Lasagna

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 onion
1 T of minced garlic (either from a jar or fresh minced garlic)
2 cans of spaghetti sauce (or homemade sauce which will be another recipe)
1 box lasagna noodles
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 package sliced provolone cheese
1 lb ricotta cheese
1 egg
Parsley flakes

Preheat oven to 400.

Boil noodles till almost done (not mushy) and drain very, very well.
Brown meat with chopped onion till meat is done. Add garlic and cook for about one more minute - just enough to warm the garlic up a bit. Pour in the spaghetti sauce. You don't have to use all of it. Add the sauce just till the ratio of meat to sauce looks good to you.

Put the ricotta in a bowl. Add 1 egg and about 1 tablespoon parsley and mix well.

Pour a little bit of the sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan - not a lot, just enough to make the noodles not stick to the bottom of the pan.

Lay the noodles in the pan, overlapping them a bit. You can put as many as nine (overlapping) on each layer. It's up to you to decide how noodly you want it. Take about half the ricotta, and plop it in blobs on top of the noodles, then gently spread it out to cover the noodles. Next pour about half the sauce on top of the ricotta. Lay five slices of provolone on top of that, then sprinkle with 2 cups of mozzarella.

Then do the same thing again, making another layer. Put in the oven and bake till the top is golden brown and bubbly (about 45 minutes or so). You might want to set your pan on a cookie sheet because sometimes it will bubble over and make a mess of your oven

Take it out of the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes before you cut it.

333 Candy

1 bag of the pretzels that are square and look like windowpanes.
1 bag of Rolo candy
1 bag of pecan halves

Heat oven to 300. Lay pretzels on a cookie sheet. Put a Rolo on top of each pretzel.
Bake for 3 minutes. Immediately press a pecan half on the Rolo, kind of smushing the candy down.

(Get it? 3 ingredients, 300 degrees, 3 minutes.....)

Chicken and Rice

3 c Minute Rice
1 chicken, cut up (or various chicken pieces - best with skin, but skinless will work too)
2 can cream of chicken soup with herbs

Put rice in the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Mix soup with 1 can water or chicken broth. Pour into rice, and mix up. Lay chicken pieces on top of rice. Sprinkle lightly with poultry seasoning (or just salt and pepper). Cover with foil. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for 20 minutes more. Chicken should be done and crispy.
(To test cooking chicken to see if it's done: Poke the chicken deeply with a toothpick or fork. Juice will bubble out. If the juice is clear, the chicken's done. If it's the slightest bit pink or red, cook longer.)

Potato Casserole

Michael's Potatoes (Named after your Uncle Mike)

1 bag frozen hash browns (Not the shredded kind and not the McDonald's hash brown kind. Get the small square chopped potato kind)
1 small onion, chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 T butter
1/2 c sour cream

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with Pam. Pour the frozen hash browns in. Mix in everything else except the butter. Dot the top with little pieces of butter. Bake at 400 for about 30 or 45 minutes, till bubbly and hot and golden on top.

Bill's Pepper Jack Burgers

2 pounds ground chuck
worchestershire sauce
dill
egg
4 Slices of Pepper Jack cheese

Mix worchestershire sauce and dill and egg into hamburger meat.Divide meat into 8 evenly sized balls. Shape each ball into a large,thin patty.
Cut a slice of pepper jack into quarters. Arrange the cheese in the center of a patty. Top with another patty. Squeeze around the edges to seal the cheese between the two patties. Do that with the rest of the meat and cheese, leaving you with 4 large, stuffed hamburger patties.
Grill or fry over medium heat till done.
Serve on toasted or grilled buns with dill mayonnaise.

Christmas Casserole

Ten pieces of white bread
One dozen eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 pound Jimmy Dean sausage
Chopped green onions

Generously butter a 9 x 13 baking dish. Cube the slices of bread and toss in pan. Brown the sausage and sprinkle over the bread. Beat eggs with cream and pour over the sausage and bread. Cover with cheese. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Sprinkle with green onions. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour, or until set.

