Apple Dumplings

This is a recipe I got from another website-- it is SO incredibly good- but SO extremely fattening! Therefore, we don't have it very often :) There's not a person I know who has had them and not liked them!

2 Granny Smith apples
2 cans crescent rolls
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
cinnamon
1 can Mountain Dew

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream or Cool Whip, and spoon some of the sauce from the pan over the top.

Beefy Chicken

This meal is so yummy! It's one of my favorites! And, it's a very easy crock pot meal :)

3-4 Chicken Breast
1 pkg Buddig Beef- chopped
16 oz Sour Cream
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
8 pieces of bacon
salt and pepper to taste

Mix together sour cream, Buddig beef and soup. Lay 4 pieces of bacon on the bottom of your crock pot (I spray my crock pot with no stick spray first). Add chicken and then pour soup mixture over top. Cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 2-3 hours. Fry remaining bacon. Add to chicken just before serving.

It is great served on top of rice. I served garlic bread with mine.

Chocolate Trifle

1 (19.8 oz or larger) pkg brownie mix

1 (3.4 oz) pkg. instant chocolate pudding

½ cup water

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (8oz) container Cool Whip

1 (12 oz) container Cool Whip

1 cup toffee chips

1 (1.5oz) bar chocolate candy

Prepare Brownie mix according to pkg directions and cool completely.Cut into 1 inch squares. In a large bowl, combine pudding mix, water and sweetened condensed milk. Mix until smooth, then fold in 8oz Cool Whip until no streaks remain. In a trifle bowl, layer of the brownies (can be crumbled), half of the pudding mixture, half toffee chips, and half the 12 oz Cool whip. Repeat the layers. Shave chocolate onto top layer for garnish. Refrigerate 8 hours before serving.

Pork Tenderloin

I forgot to take a picture- but we had this for dinner last night and it was soooo good! The pork was really tender and juicy and the flavor was fantastic!

2 lb (or 2- 1 lb) Pork Tenderloin
Marinade in following sauce overnight (mine marinated for 48 hours)

Marinade:
1 cup Soy Sauce
4 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 Yellow Onion- minced
5 cloves Garlic- minced
2 tsp Ginger (I used granulated- you could use fresh if you have it)

Mix together all ingredients for marinade. Marinade pork tenderloin for 6-48 hours (the longer the better). Preheat oven to 350* and bake for 45-60 minutes (depending on oven and pan type). I served it with a tossed salad and rice. I baked the pork in the marinade and then strained the marinade to get rid of the garlic and onion (you could obviously keep those :)) and then we used the leftover marinade as a gravy.

Stuffed Hot Dogs

This is not one of my favorite recipes- I'm not a big fan of hot dogs :) But my husband and kids LOVE them! My kids like to help me stuff the hot dogs. Then the kids can cut the cheese into different shapes with mini cookie cutters to top it off! They love eating food they have made themselves!

6 Hot Dogs
6 servings Instant Mashed Potatoes (if you have leftover real mashed potatoes, just use those)
12 small slices Cheddar Cheese

Cut the hot dogs in half lengthwise- leaving a little 'hinge' (don't cut ALL the way through)
Top with 1/3-1/2 cup mashed potatoes
Top with 2 slices cheese

Bake at 400* for about 8 minutes- or until cheese is melted and hot dogs are cooked through.

Navajo Fry Bread (Scones)

2 ½ c flour

¼ c dry powdered milk

1 t salt

1 T baking powder

1 – 1 ½ c warm water

Stir dry ingredients. Add water. Let rest 10 minutes. Break off pieces of dough & flatten & stretch thin. Fry on a hot griddle or in a frying pan with a small amount of oil.

Top with:

taco toppings (pictured above)

sprinkle with cinnamon sugar

honey

butter

syrup

chili and cheese

cool whip and fresh fruit

etc... the topping options are limitless :)

** For a faster and easier (but not quite as tasty) variation, just thaw some Rhoades dinner rolls and then roll them out on a floured surface.

Steak Marinades

We have been grilling a lot lately- and we will continue for the rest of the summer! These are our favorite steak marinades. I usually try to marinade my steak for at least 4-6 hours- preferrably overnight. Also, make sure your steak is room temperature before grilling (or pan frying) it.

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 Garlic clove- minced

1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 tbsp Red Wind Vinegar

1 tsp Mustard

1 tbsp Soy Sauce (reduced sodium)

1/8 tsp black pepper

1 ½ tsp Steak Grill Seasoning (your favorite)

OR

3 tbsp Soy Sauce

2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

2 tsp Steak Grill Seasoning (your favorite)

Brownie Bites

So- I cannot make brownies from scratch! I make them from a box. They are my favorite dessert but lately I've been kindof bored of plain brownies. So, I started making up some different combinations- I used them as a snack at a party and they were a big hit. I've since made more and everyone that has them loves them! I make them in a mini muffin pan and my kids love to help me! They love that the brownies are just their size- so here are a few ways to top your brownies! You can use any of your favorite chocolate(ish) candy! (I use the mini muffin pan and the mini tart shaper from Pampered Chef to shape the brownies).

You just make up your favorite brownie batter. Then once they're baked, you push down the middle with the mini tart shaper and make the brownie like a little bowl. Then you fill it with whatever you like best!

1) Cream Cheese Frosting and top with a raspberry or a slice of strawberry
2) Caramel and Walnuts
3) mini Reese Peanut Butter Cups and top with a couple peanut butter chips (pictured above)
4) *do not make brownies into a bowl with the mini tart shaper* Melt Andes mints and drizzle over the top of the brownies. Let cool and then sprinkle with powdered sugar
5) Bite size candy bars- snickers, 3 Musketeers, Milky Way
6) Rolos
7) Chocolate covered cherries
8) Marshmallow creme
9) York Peppermint patty


***When making the ones with the peanut butter cups, you actually add the pb cup before baking the brownies! You fill your mini muffin pan cups about 1/2 full and then add the pb cup and then bake- for about 10 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

This is my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe- I use it for brownies, carrot cake, etc...

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together all ingredients. Store in the refrigerator.

Chicken Paprika

1 Chicken, cut up

1 medium onion- chopped

2 T butter

1-2 T paprika

2 c Water

8 oz Sour Cream

1 bag Wide Egg Noodles

Saute onion & paprika in butter. Add chicken, brown. Add 2 c water, simmer until tender. Debone chicken & return to 1 ½ c liquid. Add 8 oz sour cream. Cook pkg noodles & mix together.

***I don't eat chicken on a bone- and I WILL NOT debone a chicken! So, I use 1 large (family size) pkg of boneless skinless chicken breasts and just cut it up into bite size pieces! Also, be sure to use a good paprika!

Stove Top Chicken

This chicken is really really good- and SO easy! If you don't like swiss cheese, I still think you might like this recipe- it's not 'swissy' at all (in fact you hardly taste the cheese- so you could really just omit it if you want)!

2-4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
4 slices of Swiss Cheese (or 1 cup shredded swiss cheese)
2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
1 box uncooked stove top
1/2 stick Butter (or margarine) melted
salt and pepper


Salt and Pepper both sides of the chicken and put in a 9x13 dish. Top with Swiss cheese. Pour soup on top of the cheese. Sprinkle stove top over the whole dish and pour the melted butter on top. Cover your pan with tin foil and then bake it in the oven for 50-60 min at 325 degrees.