Loa Dyke's Chicken

1 stick butter
1 pkg. Italian salad dressing mix
3 chicken breast cut up
1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
rice or noodles

Place in crock pot:
butter
Italian seasoning
chicken
Cook on low until tender and done.
Remove just the chicken and add and mix together well:
1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup (undiluted)
Add back the chicken and heat through.
Adjust with salt and pepper.

Loa said you can add onion and anything else you like. This is not low calorie. This is fast and delicious.

Serve over rice or noodles.

Stuffing or Dressing

Which do you eat...stuffing or dressing? Here's the recipe I've made my entire adult life. Since today I got a call for the recipe I figured I'd better post it. In our family, some of the kids would choose this as the only Thanksgiving food they'd eat if they could only have one food.

I use Mrs. Cubbison's cubed and seasoned bread cubes. Remember to use the cubed. I do not stuff my turkey but bake the dressing in a very large casserole pan.

4 pkgs. Mrs. Cubbison's cubed bread cubes
2 c. (4 sticks) butter (I do not substitute)
4 c. chopped onion - I cry, a lot!
4 c. sliced celery
5 c. liquid approx. (I make a broth by simmering the giblets with onion and a bunch of the unused celery tops and also use canned, low fat chicken broth)
salt and pepper
sage, sage and more sage

1. In large dutch oven or large frying pan melt butter.
2. Add chopped onion and celery and cook slowly until onion and celery are tranlucent. Don't brown. One of the family favorites is to dip a chunk of home make dinner roll in this flavorful butter and eat it. We always do it in tribute to Papa who loved to do it...actually he loved to dip anything in butter.
3. Place all bread cubes in the largest bowl you have. I use my gigantic stainless steel bowl.
4. Pour butter and veggie mix over bread cubes and mix well. A large, wide wooden
spoon works well.
5. Drizzle broth over mix while someone rotates bowl and mixes continually. The 5c.
of broth is just an estimate. You will need to taste and test alot.
6. I add salt and tons of sage to taste. I keep adding and tasting until it seems
just right.
7. Transfer mix into a buttered casserole dish. Cover with lid or foil and bake
approx. 45 minutes in 325* oven.

Note: This makes a ton for my big family. You may want to make 1/2 this recipe or even less. This is a popular left over.
Do you know what giblets are! It's that wonderful packet inside your turkey. It contains the heart, liver and gizzard. The neck is usually in the neck cavity while the rest you'll find in the body. My mom set the example of simmering the giblets. When done the neck meat was picked from the bones, the heart and gizzard diced and either added to the stuffing mixture or to the white giblet gravy she expertly made. She also added the chopped liver but I started my own new tradition and after cooking the liver I feed it to my beloved dog(s).

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Herbed Garlic Butter

I found this tasty recipe and HAD to share! It's SO worth it and lasted a few weeks in the fridge!

Fruit Pizza

This is my SIL, Theresa's recipe and I think it's just THE BEST! Enjoy!

Crust:

1.5 c. flour

3/4 c. butter

1/2 c. powdered sugar

Other Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese

3.5 c. powdered sugar

12 oz. Cool Whip

3 baskets strawberries, sliced

4 kiwi, peeled and sliced

2 cans mandarin oranges, drained

Glaze:

1 c. sugar

3 Tbs. cornstarch

1/2 c. water

Mix together the ingredients for the crust. Separate dough into two large tart baking dishes or put all the dough in a 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool completely. Meanwhile, cream the cream cheese and powdered sugar until well-blended. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread mixture over cooled crust. Arrange fruit over cream cheese mixture.

For glaze: In small saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Gradually add water and cook over medium heat to bring to a boil. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Pour glaze over fruit. Chill for 30 minutes.

Image credit here.

Drain Cleaner

Yes, that's right, drain cleaner. And it's safe, effective and you probably always have these ingredients on hand.

1/2 c. vinegar
1/2 c. baking soda
2 c. boiling water

Mix ingredients together and put down drain. Let stand 3-5 minutes than flush with hot water.

KFC Type Cole Slaw

We'll be eating this tomorrow on the 4th of July, 2009 in Canby, Oregon.

1 head cabbage finely shredded
1/4 to 1/2 c. shredded carrot
Dressing:
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1/4 c. milk
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1/4 c. buttermilk
1 1/2 T. vinegar
2 1/2 T. lemon juice

Mix together dressing ingredients and stir well into cabbage mixture.
Note: I didn't have buttermilk so I just combined milk and sour cream. Seemed to work well.

New Site

No recipe today but I just added a link to a blog that features southern cooking. It's called Southern Plate. I added it to the side-bar. I can't recommend it for health...like most southern recipes...but recommend it for yumminess. Hope you're having a great summer day.