Crepes

In the Netherlands, we called these pannekoeken. I love them.

Pannekoeken
by Brooke

• 6 eggs
• 2 c. milk
• 1 t. salt
• 1 c. flour
• butter for frying
• toppings of choice: Nutella, bananas, shredded apples, yogurt, powdered sugar, butter, syrup, strawberries, peanut butter, nuts. . . it's hard to go wrong with this.

Beat eggs until frothy; add milk and salt. Slowly stir mixture into the flour. Melt butter in a frying pan. Hold pan while pouring batter and rotate to make a thin coat of batter over the bottom of the pan. Add fruit or nuts to batter if desired to have it cooked in. Cook until the top turns glossy. Flip and cook other side. Spread on toppings, if desired. Roll up, fold up, cut up, whatever your style is. Best to serve hot.

Poppy Seed Chicken

My first casserole.

Poppy Seed Chicken
inspired from the Blessings cookbook, p 203

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4 oz. sour cream
• 1/2 c. cream of chicken soup
• "a little chicken broth" that is not helpful. 1/4 c.?
• 1/2 stick Ritz crackers (or any other crackers. . . we used olive & rosemary Triscuts)
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1 tsp. poppyseed

Brown chicken. Place browned chicken on bottom of a medium dish. Cover with soup, sour cream, and broth. Top with crushed crackers, sprinkle poppyseed over top. Pour melted butter over crackers. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Serve with wild rice or mashed potatoes.

Notes: This is actually half of the original recipe, but we are only two people. I put in more than "a little chicken broth" because it was a bit soupy. The triscut crackers tasted awesome. Justin liked this one a lot.

Chicken Spaghetti

I make chicken a lot. Justin loved this one. It's very filling. Not very healthy.

Chicken Spaghetti
inspired from a recipe in the Bountiful Blessings Cookbook, but changed by me

• 1 lb. chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 box spaghetti
• 6-8 oz. pepper jack cheese, cubed
• 8 oz. shredded cheese of choice
  
• 1 can mild rotel tomatoes, drained (diced canned tomatoes with green chilies)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
  
• Salt and Pepper

Boil water with chicken, broth, and onion for 5-10 minutes. Add spaghetti noodles. When noodles are done, drain. Pour into a baking dish. Add pepper jack cheese, tomatoes, soup, salt, and pepper. Cover with shredded cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly.

Honeyed Chicken Bake

Honeyed Chicken Bake
from the Bountiful Blessings Cookbook, p. 201

• 6-8 chicken breasts
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 c. honey
• 1 c. ketchup
• 1 large lemon, sliced
• 1 can peach halves
  

Arrange chicken breasts in a shallow baking pan and season with salt and pepper. Combine ketchup and honey; pour over chicken, turning to coat well. Place lemon slices over the chicken [SEE NOTES!]. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake chicken uncovered for 1 hour, or until tender. Turn chicken pieces halfway through baking. During the last 15 minutes of baking, increase oven temperature to 350 and arrange drained peach halves around chicken. Baste.

Notes: The lemons will take over the whole meal! Go easy on the lemons! I cooked them with the rinds for the whole time. Right after it was done cooking it tasted fine, but we couldn't even eat the leftovers because of the lemon domination. So maybe only use half a lemon and cook only half the time next time. Maybe even just squirt the lemons on it after it's done baking and not bake them at all.

Cranberry-orange Pork Chops

Simple, light, quick, good. I now have all the ingredients in my kitchen, so it's a good last-minute recipe. (Justin's mom got us this cookbook. Her hometown catholic church is celebrating 100 years next year, so they made a cookbook from all the German, Czech, Dutch, and Bohemian families in the area. I like it!)

Cranberry-orange Pork Chops
by Emily Bartunek from the Bountiful Blessings cook book from Dante, South Dakota

• 6 boneless pork loin chops, 1/2 inch thick
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 1 T oil
• 1 (11 oz.) can mandarin oranges, drained
• 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 1/2 c. dried cranberries
• 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp. paprika

Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown chips in oil on both sides. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until meat juices run clear. Prep/total time 25 minutes. Yield 6 servings.

Notes: I added more broth for more sauce. I was also liberal with the dried cranberries. Next time I will throw in some corn starch after I'm done cooking to make the juices thicker. I served this with brown rice this time, maybe mashed potatoes or some pasta would taste good also as a side. I will also mix the broth, the paprika, and allspice before I pour them in the pan next time.

Spicy Spareribs

LOVED THIS ONE!
I learned something new with this one - Spare ribs are pork. Well, that's what I gathered when I saw this sign in the meat section of walmart. This can be cooked as individual ribs for appetizers or in 3-4 rib sections for a meal. We did the meal.


Spicy Spareribs
from the SlowCook Book

• 3 1/2 lbs pork baby back ribs, cut as you want them.
• 2 c. bottled salsa
• 1/2 c. honey
• 1 T quick-cooking tapioca
• 1 t ground ginger

Preheat boiler. Place ribs on the unheated rack of a broiler pan. Broil 6 inches from the heat about 10 minutes or until brown, turning once. Transfer ribs to slow cooker.
In a medium bow combine salsa, honey, tapioca, and ginger. Pour sauce over ribs.
Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6-7 hours on on high heat for about 3 hours. Serve sauce with ribs.

Notes: I added way more salsa than 2 c. I just dumped it on till it looked good. I served this with mashed potatoes, because it does have a bit of a kick and the potatoes balanced it well. Justin really really enjoyed this. Especially after our flop the other day.

Sweet & Sour Chicken

So I didn't really like this one. I liked the idea though. I think I wouldn't cook the veggies with the meat and sauce, it made it taste funny. Maybe it was the sauce I picked. I would just cook the veggies at the end of cook time and add it later. We didn't eat the leftovers.

Sweet & Sour Chicken
from the Slow Cook Book

• 1 lb chicken breast
• 2 9-oz jars sweet & sour sauce
• 1 16 oz package of mixed veggies
• 2 1/2 c. cooked rice
• 1/4 c. chopped almonds, toasted

Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces. Combine chicken, sweet & sour sauce, and frozen veggies in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for about 5 hours or high for about 2 hours. Serve on rice, sprinkle on almonds.