#599 - Easy Coconut Cream Cake

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
1 - 3.5oz. box Jell-O coconut cream INSTANT pudding
1 1/3 cups cold water
4 eggs
1/4 cup Crisco canola oil
2 cups Baker's angelflake coconut
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Frosting: 2 TBSP flour, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup Parkay margarine, 1/4 cup Crisco shortening, dash of salt, 1/2 cup Domino's powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla

In a mixer, add dry cake mix, dry coconut cream pudding, water, eggs, and canola oil--beat until mixed, then beat 3 to 5 more minutes until creamy. Remove bowl from mixer and add Baker's coconut and nuts--stir until well mixed. Pour batter into a 9 x 13 greased cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour--test with a toothpick for doneness. Frosting: in a saucepan (no heat yet) add flour and slowly add milk while stirring --turn heat on low and cook/stir constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and cool completely. In a mixer add white sugar, Parkay and Crisco shortening--beat until fluffy. Add salt, the cold flour/milk mixture--beat until it doubles in amount. Add powdered sugar and vanilla--beat. Frost when cake is cooled.

#598 - Fudge Frosting

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 stick butter
1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 lb. Domino's powdered sugar
1 TBSP vanilla

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and stir in cocoa. Bring to a boil, then boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients --stir/beat until smooth. Spread on cake while still warm.

#597 - Holiday Salad

(by Sandra Noecker - friend)

2 - 3.5oz. boxes Jell-O vanilla instant pudding (dry)
1 - 15oz. can DelMonte sliced peaches (do NOT drain)
1 - 20oz. Dole crushed pineapple (do NOT drain)
1 - 15oz. can mandarin oranges (do NOT drain)

In a large bowl add the undrained peaches, undrained crushed pineapple, and undrained mandarin oranges. Pour both boxes of dry vanilla instant pudding over the fruit--stir with a spoon until mixed. Refrigerate for 4 hours before serving.

#596 - Easy Banana Nut Cake

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
2 very ripe mashed bananas
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Use a potato masher to mash the bananas. In a mixer, prepare cake mix according to box directions. Add mashed bananas and chopped pecans to the batter--beat. Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13 cake pan. Bake according to box directions. Frost as desired.

#595 - Roasted Chicken Dinner

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 Reynolds oven bag (large size - 14" x 20")
1 TBSP flour
1 tsp. garlic salt
1lb. baby red potatoes (washed)
1 - 8oz. package peeled baby carrots
2 stalks celery (chopped)
1 medium onion (chopped)
1 - 4lb. or 5lb. whole chicken
1 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Open the oven bag. In a bowl add the flour, 1 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. garlic salt, 2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper--stir with a spoon. Place oven bag in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Open the end of the bag and spray the inside with Pam. Add the carrots, celery, onion and potatoes to the bag. Sprinkle some of the spice mixture over all of the vegetables. Spray the chicken with Pam and place it carefully inside the bag in the center of the vegetables. Sprinkle the rest of the spice mixture on the chicken and rub where necessary to make it stick. Carefully pour the 1/2 cup water into the bottom of the bag. Close the oven bag with the tie provided in the oven bag box. Use a sharp knife to poke 6 slits in the top of the bag--YOU MUST MAKE SLITS or the bag will burst. Bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes or until tender.

#594 - Blueberry Jell-O Salad

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 - 6oz. box black cherry Jell-O
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 - 16oz. can Dole crushed pineapple (drained)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 - 16oz. sour cream
1 - 8oz. Philadelphia cream cheese (softened)
1 cup chopped pecans (toasted)

Prepare Jell-O according to box directions. When Jell-O is cool to the touch, refrigerate about 90 minutes or until it starts to gel. Remove from refrigerator and add blueberries and drained crushed pineapple--stir to mix. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9" glass baking dish. Refrigerate overnight. The next day use a greased cookie sheet with a lip--spread chopped pecans evenly in a single layer on the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow them to cool--set aside. After pecans are cooled use a mixer--add white sugar, cream cheese--beat. Add sour cream--beat. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the top of the cold Jell-O mixture in the baking dish. After pecans are cooled, sprinkle them over the top of the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve. Keep refrigerated.

