Homemade Mac n' Cheese

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. cornstarch

1 t. salt

1/2 t. dry mustard (I don't add this)

1/4 t. pepper

2 1/2 C. milk

2 T. butter

2 C. cheese

1 3/4 C. - 2 C. macaroni noodles (more or less depending how saucey you want it to be.)

DIRECTIONS:

Cook macaroni, drain and put in 8x8 baking dish. Set aside. Combine cornstarch, salt, dry mustard (yuck), and pepper in pot, and stir in milk. Add butter and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Stir in cheese until melted. Pour over macaroni noodles and stir up. Sprinkle extra cheese on top to cover noodles. Bake 350 for 30 minutes.

SUUUUPER good. Probably one of my favorite side dishes and my kids LOVE it too. Whoopee!

Apple Crisp

INGREDIENTS:

4 C. sliced apples (granny smith are the best)

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 C. water

7 T. butter (softened)

1 C. sugar

3/4 C. flour

DIRECTIONS:

Butter the baking dish (i use a round glass dish, or my 8x8) and add in the apples. Add the cinnamon over the apples, and then pour the water over also. (fact: I use WAY more than a t. of cinnamon. I don't measure it, I just use the container to sprinkle it all over the apples till I feel like it's evenly spread. I like cinnamon.)

Work together sugar, flour and butter with fingers until crumbly, and spread over apple crud and bake uncovered for 90 minutes at 325. (I don't think mine usually takes the full 90 minutes, but I cut my apples real small. Just keep any eye on it around an hour till the top is browning a little, and try poking a knife or something in the apples to see if they're soft and gooey.)

I LOVE THIS STUFF. And you better have vanilla ice cream to go with it or else it's boring. Hooray!

Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Bites

these are owesome. even katie likes them!

Ingredients

• 8 slices uncooked bacon
• 1 T Olive Oil
• 1 Lg. red bell pepper, diced (1 1/2 cups)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 cup crumbled goat cheese (3 oz)
• 2 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 can crescent dinner rolls (8 rolls)

Preparation

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray large cookie sheet with CRISCO® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray, or line with cooking parchment paper.
2. In 10-inch skillet, cook bacon over medium heat 10 to 15 minutes, turning occasionally, until crisp. Remove from skillet; drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon; set aside.
3. Discard bacon drippings. Add oil to skillet; heat over medium heat until hot. Add onion and bell pepper; cook about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and tender. Stir in salt and pepper. Place mixture in food processor bowl with metal blade. Cover; process until smooth. Or blend in blender on medium speed about 30 seconds, stopping once to scrape sides, until smooth.
4. In small bowl, mix goat cheese, cream cheese and parsley until smooth.
5. Unroll dough; separate into 4 rectangles. Press perforations to seal. Cut each rectangle into 8 (1 1/2-inch) squares. Place squares on cookie sheet. Spoon rounded 1 teaspoon red pepper mixture on each square, spreading slightly. Spoon slightly less than 1 teaspoon cheese mixture on pepper mixture on each square. Top each with about 1/4 teaspoon crumbled bacon.
6. Bake 15 to 22 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Serve warm, or refrigerate and serve chilled.

Cinnamon Roll Cake

 "Spiced Applesauce Cake"

A Chicken in Every Pot

A crock pot, that is. Making this slow cooker meal is incredibly simple, but the results are so good! It works great for a Sunday meal. You'll need a whole chicken - not the little fryer kind - the bigger ones are better. We get a 2-pack at Sams Club and freeze one for later. Just make sure the bird will fit in your slow cooker, with some room to spare for the veggies. This isn't really a recipe in the sense that you can add whatever you like. Por ejemplo, we don't love potatoes so much so I only add about 3 when I make this for just us. But I love carrots, so I put in at least 6 or so.

Supply List:

a whole chicken

potatoes, peeled if desired & cut into large wedges

carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces

onion and/or old apple scraps

anything else (maybe you like celery chunks, pearl onions... or turnips?)

poultry seasoning

sea salt & pepper

1 chicken bouillon cube*

1/2 cup chicken broth (or water & more bouillon)

Okay, here's how I do this:

1. Turn the crock pot on to high and add the chicken broth.

2. Put all those potato pieces in the crock pot next and crumble the bouillon cube over them. If your crock pot is oval shaped, or larger than your chicken, go ahead and put all the veggies in right now. Our slow cooker is not, so I save the carrots and any smaller veggies for step 4.

*If you are adding lots of veggies to serve more than 4, you may want to crumble 2 bouillon cubes over everything.

3. Take your chicken out of its plastic wrap and get ready to season it. I like to do this in the sink. It's easier to clean up all the nasty raw chicken stuff. If your chicken has giblets stuffed in the hole, get those out and toss them in the trash. Yuck. Stuff the empty cavity with onion wedges or even old apple wedges. Just so it's not empty. Now simply season the bird with the salt & pepper and that poultry seasoning. Season it heavily, especially with the poultry stuff. When it's ready, put it in the cooker, with the breast side on the top. That makes for easier cutting later.

4. Next it's time to stuff any remaining nooks and crannies with the rest of your veggies if your cooker is tight on space. If you have room to spare, let's move on.

5. Put the lid on and walk away for 3 hours. DO NOT TAKE THE LID OFF during the cooking. Just don't.

6. After about 3 hours on high (we've gone up to 4 hours with good results, if you can't make it back), turn the crock pot down to low. DO NOT TAKE THE LID OFF. Leave it on low for at least 3 more hours. 3 hours alone with get you wonderfully soft, succulent chicken that more or less holds its shape when you cut and serve it. If you leave it in for 4+ hours, the meat will fall apart much, much more. Which is fine, if you like that.

That's it. We like eating ours with some gravy on the table. Enjoy!

Awesome BBQ Chicken Chili

INGREDIENTS

2 cans black beans

2 cans kidney beans
2 cans chili beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 bottle bbq sauce (my bottle is probably like 16 oz or so...) - honey bbq is good
1/2 bottle ketchup (again...not the gigantic bottle...probably 16 oz.)
2T sugar
cayan pepper (I hardly do any)
4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts

DIRECTIONS
Dump all cans into crock pot UNDRAINED, and other ingredients except chicken. Mix it all together and then taste a bit of it, so you know if you want to add more of anything. Then add the chicken ( add it after I taste it so I don't get salmonella). Cook on high in crock pot for 4 hours. (I put the chicken in frozen, but you can do thawed chicken too.)

Once the 4 hours is up, you take the chicken out and shred it up, and then put it back in and mix it all up. I like to add a plop of sour cream on top and shredded cheese, and you MUST eat it with fritos. YUUUMMMY!!!

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

this is sooo good. pumpkin pie is just a'ight for me, but this is glorious. topher....its just like a pieshake from sammy's.

1/3 C pumpkin, canned or homemade
1/4 - 1/2 C milk
1/4 t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
1/16 t cloves (just use a 1/8 t measure and fill it half way, or do a pinch)
1/16 t nutmeg
2 T brown sugar
2 C vanilla ice cream
1-2 graham crackers

pop everything but the ice cream and graham crackers in a blender. start with 1/4 C milk and then slowly add more if needed to make the blender process it all. i like to mix all the powders to make sure they blend then add the ice cream.

once its blendeded you can sprinkle on some grahams and enjoy.

its sooo good.