Raspberry lemon bars

These are super yummy!! I think raspberry and lemon taste amazing together!

CRUST:
3 c. flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 t. Baking soda
1/2 t. grated lemon peel
1 c. butter
1 egg-slightly beaten

FILLING:
1 pkg. frozen raspberries (12 oz)
1 1/2 C. sugar
1/4 c. water
3 T. cornstarch
1/2 t. grated lemon peel
1/2 t. vanilla

ICING:
1 1/4 c. powdered sugar
1-2 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. butter-softened

Heat oven to 350. Mix flour, 1 1/2 c. sugar, baking soda, and lemon peel. Cut in butter and egg. Reserve 2 c. of this crust mixture. Press remaining crust mixture into an ungreased jelly roll size pan and bake for 8 min.
Meanwhile in a med. saucepan combine filling ingredients and cook over med-high heat till raspberries are defrosted and filling it thickened, stirring often.
Spread filling over crust. Sprinkle reserved flour mixture over filling. Bake for another 15-20 min. or until golden brown. Cool.
In a small bowl combine icing ingredients. Stir until smooth and drizzle over bars. Enjoy
*make sure you cool completely before icing and cutting!

Floating hamburgers

1 lb. burger
1 t. onion powder
1 bread slice-crumbled
1 egg-beaten
1/8 c. milk
salt and pepper

SAUCE:
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can water

Mix everything except for sauce and form into mini hamburgers. Brown in frying pan and place in baking dish. Mix soup and water together and pour over top of burgers. Cover pan and bake at 350 for about an hour. Serve over rice. This is a super easy yummy dinner!!

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Ingredients:

~1 cup of butter softened

~1 cup powdered sugar

~1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

~2 egg yolks

~16 drops of green food coloring

~2 1/2 cups flour

~1/2 tsp baking powder

~1/4 tsp salt

~3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

~3 Tbsp Whipping Cream

~3 Tbsp butter

~18 Andes Mints, cut diagonally in half

Preheat oven to 350* and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl beat 1 cup of butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in egg yolks and food coloring until well mixed

On low speed add the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Shape into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.

Using the end of a wooden spoon, press a deep well into the center of each cookie

Bake about 10 min. or until set

reshape wells if needed

cool completely

Melt the chocolate chips, whipping cream, and 3 tbsp of butter until smooth

Fill each well with chocolate mix

Garnish with the Andes mints.

Enjoy....

Sesame Chicken

1 lb. chicken tenderloins
flour
oil
salt & pepper
2-3 eggs

Heat oil in saute pan. Cut chicken into bitesize chunks (or whatever size you prefer). Mix flour with salt & pepper. Dip chicken in eggs and coat in flour. Brown chicken in hot oil. Place in 9x13 baking dish.

1 t. ginger root(finely chopped)
1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. oil
1 clove garlic
sesame seeds (optional)

Brint to boil the ginger root, soy sauce, garlic, honey & oil in pan. Pour over chicken. Top with sesame seeds. Bake at 350` for 20 minutes.
Serve with rice & veggies.


This is a family favorite and super easy to make. If the ginger seems a little stong don't add quite as much. Enjoy!!!

Dutch Oven Bread

This was so much fun to make! I was given the recipe by our neighbor and it sounded easy and fun, so I decided to give it a try. It was super easy and the results were fantastic! The bread looks so amazing, like something you would purchase at a bakery. And the bread was absolutely delicious!

Mix:

3 c flour

1/4 tsp yeast

1/2 TBS salt

Add:

1 1/2 c water (max. Can add less)

1 TBS vinegar

Will be very sticky and "shaggy". Cover with plastic wrap and leave for 12-18 hours (yep! That's right! Put it in a corner in your kitchen and forget about it)

Knead into a ball, place on parchment paper, dust with flour, cover with plastic wrap, let rise 2 hours.

Heat oven 450. Put in dutch oven with lid. Let it preheat with the oven. (do this toward the end of the 2 hr rising time)

Cut X into top of ball. Quickly place bread, parchment paper and all, in dutch oven.