#593 - Chicken Cordon Bleu

(by Shirley McNevich)

4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
4 slices deli baked ham
4 slices deli swiss cheese
2 TBSP canola oil
1 - 10.75oz. Campbell's cream of broccoli soup
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped onion
salt and pepper to taste

Use a meat tenderizer to pound the chicken to 1/4" thick. Place a slice of ham on each piece of chicken. Place a cheese slice on the top of each piece of ham. Roll all three together from the bottom and secure with toothpicks. Add canola oil and chopped onion to a 10" skillet--salt and pepper to taste and cook chicken pieces on medium heat. Turn chicken while cooking so all sides get browned. Leave the cooked chicken in the skillet, turn heat to off and spoon out any leftover fat/oil (you can also use a paper towel to soak it up). In a bowl add the broccoli soup and milk--stir. Pour the soup mixture in the skillet with the chicken. Turn heat to medium and cook until it starts to boil--turn chicken once or twice while cooking. When soup starts to boil turn heat back to low and put a lid on the skillet. Simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken is tender.

#592 - Watermelon Smoothie

(by Shirley McNevich)

2 cups watermelon (seeds removed and cut into small chunks)
1 cup strawberries
2 cups vanilla ice cream (can be regular, low fat, or no fat)

Refrigerate watermelon for a few hours after you cut it and remove the seeds. In a blender, add the strawberries and the watermelon chunks--blend until liquefied. Add the ice cream a little at a time--blend after each addition. When all ice cream has been added, blend for 30 seconds.

#591 - Scrapple (Ponhaus)

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 quart water
1 pint water
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. pepper
1lb. fresh ground pork sausage (not in the skin)
6oz. ground calf's liver

When ordering the pork sausage and calf's liver, ask your butcher to grind them for you. In a saucepan add 1 quart + 1 pint of water, ground sausage, ground liver, salt, and pepper--if mixture is not covered with water add more water until everything is covered. Cook on medium heat for 30 minutes--stir occasionally. Once cooked, drain and keep the broth. Measure the broth and add enough water so you have 1 qt. and 1 pt. of broth. In a bowl add cornmeal, flour, and buckwheat flour--add broth slowly and stir. Slowly add the flour/broth mixture to the meat mixture in the saucepan. Stir and cook for 15 minutes over medium heat. When cooked, pour entire mixture into a greased loaf pan. Let it cool, then place in refrigerator for 24 hours. The next day, use a knife to go around the edges of the loaf pan and flip pan upside down onto a plate. Use a sharp knife to slice loaf into pieces (like you're slicing a loaf of bread). Use a frying pan with canola oil over medium heat--brown one side of each piece of scrapple, then the flip side. Top with molasses or apple butter for serving. Refrigerate unused pieces.

#590 - Potato Appetizers

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 - 16oz. package sliced bacon
4 baking potatoes (washed, peeled and sliced into 1/8" chips)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Wash, peel and slice the potatoes into 1/8" chips. Place sliced potatoes into a bowl--add melted butter and pepper. Stir with a spoon until well coated. Place potatoes in a single layer on a greased jelly roll pan (pan needs to have a lip). Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until tender. While potatoes are baking, cook bacon according to package directions. Crumble the cooked bacon into a bowl. After potatoes have baked for 20 minutes, remove from oven and use tongs to turn each potato onto the other side. Sprinkle the crumbled bacon and cheddar cheese over the top of each potato. Return to oven and bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted.

#589 - Cherry Orange Delight

(by Shirley McNevich)

2 1/2 cups boiling water
3 - 4oz. boxes cherry Jell-O
2 3/4 cups cool tap water
1 - 11oz. OR 15oz. Dole mandarin oranges (drained)
4oz. softened Philly cream cheese (1/2 of an 8oz. package)
2 TBSP white sugar
1 - 8oz. thawed Cool Whip

In a bowl add all of the Jell-O mixes--add the boiling water and stir until dissolved (about 2 minutes). Add cool tap water and stir another minute or two. When the mixture is cool to the touch refrigerate it until it starts to gel. Open mandarin oranges--drain. Set a few of the mandarin oranges aside for a topping garnish later. Remove Jell-O mixture from refrigerator and add the mandarin oranges--stir gently and set aside. In a mixer, beat the cream cheese and white sugar--add the Cool Whip to the cream cheese mixture and beat until mixed. Spoon cream cheese mixture on to the bottom of an 8 x 8 glass or Pyrex baking dish--smooth it out so it's evenly distributed on the bottom of the dish. Pour the Jell-O mixture over the top of the cream cheese and smooth it out. Refrigerate until firm--add the saved mandarin oranges to the top as a garnish. Keep refrigerated.