Swiss Steak

Swiss Steak
One chuck roast (or a thick round steak)
One onion
One can stewed tomatoes
One pkg. Lawry's meat tenderizer (It's an envelope full of seasonings)

Prepare the Lawry's tenderizer as directed on the package (mix with water and oil). Poke holes in the roast with a fork and turn it over in the tenderizer till it's covered. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.
Slice onion on top of meat. Pour stewed tomatoes over it all. Bake at 350 for an hour. Very good with noodles.

Chicken and Dumplings

One whole fryer chicken (or 6 chicken leg quarters - a chicken leg quarter is a big piece of chicken that includes the thigh and drumstick together)
4 cans refrigerated biscuits - NOT "layered" or "flaky" kind

Rinse chicken well being sure to take out any innards that might be stuffed into the body cavity (like the neck and liver and stuff. Throw those away!). Put chicken in a big pot, and cover with cold water. Sprinkle with salt. Put heat on high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium or so. Cook chicken till it's very tender and falling off the bone - about an hour.
Remove chicken pieces from broth with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Do NOT drain out the liquid. You'll need that later. Turn off the heat under the broth.
When chickn is cool enough to handle, remove skin and bone, and put chicken chunks back into the broth. When you've got all the chicken back in the pot, turn the heat back on high.
When it comes to a rolling boil, start dropping the refrigerated biscuit dough in. Break each biscuit in half (or in quarters) before adding it. Try to place each piece of dough on a bubble. Don't stir. When the dumplings begin to set (afterabout 3 - 5 minutes) turn heat down to medium low. Very, very gently stir to mix the dumplings down into the liquid, and also to get the chicken off the bottom of the pan. Let it cook for about 15 minutes on the low heat to give the dumplings time to absord the liquid.

Spicy Fried Chicken Sanwiches

The Best Fried Chicken Sandwiches Ever

1 pkg chicken tenders (raw)
1 small bottle Texas Pete
1 egg
Flour (For coating the chicken)

First.. each little chicken tender has a tough white piece of ligament or something attached to it. Using a paper towel to hold the chicken (and keep it from slipping all over the place), take a sharp knife and scrape or cut this tough part out of each piece of chicken (you don't have to do this, but I hate that chewy yucky thing...).
Next, put a piece of plastic wrap on the counter, put a chicken tender on it, and cover with another piece of plastic wrap. Use a meat mallet (or something flat and heavy) to pound the chicken out till it's very thin. As you pound it out, it will also get bigger. Try not to actually beat holes into the chicken, but if you do, that's ok, too. Pound each piece out flat, then salt it lightly. I usually stack them up as I do them, with a layer of plastic wrap betweenthem so they don't stick together.
Next, in a bowl or deep plate, beat the egg. Add a bunch of Texas Pete. 1/2 cup or so, and mix.
In another bowl or deep plate, mix about a cup of flour with lots of black pepper, some garlic powder, and any other spice that you want to add. This will be the coating on your chicken. I add cumin, Tony Chatchere's seasoning, onion powder and some cayenne. Sometimes I add poultry seasoning or whatever smells good to me at the moment. Beware... the more cayenne pepper you add, the hotter it'll be, so watch out.
In yet another bowl or deep plate, pour a cup or so of plain flour.
Put about a half inch of oil in a frying pan, and turn to between medium and medium high.
Dip the chicken in the plain flour first. Dredge it so it's covered. Shake off the excess flour, then coat in the egg mixture, and last in the seasoned flour. Press the chicken down into the flavored flour so it sticks real good. Place the chicken in the hot oil. Do not crowd them. They cook very quickly because they're so thin; just a few minutes on each side.
Drain on paper towels.
Put another frying pan on medium to medium high. Take hamburger buns, and spread the inside of both halves with butter and put them on the hot pan just till toasted.
Serve chicken on the buns.

Pork Chops and Gravy

4 pork chops (any kind... thin or thick, bone-in or boneless)
1 can cream of celery soup
2 T margarine
1 c flour (for coating the chops)
salt
pepper
garlic powder
vegetable oil to fry the chops

Preheat oven to 350.

