Peach Cobbler

This is a recipe from Aunt Jerry, who isn't even my aunt, but the aunt of my good friend Donna. It tastes like it is much more difficult to make than it is. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of sliced peaches in light syrup
• 1 box of cake mix
• 1 stick of butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Pour peaches into a 13” x  9” baking dish
3. Cut each slice of the peaches in half
4. Pour the cake mix over the peaches
5. Melt the butter and pour over the cake mix
6. Bake for 45 minutes
7. Let the dessert rest for 15 minutes before serving

Tips and Tricks:

• This is excellent with vanilla ice cream.
• I use Duncan Hines Deluxe Butter Recipe Golden cake mix.
• Don’t use margarine in the place of butter.  It has too much water and doesn’t brown properly if you do.

Barbeque Pork Chops

This is a recipe from Talk About Good Cookbook.  I am not very reverent of cookbooks.  I write in them and scratch things out and put a big star on the ones that we like.  This is one of the recipes that has a big STAR.

Ingredients:

• 6 – 8 pork chops
• ¼ C. vinegar
• 1/3 C.  chili sauce
• ½ C. water
• 1 T. Dijon mustard
• ¼ C. brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Mix all ingredients, except pork chops, in a baking dish
3. Place pork chops in mixture and cover with foil
4. Bake for 1 hour
5. Remove foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes

Tips and Tricks:

• I use apple cider vinegar.  I think it gives the sauce a great taste.
• I have made this recipe with pork chops and with a pork roast cut into cubes.  It tastes great both ways. 

Corn Casserole

I got this recipe from my friend Nicolle.  We used to have a dinner club when we were newlyweds.  She brought this to one of the dinners and everyone had to have another helping.  I have shared this recipe more than any other.  Everyone loves it.  It's easy to make and it is NOT low fat.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Jiffy cornbread mix
• 1 egg
• 1 stick of butter melted
• 1 C. sour cream
• 1 can of yellow and white corn
• 1 can of cream style sweet corn

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl
3. Spray a glass baking dish with cooking spray
4. Pour batter into dish and bake for 1 hour

 Tips and Tricks:

• I use Green Giant corn.  I think it tastes better.
• This is so good with B-B-Q. 
• It is easy to double this recipe, but bake it in two separate baking dishes.  It gets over done on the edges and soupy in the middle if you try to put a double batch in one baking dish.

Chili

This is my mother-in-law, Dotty's Chili recipe.  It is quick and yummy.  She says she does not use beer, so I'm not sure when I added that step, but it gives the chili a good flavor.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground chuck
• 1 medium onion chopped fine
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 can of beer
• ¼ C. chili powder
• ½ T. sugar
• 1 T. salt
• ½ T. pepper
• hot sauce to taste

Directions:

1. In a Dutch oven on medium heat, brown the ground meat then drain
2. Heat olive oil over medium-low heat and sauté onions until limp
3. Add tomato paste and chili powder, stir well and brown
4. Add beer and sugar
5. Cook for 30 min
6. Add salt, pepper and hot sauce if desired

Tips and Tricks:

• Don’t use a light beer.
• If you double or triple this recipe, be careful with the chili powder.  It seems to me that chili powder intensifies the more you add.  The strength of chili powder differs greatly.  It depends on what kind you use.
• This freezes great!

Asparagus Dip

You can't get much easier.  Three ingredients and about 5 minutes of prep time.  This is a recipe from the back of the asparagus can, but my friend Karen is the one who tried it first.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of asparagus
• ½ C. mayonnaise
• ½ C. Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until well blended
3. Pour into baking dish and bake for 20 minutes

 Tips and Tricks:

• I serve this dip with Wheat Thins.
• This dip can also be served cold.  It does not need to be baked.

Chicken Stock

A good chicken stock is the key to a flavorful soup or gumbo.  This is how I make mine!

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• 2 onions, cut in ½
• 1 head of garlic, cut in ½
• 4 celery stalks, cut in ¼
• 1 T. Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
• 16 C. cool water

 Directions:

1. Place everything in a stock pot
2. Boil on medium heat for 2 hours
3. Cut heat and allow to cool with cover on for 1 hour
4. Strain and now you have stock

 Tips and Tricks:

• I buy a rotisserie chicken and cut the breast meat off to make chicken salad.  I use the rest of the bird in the place of a whole raw chicken.  This stock still tastes great.
• I freeze this stock, but it can be used out of the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I have tweaked two different recipes and made this soup about five times and now I think I've perfected it.  I started with a Barefoot Contessa recipe that had no corn or black beans.  I think both are necessary to make this soup hearty. This is NOT a soup you eat before a meal!  This is a soup you eat AS your meal.

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts bone-in skin on
• ¼ C. olive oil
• 2 C. onions, finely chopped 
• 1 C. carrots, chopped
• 1  C. celery, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 12 C. chicken stock
• 1 (8 oz.) can of tomato sauce
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes
• 2 cans of Mexican Rotel tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 can of corn
• 1 can of cream corn
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed
• 4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
• 1 t. ground cumin
• 1 T.  kosher salt
• ¼ C. cilantro, chopped
• 10 (6 in.) white corn tortillas
• Sour cream
• Grated cheddar cheese
• 1 avocado sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Rub chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper
3. Place chicken breasts skin side up on a sheet pan and bake for 35 minutes
4. Heat ¼ C. olive oil over medium-low heat in a large pot and add chopped onions, celery, & carrots cooking until veggies are limp, about 15 minutes
5. Add garlic for last minute
6. Add chicken stock and then each ingredient as listed (through cilantro), stirring between each
7. Cut the tortillas in half and then into ½ in squares, add to the soup and stir (the tortillas act as a thickener)
8. Bring to a low boil and simmer for 30 minutes
9. While soup is simmering, remove the skin and bones from the chicken breasts and cut into small bite size pieces
10. Add the chicken for an additional 10 minutes
11. Serve soup with a dollop of sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, and slices of avocado

Tips and Tricks:

• Making your own chicken stock for this recipe is cheaper and tastes better.  Follow my link to find out how I make mine.
• Do NOT scrap the seeds of a jalapeno pepper out with your fingernails.  You WILL regret this.  Scrap with a teaspoon and save your skin.
• This soup freezes great!