Egg cups

This recipe comes to us from Andrea Moyer with a few revisions by me.

Ingredients:
12 slices of ham lunch meat
6 eggs
3 slices of bacon, cooked
1/2 cup cheese
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 6 cups in your muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Place ham slices in bottom of muffin cups, over lapping them so there is no pan showing.
3. Break eggs into a bowl, whisk.
4. Add cut up bacon, cheese, and seasoning to eggs.
5. Pour mixture into ham. Fold ham over.
6. Bake for 25 minutes or until egg is done.

Tips:

• If your in a time crunch, just crack the egg in the muffin cup. Then put some cheese and seasonings on top.
• Don't forget to fold the ham over the top. If you don't the ham will burn.
• This is a great recipe to experiment with. Try using different ingredients like turkey instead of ham, sausage instead of bacon and any kind of cheese you want.
• Serve with hot sauce, salsa or even Hollandaise sauce.

Thanks for the recipe, Andrea!

Honey & Cinnamon Glazed Carrots

Honey & Cinnamon Glazed Carrots
(This is a wonderful recipe that our close friend Nicki made for us.  It's a favorite of the kiddos!!!)

4 cups baby carrots (or sliced carrots - frozen work fine, too)
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons honey (I would use brown sugar if giving to children under 12 months old)
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Place all ingredients in a 4-quart slow cooker and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or on high about 4 hours.

Lemon Crisps

1 Lemon cake mix
1/3 cup cooking oil
2 eggs

Mix three ingredients together. Shape dough into 1" balls, place on cookie sheet 2" apart. Dip bottom of glass in sugar and press cookies flat. Bake in 375 degree oven for 6 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Frosting
1 cup powdered sugar
2 or 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
yellow colored sugar

Combine ingredients until smooth. Drizzle mixture over cookies and sprinkle with colored sugar.

Yummy White Mice

This is a great recipe that kids and adults will love! It's a little time consuming so I recommend doing them for special occasions.

Ingredients:
1 jar pitted maraschino cherries with stem
12 ounces white chocolate chips
small package of sliced almonds (buy them, it is nearly impossible to slice them yourself)
Red gel icing

Directions:
1. Melt 6 ounces of white chocolate chips in microwave. Put chocolate in glass or ceramic bowl. Microwave for 1 minute intervals, stirring between minutes will make sure that the chocolate won't burn.
2. Dry cherries on paper towel. Hold cherries by the stem and dip into the melted chocolate. Set on wax paper.
3. Sort almonds, make sure you have two ears per mouse. Dip one end of almond in melted chocolate then press against cherry. (Repeat for other ear).
4. Dip one white chocolate chip in melted chocolate then press against cherry near ears.
5. Make two tiny red eyes with gel. If you want to make whiskers with the gel, try it, if it doesn't work then pop it in your mouth and no one will ever know.

Hope you enjoy this whimsical treat.

Glorified Mac-n-Cheese (Two Ways)

(The long way)
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 lb thawed chicken breasts
4 cups pasta (I like shells)
4 chopped tomatoes
2 chili peppers
cilantro
splash lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb Velveta

Directions:
1. Fry chicken in olive oil and garlic till gold on both sides.
2. Start cooking pasta.
3. Add tomatoes, chilies, cilantro, lime, salt and pepper to chicken. Cover and simmer till chicken is cooked through, about 8-12 minutes.
4. Rest chicken till it's cool enough to cut. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces.
5. Add cooked pasta, chicken and tomato mixture. Put a layer of this mixture in the bottom of a 13x9" pan. Top with slices of Velveta. Add another layer of the pasta mixture and top with more Velveta.
6. Bake at 400° till cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.

(Fast and ease way)
Ingredients:
1 lb fully cooked Tyson fajita chicken
4 cups pasta (I like the shells)
1 can Rotel Mexican Festival
1 can regular Rotel
1 lb Velveta

Directions:
1. Start cooking pasta.
2. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces.
3. Add cooked pasta, chicken and tomato mixture. Put a layer of this mixture in the bottom of a 13x9" pan. Top with slices of Velveta. Add another layer of the pasta mixture and top with more Velveta.
4. Bake at 400° till cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.

Basically this dish is glorified mac-n-cheese. But it is so good. This recipe will feed 4 to 6.