Bake with lid on for 30 min.

Bake another 20-30 min with lid off.

Enjoy!!

Bread Bowls and Potato Chowder

There is nothing like soup in bread bowls to warm up cold winter nights! I attempted to make my own the other night and they turned out absolutely delicious! They were sturdy enough for lots of soup and didn't get soggy. And the taste was delicious! I tried a new soup recipe, too. It was the perfect soup for breadbowls! It was super easy, too, since it uses the crockpot.

The recipes are from two cooking blogs that I follow. Here are the links:

http://realmomkitchen.com/214/happy-new-year-and-crockpot-potato-chowder/

http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2008/11/my-favorite-bread-bowls.html
I made the Italian bread bowls

Caramels

I love baking around the holidays (or anytime for that matter) but making candy always reminds me of Thanksgiving and Christmas!! Be prepared for lots of candy recipes on here the next few weeks :)

*1 Cup sugar
*3/4 C. Karo Syrup
*1 C. Cream
*4 T. Butter
*1/2 t. vanilla

Bring to boil sugar, syrup, butter, 1/2 the cream. When boiling vigorously add the rest of the cream slowly so not to stop the boiling. Cook to 235 degrees (soft ball stage). Add vanilla. Stir well and pour into buttered loaf pan. Cool till cold, cut and wrap!

Peppered Meatballs

picture by Taste of Home

Another Taste of Home recipe that is a favorite at our house. I serve the meatballs over pasta. Delish!

1/2 c sour cream

2 ts parmesan cheese

2 to 3 ts pepper (2 is plenty for me!)

1 ts salt

1 ts dry bread crumbs

1/2 t garlic powder

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

Sauce:

1 c sour cream

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 ts dill weed

1/2 ts sugar

1/2 ts pepper

1/4 ts garlic powder

In a large bowl, combine the sour cream and parmesan cheese. Add pepper, salt, bread crumbs, and garlic powder. Crumble meat ovr mixture and mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls. Place meatballs on a greased rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minuts or until no longer pink; drain.

Transfer meatballs to a slowcooker. Combine the sauce ingredients; pour over meatballs. Cover and cook on high for 2 hour or until heated through.

Pasta Crab Casserole

Photo by Taste of Home

This is absolutely delicious! The flavors are so wonderful together. It was this dish that made me decide I do in fact like crab. This is a regular at our house. A must try!!

8 ounces uncooked spiral pasta

2 large onions, chopped

1/2 pound FRESH mushrooms, sliced (fresh is KEY! Don't use the canned junk)

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup butter (Don't try to use less butter and use real butter if you can. It is so much better!)

2 pkgs (8 ounces each) imitation crabmeat, chopped

1/2 cup sour cream

2 ts salt

1 1/2 ts dried basil

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a skillet, saute the onions, mushrooms, green pepper and garlic in butter until crisp-tender. Remove from the heat. Drain pasta; add to the vegetable mixture. Stir in the crab, sour cream, salt and basil.

Transfer to a greased 9x13 dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake 5 minutes longer or until heated through.

*This makes a lot so you can divide it into two 8-inch dishes and cover and freeze one for up to a month. To use the frozen casserole, thaw in refrigerator for 24 hours. Remove from refrgerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bakeat 350 for 55-60 minutes or until heated through. We never have a problem finishing off the 9x13 dish though because it really is delicious!*

Candy corn cookies

These cookies are so much fun to make! And sure taste good too!!

*white melting chocolate

*regular melting chocolate

*your favorite sugar cookie recipe

*orange food coloring

Make you favorite sugar cookie recipe and dye it orange. Cute out cookies in a candy corn shape. Just to let you know I didn't have a candy corn cookie cutter and couldn't find one so we just rolled out the dough, used a big bowl to cut out a big circle, and then used a pizza cutter and cut it into 8 pieces (like a pizza). Worked pretty good! Cook the cookies and let them cool. Melt the white chocolate and dip the bottom third of each cookie in the chocolate. Let that dry then dip the top third in milk chocolate. Let dry and enjoy!

