Mushroom Salisbury Steak

1/4 C Cornstarch

4 C Beef Broth (2 cans)

6 oz. Mushrooms

4 teas. Worcestershire Sauce

1 T Fresh Basil or 1/4 teas. dried

1 egg - beaten

1/2 C Soft Bread Crumbs

1 small onion finely chopped (1/2 C)

1/2 teas. black pepper

1 1/2 # ground lean hamburger

Mix corn starch with cold broth, add the remainder of the first group of ingredients, bring to a boil slowly, stir until thick, then let simmer on low.

Mix the second group of ingredients together in a bowl. Form about six patties and place in baking dish (sprayed with Pam). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or so until patties are done. When gravy is done, place about a cup over the patties while they are baking. Reserve the rest of the gravy to place over the potatoes or noodles.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Now this seems way too simple to put down a recipe, but when we were camping one time, many of the people were amazed at this dish when I made it over the fire. Maybe they were just really hungry, not sure, but I love this easy, "fast food" breakfast.

3 C water

1 small apple cut up (I don't bother pealing, just take the core out)

1/4 teas. cinnamon

Bring to a boil.

Add 1 1/2 C Oatmeal (the old fashioned kind - the instant stuff is baby food)

Continue the boil/simmer until the right consistency.

We top this with some skim milk and maple syrup (Tod makes maple syrup mostly for his oatmeal). Another alternative to this is to add a banana and a handful of walnuts to the oatmeal and water- wonderful if you like banana nutbread!

Chicken & Broccoli Pot Pie

This is great for leftover chicken or turkey! This recipe would make two pies. One is never enough. My friend that does not eat anything green eats this and says it's good....he's either polite and gagging on the broccoli, or it's really really good. I'm partial to the really good idea of coarse.

1 T Olive Oil

1 C Onion Chopped

1 T Minced Garlic

2 T fresh Sage or 1 T dried rubbed sage

1 teas black pepper

Simmer above until onion is tender, then add:

4 Carrots chopped

2 Broccoli Crowns chopped

2 C chicken broth

(optional 1/4 C freshly grated Parmesan)

1 T chicken soup base or boullian

2-3 C chopped chicken or turkey

Simmer for 5-10 minutes, then in a separate bowl, stir together:

2 C skim milk

2 T corn starch

Slowly add milk mixture to bubbly veggies and meat. Stir until thickened. Pour into pie pans lined with Pillsbury pie crust. Cover the pie with another layer of crust, put slices into the crust for air vents, you can rub some butter on the top and sprinkle some pepper for a glistening savory crust.

Bake in 400 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes, until crust is brown and sauce is bubbly. It is best to let the pie sit for 20 minutes so it will come out like pie and not like soup. Gotta be patient.

Tuna Casserole

Really, it is good.....no joking!

Enough of the sweets already, I'm hungry for some comfort food on this beautiful Fall day. This is an indulgence in salt, but every once in a while is ok.

4 C Homestyle Egg Noodles- cooked and drained

2 cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 can of Milk

2 cans of tuna in water (I don’t bother draining)

1 teaspoon pepper

Optional Items to take this Homey Dish Uptown ;)

½ C Onion Chunks

Fresh Sliced Mushrooms and/or some fresh Baby Spinach chopped to add more texture and color.

While cooking the noodles, mix all the other ingredients in a large baking dish sprayed with cooking oil. Add cooked noodles, mix and top with “French fried onions”. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or so until hot and bubbly.

Can be served with lemon juice sprinkled on top. If it seems dry as a left over, you can add more milk. Serves 6.

Apple Crisp

This is a good recipe to get typed, since it is falling out of my cookbook. It was my kids favorite as they were growing up, but since we had a wonderful pear tree at our old house, we always had "pear crisp". I remember their surprise when they saw someone that had made apple crisp; "mom, why would someone use apples in pear crisp?" The picture here is from a large pan of apple crisp I took to church from apples we picked last Sunday at McCallum's Orchard.

