Cheerio Breakfast Cookies

I was having a Rice Krispie Treats craving and I only had Cheerios.  Checked their website and found this one...

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 egg

1 1/2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose or whole wheat flour

1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats

1 cup raisins

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

4 cups Cheerios® cereal

Directions

Heat oven to 375°F.

In large bowl, stir together sugar, butter, peanut butter, water, vanilla and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients except cereal. Gently stir in cereal. On ungreased large cookie sheet, drop dough by rounded 1/2 cupfuls (rounded 1/3 cupfuls for 15 cookies) 4 inches apart. Flatten dough to about 1 inch thick. (Bake these crispy cookies as soon as the dough is mixed. Letting the dough stand awhile or refrigerating the dough will make the cookies softer.)

Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheet. Store loosely covered.

Melt in Your Mouth Chicken

Although this was pretty good, it's not one of my favorites.  Mostly because it didn't look like the picture. Not even a little.  The original photo showed CRISPY.

Mine looked like this:

Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoning salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:
1. Mix mayonnaise, cheese and seasonings.
2. Spread mixture over chicken breast and place in baking dish.
3. Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.

The Real Scoop

by Andrew

I don't know why she keeps making us eat asparagus. 

As for the chicken, it was ok, but still needed to be dipped in ranch dressing.

Enchilada Ravioli

This is so easy, and it was an absolute hit!

What's needed:
1 bag beef ravioli, thawed (from the freezer aisle)
1 can red enchilada sauce
1 small jar of salsa
3/4 bag frozen corn
3/4 can black beans

What to do:
Place ravioli in the bottom of a baking dish.

Pour enchilada sauce, corn, black beans and salsa into the dish, and stir so the sauce covers all of the ingredients.

Bake at 375 degrees until bubbly.

Top with cheddar or Mexican blend cheese and return to the over till cheese melts.

Serve with nacho chips.

The Real Scoop
By Andrew
"Mom, you can make this any time you want to."

High praise, that is.

Apple-Cranberry Chutney

Ingredients: 
6 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
114 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
2 medium baking apples, peeled, chopped

Directions:
Cook over low heat till apples are tender.

OR

Directions for pork chops:
4 center-cut bone-in pork loin chops, 1 inch thick (about 2 Ib), trimmed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. Spray 3- to 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper; place in
cooker.
2. In small bowl, mix brown sugar, vinegar, ginger, cinnamon, red pepper and cranberries. Spoon over
pork in cooker; top with apples.
3. Cover; cook on low heat setting 4 hours to 4 hours 30 minutes.

This can be canned immediately or refrigerated and used within the week.

We put it over our Thanksgiving turkey.  YUM!

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.

Mexican Casserole

1 large can tamales (drained)
1 prepared package of Spanish rice
1/2 bag frozen corn
1 small can hot chili beans
Small bag of cheddar cheese
Nachos, to be served on the side.

Mix together prepared rice, corn and chili beans.
Place tamales along the bottom of a  baking dish and top with rice mixture.

Cover with foil and bake at 425 degrees until bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Uncover and top with cheese.  Bake until cheese is melted.

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!