Barbecue Pork Sandwiches

Jan Wolsey

1 can chicken stock
3 lbs boneless pork or beef roast
Salt and pepper
¾ cup apple juice (or 1 bottle baby juice)
1 ½ cups catsup
3 Tbsp vinegar
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp ground mustard
½ tsp salt
½ tsp celery salt
1 tsp paprika
½ cup original barbecue sauce
½ of an onion chopped small


Salt and pepper the roast and put it in a crockpot on high. Add one can of chicken stock. Let it cook 3 to 4 hours. When it is done enough to pull apart, take out and let it cool. Use two forks to shred or by hand. You can save (refrigerate) the liquid that is left from the roast. You can make gravy out of it or use for soup stock.

Add remaining ingredients in a sauce pan. Cook on low heat with the lid on. Simmer for about an hour. Put the meat back into the crockpot. Add the sauce. Put on low for about an hour and a half. Serve on buns.

Jelly Meatballs

Amy Gentry

1 bag frozen meatballs
1 medium jar grape jelly
1 bottle chili sauce

Stir all ingredients in crockpot and turn on high for 2 to 3 hours then medium/low for 2 to 3 hours stirring every few hours, or follow directions on meatball bag. Let cool. Serve!
Great with: Rhoades Rolls

Chicken Ole

Tiffanie Dunlap

4 boneless chicken breasts
1 package taco seasoning
1 can cream of chicken soup
Water
1 diced onion
1 can diced green chilies
1 small can of corn, drained
Flour tortillas
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes


Cut chicken breasts into bite size pieces. Coat chicken with taco seasoning. Mix and cook till done. Dilute cream of chicken soup with water to consistency of medium gravy. Add cooked chicken, onion, diced green chilies and corn (drained). In baking dish, layer flour tortillas torn in pieces to cover bottom, then ½ soup mixture, then cheese. Repeat layer. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve with shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes.

Southwest Chicken Wraps

Tonya Rollins

3 cups chopped cooked chicken
8 Flour tortillas
8 ounces picante sauce
1 medium tomato
1 ½ tsp chili powder
1 cup shredded lettuce
¼ tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp chopped green onions
1 cup shredded cheese
1 can black beans drained
½ cup guacamole and sour cream


Combine chicken, picante sauce, chili and garlic powder in large skillet and mix well. Cook over medium heat until heated through - about 3 minutes.

Remove from heat. Add ¾ cup cheese and beans to chicken mixture mix well. Spoon chicken into warm tortillas. Top off with remaining cheese, tomato, onions, lettuce and guacamole and sour cream.

Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup

1 bag egg noodles
Leftover turkey (bones, skin, meat, etc.) (can also use whole chicken)
5 to 7 chicken bouillon cubes (can also use can of broth)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp cornstarch

Cover leftovers with water and lid (if using whole chicken, place breast down). Cook for 1 hour. Remove turkey from pan. Strain broth and add bouillon. Cook noodles in broth. This is the brand we use and they always turn out PERFECT: While noodles are cooking, remove turkey from bone and cut or shred into small pieces. Add turkey and cream when noodles are cooked. Add cornstarch to thicken.

Zucchini Bread

3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
sift these ingredients

3 eggs
1 c. vegetable oil (or 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce + 1/2 c. oil)
2 c. sugar
3 tsp. vanilla
3-4 c. zucchini
1 c. chopped nuts (opt)

Grease & flour two 8x4" pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In mixer beat eggs, oil, vanilla, & sugar. Add sifted ingredients. Beat well. Stir in zucchini & nuts until well blended. Pour into pans. Bake 40-60 min. Cool 10 min. & remove from pans. Finish cooling.

Cake Tutorial

Lately, I've had a lot of people ask me how I make my cakes. They really are easy (but only because I cheat) so I figured I would do a little "demo" just to show how easy they are!

First, make sure you have EVERYTHING you need! I say this because with this very cake, I had to run to Walmart TWICE at 10:00 at night to pick up things I thought I had (pastry bags and the right colors of food paste).

