Two Steamin’ Sisters

This is a Campbell’s soup recipe.

You will need:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 T butter or margarine
• 1 can Campbell’s broccoli cheese soup
• 1/3 cup water or milk
• 1/8 t pepper
• 2 cups broccoli flowerets

Melt butter or margarine in a skillet over medium heat and add chicken.  Cook chicken on both sides until brown (about 10 minutes).  Stir in soup, milk or water, and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Add broccoli.  Cover and reduce heat to low.  Stirring occasionally, simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken is fork-tender and broccoli is done.

Makes 4 servings.

Technorati Tags: chicken, recipe, campbell’s

When I was in fifth grade, we had a culture day at school, and the idea was that we were supposed to learn more about our heritage by bringing a food item from our family’s country of origin.  My paternal grandfather was adopted by second generation Dutch and German immigrants, but I didn’t really know much about his family of origin at the time.  I brought Speculaas, Dutch spiced cookies.  This recipe was found in one of my mother’s cookbooks, but I couldn’t tell you which one anymore.  They were pretty good, despite the fact that (to American eyes, anyway) they contain some odd ingredients for cookies.

You will need:

• 1/3 cup shelled almonds
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup softened butter
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 tsp. ground anise seed
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Pour boiling water over almonds.  Let stand for five minutes and rub off skins.  Combine all other ingredients and knead into a soft dough.  Add more milk if necessary.  Roll dough on lightly floured board to 1/2-inch thickness.  Cut fairly large cookies, about 2 1/2-inches in diameter, and press an almond into each cookie.  Put on greased cookie sheets.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Remove cookies when they are golden brown.

Note: If you buy almonds that have already been blanched, you can skip the first step.  Also, you can arrange the almonds into a sort of cross-shape that looks like a windmill.  I use the top of a glass to cut the cookies.

Technorati Tags: cookies, Dutch, baking, recipe, Speculaas

You will need:

• 2 lbs. Beef Stew meat
• Small can mushrooms (8-10 ozs. no need to drain)
• 16 ozs. Beef broth
• 2 TBLS. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. Paprika
• 8 ozs. Sour cream
• splash of red cooking wine

Mix broth, Worcestershire sauce, and paprika. Combine all ingredients EXCEPT sour cream in crock pot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. When ready to serve mix in sour cream. You can serve this over egg noodles or eat alone for a low carb dinner. You can add onions, use fresh mushrooms, add cream cheese, or use cooking sherry instead of the wine.

This will be a favorite with your kids.

You will need:

• one cup unpopped popcorn
• 1 stick margarine or butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ cup light corn syrup
• ½ tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 200°F. Pop popcorn in a hot air popcorn popper. Microwave popcorn probably won’t work in this recipe, but I haven’t ever tried. Melt all other ingredients. Put popcorn in a large pan, such as a roasting pan. Drizzle melted mixture over popcorn, stirring so that the popcorn is coated. Bake for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.

Technorati Tags: caramel popcorn, recipe

This was an old favorite at our house growing up.

You will need:

• 1 cup margarine or butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3 cups sifted flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Mix margarine/butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla with an electric beater until creamy.  Stir in peanut butter.  Stir in dry ingredients.

Roll dough into balls and dip the tops into extra sugar.  Criss-cross the tops of the cookies with a fork.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Makes 5 dozen.

Technorati Tags: recipe, cookies, baking

I make this with ground beef but someday soon I am going to try ground turkey which I think would work well. I got this off a low carb message board and tweaked it a bit.

You will need:

• 4 Large Green Bell Peppers
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 package ranch dressing mix
• shredded cheddar cheese to taste
• Butter or butter substitute

Set oven to broil and move rack so there is room for the peppers to not touch the heating element (I use the second position). Cut tops from peppers and scoop out seeds and membranes. Brush peppers with butter and broil on a baking sheet for a few minutes (maybe 5, not too long though or they get mushy). Brown and drain ground beef. In bowl mix beef, ranch mix, and as much cheese as you like. I like lots of cheese in mine and use about 1-1½ cups. Spoon mixture into peppers and broil again until cheese is melted.

The original recipe called for pork sausage. You could also mix in onions or bit of chopped bell pepper. If you use bottle dressing instead of the mix just be careful to not make it too soupy. Also, you could just sprinkle the cheese on top of the peppers.

Technorati Tags: low carb

It is from Mom (of course).

You will need:

• 7 oz. pkg elbow macaroni
• 2 C small curd cottage cheese
• 1 C sour cream
• 1 slightly beaten egg
• ¾ tsp salt
• Dash pepper
• 8 oz. grated sharp cheddar cheese
• Paprika

Cook macaroni according to package directions and drain well. Combine all ingredients except paprika and stir in macaroni. Turn into greased baking dish (like a casserole type dish). Sprinkle paprika on top. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

This recipe was adapted from a Pepper Lime Chicken recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens plaid cookbook.

You will need:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup Margarita mix (really can use to taste)
• ¼ cup lime juice
• 1 tbsp. garlic (alter to taste)
• 1 tsp. fresh ground pepper (can alter to taste)
• salt to taste
• ¼ tsp. grated lime peel

Combine Margarita mix, lime juice, garlic, and lime peel in a large baking dish. Marinate chicken in mixture for about 30 minutes prior to putting in oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Salt and pepper chicken breasts. Cover dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake longer if necessary until chicken is no longer pink in the middle. You can cut up the lime you used for the grated lime peel if you like and garnish. The chicken tastes good with an extra splash of fresh lime juice on it.

Rice and pasta taste really good with this dish.

Technorati Tags: chicken, recipe, cooking

This is a Meals.com recipe, and I love it.

You will need:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 2 10-oz. cans enchilada sauce (I’ve seen this in red and green varieties.  I use red.)
• 1 2½-oz. can sliced black olives
• green onions/shallots
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 onion
• 10 6-inch corn tortillas
• 2 cloves minced garlic (1 tsp. bottled minced garlic)

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Spray a 9×9 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Chop onion and garlic (if fresh).  Combine with ground beef and brown in skillet.  Drain excess fat and replace beef mixture in skillet.  Add enchilada sauce and ¼-cup olives.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cut tortillas in half and layer 5 of tortillas on bottom of baking dish.  Cover with half the beef mixture, then cover beef mixture with half the cheese.  Repeat layers.  Cover and bake for 20 minutes.  Uncover after 20 minutes and continue baking for five more minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling.  Drizzle sliced green onions/shallots and remaining black olives on top.

This tastes great with sour cream or salsa, too.  Good side dish options might be traditional Mexican dishes such as rice or refried beans.

Technorati Tags: Mexican food, cooking, recipe, enchilada, casserole

This is another of Mom’s, but again, I think she found it elsewhere. Mom ought to be contributing to this blog, but then I wouldn’t be able to steal recipes from her.

You will need:

• 1 box large pasta shells
• 1 bottle marinara sauce
• 2 cups diced cooked chicken
• ¾ cup parmesan cheese
• parsley flakes
• salt
• pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. Boil pasta until soft and drain; note: you’d better check on this or it will stick to the pan (I learned this the hard way, and please refrain from telling me what a cooking noob I am). Use cool water to cool pasta off so you can handle it.

Place about a cup of the marinara sauce in the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Combine chicken, cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper and stuff into pasta shells. Arrange pasta shells in baking dish and drizzle remaining sauce over top of shells. Cover with foil and bake 30-35 minutes.

Technorati Tags: recipe, pasta, chicken, cooking