Beefy Veggie Skillet

Brown 3/4 to 1# of ground beef until completely cooked-drain and return to pan.
Add 1 package Rice A Roni 4 cheese blend plus seasoning packet
         2.5 cups of hot water
         1 TBS butter or margarine
         1/4 tsp pepper
         3/4 c. of chopped baby carrots
          1 c broccoli floretes  broken into small pieces
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and let her rip for 15 minutes or so. Stir it once in a while.  I like my broccoli well done, but if you don't, you can add it later in the process. When everything is cooked, add halved cherry tomatoes and let them warm through 5 minutes or so. I didn't do this because I don't like them.
Quick and easy weekday supper!

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

Cut chicken breasts into three strip and sprinkle on both sides with salt, pepper, garlic powder and chili powder (or any of your other favorite spices).

 Wrap each piece in one slice of bacon (the thinner the bacon, the better) and roll the whole thing in brown sugar.  (It doesn't stick all that well, so I sprinkle a bit on the top once they are in the pan.)

 Put them in a greased 9x13 pan (and sprinkle a little extra sugar on like I said.)

 Bake a 400° for about 30-40 minutes or however long it takes for the chicken to be done and the bacon to be crispy.

This is quick and awesome and I'll bet it would be a good salad topper too. I think next time I will put some mandarin oranges around the chicken in the pan for good measure and try is on salad veggies as a complete meal. .

YUM!

Crock Pot Apple Bread Pudding

Cut 8 slices of bread (I used homemade bread-don't use Wonderbread type loafs) into cubes and mix in a large bowl with 1 stick melted butter, 1 c. packed brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and a dash of salt until thoroughly coated. (Can also add 1/2 c of raisins and/or nuts if desired). It will look like this.

Peel and dice 4 medium sized apples-the juicier the better. I used Honey Crisp.

Layer in the crockpot as follows : apples, bread, apples, bread, apples (layers will be thinnish).

Let her rip on high until the apples are done to your liking. I like mine fairly soft so I let it go 2 and a half hours or so. I checked it every 30 minutes.

Oooh ya baby! Ooey gooey good!

Would be great warm with ice cream or:

                                                                    Whipped cream!

Bonus: It smells great cooking! Enjoy!

Snicker Bars

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray 9x13 pan with Pam.  Press a roll of chocolate chip cookie dough (either use the regular size one of 1/2 of the big roll) into the pan. Bake 13 minutes.

While it's baking, cut up 6 full sized snicker bars. I but them down the middle the long way and then into slices.

When the 13 minutes is up, the dough will be slightly browned but not done.  It'll look like this.

 Sprinkle the chopped up Snickers on the hot cookie dough.

 Bake 7 minutes and it will look like this.  Sorta melty but not really 'out of shape' really.

Carefully smoosh the hot Snickers bars around the top of the dough.

 

 Bake seven more minutes.

Let cool completely and cut into bars.

Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookies

• Either make your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough or buy the already made kind in the store.
• Mold a couple of teaspoons of dough around a double stuff Oreo. Use enough to cover the cookie and seal the edges, but just use as much as you need, not more.
• Place on parchment paper covered cookie sheet.
• Bake @ 350° for 13-15 minutes or until choc. chop dough is cooked. Let sit 3-4 minutes. Remove to wire rack.

Excellent when warm!

Molly's Taco Soup

One of my favorite soups is Taco Soup but the recipe I usually use is full of carby potatoes and Campbell's tomato soup so I tinkered with my recipe and came up with a lower carb version that is YUM!


Brown 1-1.5# lean ground beef, 2 minced garlic cloves and 1 large diced onion.
Drain
Add McCormicks Taco Seasoning packet and 3/4 of water and cook according to taco packet instruction.
Then add:
1 reg size can low fat beef broth
1 8oz can of tomato sauce (lowest salt and sugar content you can find)
1/2 c water
1 reg. size can of stewed tomatoes
1  reg. size can of black beans
2 TBS Chili Powder.
If you can have corn, add one of the small cans.


Bring to a boil and simmer everything together for 15 minutes.  You can eat it now, but it's better if you put the whole works in the fridge and reheat it the next day.  Something magical happens in the ice box.


Serve with fat free sour cream and low fat sharp cheddar cheese.

Caramel Corn Pops

1 bag of cheese-less corn pops (Also works with popped corn, cereal, nuts or anything else you want to coat with a crisp caramel Fiddle Faddle like glaze.)

2 sticks of butter
1 packed cup of brown sugar
1/2 c Karo syrup (light)
1 tsp baking soda

*Put the cornpops in a roasting pan and set the oven to 250°
*Melt 2 sticks of butter, 1 packed cup of brown sugar and 1/2 c of lt Karo syrup in a medium saucepan.
*Bring to boil, reduce heat and boil two minutes stirring constantly.
*Remove from heat and add 1 tsp baking soda and stirthoroughly. (You will want to do this over your corn pops because it will foam up like a rabid dog.)
*Pour over corn pops and stir to coat thoroughly. Bake at 250° for 45 minutes taking out to stir every 10 minutes or so.
Pour out on waxed or parchment paper, break up with spoon into smaller globs and let cool.

Make more than one batch because folks gobble this up!
Note: you'll want to take care of the pans, spoon and any drips on the stovetop right away because it will cement on.