Creamy Potato Soup

INGREDIENTS:

12 medium potatoes
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
2 cups cream
3 cups milk
1 TB salt
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
4 green onions, finely sliced
1 lb bacon, fried crisp, drained, and crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Peel and quarter potatoes and place in a large pot. Fill pot with water just to cover potatoes. Put on lid; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 30 minutes or until tender. Place chopped onions and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and heat on high power for 2 minutes; set aside. Remove potatoes from heat and drain. Add cream; stir together. Mash potatoes until mixture is smooth. Stir in milk, salt, and onion-butter mixture. Return pot to stove and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Watch carefully to avoid scorching. Turn down heat if necessary. Pass cheese, green onions, and bacon for topping individual servings. Salt and pepper to taste. Makes about 12 cups.


Recipe from Celebrations by Julie Badges Jensen.

Salmon Cucumber Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded and cut into very thin slices
(we just peeled them and put them in a small food processor)
1 TB grated onion
1 TB chopped fresh dill weed (or 1 tsp dried)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Stir together sour cream and mayonnaise. Stir in cucumbers, onion, dill weed, salt and pepper. Refrigerate at least four hours before serving with cooked salmon.


Recipe from Celebrations by Julie Badges Jensen.

Polynesian Chicken Salad

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 (12 ounce) package wontons
1 head lettuce, shredded
2 cups cooked and cubed chicken
4 green onions, chopped
2 TB toasted sesame seeds
4 stalks celery, chopped
Polynesian salad dressing (see below)

DIRECTIONS:

Cut each wonton square into four strips. Fry according to package directions, set aside. In a bowl, combine lettuce, chicken, onions, sesame seeds, and celery. Just before serving, toss with desired amount of Polynesian salad dressing and top with fried wontons. Makes 8 to 10 servings.


SALAD DRESSING:

4 TB sugar
4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 TB vinegar
1 TB soy sauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 tsp sesame seed oil

Combine and mix well. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Mason and I love this salad. I think that it calls for a lot of wontons so Mason and I only made as many as we wanted and then we made some cream cheese wontons with the extras (instructions on the package) and then we still had some left over for later. I also added chopped red pepper to the salad. When pouring the salad dressing, add a little then let it sit for a few minutes to really test for the right amount. I poured a little, tossed it a bit, and it didn't seem to have enough, so I added more, but later when it sat for a few minutes it then had too much dressing.

Recipe from Celebrations by Julie Badges Jensen.

Sticky Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

Sauce:

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup pineapple or orange juice
1 TB ketchup
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 TB pepper

Chicken:

2 1/2 lb chick tenders
3 eggs beaten
cornstarch
garlic salt

DIRECTIONS:

Wash chicken and pat dry. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Shake or dip in cornstarch. Dip in beaten eggs. Brown in skillet with oil. Mix all sauce ingredients. Place chicken in a clean pan, pour sauce over and bake 60-80 minutes at 350 until sauce becomes sticky. Can also clean out frying pan and cook chicken with sauce (much faster this way).

Recipe by Sue Outsen.

Egg Drop Soup

INGREDIENTS:

1 TB cornstarch
3 TB water
1 TB oriental sesame oil
3 cup chicken broth
1 egg beaten
sliced scallions

DIRECTIONS:

Mix cornstarch, water, and sesame oil. Stir into boiling chicken broth. Cook until clear. Rapidly stir in beaten egg, stirring until strands are cooked. Sprinkle with scallions.

Recipe by Francine Taylor

Balsamic Chicken

Mason bought balsamic vinegar about a year ago. He is in love with the stuff. I personally do not like it. I'm not a big fan of vinegar, this one included. Anyways I told him that didn't know of too many recipes that included balsamic vinegar. The other night I needed something to cook and I came across the unopened balsamic vinegar in our pantry. I decided to finally use it and so I looked online for a recipe and found this.


Ingredients
      1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
   1/2 cup chicken broth
   2 tablespoons white sugar
   1 clove garlic, minced
   1 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning
   4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
   1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions
1. Whisk together the balsamic vinegar, chicken broth, sugar, garlic, and Italian seasoning in a bowl, place the chicken breasts in the marinade, and marinate for 10 minutes on each side.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove the chicken from the marinade and reserve the marinade. Place the chicken in the heated pan and cook until they start to brown and are no longer pink inside, about 7 minutes per side. Pour the marinade into the skillet, and cook until it thickens slightly, turning the chicken breasts over once or twice, about 5 minutes.


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Balsamic-Chicken/Detail.aspx?prop31=3


Both Mason and I loved the chicken. It was very flavorful and it wasn't too vinegary for me. I did make some changes, I prepare two marinates, one for the chicken that I let marinate in a ziplock bag for 2 hours instead of 20 minutes, and then another for when I was cooking the chicken. I also added chopped red onions to the pan at the end.

The chicken paired amazing well with Pasta Roni's Garlic and Olive Oil Vermicelli.

Au Gratin

So here I am craving funeral potatoes late at night. So here's what I plan to make.


INGREDIENTS:

1 bag frozen hash browns
2 cups Cheddar cheese
1 small minced onion (or you can use green onion)
1 can cream of celery
1 can cream of potato
1 container sour cream
1 minced green bell pepper
crushed cornflakes
butter
parsley




DIRECTIONS:
Mix hash browns, onion, cream of celery, cream of potato, sour cream, bell pepper, and parsley. Put mixture into dish. Put shredded cheese on top of mixture. Then top with dabs of butter and sprinkle the crushed cornflakes on top. Cook for 1 hour at 350.


Well I'll see how it turns out!


UPDATE:
It was so good, I LOVED it! Mason even liked it even though he said that he didn't like funeral potatoes. I asked Mason to grab a sour cream container that was 8 ounces. Well Mason quickly grabbed one and I thought it was too big. Sure enough it turned out to be 1 pound AND 8 ounces. Well as I was mixing the sour cream in, it really needed almost that much to be creamy, so I recommend using more than 8 ounces. I love sour cream so it was perfect.