Recipes
Share Your Favorite Recipes
Let’s face it…we don’t all love cooking and baking, but most of us do it anyway. Even if it is one of our favorite things to do, we tend to get stuck in a rut. So, it will be fun to share with each other and perhaps make cooking and baking more interesting and less time-consuming! If you have a recipe (or more than one!) to share, please email it to me at info@prairiedreamsdecor.com Only your first name will be used unless you instruct otherwise.
Baked Water Chestnuts
Undeniably, one of the best appetizers I’ve ever had. Easy to make and absolutely addictive! This recipe is from Twila out of A Bountiful Harvest cookbook.
- 2 cans of whole water chestnuts
- 1 pkg bacon
Wrap the water chestnuts in ½ piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Place in rows in a baking dish, which will also be used for serving.
- 2 C sugar
- 1 C white vinegar
- 1 C water
- 1 t pepper
- ½ t salt
- 3 T corn starch mixed with additional 4 T water
Boil the sugar, vinegar, 1 C water, salt and pepper for 5 minutes. Mix corn starch in 4 T water. Add this mixture to the sauce and boil until it becomes clear. Pour over the wrapped chestnuts and bake at 350⁰ for 40 minutes or until bacon is done. Serve warm.
Jezabel Sauce
I’m pretty sure this recipe is from Taste of Home. It made the rounds a few years ago and you could count on having this appetizer at just about any party. It’s so good!
- 1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
- 1/3 C apple jelly
- 1 T prepared Horseradish
- 1 ½ t ground mustard
- 1/3 C apricot spreadable fruit
- Crackers
In a small bowl, slowly heat the apple jelly until warm. Stir in the horseradish and mustard until well blended. Stir in the spreadable fruit. Pour over the brick of cream cheese and serve with crackers. Enjoy!
*Also very yummy as a spread on ham sandwiches!
*Leftover sauce can be stored in the refrigerator in a glass jar for up to 2 weeks.
Caramel Apple Dip
This recipe for Caramel Apple Dip is from The Russo Jr Cookbook Project, one of the cookbooks created at FamilyCookbookProject.com.
Ingredients:
- 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup apple butter
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup peanuts, chopped
- 5 apples or pears, wedged
Directions:
Combine all ingredients except peanuts and apples in Small Batter Bowl; mix well. Chop peanuts using Food Chopper; add to Batter Bowl. Mix well; chill.
Wedge apples using Apple Wedger; arrange around dip and serve.
Number Of Servings:
16 servings (2 cups)
Preparation Time:
15 Minutes
Personal Notes:
I serve hot in my appetizer crock pot, can serve cold too. If you are unable to have nuts, like me, you can omit.
Contributed by Trish
Caramels
A few years ago, a fellow parishioner from my church brought me some of the caramels she made in the microwave. I loved them so much, I just had to have the recipe! Enjoy!
2 1/2 C brown sugar 1 C Karo syrup
1 C salted butter (melted) 1 Can sweetened condensed milk
1 t vanilla
Melt butter in glass bowl then stir in sugar, syrup and milk. Microwave for 4 minutes, then whisk thoroughly and microwave for another 4 minutes. Whisk again & microwave for a final 4 minutes. Whisk thoroughly, add vanilla and whisk again. Pour into greased jelly roll pan and let cook completely. Cut the caramels and wrap in waxed paper.
Submitted by Jeanette
Chocolate Striped Delight
This is kind of a combination of different recipes rolled into one. My middle son gave this dessert it’s name. I know what my family likes and they like the extra cream cheese and pudding! The only problem I have with this recipe is that everyone thinks I need to make it for all family gatherings. I really do know how to make other desserts, but they like this one the best!
Crust:
- 1 ¾ C flour
- ¾ C chopped pecans
- ¾ melted butter
Mix these three ingredients together and press into a 9” X 13” baking dish. This makes a thin crust – you can double if you like. Bake at 350⁰ for about 15 minutes until it begins to brown. Cool completely before proceeding.
