Cooking - for a new lifestyle (Our Test Kitchen)

Another of John's picks....It looks lovely and smells delicious. Children who like cream corn will love this one, there is some in every bite. 365 Quick, Easy & Inexpensive Dinner Menus Penny E. Stone page 229 2 1/2 cups cooked cubed chicken/turkey 1/2lb of bacon diced 2 tbsp flour 3 cups milk 1 can creamed corn (I used a large can) 2 cups frozen green beans 2 cups frozen sweet peas 1 cup chopped celery 1 large onion chopped 1 tsp Italian seasoning 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce or soy sauce 2 tsp salt 2 cup cubed marble cheese Fry bacon until crisp and drain on paper towel. Reserve 3 tbsp of bacon grease in frying pan. Add onion and celery to fry pan and saute until tender on medium heat. Stir in flour and make a paste. Gradually stir in milk to make a gravy. Add seasonings and mix well. In a large casserole dish combine chicken, beans, corn and peas. note: I added the bacon here (oops!) Place the cheese in the dish. Pour the gravy over the top. Crumble bacon on top. Bake at 350

This was a lovely treat that John whipped up for dessert tonight! 365 Quick, Easy & Inexpensive Dinner Menus Penny E. Stone page 47 1 cup Miracle Whip (not fat free or calorie reduced) 1 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla 2 1/4 cup sifted flour 1/2 cup cocoa 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda pinch of salt 1 cup of water Combine salad dressing and sugar in a bowl, blend till smooth. Add vanilla. In a seperate bowl mix dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to salad dressing mixture alternately with water. note: we found we had to add a little more water because it was very thick Mix well after each addition. Pour batter into a greased cake pan (or 2-6" round pans) note: we did not find the batter rose very much Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. note: it cooked quickly and almost burnt, so watch it carefully! Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Frost if desired, or add a layer of ice cream between! WE added Pampered Chef "sweet caramel sprinkle to 1/2 and sweet mocha hazelnu

Well this one surprised me, and came out tasting (according to all 3 of us) like hamburger helper but a lot more work!!!! 365 Quick, Easy & Inexpensive Dinner Menus Penny E. Stone page 114 1lb ground beef 2 chopped onions minced garlic 1/4 cup margarine 2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms 1 can creamed corn 2 cans tomato soup 3 soup cans of water salt and pepper 8oz of uncooked vermicelli pasta (that is 1/4 of a normal bag) Optional: 1 cup grated cheese In a large skillet melt margarine and sautee onion, garlic and ground beef. **note: we had to move this to a pot, so you might want to start with a pot! Add mushrooms, corn and soup with the water and stir well. Heat until almost boiling. **note: this sticks/burns very quickly, so watch very carefully! Add vermicelli and stir well. When pasta is tender, pour into a casserole dish. **note: again this burnt to the bottom quickly so maybe a greased dish? Bake at 300 for 30 minutes. Remove and stir. Add cheese and bake 15-20 minutes more.

Menu Virgin Caesar Cocktails Oriental Salad (pre-made mix) Lime-Broiled Chicken Breasts Deviled Potatoes Parmesan Broccoli Cherry-Cheese Parfaits Serves 4 Virgin Caesar Cocktails 4 cups regular or spicy Clamato juice Celery salt 4 celery stalks 4 lime slices Wet rims of four 8-oz glasses with water and spin in celery salt. Put ice cubes in glasses and fill with Clamato juice. Add salt and pepper to taste, and stir. Garnish with celery stalks and thin slices of lime. I don't really like celery salt on the rims so I skipped this step. And of course my Caesar was "experienced" with 1 ounce of Silent Sam vodka . . . lol . . . Lime-Broiled Chicken Breasts 4 whole chicken breasts, halved 1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil 4 tbsp Italian salad dressing mix 1/4 cup fresh lime juice Place chicken breasts, skin side up, in large baking dish. Combine oil, salad dressing mix and lime juice in a small bowl. Pour evenly over chicken. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

365 Quick, Easy & Inexpensive Dinner Menus Penny E. Stone page 240 I had my doubts about this one! I do not like tomatoes that much and I have no love affair with barley either, but John had chosen this one so, I gave it to Judy to make. Oh My Goodness I had 2 plates! 2 sm/med steaks cubed into small pieces 2 tbsp oil 1 cup barley 2 can diced tomatoes (with juice) 1 tsp Italian seasoning salt and pepper 1 onion finely chopped 1 cup diced carrot 1 cup chopped celery optional: 1 cup cheese In a medium skillet, heat oil and brown meat and onions, stir often. Drain excess fat and place mixture into an ungreased casserole dish with lid. Add tomato and seasonings and stir well. Pour celery, carrots and barley over top of mixture. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes. If adding cheese, remove lid, sprinkle cheese and bake another 15 minutes. She served it with rice (because we didn't have enough egg noodles!) I think it would be awesome as well, over plain boiled potatoes,

