This recipe came from a friend of my grandmother.  Her son went to high school with my dad.  Don’t eat this if you’re dieting!

Chocolate Dessert

1/2 cup cold butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 square baking chocolate
2 large eggs *
1 tsp vanilla
graham cracker pie crust (9″)

Melt chocolate over double boiler and cool to room temperature.  Cream together butter and sugar.  Add cooled chocolate.  Add 1 egg, beat for 5 full minutes on high speed, add second egg, beat for 5 full minutes on high speed.  Add vanilla.  Pour into pie crust and refrigerate to set.  Store in refrigerator.

* Make sure your eggs are fresh, as this pie does not get cooked.

Another one of my favorites from Mom!

Chocolate Chip Cake

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
12 oz chocolate chips

Grease and flour a bundt pan.  Cream together butter, sugar, eggs and sour cream.  Mix four, salt and baking soda, add to wet mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Bake for 45 min. at 350.

Optional - for presentation, you can dust with powdered sugar.  Be sure to allow the cake to cool completely, or the sugar will just melt into the cake.

This is great for a holiday pot-luck!

Hash Brown Casserole

2 lb bag hash browns (shredded)
1 cup diced onions (optional)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
16 oz sour cream
1 stick melted butter or margarine
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Mix everything together, top with crushed potato chips.  Bake for 1 hour at 350.

Mom always made this when we had company for Sunday lunch.  The dish gets it’s name from the baking time - 1 1/2 hours - stick it in and forget it!

Forgotten Chicken

1 1/2 cups uncooked rice (not quick cooking)
1/2 cups milk
2 cans cream soup (I use cream of mushroom)
4 ounces sliced mushrooms
4-6 chicken breasts
1/2 envelope dry onion soup mix

In a medium saucepan, heat rice, milk, soup and mushrooms.  Pour into a buttered 9×13 pan.  Arrange chicken over rice mixture, sprinkle with dry soup mix.  Cover and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours.

Another easy recipe from Mom (cheesy variation mine)…

Crockpot Mushroom Chicken

1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1-2 cans cream of mushroom soup

Cook on low 6-8 hours or until chicken falls apart.  Serve over hot white rice.  To make it cheesy, add 1 can of cheddar cheese soup to the above and serve over wide egg noodles or rotini.

Skillet method:  Brown chicken in skillet, add soup, cover and simmer about 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. 

To make it cheesy, add some cheese whiz.  To make it like alfredo, add some cream (I use fat free half & half) and some shredded parmesan cheese.

Serves 2.

I found this in a magazine when I was in college.

Apple Bread

1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 to 2 1/2 cups chopped apples

Grease and flour bottoms and 1/2″ up the sides of 2 loaf pans (see tips).

Mix oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt.  Add to wet ingredients.  Batter will be thick and sticky.  Stir in chopped apples.

Pour into 2 prepared pans, bake at 350 for 1 hour or until done.

My family loves a good, hearty chicken casserole.  Let me rephrase that.  I love to cook casseroles because they’re easy, don’t dirty alot of dishes, and I can double them to freeze.

When I haven’t planned ahead and want to pull something together, I find it helpful to keep cooked chicken on hand.  Here’s what you can do:

Put as much boneless, skinless chicken breast (fresh or frozen) as your crockpot will hold.  Add 2-3 cans chicken broth, some water to cover meat and a bay leaf or two.  Turn the crockpot on low and let it sit all day.

After about 8 hours, drain, cool and shred the chicken and put in 2 cup portions in sandwich bags, and freeze. 

Save the broth, too!  Strain through a coffee filter to get any stray chunks or pieces of fat.  Cover and put in the refrigerator over night to let any fat rise to the top.  The next day, skim off fat with a spoon.  Pour 2 cup servings into sandwich bags.  The next time you need a can of chicken broth, you’ve got seasoned broth in 2 cup servings you can pull out of the freezer!

When baking quick breads, only grease / flour the pans on the bottom and about 1/2″ up the sides.  If the entire side of the pan is greased, the batter “climbs” up the sides faster than the middle, creating little walls that fall over onto the top of your bread and make it less than presentable looking.