Archive for the ‘#1 Go-To Recipes’ Category
Mixed Vegetables with Quail Eggs
I was doing a search for recipes that use quail eggs and came across this recipe. I made this on 5 Nov 2021 and it is good! Well liked by my family as well. This will be a regular. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Notes section.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 20 hard boiled quail eggs, peeled, Shortcut
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a large non stick pan, when hot, add the garlic and sauté until lightly browned.
- Stir in the thawed mixed vegetables and cover. Cook for 5-7 minutes to steam them.
- Stir in the cream and eggs, cook for a few more minutes to heat the eggs through.
- Serve as a side dish with your favorite main dish, enjoy.
Notes
Shortcut: Perfect Hard Boiled Quail Eggs.
Stuffed Acorn Squash with Sausage Stuffing
This recipe is from an extensive cookbook titled Favorite Recipes, compiled by the active and retired employees of Michigan Bell in 1981. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Pan (9x13 inch)
- Steamer
Ingredients
- 2 medium acorn squash
- 500 grams bulk pork sausage, Shortcut
- 1 cup soft breadcrumbs, or ¾ cup dry bread crumbs
- 2 tablespoons onion, finely diced
- salt and pepper, as desired
Instructions
- Cut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds.
- Add water to your steamer and bring to a low boil. Add the squash, cut side down, to the steamer tray, and steam for 15 minutes or until tender, drain squash well. Work in batches to get all the halves steamed. (15 minutes for small to medium squash, 20 minutes for large.)
- Place squash halves cut side up in a 9x13 inch baking pan.
- While the squash is steaming, cook the sausage in a pan, breaking up the sausage with a spatula. Cook until no more pink is visible and it is cooked through. Drain off excess fat. (I went overboard and cooked up 2 lb of sausage thought I was using 2 large squash but turned out to be 1 large and 1 small, the excess was saved for another use.)
- Preheat your oven to 200° C (400° F).
- Add the onion and breadcrumbs, and stir together. Add a little milk or water if the sausage seems too dry.
- Spoon sausage mixture into the squash, pressing down lightly.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned and squash is heated through.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving if growing the squash yourself, as I have not seen acorn squash in any market. I am going to try and grow them in my garden.
Shortcut: Bulk Pork/Italian Sausage.
Variant: 1. Use Italian sausage in place of pork sausage.
Updated on 27 September 2021.
Magic Cookie Bars
I got this recipe from my Mom, Joann, and she clipped it from a magazine 10-20 years ago, and it does sound good. I made these on 26 Sep 2021, and they are good! And easy to make!
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Pan (9x13 inch)
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, (1 stick / ½ block)
- 1½ cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk, (14 oz / 396 g)
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, (just a 12 oz bag is good)
- 1⅓ cups flaked coconut
- 1 cup nuts, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F) or 160° (325° F) when using a glass baking pan. Get out a 9x13 inch baking pan, add the butter to the pan and melt in the pan while the oven is preheating.
- Spread melted butter in pan, sprinkle crumbs over the butter.
- Evenly pour the condensed milk over the crumbs.
- In a bowl, toss together the coconut, chips, and nuts.
- Sprinkle the coconut mixture over the condensed milk. Firmly press down with a fork.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Feel free to chill in the fridge until set firm.
- Cut into bars or squares, serve and enjoy. Can store covered at room temperature.
Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili
This recipe is from a friend on social media and it is excellent chili! Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
- 1 package cream cheese, cut into quarters, (8 oz / 226 g)
- 1 packet ranch dressing mix, Shortcut
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1½ teaspoons chili powder, or as desired
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 can whole kernel corn, undrained, (15 oz / 425 g)
- 1 can Rotel tomatoes and chilies, undrained, (10 oz / 283 g)
- 1 can black beans, undrained, (15 oz / 425 g)
Instructions
- Place the chicken in the bottom of your slow cooker.
- add the rest of the ingredients.
- Stir together. Cover and set to Low setting for 6 hours, quickly stir after about 3 hours to mix in the cream cheese.
- Remove chicken breast to a cutting board, shred or dice, return to the pot and stir in.
- Cover and cook for another 15 minutes. Stir to mix everything together.
