EASY CHICKEN CASSEROLE

Here is an easy chicken casserole that normally I would say is fool-proof.  Unless my husband is replacing old oven dials and gets them marked wrong!  He was at his Mom's and wanted to fix her this recipe. He followed all my instructions and 2 ½ hours after he put it in the oven, it was still half raw.  He called me and we finally figured out that the new oven dial had been marked wrong for the oven.  He was pre-heating instead of baking!  At least he hadn't been broiling!!!  He would have burned the house down.

EASY CHICKEN CASSEROLE

Ingredients:

1½ cups raw rice                                             

1 can cream of celery soup                         

1 can cream of chicken soup                        

1 can cream of mushroom soup           

1 cup milk

7 or 8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

½ cup butter or margarine (1 stick)

1 ½ oz. Grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon paprika

One note:  7 or 8 chicken breasts are around 2 lbs of chicken.  I usually use 3 lbs and layer them because my family really, really loves this recipe.  The grated parmesan cheese and paprika are more to taste rather than exact measurements.  I love both, so I am generous when I use them.

Mix together soup and milk.  Sprinkle rice over the bottom of a 3 quart (or larger if you use more chicken) greased casserole.  Pour ¾ of the soup mix over the rice and stir, making sure you get to all the rice.  Place chicken breasts evenly on rice.  Cut butter into small pats and place on chicken.  Cover with remaining soup mix.  Sprinkle cheese and paprika on top.  Bake at 275 ⁰ f. for 2 ½ hours or at 350 ⁰ f.  for 1 ½ hours.

This can be made the night before and refrigerated.  Don’t sprinkle cheese and paprika until just before baking.   

GRANDMA'S TOMATO DUMPLINGS

This recipe was given to me by my DHB’s grandmother before she passed away 2 months before her 107^th birthday.  She was a wonderful lady and she cooked with lard, real butter, whole milk, salt, sugar and plenty of pepper and outlived 4 of her 7 children.  I fixed this recipe for my Mom’s oldest niece and it has become the most requested dish at her family’s Thanksgiving dinners.  If you like tomatoes, I know you will love this.

GRANDMA’S TOMATO DUMPLINGS

Ingredients: Tomato Sauce

1 quart cooked or home canned tomatoes

½ cup water

¾ teaspoon salt

½ stick butter or margarine (4 tablespoons)

½ cup sugar (do NOT add extra.  All you want to do is cut the acid from the tomatoes. Extra sugar makes it super sweet and you DON'T want that!  I know.  I tried it once.)

In a 3 or 4 quart sauce pan, bring tomatoes, water, salt, butter and sugar to a fast rolling boil.

Ingredients: Dumplings

1 quart cooked or home canned tomatoes

 cup milk

Mix Bisquick and milk until a soft dough forms.  Using a teaspoon, dip out small spoonfuls of the dumpling mixture and drop into the tomatoes until all the dumplings are floating on the tomatoes.  Turn heat to low, cover and cook for 13 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Serve immediately or this is a great dish to make ahead and reheat in a slow oven (200^{0 -} 300⁰ f. ) until hot.

EASY BROCCOLI SALAD

Here is an easy, great tasting broccoli salad that my Mom used to make. 

EASY BROCCOLI SALAD

Ingredients: Salad

½ lb. bacon                               1 pint grape tomatoes

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese         1 large red onion. 

1 bunch fresh broccoli

Chop broccoli and onion into small pieces, then fry bacon until crisp.  Drain the bacon, then crumble it into small pieces.  Mix broccoli, onion, bacon, cheese and tomatoes together.

 Ingredients: Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise

½ cup sugar or sugar substitute

4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Combine dressing ingredients until smooth.  Pour over the salad and toss until completely mixed.  Serve immediately or refrigerate until needed.

PINTO FUDGE

How about fudge that’s also full of protein?  That is what today’s recipe is all about.  My DHB heard about this recipe a few years ago from his mother.  We tried it and it’s just as good as any fudge I've ever eaten!

