Baked Potato Soup

My kids love this soup and it's a great addition to the classic potato soup!
It serves about 4-6 people.

31/2 - 4 cups water
4 chicken boullion cubes
2-4 large potatoes, peeled and chunked
2-3 carrots, sliced
1 tsp. dillweed

1. Boil together the above ingredients till the vegetables are tender. Then mash until coarse.

IN ANOTHER POT
1/4 cup butter
4 Tbsp. flour
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese

1. Melt together butter and flour, constantly whisking. Add milk slowly until thick and bubbly. Add the cheese with the pot off the stove.
2. Add the sauce to the mashed veggies and mix and heat up till well combined. Remove from the heat and add 1/2 cup sour cream.
3. Garnish with bacon, ham, sour cream, cheese or green onions. Like you would do for a baked potato. I also just like it plain if I don't have some of the above ingredients. Serve
   

Cake Doughnuts

One of our family Halloween traditions is to make these yummy cake donuts.
I really love the nutmeg in these!!!

2 quarts oil
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups of cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 pkt. of dry yeast
3/4 cup, plus 2 T. buttermilk
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups of powder sugar (or you can make a glaze like I did for on top)

1. Heat oil in a low sided frying pan till it registers 375 degrees. Line one cookie sheet with paper towels and one dusted with flour. Put aside
2. Meanwhile, heat sour cream till warm to the touch. Place in the microwave and heat in 10 sec. intervals till ready. Set aside
3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Make a large well in the center and place the yeast in it. Pour warm sour cream over it and let it sit for about a minute.
4. Place buttermilk, whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla in a bowl and mix till combined. Pour egg mixture over sour cream. Using a wooden spoon, gradually draw flour mixture into egg mixture, stirring until smooth and incorporated. The dough will be very sticky.
5. Sift a heavy coat of flour on a clean work surface and turn the dough onto it. Sift another heavy coat of flour onto the dough and pat until it is 1/2 inch thick. Use your doughnut cutter to make your donuts and put them on the floured cookie sheet, let them rest for 10 minutes, no more. Take the remaining scrapes and push into a rectangle and let rest for 10 minutes.
6. When the doughnuts are ready place in the oil and brown then turn them over to the other side. (takes about 2 minutes each, watch so you don't burn them) When done, take out with a slotted spoon and put on your paper towels to cool off. Continue till done. You can dust them with powder sugar or make a glaze. Enjoy!
   

Spider Web Cookies

Spider Web Sugar Cookies

found on www.preschoolsnacks.blogspot.com

Here's what you'll need: sugar cookies (made), frosting, black icing and toothpics

Here's what you do:Frost the cookie with the vanilla frosting, and with the black icing make a dot in the middle and circles around it (like a target) with each circle getting bigger and going around the next. Then take a toothpic, start in the center dot and drag it out to the edge of the cookie, repeat all around the cookie until it looks like the picture above.

VARIATIONS: can be used on a large cake or small cupcakes. I remember as a kid my mom did that on a large cake and put a ding dong spider on top. It was so cute!

Grilled Chicken Tostadas

This marinade comes from the Family Fun magazine and is for Chicken tostadas! We love the marinade for any barbequed chicken!

Marinade:

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup oil

1 tbsp honey

2 tsp minced garlic

1 1/2 tsp chili powder

Tostadas:

2-4 chicken breasts or 6 chicken thighs

8 small corn tortillas

1 1/2 cups shredded monterey Jack

1 1/2 cups shredded lettuce

Optional toppings:
salsa, guacamole, sour cream, cilantro, green onions

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Place the chicken in a gallon-size zip-lock bag and add all the marinade ingredients. Press the air out of the bag and seal it. Turn the bag to thoroughly coat the chicken, place it in a bowl, and refrigerate it for at least 4 hours (preferably overnight), turning the bag occasionally. Remove the meat from the refrigerator 20 minutes before you want to start grilling. Grill chicken until no longer pink!

Lightly brush both sides of the tortillas with vegetable oil. Grill them on each side until they turn slightly brown, about 1 minute on a gas grill. Before removing the tortillas from the grill, sprinkle each one with 1 tablespoon of cheese. To serve, layer the tortillas with shredded lettuce, the chicken strips, the remaining cheese, and any additional toppings. Serves 6 to 8.

Chicken Divan

This is a family favorite of ours! I have this reicpe from my mom!

4 tbsp butter

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

4 tbsp flour whisked together with 1 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

1 pkg. frozen broccoli

2 cups cubed chicken

rice

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Cook chicken and cube. Cook cream sauce (butter, parmesan cheese, cream of chicken soup, flour and milk, and salt and pepper) until boils. Place broccoli down in 2 quart pan and then put chicken on top. Pour cream sauce on top and bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until tan and bubbly. Serve over rice!

Refried Beans

We had these at our mini enrichment class and loved them!! Jennifer Jones made the beans and they were so yummy!! You got to try them!!

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3 cups pinto beans (washed)

10 cups water

1 med. onion

1 pkg. taco seasoning

2 tsp salt

3 cups grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 1/3 cup salsa

1 can chopped green chilies

1 small can chopped black olives

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Put beans, water, and onion in crockpot for 6 hours. Blend 1/2 to 3/4 of the beans in blender (after the 6 hours). Stir in the remaining whole beans for texture. Stir in all other ingredients except olives and 1 cup cheese. Put beans back in crockpot and warm. Top with cheese and olives.

Lemon Squares

These are my favorite. Very easy recipe with a delicious lemony filling.

Mix and pat into 9x13 pan.

2 cubes of butter softened, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 3 cups of flour.

Mix well.

Bake at 300 for 25 min till light brown.

While crust is baking mix together:

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups of sugar

Juice of 2 lemons

4 T four

Pinch of salt

Lemon Zest

Beat together until light. Pour over crust and bake at 300 for an additional 30 min. After baking and cooling, sprinkly with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!