Strombolli

You can't get buch easier than this recipe.
You can even use canned or frozen bread dough if you do not want to make your own.

STOMBOLLI
1 lb bread dough (half of this link's recipe)
1/2 lb salami
1/2 lb ham
1/2 pkg pepperoni
1/2 lb grated cheese
1/4 cup grated parm cheese
italian seasoning
pizza sauce

Roll out dough in rectangle shape.
Layer meats in row down the long side.
Add cheese and sprinkle seasoning on top.
Roll up dough into log shape, sealing edges.
Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.
Wait about 5 minutes before cutting.  Serve with sauce for dipping.

That's it!  I sometimes add turkey or pastrami as well, really whatever I have on hand.

Sausage Balls

There are some grocery store items I refuse to buy cheap or alternative versions of.
Top of the list is probably mayonaisse. Cheap real mayo is really gross.
Towards the middle to bottom of my list is sausage. Jimmy Dean is the best. Hands down.

Jimmy Dean Sausage Balls
Ingredients
2 (16 ounce) packages Regular Flavor or Spicy Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage
1 1/2 cups all-purpose baking mix
4 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons minced garlic (if using regular flavor)

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl; stir well. Form into 1inch balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet lined with foil; bake 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven; cool 5 minutes before removing from pan. Serve with cocktail forks or toothpicks. We just eat them with our dinner.

May be prepared ahead and frozen uncooked. To bake from frozen: thaw on baking sheet 15 minutes; bake in preheated oven 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Variation for firmer texture:
add 3 cups baking mix and 2 cups shredded cheese to the ingredients listed above.

Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie

This is a dish made often at our house. It's good for those nights you don't have anything planned and the kids love it, especially served with ketchup and an ice cold orange julius.

Photo from Betty Crocker

Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef (or turkey)
1/2 large onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)
1/2 cup Original Bisquick mix (I make my own mix)
1 cup milk
2 eggs

1.Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray.
2.In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain. Stir in salt. Spread in pie plate. Sprinkle with cheese.
3.In small bowl, stir remaining ingredients with fork or wire whisk until blended. Pour into pie plate.
4.Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Bake 30 to 35 minutes

Camping Food

We went camping over the weekend and made a super yummy dinner. No burnt hot dogs for us!
I made some shish-kabobs ahead of time and had them marinating in the cooler. I also chopped up the potatoes and onion ahead of time and had them in a bag with all the seasonings ready to go. It was too dark by the time we ate so I couldn't take a picture, but trust me it was good. Here are the original recipes and I will tell you my modifications at then end. I know these ingredients might shock yall that I would buy so much pre-packaged stuff, but hey I was camping. I even ate cheese from a can the next day.


Dutch Oven Potatoes
1 pkg. bacon, cut into fourths (low sodium)
10-12 large potatoes (scrubbed, rinsed, and sliced into circles)
Seasoning Salt ("Spike" or "Johnny's" seasoning salt work great!)
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 can cream of chicken
3-4 c. shredded cheddar cheese

When the dutch oven is good and hot add the bacon and heat until fully cooked. Drain about half of the bacon grease then add the potatoes. stir in about 3 Tbsp. of the seasoning salt (or to taste) and all of the garlic powder. Cover and cook about 30 minutes stirring occasionally (or until potatoes are no longer crunchy, but do NOT overcook). Add cream of chicken. When the cream of chicken is evenly distibuted and hot, add cheese. When cheese is melted, remove from heat and serve.

*These taste best when served with ranch dressing on the side*


Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler
2 (29oz) cans peaches, in heavy syrup (or 1 can peaches, 1 can peach pie filling)
2 boxes yellow cake mix (DRY, not prepared)
1 cube butter
brown sugar and cinnamon (to taste)

Pour peaches into hot dutch oven (if using the canned peaches, drain some of the liquid out so your cobbler isn't too runny). Add cake mix over the top. Slice thin slices of butter over the top of the cake mix, then top with brown sugar and cinnamon. Cover and cook for 45 minutes or until the cake mix starts turning golden brown and is cooked through. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

My notes:
With the potatoes I halved the recipe and quarted the cheese. I think honestly it would be just fine without the can of soup. I used Tony Chachere's for the seasoning but I think a ranch packet would be good too. I also added a quarter of the onion with the potatoes. I chopped the potatoes but you could get away with those little red potatoes if you can find them small enough.

