Cotton Candy Soda

I'm not sure if I can call this a recipe because there are only two ingredients. But I thought it was interesting and my kids thought it was fun to make. Just fill a glass with cotton candy and pour in a clear soda like Sprite or 7UP.

Biscuits and Gravy

While the biscuits are a relatively new recipe for me, I've been making this gravy for years. You can use sausage or bacon grease in place of the butter if you want the flavor. And FYI a stand mixer makes the biscuits much easier to make.

BISCUITS:
3 cups flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup butter
1 cup milk

GRAVY:
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

BISCUITS: mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl than cut in butter with a knife until the mixture resembles crumbs. Than add the milk and mix until it forms into a dough. Roll the dough to about 3/4 inch thick and cut with a biscuit cutter. Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes.
GRAVY: melt the butter in a sauce pan over med/high heat. than add the flour and mix until it's smooth. Continue to heat while you slowly add the milk and whisk until it thickens. Salt and pepper to taste.

Baked Spasagna

Baked Spasagna is one of my favorite meals from Cheddar's restaurant. I was so excited when I found a similar recipe on the internet and I must share it with you. You will notice that I did not add the ground beef to the sauce in this photo. That's because on this particular day my family requested meatballs instead. (meatball recipe coming soon)

16 oz spaghetti noodles
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup milk
olive oil (for baking dish)

MEAT SAUCE:
1/2 pounds ground beef
24 oz jar of spaghetti sauce

Cook ground beef and than mix with spaghetti sauce and set aside.
Cook noodles according to the package. Rinse and drain noodles.
Mix together mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese and milk. Than use your hands to mix it with the noodles.
Rub a baking dish with olive oil and than pour the spaghetti mixture in the dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. After it's done and slightly cooled cut into squares and top with the meat sauce.

Salisbury Steak

1 pound ground sirloin beef
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
2 cups beef broth
1 small onion
mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste

Dice onion and mix with ground beef. Shape into oval patties about 1 inch thick. Cook over medium/high heat until juices run clear. Add a bit of salt and pepper and set aside.
Add butter to the pan and saute mushrooms until tender. Add the flour to mushrooms and than add beef broth. Whisk until well blended than add the beef patties and simmer until the gravy begins to thicken.

Cinnamon Bites

I didn't get this recipe from the internet or from a book...I made it up. And I don't know what to call it. It's not really a cinnamon roll or baked cinnamon doughnuts. I guess it's more like monkey bread or pull apart bread (only you don't pull it apart). I don't know so I will just call them cinnamon bites.

1 can Grands biscuits
1/4 cup butter (melted) or use spray butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
ICING:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cut each biscuit into fourths (an 8pk of biscuits makes 32 bite size pieces). Mix cinnamon and sugar together. Dip each biscuit piece into melted butter and than roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Place about an inch apart on a cookie sheet and bake according to  the directions on the can or at 350 for about 10 minutes.
While the cinnamon bites are cooling mix 2 cups confectioners sugar and the milk (1 tablespoon at a time) until you get a desired thickness. Than add the vanilla. Mix and pour over the cinnamon bites.

Garlic Cheese Rolls

These are so good. I like to make them when we eat spaghetti.Or use them as an appetizer when dinners going to be a little late. They are smaller than they look in the picture...more bite size.

1 can Grands biscuits (8pk)

8 string cheese sticks

butter (I used butter spray)

garlic powder

parmesan cheese (dry powdery kind)

Cut each biscuit into fourths and also cut each cheese stick into fourths. Wrap a biscuit piece around each piece of cheese. Use your fingers to pinch and seal each one so the cheese doesn't ooze out while baking. Spritz with butter spray and sprinkle with garlic and parmesan cheese. Bake as directed on the can of biscuits or at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Note: keep a close eye on them and don't over bake or the cheese will ooze out. I bake mine for less time than it says on the can.

Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal

Do you know what else a coffee pot is good for besides coffee? I have 3 coffee pots. A single serve one that I use for coffee, a 4 cup one that I use to heat water for oatmeal and hot chocolate, and a 12 cup coffee pot for making tea. Just thought you might like to know how I heat my water for this next recipe.

1/2 cup quick oats
1 cup hot water
1/8 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup maple syrup

Heat your water first than pour it over the oatmeal and mix. Than add the brown sugar and maple syrup.

Bacon Alfredo Sauce

I love chicken and I love alfredo sauce but I'm not real fond of chicken in my alfredo sauce. Instead, I like real bacon bits in my sauce. Here is an easy alfredo sauce recipe I found:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter (real butter is better)
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese (or bagged shredded Italian cheese blend)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)
pepper to taste
real bacon bits

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over low/med heat. Slowly pour in the heavy cream and continually mix with a whisk until it begins to simmer (do not let it boil). Add the cheese in a little at a time and whisk until it's smooth and creamy than add your seasonings. Top with the bacon pieces after it's been mixed with the pasta.
Note: If the sauce is to thin than add a couple tablespoons of flour to a very small amount of milk and than stir it until their are no lumps and than add it to the sauce.

Honey Mustard dressing

My son loves honey mustard dipping sauce (it's tragic when we run out). I forgot to buy some and had to search the fridge to throw something together for him. I didn't use a recipe or measure anything out thinking it would be the only time I would need to make it from scratch. Well, that was over a year ago and my son has asked me a dozen times since to make it again. So I searched several recipes on the web trying to find a recipe similar to the one I whipped up. This one is very close and it tastes really good.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip) 

2 Tbs yellow mustard

2 Tbs honey

1 Tbs lemon juice (or vinegar)

Mix it all together and enjoy. This can be used as a dip or dressing.

The first time I made this I only had Miracle Whip and that's what I used. It was way too sweet. So if that's all you have on hand than you may want to cut back on the honey. I have not tried it with vinegar yet but the recipe I found said you could use either lemon juice or vinegar. If you've tried this with Vinegar leave a comment and let me know how it tastes.

Baked Pork Chops

Did you know you could use instant mashed potatoes as breading? Well, I didn't know that...until today. Anyway, I did not use instant mashed potatoes in this recipe but I will make a recipe using it soon because I can't wait to try it.

Ingredients:
Thin cut boneless pork chops
flour (to coat)
eggs
bread crumbs (any flavor)

Notice I didn't add an amount to the ingredients? Well, it's because it will depend on how many pork chops your cooking. Rinse and pat dry the pork chops, coat with flour, dip in eggs and than coat with bread crumbs. Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes.