soup!

Stuffed Spud Soup
1 bunch green onions, sliced and sautee'd in
4 T. Butter
Add:
2# Frozen (cubed) Hash Browns, thawed
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
2 c. Milk
2 c. 1/2 and 1/2
1 T of Chicken Boullion

Cover and cook till potatoes are heated through 20-30 min. Then add:
1-2 c. of Cheese, grated and stirred in.

Serve with Bacon (crumbled), addt'l. green onions, more cheese and sour cream to top it. You can cook it with bacon already added if you're taking it somewhere or let people add it themselves. Of course, you can also add more milk or onions to your taste.
PS I also added some salt, pepper, and garlic salt for fun...

this recipe was given to me by a dear old friend and its so good! it even passed the toddler test:) I took it to a family Christmas party, and well, I didn't have any to bring home! thats always a good sign.

I also like that these ingredients are stuff you probably have on hand anyway.

peppermint dessert experiment

So tonight i tried a new recipe..."Easy Peppermint Dessert". It turned out pretty- but it totally started melting -It would probably be great for a party/dinner that you host at your own house so u can serve it right away... because after the trip over there and by the time everyone is ready for dessert its too long. But what i did have of it was super good! not too rich/sweet.



1 package (1 lb) creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed (about 3 cups)
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 gallon peppermint stick, party mint or mint chip ice cream, softened
1 container (12 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1/2 cup butter or margarine
4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped (i used sweetened;)
2 cups sugar
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup crushed peppermint candies or candy canes


1. In medium bowl, mix crushed cookies and 1/2 cup melted butter. Press mixture firmly in bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch pan.
2. In large bowl, stir together ice cream and 2 cups of the whipped topping; spoon evenly over cookie crust. Freeze about 3 hours or until firm.
3. Meanwhile, in 2-quart saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter and the chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly.Stir in sugar; gradually stir in milk. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Cook and stir 5 minutes or until slightly thickened; stir in vanilla. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
4. Pour 2 cups of the chocolate sauce evenly over ice cream. Freeze at least 8 hours but no longer than 2 weeks. Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce.
5. Reheat reserved sauce until just warm. To serve, cut into 5 rows by 3 rows. Top with sauce and remaining whipped topping; sprinkle with crushed candies.


this would have been a cute idea too...


Make a dozen little desserts by dividing the cookie crust among 12 paper-lined muffin cups, then filling with the ice cream mixture and continuing as directed

dinner time!

My favorite meal to make is "Spaghetti Bake". My husband says its his fav too- and my picky toddler always wants seconds (you know thats a good sign!) It may look like a complicated recipe at 1st, but its actually pretty simple...

• 1 lb of ground beef (I always use turkey and its just as good+much better for you)


• 3/4 cup finely chopped onion


• 1/2 cup of green pepper, finely chopped (I've never used this in it-so let me know how it goes if you do!)


• 10 oz. can of cream of mushroom


• 10 oz can of tomato soup


• 1-1/3 cup of water


• 8 oz. can of tomato sauce


• 1/2 t. salt


• 1 clove of garlic, minced


• 8 oz. package of spaghetti, cooked


• 1-1/2 cup of shredded cheese

Brown beef with onion and green pepper in 12'' skillet. Drain. Add soups, water, tomato sauce, salt and garlic. Simmer until heated through. Place spaghetti in a large mixing bowl; add sauce mixture and 1 cup of cheese. mix well. spread onto a greased 13x9 baking dish ; top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. serves 6-8.

[I don't normally mix the cheese in the middle, it seems to be really cheesy that way. i put all of it on top, which may require foil to keep it from burning. This dish is great for us to eat for several days- my husband always packs it for lunch the next day. i like to serve it with salad and garlic bread. green beans go good too.]

Spicing up boxed brownies...

My husband loves brownies, and i always think they're kinda boring... so this is where we compromise! I just took a package of cream cheese and mixed it with some powdered sugar to taste. After putting the brownie mixture in the dish to bake- i dumped the cream cheese on top in sections and used a toothpick to swirl it...it takes a few extra minutes to bake...yum!

tienes hambre?

Hi Everyone!! So for those of us who love to cook/bake (even for those who don't like to, but still need to) I wanted to set up a blog for some of the best recipes:) This may take a while to get going, but thats ok, its new. Eventually, someday, I would like to put a cookbook together- (tina and i will prob tag team this, and whoever else wants to help!) maybe a few different types...i thought it would be cool to get some of Grandma's old recipes from both sides and do a family one. i also wanted to get some recipes from some of the young couples too- bc we all experienced the challenge of having to cut recipes in half bc were not exactly feeding 8! or whatever you found that works:) If you leave some ideas/recipes in the comment section i can post it:)
So I guess I'll start:) - these are super good and its hard to mess up...

Home-made Ice Cream Sandwiches

(First, the "sandwich part". This is actually just a cookie recipe, so you can use either one "German Chocolate Cookies")

You need:

• 1 package of German Chocolate Cake Mix


• 2 eggs


• 1/2 cup of butter (melted)


• 1/2 cup of quick-cooking oats


• 1 cup of chocolate chips (I always use milk chocolate bc i think they taste better)


• for sake of the actual recipe it calls for 1/2cup of raisins, but i've never put them in...yuck.

Mix it all together. For cookies:drop by rounded tablespoons, for sandwiches: flatten. 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake @350 for 9-11 minutes. cool on wire rack. You may want to wait until completely cool before adding the "ice cream" part- trust me;)

For the Ice Cream part...so the possibilities are really endless-you can use whatever type of yogurt you want. Once I used mint ice cream w/ whip cream (I added a little green color and mint extract-not too much tho, 1/2 teaspoon would do it. they turned out super good.)

• 2 six ounce containers of strawberry yogurt (cherry is good too)


• 6 oz of cherry preserves (not jelly, strawberry works fine too, like i said you cant really go wrong with this recipe)


• 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract


• 1 eight ounce thawed whipped topping (you may need less)

Mix it all together and wallah.

Wait for the cookies to cool, then i use a 9x13 cooking pan and place half my cookies upside-down and then generously put the ice cream in the middle. don't wait too long to use it or it will melt. put an other cookie on top and freeze for at least 1-2 hours. it usually makes 12-16. It sets pretty fast. Yum! and they are so much better for you than regular ice cream! My husband loves these and eats one, sometimes two every night:)