Two Family Favorites: Toasted Cheerios (Stay With Me Here!) and Tomato and Rice Soup

In my life I have found that some of my very favorite recipes are those that have been passed down from family member to family member. I have two of those recipes to share with you today. The first is my Great grandmother's recipe for Tomato and Rice Soup. Big Granny taught my Mom how to make this soup and it really has come to be one of my favorite comfort foods when I'm feeling sick, or when it's really cold outside or when it's a day that ends in "Y.". You get the idea. Believe it or not, I had never made it for myself until the other day. I was sick and Mom's Tomato and Rice soup popped into my head and Jeremy was so sweet to go get the ingredients for me. It turned out delicious, so much so that we made it again the next day!

The soup sounds unusual, or maybe not, but not many people have had anything like it. It really couldn't be easier to make, and with only 2 main ingredients, you can just about make it from what is in your pantry. Here goes:

Big Granny's Tomato and Rice Soup
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1/2 - 3/4 cup of uncooked rice
1 can of water
Butter
Salt (To taste)
Pepper (To taste)

Bring the diced tomatoes, water, salt, pepper and a big pat of butter to a slow boil and the soup is really frothy looking. Add the rice and cook on low until the rice is plump and tender, which usually takes about 10-15 minutes.

That's it.

Serve with grilled cheese sandwiches for the perfect easy winter meal! I promise that you won't be disappointed with how easy and delicious this soup is, because seriously, if someone named "Big Granny" used to cook it, you know it's good!

And for my next recipe I thought I would share one of my Dad's favorite things to eat in the entire world: toasted cheerios!

Not only that, but they are toasted cheerios with garlic! Like I said, stay with me here.

My Dad's Mom, my Granny Betsy, used to make Toasted Cheerios for my Dad. They really are an acquired taste, but even Jeremy has come to enjoy eating a bowl of them every now and then. I had a hankering for them the other night and Jeremy and I enjoyed them, despite the fact that Jackson was not so keen on the fact that I was cooking "his" cheerios!

Granny Betsy's Toasted Cheerios
Regular cheerios
Garlic Salt
Butter

Put the cheerios into a skillet with a really big pat of butter. Then add more butter because seriously, can you have too much butter? I measure how much I want to cook by first pouring the cheerios into serving bowls to guesstimate serving sizes. Then I add more. Add garlic salt to taste (I love a lot of garlic) and cook (stirring frequently) until the cheerios have absorbed the butter. You want the cheerios to look golden brown like this:

Serve hot. Now, considered yourself warned that your breath will be kicking after eating this, but my oh my is it worth it! The best cheerios are the really tiny ones because they just soak up all the buttery, garlicky goodness. Delicious! It's totally a yummy snack and it's worth giving it a shot, even if you have to skip your goodnight kiss afterwards!

Enjoy!

Amish Friendship Bread

I actually posted about this on my blog, but wanted to share the recipe here also.

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe
This is the original recipe, not to be confused with a starter

Ingredients:

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110°F)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup warm milk (110°F)

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water for about 10 minutes. Stir well.

2. In a 2 quart glass or plastic container, combine 1 cup sifted flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or the flour will get lumpy when you add the milk.

3. Slowly stir in warm milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Loosely cover the mixture with a lid or plastic wrap. The mixture will get bubbly. Consider this Day 1 of the cycle, or the day you receive the starter.

For the next 10 days handle starter according to the instructions above for Amish Friendship Bread.

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe-which will make your starters
Day 1 - receive the starter

Day 2 - stir

Day 3 - stir

Day 4 - stir

Day 5 - Add 1 cup each flour, sugar and milk.

Day 6 - stir

Day 7 - stir

Day 8 - stir

Day 9 - stir

Day 10 - Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Divide into 4 containers, with 1 cup each for three of your friends and 1 cup for your own loaves. Give friends the instructions for Day 1 through Day 10 and the following recipe for baking the bread.

After removing the 3 cups of batter, combine the remaining cup of Amish Friendship Bread starter with the following ingredients in a large bowl:

2/3 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Using a fork beat by hand until well blended. You can add 1 cup raisins and 1 cup nuts (optional).

Grease two loaf pans with butter, sprinkle with sugar instead of flour.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes to 1 hour (individual oven temperatures vary). Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans. Makes two loaves of Amish Friendship Bread.

Once you have your starters completed, pass some along to share the love. Or in this case, loaves...

World's Best Chicken Salad

For those of you who are interested, I do not do chicken salad. It's just - gross - is the best word that comes to mind. And those weird people who put things in it like grapes and pecans? Double ick.

