Lemonade Pie

After seeing the recipe for lemonade pie, I just had to try it! 

 First blend a softened block of cream cheese until it is smooth.  Next, add a can of condensened milk, and mix until the two are well blended.  Add a defrosted can of frozen lemonade, and then lastly fold in a container of cool-whip. 

Pour the mixture into the graham cracker pie crust.  (This mixture is enough to make pies.)  Let the pie set in the fridge (it takes maybe 2 hours or so.)  If you want, add some sliced strawberries on top.  Enjoy this sweet and tangy pie any day, or maybe even to celebrate the 4th this weekend!

Lemon Cookies

Some of my favorite cookies are the easiest to make.  They are so good, you just have to make some on your own!




First you mix one box of lemon flavored cake mix with a tub of kool-whip.  This will make the mixture dough like.  Add two to three drops of lemon juice for some added flavor.








Roll the dough into small balls and then roll in powdered sugar to coat them.  Place them on a greased cookie sheet 1-2 inches apart and place in the oven at 350 degrees.  Cook for 10-15 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are starting to brown.

Eat and enjoy!

Taco Casserole

In high school I decided I wanted to try a twist on tacos (one of the foods that everyone in my family likes).  Thus, my taco casserole was born.  You can try it too.

First, cook some taco meat according to the instructions on the package.  Set this aside.  Place soft taco shells in the bottom of a cake pan, so that they cover the bottom and sides.  (You may have to tear some of the shells to get them to fit.)  Place this pan in the oven at 350 until the shells begin to brown and get crispy. 

Next, mix 1-1.5 cups of salsa with 3/4 cup of cheese, a handfull of chopped onions, green peppers, and jalepenos.  Adjust all of these measurements to how spicy you want it to be.  Sometimes I also like to add 3/4 cup of frozen corn as well.

When the taco shells are beginning to brown, spread taco meat in the bottom of the pan.

Spread the salsa mixture on top of that.

Then, sprinkle crushed tortilla chips on next. 

Lastly, spread shredded cheese on top. 

Cook the casserole at 350 until the casserole is warm and the cheese is melting on top.  Enjoy!

Short Ribs

Last week I had the opportunity to cook something that I had never cooked before.  It was my husband's birthday, and I wanted to make something special, and I knew that we had some short ribs in the freezer, even though I had no idea how to cook them.  To top it off, my husband prides himself on knowing about ribs and BBQ and such (something about him being from the Kansas City area, I don't know.)  Anyway, I set out to find a recipe and see what I could do.

The best recipe that I found was to cook the ribs for 7-8 hours in the slow cooker with some spices, so that's what I did.

I put the thawed ribs into the slow cooker with a couple of cups of water.  Then I added BBQ sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, parsley, onion powder, and garlic powder.  I let them cook on low for the 7-8 hours, while flipping them every hour or so.

The end result was a tender meat that "had a great flavor" as my husband said.

 

Bread Bowl

A delicious addition to any soup is a bread bowl.  One of my favorite eateries is Panera, and the sourdough bread bowl with broccoli cheddar soup is my "usual".

While I can't reach the greatness of a bread from Panera, I do have my own bread bowl recipe, that is pretty good.

The first thing that you have to do is mix the bread dough together.  Mix 1 and 1/2 cups of flour, 1 package of yeast, 1 tbs of sugar and 1 tsp of salt together.  Next heat 1/2 cup of water, 1/3 cup of milk and 1 tbs of butter, until the butter is melted.  Stir this into the dry mixture, and then add 1 egg.  Mix well and add more flour as needed to make the dough easy to handle. Sprinkle a surface with flour, and knead the dough until it is smooth.  Cover and let the dough raise for 10-15 minutes.

This is enough dough for one bread bowl. Double the recipe for two bowls, triple for three, etc...

The hard part of the bread bowls is the dough maintaining it's bowl shape while cooking.  Putting the dough into a bowl into the freezer, and allowing it to partially freeze to maintain it's shape, helps in the cooking.

After the dough is shaped, place it on a cookie sheet and into the oven at 400 degrees and cook until the dough is cooked through.

 Cut out the top, like you would when you're cutting into a pumpkin.  Take out extra dough if needed, then add your favorite soup.  Enjoy!

Cheddar Broccoli Soup

Even though Spring is arriving, there are still a few chilly, rainy days to come, as I can see here today.  Those days are still good for soup, and that's just what we had a few days ago.  Without any meat in the kitchen, and few groceries, this cheddar broccoli soup caught my eye.  It's super quick and easy, and even extra special when served in a bread bowl!  (Watch for that recipe on Friday.)

First melt 2 tbs of butter, and add some onion powder to the bottom of a soup pot.  Next add two cans of cream of chicken soup and 2-3 cups of milk.  A package of frozen broccoli (thawed) needs to be added next.  As the soup continues to cook on a low heat,  lastly, you add 1-2 cups of cubed velveeta.  Continue to stir the soup occasionally, so the cheese doesn't stick.  Add salt, pepper, or other spices to taste.

When it's warm, you have a delicious cheddar broccoli soup.

Corn Rice Stirfry

When there aren't many groceries in the house, it makes cooking so much more...well...interesting.  Last week, when I needed to run to the grocery store, some of the meals here were a little more creative.  One of those was a corn and rice stirfry.

First I took some frozen corn, chopped red, green, and yellow peppers, as well as some chopped onions.

After heating up some oil in a skillet, I tossed in the mixture, and let the vegetables cook.  If the mixture becomes too oily, you can drain the dish.  When the vegetables were cooked through, I added half a can of diced tomatoes and a partial can of chicken broth.

I continued to cook and stir everything so it wouldn't stick.  I added different seasonings for flavor, like garlic power, southwest seasoning, crushed red peppers, cilantro and parsley.  Lastly, I added some cooked rice to the skillet.

I served spoonfuls of the meal on plates and sprinkled shredded cheese on top. 

My husband especially enjoyed the dish.  It would also be good wrapped in a flour tortilla.