Chicken Pot Pie

This is one of my all time favorites, and it goes great in the fall. So wait for one of these days when it gets a little cool, and give it a try. I don't think you will be dissappointed!

Ingredients:
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts - cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup frozen green peas
1 cup potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup flour
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp celery seed
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 (9 inch) unbake pie crusts - brush bottom crust with egg whites

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, potatoes and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Add cream of chicken soup. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in teh top to allow for steam to escape.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Zucchini Bread

It's that time of year - what do we do with all of this zucchini? I know a lot of people make zucchini bread, but I tried to make this recipe more "healthy" and I really like the result, and also knowing it is a little better for me than your traditional quick bread. So, enjoy!



Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
4 tbsp. Flax seed meal
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
2 cups white sugar(or Splenda Baking equivalent - just as good!)
3 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegatable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
4 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional - I don't usually use)
1 cup chocolate chips (optional - I always use! - did I mention this recipe was supposed to be healthy?)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Sift together flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and sugar.
3. Beat together eggs, vanilla, oil and applesauce. Add with zucchini to dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in nuts and/or chocolate chips if desired. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans or 1 greased bundt cake pan (I like the bundt pan personally).
4. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Eclair Cake Dessert

I got this recipe from my friend and I think it is DELICIOUS! Not to mention easy to make. It's a nice thing to make for a shower, or a party with a bunch of people.

Ingredients:
1 c. Water
1 cube butter
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 c. flour
6 eggs
8 oz cream cheese
3 c. milk
2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding
1 tub Cool Whip
Chocolate Syrup

Directions:
Boil water, butter and salt. Take off heat and add flour, and beaten eggs 1 egg at a time. Spread on greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Let cool.
Mix cream cheese, milk and pudding. Layer over crust. Top with Cool Whip. Swirl chocolate syrup over the top. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

Garden Vegatable Pasta

This is a recipe I put together when I was trying to figure out how to use all the veggies that were coming out of my garden. The veggies, combined with a few things I pulled out of the pantry and the freezer made a huge and delicious meal. Everyone loved it - even the kids! It's easy to vary the veggies depending on what you have.

Ingredients:

1 red onion

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

1 tomato

4-5 orange carrots

4-5 purple carrots

1 green pepper

1 box penne pasta

1 jar alfredo sauce, warmed

1-2 tbsp. olive oil

2 C. frozen cooked shrimp, thawed, with tails removed

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Boil noodles as directed on package until slightly firm.

In Wok, add olive oil and warm. Add veggies in order of crispness, chopped into large chunks. For example, I added the carrots first since they take the longest to cook, then added the squash, pepper, onion, and the tomato last. When veggies are done, add the cooked pasta and the thawed shrimp. Finally, add the alfredo sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. You end up with a delicious, healthy, filling meal!

Peach Raspberry Dump Cobbler

We made this cobbler while we were up at the cabin. It was my first ever dutch-oven cobbler, and it turned out really good. Not to mention, it was very easy to make.

Ingredients:
2 cans peach pie filling (or 2 cans peaches)
1/2 bag frozen raspberries
1 white or yellow cake mix (I used white)
4 Tbsp. Corn Starch
1 16.5 oz bottle Sprite

Directions:
Mix frozen raspberries with cornstarch. Spray bottom of dutch oven with cooking spray. Dump peaches and raspberries in dutch oven. Cover with the dry cake mix. Pour Sprite over cake mix. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top. Place dutch oven on 12 hot briquetts, and place 12 briquetts on the lid. Cook for 30-45 minutes, rotating the dutch oven and the lid every 15 minutes. Cobbler is done when cake mix is cooked and slightly brown, and fruit mixture is bubbly.
Enjoy with your choice of Cool Whip, Whipped Cream or Ice Cream!

amazing shish kabobs

this is my families favorite summertime dinner, it's so good, and beleive me, you'll want to make the full amount, and if you have left over meat, you can just leave it raw and put in freezer bags and save for next time!

Steak Marinade:
2 pounds of roast, have the butcher cut into 2 inch chunks

mix:
1/4 c oil
2 T vinegar
1 t. onion salt
1 t. celery salt
3/4 t. garlic salt
1/2 salt
1 t. oregano
1/4 t. course black pepper
1 t. mustard
1 small bay leaf, crushed

Coat the meat and let stand over night in fridge

Chicken/Turkey Marinade:
2-3 pounds chicken or turkey breast, cut into 2 inch chunks

mix:
1 can Sprite
3/4 c. soy sauce
3/4 c. oil
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/2 - 1 t. horseradish

Coat the meat and let stand over night in fridge

Other additions:
depending on what you like/dislike you can add to this list, this is just what my family likes:

-bacon wrapped carrots: cook the carrots until you can get a toothpick through, but not enough that they are mushy (boiling about 10 minutes) cut bacon in half, and wrap around the carrot, hold in place with a toothpick, (it sounds weird, but believe me...so good!)
- bacon wrapped squash: same way as above, but you don't have to cook the squash, it's already soft enough
- purple onion
- sausage, in about 1 inch pieces
- brats, in about in inch pieces
- green, yellow, and red peppers
- mushrooms

We usually just put all the ingredients out on the table and let people build their own kabob, or you can put them together before hand. We have this trough that we use for the bbq brackets, but a grill works just fine, you just have to watch it closer to make sure the veggies don't burn before the meat is done, so cook on a low heat.

Enjoy, and happy summer!!!

Fresh Cherry Pie

Okay, so this was the first time I have ever made a Fresh Cherry Pie, and also the first time I have ever tried a lattice top crust, so the pie may not exactly be pretty, but it sure was good!
Here is the recipe I used:
1 batch of double crust pie dough (use your favorite recipe, or even pre-made)
4 cups fresh cherries, pitted
*Hint: I do not have a cherry pitter, but I opened up a paper clip and used one of the bent ends to pop the pit out the top of the cherry. You can also try poking them out with a straw*
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp. Minute Tapioca (I used this, and it helps to thicken the filling, however, next time I might just try some flour or cornstarch)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. butter

Directions:
Mix all ingredients except butter, and let rest for 15 min. Pour in pie pan lined with bottom crust. Cut up butter into small cubes and place around top of filling. Cover filling with top crust. *Optional: Brush top crust with egg wash (mixture of 1 egg and milk), and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes or until filling is bubbly and crust is golden. *Tip: I like to cut a hole out of the middle of a piece of foil and cover the pie with it so the edges are covered, and the middle is exposed. I will take the foil off for the last 15 minutes or so. This helps keep the edges from getting too brown or burned, while the middle cooks.