Snake pizza

I made this the other day for Travis for lunch :) I am too lazy to type it all up so here is a link to the recipe

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/snake-bites-recipe/index.html

But here are the changes we made to make it a pizza. We used pizza sauce instead of the mustard, pepperoni in place of the lunch meat, and we just used cheddar/mozzarella cheese. We used a cut up pepperoni for the tongue and black olives for the eyes! It sure was tasty!

Mummy dogs

How cute are these! We are actually making these tonight for dinner so I got this pic off of 'our best bites' blog!

*1 package crescent rolls

*hot dogs

*sliced cheese

Place cheese on hot dogs and wrap thin slices of crescent rolls around hot dogs. Cook according to directions on crescent rolls. (Yes these are just pigs in a blanket with a Halloween twist!)

Jello Blood worms :)

I love the holidays and making food that goes with each holiday! So this week I heve been busy making all sorts of fun (and sometimes gross looking) Halloween treats. Enjoy!

*one 6 oz package of ras. jello

*3 packages of unflavored jello

*3 cups boiling water

*3/4 c. whipping cream

*15-20 drops green food coloring

*100 plastic straws

Combine gelatins in a bowl and add boiling water. Stir until well mixed. Place in fridge till lukewarm (about 20 min). While that is cooling place rubber band around straws loosly to hold them together. PLaces straws in an enpty cleaned out milk jug or any tall container. Blend food coloring and cream to the jello mixture and pour into the container, filling the straws. Chill at least 8 hours.

To get the worms out pull straws out of container and run under hot tap water for a couple seconds (its easiest to only do 3-4 at a time). Starting at the empty end push the worms out, they should slide out pretty easy. Lay worms on a wax paper lined baking sheet and chill for an hour or up to two days. Enjoy!!

Black Bean Salsa

I am so addicted to this stuff!! In fact I just made some today and just thinking of it makes my mouth water!

*1 can black beans-drained and rinsed
*1 can corn-drained
*3-4 tomatoes-diced
*1-2 avocados-diced
*1 jalapeno-take out seeds and cut into small pieces
*about half a bunch of cilantro-chopped
*Italian dressing-Just do it to taste but I usually use about 3/4 of a small (8 oz I think) bottle

Just mix all together and eat with tortilla chips (or just with a spoon if you are like me) ;P

Check this out!

Delicious...
Baked....
Mouthwatering goodness.....

Doesn't this stuff look amazing.....


http://picky-palate.com

Enjoy.....

The Ultimate Chocolate Layered Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Birthday Cake!

The Ultimate Chocolate Layered Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Birthday Cake!

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Best Mashed Potatoes Ever!!

I've never been great at making mashed potatoes. I'm always looking to try new recipes to see if I can find a good go-to mashed potatoes recipe. My search has ended! These mashed potatoes were easy, creamy, and delicious! Definitely a must try!

1 1/2 lbs peeled potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 oz reduced-fat cream cheese
2 TB butter
1/2 ts garlic salt
1/4 ts pepper
1/4 c milk

Boil potatoes in lightly salted water for 15 minutes until tender. Drain; add remaining ingredients. Beat on medium-high with mixe until smooth. Serves 4.

No Meat Enchiladas

This is one of our favorites! It has a yummy, healthy taste with a little bit of a kick. It is really pretty easy too. I wish I could take credit for the recipe, but I borrowed it from my good friend Amanda Grimmer who served this for dinner when we were over one Sunday night.

