Basic White Sauce

This is my mom's basic white sauce. We love it. It is great for so many different meals. We add hamburger to it and pour over potatoes to make Hamburger Gravy, or we will add sausage or boiled (smashed) eggs and pour over biscuits for biscuits and gravy. It can also be used as a country gravy.

This is a small recipe, we double it for a family of 4.

2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 c. milk*

Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Blend in flour, salt and pepper. Stir until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in milk. Heat to a boiling using a whisk to break up clumps, and stir constantly. The longer it boils the thicker it will be. We usually take it off the heat as soon as it starts to boil if we are adding meat or eggs to it.


*can use powdered milk with hot water, this usually speeds things up a bit.

Tiny Spicy Chicken

This is a favorite of ours! It does take a little bit of time to do it, but it so worth it! It is also a way to get a little bit of chicken to go a long ways.

1-2 chicken breasts
2 eggs, beaten
cornstarch
3/4 c. sugar
4 T. ketchup
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 c. vinegar
1 T. soy sauce

Dip chicken in eggs, then cornstarch. Deep fry until the cornstarch crisps up a little, this only takes a few minutes.

Sauce: mix together the remaining ingredients. Heat sauce until dissolved. Pour over fried chicken and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

This is great over my homemade fried rice.

Pesto Pizza

Pesto Mix
1 c. broccoli, basil or spinach
1/3 c. Parmesan cheese
2 T. oil
1 garlic clove

Tortillas
Cheese
Tomatoes

Set oven to 400 degrees. Put pesto mixture, tomatoes and cheese on tortillas. Cook until crisp about 8-10 minutes.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

3-4 chicken breasts, boiled and cubed
1/2 C. diced onions
1 T. minced garlic
4 C. chicken broth (I just use 4 c. water and 4 chicken bouillon cubes)
1 C. tomato sauce
1 C. diced fresh tomatoes
16 oz cubed Velveeta cheese
1 tsp. chili powder
1 small can diced green chilies
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2-2 T. taco seasoning
1/2 t. cumin (optional)

Mix together before adding to pot:
1/2 C. corn starch
2 C. cold water

Add all ingredients together in large pot on the stove. Cook on medium heat until heated through, stirring occasionally. Serve with corn chips, sour cream, grated cheese, and salsa.

Frito Dip

This is a very simple, yummy dip for Frito scoop chips.

2 8oz cream cheese
1/4 C. mayo
1-1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Beau Monde Seasoning
3-4 green onions
2-3 tomotoes

Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes

For baked potatoes, prick potatoes with fork and wrap in foil. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours, or on high 2 1/2 to 4 hours. Do not add water.

Brazilian Strogonoff

A favorite dish in our home!

2 large chicken breasts
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
about 1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp dry oregano
about 1 pint heavy cream
3-4 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp yellow mustard

Cut up chicken into bite size pieces (thawed just enough to cut up easily). Put into a zip lock bag filled with garlic, onion powder, salt, nutmeg, oregano (mixed well). After coated well, cook chicken in a frying pan. Add ketchup and mustard, mix well. Before serving, add heavy cream. Let it cook, do not let it boil. Serve over hot white rice and decorate with matchstick potato chips. These chips can be found close to chips like Pringles. They are usually found in a can similar to Pringles only larger. They are sometimes called shoelace potato chips, or potato sticks.

Hamburger Enchilada

My sister's original Hamburger Enchiladas. A family favorite.

10-12 flour tortillas
1 lbs hamburger
16 oz can tomato sauce
3 Tbsp taco seasoning mix
1 10.5 oz can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
2 cups grated cheese
1 10.5 oz green enchilada sauce
Dried basil (to taste)

Brown hamburger; drain grease. Stir in tomato sauce and taco seasoning. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Combine soup and sour cream in small bowl, mixing well. In 9x13 pan, place first tortilla, spoon in meat mixture, top with soup mixture, and top with cheese and basil. Roll tortilla. Repeat as necessary. When all the tortillas are filled, top with leftover soup mixture, enchilada sauce, and cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Zucchini Bread

This is the best zucchini bread I have ever had. I love to make it when I have fresh zucchini from the garden!

1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 C. sugar
1 C. finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini
1/4 C. cooking oil
1 egg
Optional:
1/4 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
1/2 C. chopped walnuts or pecans

Grease bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of an 8x4x2 inch loaf pan; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg; set aside.

In another medium mixing bowl, combine sugar, shredded zucchini cooking oil, egg, and lemon peel; mix well. Add dry mixture to zucchini mixture. Stir just till moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in walnuts or pecans.

Spoon batter into the prepared pan (grease with Crisco and coat with a thin layer of flour). bake in a 350 oven 55-60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan. Cool completely on the wire rack. Wrap and store overnight. Makes 1 loaf (16 servings).

Maple/Vanilla Syrup

This is a homemade syrup. My mom always made it growing up, and now I feel spoiled and won't eat store brands of syrup. The best part is it's the recipe from the bottle of mapleine and it's easy!

1 cup water
2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp mapleine

Bring water to boil. Take off heat, stir in sugar until dissolved, add mapleine, stir until mixed. Can serve immediately or save it for later in the fridge.

For a different flavor you can do vanilla in place of mapleine. Yum!

French Toast

This is our favorite french toast recipe. There's something about the cinnamon and vanilla that sets this recipe apart from the others.

2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
5 1-inch-thick slices French bread or 6 slices dry white bread
1 Tbsp butter, margarine, or cooking oil
Maple-flavor syrup (optional)

In a shallow bowl, beat together eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon. Dip bread into egg mixture, coating both sides (if using French bread, let soak in egg mixture about 30 seconds on each side). In a skillet or on a griddle, cook bread in hot butter over medium heat for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Add more butter, if needed. Serve warm. If desired, serve with maple-flavored syrup. Makes 5 or 6 slices.

Puffy Pancakes

2 Tbs butter
1/2 C. 2% milk
1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1/4 C. Sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbs butter, softened
Pinch nutmeg
Lemon wedges (optional)
Powdered sugar
Fresh berries

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Melt 2 Tbs butter in 10-inch ovenproof skillet over medium heat, tilting to coat bottom and sides of pan.
3. Whisk together milk, flour, sugar, eggs, softened butter and nutmeg in bowl. Pour into ckillet. Cook 1 minute.
4. Place pan in oven and bake 12 to 15 minutes, until puffed and golden. Squeeze lemon over top and sprinkle with powdered sugar and fresh berries. Cut pancake in pan and serve with a spatula. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Remember- use an ovenproof skillet, and remember the handle will be VERY HOT!