#588 - Strawberry Jam

(by Shirley McNevich)

2 cups crushed strawberries (about 1 qt. fresh strawberries--use a potato masher)
4 cups white sugar
1 box Sure-Jell fruit pectin
3/4 cup water
(make sure you measure sugar and strawberries EXACTLY--if you use too much or too little, the jam will not set properly

Wash strawberries and remove strawberry tops. In a bowl, mash the strawberries, then add white sugar--stir well, then set aside for 10 minutes. In a saucepan add the pectin and the water--stir over medium heat until boiling. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and pour pectin mixture into strawberries--stir well until sugar is completely dissolved and not gritty (about 3 minutes). Pour jam into plastic containers--add lids after jam is cool. Once you add the lids, let the jam sit at room temperature for 24 hours. Jam will then be ready to use (store in the refrigerator and freeze the extra containers).

#587 - Easy Applesauce Cake

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
1 - 16oz. jar applesauce
3 eggs

Beat eggs in a bowl. In a large bowl add cake mix and beaten eggs--stir well. Add applesauce to cake mix batter and stir well. Pour batter into a greased bundt or tube cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes, then place a plate upside down on top of pan and flip to remove. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top.

#586 - Peach Jelly

(by Shirley McNevich)

5 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches
7 cups white sugar
2 - 16oz. cans Dole crushed pineapple (DO NOT DRAIN)
2 - 3oz. boxes peach Jell-O

In a large saucepan, add all ingredients EXCEPT the Jell-O. Stir and cook on medium heat for 25 minutes--stir occasionally while cooking. Remove from stove and stir in the Jell-O mixes. Let it cool slightly, then scoop into freezer containers--don't put lids on until completely cooled. Place lids on the containers and let them sit at room temperature for 24 hours. Label the lids and store in the freezer. When you're ready to use it, take out one container at a time and place in refrigerator overnight to thaw.

#585 - Sliced Baked Ham

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 large slice (3/4" thick) of smoked ham (in the meat section of the grocery store--near hams to bake)
1/2 cup Domino's dark brown sugar
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
2 tsp. French's yellow mustard
1 1/4 cups apple juice

Place ham in a greased 9 x 13 x 2 baking dish. In a bowl add brown sugar, mustard, bread crumbs, and 1/4 cup of the apple juice--stir to mix and spread it on top of the ham slice. Pour remaining 1 cup of apple juice around the ham slice carefully (NOT over the top or the bread crumb mixture will run off). Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

#584 - Pineapple Cake

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
1 - 6oz. box Jell-O vanilla instant pudding
8oz. Philly cream cheese
2 cups milk
1 - 20oz. can Dole crushed pineapple (drained)
1 - 8oz. Cool Whip (thawed)
1 cup Baker's angelflake coconut
12 maraschino cherries (drained)

Mix and bake cake as directed on the yellow cake mix box (use a 9 x 13 x 2 cake pan). Cool the cake. In a mixer add cream cheese--beat. Add pudding mix and milk--beat. Spread this mixture on cooled cake. Spread drained crushed pineapple on top of cream cheese layer. Spread Cool Whip evenly on top of pineapple. Sprinkle coconut evenly over the top of the Cool Whip layer. Scatter cherries on top for decoration. Refrigerate well before serving. Keep refrigerated.

