Chicken Chili

"That sounds GROSS," said Andrew.

Turns out, it's quite possibly going to be the winner of the upcoming chili cook-off that we're participating in next week.

Ingredients:2-13 oz. cans chicken
1 can white beans
1 can white beans with jalapenos
1 can kidney beans
15 oz. salsa
2-12 oz. cans chicken broth
1 tablespoon ground red pepper OR cumin

Mix together and heat.
Serve with tortilla chips.

The Real Scoop
by Andrew
You can use tortilla chips as a scoop for the chili, or you can crush them on top.  If you do that, they get mushy fast, though.  Just use them as a scoop.  Trust me.  This is very good chili even without the chips.

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.

Rocky Road-Peanut Butter Candy

Ingredients

• 11-oz. package peanut butter and milk chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter 
• 1 cup crispy rice cereal  (I ended up using about three cups because the mixture was really wet.)
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows
• 3/4 cup unsalted roasted peanuts, chopped  (I used pecans.)

Preparation

1. Microwave peanut butter and milk chocolate chips in a large glass bowl on high for one to 2 minutes or until melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Stir in peanut butter until well blended.
2. Stir in rice cereal, miniature marshmallows and chopped peanuts. Spoon mixture by heaping tablespoonfuls evenly into miniature paper candy cups. Chill one hour or until firm.

The Real Scoop
by Andrew
We made these for a church group and they all loved them.  Serve with napkins because they are messy.  Or just wipe your hands on your jeans.  That works, too.

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.

Chicken, Bacon & Tomato Pasta

What You Need

3 cups  whole wheat farfalle (bow-tie pasta), uncooked

1 lb.  boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

3 slices  OSCAR MAYER Bacon, cooked, crumbled

1 can  (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained

4 oz.  (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, cubed

1/2 cup  water

1/4 tsp.  pepper

3 Tbsp.  KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

Make It

COOK pasta as directed on package, omitting salt.
MEANWHILE, cook chicken in large skillet on medium heat 5 to 6 min. or until done, stirring occasionally. Add next 5 ingredients; mix well. Cook 3 min. or until Neufchatel is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently.
DRAIN pasta; place in large bowl. Add sauce; mix lightly. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

The Real Scoop 
by Andrew

The morning Mom made this for supper, I stayed home sick from school and had it for lunch.  It was SO YUMMY!

Even the tomatoes. 

The Lady's Cheesy Mac

This is a Paula Deen recipe that I found this week while looking through library cookbooks.  It was yummy, but needed some salt.  Give it a try.  I had enough to share with the neighbors since Andrew is visiting his Aunt Robin for a couple of weeks.  Darn.  I'll have to make them again.  :-)

Ingredients

• 4 cups cooked elbow macaroni, drained
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Once you have the macaroni cooked and drained, place in a large bowl and while still hot and add the cheddar. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and add to the macaroni mixture. Pour macaroni mixture into a casserole dish and bake for 30 to 45 minutes. Top with additional cheese if desired.