White Bean Chicken Chili

Award winning White Bean Chicken Chili

(Picture coming soon!!)

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium onions chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
2 4oz cans green chili
4 cups chopped grilled chicken (can use any shredded or chopped chicken but grilled chicken gives it the best taste.)
2 teaspoons cumin
1.5 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon cayenne
3 16az cans great northern beans
6 cups chicken broth
3 cups shredded jack cheese

Heat oil over medium heat.
Add onions, sauté until translucent
add garlic, chili, chicken, cumin, oregano, cayenne
Sauté about 2 minutes
add beans and chicken broth
Bring to boil,
Simmer 2 hours or more
add all the cheese
stir until thick and melted
season with salt and pepper
great with sour cream on top

Semi-Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

My daughter always tells me how much better her friends, moms, spaghetti sauce is better then my out of the can spaghetti sauce.  While on vacation with their family, I was able to taste it and I did agree.

I don't have a picture, will try to insert one next time, that is if I can get one before my family eats it all up!!

"The Girls" Spaghetti Sauce - Michele Potter
1 big can tomato sauce (28 oz)
1 smaller can diced tomatoes (16 0z)
1 can mushrooms,
3 celery stems,
1/2 lg onion
1/2 lg bell pepper
1 pk dry Italian dressing
1/2 pound cooked ground beef
Add everything to a big pot, bring to boil and then let simmer on low for 2-3 hours...


Another Variation that I made when I didn't have the above ingredients...
1 28 oz can tomato sauce
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1/2 large onion
1 bell pepper
2 diced zucchini's
l pound cooked ground beef
1 packet of Italian Spaghetti Mix
I threw it in the crock pot and cooked it all day on low!!

Both are very yummy, not sure I will go back to spaghetti sauce out of a can or jar again!!!

Meat Loaf

My Meat Loaf

2.5 lbs Ground Beef
2 large eggs
1/2 Green Pepper
5 Green Onions
1 Tablespoon Worcester Sauce
1 Tablespoon of mustard
2 Tablespoons of White flour
Salt & Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Cut green onions in small pieces starting at the end cutting all the way into the white part.

Green pepper, for pickier eaters, I use my food processor and chop up green pepper almost pureeing it.

In a large bowl, mix everything together.  I use my kitchen aid stand mixer for this.

After everything is mixed well, I put into a 9x13 glass pan and mold into a longer skinny loaf. 

Cook in oven for about 1 hour or until your meat thermometer reads 170 degrees F.  When done, let it rest for 10 minutes, slice into 1/2 -1 inch pieces and serve.

I like to serve with Baked Potatoes and Corn.

For my family or for 10 people, I always double this recipe!!

Zucchini Casserole Augratin

6-10 zucchinis
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1 pint sour cream
2 cup grated cheese
2 slices of bread
1/4 teaspoons of salt

Cut up and parboil & drain zucchinis (about 5-10 minutes, do not over cook the zucchini or it will get real soggy.)

In a small bowl, mix the margarine, sour cream and 1 cup of grated cheese.

After Zucchini is parboiled, spread in 8"x8"baking pan, then pour the sour cream over, gently incorporate into the zucchini.

Topping..........

2 slices bread cubed, salt and remaining 1 cup grated cheese.

Bake 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Let cool for 5 minutes and serve!!

Mexican Rice and Bean Casserole

Mexican Rice and Bean Casserole

Because Wednesday is Payday...Tuesday in our house has turned into pantry day. Today while searching through the pantry, I saw a few ingredients that sounded interesting and after a few different ideas I came up with this one. It was really good. The picture is not so great because the rice does not want to hold up, but you get the general idea!!

1 lbs ground beef
1 large can of mild enchilada sauce, I used El Paso
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 can of black beans, drained
1 can of green beans, drained
4 cups of cooked white rice
2 lbs of cheese or more if you prefer.

While cooking the rice, you can work on the rest of the casserole. In a large sauce pan, cook your ground meat. Season with some salt, pepper and onion powder. After meat is fully cooked, drain all grease. With meat back in the sauce pan, add the can of enchilada sauce, tomato sauce, green beans, black beans.

After rice is cooked, add it to the sauce pan along with about 2 cups of cheese. Stir until it is all mixed together and cheese is melted. Place in a 9x13 pan and cover with remaining cheese.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Let cool for a few minutes and enjoy. Add salt and pepper to taste

The Best Chicken Salad

The Best Chicken Salad

YUMMY!!!!!!

I lost my original recipe, but made it again after many years for R.S. on 7-17-08. Thanks to my sister, Jane, who uses this recipe too and has been saving it all these years, we have a copy… I keep getting requests to share this recipe so here it is. Enjoy!

