My Recipes » Holly P.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Holly P. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:07:51 +0000

This is a recipe I found while looking for ideas for Thanksgiving. These sweet potatoes are so good I’ve made them a couple times since Thanksgiving. Proceed with caution because they might be addictive!

Recipe: Candied Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

2 cups white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup butter
6 sweet potatoes (peeled and cut into large cubes)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions

In a small bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add sweet potatoes; stirring to coat.
Sprinkle sugar mixture over sweet potatoes, and stir.
Cover skillet and reduce to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour, or until the sauce is dark and the potatoes are candied. They should be tender, but a little hard around the edges.
Stir in vanilla and serve.

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Velveeta Taco Mac & Cheese

Holly P. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:37:50 +0000

Ok, who doesn’t love mac & cheese? Well, I certainly do and this is a nice variation. It’s a quick and easy recipe using things I usually have on hand and it tastes yummy! Yeah, for hearty, comfort food!

Recipe: Velveeta Taco Mac & Cheese

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef
2-3/4 cups water
1/3 cup salsa
1-1/2 tsp. chili powder or cumin
2 cups (8 oz.) elbow macaroni, uncooked
1/2 lb (8 oz.) Velveeta Pasteurized Prepared Cheese product, cut up in cubes

Instructions

Brown meat in large skillet on medium-high heat; drain.
Stir in cups water, salsa, and chili powder.
Bring to boil. Stir in macaroni and cover. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 8 – 10 minutes or until water is almost absorbed.
Add Velveeta and cook until melted, stirring frequently.
Garnish with 1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips, 1/4 cup chopped tomato and 2 Tbsp chopped green onion if desired

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Hershey’s Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

Holly P. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:11:22 +0000

This recipe is a little gem that I found on a bag of Hershey’s chocolate chips. If you’re looking for a crowd-pleaser this is the cookie to make!

Recipe: Hershey’s Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine (softened)
2 eggs
2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1-1/3 cups (8 oz. pkg.) Heath Bits ‘O Brickle Toffee bits
1 cup Mounds sweetened coconut flakes (optional)

Instructions

Heat oven to 375. Lightly grease cookie sheet.
Beat butter, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla until well blended.
Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; beat until blended.
Stir in oats, toffee bits, and coconut (optional).
Drop dough by rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto prepared sheet .
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Cool 1 minute then remove to a wire rack. Makes about 4 dozen cookies

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Quick Tortilla Soup

Holly P. — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:53:45 +0000

This a quick and tasty recipe for Tortilla soup. My Mom shared it with me and I make it all the time. This soup has a great flavor and you can really personalize it by adding or deleting some of the ingredients.

Recipe: Quick Tortilla Soup

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts
2 cans of chicken broth
3 – 4 cans of water
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup of celery, chopped
2 Tbs of butter
1 cup of corn (drained if from a can)
2 cans chopped tomatoes with chilies (10 oz can)
1 package Taco seasoning
1 package dry Ranch dressing mix
Tortilla chips
Grated cheese
Chopped green onions

Instructions

Cook chicken in broth/water until done (about 30 minutes). Remove chicken and cut up into bite-size pieces. Return to broth.
Saute onion, green pepper, and celery in butter until tender.
Add chicken and vegetables to broth.
Add corn, canned tomatoes with chilies, and dry mixes. Stir well and simmer 30 – 40 minutes.
Serve over broken tortilla chips and garnish with grated cheese and onion.

Variations

You can add cut up avocado, black beans, jalapenos, chilies, pico de gallo as well as whatever else you like to the soup.

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Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

Holly P. — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:58:33 +0000

This recipe was given to me by my wonderful Mother-in-law, Linda and it’s a keeper. This casserole layers rice, chicken, white sauce, broccoli (optional for those non-veggie eaters), and lots of cheese. Yum!

Recipe: Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

Ingredients

2 cups cooked White rice
4 cooked chicken breasts (shredded) or 12.5 oz. canned chicken (water drained and shredded)
1 package of frozen broccoli
2-4 cups Mozzarella cheese (shredded)

White sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
1.5 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon milk
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 cup Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
1 squeeze of lemon juice
Dash of Pepper
Dash of Curry powder

Instructions

Grease your casserole dish (I use a rectangular 13×9)
Boil your chicken breasts for 1 to 1.5 hours or use canned chicken
While the rice is cooking (I like to cook mine in a rice cooker) I start making the white sauce.
Melt butter in a saucepan on Medium heat, then stir in flour, stir in cream of chicken soup, milk, lemon juice, pepper and curry powder. Once combined taste a little to judge if you want to add in more lemon juice, or curry powder. Then add in mozzarella cheese, stirring until the cheese has melted. Turn on low.
Cook broccoli (if using)
Pre-heat the oven to 350.
Once the chicken, rice, broccoli and sauce are done, then start assembling your casserole by spooning the rice into the bottom of the greased 13×9 dish. Two cups of cooked rice should cover the entire bottom of the dish about an inch deep all the way around. Then place your shredded chicken on top of the rice, covering the rice. Then add the broccoli (if using) and cover with white sauce. You’ll want to spread the white sauce around with a spoon, so it’s covering the chicken and broccoli. Lastly, spread the mozzarella over the top of the entire casserole.
Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes.

