Pork Chops

4 pork chops (bone-in or boneless)
½-3/4 c flour
½ pkg onion soup mix
½-1/3 c oil
1 large onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can golden mushroom soup
2 cans of water

Mix flour and onion soup mix. Coat chops in flour. Fry in oil until just outsides are slightly cooked. Add onion to meat and cook until browned. Remove meat and add remaining flour mixture, mix well. Add soups and water and stir out lumps. Replace meat and bake in oven at 250 degrees for about 4 hours.

*I love pork!  My mother serves them with mashed potatoes or egg noodles. Sometimes I cheat by adding peeled raw potatoes to the mix just before baking in the oven.  This actually makes a lot of gravy (enough for 8 pork chops, but we can't even eat 4 at one time), so you can use only 1 can of soup and 1 can of water.  It can be difficult to find Golden Mushroom Soup. I've tried it with only cream of chicken or a combination of cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken and Beefy Mushroom, but the recipe as written is my personal favorite.  The pork is so tender!  Great comfort food.

Leftovers were great on rice.

Bagels

1 ½ cups warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
4-5 cups flour

Mix together. Raise 20 minutes. Shape into bagels (this works best to stick your thumb through a ball)
In boiling water, cook bagels for 30 secs on each side. Bake 350* for 10-15 minutes

Makes 12 small ones or 6 large ones.

*This was the first time I made bagels--something I never thought I'd be able to do.  It was surprisingly simple.  They reminded me of the bagels I used to eat at college made by the culinary students (they were such a temptation as their aroma drifted into our classroom where we sat hours on end).  I do have a few notes I'd like to remember for next time:  (1)  I let the yeast and water sit for 5 minutes before adding the other ingredients.  (2)  I added just barely over 4 cups of flour.  (3) As soon as I was done kneading the dough, I separated it into 13 balls so I wouldn't have to work it as much after it had risen.  The smoother the ball, the smoother and more attractive the crust will be.

(4) After forming the balls, I lightly rolled in oil to prevent sticking--not sure if that was needed--I'll skip that next time.  Now is the time to let the dough rise.  (5)  Next time I'll try adding 1 T sugar and 2 t salt to the boiling water (to help brown the crust).  The longer you boil the bagel, the denser and chewier the bagel with be.  Boiling them for just a brief amount of time will still allow the crust to be elastic and the bagels will rise slightly.  (6) Remove from water and drain or lightly pat dry.  (7) Use parchment paper to cook on.

I separated half the dough (for cheese bagels), and mixed in 1/2 cup raisins and 1 tsp cinnamon in the remaining dough.  Before baking, I sprinkled the plain bagels with cheese and the cinnamon bagels with 1/2 tsp of brown sugar each.  Yum!  My kids loved them.  We'll be trying blueberry next!

Pizza Crust

1 T or 1 pkg yeast
1 ¼ c warm water
2 c flour
½ t salt

Beat first 4 ingredients thoroughly then add 1 ½- 2 c flour.
Kneed 10 min. Let rise 30 min.  Sprinkle pizza stone with corn meal.
Add toppings.

Bake for 20-25 min @ 450 degrees.

*I've made this pizza a dozen times, but next time I'm going to try to add 1 T of olive oil with the first 4 ingredients, divide the dough to make 2 thin pizzas, and cook for only 10 minutes.

Oatmeal--Davis Style

All measures approximate, just do what looks right:

3 cups water

dash of salt

1/2 c raisins (or more)

1 t cinnamon

2 c old fashioned oats

Bring pot of water, salt, raisins, and cinnamon to boil.  Add oatmeal.  Reduce heat and simmer for approx 5 min.  Serve with bananas and milk (or brown sugar if dad is home).

*My kids prefer this over cold cereal.  Go figure.  If we have leftovers, they are just fine the next day.

Granny Smith Bacon Salad

12 slices smoky maple bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 pkg mixed salad greens or spinach
1 green onion, chopped
½ red pepper, chopped
1 small granny smith apple, chopped
½ cup dry roasted peanuts

Dressing:
½ cup Miracle Whip or Mayo
1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 Tbs milk
2 Tbs sugar

Combine dressing and salad, and toss until coated.

*This was a very good salad.  I liked this even better than the Mandarin Tossed Salad (which was delicious) we made the other day.  We left out the onions and used Miracle Whip and precooked bacon (much easier).  I only had a few handfuls of Romaine lettuce so I adjusted the amounts for the other ingredients. 

Teriyaki Chicken

Mix in crock-pot:
1 c soy sauce
1 c water
½ c sugar

Add chunks of chicken and cook on medium heat for 2 hours.
May use chicken breasts, thighs, or legs.

