Ice Cream Cake

18 Oreo cookies, crushed (happily, this leaves some to munch on while you're baking)
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 gallon ice cream
2 packages German sweet chocolate
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 Tbsp butter
ground nuts

Butter pan well. Mix cookies and butter; pat into pan. Put in refrigerator to set. Slice ice cream about one inch thick and put over crumb mixture (or let sit at room temperature for a bit to get soft, then spread over crumb mixture). Melt chocolate with sugar, milk, and butter in a heavy saucepan. Pour over ice cream while warm and put ground nuts on top. Store in the freezer.


I made this for my husband's birthday back in March, and it was so tasty I thought I'd do this every time we bought a half gallon of ice cream. Buy whatever kind you like (come on, be more adventurous than vanilla!). This is a pretty simple way to do a birthday, especially when the birthday person doesn't request a fire truck birthday cake. That'll be next month...

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup slivered mini carrots
1 cup chopped celery
10 Tblsp. butter
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
6 cups chicken broth
2 diced chicken breasts
2 cans cooked wild rice
1 and 1/2 cups half and half

Saute chicken. Melt butter. Add onions, celery, and carrots until cooked. Add flour and chicken broth. Add drained wild rice. Simmer 5 minutes. Add diced chicken and half and half to desired thickness. Add more broth or water if too thick.

I'm sure this is fattening (10 Tblsp. butter!!!) but it is SO good. I decided that when I'm at my parents next week I'll make the meals, as an early Mother's Day present to my mom. So I made up a few things ahead of time. This is really good frozen, then you can just reheat it in the crockpot.

Mounds Cookies

If you like Mounds candy bars then you will LOVE these!

1/4 cup butter

3 Tblsp. cold water

1 tsp. almond flavoring

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup powdered milk

3 cups flaked coconut

Melt butter in saucepan. Remove from heat, add water, flavoring, powdered sugar, and powdered milk. Mix well, add coconut. Drop by teaspoons on waxed paper lined cookie sheets. Chill until firm.

Frosting:

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 Tblsp. oil

Melt, and drizzle over cookies.

These can also be frosted with chocolate almond bark.

Hamburger Hot Dish

1 lb. hamburger

1 cup diced celery

1 onion

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 can tomato soup

8 oz. noodles, cooked

Brown hamburger, celery, and onion together. Mix together with rest of ingredients and place in casserole dish. Bake 25 minutes and add cheese (optional). Cover and bake 15 minutes more.

This is one of my new favorite hotdishes, even with the modifications I made. I didn't use cheese, and I used 2 cans of 98% fat free cream of celery soup instead of the cream of mushroom and chicken soups. I always use that substitution as the 98% fat free cream of celery has the smallest amount of dairy in it.

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

I hope I'm not being a blog hog, and I hope we hear from some of our "quieter" contributers soon. :-) Although, I suspect not everyone is snowed in like me, who is spending the day making things to go in the freezer, things for weekend company, and treats to take to my parents next week, since I can't leave the house and seem to have a very sleepy girl today! So if time allows, I might have lots of recipes to share today. Also, don't forget to email me a picture and/or blurb about yourself if you want. Onto the recipe . . .

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

2 and 1/3 cups flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 and 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries*

Streusel:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 cup flour

1/4 cup cold margarine

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg; mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir in vanilla. Fold in blueberries. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Combine streusel ingredients with fork or pastry blender until crumbly; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until brown.

*If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw before adding to batter.

If you have ever had the Mammoth Muffins from Perkins, that is what these remind me of. Yum! I haven't made them in a while, though, and I forgot how the streusel topping likes to explode in my oven. I would suggest putting a cookie sheet on the rack below to catch drips.

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BBQ Meatballs

1 lb. hamburger

2/3 cup milk

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 pkg. dry onion soup mix (like lipton)

handful of crushed crackers

Mix into balls. Broil 10 -12 minutes. Put in crockpot and cover with following sauce:

1 and 1/2 cups ketchup

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Cook in crockpot on low until heated through.

We were outside most of the afternoon so I wasn't watching the clock. I forgot they had to go in the crockpot, but I just put them in the oven on 350 for 30-40 minutes, and they still turned out great. You could also make the meatballs ahead of time, and either freeze or refrigerate them. Then mix up the sauce and put in the crockpot another day for a very easy meal.

Sausage Bacon Bites

Yum! My Mom fixed these for us the other night and we devoured them for dinner! They would go great with a breakfast too. They are soooo easy too!

