Brownie mix from scratch
from Facebook (link I had no longer works)

1 Cup Sugar, 1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour, 1/3 Cup Cocoa, 1/4 tsp Salt, 1/4 tsp Baking Powder.
At Baking Time Add: 2 Eggs, 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil, 1 teaspoon Vanilla.
Bake @ 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes in an 8x8 or 9x9 pan. OR use the amazing Pampered Chef brownie pan and bake it in much less time - depends on your oven, check after 12-15 minutes of baking and remove when brownies are done!
Put mix in plastic bags or mason jars.

Comments:

I like the idea of making my own brownie mix, but I find store-bought mixes to be very tasty, so anything from scratch has to succeed very well in order to win me over.

This one didn’t do that. I think it uses WAY too much oil before baking (when you put a baked brownie on a napkin, it shouldn’t leave an oil impression behind); I think I’ll try halving the oil amount next time to see how that does. Also, the flavor didn’t seem quite what I wanted, but mostly I was overwhelmed by how oily they were. That said, these were excellent when topped with strawberries and whipped cream. ;-)

Potato Bake

2 lbs. frozen hash browns (slightly thawed)
1/2 c. melted butter
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 pint sour cream
2 c. grated cheddar cheese
2 c. crushed corn flakes
1/4 c. melted butter

Mix first 8 ingredients (through the cheese) and pour into 8x16 cake pan. Combine cornflakes and butter, spread on top of potato mixture. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until cornflakes are browned.

Comments:

I think I got this recipe from my uncle… but it’s been a long time. At any rate, it’s a very straightforward recipe except for the pan size—I’m not sure where they came up with that. I used a 9x13 and it was fine.

For the batch pictured, I threw in some cubed ham that I had left over from a different recipe; I think it was around 1 cup’s worth, and it was an excellent way to turn this from a side dish into a main dish. (I would imagine you could also throw cubed chicken in instead.)

Sausage Lasagna
serves 4 to 6

1/2 lb. bulk Italian sausage
4 oz. lasagna noodles
1 egg, beaten
1 c. ricotta cheese (can substitute cottage cheese)
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 6 oz. pack sliced mozzarella cheese
1 1-lb. jar spaghetti sauce

Heat oven to 375F. Brown sausage, drain off fat. Cook noodles in boiling salted water according to package directions, drain. Combine egg, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, and sausage. In a greased 8-inch square baking dish, layer 1/2 each noodles, meat mix, mozzarella, and spaghetti sauce. Repeat layers. Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes. Let stand a few minutes, serve.

Comments:

This is a family recipe. :)

The pictured batches are double the above recipe, because I’m a huge fan of making my time and effort have the maximum result. ;) That said, the first batch (top picture) had a few bumps along the road, primarily having to do with the fact that I got over-ambitious and tried to slice the mozzarella myself while assembling the lasagna. Let’s be kind and say I ended up with mozzarella wedges… which then didn’t produce enough pieces to do both layers. I ended up supplementing with shredded cheddar because that’s the only kind I had on hand. And then because I was generous with the sauce, it boiled over a bit before I thought of putting a cookie sheet below it to catch the drips.

My second batch didn’t end up boiling over (perhaps because I used the right amount of cheese and wasn’t quite as generous with the sauce), but I liked the security of having something beneath it anyway. So I’d recommend having a pan of some kind under your lasagna just in case. :)

Also, it’s much easier to cut and scoop it (without it sliding all over the place) if you chill it beforehand. Which doesn’t work if you’re eating it right after making it, of course, but if you want to do a batch to freeze (which was the purpose of my second batch), that’s the way to go.

Grands Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Ingredients
1  can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (8 biscuits)
2  teaspoons vegetable oil
8  slices (2/3 oz each) American cheese

Directions
1. Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Press or roll each to form 5 1/2-inch round.
2. In 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat until hot. Add biscuit rounds, a few at a time; cook 3 minutes. Turn; cook about 3 minutes longer or until light golden brown. Remove from skillet.
3. Place 2 slices of cheese on each of 4 biscuit rounds. Top with remaining biscuit rounds.
4. Return to skillet; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Turn; cook about 2 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Comments:

I only fried two biscuits (for one sandwich) since I’m only one person and I didn’t think these would store/reheat well. I used swiss cheese rather than american because that’s what I had.

Three minutes per side for the biscuit is WAY TOO LONG. I literally had to scrape burnt bits off the one side of the one biscuit that I cooked according to the instructions.