- Serve and enjoy. Feel free to use chili toppings as you desire.
Notes
Fair cost per serving based on the Rotel, but I am looking at making a shortcut for that and I will update the recipe with that shortcut.
Shortcut: Ranch Dressing Mix.
Creamy Swiss Chicken Bake
This recipe comes from a social media friend. And it is truly delicious! Only 5 ingredients and quick to put together. Links to the Shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Pan (9x13 inch)
Ingredients
- 6 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
- 6 slices Swiss cheese
- 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, (10½ oz / 298 g), Shortcut
- 1 cup Chardonnay
- 1 box herbed stuffing mix, (6 oz / 170 g), Shortcut
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F), get out a 9x13 inch baking pan, and grease with butter or non stick spray. Arrange chicken breasts in pan.
- Place a slice of cheese on each chicken breast.
- In a small mixing bowl, add the soup and wine, whisk together. Pour mixture over the chicken.
- Sprinkle with the stuffing mix.
- Cover and bake for 40 minutes, then remove cover and continue baking for 20 more minutes or until the stuffing is browned and toasted. Test a piece of chicken for doneness, if using a thermometer, target temp is 74° C (165° F). I baked these for 1½ hours as I was using some large chicken breasts.
- Serve with sides of your choice, and don't forget to spoon the sauce and stuffing over the chicken, enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Shortcuts: Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup, Stuffing Mix.
Smoked Cornish Game Hens
My Dad recently purchased a smoker, so I figured a great way to help break it in is to smoke some Cornish game hens. I found a few recipes and settled on tailoring the one here. I made these on 15 Sep 2021, and they are absolutely delicious hens!
Equipment
- Smoker
Ingredients
- 4 Cornish game hens, whole, thawed
For the Brine - this is for 1 container for 2 hens
- 2 quarts water, (8 cups)
- ½ cup kosher salt
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
For the Rub - this is for 4 hens.
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon salt, table or kosher works fine
- 2 tablespoons black pepper
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
Instructions
- Rinse the thawed hens inside and out, remove giblets if they come with those. Cut off any excess has around the cavity opening. This is 2 of the 4 hens I used, I was checking the size of the mixing bowl to brine them.
- For the brine, I used a 3 quart mixing bowl that held 2 hens. To the empty container, add the water, salt, and brown sugar listed for the Brine and stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved, add 2 hens to the brine. Repeat with the second bowl and the brine ingredients as listed. Let hens brine for 2 hours.
- While the hens are brining, add the Rub ingredients to a bowl and mix together. Set aside until the hens are brined.
- About 20-30 minutes before the time is up for the brining, preheat your smoker to 225° F (110° C), use wood chips of your choice, I used apple wood chips.
- Remove the hens from the brine and rinse under running water. Pat dry with paper towels place breast side up on a tray. Rub all over with the dry rub mix you prepared, turn hens over and rub the backside, place hens breast side down on a tray.
- Place the hens in the smoker, breast side down, exactly as they were sitting on the tray.
- Smoke for 1½ to 2 hours, checking the internal temp of a hen at 1½ hours, target temp is 74° C (165° F), continue smoking for another 30 minutes if the temp is below the target.
- Carefully remove the hens from the smoker and place in a baking pan, let hens rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Place a hen, breast side up for presentation, on each serving plate. Serve with sides of your choice, and enjoy.
Deviled Ham Deviled Eggs
This is a twist on a recipe from a 1961 cookbook and I tailored it to just the deviled eggs, and they are excellent. Link to the Shortcuts are listed in the Notes section.
Ingredients
- 6 hard boiled eggs, peeled, Shortcut
- 3 tablespoons mayo
- 1 tablespoon red onion, finely diced, brown onion also works
- 1 teaspoon prepared mustard
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- salt and black pepper, as desired
- 1 can deviled ham, (4¼ oz / 120 g), Shortcut
- paprika, as needed
Instructions
- Cut eggs in half lengthwise, place whites on a plate, and place the yolks in a bowl.
- To the yolks, add the mayo, onion, mustard, Worcestershire sauce. Mix together. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired. Mix in ½ of the deviled ham.