With the cobbler I also halved the recipe. Next time I will do two cans of peaches with one box of cake mix. I still used one stick of butter.

Creamed Chicken and Biscuits

You know those recipes you make over and over again for years? This is one of my family favorites.

Creamed Chicken and Biscuits

1/4 lg onion, diced
4 cups chicken, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped pimento (1 jar)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 frozen biscuits, thawed

Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 11x7 casserole dish.

Saute onion and chicken in pan until cooked. Combine onion, chicken, soup, sour cream, milk, and pimento in a medium bowl and mix well.

Spoon into prepared dish and bake for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle baked layer with 3/4 of the cheese, place biscuits on top, sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake until biscuits are golden brown and sauce is bubbly, about 20 minutes longer.

Serve immediately.

Open-Faced Enchilladas

This is a different take on a regular taco salad.

OPEN FACED ENCHILLADAS

1 lb. ground beef or turkey

1 pkt. enchillada seasoning

1 big can tomato juice*

1 can black beans (do not rinse or drain)*

cornstarch and water

Brown meat. Add seasoning and beans. Cook until warmed through. Pour in tomato juice and bring to a boil for about five minutes. Mix cornstarch with water and add to sauce until desired thickness. Serve on top of totilla chips with desired toppings. Serves a lot!

*I only use 1/2 - 3/4 of the canned juice. If I use the whole can then I make it with 2 cans of beans.

Honey Lime Enchilladas

I also rotate through several recipes for enchilladas, depending on what mood I am in. This recipe is my husbands favorite and I stole it from My Kitchen Cafe. It sounds kinda strange, but it is really yummy! My pictures do not do it justice.


Honey Lime Enchilladas

6 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons lime juice (1 large or 2 small limes)
1 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded (3 small chicken breasts)
8-10 flour tortillas
1 pound monterey jack cheese, shredded (I used cheddar too)
16 ounces green enchilada sauce
1 cup heavy cream

Mix the first four ingredients and toss with shredded chicken. Let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour. Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and leftover marinade. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until brown and crispy on top.

Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese

I have a confession. I have never out grown my macaroni and cheese addiction from a child. I am not a fan of the blue box special, but I LOVE the homemade kind. This recipe combines homemade flavor and a crockpot. What more could I ask for? I made a few changes from the original recipe to suite my taste more.. I think that it is scrumptious. Sorry, no picture.

Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese
adapted from a Paula Deen recipe

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (an 8-ounce box isn't quite 2 cups. I also think the "Ronzoni Smart Taste" pasta work the best. It takes longer to cook so it seems to hold up better.)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, cut into pieces
2 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup sour cream
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions
Boil the macaroni in a 2 quart saucepan in plenty of water until barely tender (al dente), about 7 minutes. Drain. In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese. Stir until the cheese melts. In a slow cooker, combine cheese/butter mixture and add the eggs, sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper and stir well. Then add drained macaroni and stir again. Set the slow cooker on low setting and cook for 3 hours, stirring about every 45 minutes. I like to serve it with parmesan cheese and more pepper sprinkled on top.

Lasagne with "homemade" noodles

As very few of you know I have major heart burn problems. When I get stressed for a couple of weeks my presciption miracle pills ($2 each!) don't even seem to have much of an effect. Well, when it seems to finally calm down I do what I probably am not supposed to do. Eat what I have been craving for weeks! Yesterday, it was lasagne. With sausage. And lots of cheese.

When I went to pull out the cheese out of the fridge in my drawer, something caught my eye... leftover egg roll wrappers. My wheels started turning. They're just raw noodles right?

Well, it tasted like homemade noodles! It was a great change. I was however dissapointed when I was cleaning up and started looking at the recipes inside the package. I was not the first afterall. There were recipes for cannolli and lasagne! Who knew all these years? I just thought I would pass on the possibilities for everyone on the versatility of egg roll wrappers.

For more ideas you can go to the VitaSoy website.

Sorry that my first post for ya'll is not an original idea all of my own...

For my fast and easy breadsticks I just opened a can of cheap biscuits, rolled them in butter and sprinkled with lots of garlic powder and parmesan cheese. I then dumped the leftover butter into a skillet with some italian dressing for the veggies.

Give it a try next time!