Cheese Potatoes

Here is an oldie, but goodie. I first got this recipe from Judy years ago. We have this one about twice a month here.

Cheese Potatoes:

Can be in the Crock Pot, or baked in the oven. I have frozen this in a casserole dish too.

1 package frozen hash brown potatoes, we use Potatoes O' Brien mostly
1/2 cup melted butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 container sour cream
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, (not sharp)


Bake 1 hour 350, or crockpot for a few hours.

Friendship Soup

This one is from Kelly Fite: Emily had a play date at their house and ate two bowls!! I had to get the recipe. Thanks Kelly!!

Friendship Soup:

Friendship Soup

1 1/2 cups of a combination of lentils, barley, split peas, black eyed peas, red beans or whatever kind of beans you want
1 cup of pasta (we have used alphabet, macaroni, rotini, etc..)
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 t dried Italian seasoning (I always use more)
1 bay leaf
1 lb ground beef
pepper
garlic
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
1 15oz can tomato sauce (sometimes I just use a large can 28oz of tomato sauce instead of tomatoes)
3 quarts water

In large pot over medium heat, brown beef with pepper and garlic. Drain fat. Stir in all remaining ingredients except for pasta. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 45 mins. Stir in pasta, cover, and simmer additional 15 mins or until beans are tender. Remove bay leaf and serve. Enjoy

Freezer Lasagna

While I was browning all of that meat for the Tacos, I stole a half a pound or so and whipped up an easy Lasagna (for the freezer of course!!)

Now I don't usually boil my Lasagna Noodles....I think if you add enough liquid to them, they cook up just fine. I just use the regular old packaged noodles....they are more inexpensive than the "no boil" kind. (groceries are goin up and we gotta save $$)

I layer one jar of sauce, one box of noodles, one container of large curd cottage cheese, 1/2 bag of mozz. cheese and a few sprinkles of browned and crumbly hamburger in a large casserole dish. Top the rest with remaining cheese and some dried oregano. Looks fancy, and adds to the flavor of the dish. Freeze until ready!!

TACO NIGHT

This one is pretty easy....Taco Night. The girls love tacos, they are easy, and they can be vegetarian for me. We had some friends over on Friday night, so I had alot of fun with all of the different side dishes to go with the tacos.

Hard Shells and Soft Shells
Taco Meat of course!!
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Sour Cream
Jalapenos
Banana Peppers
Fiesta (mexican) Corn
Corn Chips
Salsa
Cheese
Mexican Rice
Refried Beans
Sliced Cucumbers
Last but not least:
Mac n Cheese, we always have mac n cheese with tacos!!

Now I made a TON of stuff, so we had quite a few leftovers. It was SUPER easy to combine most of what was left into a Mexican Casserole, or Mexican Lasagna....you just layer your favorite items with some soft shells in a casserole dish...top with cheese and either bake or put it in the freezer (which is what I did) easy easy dinnner!!!

Amish Friendship Bread

Granny gave me a starter and I made 2 loaves tonight. ....for those who don't have a starter and wish to start their own Friendship Bread here is the recipe:

**now I have made this bread for years, and ALWAYS put it in a Tupperware dish....Granny gave it to me in a ziplock bag....it was very easy this way!!



Bread:
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups white sugar
3 cups milk


DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container glass, plastic or ceramic container, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Leave loosely covered at room temperature.

On days 2 thru 4; stir starter with a spoon.
Day 5; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk.
Days 6 thru 9; stir only.
Day 10; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk.

Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, give 2 cups to friends along with this recipe, and your favorite Amish Bread recipe. Store the remaining 1 cup starter in a container in the refrigerator, or begin the 10 day process over again (beginning with step 2).

Once you have made the starter, you will consider it Day One, and thus ignore step 1 in this recipe and proceed with step 2. You can also freeze this starter in 1 cup measures for later use. Frozen starter will take at least 3 hours at room temperature to thaw before using.

Tater Tot Casserole

My mom always said that Wes fell in love with her cooking when he fell in love with me. When we were dating, he ate dinner at our house nearly EVERY NIGHT. His office was about 5 miles from where I lived, plus he worked with my brother, so they both came home to the farm to eat dinner each night...

...and his favorite was...

TATER TOT CASSEROLE

My mom loves hamburger, and casseroles. We first had this dish at a family cookout when I was 13. After trying it, this casserole became a weekly occurance at my house growing up.

Here it is:


1 pound ground beef
2 cans cream of chicken soup---you can use mushroom too... We like chicken better
few sprinkles of Mrs. Dash
1 package tater tots


Brown the ground beef and drain. Stir in soup. Pour the mixture into a medium-sized casserole dish and layer tater tots on top.


Bake 375 for 1/2 hour to 1 hour....depending on how crispy you want your tots.

Now I use a whole bag of tots and a good sized glass baking dish...9 x 13, The littlest kids like their tots without the 'gravy' on them...so using the whole bag assures you a few extra crispy tots on top with no sauce on them!!

New week, New recipes...

It has been a fun week with all of the food we have had in our house!! Thanks to PaPa's garden, we have had some great meals!!

We have had 2 nights of what I call "Vegetarian Vegetable Night"...which consists of veggies and garden goodies. Here is what we have had:

Corn on the Cob

Green Beans

Coleslaw

Cucumbers

Broccoli

Carrots

Mashed Potatoes

Fried Green Tomatoes

Squash--both fried and in a casserole

Rolls/homemade Garlic Bread

Rice

Mac n Cheese


Now I did not make all of these at one time....it was spread out between 2 meals.

Wes did eat leftover Porkchops off the grill one night, but the kids and I eat everything else. I love having so much to choose from.