Apple Dumplings

I've made these 3 times in the last 4 days. That tells you how delish they are. Don't knock the recipe by the Mountain Dew and packaged dough until you've tried it. Your life will never be the same. Seriously.

Ingredients

- 2 cans of crescent rolls

- 4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 8ths

- 1 cup butter

- 1 1/2 cup sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 1 can Mountain Dew

- cinnamon

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

- Open the cans of crescent rolls and divide along perforations, giving you 16 total pieces of dough

- Place 2 of the apple slices on a piece of crescent roll dough, roll it up, place in the pan.

- Repeat until all of the apple slices and dough is used.
- Pour Mountain Dew on top of everything.

- Sprinkle with cinnamon

- Bake at 350 for 40 minutes

- Prepare to eat lots and lots of these. You will probably fall in love.

Orange Brownies

Thanks Paula Deen for this little slice of heaven!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure orange extract
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1 recipe Orange Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

Orange Brownies:

Stir together flour, granulated sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add butter, eggs, orange extract, and orange zest. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until light golden brown and set. Remove from oven, allow to cool and pierce entire cake with a fork. Spread the Orange Cream Cheese Frosting over completely cooled brownies. Cut into squares.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 4 tablespoons softened butter
• 1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons orange zest
• 2 tablespoons orange juice

In a large mixing bowl, whip the butter and cream cheese together with a hand-held electric mixer. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar until it is all combined and smooth. Beat in the orange zest and juice. Spread over brownies.

Buttermilk Syrup

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1 Cup sugar
1 Cup buttermilk
1 T. vanilla
1 T. corn syrup
½ tsp. baking soda

Bring first five ingredients to a boil.
Add in baking soda.
Boil for 10 seconds then remove from heat immediately to avoid boil over.

Best Stuffing You Will Ever Eat...SERIOUSLY!!!

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian sausage cooked and drained

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 extra-large yellow onion, chopped

7 large celery ribs, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

6 ounces pancetta, diced

6 cups day-old, finely diced French bread

3 cups crumbled unsweetened cornbread

1/2 cup butter, cubed, cold

1 tablespoon ground sage

1 1/2 tablespoons poultry seasoning

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup toasted pine nuts

4-5 cups chicken or turkey broth

2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

large Parmesan shavings

Directions

Heat oil in large skillet on medium. Saute pancetta for 2 minutes.

Add onion and celery and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook another 3 minutes.

Mix together breads and 3/4 cup toasted pine nuts in a large mixing bowl. Add cheeses and cooked sausage to the breads. Mix together with the dried seasonings. Add sauteed veggies with any pan drippings.

Slowly add broth and stir until mixed thoroughly. The consistency should not be soupy, but very moist. If not, add more broth. Test for saltiness and add a dash more if needed.

Place in an extra deep 9-inch-by-13-inch greased pan. Dot the top with the cubed butter and cover with foil. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes.

Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes or until slightly crusted on the edges.

Top with remaining toasted pine nuts and chopped fresh sage. Add shaved cheese just before serving.

Cinnamon Applesauce Jello

1/3 cup red hots

½ cup hot water

1 pkg (sm) cherry jello

1-16 oz can applesauce

Over medium heat dissolve red hots in hot water. Add jello, stir until dissolved. Stir in Applesauce. Chill until set.

*I always double it

Mandarin Salad

Mandarin Salad

Disclaimer: I'll give you the actual recipe listed in the cookbook, but with my exclusions crossed out and my notes in italics. Also, my ratios of toppings to lettuce were heavily weighted on the fruit side…

2 quarts salad greens torn into pieces (a variety preferred)

2 to 3 ribs celery, cut on diagonal

1 can (8 ounces) Mandarin oranges, drained

2 to 3 green onions, cut on diagonal (use some of the green top)

1 cup grapes, any variety (those with seeds should be halved and seeds removed)

1/2 cup pecans, coarsely cut - My mom really likes these so you might, too. I’m just not a big fan of nuts…
strawberries

Dressing

2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted*

3 tablespoons sugar or honey

1 teaspoon monosodium glutamate (MSG) if you want cancer…

1 teaspoon salt

Pepper

¼ cup salad oil or vegetable oil if you don’t know what salad oil is…

2 tablespoons vinegar

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Dressing may be stored in refrigerator. Shake well before using.

*To toast sesame seeds: Measure seeds onto pie pan or baking sheet and place in 350-degree F. oven for about 10 4 minutes. Stir occasionally. You don’t want them brown, just golden.

