Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Recommendation: Crispy Crowns!

My kid's don't like tater tots.

Sigh.

Anytime I want to have potatoes, I make them from scratch, which is never quick and easy. I like happy kids...generally.

I grew up on tater tots and enjoy them, so every once in awhile I'll buy them and make the children "suffer." They like Ore-Ida's fast food fries and we'll have them every once in a great while, but when you want a tater tot, nothing else can replace it.

Around our move to the farm a couple weeks ago, I ran across

Ore-Ida Crispy Crowns!

Yum! Lo, and behold, even the kids liked them. They get very crunchy because of their small size. I think we've had a package of them every week for the past three weeks.

We had them for dinner tonight with sloppy joes and when Rhett gobbled the last one, he said, "There's just never enough."

If you're a tater tot fan, you've got to give these a try. They've made believers out of some very unfriendly tater tot kids!

Broiled Angel Food Cake

Last Christmas I purchased the Taste of Home Simple and Delicious Cookbook at Target for my mother. It looked so good I purchased one for myself. Now when we try a recipe we can let each other know if we think the other would enjoy the recipe. This is a great idea for a newly married daughter and mom! (Why didn't I buy three copies?)

This is an easy dessert to make! It would be fun at the end of a BBQ with friends.  There is something remincient about a toasted marshmellow when you eat this angel food cake.  We made it twice this week (they boys loved it!) and on the second go around we tried caramel topping with vanilla ice cream. It was our favorite version.  Let me know if you give it a try!

Butterscotch Angel Cake

Ingredients:

8 slices angel food cake
3/4 cup butter, melted, divided
1 cup packed brown sugar, divided
8 scoops butter brickle or butter pecan ice cream
Butterscotch ice cream topping

Place cake slices on a greased baking sheet. Brush with 6 tablespoons butter; press 1 tablespoon brown sugar onto each slice. Broil 5-6 in. from the heat for 1-2 minutes or until bubbly.

Turn slices over; brush with remaining butter and sprinkle with remaining brown sugar. Broil 1-2 minutes longer or until bubbly. Cool for 2-3 minutes. Serve with ice cream; drizzle with butterscotch topping.

Serving: 8
Recipe Given By: Taste of Home

Pizza Burgers

Tuesday night I had a work meeting, but my family wasn't going to be home in time to eat dinner all together.  I put together this "pizza-joe" and left it on the stove top covered. (There was about a 10 minute disparity between my departure and their arrival.)  I wrote out the final instructions and the gang finished up the recipe with no problem.  They even snapped a picture for me to share!  It was delicious!  Check out the Taste of Home link below for nutritional and freezer info, plus, other great recipes.

Open-faced Pizza Burgers

Ingredients:

1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can (15 ounces) pizza sauce
1 can (4 ounces) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
6 hamburger buns, split and toasted
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the pizza sauce, mushrooms, sugar and oregano; mix well. Spoon onto buns; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Place on ungreased baking sheets. Broil 4 in. from the heat for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

To freeze for quick lunches later, place the split and toasted buns on a baking sheet. Spoon the meat mixture onto buns; freeze for 1 hour. Transfer to heavy-duty resealable plastic bags or airtight containers.

Serves: 12
Recipe Given By: Taste of Home

Pesto Chicken Pasta

Do you need an easy pasta for those hurried nights?
Campbell's has great recipes to try. Here's one of our favorites.

Campbell’s Creamy Pesto Chicken and Bow Ties

Ingredients:

3 C uncooked bow tie pasta
2 T. butter or margarine
1 lb. boneless chicken breasts, cubed
1 can (10 ¾ oz.) cream of chicken soup
½ pesto sauce
½ C milk

Cook pasta according to pkg directions. Drain. Meanwhile, heat butter in skillet. Add chicken and cook until browned, stirring often. Add soup, pesto sauce and milk. Bring to a boil. Cook over low heat 5 minutes or until done. Stir in drained pasta and heat through.

Serves: 4
Recipe Given By: Campbell’s
 

#1 Reason

I am on the left coast for my father-in-law's funeral and Mom's house is filled with food from people willing to serve our family by bringing meals. I've needed access to a couple of my recipes and although Mom has one of my homemade cookbooks, it's nice to know I can go out onto the web and find my own recipes on this blog. It's like a cookbook-to-go without taking up luggage space. Sweet! So...# 1 reason to have a cooking blog - you always have your recipes at your fingertips!

Banana Snack Cake

I recently purchased the tasteofhome simple & delicious cookbook at Target ($16, cheaper on Amazon) and I tried my first recipe: Banana Snack Cake.

I always have bananas that need used up so I thought I'd give this cake a try. I doubled the ingredients and placed it into a 9x13 pan. I only increased the baking time by 5 extra minutes (40 min total) and it wasn't enough to get it cooked through in the middle. It will need longer next time, or I will need to bake it per the recipe in the 8x8 pan.

You can find the recipe here: Banana Snack Cake. If this recipe doesn't appeal to you there are many other banana cakes to try. They made my mouth water and made me wish I had more ripe bananas on hand.

Happy Snacking!

Pizza Roll-ups!

For a quick & easy lunch or snack, try:

Pizza Roll-Ups

Ingredients:

½ lb ground beef
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
½ C shredded mozzarella cheese
½ t dried oregano
2 tubes (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent rolls

In a skillet, cook beef over med. heat until no longer pink; drain. Remove from the heat. Add tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and oregano; mix well. Separate crescent dough into eight rectangles, pinching seams together. Place about 3 tablespoons of meat mixture along one long side of each rectangle. Roll up, jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Cut each roll into three pieces. Place, seam side down, 2” apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 min or until golden brown.

Serving: 2 dozen
Recipe Given By: Quick Cooking J/A 2000 p. 41

**Sorry, my picture is blurry. There is a better picture on the Quick Cooking link above.