Breakfast Bake

This is my all time favorite breakfast dish. The recipe is easy to change and contains just a few ingredients.

Ingredients:
1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 package (8 oz) deli ham, chopped
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup cheese

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Unroll dough in 13x9" pan, press to cover bottom of pan, firmly press holes and seams together to seal.
Sprinkle ham over crust.
Beat eggs, milk, and pepper with wire whisk; pour over ham and eggs.
Top with cheese.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until center is set.

I like this recipe because I can use whatever meat I have in the fridge; ham, bacon, turkey, or sausage. It's great reheated the next day.

I'm toying with making this into a dessert with cherries. I'll let you know how that goes.

Shannon's Sugar Cookies

Yep that's right..I get to name this one after me...because I made it!  After three months of practicing and experimenting I have finally gotten it right! 
So here it is....

Shannon's Sugar Cookies
1c. Butter
1c. Sugar
1 Lg. Egg
3c. Flour
2tsp.Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt*
4-5 drops Peppermint Oil**

1. Mix Butter and Sugar until creamy.  Add egg.
2. Add Peppermint Oil, Baking Power, and Salt.
3. Slowly add Flour.
4. Roll out immediately on floured surface until 1/2 inch thick.
5. Cut with cookie cutters.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
7. Allow to cool for one minute on cookie sheet before removing to cooling racks.

*If you use salted butter feel free to skip the salt.
**I use the Wilton Peppermint Candy flavoring.  Can be found at Walmart, Micheal's, or Hobby Lobby.

Mom's Sugar Free Apple Pie

2 pie crusts-make your own or buy the premade in the refrigerator section at the grocery store
1 can unsweetened, frozen concentrated apple juice
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4-5 cups sliced apples (I like mixing Granny Smith with Honey Crisp)

1. Line pie plate with uncooked pie crust.
2. Put one can unsweetened frozen concentrated apple juice in a skillet, along with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Warm gently stirring with a wire whisk till smooth. Add 4-5 cups of sliced, pealed or unpealed apples. Cook gently for about ten minutes.
3. Add the apple mixture to the pie crusts and top with another pie crust, making several slits in the crust.
4. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until the pie crust is brown and the filling is bubbly.

Heather's Sourdough

Sourdough bread

Put your starter in the fridge for 3-5 days (no more than 7 days) The day before you want to make bread, set the starter out and add the following mixture:

3/4 cup sugar dissolved in
1 cup very warm water
3 Tablespoons instant potato flakes

Stir it once and leave it out for 8-12 hours on the kitchen counter. Now you are ready to make your bread. You will need:

6 cups flour 1 cup starter
1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil 1 and 1/2 cups warm water

Place sugar, salt and 4 cups of flour in a large mixing bowl. Add starter and oil, mix. Add water and mix well. Add remaining 2 cups of flour - stir forming a stiff batter.

Cover with a towel and let rise for 8-12 hours in a warm, draft free spot. When doubled, punch down and roll dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 3 or 4 times then divide the dough into 2 or 3 equal parts. Knead each part onto a floured surface 8-10 strokes. (I do not use a rolling pin, just lay it onto the floured countertop and start punching and folding, punching and folding till the dough is well kneaded and flour is worked in. Add more flour to your surface is the dough is still very sticky while you are working with it.)

If you are making rolls, pinch off small balls of dough from the kneaded section and pull the dough with your fingers from the top of the ball down toward the bottom side so that the top is now smooth and the bottom is slightly puckered. Place these into a well oiled pan, turning them individually into the oil so that they are well covered. This will allow them to be pulled apart easily after baking. If making loaves, put each larger section of dough into a greased bread pan. This recipe makes an easy 2 loaves and one 9x9 pan of rolls, but you could make 3 loaves or one giant pan of rolls. Cover with a towel and let rise until double, 5-8 hours.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. (If you find the top to be perfectly cooked, but inside is doughy, do the following: start baking bread on convection if your oven offers that option. Also, cover the top of the pan with foil once the top is brown and let it bake 10 more minutes. This will keep the top from over cooking.)

Note: As your starter builds up to 3 cups or more, you can give a cup away, throw one away or make a double batch and freeze the extra loaves. Always keep at least one cup for yourself.