Slow Cooker Candied Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
6-7 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into slices
1/2 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups mini marshmallows

Directions:
Spray slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray.  Spread chopped sweet potatoes in the bottom of the slow cooker.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine orange juice, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and brown sugar.  Pour over the top of the sweet potatoes and place lid on the slow cooker.

Cook on low for 4-6 hours or high for 2-3.

Once cooked, pour all the contents from your slow cooker into a baking dish.  Top with marshmallows and broil in oven until marshmallows are golden brown.

We had this for Thanksgiving 2013.  I used two large cans of yams, not fresh, so cooking time was cut in half.   Will definitely make this again next year.

Easy Chicken Ranch Pasta Salad

I'm sure you've seen the Suddenly Salad boxes in the grocery.  My friend Wanda made the bacon ranch one then added some shredded chicken and green onion.  That's it.  She served it with warm croissants and cherry tomatoes.  Brilliant, quick and DELISH!

Applesauce Recipe

The sugar amounts are just guidelines, depending your taste, and on the sweetness of your apples, use less or more. If you use less sugar, you'll likely want to use less lemon juice. The lemon juice brightens the flavor of the apples and balances the sweetness.

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (Make sure you use a good cooking apple like Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonathan, Mcintosh, or Gravenstein.)
• Juice of one lemon, about 3-4 Tbsp
• 2 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
• up to 1/4 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Preparation

1. Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
2. Remove from heat.  Mash with potato masher.
Ready to serve, either hot or refrigerated. Delicious with vanilla ice cream or cottage cheese.
Freezes easily, lasts up to one year.

Yield: Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.

Pretzel Rolos

Ingredients:

Rolo chocolate candies
Mini pretzels
Nuts - pecans/almonds/hazelnuts/walnuts

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350

Upwrap your Rolos. Place pretzels on baking sheet. Top with a Rolo.

Bake in oven for 3-5 minutes, until the chocolate just begins to melt. The Rolo should be soft but not completely melted.

Remove from oven, place on cooling rack and immediately squish the chocolate with a nut. Watch the caramel oooze out. YUM!

The Real Scoop
by Andrew
These were so easy that one of my friends helped Mom make these.  She took some home and her mom loved them, too.  They should make these again.

Valerie Bertinelli’s Seriously Good Sausage Bites

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 10 oz. hot Italian sausage in bulk
• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 6 tbsp butter
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 tbsp Tabasco sauce
• 1 1/4 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Directions: 
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and move your two racks to the top and bottom of the oven. Spray two baking sheets with the cooking spray. Break up the sausage with a spoon in a skillet and cook on medium high until it’s cooked through and no longer pink. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Place the flour and butter in a food processor and pulse until it’s a coarse meal. Add in the buttermilk and Tabasco sauce and pulse until the dough combines. Move the dough to a bowl and fold in the sausage and cheese. Form the dough into walnut-sized balls.
Bake the balls on the baking sheets for about 12 to 15 minutes, and switch the pans halfway through. Cool the balls on the baking sheets for five minutes and then serve. Continue baking the rest of the dough balls the same way.


BOBBI'S RECIPE
I just used the Bisquick drop biscuit recipe (on the box) and added the browned sausage and cheese.  I also used Frank's Red Hot instead of Tabasco. This recipe also needs salt.



This recipe made a LOT of biscuits.  They were great warmed up in the microwave.  (Just wrap a few in a paper towel and cook for about 15 seconds.)


The Real Scoop 
by Andrew
These will be great to warm up on school mornings.  I can eat these in the car on the way.

Wanda's Chicken Tamale Casserole

I had this recipe at friend Wanda's house last week and couldn't wait to make it for my next meal.

Ingredients:

• 2 small cans of chicken (or if you are ambitious like Wanda, boil and de-bone one small chicken, then cut the meat into small pieces
• 12 cut up corn tortillas
• 1 chopped medium onion
• 1 7 oz. can of green chilies
• 3 cans of undiluted cream of chicken soup
• 2 teasp. cumin
• dash of southwestern seasoning (like Ms. Dash's chipotle seasoning)

Mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. 
Top with shredded cheddar cheese and return to the oven till melted.

Serve with rice, beans, or salad.

The Real Scoop
by Andrew

This looked like a messy glob, but the taste was awesome!

Pie with historical significance to the Deckman Clan

Cobbler-style

Grandma Hammond's pies were made like cobblers, not really traditional pies. It didn't matter what pie filling she used, the crusts were always the same.

Instructions:
-- Bake the bottom crust till golden - about 10 min. at 375 degrees.

-- In the mean time, break up the second crust into small pieces.  (The colder the crust, the better, so I usually do this as soon as it comes out of the freezer.) 

-- Once the pieces are broken, top with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and enough sugar to coat the pieces.

Pie style

-- Stir till all pieces are coated.

-- When bottom crust comes out of the oven, add fruity pie filling.

-- Top the pie filling evenly with the crust pieces.

-- Bake till top is crispy (usually between 45 min and an hour).

Additional notes:
  -- If you only have one pie crust, just do the top crust and bake.  That is a more traditional cobbler.
-- You can cut fancy-schmancy shapes out of the top crust and roll them in the cinnamon/sugar mix. Place shapes close together on top.
-- Bake pie with cookie sheet covered in foil under it in case things boil over.
-- If you make this for me, I would like ice cream on the side. Or possibly some Cool Whip.

