Potato Roll Dough

5-8 Cups all Flour (I like to use half bread flour and all purpose flour) 1 1/4 Cups "HOT" tap water1/2 Cup Shortening1/2 Cup Sugar1 1/2 tsp. salt 1 Cup prepared instant mashed potato's (1 cup hot water. 3/4 cup instant potato flakes, no butter, salt or milk)2 eggs1 TBS yeast (instant rapid rise yeast)
In large bowl mix hot water and 1 cup of flour. Whisk in sugar, salt and shortening. Add eggs, Whisk. Add potato's, Whisk. Add yeast, Whisk. Then stir in rest of flour ONE CUP at a time. Dough will be somewhat sticky yet firm. Make sure all the flour is mixed in. You can cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough overnight, then roll out and make cinnamon rolls or dinner rolls.OR.... you can let rise until double, then punch down, and let rise again. Then roll out into rolls.
For cinnamon rolls:
Roll dough into rectangle shape approx 1/2 in. thick. Pour small amount of melted butter on dough and spread evenly to the edges. Make Cinnamon & sugar mixture and spread generously on top of butter. Then add anything else like raisins, nuts (YUK) etc. Roll up dough starting from edge closet to you. Cut 2 in. thick rolls, place on greased cookie sheet. Let rise until double. They should look nice and fluffy. Bake @ 350 for 20 min.
Icing:
203 cups powdered sugar1-2 TBS butter1 tsp. PURE vanilla extract 1/2 tsp. PURE almond extract Hot water
In bowl add first 4 ingredients. Then add a small amount of hot water and stir until icing is slightly runny. If too runny add more pwdr sugar. Spoon icing on warm NOT hot rolls and spread around. When icing is set you can drizzle any extra icing on the tops to make them look extra special and pretty!! (a Professional tip) Woo hoo!

This is a very versatile dough.

Breakfast bunz:
spread beaten eggs in place of the butter, then a mixture of scrambled eggs , diced ham or bacon, sausage etc... and cheese in place of the cinnamon!!! roll them up the same way and cut. Then Dip tops into shredded cheese and place on cookie sheet. Bake at same temp. These are seriously awesome!!!!

Pizza rolls:
Spread pizza sauce (not too thick) on dough. Add any pizza type ingredients but be careful with wet ingredients like veggies. sprinkle with mozzerlla cheese, roll up, dip in shredded cheese & bake!!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 C. Shortening1 1/4 C. light Brown sugar2 1/4 C. White sugar
In a large bowl cream together above ingredients. Then mix in:
5 eggs1 TBS. vanilla (pure vanilla will make the cookie taste better) 2 1/4 tsp. salt2 1/4 tsp. baking soda

When the above ingredients are all mixed together add:
5 C. all purpose flour *** ONE CUP AT A TIME ***
DON"T OVER MIX ! ! ! !

add semi-sweet chocolate chips, aprox 2-4 cups, depending on how chocolaty you like it, I like to add some butterscotch pieces with it to add some flavour. Or you can scoop the dough and then dip it into M&M's!
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375 for aprox 10 min. IMPORTANT!!! Do not overbake these cookies. They are done when they turn "lightly brown" around the edges. (If you cook them longer they will be too crisp.) They may look like they aren't done, but they finish cooking on the pan while they are cooling down.!! AND.... they are even better the next day!!!!

Lasagna

1 lb. hamburger
¼ cup grated onions
1 tsp. salt
1 bottle of Prego
1-2 cups water
1 large can diced tomatoes (I use home-canned tomatoes)
Fill that same can used from above and fill with water and pour that in while you're at it!
Large Dashes of oregano, parsley, garlic powder, basil
Uncooked Lasagna noodles
2 cup cottage cheese
3 cup grated Mozzarella
3 cup grated cheddar
Parmesan Cheese

Brown hamburger and add the rest up to the spices. Let sauce simmer for 1 hour to blend flavors (It should be watery at the beginning because that softens the noodles in the oven). Layers in a 9x13 pan are: Sauce, noodles, sauce, cheese, noodles, sauce, cheese, noodles, sauce, cheese, For as deep as your pan is and you want to end with cheese on top! I usually can’t get more than two layers. As far as the cheeses go, just plop on some small spoonfuls of cottage cheese everywhere, then cover with grated cheese then sprinkle parmesan cheese. Bake for 1 hour at 350° (until bubbly).

Sweet & Sour Chicken

¾ cup sugar
½ cup vinegar
¼ cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp soy sauce
3 chicken breasts cut into pieces
2 eggs beaten
Cornstarch!!

