Ice Cream Ornaments

I thought this would be a fun activity for kids at Christmas time.

Raylene

Homemade tomato soup

Oh yeah, this is gooooooood.

Tomato soup

1 T olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, grated
Garlic or garlic powder to taste
1 can 28 oz tomato crushed tomatoes
1 can 14 oz chicken broth
½ tsp salt
½ tsp thyme
¼ tsp pepper
1 T red-wine vinegar (I left this out cuz I didn’t have it!)
Optional: sour cream on top

Heat oil and sauté onions and carrots with garlic powder.
Stir in crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, salt, thyme, and pepper.
Heat to boiling and then simmer for 15 minutes.
Let cool and stir in vinegar.

Makes 4 cups
Nutrition per cup: 109 cal, 3 g protein, 4 g fat, 18 g carb, 87 mg calcium, 2 g fiber

Chicken enchiladas

Chicken enchiladas

You can half the recipe, or make a ton and freeze for a future busy night's dinner.

Filling:
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cans cream of chicken soup
½ can enchilada sauce (red)
1 small container of sour cream
1 cup cheddar cheese
Take 1/3 of filling and set aside for topping
Add 1 pound cooked diced chicken to the 2/3 mixture
Spoon into tortillas (usually makes 18 or so depending on how generous the spoonfuls are!)
Put some filling from the “aside” bowl in pan (usually I use 2 pans)
Place tortillas in pan(s) and top with the “aside” filling
Add more cheese to the top and the rest of the red enchilada sauce if you want more spice!
Bake for 30 minutes at 350 and serve with rice.

Broccoli Ham Quiche

This may be more of a breakfast dish, but I made it for dinner tonight. We had ham for Sunday dinner and I had some left overs I needed to use. Anyway, it was very well received by everyone. That's right, it pleased 7 out of 7 people. The kids didn't even know there was potatoes in it. I guess it's a keeper. Next time I make it I will have to double it and cook it in a 9x13 inch pan. It is a microwave recipe too, and though I prefer to cook in the oven...sometimes in a pinch it's nice to have a quick microwave recipe. Hope you like it!

2 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup diced fully cooked ham
1/2 cup chopped fresh broccoli
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teas. dried minced onion (I didn't add this because I didn't have it on hand, but I'm sure it would be good in there)
1/2 teas. garlic powder
1/2 teas. salt
1/2 teas. pepper (I only added 1/4 teas. since we are not big pepper fans.)

1. Place hash browns in a greased 9 inch microwave-safe pie plate. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 4 minutes or until thawed. Press onto the bottom and halfway up the sides of the plate. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 3 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese, ham and broccoli.
2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, milk and seasonings; pour over ham mixture. Cover with waxed paper. Microwave at 70% power for 10-12 minutes, or until set. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting. Makes 4-6 servings.

Meatloaf

This is Bob's favorite meatloaf, and if I do say so myself, it is realllllly easy and good!

Mix in a bowl:
1 pound uncooked ground beef, salt and pepper
1/4 cup onions (pre-cooked is preferred at our house)
1/4 cup crushed crackers (we like to use goldfish crackers to get the kids interested in eating)
2 eggs
1/2 the sauce (see below)
You can add other items too, I have added fresh cut up tomatoes or mushrooms before.

Mix sauce in separate bowl:
1 can tomato soup
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs mustard

Put the meat mixture in a pre-greased pan of your choice (pie pan/loaf pan/or muffin tins)
Pour the remaining sauce over the meat mixture in pan.
Bake for about an hour at 350 (check the middle of pan for browned meat - I like to use glass pie pans for this purpose...)
OR you can microwave this recipe for 15 minutes on high power.

Enjoy!

TONGANS (it's a sandwich not a person)

These are called Tongans because they were handed down from missionary to missionary and it started with a Tongan Elder...or so the legend goes. They might look and sound strange, but the sandwiches are very flavorful and quite filling. It goes a little something like this:

You need:
One pack of Ramen Noodles (flavor of your choice.)
2 eggs
sandwich fillings of your liking (i.e. bacon or sandwich meat, cheese, onions, tomatoes, etc.)

What you do:
Start boiling your water. Take the 2 eggs and crack them open and put the contents into a bowl. Then you open the flavor packet from the noodles and mix it with the eggs. Once the water is boiling, put in the noodles, but only for like 10 to 20 seconds. Just enough to where you can unfold the noodles. Then you put whatever you want in between the two halves of the noodles and fold it back over. Get a frying pan and put a dab of butter on it. Once it's hot pour half of the eggs onto it and place your noodle sandwich thing in the eggs. As the eggs cook, use a spatula to form them around the noodles. Then lift the sandwich, pour on the rest of the eggs and repeat. When it's all cooked, put in between some bread with your desired sauces or condiments and enjoy! By the way, these are Blythe tested and Blythe approved. Very tasty and very filling. We just did some blt's with chicken ramen and ranch and it was supreme.

Baked Amish Oatmeal

Amish Baked Oatmeal

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter melted
1 egg
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Toppings:

Warm milk
fresh fruit and/or brown sugar, optional
yogurt

Combine the first eight ingredients; mix well. Spread evenly in a greased 13 in. x 9 in. x 2
in. baking pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
Immediately spoon into bowl and add various toppings.

This is yummy! I put it in a preheated cast iron pan which made it crispier. I like the leftovers on top of my yogurt the next day.