These are the pastry bags I use. They are disposable which I like because I don't want to clean out a pastry bag when I'm done. Call me lazy!


As far as tips go, in the past, I have only used tips #3 and #21 for all of my cakes. There have been times when other tips may have been nice but I have always been able to do what I need to with those two tips. BUT, my awesome hubby gave me an early birthday present so now I have a set of 56 tips! I can't wait to use them!

Make sure you have the colors you need. Food coloring will not work. I use Wilton food paste (pictured below) but I am sure there are others out there that would work just as well. You can pick these up in the party section at Walmart (by the wedding stuff) individually or in packages with multiple colors. Here is a really good site for mixing colors to get other colors: http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/coloring/colormixingchart.htm. I just buy the basic colors and then mix them myself. Just start with very small amounts - a little bit goes a long way! You can always add more but you can't take any out!


First, I grease the bottom only of my pan. I very rarely use shaped cake pans. I think they are harder to use than the way I actually make them. I just use a 9x13 pan.


When I make my cake, I use applesauce in place of the oil. It not only makes the cake a little healthier, I think it makes it easier to work with (it's a little more dense). Other than that, I make the cake as directed on the box. This is one area where I have not had good experiences with generic cake mixes. It is worth the money to buy a name brand.
While the cake is hot, I loosen the edges with a knife or spatula (I push the spatula as far as I can under the cake too just to make sure it doesn't stick)...


Then place a cooling rack on top of the pan and flip so the cake comes out.
This time around, I didn't flip while hot and this is what happened:
Now I know why I always flipped it hot before! No worries, it will be frosted anyway!

While the cake is cooling, find an image online that you can use for a template. Copy the image into any photo editing software and enlarge (or shrink) the image to fit within 8x12 (to allow for the edges on the cake). If you don't have software, this can be done in Paint. You'll want to print several of these so they are all the same size.

It doesn't matter if the printed image is pixelated or hard to see as long as you can get the basic shape. I cut the image out and place it directly on my cake.

Using a good serrated knife, I cut around my template...

...until I have the shape for my cake!

Now I turn a cookie sheet upside down and cover it with aluminum foil.

Now I place a plate (or another cookie sheet if a plate is too small) on top of the cake, flip it over, remove the cooling rack, place the foil covered cookie sheet on top of the cake, flip it over and voila:
Because the edges will not be smooth, it is much easier if the cake is frozen after this step. I just place mine in the freezer right on the cookie sheet for a couple of hours until it hardens. The sides need to be frosted quickly once removed because it does thaw fast. I have put the cake back in the freezer to refreeze (with frosting on it) if it becomes to crumbly to work with. Freezing won't hurt the cake or the frosting.

Now I frost the cake one area at a time. For flat areas (this will make more sense later), regular frosting will work just fine. For Elmo, I started with the eyes. I took my template, cut the eyes out and put it back on the cake.

Using white frosting, I frosted where the eyes would be going right onto the paper.

When the paper is removed....perfect eyes!

Next, I did the nose (with a new printout).



And finally, the mouth (again, a new printout):

I did learn a little trick for black. If you start out with chocolate frosting, it takes a lot less black paste to make the frosting black! I just used white because that is all I had and I wasn't making that much black but it is a nice little piece of information to know!
And then I got lazy and forgot to take pictures. All I did for the rest of it was used tip #21 and put red stars all over the rest of the cake. When doing stars (or anything raised or shaped) regular store bought frosting is not thick enough to hold the shape. Most people will make their own frosting, but again, I am lazy, so I just add powdered sugar (1 1/2 to 2 cups per container) to thicken the frosting so it will hold it's shape. Don't add the powdered sugar for flat areas. It is much easier to work with on flat areas when it is thinner (yes, I learned that the hard way...with THIS cake). For the eyes, I used tip #3 and made and filled in black circles. I then smoothed the circles with a knife. I also touched up the lines on the mouth with this same tip.

See! Super easy!!

I hope this all makes sense!

