Christmas Yams

A yummy Thanksgiving and Christmas favorite from Jordan's mom!

6-7 large yams
1 stick butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg and cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup (or more) brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup half and half
Baby marshmallows
1/2 tsp orange peel (optional)

Wash, rinse, and quarter yams. Cook by bringing to a boil, turning the temperature down to low and simmer 15-20 minutes, just until tender but not mushy. Drain. Peel yams and put them in a big casserole dish. Mash the yams while still hot. Add the stick of butter. Mash together, melting the butter. Add salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and brown sugar. Mix. Add the beaten eggs and half and half and stir. Top with baby marshmallows. Bake at 325 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until marshmallows are a light golden brown.

*When I made these on Jordan's birthday, he suggested adding some crushed, drained pineapple. We added about 1/2-3/4 cups, and it was a great addition!

Meatballs and Orange Gravy

The only meatballs I really like. They are delicious!


Two handfuls of white rice

4 T. flour

1 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

2 T. minced onion

1 lb. lean ground beef

Two cans tomato soup

Scant two soup cans of water

Mix rice, flour and seasonings together in large bowl. Add ground beef and mix with your hands. Form into balls about the size of walnuts. Try not to overmix or pack the meat together too tightly or else you end up with hard and chewy meatballs.

Put the soup and the water in the pressure cooker over high heat. After soup boils, carefully drop meatballs into pot. Make sure the meatballs are covered with soup and distributed evenly in pot. Immediately cover with the lid and lock into place. When the steam thing pops up, put the rocking thing on the lid. When the rocking becomes consistent, turn heat to medium or medium high and cook for 20 minutes. (You want the rocking to be gentle.) After 20 minutes turn the heat off but don't open the lid. Let the meat rest until the steam indicator drops down. You can speed up the process by putting the pot under running hot water in the sink after the 20 minutes of cooking, and that will make the steam indicator drop faster, but I prefer to let it sit because it makes the meatballs more tender.

Voila! You have meatballs and instant gravy. The gravy is excellent over mashed potatoes.

No Meat Chili

This is my mom's recipe for chili, which is my favorite chili recipe ever. I actually don't like chili with lots of meat, only lots and lots of veggies! So this has a lot of beans for protein instead of meat. This can also be made in a crock-pot. Yummy, healthy, comfort-food.

1 15oz. can red kidney beans

1 15oz. can Great Northern beans

1 14oz. can diced tomatoes

1 8oz. can tomato sauce

3/4 cup green pepper, chopped

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

2 cloves of garlic, minced (or equivalent of garlic powder)

Drain and rinse beans. Do not drain tomatoes. Saute onion and garlic in a bit of butter for five minutes. Put all ingredients into large pot*. Simmer over medium/low heat until green peppers are soft, approximately 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The longer you let this simmer, the tastier it becomes.

*This picture is chili made in a crock-pot instead of over the stove. We just put it on low all day, and it turned out delicious!!

Better than Anything Cake

There are a lot of different names for this cake, but it seems like a lot of people have this recipe or something similar. Not for those lacking a major sweet tooth! Jordan has a sweet tooth, and this is too sweet for even him, but I love it!

1 Devil's Food Cake mix
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 8 oz jar caramel ice cream topping (not the kind you have to heat up)
8 oz. cool whip
Heath Bar, crumbled

Cook the cake in a 9X13 inch pan. After it's done and while it's still hot, poke holes into the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon. Poke the holes all the way to the bottom of the cake, about an inch apart. Pour the sweetened condensed milk and caramel over the cake, making sure it gets down the holes. Put the cake in the fridge, uncovered, for about 3 hours. Spread cool wip over the cake and sprinkle with the crumbled Heath Bar.

Hawaiian Haystacks

The coconut and the pineapple make this dish "Hawaiian"--an old family favorite, and great for large crowds.

White rice
Chinese noodles
Cream of chicken soup
Cooked chicken
Milk
Cheddar cheese, grated
Tomatoes, chopped
Coconut, shredded
Canned pineapple, drained
Sliced olives
Green onions
Cooked peas
Any other topping you think would be tasty

Cook rice. Make a chicken gravy by heating the milk and soup--one half can of milk for every can of soup. Add the chicken. Don't heat the gravy to boiling. To serve, start with a bed of rice, then top with the Chinese noodles, gravy, cheese, and any other topping you feel like.