Hot Cocoa Sticky Bundt

Ingredients

24 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, thawed but still cold
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup Stephen's Gourmet Hot Cocoa mix, (Dutch Milk Chocolate flavor)
1/4 cup pecans
2/3 cup toffee bits
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Instructions

Cut rolls in half. Wrap each half around 1 teaspoon chocolate chips and completely enclose. Dip each roll half in gourmet cocoa mix until well coated. Place in a large sprayed bundt pan, alternately with pecans and toffee bits. Sprinkle any remaining cocoa mix over rolls. Combine butter and brown sugar in a small microwave safe bowl. Microwave 30 seconds. Stir until completely combined and pour over rolls.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until almost to the top of the pan. Remove wrap and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Cover with foil last 10 minutes of baking. Invert immediately onto serving platter.

Corn Salsa

Ingredients:
1 can of corn, drained
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
2-3 chopped tomatoes, chopped small
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped small, no stems
1/2 to 1 bunch of chopped green onion, chopped small
1 envelope of Good Seasons italian dressing (any italian dressing
will work) mixed as per directions with oil, vinegar, and water
2-3 avocados, chopped small

Mix all of above ingredients except avocados.
Just before servings add avocados.
Mix and serve with tortilla chips. (I like the lime chips the best!)

Mama Lovejoy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 ½ c. old fashioned or quick oats

2 c. flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter (don’t use marg)

1 c. white sugar

1 c packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large bag milk choc. Chips

½ bag heath chips or skor chips

** Place small amount of oats in blender and process until powdered. Pour into separate bowl. Repeat process until all oats are powdered. Set aside

**Beat butter and sugars with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs one at a time and then add vanilla.

**Add baking soda and baking powder, salt. Mix—then add the powdered oats. Mix

**Add the chips

**Add the flour. You will probably only get about half of it mixed in with you electric mixer, the rest of the flour I mix in with a spoon or my hands

**Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours…It is OK to leave overnight. Also remember to put your cookie sheets into the freezer.

**Form cookies into a ball about the size of a golf ball. Place about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 12-15 min.. (Usually is 13 min. for me) Cool on cookie sheet for 1 min. Then remove. Remember to chill sheet each time. This is really the secret…Makes about 4 dozen.

Cafe Rio Shredded Pork

5-6 lb. boneless pork roast (I used half of a pork shoulder roast from Costco)
20 oz. Dr. Pepper or Coke
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
7 oz. can chipotle chili peppers in adobo sauce (I found them at Walmart in the Hispanic foods section)
6 oz. red taco sauce
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. cumin
1/8 - 1/4 tsp. cayenne (red) pepper

Cover the pork roast about halfway with water and cook in a crock pot on low for 12 hours - I put it in the night before and let it cook all night. Drain and shred the pork with 2 forks. Depending on how fatty your roast was, you may want to remove any big chunks of fat as you shred.
Mix the remaining ingredients together until the sugar is dissolved. You can leave the chipotle peppers whole as you mix them in (if you chop them up, it will make it super spicy, so do it if you love the heat).
Add to shredded pork and cook on low an additional 4-6 hours. My crock pot has a warm setting, so I cooked it in the sauce about 3-4 more hours (stirring occasionally) and then turned it to warm until we were ready to eat. I pulled out the big chunks of peppers before serving. Mine was thawed and cooked up really tender - I'm not sure what adjustments you would have to make to the cooking time if you put the meat in frozen.

Caramel Bars

¾ c butter

1 cup flour

1 cup oatmeal

¾ cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

Mix together and pat ¾ of the mixture into a 9x13 pan. Bake for 9 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Meanwhile melt In microwave, stirring frequently and not overcooking:

32 unwrapped square caramels

3 T milk

3 T butter

Pour caramel sauce over baked crust. Sprinkle with 1 ½ cups chocolate chips and crumble remaining crust mixture

over the top. Bake for 15 minutes longer at 350.

Do Not Overcook!

Cut into bars when cool

Green Bean Bundles

from Our Best Bites

1 lb. green beans with the ends snapped off (buy or pick about 1 1/2 pounds so you'll have 1 lb. after the beans' ends have been snapped)

8 slices lean, regularly sliced bacon

3 Tbsp. real butter (no substitutions!)

1 Tbsp. rice vinegar

1 Tbsp. white sugar

1 Tbsp. minced red onion

1 clove minced garlic

1/4 tsp. Kosher salt

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.