So imagine my suprise when one of the ladies from our church brought me chicken salad - with grapes - while I was out of work on maternity leave. I loved her chicken salad, grapes and all. And then I found out that someone else had a recipe. And I would link to her blog, but apparently I am not an "invited reader." Hmph.

Moving on!

This chicken salad recipe was simple enough - except that someone told me to use dill seed instead of dill weed. Good thing I called her to double check the recipe first.
So here it is. If you google it, you might find something like "Chicken Salad with Dill." Since I'm not much for chicken salad, I will dub this what I thought when I tasted the first bite:

World's Best* Chicken Salad Recipe
*Best is a matter of personal opinion-this one being Miranda's*

4 ridiculously large chicken breasts (or 6 regular sized)
1/2 lb red seedless grapes, washed and cut in half
2 stalks of celery, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp. dill weed
1 1/2-2 cups of mayonnaise
1/4-1/2 cup mustard
Craisins **I only used 1/2 a 6 oz. bag**
Chicken Rub (I used McCormick)

I patted all four chicken breasts thoroughly with the chicken rub and then put them in a gallon sized ziploc bag in the fridge overnight.

Then I baked them in a greased 13x9 inch pan for about 30-45 minutes, depending on how long it takes to cook the chicken thoroughly. While the chicken is cooking I cut up the grapes, celery, craisins, and mixed it with the dill weed. Then I added the mustard and mayonnaise. When the chicken was cooked through, I cut it all into bite sized pieces and stirred everything really well.

I will tell you that the mayo/mustard combination is a matter of preference. You could use more mayo and totally leave out the mustard if you don't like it. But I didn't even measure mine (I know, shocking, right?) I just used it until I thought I had enough.

My sister and I taste tested it on Ritz crackers and thought it deserved a spot on the cooking blog.

Watergate Cake with Cover-Up Frosting

Photo courtesy of Wendolonia blog

Okay so we just got a brand spankin' new Dell computer as a Christmas gift to ourselves, and in transferring files from the old computer to the new one I found some blogs like Wendolonia that I haven't been to in a while.

If you need a new and unique way to keep your kids interested in lunch, check out some of her crafty bento lunch ideas!

Anyway, I was browsing through old posts on her blogs and I came across this one which she calls a "Pistachio Pudding Cake". I wanted to use my camera to take pictures but apparently the battery has died on me. I had everything I needed but the club soda and pistachio pudding mix, so off to the store I went in the cold rain last night!

Moving right along...if you have no clue as to what Watergate is or who Richard Nixon was and why he resigned as president, you might want to get your history lesson so you can understand the name behind this cake recipe.

Here is the recipe from Wendolonia's blog:

**I will caution you that if you google it, you may find white cake mix instead of yellow, and ginger ale instead of club soda. I used the recipe from Wendolonia's blog for my cake.**

Watergate Cake with Cover Up Frosting
One box yellow cake mix
one box instant pistachio pudding mix
3 large eggs
1 cup club soda
1 cup oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 x 9 baking dish.Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Mix wet ingredients with eggs, blending with a whisk. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix with whisk.
Pour into pan and bake for 35-45 minutes (you will discover from Wendolonia's blog that she burned the bottom of her cake, but her oven also runs hot.) I did my cake for 45 minutes.

For the frosting, you will need:
Two packages of Dream Whip (they come two to a box!!)
one box instant pistachio pudding mix
1 1/2 cups cold milk

Mix milk and dream whip until thickened. Add pudding mix and blend well. Spread frosting on top of cooled cake. Enjoy!

My thoughts: I absolutely love cakes that are very simple, like Mrs. Karen's chocolate cake that I will post sometime soon, but cakes that add pudding mix for some reason are just super moist. And it doesn't take a genius, even someone who doesn't bake, to put together a cake with these simple and easy steps.
When I finally got a chance to taste the cake, the frosting reminds me of Watergate Salad which I can not stand! I just don't like the combination of cool whip, nuts, and pineapple. I would be okay with pineapple in this frosting, and it might give it a unique flavor if you added it to this frosting and cake mixture. But it is just as good made according to the recipe! It might be a good cake for summer BBQs and pool parties. But those are just my thoughts!

Thanksgiving Goodness

I have two easy recipes that are perfect for Thanksgiving dinner to share with you today. They are always a favorite at our family get-togethers. I wanted to share them with y'all and I hope that you might give them a shot. Here goes!

I love mashed potatoes. I think it's just about the best comfort food in the world. It's a carb. It's a starch. It's full of cheese. It's heaven on a fork! Here is my recipe for delicious mashed potatoes.

Amy's Mashed Potatoes
5 lbs of potatoes (I like Yukon gold because of their buttery texture)
Milk
Kraft fat free mayonnaise
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Butter
Salt to taste

Peel, dice and boil your potatoes in salted water. After the potatoes are tender, drain really well. Add them back to the pot.

