Snickerdoodles

The kids and I made these Snickerdoodles the other day and Jason said they were the best we've made yet! The good thing is we shared at least half of them with neighbors, the sad thing is our little stash didn't last through the day! Most Snickerdoodle recipes I've found call for shortening instead of butter. I think butter adds more flavor to the cookie.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 tsp. salt

4 T. white sugar
4 tsp. ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2.In a large bowl, mix together the butter and 1 1/2 cups of white sugar until smooth. Stir in the eggs one at a time, blending well after each. Add vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; stir into the batter until blended.
3.Roll the dough into balls. Roll in a mixture of 4 tablespoons sugar and 4 teaspoons cinnamon. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
4.Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned, but still soft.

French Dip Sandwiches

INGREDIENTS
2 large onions, sliced
1/4 cup butter
1 three pound Tri-tip Roast (Costco)
5 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 1/2 tsp. browning sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
sliced Swiss cheese
6 French dip hoagie sandwich buns

DIRECTIONS
In skillet, saute onions in butter. (I usually skip this step and just put the raw sliced onions directly into the slow cooker.)Put onions in slow cooker. Place roast over onions. Sprinkle roast with salt and pepper. In a saucepan, combine water, soy sauce, soup mix, browning sauce and garlic. Pour over roast. Cover and cook on Hi for 5 hours or Low 7-8 hours.

Remove roast from slow cooker and allow to sit 15 minutes. Thinly slice roast and place on lightly buttered and toasted buns. Layer with cheese slices and broil in oven for 3-4 minutes. Serve with onions and sauce. Serves approximately 6.

Chicken Spaghetti

A BIG thanks to The Pioneer Woman for this tasty casserole recipe!

INGREDIENTS
2 cups Cooked Chicken
3 cups Dry Spaghetti, Broken Into Two Inch Pieces
2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup
2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
¼ cups Finely Diced Green Pepper
¼ cups Finely Diced Onion
1 jar (4 Ounce) Diced Pimentos, Drained
2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
⅛ teaspoons (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper
Salt And Pepper, to taste
1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

DIRECTIONS
Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups. Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar.

Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup oil
1/2 cup canned milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl (6 ingredients). Slowly add remaining (wet) ingredients until completely combined. Spray 9 x 13 dish with cooking spray and pour mixture into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Top with frosting once cake is cooled.

Frosting:
Warm on stove at medium heat until butter is melted and combined with milk and cocoa.
1 cube butter
6 T. canned milk
2 T. cocoa

Remove from heat and add:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Stroganoff Casserole

Another favorite recipe from an amazing cook; my mom!

INGREDIENTS
1-2 lb. stew meat
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cups milk
1 cup sour cream
1 T. lemon juice
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 12 oz. package egg noodles

DIRECTIONS
Place stew meat and chopped onion in a crock pot and cook on HIGH approx 3-4 hrs or LOW 5-6 hours. Season stew meat with salt and pepper.

In a bowl combine soup, milk, sour cream and lemon juice. Pour over stew meat and continue to cook on LOW for 2 hrs or until thoroughly heated through.

Boil noodles until tender. Drain.

Serve Stroganoff over noodles and season with salt and pepper if needed.

Baked Spaghetti

My sister in law Stephanie makes this awesome spaghetti dish for her family and now we make it quite often in our house. I like how mild the flavors are, especially for my 3 picky eaters, but they are definitely not picky about this meal!

INGREDIENTS
12-oz. pkg. spaghetti
1 T. sugar
3 cups grated cheese
1 lb. cooked hamburger
1 can tomato soup
1/2 cup milk
1 lb. 10 oz. jar spaghetti sauce

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 2 1/2 -3 qt. casserole dish with cooking spray. Cook spaghetti in lightly salted water according to package directions. While spaghetti is cooking, combine tomato soup, milk, and spaghetti sauce in a bowl and set aside. Put half cooked spaghetti in bottom of prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle with half of sugar. Then sprinkle with half of the cheese. Next add half the hamburger and then half of the sauce. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients. Bake 1 hour until bubbly.

7-Up Chicken

My mom gave me this chicken recipe and it is fantastic. If we're ever in the mood to throw some chicken on the grill, this is the marinade recipe I like to use.

