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!