I don’t know that I’d try this again, but it was tasty enough to eat, certainly. It might be better with a sharp cheddar or something with a little more flavor. Plus, it’s just a very dense sandwich, so if your appetite is only fair or middling, this may be too much for you.

Guacamole tuna salad

1 can tuna (drained)
2 oz. guacamole (roughly 2 Tbsp.)
1/2 tsp. mustard (more to taste)
1 tsp. sweet relish (more to taste)
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped

Combine in a bowl.

Comments:

Tasty! I shredded a couple of baby carrots because I didn’t have full-size carrots to chop. I didn’t use celery (didn’t have any on hand), but I always use extra relish because I like relish, so it worked out.

This was excellent with nachos or on a nice dense piece of whole grain bread.

Baked Oatmeal
9 servings

3 c. quick-cooking oats
1 c. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1/2 c. butter, melted
additional milk

In a large bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and butter. Stir into oat mixture until blended.

Spoon into a greased 9-in. square baking pan. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes or until set. Serve warm with milk.

Comments:

I didn’t eat it with milk and I may have cooked it a little long to make sure it was done (it ended up a bit crumbly, and I’m not sure it should have), but I thought it ended up quite tasty. :)

I used nutmeg instead of cinnamon because I’m a huge fan of nutmeg and it seemed like it would work. Also, since I don’t have a 9x9 pan (just 8x8 and I didn’t want to wait an hour for it to be done), I made it in a 9x11 pan, which worked fine.

I tried two different radish chips recipes, and overall I’m in favor of the second.

Baked Radish Chips from about.com

[left photo] This recipe tells you to steam the radish slices before baking, so they came out rather limp. And I found the amount of chili powder to be too much for my taste. These were tasty enough (especially with a little bit of ranch dressing!), but not ideal.

Crispy Baked Radish Chips [right photo]
from Food.com

Chicken Casserole with Broccoli
off the back of a Jiffy baking mix box
6-8 servings

1 c. Jiffy baking mix
1.5 c. pre-cooked chopped chicken or 2 cans (4.5 oz) chunk chicken, drained
3 eggs
1 c. milk
1.5 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg (10 oz.) frozen chopped broccoli (rinsed and drained)
1/4 tsp. seasoned salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 400F, grease 2 quart casserole dish.
Place chicken, broccoli, and cheese in prepared casserole dish.
Blend baking mix, milk, eggs, salt and pepper in a separate mixing bowl until blended.
Pour into dish over chicken, broccoli, and cheese.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Comments:

I used canned chunk chicken, which was maybe a little salty but worked fine otherwise. The salt I used was just regular salt rather than seasoned. I might not have drained the broccoli well enough because it seemed a little liquidy when I was first serving it. Also, I saved the cheese to put on the top because that seemed like a good idea and it looked nice that way, especially with a little extra sprinkled on to make a nice shell of cheese.

This came out very nicely! It was tasty and easy. :)

Hass Avocado and Red Potato Salad
from avocadocentral.com

Ingredients:
    2 lbs. red potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
    1 cup low-fat mayonnaise
    5 tsp. cider vinegar
    2 tsp. Dijon-style mustard
    3/4 tsp. ground black pepper
    3/4 tsp. salt
    4 green onions, sliced
    2 ripe, Fresh Hass Avocados, seeded, peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

Instructions:
    Place potatoes in a medium pan and cover with water. Bring water to a boil and cook potatoes for about 15 minutes or until just tender when pierced with a fork.
    Drain well and pour into bowl.
    Combine mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper.
    Add dressing and green onions to potatoes and gently toss. Stir in avocados.
    Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend.

*Large avocados are recommended for this recipe. A large avocado averages about 8 ounces. If using smaller or larger size avocados adjust the quantity accordingly.

What I did:

I used 3 avocadoes because the ones I had were smaller than the recommended size. Also, I didn’t have green onions, so I added some diced green pepper instead so there would still be some crunch.

Comments:

I was hoping the vinegar in the recipe would keep the avocado from browning, but any avocado chunks at the top did get brown anyway. Ah, well. A little bit of lemon juice on the avocado cubes might help next time.

And I think the absence of the onion affected the taste—it was a little meh overall. Putting some of this salad onto a green pepper half and eating it that way was pretty good, though, as was adding a bit of mustard just before eating.

As my first foray into making things with avocado, this wasn’t a bad start. :)

Dump Soup
from recipe4living.com