Pictures of Cheeseburger Soup

When I made cheeseburger soup the other day I decided that we need pictures on here. So I took pictures of the soup as I made it. It looks so delicious and it smells even better. If you haven't made this soup you definitely should.

Cooking the veggies:


Potatoes, beef and broth added:

Flour added:

Waiting for cheese to melt:

Final result:

Pat's Dill Rolls

A good friend of mine who passed away a few years ago, had this recipe and they are very tasty. Now my mother-in-law makes them for many occasions. Here it is:

Makes 75-100 rolls (depending on the size you cut them out there are a lot more, or less :) )

¾ cup hot water

6 Tbsp butter or margarine

3c. (24oz.) small curd low fat cottage cheese

Melt butter in hot water in microwave. Mix water with cottage cheese in food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. Warm mixture in microwave to warm bath water temperature. Pour into large mixing bowl add:

3 Tbsp dry yeast

2 Tbsp dill weed

3 eggs (room temperature)

Mix well, add:

3 c. flour

¾ tsp baking soda

3 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp salt

Blend well; add enough flour (1-3c) to make a moderately stiff dough. Knead until smooth. Let rise in warm draft free place until double, about an hour.

Punch down dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to about ½ inch thickness. Cut with small biscuit cutter, place on lightly oil sprayed baking sheet. The rolls can be close together but not quite touching. Let rise until double about 20 minutes. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes or just until the edges turn golden. Do not over bake.

Remove from oven and brush tops with butter.

Southern Chicken Roll-Ups

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 lb.)
6 slices Swiss cheese (I use pepper jack because I think Swiss is NASTY!)
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp butter or margarine
3/4 c chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Flatten chicken to 1/4-inch thickness. Place a cheese slice on each. Roll up jellyroll-style. In a shallow bowl, combine flour and pepper. Add chicken and roll to coat. In a skillet over medium heat, cook chicken in butter until browned, about 10 minutes, turning frequently. Add broth and oregano. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer for 12 to 14 minutes, or until chicken juices run clear.

Super Easy Chicken Manicotti

Well this is one from a Betty Crocker(she is so hot) cookbook, for spending 30 minutes or less in the kitchen, we have found several good recipes in it so far and we had this one with Dad, Diane, and Mallory plus Gavyn was here with us(Me, Ginny, and Skyler) for the night.
It calls for 14 mannicottie shells the package came with sixteen and so that is what we used, one and a half pounds of chicken tenders the bag was a pound and ten ounces and just used what we used, a thirty ounce jar of spasketty sause the jar we used was 26 ounces, I noticed after and I would probably like to use a little more but everyone else said it was fine you you choose, um... two cups of mootzerella cheese
and some olives I think I don't have the recipe in front of me and am doing this from memory, it is super easy and probably could be easier than we did it even
Now with all of the ingredients gathered, you spread about a third of the sause on the bottom of a 9 by 13 pan or whatever, it says ungreased, (oh, yeah, some garlic salt) sprinkle garlic salt on the tenders and stuff them into the manicottie, both ends if needed, I did it when they were frozen and did one and a half per pasta shell, I am thinking maybe next time to thaw out the chicken and see how that works, I only broke a couple this time and seeing how sometimes you have several broken just opening the package I did good, now with all of these stuffed place them in the pan on the sauce, cover with the remainging sauce add olives and coat with the cheese, place in the fridgereater covered with foil over night, allow to chill for no more than 24 hours, about an hour before you want to eat preheat the oven to 350 degreeze, and bake it for about an hour covered.
Bone apple tight

Carrot Pineapple Muffins

1 cup sugar (I use 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 white sugar)
2/3 cup vegetable oil or canola oil (I use unsweetened applesauce instead)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon (although I'm not a huge cinnamon fan I think it could use a little more cinnamon)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup drained crushed pineapple

Stir together sugar and oil. Then stir in the eggs until well combined. Add the vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir into sugar mixture just until combined. Add carrots and pineapple just until combined.
Spoon into greased muffin tin, filling to top. Bake in a preheated 375 degree (F) oven for 20 minutes or until done.
Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, then remove to a rack to finish cooling.

Even Matt and Gavyn ate these and seemed to enjoy them. I have found a way to feed my boys vegetables!! I think that raisins would be pretty good in these also.

Turkey-Cranberry Ravioli with Buttercream gravy

This is our modification of a Giada De Laurentiis original. It's Marcia's second favorite dish (after my homemade fettucini alfredo, of course!)

Ravioli
1/4 Pound ground turkey, preferably dark meat
2 TBS chopped fresh cranberries (or some pulverized whole berry cranberry sauce will work if you can't get fresh berries)
2 TBS grated romano cheese (you can also use an "italian blend" that's cheap at stores)
1 TBS bread crumbs
1 TBS chopped fresh parsley
1 egg
Salt
Black pepper
20 store-bought wonton wrappers

Gravy
3 TBS butter
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 TBS all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 TBS heavy cream (usually sold as "heavy whipping cream")
1 TBS chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/4 TSP Salt
1/4 TSP Black pepper


To make ravioli:
In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the turkey, cranberries, cheese, bread crumbs
, parsely, and egg. Add a couple pinches of salt and pepper, to taste.

Place 10 wonton wrappers on a work surface. Brush lightly with water using a pastry brush. Place 1 tablespoon of turkey mixture on each of the wonton wrappers. Top with another wonton wrapper. Push out any air bubbles and press around the edges tightly to seal.

To make the gravy:
In a heavy skillet, heat butter over medium heat. Lightly sautee the garlic. Add flour and stir until cooked, about 1 minute. Now you have garlic roux. Slowly add the chicken broth to the roux, stirring quickly to avoid lumps. Ass the cream, parsley, and salt and pepper and cook (DO NOT BOIL) for 2 minutes, stirring often.

In the meantime, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the ravioli and cook until tender, but firm, and the turkey is cooked - about 3 minutes. Drain the ravioli, and serve immediately with the gravy. Delicious!


Tips:
Make sure the cranberries are very finely diced.
Start the ravioli boiling while the garlic is sauteeing.
Have everything for the gravy measured out and ready before you start making it, and it will all be done at the right time.

Perfect Pancakes

1 1/3 C flour
2 T sugar
3 tsp baking powder
3 T oil
1 egg
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 C milk

Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Lightly grease a skillet for the first pancakes only. Cook them until they are puffy and bubbly, turning to brown the other side. Serve hot.

Banana Quick Bread

*This is for you, Marcia. I told you a few months ago that I had an easy and good recipe for banana bread. It has never failed me-but I forgot to get it to you. So, here it is.

1 C sugar
1/2 C margarine
2 eggs
Nuts (optional)
2 C flour
1 tsp soda
3 large bananas (mashed)

Cream sugar and margarine; add eggs, then bananas, flour, and soda; add nuts. Bake at 350* for 1 hour in loaf pan greased on bottom only.

Buffalo Style Chicken Pizza

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Buffalo-Style-Chicken-Pizza/Detail.aspx

We had this pizza for lunch. It was pretty good. However neither Matt nor I likes blue cheese so I used ranch dressing instead. For the crust I used the recipe that Rick posted: Pizza from scratch. That too is very delicious. It was a very simple and filling meal that I had to share.