Stripes:
- 2 – 8 oz pkgs softened cream cheese
- 1 lg and 1 sm pkg instant chocolate pudding
- 1 ½ C powdered sugar
- 3 C very cold milk
- 1 ½ C Cool Whip (+ remaining
- Pecans or chocolate chips or shaved chocolate
- Cool Whip in carton)
- (anything you like for garnishment)
Mix softened cream cheese with powdered sugar. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread over baked and cooled crust. Refrigerate while preparing the rest of the recipe. Mix chocolate pudding mix and cold milk until thick and spread over cream cheese layer. (It will be very thick.) Spread plain Cool Whip over the pudding layer and sprinkle garnishment on top, if desired. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.
Cinnamon Candy Popcorn
This is one of my favorites during the holiday season!
8 qts plain popped popcorn 1/4 t. cinnamon oil
1 C butter dash of red food color
1/2 C light corn syrup 1 – 9 oz pkg red-hot candies
Place popcorn in a large bowl and set aside. In a saucepan, combine butter, corn syrup, and candies. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 5 minutes, stir occasionally. Pour over popcorn and mix. Turn onto a very large pan or wax paper to cool. Break apart, store in airtight containers or plastic bags.
Submitted by Laura
Cinnamon Sugar Pecans
1 lb of pecans
1 egg white
1 C granulated sugar
½ t salt
1 T ground cinnamon
2 t water
2 t vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 250⁰. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or non-stick foil. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large Ziploc bag. Whisk the gg white, vanilla, and water with a fork in a large bowl until frothy. Add the pecans to the gg white mixture and stir until they are well coated. Pour the pecans into the Ziploc bag, seal, and shake until well coated with your cinnamon/sugar mixture. Spread them out on your prepared baking sheet into a single layer. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Try not to eat them all at one time!
Cinnadoodles
My daughter in law adapted a recipe she had for Snickerdoodles and this is her recipe. My granddaughter made a batch for the 4H fair and won a purple ribbon for them. So, I hope you like them!
1 C sugar 1/2 C butter, softened
2 t vanilla 1 egg
1 3/4 C all purpose flour 2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt 3 T cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375⁰. Mix sugar, butter, vanilla and egg in a large bowl with a spoon. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Drop tablespoon size cookies about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 – 10 minutes or until very light brown. Remove from the cookie sheet to cool on a wire rack. Ice the cookies when they are completely cool.
Icing:
3 C powdered sugar 1/3 C butter, softened
2 – 3 T milk
Mix all ingredients until smooth and spreadable.
Submitted by Delena
Oatmeal Bars
Great for breakfast on the go or as a snack anytime!
- 1 C butter
- ½ C brown sugar
- ½ C brown sugar
- 1 t vanilla
- 3 C rolled oats
- ½ t cinnamon
- ¼ t Kosher salt
- 1 C dark chocolate chips
- ¾ C peanut butter
Line an 8 X 8 dish with parchment paper. In a saucepan, heat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add oats, cinnamon, and salt. Cook 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour half of mixture into the dish, pressing it down. Heat the chips and peanut butter in the microwave, stirring occasionally, until melted. Spread on top of the oats in the dish. Spread the remaining oat mixture on top. This is the last layer.
Cheesy Ham and Potatoes
- 6-8 potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks, boiled until almost done and drained
- 1 med onion, cut into chunks and boiled with the potatoes
- Ham – use steaks, leftovers, whatever you have and as much as you like
- I used 2 small ham steaks the last time I made it 📷 📷 📷
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 can cream of celery soup
- Milk – enough to rinse out the cans, equal to about one can
- 8 oz sharp shredded cheese
- Pepper to taste
*For those watching their sodium intake, there ae reduced sodium canned soups available.
Preheat oven to 350⁰. Spray a 9 x 12 baking dish with baking spray. Combine the soups, milk, 4 oz cheese, and pepper in a bowl. Pour over the potatoes, onion, and ham in the baking dish. Fold all these ingredients together, top with the remaining 4 oz of cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for 15 minutes. Makes approximately 8 servings.
Crockpot Beef Roast
1 roast (2-4 lbs)
1 pkg Zesty Italian dressing mix
1 pkg brown gravy mix
1 pkg Ranch dressing mix
Mix the 3 dry ingredient packages together.
Place the roast in the crockpot and sprinkle the entire dry ingredient mixture over the roast. Add one cup of water to the bottom of the crockpot. Cook in crockpot on low for 7 – 8 hours or until the roast is very tender. Enjoy with mashed potatoes and a vegetable.