Blueberry Buckle

3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, softened


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease one 8x8 inch pan.
Cream together 3/4 cup sugar, shortening, and egg.
In a separate bowl mix together 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir into sugar mixture, alternating with milk. Stir in blueberries. Pour into greased 8x8 inch pan.
To make topping: Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, cinnamon, and butter. Sprinkle over cake batter.
Bake at 375 degree for 25-30 minutes.

Stacked Tacos

2 lbs ground beef

2 (8 oz) cans of tomato sauce

2 (14.5 0z) cans of diced tomatoes

2 cups salsa

1 can condensed tomato soup

2 tbsp taco seasoning

fajita sized flour tortillas

grated cheddar cheese

chopped lettuce

sliced olives

sour cream

guacamole

Brown ground beef in a skillet and drain.

In a large soup pot, add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, salsa, tomato soup, and taco seasoning. Stir well. Add ground beef, mix in, and allow mixture to simmer for 1 hour to blend flavors. (the mixture will be quite soupy)

Heat a small amount of cooking oil in a skillet. Pan fry each tortilla in hot oil until brown and crisp. Drain on paper towel.

To serve: Place a tortilla shell on each plate. Add 1/4 cup of saucy meat mixture on each tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese. Place another tortilla on top. Place 1/4 cup sauce and cheese on that tortilla. Repeat one more time. You should now have a stack of 3 layers. Then top with lettuce, olives and a dollop of sour cream. Makes 10 stacked tacos.

**The saucy meat mixture freezes well.

Rotisserie Chicken- Crockpot style

1 whole chicken (4-5 pounds)

2 tsp kosher salt (for more salty taste add an extra tsp)

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp italian seasoning

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

Place whole chicken in a crock pot. A 6 quart crockpot fits a 5 lb bird nicely! (don't forget to rinse your chicken and get the neck and other stuff out of the center!)

In a bowl, combine all of the dried spices. Rub the mixture all over the bird, inside and out. Place the chicken back into the crock pot, breast side down.

Do not add water!

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8 hours. The meat is done when it is fully cooked and has reached desired tenderness. The longer you cook it, the more tender the meat!

cute easter treat

1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 Twinkie

Chocolate sprinkles
Orange frosting
2 candy lemon slices

To make a pair of nests, first spread 1/2 cup of shredded coconut on a cookie sheet and toast it under a broiler until golden brown, about 1 minute. Remove the coconut from the oven, stir it, then toast it for 30 seconds more. Repeat as needed until all of the coconut is evenly toasted, then let it cool.

Next, melt 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips in a double boiler according to the package directions. Remove the pan from the heat (keep the chocolate over the warm water) and stir in the coconut. For the nestlings, lay a Twinkie flat on your work surface and cut it in half. Press 2 chocolate sprinkles into each half for eyes and pipe on orange frosting beaks. Let the beaks set a bit, then stand the chicks upright on waxed paper and spoon the warm coconut mixture around them, shaping it into rings. Lastly, use frosting to stick on trimmed candy lemon slices (we used Brach's) for wings.

Whachamacalits

1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
5 ½ cups Rice Crispies
1 cup chocolate chips

Bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil and remove from heat. Add 1 cup peanut butter and stir well. Combine Rice Crispies and press into a 9x13 greased pan. Immediately drop chocolate chips over the top. As the chocolate chips begin to melt, spread over the top with spatula.

Corn Tortilla Casserole

I would never have thought to put the ingredients in this recipe together. But trust me, it is actually quite tasty! It was served at a cooking class I attend and everyone LOVED it!

1 pound ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 - 8 ounce cans tomato sauce
2 teaspoons chili powder
12 corn tortillas
1 can cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup milk
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
shredded lettuce

Mix ground beef and taco seasoning (while beef is still raw). Brown mixture with chopped onion. Add tomato sauce and chili pepper. Simmer. Spray 9x13 pan with Pam and line with 6 tortillas (make them come up the sides of the pan). Cover with meat mixture. Layer with remaining shells. Mix soup and milk. Pour over second layer of shells. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cut and serve on shredded lettuce.