Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This is a slightly altered recipe originally from my Grandma Redwine, altered by my sister, Gracie. It makes awesome bread to use up some of that extra zucchini and it freezes well.

Bake at 350 degrees. Makes two loaves.

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups grated zucchini
3 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2-1 cup chocolate chips(depending upon how much chocolate you like in yours, plus some to sprinkle on the top)

Mix dry ingredients together in one bowl and wet ingredients in another larger bowl (yes, sugar is a "wet" ingredient). Add dry ingredients to wet, mix and then fold in chocolate chips. Place batter into two greased loaf pans. I have been told that it is better to use Crisco to grease the pans rather than cooking spray. With cooking spray they still seem to stick a bit.

Bake at 350 for one hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Yummers!

Blueberry Buckle Coffee Cake

This is a yummy recipe that a friend of mine, Candice, sent our way to use some of those wonderful blueberries that many of us have picked over the last few weeks:)

Blueberry Buckle Coffee Cake

Buckle
4 c. flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
5 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
4 c. blueberries, fresh or frozen (thawed and drained)

Crumb topping
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. butter

Glaze
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 to 2 tsp. hot water

~Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease two pie pans (*her note: make sure not to use very shallow pans; these cakes will be quite tall).
~Blend flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, milk, and eggs; beat 30 seconds. Carefully stir in blueberries (*her note: I always gently coat mine with flour before stirring them in and it seems to help keep them from "bleeding"). Spread batter in pans; sprinkle with crumb topping.
~Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Drizzle with glaze. Served warm is best! Enjoy:)

Sarah's Meatloaf Recipe

I vary this a lot depending on how many people I'm making it for.

This is the "recipe" I use when I make it for my family.

1 lb ground beef (or chuck, it doesn't matter)
1 lb sausage (I use the Jimmy Dean Sage sausage)
1 large white onion, chopped into large chunks
2 rolls of Ritz crackers, crushed
2 large eggs
1/2 palm of Kosher salt (that's just what I use. I guess its about 1 tablespoon of coarse salt, maybe 1/2 tablespoon of table salt)
About 4 turns of crushed pepper. (I don't know if you have a pepper mill or not, but its probably 1/2 teaspoon or there abouts)

Mix this all together. I use my hands and press into a 13x9 glass baking pan.

The glaze that I put on top is simple. It's just brown sugar and regular mustard. What I usually do is put a big scoop of brown sugar in a bowl and add mustard to it until its a thick glaze. I think its probably a loose cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup mustard. I really do this part to taste, so you might take a little taste before you put it on your meatloaf, and add more brown sugar or mustard depending. The glaze gets spread over the top before you cook the meatloaf.

The meatloaf gets baked at 350 for about an hour or until the meatloaf is browned and cooked through.

This does produce a lot of oil in your cooking pan, so it is best to remove it to a serving platter for the table. :)

Sometimes I'll add an extra pound of hamburger when we have company coming over. You just add an extra egg and roll of ritz crackers and maybe another onion if you like onions. But, don't do more than two lbs of beef per roll of sausage. You can fit three lbs of meat in the 13x9 pan just fine, but if you do more than that, its best to split it up into two pans.

Calzones

I had never made calzones before and I do not know why... these (though a little challenging at first to get the hang of) were fun to make and everyone loved them:)

Calzones
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
mozzarella cheese, shredded
toppings (whatever you like on a pizza- we used onion, olives, sausage, pepperoni and mushrooms but you can use whatever:)
pre-made pizza dough

~Lay out the pizza dough and cut it into the size you want... we made 8 calzones out of one refrigerated pizza dough.
~Sprinkle with cheese and your toppings.
~If freezing, wrap in foil and put in a ziplock bag. If cooking, bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

*If you froze it, bake in the foil for 15 minutes... do not thaw first. Then open up the foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes... until heated through. Enjoy:)

Brown Bag Burritos

This is another one of those recipes that I am not sure where it came from but boy, am I glad that we found it... almost all of my family likes these:) They are delicious and the best part is we can just microwave them!!!

Brown Bag Burritos
2 lb. ground beef
2, 31 oz cans refried beans
1 1/3 c. enchilada sauce (We like El Paso)
1/2 c. water
1/3 c. minced onion
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried oregano
3 c. shredded cheese (cheddar, Mexican blend, whatever)
20 flour tortillas (burrito-size, not thin)

~Brown ground beef; drain. Add remaining ingredients (except tortillas). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
~Heat 3-4 tortillas at a time (you can put a wet paper towel on the top and the bottom of a stack of 10 and microwave for 10 seconds and it does the same thing). Spoon 1/4 c. beef mixture down the side of each tortilla (a cookie/ice cream scoop keeps the mess to a minimum:)
~Roll up. Wrap each burrito in a paper towel.
~Refrigerate or freeze. You can pack them back in the tortilla ziplock bag... usually you can fit 10 in a bag:)
~When ready to eat, remove foil and microwave for about a minute. The paper towel keeps the burritos moist. You can also stick them in the oven to reheat them:)

Stove Top Easy Chicken Bake

Easy... Easy... Easy... that is about all I can say about this dish:) Other than it was delicious:)

Stove Top Easy Chicken Bake
1 pkg. Stuffing Mix for Chicken (generic is fine)
1-1/2 lbs. boneless, chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can (10 3/4oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
1/3 c sour cream
1 bag (16oz) frozen mixed veggies, thawed, drained

~Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare stuffing as directed on pkg; set aside.
~Mix chicken, soup, sour cream and vegetables in a 13x9 baking dish; top with stuffing.
~Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Makes 6 servings (this fed all eight of us and we had some leftovers:)

*You can freeze this... just thaw before you bake it:)

Farmhouse Chicken

This is a yummy dish... it is basically chicken in a white, cream sauce with stuffing on top:)

Farmhouse Chicken

4T butter
4T flour
2 cups milk
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 sm onion, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
12 oz. pkg of stuffing mix

~Saute onion, and prepare stuffing mix according to pkg. directions and set aside.
~In a medium sauce pan, melt butter and then add flour. Stir until bubbly, then cook one minute. Slowly add in milk, stirring continually to avoid lumps.
~Add chicken, onion, salt and pepper. Cook and stir for 5-10 minutes, until chicken is done.
~Pour mixture into an 8x8 casserole dish. Top with stuffing. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

*You can freeze this for a later date... just thaw first:)