Contributed by Janese
Egg Bake
Grease a 9 x 13 glass baking dish with grass-fed butter. Dice up one whole onion and sauté in a pan with 1 tbsp grass-fed butter. (I use Kerry gold). Chop up 2 - 3 handfuls of spinach, add into the pan once the onions have just started to brown a little. Stir for a few minutes and place aside into a large mixing bowl. Keep the pan going, cut up 6 slices of uncured, nitrate free bacon (I use kitchen scissors bc it’s easier) and toss into the pan to cook. Don’t cook them all the way, just mostly. In the large mixing bowl whip together 12 organic pasture raised eggs, 2 C of shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I’ve been using Cabot, I buy at Costco or Whole Foods in a block and shred it myself), salt + pepper, and the onions spinach mix. Dice up 1 red bell pepper and mix in as well, uncooked. Pour into baking dish, top with bacon. Cook at 350 ⁰ for 90 minutes. May also add sliced mushrooms.
To freeze: cut into portions. Then I put in a glass container with wax or parchment paper between layers. Then put in freezer. They come out pretty easily, then you can reheat in microwave about 1 minute 30 seconds.
Contributed by Kathy
Frank’s Famous Bierocks
Dough
- 1 pkg dry yeast with 1/4 C warm water 2 C warm water
- 1/2 C sugar 6 -7 C all purpose flour
- 2 t salt 1/4 C melted shortening
Filling
- 4 sliced onions 1 lg head of cabbage, sliced
- 1 lb hamburger, browned & drained 1 T vinegar (either cider or white)
- 1 T butter 1 t sugar
- Salt & pepper to taste
Add the yeast to 1/4 C warm water to dissolve. Melt the shortening, add to the 2 C warm water and mix. Add the salt and sugar to the mixture and stir. Add flour gradually and mix. Let rest for 10 minutes. Knead for 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until double. Pre-heat the oven to 350 ⁰. Use 1/4 of the dough at a time and roll out to 1/8” thick and cut into squares. Place filling in the center of the square, bring all sides together and pinch shut. Place the pinched side down on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown, approximately 20 minutes.
King Ranch Casserole
This recipe is from a cookbook assembled by The Ladies of the Chatterbox Club from Kendall, Kansas. It takes no time at all to pull together and is a family favorite. For those of you concerned about your salt intake, canned soups now offer a reduced salt version. It’s one of those casseroles that tastes as good cold as it does warmed up. Don’t ask me how I know this!
- 8 lg or 12 med flour tortillas
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 3-4 cooked chicken, no skin*
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 chopped onion
- 8 oz can mushrooms
- 1 4 oz can chopped green chiles
- 2 C sharp grated cheese
- 10 oz chicken broth
- 8 oz Velveeta cheese (sliced or grated)
Combine chicken, onion, chiles, broth, soups and mushrooms. Cut tortillas into fourths and place first layer in a 9 X 13” pan. Layer one half of chicken mixture and then one half of the cheese. Repeat the layers, ending with cheese on top. Bake at 350⁰ for 30 – 45 minutes, uncovered.
*May use boiled, broiled, or even rotisserie chicken. I usually use chicken breast meat.
Kolaches
Dough:
- 2 pkgs yeast 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 t salt 1/2 C shortening
- 1 C sugar 7 – 7 1/2 C flour
- 2 C lukewarm milk
Mix milk, yeast, salt, sugar, eggs, and shortening. Add flour. Mix with a spoon until you can handle it, then mix by hand. Keep dough as soft as possible, almost sticky. Add more flour if needed. Knead, let rise until double. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Use a large biscuit cutter or water glass to cut out circles. Form a small indentation in the middle and place the filling in the depression. Let rise again for 15 minutes. Bake at 350⁰ until golden brown.
Poppy Seed Filling:
- 2 C poppy seeds 2 C heavy cream
- 2 C sugar 4 eggs, beaten
- Combine all ingredients and simmer until thick.
*Poppy seed Kolaches are one of the traditional desserts in our family. My sister in law, Louise, makes them all the time, and Frank used her recipe. He was the Kolache baker in our family. My daughter has made them and I think one of my daughters in law made them too!