- From the ham still in the can, spoon a little into the bottom of each egg white, using about ½ of the ham that is remaining in the can.
- Spoon the yolk mixture into the whites using all of the mixture. Make a small depression on the top of the filling in each egg with the tip of a spoon.
- Now use the remaining ham in the can and place a small amount on top of each egg. Sprinkle with paprika for garnish. Cover and place in the fridge for about 1 hours to chill before serving.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Pumpkin Brownies
This recipe comes from a social media friend. I made this on 7 Sep 2021, and these are excellent! I made these exactly as written using a Great Value brand brownie mix and prepared this an an 8x8 inch pan. Hands down, these are delicious! Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Equipment
- Electric Mixer
- Oven
- Baking Pan
Ingredients
- 1 box brownie mix, of your choice, and ingredients listed on brownie box to prepare the mix
- ½ can pumpkin, (15 oz / 425 g, use just ½ of the can)
- 170 grams cream cheese, softened, (6 oz)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, Shortcut
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to what the box of brownie mix states.
- Make the brownie mix in a mixing bowl, using the ingredients called for on the box and the box instructions. Mix in the chocolate chips.
- In another mixing bowl, add the cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. Use an electric mixer to mix until smooth and well blended.
- Use an electric mixer to mix until smooth and very well blended. Don't let the spoon fool you, I used that to clean down the side of the bowl, you will need an electric mixer for this.
- For the baking pan, depends on what the brownie mix recommends, 9x13 or 8x8 inches seem fairly standard, but do make a note of the baking time for the size pan you use. Grease the pan with butter or cooking spray.
- Pour half the brownie batter into the prepared pan and spread out evenly.
- Add the pumpkin to the pan, spreading evenly over the brownie batter.
- Add the remaining brownie batter to the pan, spreading evenly over the pumpkin.
- Bake the brownies, adding 10 minutes to the time stated on the brownie box instructions, this is due to increased thickness. To check for doneness, insert a fork in the center and if it comes out clean, it is done, if there is batter on the tines, continue baking, checking every 5-8 minutes until done. The fork method for testing works perfectly!
- Let brownies cool completely, cut into squares, serve, and enjoy.
Notes
Shortcut: Pumpkin Pie Spice.
Corn Casserole
I found this recipe on Instagram, made it on 10 Sep 2021, and my family loved this! Very easy to put together and excellent flavor. This will be a regular, and I will also test this with the variant, which is using fiesta corn. I did cut the recipe in half and a 8x8 inch baking pan is perfect for this.
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Pan (9x13 inch)
Ingredients
- 2 cans whole kernel corn, (15 oz / 425 g each)
- 2 cans cream style corn, (15 oz / 425 g each)
- 2 sleeves saltine crackers, crushed
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F), Get out a 9x13 inch baking pan and grease with butter or cooking spray. Use an 8x8 inch baking pan if making half the recipe.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients. If making half the recipe, use 1 egg as stated.
- Mix together.
- Pour mixture into the prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Serve as a side dish, enjoy.
Notes
Variant: 1. Use fiesta corn in place of the whole kernel corn.
Moist Zucchini Cookies
This recipe comes from a friend, and is delicious! As a way to use zucchini, I have a lot on hand, I had to try this, and it is certainly worth it! Very easy to prepare, and the chill time is a must to keep the cookies from spreading out too much.
Equipment
- Electric Mixer
- Box Shredder
- Oven
- Baking Sheets
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh zucchini, finely shredded
- ½ cup raisins, or dried cranberries, optional but works well
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened, (1 stick / ½ block)
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Shred zucchini using the small holes on your box shredder until you have 1 cup, just lightly packed. Measure out raisins or cranberries if using those.
- In a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, whisk together.
- In another mixing bowl add the butter and sugars. Beat with an electric mixer for about 1 minute.
- Mix in the egg and zucchini.
- Add ½ the flour mixture and mix in, then add the remainder and mix in. Then mix in the raisins or cranberries. Cover and place in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 190° C (375° F), get out 2 baking sheets and line with parchment paper.
- Drop by round tablespoons on the prepared sheets.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned on the edge. Cook on the sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool.
- Serve and enjoy.