• 1 c. instant rice
• 1 c. water
• 1 can black beans not drained
• 1 can corn drained
• 1 chopped tomato
• 1 green pepper diced
• 1 bottle of salsa
• shredded cheese
• About 10 tortillas

Combine rice and water. Microwave for 5 minutes. Add black beans, corn, green peppers, and tomato to rice mixture. Pour half of salsa on bottom of 9x13 pan to cover. Fill tortillas with mixture, roll, and put in pan. Repeat until pan is full. Pour rest of salsa on top of the rolled tortillas. Top with lots of grated cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes until warm through and cheese is melted. Enjoy!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

This is a fun seasonal meal to have. We have it at our house every Halloween. I always thought itwas so cool to eat dinner from a pumkin when I was younger. Okay so I still think it's cool:)

1 sm to med size pumpkin

1 onion, chopped

2 Tb vegetable oil

1 1/2 to 2 lbs ground beef

2 Tb soy sauce

2 Tb brown sugar

1 can slied mushrooms, drained

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 1/2 cps cooked rice

Cut off thetop of the pumpkin and thoroughly clean ot seeds and pulp. Paint a face on pumpkin with permanent marker. Preheat oven to 350.

In a large skillet, saute onion in oil until tener. Add meat and brown. Drain drippings. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms and soup. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cooked rice. Spoon mixure into cleaned pumpkin shell. Replace pumpkin in top and place entire pumpkin, with filling, on a baking sheet. Bake 1 hour or until meat of pumpkin is tender.

*Scrape off inside of pumpkin when dishing up meal. Delicious!!*

Chicken Divan

This has been my favorite dinner for as long as I can remember. I would always ask for this meal on my birthday every year, and now that I'm the one doing the cooking, I love it because it is easy and delicious! This is definitely a regular on our menu.

Chicken, cooked and diced
Broccoli, steamed
Sauce:
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup mayonnaise ( I usually do half mayo and half sour cream b/c I don't like that strong of a mayo flavor)
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 T lemon juice
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

In 9x13 in. pan, layer chicken and broccoli. Pour sauce over. Bake at 350 for 20-25 min.
Serve over cooked rice.

Tried the Zucchini Casserole--Success!

Tonight, I made the Italian Zucchini Casserole that Carlin posted awhile back. It was great! I haven't had zucchini a lot and I'm no fan of vegetables, but it was REALLY good. I halfed it thinking it was going to be too much for me and Trapper, but I think I should've just made the full amount 'cause I was only able to have one helping. I had to save enough for Trapper to take to lunch tomorrow. Anyway, it was even a great hit with Jackson! He ate it and enjoyed it! That definitely got points with me. Next time though, I'll probably add some olives and even some chicken just to give it a little more substance. And some garlic bread too. That would've made it perfect!

Orange Chicken

This is from a blog that I LOVE- real mom kitchen. I was really excited to try it because I love orange chicken. It was a hit!! It turned out delicious! Here's a link to the recipe

http://realmomkitchen.blogspot.com/2008/07/orange-chicken.html

I didn't add red pepper flakes and I used appe cider vinegar and ginger spice-because that's what I had. It was great!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

This is the perfect recipe for the fall weather. It makes a lot of cookies--around 4 dozen, so it's great for sharing with friends and neighbors.

3 c. sugar
3 c. canned pumpkin
1 1/2 c. shortening
3 tbsp. orange peel
6 c. flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix sugar, pumpkin, shortening, and orange peel. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Frosting
Mix together:
3 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. margarine
1 tbs. milk
(optional--3 oz. cream cheese) It's amazing with the cream cheese. I would definitely recommend adding it in.

Just to let you know

Heyeverybody! I just wanted to let everybody know I added the label gadget to the side to make things easier to find. So when you are writing a post be sure to add labels (such as main dish, chicken, dessert, salad, side dish, etc). I think this will even make our amazing website even cooler :)

Roasted Corn and Chicken Tostada

Here's the chicken tostada recipe from Special K! It's only 480 calories and sooo good. You can add more of the stuff you want more on your tostada.