**You can make all kinds of Kolaches! Using dried fruits, all you need to do is re-hydrate them in water. Simmer slowly until soft and re-hydrated, then mash. You can also use canned cherry pie filling. The grandkids prefer dried apricot or cherry pie filling.
They store well in the freezer.
Submitted by Jeanette
Sausage and Cabbage
My grandma used to make something like this, and when she used purple cabbage, it turned everything purple, and I had no idea what she had done! Thinking back on that time, and having a link of Polska Kielbasa or Beef Sausage, I got to thinking I needed to try to make Grandma’s yummy dinner! This has become a dish that I am finding myself making at least every other week.
Ingredients
- 1 link of Polska Kielbasa or your favorite sausage, diced
- 1/2 head of cabbage (go ahead and pick purple cabbage!) sliced thin
- One medium onion, diced
- One full teaspoon or approximately 3 to 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Your favorite mashed potatoes
Directions
1. In a skillet, add just a little oil, add chopped onions, and cook, until tender. Add in chopped up sausage link and cook until heated through, stirring.
2. Add chopped garlic and stir.
3. Right away add sliced cabbage and place a lid on top for just a couple of minutes.
4. Stir and cook until the cabbage is the right tenderness to you. I don’t like mine wilted all the way.
5. Mix up your favorite mashed potatoes from scratch, or instant.
Place on your plate separately or mixed together to serve! Salt and pepper to taste.
Delicious!
Submitted by Ginger W.
Sausage and Peppers Sheet Pan Dinner
This is another recipe that I kind of just made up, using proportions of the ingredients that work for us. It is something you can easily tailor to your family’s size and preferences. It’s also a nice, filling meal on a cold day and it takes no time at all to pull it together. (Yes, I used a red (purple) onion. It was what I had on hand, and it worked ok! I prefer to cook with either white or yellow onions.)
- 1 pkg Kielbasa sausage, sliced
- 1 med onion, cut into chunks
- 2-3 med sized potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- Olive oil to coat vegies
- 1 med bell pepper, cut into chunks
- Salt and pepper to taste
In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, bell pepper, and onion chunks. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread out on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, if needed, and roast in a 350 ° oven for about 20 minutes. Add the sausage, stir well and return to the oven for an additional 10 – 20 minutes. This recipe will easily serve four.
Stuffed Bell Pepper Casserole
11/2 lbs hamburger (seasoned, browned & drained) 1 lg can petite diced tomatoes
(including the juice)
- 1 diced bell pepper (green, red, or yellow)
- 8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- (about ½ bite sized dice)
- (I’ve also used Velveeta)
- ½ diced onion
- 1 t grated garlic
- 1 1/2 C cooked rice
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350⁰. Combine all the ingredients into a large casserole dish, cover and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. The only things that have to “cook” are the diced peppers and onions. So, if you want to test for doneness, that is what you want to test. This is a great weeknight casserole! Serves 4.
Time Saving Leftovers
This is not so much a recipe as it is a time-saving idea on how to serve leftovers that are not boring! It’s a great way to use up small amounts of leftover meat and it takes very little hands-on time and less than 20 minutes to cook.
All it takes is a baked potato and whatever meat leftovers you have in the fridge or freezer. Get in the habit of saving even small amounts of leftover meat in the freezer and your family can take their pick! You can see in the picture here that I used leftover roast beef and added BBQ sauce. I “baked” the potato in the microwave while my individual serving sized skillet heated up in the oven. It only takes about 8 minutes for a medium sized potato to cook in the microwave. (Or, you could use leftover baked, mashed or fried potatoes! Then, I added a few drops of olive oil to the skillet, rolled the potato in the oil, and sprinkled it with a little bit of coarse salt. I used a potato masher to smash the potato and to form a base for my BBQ beef. (It was piled high!) Then, I placed it in the oven for just about 10 minutes at 350 ⁰. Serve your meat and potato right in the individual serving sized skillet to save on clean up. I added a small leftover salad on the side and had a hearty, delicious dinner!
Leftover meat ideas:
- Taco meat
- Chili
- Roast beef
- Beef stew
- Roast chicken
I purchased the skillets from Amazon https://amzn.to/44ic6w1
*As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small commission when you use my link to shop. There is no extra cost to you.