So, I was trying to decide what to make for lunch that wouldn't require a trip to the grocery store, so I settled on ada[ting a recipe for macaroni and cheese found in my book choice for this week, The Complete Guide to Country Cooking , from the kitchens of America's Best Cooks, Taste of Home. My changes basically made it a new dish altogether. I'll give you the recipe first, then my review: Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese 7 ounces (2 cups) macaroni 1/4 cup butter or margarine 1/4 all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt pinch of pepper 2 cups of milk 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese paprika, optional Directions: Cook macaroni according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour, slat and pepper; cook until bubbly. Gradually add milk; cook and stir until thickened. Stir in cheese until melted. Drain macaroni; add to cheese sauce and stir to coat. Sprinkle with paprika if desired. Yield: 4 servings. Things I changed: I didn&

I absolutley HATE KD! I love homemade baked mac & cheese but I had little to no time to make dinner today as we have lots happening today... so here's what I did. Sauce: In a small pot melt down 1/4 cup of margarine, when melted stir in 1 - 2 tsp of flour and stir to thicken into a paste. Pour in 1 cup milk slowly and mix well. Add salt and pepper if desired. Remove from heat. (*NOTE: you have just made a white sauce!!) Stir in 1 tsp mustard and 1 cup (or more if you like) of cheese *moz, marble, cheddar...whatever. Add diced chives, bacon bits or onions if you like. Set this pot aside. To prepare: 3/4 bag of your favourite pasta (boiled and drained) 2 cups of diced tomatoes *fresh or canned (I microwaved them for 2 minutes on a plate for the Quick method) Quick: Mix warm pasta with warm tomatoes in the pasta pot on med heat, pour sauce over mixture and heat till bubbly. Careful! It will stick to the bottom so keep the heat lower. This will be a very creamy mac and cheese. Oven

From 365 Quick, easy & inexpensive Dinner Menus Penny E. Stone pg 88 John made this meal in 45 minutes! 1 onion diced 1 can diced tomato 1 medium zucchini sliced 1/2 cup parmesan cheese 1 cup shredded mozarella cheese 1lb of smoked sausage or kielbassa cut into chunks 8 medium peeled and boiled potatoes cut into chunks 1/2tsp garlic powder 1 1/2tsp of italian seasoning 1 tsp chives (fresh or dried) salt and pepper to taste In a large skillet (we had to move to a dutch oven), brown the sausage chunks in 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water. Add onion, tomato, zucchini, potato and seasonings. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with both cheeses. Allow cheese to start to melt before serving..... There was nothing left to put in the fridge after supper! It was all gone....I would definitely make this again. "Bon Appetit"!

Hello, fellow foodlovers! I realize this post doesn't exactly fit the mandate of the blog, but I had to share. Thanks for letting me slip it in here :) I have a confession to make: Today, I resorted to child labour in the kitchen. That's right, I used my just shy of two-year-old daughter to help me make muffins today. OK, so it wasn't quite like that. My goal was to get her involved in the kitchen young, to teach her motor skills, life skills, to be proud of what she has made and, most of all, to spend quality time with me. The verdict: It worked. She put the paper liners in the muffin tin, she dumped all of the (pre-measured by me) ingredients, and she did the (preliminary, at least) stirring. I then dumped the whole tasty mess into their expertly lined tins, and we waited. An excruciating 20 minutes later, our noses (and the timer) lead us back to the oven to retrieve the warm little babies from the oven. We done good. The muffins turned out just lovely. My daughter ate 2

Hi! This idea came to me when I first seen the advertisement for the Julie/Julia movie. I was not enjoying being in a bookclub as much as I thought I would. When I seen the advertisement for the movie, I realized that for me I would prefer to pour through a cookbook. Although I love to go grocery shopping, I go into the store and follow the same path, buying almost the exact same groceries EVERY week/month. Therefore we were eating the EXACT same thing every week/month too!!! I had been laid up, due to surgery, for most of July and August and started watching the Food Network shows...they fascinate me! And, after a short time I decided I wanted to find out what celery root tasted like! What is the difference between rhutabagas and white turnip? And, what the heck WERE they using on the Iron Chef cooking show last night? Not to mention actually trying the boneless fowl stuffed with ground beef, and wrapped in pastry...that is the last recipe Julie tries in the movie! So, following the p