Beefy Biscuit Cups

This is how much leftover hamburger sauce I had.....Oodles!

I love easy meals. The one's that don't take much time or effort. And those are usually the one's the kids love the most. Here is a very easy meal to prepare (p.107) . I even make my own biscuits! The recipe calls for 1 can of biscuits, but you would need 2. Or only use 1/2 lb of hamburger and 1/2 can of spaghetti sauce. I have plenty of leftover hamburger sauce, I'll use it to make spaghetti tomorrow.

Bread Bowls with Butternut Squash Soup

I've always wanted to try making my own bread bowls (p. 30) and I'm so happy to have a good recipe. These turned out perfect. However, I don't think I'd even try making these without an electric mixer. I used half white/wheat flour and that worked just fine. A correction in the recipe: 1/2 cup sugar (not 12 cups!). I only did 1/2 recipe, and for the extra flour I probably added a little over 2 cups.

Who doesn't love Squash soup? (p. 73) It was easy and delicious. I was told that it tastes best using 5 C water w/ 6 tsp. bullion instead of using 5 C. chicken broth. So that's what I did. I haven't tried it with the broth, but bullion is cheaper and just as easy, so I'll stick with that. Also, I don't have white pepper, so I just used regular old black pepper. I think it just calls for white pepper for looks, not for flavor.

Herb Roasted Chicken and Swiss Bread

Well, I did a few things wrong with this meal. Like I said above, I am no chef, and don't expect pretty pictures!

Can you tell what I did wrong with the chicken (p. 99)? The directions specifically say "place the chicken breast side up". I have to admit, I didn't even realize until I cut into it that it was upside down. Unfortunately, all those delicious herbs seasoned the wrong side of the bird! It was still really yummy, but I have a feeling I missed out on the full potential of flavor. I'll definitely have to try this one again, the right way! I will say that it was not nearly as overwhelming to work with a whole bird as I thought it would be. One tip-mix the butter and garlic together, then rub all over the bird.

Now for the bread (p. 28). Delicious. Great potential to look amazing too. Just make sure you have enough room in your oven for it to cook, so it doesn't collapse in the middle :) I did have to ad about an extra 2/3 cup of flour, and it was still VERY soft dough, but I'm guessing that's the way it's supposed to be. Also, a correction: 2 1/4 teaspoon (NOT tablespoon) of yeast. I actually just did 1 tablespoon to make it easy. Even though the middle collapsed, it was still really good.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Forgot to take a picture before diving in....

I only used 2 large chicken breasts, and it was just the right amount for my family. The directions for this recipe (p. 95) didn't say to pre-cook the broccoli, and I need to find out if I should. I did pre-cook mine, and it turned out good but if I don't need to, it would save a step in preparing this dish. Also, I'm assuming the "1 Tbl. lemon" is for lemon juice...that's what I used. My kids LOVED this recipe. They ate the entire casserole dish clean, which rarely happens at my house.
******UPDATE******you do not need to pre-cook the broccoli! That makes this recipe that much more loveable!

Chicken, Corn and Bean Tacos

I have made these before without the chicken or rice, and they are very good. It's nice sometimes to have a good filling meal without any meat in it. But I have to say that you can't go wrong with this chicken (p. 96). It was so good! It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I love using the crock pot. And I love (American style) Mexican food. What a great meal!

Brunch Casserole

We like to make breakfast for dinner quite often in my house, and casserole's like this (p. 37) are perfect!I added an extra egg, 4 didn't quite seam to cover it. And I had to cook mine for 20 minutes. But it was delicious. My kids love sausage, so anything with sausage is a guaranteed yummy. I loved the croissants on the bottom, they gave it a really good flavor.

Mandi's Spinach Salad

I have had this salad now, 3 times (p. 55). Two of those times I have made it myself. Out of the 3 times the dressing has been slightly different each time: the first, the sugar was forgotten, but I didn't know until after and still loved the salad. the second, I knew I liked it w/out the sugar, but wanted to try it with so I knew what it was supposed to taste like. It was definitely good, but very sweet. So the third time I had it, I only added 1-2 (didn't measure) Tablespoons of sugar, and this was my favorite way to have it. Also, I wouldn't recommend pouring the whole recipe of dressing on the salad, it was a little too much dressing for my taste. I like it better pouring it on separately each serving. Over all, though, we love this salad. It will frequently grace my table :)

OJ Pork Chops and Oriental String Beans

YUMMY! The only thing I'd do different if I made these pork chops again (p.94), is make more sauce to saturate the rice in. Super yummy. I used thin cut chops, so it only took mine about 1/2 hour to cook through after browning in delectable butter.

The green beans were so good that my kids asked for more, then more, then more (p 65). This meal definitely satisfied all members of the family. I love green beans a little bit crunchy, and this recipe goes very well with that style of green bean. Both the chops and the green beans went well with a hearty helping of rice.

Italian Pasta Salad

I made this for the baptism yesterday, so some of you got to taste it! I love this salad (p. 57) because it's got so many yummy flavors in it, but it's easy to make. There really isn't much preparation for it. Cook the noodles, chop the peppers, then toss all the ingredients together! The peppers can be found in the grocery store right by the fancy olives. They come packed in water in a glass jar. My favorite olives for this salad are the kalamato (sp?) olives, but regular old olives taste great too. I've never been able to find the dressing the recipe calls for, but I have found a very yummy substitute. I use Wish Bone Greek Italian dressing.