INGREDIENTS
1 (16 ounce) package little smokie sausages
1 pound bacon
1 cup brown sugar, or to taste

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Cut bacon into thirds and wrap each strip around a little sausage. Secure each one with a toothpick and place in a large baking dish or casserole dish. Bake until bacon is crisp and the brown sugar melted.

Like I said, YUM YUM!

Lazy Doughnuts

1 and 1/2 cups flour

1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup shortening

Cream sugar and shortening; add beaten egg, milk, and dry ingredients. Put in greased mini muffin pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. Pour following mixture over doughnuts while still in pan:

1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Oatmeal - Apple Muffins

1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 cup apples, chopped fine
1/2 cup oil
1 cup flour
1 cup quick oatmeal
1/3 cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon

Beat egg. Stir in remaining ingredients, mixing just to moisten. Pour into 12 greased or paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes.

I feel good about giving these to Isabella for a snack, since they are pretty healthy. I make them into mini muffins for her, and decrease the baking time a little.

Asian Chicken and Noodles

*1 lb. diced chicken

*2 packages (3 oz. each) oriental flavored ramen noodles

*2 cups frozen vegetable mixture

*1/4 tsp. ground ginger

*2 Tblsp. thinly sliced green onion (I left this out)

1. In a large skillet, cook chicken over medium heat until no longer pink. Remove with slotted spoon; pour off drippings. Season chicken with one seasoning packet from noodles; set aside.

2. In same skillet, combine 2 cups water, noodles (broken into several pieces), vegetables, ginger, and remaining seasoning packet. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover; simmer 4 minutes or until noodles are tender.

3. Return chicken to skillet, heat through. Stir in green onion before serving.

Tonight was the first time I made this, it was very good. The only thing I will change for next time would be to add more vegetables.

Banana Bread

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups flour
4 tblsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 to 3 bananas, mashed
1 cup chocolate chips

Cream shortening, sugars, and eggs. Mix in vanilla, milk, and bananas. Add dry ingredients, then chocolate chips.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

This is a recipe from my grandma, who was an excellent cook. She didn't have very many recipes written down, so I treasure the few that I have from her.

My Yummy Fruit Salad

1 small box (3.4 oz) instant white chocolate pudding
1 cup milk
2 Tablespoons sour cream or plain yogurt
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 can pineapple chunks, drained
1 lb strawberries, sliced
grapes, washed and stems removed

Directions: Prepare fruit. Mix pudding, milk, and sour cream or yogurt together until thickened. Mix in fruit. Chill before serving.

Options:
You can use vanilla or french vanilla pudding but I find that the white chocolate pudding tastes the best! I like to use a mixture of grapes, green and red. You can use whatever fruit you like best.

Meat Loaf

2 slices of bread, broken up

1 cup milk

1/4 cup grated onion

salt and pepper to taste

2 beaten eggs

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. sage

1 and 1/2 pounds ground beef

Mix together and spread in glass pan.

Top with the following:

1 Tblsp. mustard

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ketchup (depends on how much sauce you like)

1 tsp. vinegar

3 Tblsp. brown sugar

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

This is our favorite meal, we have it a lot. It is even Isabella's favorite meal. It goes great with baked potatoes and a green vegetable. I always liked my mom's meatloaf when I was growing up, but then I met Monte and tried his mom's meatloaf (this recipe). Wow! We've even had a couple of friends who don't like meatloaf, but loved this meatloaf.

Coca Cola Cake

They recently featured this cake at Cracker Barrel and I fell in LOVE with it! My sister had the recipe from a magazine and shared it with me. I even used Dr. Pepper one day when I didn't have any Coke. It's light and fluffy and great with vanilla bean ice cream!

Ingredients for the Cake:
2 c. plain flour
2 c. sugar
2 sticks butter
3 tbsp. cocoa
1 c. Coca-Cola
1/2 c. buttermilk
2 eggs, whole, beaten
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. mini marshmallows

Combine sugar and flour in a mixing bowl. Heat butter, coca cola and cocoa to boiling and pour over flour and sugar mixture, mixing thoroughly. Add buttermilk, eggs, soda, vanilla and marshmallows; mix well. This will be a thin batter with marshmallows floating on top. Bake in a greased and floured flat pan at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Ice while hot.

Icing Ingredients:
1 stick butter
3 tbsp. cocoa
6 tbsp. Coca-Cola
1 box powdered sugar
1 c. pecans (optional, I don't like them so I never use them!)
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine butter, Coca-Cola and heat to boiling. Pour over sugar. After beating, add pecans and vanilla. Spread over hot cake.