Blaser Enchiladas

Probably our favorite family recipe! We learned it from Grandma Bea who learned it from her brother who learned it while serving a mission in New Mexico.

Corn tortillas
Vegetable oil
Lean ground beef
At least one can of enchilada sauce
Cheddar cheese
Lettuce, shredded
Tomatoes, chopped
Eggs

Heat oil in a small frying pan. Cook tortillas for just a few seconds on each side. Cook beef. Heat enchilada sauce. Drain most of the oil from the frying pan, and fry the eggs in the remaining oil. Put together individual enchiladas by dipping a tortilla in the enchilada sauce and laying it flat on your plate. Add the beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and egg. Top with extra enchilada sauce.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

A fun Halloween tradition from Grandma Sagers!

3 lbs lean ground beef
2 onions
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans water chestnuts, drained
3 cups cooked white rice
2 cans sliced mushrooms, drained (or use fresh mushrooms)

Chop onions and cook them with beef (and mushrooms if fresh). Drain any grease. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms, cream of chicken soup, water chestnuts, and rice.

If it's Halloween and you want to be fun and festive, clean out the inside of a large pumpkin (but make sure it will fit in your oven!!). Brush the inside with melted butter and pour casserole mixture inside. Place pumpkin on a cookie sheet, but leave the lid off of the pumpkin. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour. Pumpkin will get soft, so don't lift it off the cookie sheet when serving.

Notes: If you don't have a pumpkin or it's not Halloween, you can use a large casserole dish. This makes a large amount, so the recipe can be reduced for a smaller crowd or a smaller pumpkin!

Shepherd's Pie

1 lb lean ground beef
1 can green beans
1 can tomato soup
8 servings mashed potatoes
Cheddar cheese, grated

Brown beef. Add tomato soup and green beans. Spread in bottom of casserole dish. Spread cooked mashed potatoes on top. Cover top with cheese. Bake in 350 degree F oven for about 20 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.

Ham Fried Rice

3 TSP oil
6 cups cooked white rice
2 cups ham, cubed
1 1/2 cup cooked peas
6 eggs
1/2 to 3/4 cups reduced sodium soy sauce

Heat oil in wok (or large, deep pan). Add rice and coat it with the oil for 3-4 minutes. Add the ham and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the peas and cook for 1 minute. Push everything to one side to make a clear spot in the wok. Add eggs and scramble them until they are nearly cooked, then incorporate them into the rice mix. Add enough soy sauce until it is brown and moist, but not wet.

Note: This makes an extremely large amount, so you may want to reduce the recipe

Frito Casserole

1 lbs lean ground beef
1 15 oz can kidney beans, drained
10 oz enchilada sauce
Small can tomato sauce
1 TBS minced onion
1 small package of Fritos
2 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Lettuce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Brown beef and onions in frying pan. Drain off extra fat. Add beans, tomato sauce and enchilada sauce to meat. Add 1/2 of the package of Fritos and 2 cups of the cheese. Spread in a 9X13 casserole dish and bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with the rest of the cheese and some of the remaining Fritos, crushed, to taste. Serve with sour cream and lettuce.

Beef Strogonoff

A yummy cold-weather comfort food! I was craving it when I was about 3 months pregnant.

1 lb ground beef or turkey, or stew meat
1 tsp salt and pepper
1/2 cup minced onion
1 clove (or 1/4 tsp dried) garlic
1/4 cup butter
2 TBS flour
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 tsp Lawry's seasoning salt
Small can of mushrooms or 1 cup fresh mushrooms

Brown meat. Add salt and pepper and minced onion. Cook until onion is transparent. Add garlic and stir. Add butter and flour and mix. Add sour cream and soup. Stir and add seasoning salt and mushrooms. Simmer 5-10 minutes. Serve over noodles or rice.

(Mom's) Mrs. Fields' Cookies

I always wanted the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, but never had one I loved until I married Jordan. This recipe is from his mom. The cookies are delicious, but this recipe makes a TON of cookies. So we usually only make 1/3 or 2/3 of the recipe (there are 3 eggs). Under the original recipe is the 1/3 version.

Mix and set aside:
6 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt

Beat until creamy:
2 cups of brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 lb. (4 sticks) butter

Add 3 eggs to sugar mixture and beat. Add dry mixture a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure it's all mixed.

Add chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, chopped walnuts...any combination you want.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.

Here are the ingredients cut down to 1/3:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/3 sticks butter

1 egg