Poppyseed Chicken Casserole

I originally made this meal (p. 95) thinking I was making a meal to bring to a gal in my neighborhood who just had a baby, but after I had started it found out she didn't need one for tonight. So, the half of the casserole I was going to make for her I decided to freeze. I've never frozen this casserole before, so we'll see how it turns out! Normally I just cook this in a 9x13 pan, but tonight it was made in 2 9x9's. My kids always love this meal. It's got a nice buttery taste with the ritz crackers crumbled on top. Super yummy on rice. Not a beautiful meal, but tasty! I think that some chicken meals don't taste very good as left overs, but this is one that re-warms well and tastes great the next day. So I always do the full recipe, even though half is enough to feed us.

Chicken Rollups and Blueberry Jell-O

The Chicken rollups (p.105) are very similar to a recipe that my Mom made. So I was excited to try them. I really liked the flavor the cream of mushroom soup and olives added. I've never had them in chicken rolls before. This recipe makes a TON of rolls. Even cutting the recipe in half I still had plenty to feed my family 2 whole meals. Also, I only added 1 can of cream of mushroom. I left out the other 2 creamed soups. It was a pretty messy process rolling these up, but lots of fun for the kiddos to help with. And in the end, who cares how messy it is as long as it tastes good! It took my rolls more like 20 minutes to cook through. I decided not to serve it on rice, or with any gravy on top. I kind of like them just the way they are!

I have to admit I wasn't sure about combining pineapple, blueberry pie filling and black cherry jell-o. But the blueberry jell-o (p. 51) was delicious! I couldn't stop eating it. It's super yummy with the creamy topping. I had some with my dinner, then a little more after dinner, then a little more for dessert :)

Budget Blues Soup & Baguettes

Whether feeling the blues in your budget or not, this is a tasty and hearty soup (recipe on p. 73). This is basically a stew, but with the basil gives it a refreshing flavor. I gave mine a couple of healthy pinches of basil, because I love the flavor of basil. I don't keep celery around very often because I end up using very little and wasting a lot, so instead I keep a jar of celery seed in my spice cabinet. I used about 1/2 tsp of celery seed instead of chopped celery. Also, because we are a big fan of cooked carrots, I doubled the amount of chopped carrots. Tasty meal on a cold and rainy day.

The baguettes (p. 30) are always a hit in my house. I made it with 1/2 wheat-1/2 white flour. I have found that I like it better with half the salt the recipe calls for, so I only add 1 tsp. I have also come up with this variation, which we love: after rolling out into a triangle shape, I spread a mixture of 1 Tbl. butter, 1/4 tsp. dill weed, & 1/8 or so tsp. garlic salt all over it like you would spread butter and sugar over cinnamon rolls. Then I roll it up and follow the baking directions.

Amish Breakfast Casserole with Sweet Muffins

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Can't go wrong with breakfast for dinner! This breakfast casserole (p. 37) was prepared for all of you at last year's family reunion. If I remember correctly, it was well liked. It sounds odd, with swiss and cottage cheese in it, but tastes great. It can be made with sausage or bacon. Since I only needed half a recipe to feed my family, I cooked half of it in 9x9 baking dish, and froze the other half for another day.

The sweet muffins (p. 2) were sweet and very good! I made them with 1/2 wheat flour and 1/2 white flour. There are some variations to this recipe included in the recipe book that I want to try, but for this meal I just did the basic muffin.

Since this wasn't the healthiest meal, I made a green smoothy to go along with it. A smoothy with a healthy amount of carrots and spinach. The flavor was hidden by vanilla yogurt, a splash of apple juice, and a variety of frozen fruits. A favorite side dish in our family to sneak some veggies into those kiddos.

This meal definitely passed the picky-kid test, while still satisfying the adults!

Sundried Tomato Chicken and Poppyseed dressing

I forgot to take a picture of this meal before I dove into it...so my plate is a little messy :)


I LOVE this chicken dish. It's a similar process to making Chicken Cordon Blue, I think slightly easier. The recipe is on p. 103. I cut each chicken breast in half so they were smaller pieces, more kid friendly. I still used 1/2 stick cheese in each piece. I used margarine instead of butter, still very tasty but real butter is definitely better. The first time I made this I wasn't sure where to find the sun-dried tomatoes, so if you are like me I'll let you know! You find them in glass jars, packed in olive oil. Usually the same isle at your grocery store that you'd find olives. Costco sells a large jar of them that are very tasty. I recommend buying them already diced up.

I also made a very yummy salad (spinach, candied pecans, onion, blue cheese, and blackberries) and made the poppyseed dressing (p 60) to go with it. I couldn't find xanthum gum, any tips on where to find it? Very yummy dressing! Very easy to make.

Macaroni Alfredo and French Bread

We were out of Fettuccini noodles, so we used what was on hand, which happened to be macaroni.

The Alfredo sauce recipe (p 83) was very easy to make. I think I had my heat too high when I added the cheese, which caused it to turn out slightly goopy, but still tasted great! Once I mixed it into the noodles you couldn't tell the difference. We added a can of chicken to make it a more complete meal.

I also made the French Bread (p 34). I made half a recipe since 1 loaf is plenty for my family. So instead of making it in my Bosch, I made it by hand. It says to knead for 10 min. on medium speed. I was lazy, and only kneaded it (by hand) until it was well combined, maybe 4 minutes. It still tasted great, but for texture and beauty I'd recommend following the directions :)

Both recipes were easy to follow. The kids loved this meal!