

Pour bag of frozen corn in bottom of crockpot. Place chicken breasts on top of corn and cover with rinsed and drained black beans and jar of medium salsa. Cook on high for 1 hour, and then on low for 4 hours. Shred chicken with forks. Serve with tortilla chips and add toppings to individual servings.
**It is very important that you use MEDIUM salsa in this. Mild simply isn’t flavorful enough. Be sure to serve with tortilla chips, and not tortillas. The salty crunchy chips make this so good!

Baked Ziti

8 oz. ziti rigate (ridged) or other short pasta
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
¾ cup finely grated parmesan
1 cup shredded park-skim mozzarella
1 jar (24-26 oz.) best quality tomato sauce (about 3 ½ cups)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain and reserve.
2. In a large bowl, combine ricotta, egg, ¼ cup parmesan and ½ cup mozzarella. Season with salt and pepper. Add the pasta and toss to mix.
3. In the bottom of a 9x13 serving dish, spread ½ the tomato sauce. Top with the pasta mixture then top with the remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup parmesan and remaining ½ cup mozzarella.
4. Bake at 350 until top is browned (20 -25 minutes)
-- You can bake now then cool and put in fridge and reheat for dinner.
Or you can put in fridge now then bake at dinner time. Remove from fridge 45 minutes before you cook if you do it this way.

Crock Pot Chili

Serves 2-4

1 large (about 16 oz.) can of chili without beans
1 (8oz.) can of refried beans

1. Put in crock pot. Turn crock pot on low. It takes about 2 hours for the chili to warm up, but you can leave it in the pot several hours. Just check it now and then and make sure it isn’t burning. You may need to add a small amount of tomato sauce if it is getting too thick.

--You can also experiment (which your Grandmother has done) and add onions, or peppers, or kidney beans, or tomato sauce or cherrios, oh wait, she never added cherrios.

--Serve with grated cheese on top, and some bread and you both will be happy campers.
--You can also freeze what you don’t eat. It warms up very nicely.

Easy Pasta

6 servings

6 large garlic cloves, crushed
1/3 c olive oil
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (or Tabasco sauce)
1 tsp dry basil
3/4 tsp salt
1 15 oz can Italian tomatoes, diced
8 oz fettuccine
1/2 lb fresh shrimp (optional)
1. Cook pasta.
2. Simmer crushed garlic in oil over low heat until golden brown.
3. Add other sauce ingredients and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes Add shrimp and simmer until pink.
4. Combine with cooked pasta and serve with Parmesan cheese.

Funeral Potatoes

1 1lb bag of frozen hash browns
1 8 oz Sour cream
1 can cream of chicken
4 green onions
2-3 c of grated cheese
Corn flakes or chow mien noodles

1. Mix all together; top with flakes or chow mien noodles.
2. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.

Beef Stroganoff

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Hamburger
• 1/2 c sour cream
• 2 c noodles or rice
• 1 can cream of mushroom

Directions:

1. Cook noodles and drain.
2. Brown hamburger, drain.
3. Add cream of mushroom. If it's too thick you can add a little water. Heat through. Add sour cream. Warm but don't boil.
4. Serve over rice or noodles.

Meat Loaf

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1 lb hamburger
• Blob of ketchup
• 1 can cream of mushroom
• 1 egg
• 2 c rolled oats
• Salt, pepper,
• Seasonings if you want

Directions:

1. Mix all together with your hands (it's tradition).
2. Cook 350 about 1 hour.
3. **Variation, you can add 1/2 lb of sausage.**

Tuna Casserole

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of tuna, drained
• 1 can cream of chicken
• 2-3 c of noodles or macaroni
• 1 tsp Mrs. Dash All Seasoning
• Lemon juice (not necessary)

Directions:

1. Cook noodles and drain.
2. Mix noodles with other ingredients, and bake 350 for 1/2 hour.

Enchilada Pie

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Hamburger
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 tbls Chili powder
• 1 8oz Can tomato sauce
• Salt and pepper
• 6 corn tortillas
• 1 can of chopped olives drained (CHECK THE LABEL FOR JALEPINOS!!!!)
• 1 c grated sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Brown hamburger with onion. Drain. Stir in chili powder and tomato sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Butter tortillas on both sides and cut into forths.
3. In a 9x9 pan, alternate layers of tortilla, meat sauce, olives, cheese. Cover bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.

Poppy Seed Casserole

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
• 1/3 c chopped onion
• 1 15 oz Can tomato sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 4 c wide noodles uncooked
• 1 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 c cottage cheese
• 1/2 c plain yogurt
• 1 tbls Poppy seeds

Directions:

1. In a large skillet cook the ground turkey and the onion until brown. Drain off liquid. Stir in tomato sauce, salt and pepper.
2. Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to package instructions and drain.
3. In a small mixing bowl combine the cheeses, the yogurt and the poppy seed. Toss the cheese mixture with hot noodles.
4. In a 9x13 pan, layer 3/4 noodle mix then spoon the meat mixture on leaving a 1-2 inch border. Layer on the rest of the noodle mix leaving a 1-2 inch boarder.
5. Cover and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 10-15 minutes.

