Twice Baked Potatoes

This is from The Joy of Cooking book. Rex and I like twice baked potatoes but I had never tried making it before, seemed like it would take a lot of work, but it doesn't take too much work. I was excited when I found this recipe and was excited to try it. I have now made it twice.

6 baked potatoes (already baked at 400 for about 1 hour)

Cut them in half length wise and scoop out the potato into a bowl.

Add: 3-4 Tbsp butter

1/2 c sour cream

2 Tbsp minced green onion, optional

1 tsp salt

Mix with potato.

Optional: fold in 2 beaten egg whites.

Fill the potato shells. Sprinkle exposed potato with parmesan cheese and paprika.

Broil at 400 until cheese is browned, about 5-10 minutes.

Brownie Cheesecake

We had a Windows 7 party Friday night and I had lots of cream cheese, so I wanted to make a cheesecake. When I found this recipe on allrecipes.com I just had to try it and it turned out so good.

1 brownie mix

3 (8oz) packages of cream cheese, softened

1 can sweetened condensed milk

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom of 9 inch springform pan (I used a square 9x9 pan, since I don't have a springform pan). Prepare brownie mix as directs on box. Spread evenly in prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until set.

2. In large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips (if wanted). Pour into prepared pan (over brownies).

3. Reduce oven to 300. Bake for 50 minutes or until set. Cool. Chill thoroughly.

I actually found that there as too much cheesecake mix to go on the brownies (would have over flowed). So I put some in a pie crust that I had and baked that as well.

Sugar Cookies

I made Halloween sugar cookies this weekend. This is a recipe that I like for sugar cookies. I got it from a friend in our ward at Wymount.

1 1/2 c shortening

2 c sugar

1 c sour cream

2 tsp vanilla

6 c flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Cream together shortening and sugar; then add eggs. Mix in sour cream and vanilla. Mix in all dry ingredients and then chill dough for 30 mins. Roll dough out and cut into shapes. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 9 mins at 350.

Cheesecake

I am looking for a good cheesecake recipe for Friday. If anyone knows a good one let me know. I already have a crust (a ready made one that was on sale).

Granola

I love this granola and I know it is not the most healthy, but I don't care.

3 1/2-5 c oats

1/2 c oil

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp milk

1 1/2 c coconut or raisin or whatever you want.

Mix together. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 200 for about 20-25 minutes.

Chicken and Rice Casserole

This is really easy to make

2 c cooked cubed chicken

2 c cooked rice

1/2 c mayo

1 can cream of chicken

some vegetable, like corn or peas.

Mix together in a casserole dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Chocolate Revel Bars

I needed something chocolate yesterday and this is what I tried. It turned out really good. This is from my Better Homes and Garden cookbook.

1 cup butter, softened

2 c packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 c flour

3 c quick oats

1 1/2 c chocolate chips

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp vanilla

Set aside 2 Tbsp butter. In a large mixing bowl, beat the remaining butter for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar and baking soda. Beat until combined. Beat in eggs and tsp vanilla. Beat in as much flour as possible and stir in any remaining flour. Stir in the oats.

For filling, in a medium saucepan combine the reserved 2 Tbsp butter, chocolate chips, and sweetened condensed milk. Cook over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla.

Press 2/3 of oats mixture in the bottom of an ungreased cookie sheet. Spread filling evenly over top. Dot remaining oats mixture in top (flatten before you put it on otherwise it will push the chocolate out of the way). You can place them randomly.

Bake at 350 about 25 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Cool and cut into bars.

Chicken Enchilada Bake

So I've realized I have made a lot of Mexican type dishes lately (not truly Mexican, but you get the idea). This is from the Taste of Home magazine.

4 1/2 cups cubed chicken

1 can (28 oz) enchilada sauce

1 1/4 c sour cream

9 tortillas, cut into 1 1/2 in pieces

4 cups shredded cheese.

In a greased 13x9 baking dish, layer half the chicken, enchilada sauce, sour cream, tortillas, and cheese. Repeat layers.

Cover and bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

The recipe actually calls for green enchilada sauce, but since I had to find a recipe for the sauce that had things I had, I used a red enchilada sauce. I also halved the recipe because it does serve 10.

Red Enchilada Sauce (from allrecipes.com)

1/4 vegetable oil

2 Tbsp flour

1/4 c chili powder

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 1/2 c water

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion salt

salt to taste

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in flour and chili powder, reduce heat to medium and cook until lightly brown, stirring constantly to prevent flour from burning.

Gradually stir in tomato sauce, water, and spices. Continue cooking over medium heat about 10 minutes to until thickened slightly.

I didn't halve the enchilada recipe and found that I had too much sauce, so next time I will halve it.

Italian Cheeseburger Pasta

This is more of a twist on spaghetti than anything.

1 lb ground beef

2 3/4 cup spaghetti sauce

2 cups water

2 cups uncooked pasta

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Brown hamburger, drain off excess fat. Stir in sauce, water, and pasta. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir for about 25 minutes. Sprinkle with the cheese and serve.

I thought this was really good. Ian loved the noodles of course. He didn't touch the hamburger part. Though the other night at my parents, he ate some browned hamburger, of course he said it was chicken (his idea, not ours, but we didn't correct him).

Cabbage and Rice

We went to our ward garden yesterday morning. We got some cabbage. I looked up some recipes for cabbage. I found one with cabbage and rice and I though I would try it, but I didn't really follow it. So this is my recipe.

1 cabbage, chopped up

minced onion

garlic salt

oil

rice

bacon (already cooked), crumbled.

Heat the oil. Fry cabbage, onion, and garlic salt. Add rice and bacon and heat through.