If you're using fresh green beans, wash and snap the ends off. Discard any sickly looking, overly skinny, limp, or yucky-looking beans. When the water is boiling, briefly boil (blanch) the beans for 2-3 minutes or until you start hearing a popping noise and the beans have turned bright green. Quickly drain and rinse in cold water until the beans have cooled.

If you're planning on completing the beans immediately, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

On a cookie sheet, divide the green beans evenly into 8 piles. Carefully bundle each pile of beans with one slice of bacon and return to the baking sheet. This step can be done up to a day ahead of time.

When the oven is ready, place the pan in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the bacon is crisp and sizzling. While the bundles are in the oven, melt the butter over medium-high heat in a small saucepan. When the butter is bubbly, add in the onions and garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes or until the onions are softened and fragrant. Reduce heat to low and add in vinegar, sugar, and salt. Remove from heat and set aside.

When ready to serve, place bean bundles on a serving platter and drizzle with sauce. Serve immediately

Flank Steak

1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C olive oil
1/2 C soy sauce
1 C pineapple juice
1 T freshly grated ginger
4-5 garlic cloves, finely minced

up to 2 lbs flank steak

Combine first 6 ingredients for the marinade. Whisk together until combined. Remove 1/4 cup and set aside.

Score flank steak with a knife diagonally on both sides.

Place steak in large ziploc bag and pour marinade (excluding the 1/4 C you set aside) over it. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. Take out of fridge 30 minutes before grilling. Place steak on grill and cook for 5-10 minutes per side, depending on the size. Use the 1/4 C marinade you set aside to brush over steak in the last few minutes of grilling. Flank steak should still be pink in the middle when done.

Remove from grill and let stand for 5 minutes before cutting so the juices can redistribute. Always cut flank steak against the grain, in thin slices to serve.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

1st Step:

• 2 1/4 cups unbleached white or whole wheat flour, sifted
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup butter

2nd Step:

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

3rd Step:

• 1/2 pound cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg

4th Step:

• 2/3 cup raspberry filling or seedless jam
• 1/2 cup almonds, sliced and toasted lightly

5th Step: Icing

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 Tablespoon milk
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare pans.
• Step One: Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar and cool butter together until dry and it resembles fine struesel. Do not go any further than this. It should not clump up in a ball. Measure out 1 cup and set aside.
• Step Two: Using the same mixer bowl with the remaining struesel mix, add baking power, baking soda, salt and sour cream and blend well. Add egg from 2nd step and almond extract and beat only until batter is smooth. Do not over mix. Pat thick on the bottom of the springform pan and about 3/4 of the way up the sides. Clean mixing bowl.
• Step Three: Using the clean mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar. Add egg and beat until light and fluffy. Pour into springform pans.
• Step Four: Spread 1/3 cup raspberry filling very gently over the cream cheese batter, being careful not to disturb it. Set aside. Mix almonds in with the 1 cup of streusel that was set aside at the beginning. Carefully sprinkle struesel over each coffee cake, spreading evenly. Place coffee cake in 350 degree oven and bake for 45-60 minutes or until middle seems set. Cool completely before removing ring. Carefully slide cooled coffee cake off bottom onto flat cake plate.
• Step Five: Mix icing ingredients together and drizzle over cooled cake.
• Refrigerate before slicing for best results.
• Makes one 9-inch coffee cake.

Marsala Chicken Breasts with Mushroom Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup marsala wine (this is what the recipe calls for - I would use 3/4 to 1 cup)
½ cup sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation:

Mix the salt and pepper with most of the flour and coat the chicken in it.

Brown the chicken on both sides in a skillet in the oil, then put it in the slow cooker.

Sauté the mushrooms in the marsala wine in the skillet for 10 minutes, stirring the mixture constantly.

Sprinkle the remaining flour over the chicken, and then pour the sauce on top.

Cook for 6 hours on low.

(Serves 4)

Cheesy Potato Chip Breadsticks

- 12 Rhodes Texas Rolls or 24 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, thawed but still cold
- 12 strips pepper jack cheese
- 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
- 3/4 cup crushed sour cream and onion potato chips

Roll each Texas roll or 2 dinner rolls combined into a 7-inch rope. Flatten each rope. Cut twelve 6-inch strips of cheese 1/2 inch thick. Place one strip of cheese on each flattened rope. Tightly pinch dough around cheese to form a breadstick. Place butter and potato chips in shallow bowls. Roll each breadstick in butter and then in crushed potato chips. Place seam side up on a sprayed baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double. Remove wrap and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.