Chicken & Wild Rice

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp. chicken bouillon (I actually use a product called "Better than Bouillon Chicken Base". It's more of a paste. Much better then the cubes or powder.)
2 cups water
2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 6-oz. package seasoned long grain and wild rice mix
2 cups broccoli florets

Place the chicken in a crock pot. Mix all ingredients (except broccoli) together and pour over the chicken. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 6-7. Add the broccoli during the last hour of cooking.

Tomato and Basil Spaghetti

1 pkg. thin spaghetti
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6-8 medium to large tomatoes
8 oz. ball of fresh mozzarella (Use the soft fresh variety. Preferably the balls of mozzarella packed in water. The low moisture type tends to be oily when in melts.)
fresh basil (about 2 tablespoons and that's about 10 large leaves)
olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Chop the tomatoes in a small to medium dice, tear/shred the basil leaves and cheese and put all into a large bowl. Add the minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes so that the tomato juices will start to run (macerate). While doing this, cook the spaghetti until it is al dente. Drain and pour immediately into the bowl of other ingredients. Pour in olive oil (about 1/4-1/3 cup) toss to evenly coat. Serve immediately.

Homemade Sour Cream

4 T cultured buttermilk
2 C half and half

Pour the buttermilk into a bowl. "Splash" in 2 C half and half. DO NOT STIR IT! SIMPLY POUR IT IN. Cover with a lid and leave out for 12 -48 hours to achieve desired sourness and thickness. Once it's how you like it, place it in the refrigerator to stop the cultures from growing. It will keep for a week.

I found this recipe here.

Chicken Nuggets

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/3 C cornstarch
1/3 C flour
3 T corn meal
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
3 eggs
1/4 C milk

Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and milk together. Add to dry ingredients. Cut the chicken breasts into bite size pieces. About an inch to an inch and a half in size. In a large, deep skillet, heat some oil. Place the chicken into the batter and allow to sit for a few minutes. This will make for a more tender piece of chicken. Remove from batter and cook in the oil. Cook until golden brown. About 5-7 minutes. Remove and place on a paper towel to drain. Serve with your favorite dipping sauces.

*You can also use chicken tenders to make "fingers" or "strips" instead of nuggets. Something I thought of tonight (after I already made it, of course) was that I should have made the batter with buttermilk. It's a classic fried chicken ingredient and would definitely make the chicken more tender. I'm going to use it next time.

Beef Macaroni Bake

This is essentially Hamburger Helper from scratch. I like to make things like this when I want something fairly decent and edible, without a lot of prep time. It's dishes like this that dried minced onions are perfect for.

1 pound lean ground beef
1 package elbow macaroni
2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce (you may need a 3rd can, depending on how much moisture the pasta absorbs)
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
2 cups cheddar cheese
dried chopped onions to taste
Salt & Pepper
garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350. Cook the macaroni until al dente. Drain the water. Brown the hamburger with the dried chopped onions (I would say I use a couple of tablespoons of them), season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Drain off excess fat. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, macaroni and half of the cheese. Mix well and pour into a 9 x 13 casserole dish you have sprayed with non-stick spray. Cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes, or until bubbly. Sprinkle remaining cup of cheese on top and bake until melted, or cover again with foil and let it stand until the cheese melts.

Whole Wheat Bread

This a whole wheat bread recipe as it was originally written. I had to tweak it a little bit because I have a smaller mixer and the amount of bread dough this makes doesn't really fit. In Utah, you can purchase the dough enhancer and vital wheat gluten from Harmons, or from Kitchen Kneads in West Jordan. I found the lecithin at Kitchen Kneads. Outside of Utah, I'm not sure where you would go. I've been using Fleischmann's Bread Machine Yeast because it works well for rapid rising recipes. That's exactly what this recipe is. You'll want to use this recipe if you have a Bosch mixer, a 5 quart Kitchen Aid, or Professional size Kitchen Aid. It will fit in one of those and you'll get 3 loaves out of this recipe.

Whole Wheat Bread

4 cups lukewarm water
1 T salt
2 T dough enhancer
1/2 C vital wheat gluten
1/2 C honey
3 T yeast 2 T lecithin
3 T lemon juice
1/2 C oil
8-10 C whole wheat flour

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. You can remove the dough and knead by hand for 5 minutes, or allow it to continue mixing and knead in the mixer. Separate into 3 sections. Roll out each into a ball to remove bubbles. Roll balls into loaves and place in greased loaf pans. This is a link to the type of pans I've been using. I have a larger size than the 8 inch ones shown. I think that mine are 10 in. long. They're great because they force your bread to have height. I let it rise for a couple of hours, while sitting on my stove top above the oven that has been preheated. The heat from the oven keeps the bread warm enough and encourages it to rise. If you are using the rapid rise yeast, it will be ready really fast. I still just like to give it some time. Place into a preheated 350 oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.

These are the changes I've made to the recipe. They work for my size mixer and for the area I live in. Bread is kind of a fickle thing and environment seems to play a big part in how well a recipe works.

2 1/2 C lukewarm water
1 T salt
2 T dough enhancer
1/2 C vital wheat gluten
1/2 C honey
4 T sugar
3 T yeast
2 T lecithin
3 T lemon juice
1/2 C oil
6 cups whole wheat flour

You'll notice that I didn't cut all of the ingredients in half. I tried that and it didn't work very well. The bread was really bland and flat. Really, the only things that were cut in half are the water and the flour. The water isn't actually half either. ☺ Anyway, this is how it works for me. I also added the sugar. It helps a lot. It's not bad without it, but it enhances it just a bit. If you don't want to add it, it's totally fine. I get two large loaves out of this recipe. The oven temp is the same. The rising and baking methods/times are the same as well.

Cake Mix Cookies

You can do just about anything with a cake mix. I learned this when Jillene put into our ward cookbook several dessert recipes that use them. I now use them pretty much every time I make cookies. Well, cookie bars to be more exact.

The "recipe" is pretty basic and I do it this way every time, with any kind of mix. The base of mix, oil and egg is always the same. I just change what I mix into it. By the way, you don't add the water called for on the back of the mix. You want this to be stiff like a cookie dough. Here's a few examples.

Caramel Toffee Cookie Bars

You can use any variety of a Yellow or a White mix

1 cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
about 1/2 of a bag of caramel bits (the kind you use for making caramel apples)
about 1/2 of a bag of Heath toffee bits

Mix all ingredients together and place in a lightly greased, 9 x 13 baking dish. You will have to smoosh the cookie dough to get it into the corners. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven, for 22-25 minutes. Check the center with a toothpick.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Any variety of a Yellow or White cake mix.

1 cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 bag of chocolate chips

Same directions as above.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

1 chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
about 1 bag of Andes Mint baking chips (the entire bag might be a bit much for some. Just use your own judgement.)

Same directions as above.

Cake mixes are great when you need a dessert in a hurry and any variety of things can be mixed into them.