Beer Bread

Beer Bread













Ingredients

• 3 cups Instant Rise Flour
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1-12oz Bottle Beer
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup melted butter.

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F

In a large bowl sift flour and sugar. Stir in Beer using a fork until combined.

Pour dough into greased loaf pan.

Pour melted butter over top of dough.

Bake at 375 F for 1 hour. (I place a baking sheet under my pan to catch the occasional butter drippings that sometimes want to spill over when I use to much butter.)

Remove bread to a cooling rack. Slice and serve.

*Different Beers will give your bread a slightly different flavor. Using a Fruity beverage such as Pomegranate Fusion tasted almost like a blueberry muffin. :-) Every once in awhile I will experiment, but not all flavored beverages will make your bread taste good, so experiment at your own risk. lol :-)

Note: If using All purpose flour instead of Instant Rise, add the following ingredients to your flour and sift together before adding the beer.

• 3 tsp Baking Power
• 1 tsp Salt

Cherry Dump Cake

Cherry Dump Cake

Ingredients

• 2 - 20oz can's Cherry Pie Filling
• 1 - 15oz can Crushed Pineapple, drained
• 1 Yellow or White Dry Cake Mix
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions

Pre heat oven to 350 F.

Lightly grease a 9x12 baking dish. Dump the Cherry Pie Filling into a 9x12 baking dish and then the add drained, crushed pineapple. Now you can mix it up a little, leave it just on top, anyway you like it. I like to mix mine a little so it's nice and even.

Evenly sprinkle dry cake mix over top cherries and pineapple. Melt butter and drizzle over top dry cake mix.

Bake in oven 35-40 minutes or until top crust is golden brown.

Serve plain, with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

My Notes: I accidentally purchased no sugar added cherry pie filling once and it helps to reduce the sweetness since this is a very sweet dessert. I prefer the regular cherry pie filling, but if you are not as much of a sweets fan as myself, then you may want to purchase the no sugar added pie filling on purpose. Either way it is wonderful!! :-)

Soft Granola

Love oatmeal in the morning?? You've gotta try this....

All you need is some Granola (the Quaker Natural Granola from Costco is the best). Pour in a bowl add some milk, heat in the microwave for 1 minute. Let cool a little and enjoy the warm yummy goodness!!

Peaches and Cream

Love Dessert but want something a little lighter??

Throw some Cool Whip on top some Peaches (canned or fresh). Makes for a delicious, simple, healthy dessert!!

Idea from my dear friend Tiffany.

Chopped Onions

Here's a quick tip....

Hate chopping onions?? Well after I get home from the grocery store I chop up all my onions and throw them in a ziplock in the freezer! Later in the week when I go to make dinner all I have to do is break some out of the bag and throw them in my dish. Saves time and money(because your onions wont go bad sitting in the fridge). Oh and sweet onions are nicer to cut (don't make you cry).

Pigs in a Blanket

Can you say YUMMY!! My kids love these!!

Ingredients:
Refrigerated Biscuits
Shredded Cheese
Hot Dogs

Directions:
Flatten Biscuits (just use your hands), throw on some cheese, and put hot dog in the middle. Then pinch the biscuit together around the dog. Bake as directed on the biscuit package (till biscuits are golden brown.)

Delicious with ketchup and mustard.

Cabbage Salsa

Cabbage Salsa













Ingredients

• 1 bag of Shredded Cabbage
• 1 large Onion, diced
• 1 large Tomato, diced
• 1/2 to 1 full bunch of Cilantro, chopped
• Jalapeno, diced (optional, based on how spicy you would like)
• 1/8 cup Lime Juice
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Salt

Directions

Chop up cabbage a little smaller than it comes in the bag. Place in a large bowl. Finely dice onion, cilantro and jalapeno and add to the cabbage.

Add in Lime Juice, Salt, Pepper and Garlic Salt. Add more to taste as you desire.

Dice tomato and fold into cabbage. Refrigerate in an airtight container. Stir before serving and add addition salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with Tortilla chips and Enjoy!!

My Notes: I prefer Juanita's Tortilla Chips (Winco & WalMart around here carry them) They taste just like the restaurant ones. I will also wait until shortly before serving to add the diced tomato's if I make ahead of time. I like the freshness it gives the salsa.

Chocolate Chip Dessert Pizza

Chocolate Chip Dessert Pizza

Ingredients

• 1 pkg refrigerated pizza crust dough
• 1 box Yellow Cake Mix
• 1 - 12oz pkg Mini Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 cup Butter (Not Margarine) Melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F

On a lightly floured surface roll out your pizza dough as thin as you can (or as thin as you would like.) We like ours very thin. Lay your pizza crust on pizza pan.

In a medium size bowl mix together melted butter and dry cake mix using a pastry dough blender (or a fork will do the job). Your cake mix will become a fine crumbly mixture. Then add in your chocolate chips and stir until combined.

Spread your crumbly cake mixture overtop your pizza crust, spreading out and lightly pressing down evenly.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Baking time may very depending on how thick or thin you make your pizza.

Let cool slightly before cutting and serving. Once cooled completely, store in air tight container.

Chocolate Pecan Chewies

Chocolate Pecan Chewies

These are almost the exact same as Safeway's Chocolate Pecan Chewies.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chopped pecans
• 3 large egg whites ( do not use egg substitutes)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons ground-up pecans (I use my Pampered Chef Chopper)
• 1 pinch salt
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F

Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.

Toast nuts until fragrant and brown. Cool. (I was impatient and did not let cool)

Beat egg whites one at at time, then continue beating while adding powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Add vanilla; beat 2 minutes on high speed.

Fold in toasted pecans.

Drop by heaping tablespoon on baking sheet 2-inches apart.

Bake in the middle of the oven 15-18 minutes or until dry on surface but soft in the center when pressed. DON'T OVER BAKE.

Cool. Store in an airtight container for 3 days, or freeze up to 1 month.

My Notes: I used my small pampered chef scoop and baked for 11 minutes. *I found with the first pan that I baked, the cookies were not flat and did no spread at all. I added about a tsp of water and that did the trick. The cookies looked darker, they flattened a little, like they should and got that crinkled look on top. Now, just to keep myself from eating them all. :-)

Chicken Alfredo

Chicken Alfredo

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Butter (Do Not use Margarine)
• 1 pint Heavy Whipping cream
• aprox. 1 to 1 1/2 cups Dry Parmesan Cheese
  (I never measure so I'm not sure exactly)
• Salt, Pepper, Garlic Salt and Chipotle Seasoning (optional) to taste.
• 1 tsp. Corn Starch
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1lb grilled chicken breast tenders, seasoned with salt
• 1 lb of desired pasta, cooked as directed and drained.

Directions:

Bake or grill chicken and cube, rotisserie chicken is also really good. Have Pasta cooking while making sauce.

Melt butter in sauce pan. Add Heavy Whipping Cream.

Bring to boil and add Parmesan cheese and seasonings to taste.

Blend together water and corn starch, add a little at a time to sauce to thicken. You may need more or less, so don't add all at once. If it gets too thick, you can add a little milk.

Pour Alfredo sauce over cooked noodles, add chicken, mix together. Serve with French Bread and steamed veggies.

Veggie Bars

Veggie Bars













Ingredients:

• 2 packages of Crescent Rolls
• 2 (8oz) packages Cream Cheese
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 package Dry Ranch Salad Dressing Mix
• Assortment of chopped veggies - carrots, celery, broccoli, mushrooms, onions (can chop them up in a food processor)
• Cheddar Cheese, grated

Directions:

Roll out crescent rolls and lay flat on 11x15 baking sheet. Follow the heating and timing instructions on the package.

Let rolls cool. Mix Cream Cheese, Mayo, and Dressing Mix. Spread onto cooled rolls.

Sprinkle Veggies on top, then sprinkle the cheese on top. Cut into squares and enjoy.

Recipe from my sister-in-law Shannon

Waffles

Homemade Waffles

















This is our mom's homemade waffle recipe. Taste great with any kind of syrup or toppings. Peanut butter, banana and syrup. Or the good ole vanilla Ice Cream and Berries!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Flour
• 2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 3 tsp. Sugar
• 2 Eggs, separated
• 1 1/4 cup Milk
• 1/4 cup oil
  

Directions:

Pre-heat Waffle Iron.

Sift dry ingredients together.

Add egg yokes and milk gradually, beat with electric mixer on low speed.

Add oil. Batter will be very thin. Beat hard for 2 minutes.

Beat egg whites until peaks form. Fold into batter.

Bake in pre-heated waffle iron.

Note: you may add 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda and substitute buttermilk for milk to make a richer waffle.

Taco Potatoes

Taco Potatoes














Ingredients:

• 1 lb Ground Beef
• medium sized Red Potatoes (you can use any kind, but reds are our favorite!!)
• Colby Jack or Cheddar Cheese, shredded
• Corn, Frozen or canned, we prefer frozen
• Petite Peas, Frozen
• Lettuce, shredded
• Tomato, Diced
• Ranch and or Sour Cream
• Any Other topping you may want

Directions:

Wrap potatoes in foil and bake at 400 F for 1 hour.

Brown ground beef in skillet with taco seasoning. Remove any excess grease.

Shred your cheese. Or you can buy the nasty, but oh so easy and convenient which you gotta love, but it doesn't melt and good pre-shredded cheese. :-) Place back in fridge until your ready to serve.

Shred your lettuce, rinse and spin in a salad spinner. Or buy the pre-shredded stuff. I like my lettuce a more finer shred than the bag stuff, so I usually do it myself unless I'm too busy, or being lazy.

In microwave or on the stove heat your corn and peas (I cook mine separately) with a little bit of butter, salt and pepper until hot.

Dice your tomato.

It's now time to plate it all up as you like. Unwrap your potato, remove the skin if you are weird like me and put as much or as little of everything on it as you would like. I do the works and top mine with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a mixture of sour cream and ranch that I always have on hand. It's even in one of those nice little chocolate squeeze bottles you can buy just about anywhere. Enjoy!!

Recipe from my sister in law Laura