Put soup in a pot. Stir in half a can of water. Add the margarine. Adda little garlic powder and pepper in here, too. Turn heat to medium low.
Put flour in a bowl and mix in salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Put oil in a frying pan, set heat between medium and medium-high.
Rinse pork chops under cold water (rub of any sandy feeling stuff).
Dredge wet chops in the flour, pressing down a little to coat each chop,adding each chop to oil.
Fry a few minutes on each side, till crispy and golden brown (they will not be done all the way through.)
Place the pork chops in a baking dish.
Stir the soup/margarine mixture well, and pour into the dish with the chops.Try to leave a little of each chop exposed on the top, peeking through the sauce.
Put the chops in the oven. Bake about 30 or 40 minutes, till the chops are done and the gravy is bubbly.
Serve over noodles, rice, or potatoes.

Chicken Enchiladas

2 tablespoon butter
¾ c chopped onion
2 large clove garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
4 tablespoons flour
3 cups chicken broth
4 cans (4.5 oz each) chopped green chiles (undrained)
Vegetable oil for softening tortillas
12 corn tortillas
2 cups coarsely shredded chicken (or pork)
2 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese
1 cup whipping cream
1/3 c green onions, chopped
Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

In saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Saute onion until transparent. Stir in garlic, salt and cumin. Stir in flour until well combined. Slowly stir in broth. Add chiles and stir well. Reduce heat to simmer; cook, uncovered, about 15 minutes. (Sauce can be prepared to this point, cooled and refrigerated 24 hours in advance.)
Preheat oven to 350. Place as many tortillas on 2 cookie sheets as will fit in a single layer. Brush lightly on both sides with vegetable oil. Bake 3 minutes to warm and soften tortillas before rolling. Stack on plate and cover with foil to keep warm while filling. Repeat until all tortillas are warmed.
Combine chicken (or pork) and 1 cup of the green chile sauce. To fill tortillas, place 2 tablespoons chicken mixture and 2 tablespoons cheese across center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in 13 x 9 baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over rolled enchiladas; then pour cream evenly over entire mixture and top with remaining cheese. Sprinkle with green onions. Bake, uncovered, in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped green onion and cilantro, if desired, and serve.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Korean Beef

2 lbs lean sirloin steak, visible fat trimmed away
1 T Accent (MSG)
3 T sesame oil
5 T soy sauce
2 green onions, chopped (OR half of one small onion, finely minced)
3 cloves garlic, minced


(The steak will be easier to cut up if it’s still a little bit frozen when you go to prepare the meal.)

Cut up the steak into smallish cubes. Put it in a non-reactive container (plastic or glass). Sprinkle with Accent. Add sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic and onion. Toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit on the counter for at least 45 minutes, but if you’re going to leave it much longer than that, put it in the fridge.

After it’s sat for awhile, heat up a big frying-type pan. Have the stove on medium high to high. When the pan is good and hot, add about 1/3 of the meat, using a slotted spoon (you don't need to add oil because the meat has a bit of oil in the marinade). You don't want a lot of the liquid going in or your meat will steam instead of fry. Don't crowd the pan. Stir fry till it’s done - only about 2 or 3 minutes or so. Remove that batch and continue stir-frying in small batches till all the meat is cooked. Throw away any remaining marinade (don't try to use it as a sauce). You can click on the photo above to enlarge it. This is how the meat tastes good - with a bit of crust from the high heat cooking.

Serve over rice, topped with green onions if you like. I usually have some mushrooms that I’ve cooked on the side in butter and olive oil and garlic - slow over low heat.

Good-For-You Oatmeal Cookies

¾ c brown sugar
¾ c sugar
½ c light margarine
½ c applesauce
¼ c cholesterol-free egg product
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
3 c old fashioned oats
1 1/2 c raisins

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a cookie sheet with Pam. Beat sugars and margarine until creamy. Add applesauce, egg product and vanilla; beat well. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and 1 tsp salt, if desired; mix well. Stir in oats; mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until light golden brown. Let stand 1 minute before removing to racks to cool.

Makes 5 dozen

Crab Salad

2/3 c plus 2 T mayonnaise
1/4 c chopped green onion
2 T chopped pimiento
4 T chopped green pepper
3 T chopped celery
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp MSG
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
the juice of 1/4 lime
16 oz flake style fake crab

Mix together everything but the crab in a large bowl.
Add the crab, breaking it up and flaking it as you add it. Mix well.
Refrigerate. (It's always better the next day.)