4 C sliced tart apples (or more- fill up the pan w/ a couple of inches of apples over a buttered pan)

2/3 C packed brown sugar

1/2 C flour

1/2 C oats

1/2 C crushed walnuts

1/3 C butter softened

3/4 teas cinnamon

1/4 teas nutmeg

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange apples in a buttered 8" X8" square pan. (I always double the recipe for a 13" X 9" cake pan) Mix the remainder of the ingredients together. A pastry cutter may be the easiest way to mix. Sprinkle over the apples evenly.

Bake until topping is golden brown, some apple juice is bubbly and the apples are tender enough for a toothpick (about 30 minutes or so)

Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream. (It is still good cold though)

If you want to try Pear Crisp, use canned pears (I like the light Pears- less sugar), slice up the pears into smaller pieces. This is way easier than peeling apples and is tasty and unique.

Gluten Free Baked Apples were made for my friend without the oats and flour....She said they were very good.

Rhubarb Sauce

Second day of Blogging, we are doing good now.

4 C cut up rhubarb

I use a food processor because I'm lazy

Heat up 1/2 C water with 3/4 C sugar, bring to a boil. Sometimes I have to add more water, but then you just simmer it longer to get the consistency that you want. Add the rhubarb.

Are ya ready for my secret ingredient that is not in the Betty Crocker Book? 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon added to taste. I also added red food coloring to this batch, it looks more fruity that way, without it, it's kinda greenish red......Simmer all together until it is sauce.

Spoon this over ice cream or eat it straight up. Super simple, super addictive.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

This is easy and one of the best fall deserts around. It can be made with rice flour too if you want a gluten free dessert. Desert, dessert, I can't remember what Kris told me :) This recipe came from a Libby pumpkin can a long time ago. You can use fresh pumpkin or squash or the canned - un-spiced pumpkin. I prefer butternut squash, but no one would eat butternut squash cheesecake.....they never know, ssshhhh.

Crust

1 C Flour

1/3 C Brown Sugar

5 T Butter

½ C Chopped Nuts

Cut together crust w/ pastry cutter and set aside ¾ C of crumbs for topping. Press crust into 8’ X 8’ pan and bake @ 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Filling

8 oz. Cream Cheese

¾ C Sugar

½ C Pumpkin (or squash)

2 eggs

½ teas Cinnamon

1 teas Vanilla

Blend the filling together in food processor (or blender) until smooth, pour over pre-baked crust, top with the ¾ C crumbs, finish baking for an additional 30 minutes.

Homemade Sloppy Joes

This recipe is.  Sandwiches from Tod's Mom (Bonnie Rodgers). Once I had this, I never had a Manwich again. The ingredients may look a bit "redneck", but let this simmer for a day and you have a great comfort food!

1 to 1 1/2 pound ground beef (or turkey if you wish) browned and drained

1 C onion chopped

1/2 celery chopped

1/4 C green pepper chopped

2 Tab vinegar

1 Tab brown sugar

1 Tab Worcestershire Sauce

1 C ketchup

1/4 teas cayenne (Bonnie didn't use this)

Brown meat, drain, add remainder ingredients, simmer for at least 30 minutes. Crockpot works well too to allow the flavors to really co-mingle.  Makes about 8 sandwiches.  

Black Bean Soup

1 Tablespoon olive oil

4 thinly sliced scallions (or 1C onions)

1 thinly sliced celery stalk (1/2 C)

4 minced garlic cloves (1 Tb minced)

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Pinch of salt

Freshly ground pepper

Cook and stir until veggies soften.

2 (15 oz.) cans black beans and their liquid (or 1/2 pound bag of dried black beans soaked overnight, rinsed and cooked in 3 C of water)

1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes with juices

1 ½ C chicken broth (or one can) - Vegetarian I used 1 C water, 1/2 C red wine

Simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Blend 2 C up this in blender, return to soup. Simmer and enjoy. This is a new favorite that is healthy too. Adapted from the South Beach Diet Book. Finish with a dollop of sour cream if you wish :)