2-3 Cups cut up chicken (I use both sides of the chicken breast on one chicken from Walmart. (Their roasted chickens are usually bigger than in other stores and I prefer the roasted traditional flavor) If you cook the chicken fresh probably use three to 4 boneless chicken breast cooked and cut up. I've just gotten a bit lazy.

2 Cups celery cut up

1 Can crushed pineapple- regular size can ... the whole thing (Dole brand name is the best! My opinion..... don’t skimp on a few nickles)

3 Cups grapes cut in half (I prefer purple seedless. It takes time to cut all those little grapes so plan accordingly)

4-6 Cups pasta (We used to use elbow, but now I use Rotini, the curly spiral ones – I think it looks nicer) *** I sometimes add all the noodles I cook just to extend the size of the salad.

2 apples peeled and cored and cut into pieces

2-3 green onions (just the tops or green part)

1 small package slivered almonds

Could use 1 can sliced water chestnuts

(add fresh peaches or nectarines in season and cut up, these are totally optional)

After all has been cut up and prepared put in a large bowl (I use my big white Tupperware bowl) and then add the sauce. Mix well and enjoy. Or you can have the sauce mixture on the bottom with the pineapple and put everything on top and then mix... how ever is easier for you.

Sauce: mix together separately before and add to the rest all the other ingredients

1 Cup Mayonaise

1 Cup regular yogurt (another recipe used sour cream)I like the yogurt best.

1 teaspoon celery salt (don't substitute on this because this is the flavor we want)

¼ teaspoon paprika

Beef and Zucchini Casserole

This zucchini and ground beef casserole is layered like lasagna, with ground beef, rice, zucchini, squash and cottage cheese.

3 cups of thinly sliced zucchini

1 cup of thinly sliced yellow squash

salt

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 onion

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 teaspoon of oregano

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup cooked rice

1 14 oz can of peeled diced tomato's (do not drain)

1 cup cottage cheese

2 cup casserole blend cheese*

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss zucchini and squash with 1 teaspoon salt and let stand 20 minutes; drain.

Place half of the zucchini and squash in a buttered 8" x 8" Casserole dish.

Heat oil in skillet; saute onion until tender; add ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Drain off excess fat; add oregano, garlic powder, pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt or more to taste. Stir in cooked rice and diced tomato's. Spread over zucchini and squash in casserole dish.

Combine cottage cheese, 1 cup cheese, and egg, spoon over meat mixture.

Top with remaining Zucchini and squash and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.

Story behind this dish!!

When thinking of what to make for dinner tonight, I remembered I had some ground beef I needed to use and some zucchini and squash. So I googled both of them and came up with a few casserole dishes and skillet recipes. This particular recipe seemed easy enough and I had all the ingredients already.

I thought this turned out good enough to share with everyone. Everyone seemed to like it except not all my kids like zucchini but they just ate around it.

Chicken and Vegtable Stir Fry!!

Ingredients:
Celery (1 Large bunch cleaned and separated and sliced)
Carrots (I used to slice them but like in this picture we used baby carrots) 2 pkgs.
Green onion (whole bunch)
Water chestnuts (1 can)
Chicken Breasts
soy sauce
corn starch
oil

*Prepare white rice when you start this recipe. Right before serving you can make it fried rice by heating a large frying pan add a little oil and saute quickly the green onion. Fired rice has eggs in it so I scramble the eggs in another pan. When onion are just a bit softened I add a large amount of the rice and add the scrambled egg. For a dish by itself you can add diced ham or other meat and serve.

The Chinese Chicken......

Cut up, the celery , carrots, in diagonal cuts and put in individual containers or plastic bags until ready to use. Cut the green onions.
Cut up chicken and marinate in 4 tsp of corn starch and soy sauce enough to soak the chicken. I used 1/2 of a medium bottle of soy sauce. This basically makes the sauce.
Heat pan to a very high temperature until water bounces in little droplets.. or in an electric fry pan at the hottest setting.
Add oil to coat the bottom of the pan
Add carrots, celery and most of the green onions leaving some for the fried rice if desired.
Stir quickly to coat the veggies with oil then add water. Approximately 1/2 to 1 cup water. Stir again and cove and steam the veggies until tender. watch that the water doesn't burn off. Just add more water if needed. (5-10 minutes)
Add the rest of the ingredients, marinated chicken & water chestnuts Add more water and cover and cook until chicken is done.
Add more soy sauce to taste. If you want more liquid for a moister chicken in the sauce add more water and soy sauce.
When done keep warm at 200

Serve over plain rice or fried rice.
Add soy sauce to taste. Some people add salt and pepper to taste. I think pineapple chunks would be tasty too.
Serve with Chow Mien Noodles a fortune cookie and/or chopsticks if desired.

