Savory Meat Tarts

This is another quick and easy dish found in The "Art" of Cooking. What I especially like is I don't have to try to make a pastry crust.

12 slices of Bread (remove crust)
Butter
Hamburger (approximately 1 pound, I think)
2 small or 1 medium onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 egg
garlic
½ cup grated cheese
½ cup bread crumbs, optional
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Butter bread. Fit into muffin tins, buttered side sdown. Brown hamburger; drain off fat. (or use hamburger from freezer - see Quick Tip) Finely chop onion; add to meat. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Pack into bread shells. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Lazy Lasagna

This recipe is found in The "Art" of Cooking, a compilation of recipes by the Viscount Cultural Council in Neepawa, Manitoba. I think this is a little like homemade Hamburger Helper. Quick Tip: Brown hamburger in advance and store in freezer bags or containers.

1 pound ground beef, browned
1 pouch onion soup mix
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
28 ounce can tomatoes, undrained
2 cups water
2 cups uncooked macaroni
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional
Mozzarella cheese, grated

In large saucepan (make sure it has a lid), brown hamburger; drain. Add onion soup, oregano, garlic, tomatoes and water; bring to a boil. Stir in macaroni; simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until macaroni is tender. Stir in Parmesan cheese (optional). Top with mozzarella cheese. Put lid back on and let sit until cheese I melted.

I use all sorts of cheeses, depending on what taste we feel like. Cheddar is quite popular in our house.

Deep Dish Apple Pie

This is another recipe from The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes. Bruce loves apple pies. He loves them so much that when he was a kid he would tell his mom, “When we get there if I’m asleep just say, ‘apple pie’ and I’ll wake up!”

1 unbaked pie shell
3-4 apples
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon flour
½ cup sour cream
Ground cinnamon, nutmeg & allspice

Peel the apples and cut into eighths. It takes three or four depending on the size, the pie must be well filled. Arrange slices in an unbaked pie shell.
Mix sugar and flour with the sour cream, pour this over the apples, sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, dot with butter if you want it extra rich. Bake in hot oven 425°F for ten minutes then reduce heat to 350°F, continue baking for 30 minutes, or until apples are tender and the top is crispy brown. The brown sugar and cream will curdle, but they form delicious crumbs and flakes over apples.

Has Im Schlafrock

This has a fancy name for mashed potatoes and meatballs. I don't know what the translation is, but the recipe comes from The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes. Our family really likes this dish, but it is not low fat!

1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, grated
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Make round meatballs, fry in usual manner until done. In the meantime cook potatoes, mash adding 1 egg yolk to each cup of mashed potato, and salt to taste. Roll your meatballs in mashed potatoes, put in a pyrex baking dish, make a dent with a spoon on each roll, put a dab of butter in each hollow. Bake in 350° oven for 20 minutes, or until a golden brown.

Our family tries to lower our potassium content, so before making the mashed potatoes, we soak the potatoes for a few hours beforehand and drain the water before cooking.

Pizza Sauce

This is a recipe that I came up with myself.
1 5.5 oz can tomato paste
1 teaspoon oregano (Ground or leaves. If using leaves, I make it a heaping teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/3 - 1/2 cup water and/or olive oil

Mix together until well blended.  

You can adjust how much water/oil to make the sauce as thick or thin as you like. The sauce is good for pizza or for dipping.

Easy Soft Bread Sticks

I think a lot of my favourite recipes come from compilations of other people's favourite recipes. These bread sticks are found in The "Art" of Cooking compiled by Viscount Cultural Council, Manawaka Gallery, Neepawa, MB
These don't take long to make and are a hit to have with supper.

1 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
3 Tablespoons melted butter
Original recipe says: 2 teaspoons sesame seeds or 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
I use instead: onion powder and garlic powder

In small bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Gradually add milk; stir to form a soft dough. Turn onto floured surface. Knead gently 3 or 4 times. Roll into 10x5x1/2 inch rectangle. Cut into 12 bread sticks. Place melted butter into 13x9x2 inch pan. Place bread sticks in butter; turn to coat. Cover with seeds or garlic salt. (I sprinkle with both onion powder and garlic powder). Bake at 450°F for 14 to 18 minutes.

You may substitute the seeds or garlic salt with any other favourite seasonings.

I have thought of having these with pizza sauce to dip.

Chicken Drumettes

This was a recipe my Mom used to make. It is found in a family recipe book that was collected and compiled in 1991.
I am lazy and don't marinate the wings in a marinating dish first. I just put them straight into the baking pan. However, the wings can marinate longer if you want more of the spice in the chicken.

1/4 - 1/2 cup light soy sauce (I use low sodium)
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 package chicken wings cut at joint (discard tip)
3 Tablespoons sugar (approximately)
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper (white or black)

Sprinkle chicken with sugar; let sit 15 minutes. Add spices to soy sauce; mix well; pour over wings. Turn over in 5 minutes and let stand 3 minutes more. Place wings and sauce in a baking dish, spreading wings out. Bake 45 minutes at 350° to 375°.

Serve with rice. Good hot or cold. Can substitute Tariyaki for Soy sauce.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't remember where I first got this recipe from. I have it on a recipe card now. The amounts in brackets are when I quadruple the batch in my huge Tupperware bowl (Thatsa Bowl). Then I roll the dough into balls, place them on a cookie sheet to freeze. Once frozen I put the balls into freezer bags so that whenever we want fresh-baked cookies, all we have to to is pull them out of the freezer, put them on a pan and stick them in the oven.

2 1/2 cups four (10 c)
1 teaspoon baking soda (4 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon salt (1 1/2 tsp)
1/2 cup butter/margarine (2 c)
1/2 cup shortening (2 c)
1 cup packed brown sugar (4 c)
1/2 cup sugar (2 c)
2 eggs (8)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (2 Tb)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (5-6 c)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans optional (2 c)

Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Beat together butter, shortening. Add brown sugar and sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add dry ingredients - mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 375° 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.