Hamburger Stroganoff

1 lb ground beef
1/2 c chopped onion
1/4 c butter
2 T flour
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 4 oz can mushrooms (drained)
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 c sour cream
2-3 c cooked egg noodles


Brown meat and onions in butter.
Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and mushrooms. Cook stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Stir in soup. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
Stir in sour cream. Heat through.

Serve over hot noodles.

I usually do this recipe more like a casserole and mix it all together and reheat in the oven when it is time to eat, and use my more formal recipe like the traditional stroganoff sauce, served over noodles.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Mmm...these turned out DELICIOUS! They were worth every minute of waiting.

1 C sugar
2 T softened butter or margarine
1 t vanilla
2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled*
2 eggs
1 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 c powdered sugar

Cream sugar, butter, vanilla and chocolate together in mixer. Add eggs one at a time. Add dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Chill in fridge for 3 hours. Remove from fridge, roll in powdered sugar, and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

*2 T melted shortening with 6 T cocoa mixed in is equivalent to 2 oz. baking chocolate

NOTE TO SELF: Don't make these cookies for a road trip. Try something without the messy powdered sugar, or you'll have to start over just as you finish them up. :)

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies

I've never made this kind of cookie before, but they have sounded SO yummy lately, that I thought I'd give it a try and see if they are as good as the commercial ones that I have had. I just pulled this recipe off of a blog that came up when I googled it.

1 C butter, softened

1 C sugar

3/4 C brown sugar

2 t vanilla

1/2 t salt

2 eggs

2 1/2 c flour

1 t baking soda

10 oz white chocolate

1 c macadamia nuts coarsely chopped

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter, sugars, vanilla and salt until creamy. Add eggs and beat well. Add flour and baking soda gradually until well blended.

Stir in white chocolate and nuts. Drop by teaspoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes until set (edges are golden brown and center is set). Remove to wire rack and cool.

The dough is pretty tasty. And the finished cookies were to die for.

This is definitely a recipe that I will make again!

Applesauce Banana Oat Muffins

At our house we love muffins. But I just can't justify the cost or the amount of fat in store bought muffins. So we make our own. Ever few months, I make several batches of different kinds and then freeze them. My husband takes out one or two each night for breakfast the next morning. Because he gets up at about 5:30 to swim, he eats as soon as he gets to work, so things that travel well, reheat well, and that have some variation, but are also semi-healthy are important.

This is a variation that I tried today on the previous banana bread recipe. I tried to make it a little healthier, although removing most of the shortening would have helped a lot too.

1 C shortening
2 C sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 C bananas (blended)
1 1/2 C sugar free applesauce
1 t vanilla
2 C white flour
1 C whole wheat flour
1 C rolled oats
2 t soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt

Cream together shortening, sugar, eggs, bananas, applesauce, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients just until moistened. Scoop into sprayed or lined muffin cups or small loaf pans. Cook at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or longer if needed.


I love these small bread loaves that I got from my mother-in-law. They are about the size of 2 muffins.
For this recipe, I blended the 3 bananas that I had and then just added enough of my homemade applesauce (that I bottled last fall) to make 3 C total. This recipe also calls for 4 C flour, so I combined flour and oats to make 4 C. Any combination of these to equal 4 C will work, but I suggest more flour than oats.

Remove finished muffins to a cooling rack.

ENJOY!

Banana Bread

This is an old family recipe that came to us from my uncle's mother, Helen Jones. It is likely an old pioneer recipe, although I really don't know where she got it from. It has always been a family favorite. My mom swears that the older and browner the bananas the better. With three kids at home, my bananas don't usually last that long.

1 C shortening
2 C sugar
4 eggs
3 C bananas (about 5 bananas)
1 t vanilla
4 C flour
2 t soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 C walnuts (optional)

Cream together the shortening, sugar, eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients until just mixed. Spoon into 2 paper lined (or spray with no-stick spray) loaf pans. Cook at 300 degrees for 1 hour or longer if necessary.

ENJOY!