Homemade Oreos (from Brooke Streadbeck)

2 devils food cake mix (not pillsbury brand)

1 cup shortening

4 eggs

Mix together, use hands if needed.

Make 1" balls.

Cook 350 degrees for about 8 minutes.

Cool completely. Fill with cream cheese frosting (below).

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Sweetly Steamed Carrots

1 lb carrots, cleaned, peeled and sliced
1/8-1/4 cup butter
1/6-1/3 cup brown sugar
optional seasonings- nutmeg, cinnamon, rosemary, garlic, lemon

Steam or boil carrots. Drain off liquid. Add butter and sugar and mix together. Add optional seasonings. Allow to sit for a few minutes to marinate with lid on. Serve.

Portable Taco or Chili Salad

Chili Salad:
Individual bag of frito corn chips (frito corn chips or doritos)
chili and cheese and any other toppings you want

Taco Salad:
Individual bag of chips- frito corn chips or doritos
taco meat
beans
rice
lettuce
tomatoes
sour cream
salsa (or ketchup if you are me)

Directions:
Crush the chips then add ingredients. Close bag and shake it up then serve with a fork. Yum!

Sweet Potato Wedges

4 sweet potatoes, cut into wedges
2 tsp italian seasoning
salt to taste
olive oil
optional lemon pepper and black pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put wedges on cookie sheet (to make it even easier, put down tinfoil first) and then put some olive oil on top and other seasonings. Mix together with hands. Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until desired softness and crispness.

Candied Pecan Salad

Baby Spinach
strawberries, diced or craisins
pears, diced
feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup slightly chopped pecans
1/4 cup sugar
poppy seed dressing

Combine pecans and sugar in medium skillet over medium heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon (so it doesn't melt!). After a few minutes, the sugar will liquify. Pay close attention. At this point stir to cover walnuts with the sugar coating. The syrup will begin to darken and will coat the nuts. When they reach a golden brown color, remove from heat and continue to stir for a couple minutes as they cool a bit. Spread candied nuts onto a piece of parchment or wax paper or a cookie sheet. Cool completely.

Combine all ingredients together and enjoy!

Garlic Chicken Stir Fry with Quinoa, Peppers and Basil

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups chicken broth or 1 1/2 cups water with 1 bouillon cube/1 tsp powder
1 1/2 lbs chicken breast
4 Tbs olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
20 leaves fresh sweet basil, julienne (I used dried basil)
Grated Parmesan Cheese (a must)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Soak quinoa for 15 minutes in a medium size pot. Rinse several times. Add broth (or water and bouillon) to pot. Bring to full boil. Cover and let boil 1 minutes. Turn down heat very low and let cook 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit 5 minutes with lid on. Fluff with fork. Set aside.
Cut chicken into one-inch pieces. Heat large nonstick skillet over high heat and add the oil. Add chicken and saute for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Add onions and bell peppers; saute for 1-2 minutes; add garlic and saute until peppers become slightly limp, but still bright, about 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the pan from heat; add basil and quinoa. Toss until basil wilts; garnish with Parmesan Cheese

(You can use brown rice in place of the quinoa and it all still goes together well.)

P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons oil
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or ground chicken)
• 1 cup water chestnut
• 2/3 cup mushroom
• 3 tablespoons chopped onions
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 4 -5 leaves iceberg lettuce

Special Sauce

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon hot mustard (optional)
• 2 teaspoons HOT water (optional)
• 1 -2 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste (optional)

Stir Fry Sauce

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Directions: ** you might want to use a food processor to speed things along!

1. 1 Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl.
2. 2 Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil.
3. 3 Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve.
4. 4 Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well.
5. 5 Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps.
6. 6 Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan.
7. 7 Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or done.
8. 8 Remove chicken from the pan and cool.
9. 9 Keep oil in the pan, keep hot.
10. 10 As chicken cools mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas.
11. 11 Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.
12. 12 When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are.
13. 13 With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil.
14. 14 Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan.
15. 15 Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce"cups".
16. 16 Top with"Special Sauce".

