TRADER JOE's moist cornbread

Instead of following the directions on the box, I added one egg, a can of creamed corn and a little milk (I think about 1/4 cup) and followed the directions on the box and

This made the absolute best cornbread I have ever had

very moist and sooooooo tasty!  

MAC AND CHEESE RERUN (or redo) (or remake)

I made a huge mac and cheese casserole a few days ago and was getting a little bit tired of it, so I decided to do something to change it.

I spread the leftover mac and cheese on the bottom of a small casserole dish.  Poured a can of diced tomatoes (with garlic and something else) on top.  Baked for a half hour at 375,  took out of oven and put some french fried onions on top, and back in the oven for 5-6 minutes until they crisped up and started to brown.

Delicious!!!

FOUR BEAN SALAD

four cans of beans
I used
green beans
red kidney
white kidney
garbanza

chopped onion, celery and peppers

• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• a few tablespoons of honey mustard dressing

whisk dressing ingredients together and pour over bean mixture

stir and put in frig for a few hours before serving

Ham Gravy (my son in law Chris showed me how to do it)

separate the fat from the drippings in the bottom of the pan

put a couple of tbsp of the fat into a pan
put an equal amount of butter in the same pan
melt together
add some flour and cook for several minutes
let it sit for a couple of minutes

then gradually add the amount of drippings (minus the fat) until you get the consistency you want.

then add some parsley
                      paprika  (for color)
                      onion powder
                      garlic powder

if the gravy appears too thick, add some more of the cooking liquid, but cook it again.

SLICED BAKED POTATOES

Lenore Sulkers-Wright shared this recipe earlier today. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (Can also do in Microwave for 6 plus minutes)

Brush both side of potato slices with butter; place them on a cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated 400 degrees F oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until lightly browned on both sides, turning once.

When potatoes are ready, top with bacon, cheese, green onion; continue baking until the cheese has melted;

Add a dollop of sour cream when done and enjoy!!

I prepared this with some changes: chopped pepperoni, mozzerella cheese and tomato relish and I skipped the sour cream, and IT IS SOOOOOOOOOOOO TASTY!!!! I am not sure what temp you are supposed to have the oven at, since both 375 and 400 are mentioned, so I went in between!

Mashed Potato Soup in the Crockpot

We have a LOT of mashed potatoes left over from a meal a few days ago.  I wondered if some of them could be used to make a soup in the crockpot.

I found a very basic recipe and added to it.

The basic part is one can of cream of mushroom soup
                                          1/2 pound of mashed potatoes
                                           3 cans of water (using the soup can)
                                           1 cup of milk
                                         

I have no idea how to measure one half a lb of mashed potatoes, so I  think I used more  than that.

These are my additions: minced garlic
                                    minced onion
                                    dried dill
                                    garlic pepper
                                       and maybe one more spice that I cannot recall
                                    grated Muenster cheese (about half of a regular sized block)
                                    about a half cup of barley (not sure if instant or long cooking) but it went in about half way through the cooking time.

I put it on high to get things moving and then turned it down to low.  At the end of the cooking time (I chose about three )........I stirred in some leftover cooked carrots and several slices of crumbled bacon.

I decided to do dumplings since I had a can of Pillsbury Grand Biscuits in the frig.  I used four out of the seven in  the can.  I cut each one into eight pieces, then sprinkled cornmeal on them, and dropped them into the soup and sprinkled some parsley on top.  Put the top back on quick and it took about a half an hour to cook the dumplings.   I baked the rest of the Grands biscuits and had one with butter and jelly with my bowl of soup.

NEXT TIME: I would stir in an extra cup of milk BEFORE adding the dumplings because this soup turned out VERY thick (my grandaughter ate two bowls and said it was more like a stew).
Also, I would add some salt at the beginning.  It DID need a bit of added salt.

Baked Grape Tomatoes

I served these with stuffing/turkey/gravy casserole
four bean salad and
homemade cranberry sauce tonight

(its a recipe I made up, on the spot)



spray a small casserole dish with PAM
put in the tomatoes (washed and dried)
some minced garlic
some pieces of pepperoni (chopped up)
sprinkle liberally with parmesan cheese
put top on casserole and bake
at 375 for twenty minutes
in the meantime cut some of your favorite
cheese (I used am Amish smoky flavored cheese)
 into small chunks
take casserole out of oven and stir in
the cheese and bake another five minutes
then take top off and put under the broiler for
a couple of minutes


next time I would use more pepperoni
and less cheese