#583 - Brown Sugar Cookies

(by Shirley McNevich)

1 stick of butter OR Parkay
1 cup Domino's dark brown sugar (firmly packed)
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
(if you want to make them into spice cookies, add 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. nutmeg and 1/2 tsp. ground cloves to the batter)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer add butter/margarine, brown sugar, egg--beat until smooth. Add vanilla, baking powder, salt--beat. Slowly add flour--beat. On a floured counter, roll out the dough and flour it on top. Use a rolling pin to roll dough to 1/8" thick. Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out the cookies. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

#582 - Grilled Chicken Rub Fajitas

(by Shirley McNevich)

This rub makes enough for 1 large chicken breast. Double it, triple it, etc. depending on the number of chicken breasts you are going to grill.

2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 TBSP fresh or dried parsley
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp. salt

Fajitas: soft taco or soft tortilla shells, chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce.

Mix all rub ingredients in a bowl--stir with a spoon. Poke the chicken breast all over with a fork. Rub both sides of the chicken breast with the rub. Drop the chicken breast in a Ziploc bag along with the remaining rub liquid. Seal the bag and work it around in your hands to distribute the rub all through the chicken breast. Allow it to marinate in the bag at least two hours before grilling. Turn on the grill and place the chicken breast AWAY from the direct flame (or the outside will get done and the inside will be raw). Flip occasionally while grilling. When you think it's ready, take the chicken breast off of the grill and slice it in half--grill longer if inside isn't cooked well. When fully cooked, cube the chicken. Place some cubed chicken, chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese, and shredded lettuce into soft taco or soft tortilla shells--roll to hold ingredients. One large chicken breast makes about 2 fajitas.

#581 - Barbeque Sauce

(by Aunt Faye [Herman] Minier)

2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
3 TBSP cider vinegar
2 TBSP white sugar
1 cup Heinz ketchup
1/2 cup water
6 TBSP chopped onion

Add all ingredients in a saucepan on medium heat--stir and bring to a boil--boil for 5 minutes, then turn heat off. Use the sauce on beef, chicken, or pork.

#580 - Red Beets

(by Aunt Mae [Herman] Cook)

fresh red beets (as many as you want to use)
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 heaping cup white sugar
2 cups of the cooked beet water (explained below)
1 TBSP salt

Wash red beets, then twist the top and bottom roots off using your hands. Scrub each red beet with a vegetable brush so they are really clean. Place cleaned beets in a large cooking pot and cover completely with water. Turn stove heat on high--when it comes to a boil turn heat back to medium (if you use a lid, make sure it's tilted so juice doesn't cook out). After you turn heat back to medium, cook the beats for 1 hour--to test for doneness use a meat fork. They should be tender like a cooked potato when they're ready. Turn heat off, use tongs to take each beet out of the pot and transfer all of them into another large granite or stainless steel pot (NOT the juice--do not use a teflon pot). Let beets cool, then remove the top layer of skin from each beet (they come off very easily). Slice each beet into coin shaped pieces (or you can halve and quarter them). Return sliced beets to the pot you used to cool them. In a large bowl, add 2 cups of the red beet water that's still on the stove, white sugar, salt, and vinegar--stir. Pour this juice mixture over the red beets. You will remake this same juice mixture over and over until all of the beets are completely covered. Let the beets stand in the juice overnight with a lid. Let the extra beet water sit also in case you need to make more beet juice when canning. The next day put the pot containing the beets/juice on the stove and turn heat on medium until it gets very hot (but not boiling). Put center part of canning lids in a saucepan and cover them with water. Bring the water to a boil, then turn heat for the lids down to low. Wash pint or quart sized canning jars, then place them in the oven and set oven to 200 degrees. When jars are hot and beets are hot, fill each jar (using tongs to hold the jars) with red beets and juice. Use a table knife and poke it all the way to the bottom of the jar when you think it's full with beets and juice--this will get rid of the air bubbles. Use a damp dishcloth to wipe the top edge of the jar--use a fork to pull out one canning lid and place it on top of the jar. Put the metal ring on top and make it as tight as you can. Sit the filled jars on a heatproof surface. Let them sit until they seal (you will hear them pop and the center of the lid will pop--takes about an hour until you start hearing the pops). Let them cool to room temperature. You can store the ones you're going to eat right away in the refrigerator. Store the rest in cupboards--they will last up to 2 years. If you get a jar that doesn't pop, use that one first because it won't keep.