Crockpot Creamy White Chicken Chili

This recipe seems good. I used dried beans instead of canned and when it was "done" the beans were still a little firm, so I have it cooking for some additional time to soften them up. Next time I think I'll use canned beans so that they are soft, or presoak the beans so that they are nice and soft. But the flavor was really good. The original version is here.

Crockpot Creamy White Chicken Chili
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 onion, chopped
2 chicken bullion cubes
2 15-1/2 oz. cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn
1-1/2 t. garlic powder
1 t. salt
1 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. dried oregano
8-oz container sour cream
2 T. all-purpose flour
1/2 pt. whipping cream (I used light cream)

Put chicken, onion, bullion cubes, beans, corn, garlic powder, salt, cumin, and oregano in crockpot. Add water to cover. Cook on low for 8 hours. Mix flour and sour cream together and add to crockpot, along with whipping cream. Turn crockpot to high and cook for additional 30 minutes. Serve!

Crockpot Sour Cream Porkchops

I found the recipe for these here. I did pre-brown them like the recipe says, but it was a little annoying to have to cook and then use the crockpot. Plus it made an extra pan for me to wash! I think next time I'll try seasoning them, flouring them, and tossing them in the crockpot and see what happens. The porks very soft and the "gravy" is good. We made rice and served it over that.

Crockpot Sour Cream Porkchops
6 pork chops
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 cubes chicken bouillon
2 cups hot water
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream


Season pork chops with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and then dredge in 1/2 cup flour. In a skillet over medium heat, lightly brown chops in a small amount of oil.
Place chops in crockpot, and top with onion slices. Toss in bullion cubes and water. Cover, and cook on Low 7 to 8 hours.
After the chops have cooked, carefully remove them from the crockpot. In a small bowl, blend 2 tablespoons flour with the sour cream; mix into meat juices. Turn slow cooker to High for 15 to 30 minutes, or until sauce is slightly thickened. Serve sauce over pork chops.

Peanut Butter Brownies

Another quickie dessert...hmmm...seems I have more of these than real food...

Peanut Butter Brownies
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup margarine
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x9 pan. IN medium bowl, cream together peanut butter and margarine. Gradually mix in brown sugar, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir until well mixed. Mix in chocolate chips. Bake for 30 minutes.

Crockpot Corn Chowder

Just making this one tonight...we'll see how it turns out!
Edited::this turned out GREAT!! It will be one of our cold-weather staples! Everyone loved it...nice and thick and creamy...and very filling too!

Crockpot Corn Chowder
5 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 onions, chopped (we didn't use these...just a bit of onion powder)
2 cups diced ham (optional..we didn't use this either!)
1 can corn, undrained
1 can creamed corn
2 T. margarine
salt and pepper to taste
2 cubes chicken bullion
12 oz can evaporated milk

Place everything but evaporated milk in crockpot. Add water to cover. Cook on low for 8-9 hours, then stir in evaporated milk. Cook for 30 more minutes. Serve.

A-B-C Muffin Mix

This makes A LOT of dry muffin mix. Get a big storage container to put the mix in. The great thing about it is that it only takes a few minutes to make TONS of types of muffins with it. DEFINITELY worth making. And it stores for a LONG time too... And the muffins freeze well too if you just want to make a big batch!

A-B-C Muffin Mix
18 cups flour (yup, told you its a lot!)
5 cups sugar
2 1/4 cups dry milk
6 T. baking powder
2 T. baking soda
2 T. salt
3 T. cinnamon
3 T. ground nutmeg

Mix together and store in airtight container.

To make 2 dozen muffins:
4 eggs
3t. vanilla
2 cups water
1 cup oil (optional..they come out fine without any oil..or just some...or applesauce instead of
oil)

Preheat oven to 400. Grease muffin pan (or use little liners). In a large bowl, beat eggs, vanilla, water, and oil. Stir in 5 1/2 cups muffin mix. Add any extras. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full and bake 18-20 minutes.