Quick Notes

My husband does not like broccoli, so sometimes I’ll use 2 smaller baking dishes and make one with broccoli and one without. Or you could use a smaller, deeper dish and add another round of layers.

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Sugar Cookie Frosting

Holly P. — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:50:49 +0000

This is the frosting that I always use to make sugar cookies, but its also tasty on cupcakes.

Recipe: Frosting

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter (softened)
2 cups of powdered sugar
3 tablespoons of milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Mix all of the ingredients together until the consistency becomes smooth and frosting like.

Divide the frosting into several bowls and then add a couple of drops of food coloring into each bowl and mix it in until the color is mixed in.

Once you have several colors of frosting made then cover your working surface with wax paper or parchment paper and spread out your sugar cookies and begin frosting them.

Add sprinkles, candies, and/or nuts to the frosted cookies but you’ll need to add them directly after frosting, because once the frosting sets the sprinkles will not stick. So, it works best to work on one cookie at a time.

After, the cookies are all frosted and sprinkled to your liking let them sit for a while (30 -45 minutes) on the wax paper so that the frosting can dry or set. Then you’ll want to put them in airtight container to store them.

Quick Notes

You can buy Gel food colors at stores where baking products are sold and you’ll get better, truer colors than if you use the kind of food colors that can be found at the grocery store.

Also, put an apple in the container with your decorated cookies to keep the cookies fresh longer.

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Holiday Sugar Cookies

Holly P. — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:50:54 +0000

This recipe has been a favorite Christmas tradition for my family as long as I can remember and I continue to make these every year.

After baking the cookies I gather the family around and we have a great time decorating them. You can bake these cookies for any occasion or holiday. Pair this recipe with my frosting recipe and prepare for the many compliments you’ll receive because they are as yummy as they are pretty!

Recipe: Sugar cookies

Ingredients

1.5 cups powdered sugar
1 cup margarine or butter softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 egg
2.5 cups all-purpose flour (don’t use self-rising flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

Instructions

Mix powdered sugar, margarine, vanilla, almond extract and egg.
Stir in remaining ingredients
Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
Heat oven to 375.
Divide dough into halves. Roll each half 3/16 inch thick on lightly floured cloth-covered board.
Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters.
Place on lightly greased cookie sheet and bake until edges are light brown (7-8 minutes)
Frost and decorate cooled cookies with colored sugar or sprinkles

Quick Notes

You could sprinkle your cookies with granulated sugar before you bake them instead of frosting them, but they’re so yummy with the frosting that I can’t imagine eliminating the frosting. Plus, you’d miss out on the funnest part of the whole sugar cookie experience!

The frosting and sprinkling stage has become a yearly Christmas tradition in our family. I divide the frosting into several plastic bowls and add food coloring so we have a variety of colors and then pull out 10-12 different types of sprinkles and we have lots fun decorating.

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Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

Holly P. — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:00:04 +0000

Hello World! This is my first blog post ever, so I thought I would blog about one of my favorite recipes for chicken cacciatore.

Not only is it very tasty, it’s also really easy because you cook it in the slow cooker. I like to prepare it the night before and then put the whole bowl (covered) in the fridge (luckily my slow cooker has a removable bowl) and then just place the bowl on the slow cooker and turn it on low on my way out the door in the morning.

I found this recipe on Kraftfoods.com and I believe you’ll like it too!

Recipe: Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients

1/4 cup Zesty Italian dressing
3 lb. chicken – boneless thighs and/or drumsticks
1/2 lb. (about 2 cups) of fresh sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion
1/2 cup each red and green bell pepper strips
1 clove garlic (minced)
1 can (14.5 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Italian seasoning

Instructions

Heat dressing in a large skillet on medium-high heat and cook the chicken several pieces at a time for 2-3 minutes on each side.
Place mushrooms, onions, peppers, and garlic in the slow cooker and top with chicken.
Combine crushed tomatoes, salt and seasoning and then pour over the ingredients in the slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 5 hours.

Quick Notes

I coat the chicken pieces in the dressing and then cook them on my foreman grill instead of on the stove top to avoid the chicken splatter that usually gets all over my cook top. I guess it just depends on which you’d rather clean afterwards.

Oh, I almost forgot we like it over jasmine rice, but it would be great over pasta too! To ensure this is gluten free, serve it over rice and ensure your Zesty Italian dressing is gluten free. Enjoy!

Variations

If you prefer white meat (like we do) you should use boneless chicken breasts instead of the thighs and drumsticks.

Cooking time (duration): 20

Diet (other): Gluten free

Number of servings (yield): 8

Meal type: dinner

Culinary tradition: Italian

My rating:5 stars: ★★★★★