Soure Klopse

So yummy, one of ALL the Hooper's favorites! This is a picture of Soure Klopse that Leslie had taken and posted on facebook. Thanks, Leslie!

Start a half of a large pot of water to boil. Add at least 2 large Tbsp of beef bullion to water.

Peel potatoes and cut in half and boil potatoes in a separate pot. May add salt to water.

Prepare klopse (meatballs):

For every pound of ground beef, add one egg.
Add fresh or dried onion, about 1/2 onion equivalent.
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Marjoram, Basil abt 1 tsp each (we used 3 lb ground beef) If you use ground marjoram, use less.
Add aprox 1/2 cup of flour per pound.

Mix well. Using wet hands, form into golf ball sized meatballs. Add meatballs to boiling bullion water. When meatballs start rising to the top, they are almost done. Then add 1 to 2 heaping Tbsp of dried parsley flakes. In a separate small cup, beat 3 egg yolks with a small amount of water until smooth and mixed well. Pour yolk mixture into meatballs pan while gently stirring. Then add juice of at least 2 lemons (preferably no seeds). Add salt and pepper and more bullion to taste. In separate container or cup, add 1 cup flour and enough water to make a nice smooth mixture. Add to gravy while stirring. It will be a little runny still.

Serve over drained, boiled potatoes. When serving, individuals can squeeze extra lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Some of us like more lemon than others.

Shepherd's Casserole (potato surprise)

Couldn't come up with a gorgeous photo but it sure tasted good!

Sheepherders Casserole or Hamburger Surprise as called by some family members

This recipe is for about 4 hungry people so you might want to stretch it a bit. I like basic recipe the best.

First you need mashed potatoes either from last night’s dinner or......

Boil cut up peeled white potatoes until tender, drain water and leave potatoes in pot.

• Add 1 stick margarine and enough evaporated milk to make a nice mashed potato consistency add salt to taste. I always use evaporated milk for mashed potatoes.
  

Brown 1 pound hamburger meat

• Optional add ½ of a cut up onion and continue browning until onion is cooked


• One could add finely chopped carrots and celery which is also optional
  

Add 1 can tomato soup to the browned meat

Let simmer for a few minutes

Pour Meat mixture into a 10 inch casserole dish

Put a can of drained green beans over the meat mixture

Top with mashed potato and top potatoes with grated cheese (longhorn or mild cheddar)

Bake in oven at 350 degrees F for 20-30 minutes until cheese is melted

For the basic recipe...

mashed potatoes (potatoes, margarine, evaporated milk, salt to taste)

1 pound hamburger meat

1 can tomato soup

1 can green beans

grated cheese

(onion, carrots and celery and even some corn in the meat mixture is totally optional)

Chicken Pot Pie

This is the Campbell's soup recipe (and picture) but I add cheese and it makes it taste so much better! An easy dinner with most everything out of the pantry. I usually double this in a casserole pan.

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 pkg. (9 oz.) frozen mixed vegetables

1 cup cubed cooked chicken or 1 large can chicken

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1 cup all-purpose baking mix
Directions:
Heat oven to 400°F.
Stir soup, vegetables, cheese and chicken in 9" pie plate.
Stir milk, egg and baking mix in medium bowl. Pour over chicken mixture. Bake 30 min. or until crust is golden.

Cheesy Broccoli Casserole

Cheesy Broccoli Bake Casserole

2 pounds fresh broccoli, trimmed and cut up
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the casserole
1 Small Onion chopped
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 Cup of milk
1 pound grated cheese Cheddar or your favorite choice.(Half will go into the sauce the other half will go on top of casserole.)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 8” x 8” casserole dish.

Steam the broccoli until tender, about 10 minutes.

In the meantime you can make the sauce. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and sauté the onion until softened, about 10 minutes; drain. Add the cream of mushroom soup, milk and ½ pound of cheese and season with pepper and garlic salt. Turn down to low heat until the cheese melts.

When the broccoli is tender, place it into the casserole dish.

After sauce is ready, pour it over and gently work it into the broccoli. Then spread the remaining ½ pound of cheese on top.

Bake until cheese is melted and bubbling.

___________

For a twist or to make it a main dish. Simply add some meat. You can add shredded beef or chicken. Oh whatever you heart so desires!! I typically double the recipe when I make it but I am feeding 8 people!!

I saw Paula Dean make this one night and it looked so good. I didn't make it exactly how she did but tailored it to what I had in the pantry!!