What I have been up to

Sorry I have not been around much.   I have been a bit busy.  Want to see what i have been up to? So far I have made about 100.

Need a quick and easy snack?

So I know people have lots of time and are cooking more.  But what about snacking?  Do you need a new snack?  what about a way to use up a bit of this and a bit of that?  Try this very versatile snack cracker recipe.

Ingredients
1 bag oyster crackers
1 bag gold fish or cheese its or any other small cracker you like
1 bag gold fish pretzels, pretzel thins, nuggets or broken up pretzels
1 cup oil
1 package original hidden valley ranch dry mix
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions
mix cracker together in a bowl.  In a separate bowl mix oil, ranch, thyme and garlic powder.  Pour oil mixture over crackers and mix well.  Bake on a cookie sheet at 250 for 20 minutes stirring once.  Cool and enjoy.

This recipe is very versatile and almost any combination of crackers can be used.  Please experiment and let me know your favorite combinations!

The perfect meal for Good Friday

This is a bit of a twist on an old classic.  We have used this recipe for years.  Here is a great recipe for none other than

Tuna Casserole

Ingredients
6 oz uncooked egg noodles
1 or 2 cans tuna drained
1 can cream of celery or cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 oz sharp cheddar cheese

Cook noodles until desired tenderness and then drain.  Combine noodles, tuna and mayo.  In a saucepan combine milk and soup and heat through.  Add cheese and heat until cheese is melted (you may want to stir this often).  Combine soup mixture with noodle mixture.  Bake in a 2 quart casserole dish (spray with coking spray) at 425 for 20 minutes.  Top with crushed potato chips if desired.  I always double this recipe and it freezes well. 

Chicken casserole variation.  Use a can of cream of chicken, celery or mushroom soup and replace tuna with chicken. 

What to Do with Leftovers?

How about making it into a whole new recipe?

Mexican Sheppard's Pie

1 lb hamburger
1 small onion chopped (optional)
1 can drained black beans
1 cup sweet corn
mashed potatoes
taco or creole seasoning
cheese

Instructions:
Cook hamburger and onion together until done.  Drain off grease.  Add black beans, corn and taco/creole seasoning to taste.  Just enough to give it some kick.  Top with mashed potatoes and a little more seasoning.  Top with cheese and bake at 350 until hot or freeze to use later.

I used creole seasoning and mozzarella cheese because that is what I had on hand. This recipe is fast.  In fact I made it while I was doing dishes the night I had left over masked potatoes for a fast meal later in the week.

Need a quick easy healthy recipe?

With Spring on the way it is time for a fun and easy healthy recipe!

Chicken Zucchini Stew
1 qt tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 green pepper chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 1/2 lbs zucchini chopped
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup cubed cooked chicken breast

Drain liquid from tomatoes into pan (keep the tomatoes).  Add chicken broth, green peppers and onions.  Bring to a boil.  Add tomatoes and zucchini.  Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until zucchini is tender (about 10 minute).  Add chicken and cook 5 more minutes.

This is a super easy recipe.  I hope you enjoy it.

Pierogi time!

I have often had requests to make Pierogi's for people.  I have also had requests for our family recipe.  Since a more people have extra time on their hands and are looking for new recipes I thought I would share this one. 

Pierogi Dough
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
Warm water enough to make a soft dough.

Mix all ingredients together.  Add water while mixing until you get a soft dough consistency.  Cover and let set 20-30 minutes.  Dough will become very stretchy.

Break dough into smaller amounts.  Roll thin onto a well floured surface.  Cur with a biscuit cutter or glass.  Place about a teaspoon or so of filling into center of circle.  dab a small amount of cold water on circle and seal.  Allow filled pierogi to dry on top.  Drop in salted boiling water for a few minutes.  Peirogi's will float.  Remove them from the water when they float.  Place on a cloth.  they can be used immediately or frozen for later use. 

Filling:
You can use any filling that you like.  These are the fillings I use.

Potato and cheese:
Peel potatoes.  Boil potatoes until soft as if making masked potatoes.  Mash potatoes (DO NOT add milk or butter just the potato)  Add cheese to hot mashed potatoes and mix well.  You want this to be stiff.  Sometimes I add chopped cooked bacon to this.

Sauerkraut and bacon
Cut raw bacon in to small pieces and cook. Drain off the grease but save it.  Add sauerkraut to cooked bacon using some of the bacon grease lightly fry the sauerkraut and bacon together.  You want enough grease to keep the sauerkraut from sticking to the pan ant to add flavor but not be greasy tasting.  Place in a paper towel lined bowel and chill.

My newest flavor

Potato and cheese, sauerkraut and bacon.  I use a little of both of the above filings in my pierogi.  This has become a very popular flavor.

Pierogi's can be fried in butter or boiled and add butter sauteed onions to serve. 

Let's talk bread

What do you all think.  How about a nice easy bread recipe?  This is a great Artisan bread recipe that I have used for a few years.  Super easy and really good!

Bread Recipe
Ingredients:

3 cups lukewarm water
1 Tablespoon granulated yeast
1-1 1/2 Tablespoon salt
6 1/2 cups flour

Instructions:
In a large bowl (5-6 quart) mix water, yeast and Salt.  Dump in the flour and mix until all the flour is mixed in.  This will be a wet rough looking dough. Cover and let rise 2 hours or so.  At this stage you can refrigerate to use later or continue directly to the next step.  Put a little flour on the top of the dough.  Cough should be stretchy (if not add a couple tablespoons of water and let it absorb into the dough.  This should help.)  Cut off about a 1 lb chunk.  Gently form dough into a ball.  I do this by gently tucking all edges underneath the dough to form a ball.  Let dough rest on a pizza pan covered in cornmeal.  Let rest about 40 minutes-60 minutes or so.  Can rest up do 90 minutes.  Preheat oven to 450 with a metal pan of water position 4 inches or so underneath the rack you are going to use to bake the bread.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Bread should be brown and crusty.  DO NO cut until completely coll to prevent bread form being tough.

I use my cast iron or a stone at times to make this.  If using a stone make sure the water is 4-5 inches from the stone to prevent braking.   DO NOT use a glass baking dish for the water as it may easily break.  Dough keeps well in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.  This recipe was adapted from https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2013/10/22/the-new-artisan-bread-in-five-minutes-a-day-is-launched-back-to-basics-updated/

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