Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These were soooo good! I got the recipe from My Kitchen Cafe, where she has tried dozens of chocolate chip cookie recipes to find the best one, and this is the best I think I've ever had. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
2 3/4 cups oatmeal
2 cups chocolate chips

Cream together the butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Add Baking soda, powder, and salt and mix. Add flour, oatmeal and chocolate chips. Mix until combined. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (my oven cooks kind of hot, so I did 9 minutes and they were perfect. Remember they finish cooking on the pan after you take them out, so don't leave them in the oven too long!).

Ham/Cheese/Potato Casserole & Breadsticks

I used to make this casserole all the time when I was younger. It's from a cookbook my mom has.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk
1 pound grated sharp Cheddar cheese (I don't think I ever use that much)
1 pound cooked diced ham chunks
6-8 white or red rose potatoes, peeled, diced and cooked
4 slices bread rubbed to fine bread crumbs
1/4 cup soft margarine
1 1/2 tsp. paprika

*I also used half pepper jack, half cheddar cheese and added some cajun pepper.

Place cooked ham and potatoes in a buttered 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Melt 1/4 cup margarine in pan. Stir in flour that will form a "pasty" mixture. Immediately begin adding milk, a small portion at a time, stirring constantly. When sauce thickens and starts to bubble, add cheese, continuing to stir until melted and blended in.

Pour sauce evenly over ham/macaroni or ham/potato in baking dish. Combine bread crumbs and soft margarine, then sprinkle over cheese sauce. Last, sprinkle on paprika. Bake at 350 deg. 25-30 minutes until browned and bubbly.

Breadsticks

I got this recipe from My Kitchen Cafe. The melted butter added a lot I think. P.S. I made them green for St. Patrick's Day.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups warm water
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
3 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, melted (for the baking sheet)

Mix all ingredients (except melted butter) in a large bowl or electric mixer and knead for three minutes. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread melted butter onto an 11X17-inch baking sheet. Roll out the breadstick dough about 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick and cut into strips with a pizza cutter. Twist slightly if desired and place about 1/2-inch apart on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with garlic salt, herbs of choice (ex. rosemary, basil, or thyme) and parmesan cheese. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes. Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees until golden brown.

Mapled Pork

This is a recipe from my mother-in-law's cookbook. I had most of the ingredients on hand, except the orange zest and the coriander, so I had to skip out on those. Next time I'll definitely make sure I have them because I think it would add an even better flavor, although it was still really good! Also, instead of using a pork loin, I used pork chops that I already had, and cooked them in a crockpot instead of the oven. I would just turn them over every hour or so to make sure both sides got the juice.

Ingredients:
1 ½ pounds pork tenderloin
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 T soy sauce
2 T ketchup
1 T Dijon style mustard
2 tsp grated orange zest
1 ½ tsp curry powder
1 ½ tsp ground coriander
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced

Trim pork of all visible fat. Place in a large, heavy-duty, resealable plastic bag. Whisk together all remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour over pork in bag. Seal bag and allow pork to marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 hour flipping bag over at least once during marinating time.

Transfer pork and marinade to a small roasting pan or baking dish. Roast, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Pork should still be slightly pink in the middle.
Let pork stand for 10 minutes before slicing. Slice thinly. Drizzle extra sauce over pork and serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.
Option: Cook pork tenderloin over charcoal grill.

Chicken Enchiladas

Not much to say about these except I love 'em!

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked chicken
10 flour tortillas
1.5 cups of sour cream
3 tsp taco seasoning
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 T onion powder or 1 small onion chopped
6oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 can green chiles
½ cup salsa (optional)
¼ cup olives (optional)

For filling combine chicken, 1 cup sour cream, 1 1/2 tsp taco seasoning, half the soup, 1 cup of cheese, onion powder, ½ can of green chiles, salsa and olives. Fill each tortilla with filling, roll up and place seam side down in 9x13 pan (or two 8 inch rounds). Combine remaining sour cream, taco seasoning, soup and green chiles and spread over the top of the torillas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. (I put a little pepper jack on top as well.)

Bake covered at 350 for 45 minutes removing the foil the last 5 minutes to let cheese brown. Serve with more sour cream, tomatoes and lettuce.

No-Bake Chocolate Cookies

These have been a favorite of mine for years. When I was in jr. high I would make them just about every day. Then after we ran out of peanut butter, I would just make them without it. I guess it got to be so much that finally my mom said I needed to slow down. We decided that once a month was a good limit. Since we've been married I don't even make them that often, but I should! They're easy and a good chocolate fix to make when you're out of chocolate chips.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup milk
2 cups sugar
4 T cocoa
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter (I usually use more like 1/3 cup)
3 cups of oats (you'll need about 1/2 cup more than this, but start with 3 cups to make sure you don't put in too much)

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the milk and sugar and stir until dissolved. Add the salt and cocoa and stir until dissolved.

Bring to a boil and boil 1 minute (very important not to boil longer. I actually take it off the heat at about 45 seconds because it will continue to boil for a few seconds afterwards).

Add the vanilla and peanut butter and stir until peanut butter is melted. Stir in the oats.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil. Allow them to cool and harden before eating. (I like to put them in the freezer. They cool faster and I think they just taste better cold. They don't freeze solid, so they're still chewy.)

Stuffed Crunchy French Toast

I got this recipe from Tiff's blog. It was SO good. I loved the crunch and it was pretty sweet, so it fit in with us perfectly.

Ingredients:

8 Slices of bread
4 Tablespoons cream cheese
4 Teaspoons orange marmalade
2 Large eggs
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 Cups bran flakes cereal
1-2 Tablespoons butter

Spread 4 bread slices with 1 tablespoon cream cheese each. Spread the other 4 slices with 1 teaspoon marmalade each. Combine to make 4 sandwiches.

Whisk eggs, orange zest and juice and vanilla in a shallow bowl. Place bran flakes in a bag and crush. Pour crumbs onto a plate. Dip both sides of each sandwich in the egg mixture, then in the crumbs, gently pressing the crumbs onto the bread.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the sandwiches in batches until the outsides are golden brown and the insides are melted. 3-4 minute on each side. Add more butter if needed.

Top with powder sugar and syrup.

*I did change a couple of things because I didn't have any orange marmalade on hand and I didn't feel like going back to the store. I used some strawberry freezer jam instead, and used a little milk to mix in with the eggs instead of the oj and zest (although I bet the orange/strawberry combo would have been really good). I also didn't have bran flakes but I did have corn flakes, so I used those.