Extras:

• Streusel Toppings-top with 1 cup sugar, 1 t. cinnamon, 2/3 cup flour, and 1/2 cup cold butter all mixed together
• Crunchy Toppings-top with 1 cup oats, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 t. cinnamon, and 1/2 cup softened butter all mixed together
• Apple-3 cups grated apples, 1 t. ground cloves, 1 cup nuts or raisins
• Applesauce-1 cup applesauce instead of oil
• Banana-2 mashed bananas, 1 cup walnuts (optional)
• Blueberry-2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• Cherry-2 cups pitted cherries,
• Cream Cheese-16 oz cream cheese,1/2 cup sugar, 2 eggs. Drop this mix by tablespoon on top of muffins before baking
• Jam-1 1/2 cup jam
• Whatever else you can think of!!!!

These are also good without anything added!

Cupa Cupa Egg Peanut Butter Cookies

Another quickie for when you need something sweet!

Cupa Cupa Egg Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
Hershey kisses or chocolate chips

Mix together sugar, peanut butter, and egg. Roll dough into small balls. Place on cookie sheet and use your thumb to press down center. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes. Add hershey kiss or chocolate chips on top and cool.

Quick Sugar Cookies

We make these occasionally, and they are really good..we are just more of a chocolate chip family! This only makes about a dozen or so...

Quick Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup margarine, melted
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 T. milk
1 t. vanilla extract
1/4 t. almond extract
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 1/2 cup flour

In a bowl, mix together margarine and sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add egg, milk, vanilla, and almond extract. Mix well. Stir in salt, baking powder, and flour. Mix into a dough. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 8 minutes.

Blondies

I've made these a few times when I wanted a dessert but was lacking in the chocolate department.

Blondies
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup flour
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt

In a large bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, and sugar. Beat until smooth. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Beat again. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until thick and smooth. Put in greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are my favorite chocolate chip cookies. The recipe makes about 3 dozen. You can make the dough, then form it into logs (like the pillsbury ready-to-make kinds), wrap it up in wax paper or clingwrap, put in a freezer bag and freeze. Then when you want fresh cookies, you just use like the refrigerated kind!

Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups chocolate chips
***I only use 1 cup because otherwise they are too chocolate-y for me--if you can believe
it!)

Preheat oven to 375. Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. In large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until creamy. Add eggs. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto greased cookie pan and bake for 9 minutes (or make into logs and freeze for later!). Make sure to re-spray pan between batches...otherwise they'll stick!

Leftover Quesidillas

These change a bit depending on whats lingering in the fridge. It works great for when you can't stand to eat any more of those d*$& leftovers!!

Leftover Quesidillas
Flour tortillas (you need two for each quesidilla)
shredded cheese
Leftovers of choice (I've used leftover veggies chopped up small, cooked chicken chopped up small, leftover black beans or refried beans...whatever looks like it might be good with cheese on it!)

Put one tortilla into greased pan. Sprinkle cheese on top to cover tortilla. Sprinkle leftovers of choice on top. Top with remaining tortilla. Flip when bottom tortilla starts to brown (be careful..there will be some spillage here!). Cook on other side until melty and done. Cut into pizza-slice style pieces and serve with salsa, sour cream.

Salisbury Steak

Here's our version of Salisbury Steaks. We always make mashed potates with this and there is enough gravy to pour on top of them!

Salisbury Steaks
10 oz can french onion soup (I just use the liquid and not the onions cause my family doesn't
like the "slimy things"!)
10 oz can cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 lbs ground meat
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
pinch pepper
2 T. flour
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 t. mustard

In a large bowl, mix together 1/3 can onion soup, ground meat, egg, breadcrumbs, and pepper. Shape into 6 balls. Place meat into baking pan. In a small bowl mix together flour and remaining soups until smooth. Mix in rest of ingredients and pour over patties. Cover and bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

Favorite Sloppy Joes

We use this when we want sloppy joes but don't have the mix in the house and are too lazy to go to the store. Its actually pretty good!

Favorite Sloppy Joes
1/3 lb ground meat
3 t. onion, chopped (we leave this out)
1/2 cup ketchup
4 t. brown sugar
1 t. white vinegar
1/2 T. mustard

In a skillet, brown your meat. Add onions if your using them and saute until tender. Then add ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, and mustard. Simmer about 10 minutes and serve.

Black Bean Burritos

These are very good. Nice and easy too!

Black Bean Burritos
1 can refried beans
1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn
1/2 cup sour cream
Tortilla shells

Mix together ingredients and fill tortilla shells. Wrap them up burrito-style. Cover and bake in preheated oven at 425 for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake additional 15 minutes.

Baking uncovered for the last 15 minutes makes them a little crunchy...its really good that way, but if you prefer softer burritos, just keep them covered!