Spinach and Sausage Soup

Ingredients: -8-10 potatoes, sliced thinly -6 chicken bullion cubes or 3 Knorr bullion cubes or enough for 6 cups chicken broth (usually 6 tsp) if using powder -1 lb sausage -3-4 cloves garlic, minced -1 Tbs butter or margarine -heavy dash pepper -1 box frozen spinach, thawed -2 cans evaporated milk Cover potatoes with water, add bullion cubes and cook until tender. Cook sausage in separate pan and drain oil. Add to the cooked potatoes. Saute garlic in butter. Add to potatoes along with pepper and spinach. 5 minutes before serving heat evaporated milk in separate pan and add to soup. Heat through and let flavors mix. I'm unsure why you need to heat the evaporated milk separately but I did it because I was afraid to mess up the recipe. Adapted from Michelle Bartlett's family's recipes

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

Have all ingredients at room temp before beginning. Have ready a 9-inch skillet or a 9x2 inch round pan or bunt pan.

INGREDIENTS:
7 slices canned, unsweetened pineapple (from 20 oz can)
3 TBSP unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
19 maraschino cherries (optional)
19 cooked pitted prune halves or quarters (optional)
19 pecan halves (optional)
2 large eggs
2 Tbs buttermilk (to make your own: mix 1/2 Tbs white vinegar or lemon juice with almost 1/2 cup milk. Let sit 5 min. You will use 1/2 cup total in this recipe)
1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (don't add if using regular butter)

6 Tbs (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
6 Tbs buttermilk


DIRECTIONS:
Drain pineapple and place on 1 layer on paper towels to absorb the excess juice

Place butter in the skillet or cake pan. Place the pan in the oven just until the butter is melted, or melt it on the top of the stove. Tilt to coat all sides with butter. The extra butter will settle in the bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over the bottom of the pan.

Place 1 pineapple ring on the brown sugar in the center of the pan and arrange 6 more around it. In the center of each ring and in the spaces between them, place cherries, prunes or pecans (all optional).

Whisk together eggs, buttermilk and vanilla with a fork.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt for a few seconds with an electric mixer in a large bowl.

Add softened butter and  6 Tbsp buttermilk (8 Tbsp total)

Beat on low speed just until moistened. Increase speed to medium with a hand held mixer and beat for exactly 1.5 minutes. The batter will be stiff. Add 1/3 egg mixture at a time, beating for exactly 20 seconds and scraping the bowl after each addition. Scrape the batter over the fruit in the pan and spread evenly. Bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove cake from oven and tilt pan in all directions to detach from the sides. Let cool 2-3 minutes before unmolding. Invert a serving platter on top of pan and flip. Scoop remaining fruit/topping from pan and spoon over cake.

Recipe from The Joy of Cooking Cookbook

Creamy Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

Ingredients
■1 whole Cut Up Fryer Chicken
■1 stick 1/2 Cup Butter
■16 ounces, weight White Mushrooms, Sliced
■¼ cups Dry White Wine
■Kosher Salt And Pepper
■¼ cups Flour
■2 cups Chicken Broth (reserved From Chicken Or Canned)
■1-½ cup Whole Milk
■¼ cups (additional) Dry White Wine
■1 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
■1 cup Whole Black Olives, Chopped
■1 teaspoon Kosher Salt, Or To Taste (didn't need to add any)
■Freshly Ground Black Pepper
■Extra Cheese, For Sprinkling
■1 pound Thin Spaghetti

Preparation Instructions
Place chicken in a pot of water and boil on medium-low heat for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and allow to cool slightly. Keep broth in pot.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet. Throw in mushrooms, add 1/4 cup white wine, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, or until liquid has totally evaporated. Remove mushrooms from skillet. Set aside.
Bring broth to a boil. Break spaghetti into thirds (shorter pieces). Add spaghetti pieces to boiling broth and cook. Drain when al dente. Remove meat from bones and shred until you have 2-plus cups of shredded chicken.
Return large skillet to medium-low heat. Add 6 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle flour over butter, whisking to combine. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Pour in 2 cups broth and whisk to combine. Pour in milk, additional 1/4 cup wine, salt and pepper to taste, then cook and bubble until thick. Turn off heat, add Parmesan cheese, and stir.
Add mushrooms, chicken, and chopped olives. Stir to combine and check seasonings. Add cooked spaghetti and stir.
Turn into a 9 x 13 casserole pan. Bake at 350 degrees or until golden brown and bubbly. Serve with salad and warm, crusty bread.

Recipe by the Pioneer Woman

I made this recipe a couple days ago and everyone loved it.
I substituted the cut up fryer chicken for 3 chicken breasts boiled. I also substituted the dry white wine for white wine vinegar. I used the fake Parmesan cheese. So, I boiled the chicken and shredded it (big pieces). Cooked the pasta with water not on chicken broth. I used the bouillon cube for the chicken broth required in the sauce. I also forgot to put it in the oven, and it was still delicious! Next time, I'll put it in the oven.