Now this is the part where you just have to play a little: Add a big splash of milk (I use fat-free), a big handful of cheddar cheese, a big pat of butter or margarine, and the secret ingredient: a big spoonful of fat-free mayonnaise. I use Kraft fat-free with the red lid. If the potatoes are dry, add more milk. Now get busy mashing the potatoes with a potato masher until you get them to your desired consistency.

So simple and easy, but they are Heaven on Earth! And don’t be afraid of the mayonnaise. You can’t taste it at all! My Aunt Frances (may she rest in peace) refused to eat mayo and yet she always ate our mashed potatoes. She never ever knew! The mayo just makes the potatoes really creamy. And in case you are counting calories, just remember that these have cheese and milk and butter in them which are dairy, and that means that they are totally good for you!

And get this, if you are trying to get ready for a big meal, perhaps Thanksgiving, just make the potatoes early in the day, and prepare them a tad bit soupier than normal and put them on low in the crock pot. They will stay hot and it's one less thing you have to worry about, and the potatoes will absorb some of the extra moisture. It couldn't be simpler!

And my second recipe is my Mom's Broccoli Cornbread recipe. It sounds unusual, but I've never found someone that tried this and didn't like it. It's tasty like cornbread, but the broccoli and cheese add an unusual and delicious touch. Here it is:

Broccoli Cornbread
1 box of Jiffy cornmeal mix
1 box of frozen, chopped broccoli (thawed and drained)
1 stick of butter (melted)
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix all ingredients well in a bowl and then add to a greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Cook at 300 degrees for an hour. The cornbread should be golden brown when it is ready. Let cool slightly and cut into squares. Delicious!

I hope you enjoy these recipes. Give them a try and let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does. Have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Crock Pot Mexican Fiesta Soup

It's like a Crock Pot extravaganza! So last Sunday afternoon, I went out to Bryan's grandfather's house for lunch. His family does this once a month, but until last Sunday I had been unable (and unwilling) to try to drag both kids out there with me by myself. And I warned my mother-in-law that it probably won't happen again!

But I picked the right Sunday because we had Mexican Fiesta Soup or what I like to call Mexican Chili!

Anyway, it's bubbling away in my crock pot now for dinner tonight and I HAVE to share the super easy recipe:

Crock Pot Mexican Fiesta Soup
1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
1 can pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can whole kernel corn
1 cup chopped onion
28 oz. original Rotel

You don't drain any of the canned veggies....and the flavor and heat comes straight from the Rotel. It had just enough heat to be really flavorful and good without being too spicy for Gracie to eat it. She had two bowls! It was so easy I put it together last night and my whole house smells yummy! If you try it, I hope you enjoy it!

Make sure you have some tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and sour cream on hand for the extra goodness!

Crock Pot or Not Chili

As the weather starts getting colder, there is nothing that I like better than a big bowl of chili. It's one of life's perfect comfort foods. It has meat, beans, tomatoes...seriously, what's not to love? I wanted to share my recipe for chili with you today. What I love about this recipe, passed down from my Mom, is that it is perfect for a crock pot, but if you are lacking on time, you can easily just cook it up in a big sauce pan on the stove for 20 minutes or so until it gets heated up. Here goes!

Amy's Crock Pot or Not Chili

2 cans of petite cut diced tomatoes

2 cans of chili beans (slightly drained)

2 cans of kidney beans (drained)

1lb of browned ground beef (with onion if you like)

1 cup (or so) of water

3 heaping tablespoons of chili powder

Garlic salt to taste

Add everything into the crock pot and heat on low for 6-8 hours. If you make it on the stove, the longer you cook it, the better it will taste. As always, soups like chili ALWAYS taste better the second day.

And here's a secret for you: I learned many years ago from a dear family friend, Chae Tartt, to serve chili over white rice. Although it sounds unusual, it really makes the chili stretch farther, and it gives it so much more substance. Chae is no longer with us, but I always think about her whenever I cook chili with rice. Anyone can serve chili with cornbread, Frito's or a grilled cheese sandwich, but you can totally surprise your family with rice. Give it a try. I promise you will love it!

Another secret: Just about everyone knows how delicious shredded cheddar cheese is in chili, but have you ever tried a dollop of low fat sour cream? It's amazing!

Another secret: I know this will sound so strange, but I also love chili with a spoonful of blue cheese dressing. I know that blue cheese is an acquired taste, and heaven knows that I don't understand why everyone doesn't enjoy it, but my oh my, it is delicious in chili!

Now that I'm all secreted out, you need to go make a big pot of chili with rice and cheese and sour cream and blue cheese dressing. You can thank me later! Have a great day!