Bennigans Ultimate Baked Potato Soup

This is sooooo good!! Don't judge it until you have your toppings on. Its nice and warm and yummy! It also makes great leftovers, and is almost better the next day!

Bennigans Ultimate Baked Potato Soup
3 lbs all-purpose potatoes
1 T. butter
1 1/2 cup finely chopped onions (optional...we don't use them)
2 T. minced garlic
14 oz chicken broth (I use bullion cubes and make it with hot water..)
3 cups milk
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
Toppings-shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, sour cream

Preheat oven to 400. Pierce potatoes and bake for 1 hour until tender. Let cool until you can handle them and peel. On the stovetop, put butter, garlic, and onion (if your using) in a pan and melt the butter. Add 2/3 of the potatoes and mash. Slowly add broth, milk, salt and pepper while mashing (kinda like making mashed potatoes). Bring to a simmer. Cut remaining potatoes into cubes. Add to soup and stir gently to mix. Serve with toppings.

Quiche

Here's an easy quiche recipe. You can add whatever you want to it...leftover ham, sausage, veggies... The girls really liked this. I thought it was ok, but I'm not a big quiche girl. Its great for using up lingering ham, veggies...

Quiche
1 1/2 cup shredded cheese
4 t. all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. ground dry mustard
**I just use 1/4 t. mustard from my fridge**
9" unbaked pie crust

Toss flour with grated cheese. Sprinkle in pie crust. In a medium bowl, mix eggs, milk, salt and mustard. Beat until smooth. (if your adding any extras, nows the time to do it!). Pour into crust. Preheat oven to 400. Bake for 60 minutes.

Tomato and Meatball Soup

The original recipe is here. It is so quick and easy and soo good. Very filling too!

Tomato and Meatball Soup
32 oz can tomato soup (not condensed!)
3-4 oz dry elbow noodles (or whatever pasta you have around)
12 frozen meatballs
1/2 cup water

Dump soup, noodles, and meatballs in a pan. Add water to soup can, shake, and dump in pan. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Serve!

Easiest Loaf of Bread Ever

This recipe is from King Arthurs Flour. Its super easy, but does take time because you have to let it set and rise, set and rise. I usually make it in the morning when we are just home. It makes 2 loaves, so the other one can be frozen for later. This is the "crusty bread" that we usually eat with soups or stews. The girls love it!!!

The Easiest Loaf of Bread Ever
1 T. sugar
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 T. (or 1 packet) dry active yeast
**this is in with the baking stuff...mine is usually next to the spices. You can buy single
packets of it or a jar if you use it a lot**
1 T. salt
corn meal (optional...just gives a crunch to the bottom of the bread. you can use dry oatmeal
too, or nothing and its just as good!)
2 cups warm water

Add sugar and yeast to warm water and let sit for 10 minutes. Slowly mix in salt and flour. Knead it in the bowl for about 3 minutes. Take the dough ball and set it on the counter and wash out your bowl. Now take a little olive oil or vegetable oil and rub it all over the inside of the bowl. Now take your dough ball and knead it again for about 3 minutes. Put the dough ball back in and flip it around so its all covered in the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and leave it alone for 1-2 hours. Now your dough will be nice and big. Uncover it and punch it down. Take your dough out and break it into 2 pieces (your 2 loaves). Shape them into French bread-shaped loaves. Place the loaves on a cookie sheet. (sprinkle the oatmeal or corn meal on your cookie sheet before putting the bread on if your using it). Leave it alone for 45 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Take a 9x13ish type pan and put 2-3 cups hot water in it. Place this on the bottom rack of the oven. Place bread on the rack above it and bake for 20 minutes. Turn off your oven and let the bread sit in there for 5 more minutes...DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR!! Now your bread is done!!!!!!!

Homemade Pancake Mix

This is easy to make and uses stuff that you have around the house. I make the mix and then put it in a tupperware container so that its ready to use whenever!

Homemade Pancake Mix
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
**you can use 6 cups all-purpose flour if you don't have whole wheat flour**
2/3 cup sugar
2 T. baking powder
1 T. baking soda

Mix together and store in a sealed container

To make pancakes:
-Add 1 cup dry mix to 1 egg and 3/4 cup milk. Pour into desired sizes in pan. Flip, finish cooking, and serve!