PINTO FUDGE

Ingredients:

1 can (15.5 oz.) Pinto Beans – drained

1 cup cocoa

¾ cup butter or margarine – melted

1 tablespoon vanilla

7 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar

1 cup walnuts

Mash pinto beans in a microwaveable container.  Cover and microwave for 1 ½ minutes.  Add cocoa, butter and vanilla and stir.  Add sugar and stir.  Add walnuts and stir.

Pour into a greased 9 inch square pan and cover it.  Refrigerate immediately until completely cooled.  Cut into 1 inch squares and serve.

MOM'S BUCKWHEAT CAKES

Continuing with my comfort food theme, buckwheat cakes are one of my ultimate comfort foods.  My Mom always made the best buckwheat cakes and she passed her recipe on to me.  I have lots of anecdotes about the challenges I've faced while making them, but I’ll just get on with the recipe.  I'm certain you will love it!

MOM’S BUCKWHEAT CAKES

Ingredients:

1 Cup buckwheat flower.                  2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup white flower.                        ¼ cup melted shortening.

1 beaten egg.                              1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon salt.                            1 tablespoon sugar
2 ¼ cups buttermilk.                             

Sift flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.  Add soda to milk then add to the flour mixture along with egg and shortening.

Beat until smooth and bake on a hot ungreased griddle. 

ARKANSAS CORNBREAD

Yesterday I listed my special recipe for chili.  Well, you can’t have chili without cornbread.  And several years ago, my father gave me a perfect recipe.  I hereby share it with you.  Enjoy!

DAD’S ARKANSAS CORNBREAD

Ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal                                   ½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar                             1 egg
½ teaspoon soda in 1 cup buttermilk. 

Tip 1… If buttermilk is not your thing, it’s easy to keep it on hand.  You can buy powdered buttermilk and just re-constitute it as needed. 
Tip 2… drop the soda in the buttermilk and stir it in just before you combine it with the other ingredients.

Preheat oven to 450 ^o f.  Pour ¼ cup oil into 8 inch iron skillet and place skillet in oven while you are preheating the oven.

Mix all ingredients together.  When oven reaches 450 ^o f, pull skillet out of oven and place on heat-proof trivet.  Pour cornbread mixture into the hot oil slowly and carefully.  Quickly place skillet back into preheated oven and bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Yields about 8 pieces of delicious cornbread.

Point of interest…. My dad was always taken care of by my Mom or Grandmother.  He only cooked when there was something he really, really wanted to fix.  This was one of the few things he made the effort to learn.  Trust me!  If you like cornbread, this is a recipe you want to try.

WEST VIRGINIA TEXAS CHILI

I guess I’m in Comfort Food mode.  This is great to freeze for later, so make plenty.  Over the years, I have designed what I like to call West Virginia Texas Chili.  A perfect blend of Hillbilly and Redneck.  Yumm!

Again, I usually double the recipe. 

Also, this is a mild chili. If you wan to heat it up, just use hotter chili peppers.  Remember to take precautions during preparation so all the heat goes in the chili and not random body parts. 

WEST VIRGINIA TEXAS CHILI

Ingredients:

½ lb. raw bacon, chopped              1 teaspoon salt

1 large (sweet) onion, chopped      1 tablespoon paprika

3 lb. ground chuck                          2 small chili peppers, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced                   2 cans (10 ½ oz.) condensed beef broth, undiluted

3 tablespoons chili powder             1 qt canned tomatoes (add 1 tspn sugar to cut the acid)

1 teaspoon cumin powder               2 cans (1 lb. 4 oz.) kidney beans

(if doubling recipe, 1 qt. of tomatoes is adequate)

In large saucepan, fry bacon until crisp.  Remove and drain.  Saute onion, ground chuck and garlic until brown and crumbly.  Drain excess fat.  Stir in bacon, spices, beef broth and tomatoes, adding chili peppers.  Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour or until mixture is thick, then stir in drained kidney beans.  Reheat until bubbly .

Y’all enjoy!  Yeeee Hawwwww!