Patriotic Strawberries

Happy Fourth of July!  These are some fun treats to make for the holiday season.  I got this idea from ourbestbites.com.  It's fun and simple to do!

Ingredients and Directions:

Melt some white chocolate (either baking chocolate, or chocolate chips works fine) or almond bark.  If you’re using white chocolate, add 1/2 tsp vegetable oil or shortening to every 1/2 cup diced chocolate or chips to make dipping easier.

Make sure your strawberries are dry and give them a dunk into the melted chocolate

Then dip strawberry in blue sprinkles or colored sugar

And there you have it....a patriotic strawberry!  Enjoy!

Cheesy Ranch Chicken Pasta

This was a new recipe that sounded yummy to try out and it turned out fantastic!  Our family loved it. 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 C dried pasta (I used macaroni )
1 Tablespoon butter
2 1/2 C chopped cooked chicken
2 Tablespoons flour
1 packet dry ranch dressing seasoning mix
2 cups milk (I added 1/2 C evaporated milk I had on hand and used 1 1/2 C milk instead)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup chopped, cooked bacon (optional)
Any steamed veggie of your choice (optional) (We used broccoli and red peppers)

Directions:  

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add dried pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain water.

Meanwhile, heat butter over medium-high heat, in a large skillet. Mix in flour and ranch seasoning.  Pour milk into the skillet and mix until well blended,  Add Chicken and continue to cook until mixture starts to thicken.

In a baking dish mix together hot pasta and chicken mixture.  Put cheddar cheese on top and bake 5-10 min on 350 degrees until heated and cheese is melted. 

Afterwards I added steamed veggies in the bottom of my bowl and scooped pasta on top.  It was delicious!

Chili's Copycat Salsa Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cans (14.5 oz each) whole tomatoes, drained
1 small (4 oz) can diced or whole jalapenos (not pickled)--about 4-5 jalapenos (or less if you don't like a lot of spice)
1/4 c. yellow onion, cut into quarters (you can also use dried minced onion)
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 to 1 tsp. salt (depending on how much you prefer)
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. lime juice

Directions:

Place all of the ingredients together into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Serve with tortilla chips.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

We had this recipe at a family get together and it was delicious.  This was a receipe from my aunt that was given to my mom.  I just love a good recipe I can make on a cold day and this soup hits the spot!

Ingredients:
6 C water
3 stalks of celery
1 chopped onion
2 t chicken seasoning
1 pkg California Vegi mix (includes broccoli and cauliflower)
1 small pkg hashbrowns (about 4 C)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 C milk
1 pound Velveeta cheese

**You can blend up the veggies a little in the blender if you don't like big chunks of veggies

Directions:

Put all ingredients except for milk and Velveeta cheese in pot and cook until veggies are tender.
Mix together milk and Velveeta cheese together (helps to put both in microwave for 30 sec to soften cheese and then you can mix it better.
When veggies are tender mix in milk and cheese mixture and heat til warm.
Enjoy!

Magic Sauce

This is a great sauce to substitute for the cream of chicken and cream of mushrooms soups.

Ingredients:

2 C powdered milk

1/4 C instant chicken bouillon 

2 t Italian seasoning

3/4 C cornstarch 

2 T dried onion powder

Directions:

Combine all ingredients together.  Store in sealed container in the fridge.

Cooking Instructions:

To substitute for 1 can of cream soup

 Combine 1/3 C of dry mix with 1 1/4 C of cold water

 Cook and stir on stovetop until thickened

Add thickened mixture to casseroles as you would a can of soup

Cheesy Ham and Noodle

This is always a good go to recipe for my family, especially when we have leftover Christmas Ham.

Ingredients:

4 C American Beauty extra wide egg noodles, uncooked

1 C chopped cooked ham 

2 eggs beaten

1/2 C Parmesan Cheese

Dash of ground cloves

Dash of ground nutmeg

2 T butter

2 T flour

1 C Milk

1/2 C sour cream

Salt and pepper to taste

1 C shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Cook noodles according to the directions; drain.

In a large bowl combine ham, eggs, sour cream, parmesan cheese and seasonings.

Stir in pasta; mix well.

Pour into a lightly greased casserole dish.

In a medium sauce pan, melt butter; sitr in flour.  Cook one minute.  Add milk; cook over medium heat; stir frequently until mixture thickens and boils.  Add 1/2 C cheese, sit until melted.  

Sprinkle remaining 1/2 C of cheese over noodles when 5 minutes of cooking time remains.

Mexican Ham and Corn Chowder

This was a yummy chowder recipe that I found on allrecipies.com.  You can experiment and try adding in various ingredients tot the chowder such as rice, mashed potatoes, carrots, cauliflower or whatever you may need to use up in your fridge.  We added some leftover mashed potatoes to the soup that made it taste good.

Ingredients:

1/2 C chopped Onion

1-2 cloves minced garlic

1 T Olive Oil

3/4 t ground cumin

1 C broth (I used by broth from my leftover hambone)

1-2 C chopped ham

14 oz frozen corn

4 oz diced green chiles

1-2 dash of Franks hot sauce

1 C half and half cream

Directions:

In a stock pot sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent.

Pour in broth and cumin, mix together.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat and simmer for 5 min.

Stir in ham, corn, green chiles, hot sauce and cream.  Cook, stirring frequently.

If needing to thicken the sauce, mix 2 T of corn starch with soup liquid in a small bowl, mix until well blended and pour mixture into the soup and cook additional 10 min.

Garnish with Parmesan cheese on top.