INGREDIENTS
Marinade:
2 c. 7-Up
1 c. soy sauce
1 c. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

4 chicken breasts

DIRECTIONS
Combine ingredients for the marinade into a gallon zip-lock bag. I like to butterfly the chicken breasts and then cut them in half so you have a thinner cut of meat to soak up the marinade. Add chicken to the zip-lock bag and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hr. Grill chicken on medium low heat.

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

I had a friend in college who was always super good at cooking up meatloaf. I always tried to copy her meatloaf and it never quite came out right. When I asked her for the recipe she would just tell me she never measured anything and just threw whatever ingredients into the bowl that sounded good at the time. ARgghhhh! So finally I fished around on Allrecipes.com and found a meatloaf recipe that Jason and I both loved.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
3/4 cup finely crushed saltine cracker crumbs

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan (I usually just use an 8x8).

Press brown sugar in the bottom of the prepared loaf pan and spread the ketchup over the sugar.

In a mixing bowl, mix thoroughly all remaining ingredients and shape into a loaf. Place on top of the ketchup.

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until juices run clear.

Pickle Dip

This is a Barnhart family recipe. Thanks to my sister and DJ for sharing it with us and always bringing this tasty appetizer to our parties!

INGREDIENTS
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
16 oz. sour cream
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup chopped dill pickles

Lays Wavy Original Potato Chips

DIRECTIONS
Bring cream cheese to room temperature. This is very important, otherwise your dip will be lumpy! Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until creamy. Add sour cream and chopped dill pickles. Sometimes if we are eating the dip right away we add a little pickle juice for additional flavor.

Serve with Potato chips.

Cake Pops

A good friend of mine brought us the cutest bouquet of cake pops for Valentine's Day this year. She was in a hurry so as she was climbing in her car I yelled out the door, "how did you come up with these creations?" She said, "BAKERELLA!!!" So immediatly I went to my computer to look up this Bakerella. So cute!!! Of course my balls didn't turn out nearly as perfect as hers do, but I love the idea and there's so many ways you could decorate.

I made these cake pops for London's first bday. She got a little cake of her own and then the rest of us enjoyed these little tasty treats. The recipe is really very simple, but the entire process is a little time consuming. I think it's completely worth it!

Sloppy Joes

This is my mom's Sloppy Joe recipe; it's the best! I love to chop the veggies a little on the chunky side and sometimes saute them aside from the ground beef so they don't become overcooked. I like that little extra crunch in my sandwich.

INGREDIENTS
2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 bottle (12 oz.) chili sauce
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
3 T. brown sugar
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. pepper
Hamburger buns

DIRECTIONS
In a large skillet, cook ground beef, onions, celery and bell pepper over medium heat until beef is thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently. Drain.

In 3 to 4 quart slow cooker, combine ground beef mixture and all remaining ingredients except buns. Mix well.

Cover; cook on low setting 4 to 6 hours.

Stir; spoon beef mixture into buns.

(If I'm in a hurry I just skip the slow cooker section and after browning my beef and veggies in a skillet, add the remaining ingredients to the skillet and simmer on low until thoroughly heated.)

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Sandwich

In the summer we like to grill up chicken on the grill and make this yummy chicken sandwich. My mom mixed things up a little by cooking the chicken in a crock-pot, shredding it and adding the bbq sauce. We love it this way a whole lot better! More sauce for your chicken :)

INGREDIENTS
3 Chicken Breasts
1 bottle favorite BBQ sauce (we like sweet and spicy)
Hamburger buns
red onion, thinly sliced
fresh pineapple sliced in rings (canned pineapple works too)
favorite sliced cheese (we like pepperjack or mozzerella)

DIRECTIONS
Place chicken breasts in a crock pot and cook on high 4-5 hrs or low 7-8 hrs. Using a fork pull chicken apart until it is loosely shredded. Add bottle of bbq sauce and mix well. Continue heating chicken until warmed.

Lightly butter hamburger buns and broil in oven until browned. We like to fire up the grill to heat up our pineapple and get those nice little grill marks on each side but warming them up in the microwave is OK too. Assemble your chicken burger and enjoy!

French Bread

INGREDIENTS
2 T. active dry yeast
2 cups warm water (110 degrees- 115 degrees)
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
4 1/2 to 5 cups bread flour
1 tsp. cornmeal

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the salt, sugar and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape into 12-inch long loaves.

Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cornmeal. With a sharp knife, make four shallow slashes across the top of each loaf. Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Side note: I use my bread machine (dough setting) to form the dough. I tend to have better luck with my dough rising in the bread machine.