Cottage Cakes

This was super good.  The kids gobbled it up!  I was looking for a pancake recipe...we usually use bisquick, but I wanted something different.  I found this recipe online.  Very rich!

1 cup cottage cheese

4 eggs, beaten

4 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine

1/2 cup flour

Whisk the first three ingredients. Fold in flour. Bake on a pancake griddle using medium high heat. Serve with Vermont maple syrup, apricot sauce or jam.

Serves: 3

Cream of Chicken and Rice Soup

So tonight I was looking for an easy dinner and noticed the can of Chicken and Rice soup.  It has been sitting there for awhile not looking very appetizing.  I decided to make up a recipe to use it...and the soup turned out quite yummy!

1 can Chicken and Rice soup

1 can corn

1 can Cream of Chicken soup

I mixed them all together and rinsed out the cans that needed it...I think I used about one can's worth of water.  Then just let it cook as directed on the soup can until warm.  

Cheese Fondue

I love my family's tradition of cheese fondue every New Year's Eve...but there was always the stress of finding a decent recipe that was easy, melty, and non alcoholic.  I finally found it!  Bettie found the recipe online in preparation for her birthday.

1 lb. medium aged gouda, coarsely shredded

3 c. heavy cream

White pepper

1. in a medium saucepan, simmer the heavy cream over moderate heat until reduced to 2 cups, about 15 minutes.
2. Whisk in the Gouda until melted.
3. Strain the cheese sauce through a fine sieve set over a heatproof bowl or fondue pot and season lightly with white pepper.

Hints and variations:

*We used a mix of gouda and smoked gouda.  Did you know the brown edge of the smoked doesn't melt?  It looks like worms.  Cut them off or strain.  We didn't strain it when we did it.

*Serve with crusty bread like french and veggies like celery, broccoli, cauliflower.

*I used a crockpot that sits on a hotplate for my fondue pot.  You could put it in a bowl and microwave it every so often to re melt.

*The leftovers separated in the fridge...lots of oil floating on top.  We just added a bit more cream when we warmed it up.

Buffalo Wing Dip

My online friend Beth shared this recipe with me.  She calls it "The Best Dip" and says she likes it so much she would lick it off old stinky shoes!  I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it is really good!

2 cans of chicken, drained

2 blocks of cream cheese

1/4 c hot sauce

1 c. shredded cheese

1 c. blue cheese dressing

Stir all the ingredients together and heat until warm.  I usually do it on the microwave or stove.  The original recipe calls for putting it in a casserole dish and mixing in half of the cheese and putting the other half on top and baking in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Dipping ideas:  celery, carrots, pretzel chips, tortilla chips, crackers, fingers....  :D

Variations:

*Works well with ranch dressing too.

*Vegetarian (no chicken) works, it just gives it a different texture.

*It is a slight bit spicy.  It needs the flavor of the hot sauce, but you may want to experiment with how much you use.  I wouldn't use more than it calls for, personally.

*Make a green chili dip!  Use green enchilada sauce instead of the hot sauce, and pepper jack cheese instead of the blue cheese dressing.  Wow!

Hawaiian Haystacks

I remember this from my youth.  It's a nice way to get all the food groups in one meal.  I've fed it to the missionaries and tonight I'm serving it to my bunco group.  Wonderful way to feed the masses!

Rice

Chicken gravy (cream of chicken soup diluted with milk or chicken broth to desired consistency)

Cubed chicken 

Cubed ham

Chopped celery

Chopped green onions

Chopped tomatoes

Slivered almonds

Maraschino cherries

Crushed pineapple

Shredded coconut

Chow mein noodles

Shredded cheese

Just lay it all out like a taco bar.  Typically, it is gravy over the rice and then whatever toppings people want.  

Variations and hints:

*Use any chicken gravy recipe you have.  

*Of course, you can customize the list of toppings to your liking. (Don't knock the cherries til you try it!)

*It's easy to make this vegetarian.  Omit the meat and use cream of mushroom soup or any other gravy recipe you have.

Applesauce

I bought cases of frozen apples and rhubarb and was looking for new ways to use them.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and changed it up a bit to include my rhubarb.  I am not a rhubarb fan, but I love this applesauce!  

• 8 apples - peeled, cored and shredded
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup brown sugar

1. Place shredded apples in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Sprinkle with cinnamon, then add water and cook until the apple bits become soft and mushy.
2. Stir in brown sugar and mix well; if desired, top with ice cream and serve.

Variations and hints:

*To make my variation, I used 6 cups frozen apple slices and 2 cups frozen rhubarb slices.

*The original recipe calls for lots more cinnamon.  Add it to your taste.

*I used frozen sliced fruit.  When the fruit was soft and mushy I used a pastry cutter to cut up the apples.  Maybe a potato masher would work too.

*You can probably reduce the brown sugar.  It is pretty sweet.  If you don't use tart apples, you won't need much sugar at all.

*It's good warm or cold.  

Banana Chocolate Chip Dessert

One of my scrapbooking heroes, Stacy Julian, mentioned a favorite family recipe Banana Brownies.  I went in search of something that matched the description, and found this recipe on allrecipes.com.  It is now one of our family favorites!

• 3/4 cup butter
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10x15 inch jelly roll pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter, white sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Fold in mashed banana. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Fold flour mixture into butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread in prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes, until set. Cool before cutting into squares.

Variations and hints:

Put in a 13x9 and bake for 30 minutes.