*Jeff really likes this--but he loves Chineese food and soy sauce.  It's a lot of soy sauce, but whenever Jeff requests it, I make it.  Definately deserves 5 stars for simplicity.  You can top it with chow mein noodles if you like.  I don't have a crock pot that has medium for an option so I cook it on high.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

from Allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 30 Min
Cook Time: 1 Hr
Ready In: 1 Hr 30 Min
Servings 14
 
Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 1/2 cups butter
3 cups white sugar
6 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C) grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan.
2.  In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy.
3.  Add eggs two at a time, beating well with each addition. Add the flour all at once and mix in. Add vanilla.
4.  Pour into a 10 inch tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees F (160 degrees C) for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Check for doneness at 1 hour. A toothpick inserted into center of cake will come out clean.

*I made this to eat with Chocolate Dessert Fondue so we didn't need such a big cake.  I halved the recipe and cooked it in a loaf pan.  Despite me trying to sabotage this recipe, it turned out perfect for fondue.  I had extra egg whites so instead of 3 eggs; I added 1 whole egg plus 4 egg whites.  The one comment I would make (and maybe this is because I didn't use a tube pan) is that even after cooking an extra 5 minutes after a toothpick came out clean, it was still a little doughy in the middle.  Next time I might try cooking it at 300 degrees for a little longer (maybe 65-70 minutes).  I also added 1/2 t of almond extract--very good addition.  You could try a little lemon extract in place of the almond if you wanted a different flavor.

Chocolate Dessert Fondue

1 t butter or margarine

6 1-ounce chocolate candy bars with almonds, broken

1 cup miniature marshmallows

2 T milk

1/3 c whipping cream

Rub stoneware with butter.  Place candy bars, marshmallows and milk in the Little Dipper.  Cover and heat, stirring every 15 minutes until melted and smooth.  Gradually add whipping cream.  Cover and continue heating for 30 minutes.  Serve with bite-sized pieces of pound cake, marshmallows or fruit.

*Using my little crock pot always reminds me of my sisters.  About 7 years ago on a Black Friday in Montana, a few of us went to Ace Hardware.  I believe that the Little Dipper was on some kind of great sale so we all got one.  It has been awhile since I've used mine so I thought I'd try it out for a Family Home Evening treat.  This recipe came from the manual with the pot.  I had only a little bit of Symphony bar so I use that for the chocolate along with some baking chocolate.  We had a lot of fun eating this (especially if mess + yum = fun).  We used toothpicks to dip Cream Cheese Pound Cake, bananas, miniature marshmallows, pears, pretzels, and frozen strawberries (which would have been better fresh).  Everybody liked it.  Good memories.

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

1 1/2 c White Milk
1 1/2 c Heavy Cream
1/2 c Parmesan Cheese, grated
1/2 c Romano Cheese, grated
6 Egg yolks, fresh jumbo eggs
Salt and black pepper

Heat the milk and cream in a heavy bottom saucepan until it comes to a simmer.
Slowly whip in all the cheese, and then remove from heat.
In a separate bowl, place the egg yolks and slowly whip in a portion of the hot milk and cream mixture.
Slowly add the egg yolk mixture back into the remaining cream mixture.
(This will increase the temperature of the egg yolks which is called tempering).
Season to taste with the salt and fresh cracked black pepper.
Refrigerate until needed.

*So good--just like the Olive Garden.  We always add grilled chicken and serve over fetticini.  This is one of Jeff's favorite meals and all my kids love it.

Chicken and Rice

1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cups instant rice
2 chicken breasts (uncooked or cooked; cubed)
1 pkg onion soup mix (optional)
  -- we use, dry onions and some chicken season
1 cup shredded cheese (sprinkled on top)

Mix soups, rice, chicken & one can of water in 13x9 pan. Spread cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake 350* for 45 minutes. Remove cover the last 5 minutes.

Blackberry Cobbler

Prep Time: 20 Min
Cook Time: 25 Min
Ready In: 45 Min

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
about 1 1/2 cup white sugar, divided
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
cinnamon
12 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1 t vanilla
1 tablespoon lemon juice (plus some)
4 cups fresh blackberries, rinsed and drained

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake in a 8x8 inch pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, 1/2 t cinnamon, and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/2 cup boiling water just until mixture is evenly moist.

3. In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Mix in 1/4 t cinnamon, vanilla, and 2/3 cup sugar, lemon juice, and blackberries. Transfer to a cast iron skillet, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Transfer to 8x8 dish or leave in skillet.  Drop dough into the skillet by spoonfuls.

4. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until dough is golden brown.

*Yummy.  We made this for a family dinner.  I wanted it to stretch a little further so I  one and a halfed the cobbler mix.  Next time I'll stick with the recipe.  Jacob really liked the blackberries.