Salmon Loaf

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 can salmon (16 oz)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c minced onions (fresh or dried)
• 2 c bread crumbs
• 2 tbls lemon juice

Directions:

1. Mix all together
2. Salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Chicken Wok

6-8 servings

Chicken breasts uncooked and diced
Wok vegetables (mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, peas, fresh beans, zucchini, peppers)
2 green onions, sliced
Soy sauce
Sugar
Rice
1. Marinate the chicken in some soy sauce and a little bit of sugar for 1/2 –24 hours.
2. Heat your pan with oil. Add green onions, cook for a minute or two. Add the rest of the vegetable in order of "toughness" (broccoli, carrots, peppers, beans, zucchini, peas, mushrooms). Add a couple of splashes of soy sauce. Remove veggies. Add little more oil.
3. Add chicken. When chicken is cooked, add the veggies back in to warm up. Serve over rice.

Cabbage Crunch Salad

6-8 servings

Salad
2 tbls sesame seeds
1/2 c slivered almonds
1/2 med cabbage
4 green onions
1 pkg Top Ramen noodles, chicken sesame or chicken

Dressing
2 tbls sugar
1/2 c salad oil
3 tbls white vinegar
Soup flavoring
1 tsp salt, some pepper

1. Toast almonds at 350 for 10 minutes
2. Shred cabbage and chop onions and mix. Crumble noodles and mix. Add almonds when done.
3. Mix dressing in small container and shake very well. Add to salad and toss

Lemon Chicken

6 servings

Skinless chicken breast fillets
1/4 c flour (may need more)
4 tbls butter
2 tbls lemon juice
1/4 c vegetable oil
Spaghetti noodles
1. Coat chicken breasts with flour.
2. Over medium heat, add 2 tbls butter and oil to a frying pan. When hot enough, place the floured chicken breasts in pan and cook about 15 minutes on each side.
3. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti.
4 Remove chicken breasts, set aside. Add 2 tbls butter and lemon juice (use more juice as you like).
5. When the butter is melted stir and pour about 3/4 of lemon sauce over the chicken breasts, then add the spaghetti to the leftover sauce in the pan. Toss the spaghetti to cover.

Penne Pasta with Broccoli

3 large broccoli heads
1/2 c olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 med onion, finely chopped (about 1 c)
16 oz penne pasta
4 tbls Finely grated aged pecorino Romano cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring large pot of salted water to boil over high heat.
2. Meanwhile, wash and cut the broccoli into small florets discarding large stalk ends. Set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add garlic and onion; cook and stir until translucent. Do not brown. Remove from heat.
4. When water boils, cook broccoli in the salted water about 3 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove broccoli and add to the saucepan with garlic and onion. Stir and cook broccoli until tender yet still green; remove from heat.
5. Meanwhile, return salted water to a boil. Cook penne according to package directions. Reserve 3/4 c cooking water and drain pasta.
6. Toss penne into broccoli mixture and add grated pecorino cheese. If needed add just enough reserved cooking water to bind sauce and pasta together. Add salt/pepper to taste

Spinach Salad and Dressing

6-8 servings

Clean Dressing
1 part sugar
1 part water
1 part vinegar (rice or cider vinegar)
2 parts oil (salad, saffron, or olive)
Note: A great dressing for any salad.
Spinach Salad
Spinach
Onion
Croutons
Bacon

1. Prepare spinach by washing with cool water and drying, then removing stems.
2. Slice a red onion as thin as you can, in as many slices as you like.
3. Add garlic flavored croutons. Add cooked bacon
5. Toss

Pork Chop Oven Bake

4-6 servings


4-6 pork chops
1 carrot peeled and sliced
1 celery stalk sliced
1 sm. Onion sliced
1 tsp Mrs. Dash all seasoning
2 russet potatoes, peeled, sliced into cubes
1 c chicken broth

1. Coat pork chops with flour. Cook chops in a frying pan with a little bit of oil until done, about 10 minutes on each side.
2. While chops are cooking, prepare the carrot, celery, onion, and potatoes. Place in a 9x13 baking dish.
3. When chops are done place on top of the potato mix.
4. In the pan where you cooked the chops, add the chicken broth and seasoning. Stir then pour over chops.
5. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Swedish Pancakes

3 eggs
1/4 c milk
3/4 c flour
1 tbls sugar
1/2 salt

1. Beat eggs until thick. Stir in milk. Sift dry ingredients and add to eggs.
2. Cook on medium heat.

Pina Colada

1/2 half and half
1 c pineapple juice
2/3 c Sprite
1/2 c chopped ice
1/2 c cream of coconut

1. Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth.

5 Minute Cookies

1 stick butter
2 c sugar
3 tbls cocoa
1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 c dry oatmeal

Optional 1/4 c of:
Peanut butter
Diced apples
Nuts
Marshmallows

1. Melt butter in saucepan and add sugar, cocoa and milk.
2. Stir and bring to boil. Boil only 2 minutes.
Remove from heat. Add vanilla, oatmeal. Stir quickly and drop onto greased cookie sheet until cooled.
***If adding optional ingredients, must add more oatmeal too. ***