Ingredients:
1 (7-inch) whole wheat flour tortilla or flour tortilla
Nonstick cooking spray
1/3 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
4 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup salsa
1/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup shredded lettuce
2 tablespoons shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon fat-free sour cream

Directions:
Lightly coat both sides of tortilla with cooking spray. Place on baking sheet. Bake at 400° F about 10 minutes or until crisp.
Meanwhile, in small nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray cook corn over medium-high heat for 1 to 3 minutes or until beginning to brown, stirring frequently. Remove from skillet. Set aside.
In same small skillet heat oil. Add chicken, chili powder and cumin. Cook and stir over medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Stir in salsa, beans and corn. Heat through.
Place tortilla on serving plate. Top with lettuce, chicken mixture, cheese and sour cream. Serve immediately

Brown Consomme Rice

*1 Cup uncooked long grain rice (not instant)

*1/2 cube butter

*2 cans of beef consomme



Saute rice in butter till it just starts to brown. Put in baking dish along with beef consomme plus enough water to make 3 cups of liquid. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Easy Sunday Roast

Travis and I LOVE this roast. It is so easy and makes the perfect Sunday meal!



*Beef Roast
*1 packet of brown gravy mix
*1 packet of ranch dressing mix
*1 packet of italian dressing mix

Mix the three packets together and rub over a roast. Add a little bit of water and cook on low all day. Halfway through add potatoes, celery, onions, or anything else you like.

Creamy Tomato Soup

This tomato soup is SO good! Greg call it lasagna soup because that is what it tastes like. I make a salad and garlic bread for dipping and it is a delicious meal!

1 medium onion, chopped
2 TB butter
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cans (10.75 ounces each) condensed tomato soup, undiluted
1 1/2 cups milk
1 ts sugar
1/2 to 1 ts dried basil
1/2 to 1 ts paprika
1/8 to 1/4 ts garlic powder
1 package cream cheese, cubed

In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in the tomatoes, soup, milk, sugar, basil, paprika and garlic powde. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add cream cheese; stir until melted. Serve immediately

Quick Three-Bean Chili

I love chili and this is an easy one to make. I found it in a baby magazine for moms who have no time. It takes only 30 minutes total to make. It makes 6 servings, so if that's too much, you can freeze the rest and it still tastes great a week later!

1 lb. extra lean ground beef or turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can each (15 to 16 oz) black beans, kidney beans, and pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup water
1 tbsp. chili powder
1-2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. beef or chicken flavor instant bouillon
Light sour cream (optional)
shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
Chips (optional)

Cook beef, onion, and garlic in large saucepan over medium-high heat until beef is no longer pink.

Stir in tomatoes and juice, black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, water, chili powder, cumin, and bouillon. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for 10 minutes. Serve with sour cream and cheese and tortilla chips or fritos chips.

Italian Zucchini Casserole

I found this recipe in a Taste of Home cookbook. I was looking for a way to use up all that garden zucchini I had. This recipe is delicious! Bonus: I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned ones and used up some garden tomatoes too! We really enjoyed this recipe- hopefully you will, too.

Prep: 35 min Bake: 30 min

3 medium zucchini, sliced (about 6 1/2 cups)
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained (if using real tomatoes, add some water)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups stuffing mix
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
3/4 c mozzarella cheese


In a large skillet, cook zucchini in 1 Tb oil 5-6 mnutes of until tender; drain and set aside. In the same skillet, saute the onion and garlic in remaining oil for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove from heat; gently stir in zucchini.

Transfer to a greased 9x13 in dish. Top with stuffing mix(I poured a little water over the top of the stuffing); sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Cover and bake at 350 for 20 min. Uncover; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake 10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Yield: 6-8 servings

WELCOME!!

Welcome to the momma chef blog! This blog was created for all of us cooking moms who desire something delicious without spending loads of time! I love getting favorite recipes from other people- their tried and true favorites. I know that they'll be good and that they won't call for random ingredients that I've never even heard of. It's nice to mix it up too, instead of just always having our usual dinners.

So share your favorite recipes with us! Main courses, desserts, appetizers. . . we want it all! Hopefully we can make each other's lives a little bit easier- and a lot yummier!