*Recipes

Better sooner than later, right?!? Here are a couple of the (very) few recipes I am using this week.


Grilled Cheese Steak Sandwiches
Lawry's Steak & Chop Marinade with Garlic & Black Pepper
1 pound skirt or flank steak
1 medium onion, sliced
8 thick sliced of rustic bread
4 slices of your favorite cheese

• Pour 3/4 cup marinade over steak in a plastic bag and turn to coat. Marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• Grill or broil steak and onion until steak has reached desired doneness and onion are tender. Brush with 1/4 cup marinade and turn halfway through cooking.
• While the steak rests, brush each bread slice with remaining marinade and broil until golden. Top with cheese and broil until melted.
  
• Thinly slice steak and arrange on bread slices. Top with onion.
  

I have never made this recipe before. I think it sounds like something Big Daddy and Mr T will love. I hope I can get JJ to try some too. I'm planning to use provolone cheese and I think I might even add some green peppers. Kind of like a Philly Cheese Steak (I hope)!

Broccoli-Rice Casserole
2 small boxes of chopped frozen broccoli
1 small jar of Cheese Whiz
1 cup Minute Rice
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 stick of butter, melted
1 sleeve of Ritz, crushed

• Mix all ingredients except butter and crackers. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish.
• Mix butter and crackers. Top casserole with cracker mixture.
  
• Bake at 350 for about 30-45 minutes.

So simple and easy. But oh so very, very good. This is one of my all time favorite dishes. Big Daddy did not like broccoli when we first met, but now this is one of his faves as well! Try it if you don't think you like broccoli. Be warned though, only 1/4 of my kids will eat it!

Easy Southern Banana Pudding
3 cups cold milk
2 pkg. instant vanilla pudding
30 nilla wafers
3 medium bananas, sliced
8 oz. Cool Whip

• Pour milk into a large bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with a wire whisk for 2 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes.
• Arrange half of the wafers on bottom and up sides of a 2 quart dish. Top with layers of half the bananas and half the pudding. Repeat each layer.
  
• Cover with Cool Whip
• Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

This is also a new recipe for me. I have never made banana pudding before, but BD loves it so I'm giving this one a try. If any one knows a "from-scratch" recipe, let me know. I'd be happy to try it. I only have one note on this recipe right now...8 oz of Cool Whip on top of the pudding? I love Cool Whip, but doesn't that seem like a lot!?! We shall see!

Stupid school and Recipes

Now I could sit here and write about how frustrated I am with my kids' schools, but I feel like I got all that out when I sent an email to the principal! I'm just annoyed with lack of communication from the teachers at the middle school and the lack of discipline at the high school...argh!

I will, instead, pass on some quick and easy recipes that I used this week!

Week Night Lasagna Bake
1 pound Penne pasta
1 pound lean ground beef
1 large jar Prego with Mushrooms
16 oz. lite cottage cheese
1 - 2 cups shredded mozzarella

• Preheat oven to 375
  
• Cook pasta according to box directions.
  
• Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Drain. Return beef to pan, add Prego and cottage cheese.
• Heat through.
  
• Add pasta and mix thoroughly.
  
• Spray 9 x 13 in. casserole dish with nonstick spray. Pour in pasta and sauce mix.
  
• Top with shredded mozzarella. (I use 2 cups, but that might be too much for some!)
• Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until cheese is golden and bubbly.
  

And that's it! I serve with garlic bread and frozen corn niblets. So Yummy! I "created" this dish about a month ago and Big Daddy LOVES it. He has requested it many times!

Momma's Meatloaf
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 medium white onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 sleeve saltines, crushed
1 egg, beaten
16 oz tomato sauce

• Preheat oven to 400.
  
• Saute onions and garlic in butter until translucent. (do not clean out pan)
  
• Add onions, garlic, crackers and egg to beef. Mix with hands and form into a loaf.
  
• Fry meatloaf in same pan you used before. Brown on top and bottom.
  
• Dump half of tomato sauce in a small casserole dish. Place meatloaf in dish and top with remaining sauce.
• Bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour.
  

I like to serve mine with mashed potatoes. We always had cornbread with meatloaf when we were kids, so I like to make corn muffins sometimes.

Diet Soda Cake
1 boxed cake mix, any flavor
2 egg whites
10 oz. diet soda, any flavor

• Preheat oven according to box.
• Mix cake mix, egg whites and diet soda.
• Pour into greased baking dish.
• Bake according to box.

I had been hearing about this for a few years but just recently tried it. It really is good, especially if you are trying to watch you calories. Yesterday I used a white cake mix and Diet Cherry 7-Up. It has a very light cherry flavor! The first time I made a Diet Soda Cake, I used a devils food cake mix and Diet Pepsi. The girls love these cake without any topping, but I prefer it with some Lite Cool Whip!

I hope you guys find some time to try one of these recipes. Like I said, they are quick and easy. I like them when I'm craving an old fashioned home cooked meal and don't want to spend all day in the kitchen!

Candies and cookies!

Tuesday
I worked up a storm in the kitchen. I made a lot of new things and some old favorites. I have a few more cookies and some brownies and cupcakes to make, probably Thursday. For now, here are some pics of what I've created thus far!

The old standby...and Santa's favorite!

These are M&M cookies. I tried a new recipe using a yellow cake mix and oatmeal!

A family tradition.
It's white bark, chow mein noodles and peanuts.
I think some people call them Haystacks.
My kids named them "Snow Junk"

Dark chocolate truffles. Extremely RICH!

These are called Pecan clusters, a recipe by Paula Deen.
I'm not too impressed with them.
They are made with Hershey kisses. See...

I have been trying to make fudge for years and it never turns out right. This year, though, I think I did it! This has been my favorite treat I've made so far. It's smooth and decadent!


Besides the obvious reasons (Mmm!) I liked doing all this baking and cooking because it gave me a chance to catch up on my reading!


Today
I went on a field trip with Mr.T. We saw A Christmas Carol at Actor's Theatre of Louisville. The play was good, but Mr. T was not feeling well. When we returned to school, he got sick (yes, GOT, sick) so I brought him home and he slept the rest of the afternoon. I just took his temp and it is 101.2. Obviously, he's taken some medicine and is still in bed. Hopefully it's just a 24-hour bug.