Spice Cake

While visiting Ohio over the summer, we made a spice cake with a top brand pancake mix.  The recipe was on the box and it looked so yummy!  Since Dad's favoite cake is spice cake, we had to give it a try!

Unfortunately, the cake was SO BAD that I won't even publish the recipe.  Not sure what the issue is lately, but I promise to find a good recipe SOON.

The Real Scoop
By Andrew

This picture was taken BEFORE we tried the cake.  If the picture had been taken after we took the 1st bite, you may or may not have seen spitting.

The New Philly

I have two secret food obsessions; the first one is Slim Jims, and the second is cream cheese.  Imagine my excitement when I saw this in the grocery store:

The recipe:
Container of Philly Cooking Cream
1 lb. of chicken, cooked
1/2 lb. of spaghetti, cooked
Small bag of carrots, broccoli & cauliflower
Fresh Parmesan cheese
Mix all together and serve.

It wasn't too bad!
It reminds me a bit of Alfredo.
Try this one if you need something quick.

The Real Scoop
by Andrew
This wasn't one of my favorites.
It was a little dry & didn't have much flavor.
I would have rather had one of Mom's Slim Jims.

Cracker Brittle Crunch

 


What you'll need:
1 sleeve of saltine crackers
1 cup of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
Nuts




Instructions:

Line baking sheet with foil, spray with cooking spray.
In saucepan, melt butter and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil for three minutes.
Remove from heat and add baking soda, stirring well.
Pour over crackers and bake 6-8 minutes.

Remove from the oven and top with nuts.
Cool and break into pieces.

The Real Scoop
by Andrew
These were very sticky and sweet.  I think it should be called "Ghetto Peanut Brittle."



Out of the mouths of babes.

Breakfast Curls

What's needed:
2 cans croissants
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup of nuts
1/2 cup melted butter

Instructions:
Mix together dry ingredients.
Roll up croissants as usual.
Dip in butter then roll in the dry mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees till golden, approx. 10 minutes.

This picture doesn't do justice to the yumminess.  These tasted like Monkey Bread!

Pizza for Breakfast

When we woke up this morning, we were still inspired by the pizzas from last night. (Yes, they were THAT GOOD.)  We prepared the store-bought crust simply by lightly rubbing it with olive oil.  We then topped the crust with scrambled eggs (which had a bit of garlic) and just a few diced green peppers.

Over that, we sprinkled crispy bacon and cheddar cheese and baked it till the cheese melted.










To drink, we got a bit fancy with our sweet iced tea by adding fresh strawberries.






The Real Scoop
by Andrew
The fun part came afterward when we brainstormed what else we could add to our iced tea.  We then went to the grocery only to find they had no raspberries or blueberries. Seriously, I hate Wal-Mart.

My mom & the dip

How Mom makes it:
Mix together in equal parts:
Cream cheese
Cool Whip





How I make it:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 small container of Cool Whip
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice

Mix together until smooth. Use as a dip for fresh fruit.
 
Her rendition tasted just as good as mine does, and it saved some calories.  Bonus!

So...what can I stir up today?

I've wanted to do a cooking blog for a while.  I'm hoping my move to Texas will allow me more time to do some actual cooking with actual ingredients.  No more cooking from a box!

Also, it will allow the entire family to share recipes from afar.  One of the things I will miss is tasting some of Mom's creations.  At least this way, we can share what we're doing.

I will also miss Melissa's vegetarian dishes, Matthew's fudge, and the neighbor's Christmas cookie assortment.
Wouldn't it be great if all of our friends were creating blogs and we could all link to each other?  No more need for hundreds of cookbooks!  (Those will be a pain to move, by the way!)

I think I may reserve space here for new recipes, but who knows!  I could also do a "Featured Favorites" post every once in a while, too.

The first post, however will be a new recipe Mom and I tried last Saturday.  We did the math, and this costs less than $1 per person for the entire meal. (Hey, that sounds like another feature post..."Cheap Eats!")

Jiffy Corn Dogs
Stolen/borrowed from the "Lick the Bowl Good" blog.

• 1 box Jiffy Corn Bread Mix (plus milk and egg as directed)
• Hot Dogs (2-3) or Kielbasa Sausage
• Grated Cheddar Cheese

Make corn bread mix according to the package instructions and set aside. Spray 7 openings of a muffin tin with nonstick spray and set aside. Chop hot dogs into 3rd (about 1 1/2-2 inch pieces).

Place a tablespoon or two of the cornbread mix into greased muffin tins. Add a piece of the hot dog and a sprinkling of cheese. Top with more corn bread mix filling each tin about 2/3 of the way full. Sprinkle with a little more cheese.

Bake in a preheated 400F oven for 15-20minutes or until lightly golden on the edges. Let cool for a few minutes before removing from tin. Serve with condiments of your choice such as ketchup, mustard, chili, cheese or relish.

Next time:  I will add more hot dogs.  This time, I only used one hot dog and made 5 muffins.  (The 6th muffin was vegetarian.)