Sweet and Sour Chicken

4-6 chicken breasts
1 small jar apricot or strawberry preserves
1 envelope lipton onion soup mix (see homemade mixes on this blog!)
1 small bottle Russian dressing (see homemade mixes on this blog!)
1 large can crushed pineapple

mix all ingredients and pour over chicken in casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 1 hour, baste occasionally. Serve with rice

this also works well with pork chops. for a larger crowd, dice meat first, so it will stretch to make more servings.

Homemade Mixes

these are some homemade mixes that help you save money and time, and taste just as good as the originals!(I like to save the large parmesan cheese containers when empty and reuse for storing homemade mixes)

Taco seasoning
6 t chili powder
5 t paprika
4-1/2 t cumin
2 1/2 t garlic powder
3 t onion powder
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 to 1 t salt
mix all and place in container.
use 3 t to replace 1 envelope of commercial mix.


CHILI POWDER
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons garlic powder
(hmm, seems like taco seasoning is just chili powder with a little salt and onion powder added. I may just start making up a bunch of taco seasoning and substituting it into my chili recipe...)

Eagle Brand milk
1 c boiling water
1 stick butter
2 c sugar (might work with honey?)
2 c powdered milk
mix all in blender or food processor
this makes 5 cups. 1c=1 can commercial. you can measure out leftovers into individual servings and freeze in ziploc bags, or other containers.

Low fat whole wheat bisquick
9 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c olive oil
1 T salt
1/4 c baking powder
2 c non fat powdered milk
mix all well, store in freezer in sealed container

Dry Lipton Onion Soup mix
4 t beef bouillon
8 t dried onion flakes
1 t onion powder
1/4 t seasoned pepper (or 1/4 t celery salt)
Use 1/4c mix for 1 envelope commercial mix

Spaghetti Sauce spice blend
This is a combination of my mom's recipe - the spices she used. I like to make this up ahead of time so I can just add it in quickly instead of measuring a bunch of ingredients when making spaghetti sauce.

8 t oregano
8t Italian seasoning
8 t sugar (optional)
16 t salt
8 t instant onion flakes
4 t black pepper
use 6 tsp per lb of meat

Russian dressing
1/4 c honey
1 c oil (I only used 1/2 c)
1/2 c ketchup
2-3 T lemon juice
1 t vinegar
1/2 t salt
1/3 t paprika
1-1/2 t celery seed
1 T worchestershire
1/4 c grated onions or 1/2 t onion powder
combine all. this works great in the sweet and sour chicken recipe. did I post that yet? well, I will check and if not. I'll do it now!

Bailey's Whole Wheat Pancakes

Bailey has discovered a love for cooking, and one of her first and favorite things to make is whole wheat pancakes. She can now make them without even looking at the recipe! We recently bought a manual grinder, so we have to all take turns grinding the wheat before we make them! It is pretty tiring, so even though we have good intentions of grinding extra, we barely get the 2 c of flour needed for this recipe. Bailey likes the recipe as follows, but see bottom note on how I add even more flavor and moistness to these delicious breakfast treats!

2 c whole wheat flour
1 T oil
2 T honey or sugar
1 T baking powder
2 eggs
2 c milk
1 t salt
combine all ingredients in a large bowl, whisk to mix well. Pour by 1/4 cupfuls onto greased griddle or pan. Flip when bubbles begin to appear.cook until they spring back when touched.

Cook's mom's note: I like to add 1 c pureed pumpkin and about 1/2 t cinnamon to the batter before cooking. It really makes them more light and moist, something you don't always get with whole wheat! This is especially nice during the holiday season.

Coconut Cake (from Mary Wright's grandmother)
1 box white cake mix (not pudding)
1-1/3 c water
2 egg whites
15 oz cream of coconut
12 oz cool whip
1 can coconut, divided

Combine cake mix, 1 c water and egg whites. Beat 2 min at high speed. Reduce speed and beat 1 minute. Put into a sheet cake pan (greased and floured) and bake at 325 for 30 minutes. Cool and leave in pan. Poke holes in cake Mix cream of coconut and coconut, pour over cake and cool completely. Spread cool whip on cake. Sprinkle rest of coconut on top of cake. Refrigerate at least 12 hours.

To make very attractive top cake with sliced fruit such as strawberries, or whole raspberries.

This is a simple recipe my friend Mary Wright made for her daughter Esther's first birthday. I have not made it, but tasted it at the party, and it was DELICIOUS!

Mom's Spaghetti Sauce

My mom loved to cook, and she was good at it. She would often take a recipe and modify it to make it better. This is one such case. She got this recipe out of a small cookbook for recipes using Hunt's tomato paste. I remember seeing the original cookbook, with her recipe changes noted out to the side. Growing up, I learned how to make it, and have since memorized her version - don't know what the original was cause we never made that!


1 lb ground beef
1/2 c chopped bell pepper
1 T instant onion

2 6 oz cans tomato paste, plus 7 cans hot water
1 t oregano
1 t Italian seasoning
1/4 t pepper
2 t salt
1 t sugar
3/4-1 c Heinz ketchup

brown meat, onion and bell pepper. Add remaining ingredients - do not drain off grease (yet)
Mix well, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 45 min to 1 hr
As sauce cooks, dip grease off top of surface with a spoon. Serve with cooked pasta of your choice.
I have also used other ground meats such as turkey and deer successfully.

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RECIPE: SIMPLE LEMONY FISH

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INGREDIENTS:
1 lb. fish fillets of your choice
1/4 cup chicken broth
4-6 lemon slices
1-2 tbsp butter, melted
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. dried parsley

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange fish in a 9x13" baking
dish. Top with remaining ingredients. Bake fish, uncovered,
for 10 minutes per inch of thickness, or until fish flakes
easily with a fork.