First five ingredients make sauce. Take Chicken pieces and mix with eggs. Cover with cornstarch to make it breaded (I take a few pieces of chicken at a time that way they all get it evenly) and seer on the breading in a frying pan on Medium heat for a minute or so on each side. Then put in sauce in a 9x13 pan and bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

Biscuits & Gravy

Biscuits:
3 cups flour
4½ tsp. baking powder
2½ tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup margarine
1 cup milk
1 egg

Mix dry ingredients first then slice in the butter (Don’t melt it!) and add milk and egg. Plop onto a greased cookie sheet. (Mine are jagged looking). Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350°.

Gravy:
Brown 1 lb. of hamburger or sausage. (Season hamburger well with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.) Add ¾ cup of flour to meat and stir for a minute or so until it’s all in well. Add milk slowly until it’s the thickness you want. It has to simmer for a while to thicken.

Chili's Salsa

I made this for mutual and everyone LOVED it. One girl said to me. "oh this is so good, it tastes just like that one restaurant, what is it? oh yeah, CHILI'S!" I was so happy!

I found this recipe online.

1 (14 1/2 oz) can tomatoes & green chilies

1 (14 1/2 oz) can whole canned tomatoes

4 tsp jalapenos (canned, diced, not pickled)

1/2-3/4 tsp garlic salt

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp sugar

1/3 bunch cilantro (cut about 1 inch off from bottom of stems. The original recipe doesn't call for cilantro, but I really like it)

Instructions:

- In food processor or blender, place jalapenos and onions. process for a few seconds

- add both cans of tomatoes, salt, sugar, cumin and cilantro.

- process until well blended but do not over-blend (about 4-5 seconds). Consistency should be slightly chunky

- a couple of hours of chilling will help blend and enrich the flavor but you can also serve right away.

TASTY!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tis' the season...these cookies are DELUXE!

1 C. canned pumpkin
1 C. white sugar
1/2 C. vegetable oil
1 egg
2 C. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. milk
1 Tbl. vanilla
2 C. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 C. chopped walnuts (optional)

Combine pumpkin, sugar, oil and egg. In separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Dissolve baking soda into milk and stir in dry ingredients. Mix dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture and mix well. Add vanilla, chips and nuts. Drop by spoonful on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown and firm. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

Sweet and Sour Pork Chops

Pork Chops
1 cut onion
1 lemon
Ketchup
Brown Sugar

This recipe is really a no-measure recipe. Just place enough pork chops to fill the bottom of a baking pan (we have used bone-in and boneless). Spread the onion to cover. I DO NOT like fresh onions and use dehydrated for all of my recipies. However, dehydrated do not work for this recipe and the fresh ones are yummy in it. Squirt the lemon over the chops (bottled lemon juice works fine). Sprinkle brown sugar and dot with ketchup, just eyeballing the amount. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Really scientific recipe, I know, but it is YUMMY and SOOO easy.

This recipe is great for the carnivour in your family and great when you have a bunch of pork chops you don't know what to do with. We like to serve the pork chops on rice, of course, and drench them and the rice in the sauce. YUM-O!

Peppered Beef Tips

2 lbs beef sirloin, cut in 1 inch strips

2 cloves garlic, minced

pepper

1 can french onion soup 

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Add beef to crockpot.  Layer with minced garlic, a sprinkle of pepper, and soups.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Serve over egg noodles or rice.

So easy and delicioso!

p.s. Kirk says this looks like dog food :( sorry! I usually use sirloin steak but used stew meat instead because the steak at Target was too expensive!  and I usually serve over noodles, but I was out so it was rice this time.. 'dog food' photo aside.. this is REALLY yummy!

Texas Sheet Cake

Cake:

1 c, (2 sticks) butter/marg

1 c. water

4 Tbs cocoa

2 c. flour

2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 tsp soda

1/2 c soured milk (add 1 1/2 tsp vinegar to milk & let stand 5 min)

Bring to boil margarine, water, and cocoa. Remove from heat. Add to medium mixing bowl with flour, sugar, salt. Beat in 2 eggs, soda and milk.  Bake in greased cookie sheet for 20-22 min (23-25 in high altitude) at 375 F. 

Frosting:

1/2 c. (1 stick) butter/marg

4 tsp. cocoa

6 Tbs milk

3 1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Bring to boil margarine, cocoa, and milk.  Remove from heat.  Add to mixing bowl with vanilla and powdered sugar.

spread on cake immediately after it comes out of the oven.  Enjoy!