Bon Appetit – My Favorite Recipes

Sharing with you some “Top Secret” Family YUM recipes!

Easy to make and make a lot–these dishes are great to freeze and save for later!

Bon Apetit!!

Chicken Spaghetti Southwestern (a real crowd pleaser)

2 chickens or 8-10 breasts
½ stick margarine
(chop and sauté in margarine:  2 bell peppers, 2 onions (lg), 6-8 stalks celery, 3-4 cloves fresh garlic—peel and press through garlic press.)
1 large jar mushrooms
2 lbs  spaghetti
1 ½ -2 lbs velveeta (I use 2lbs)
1 lb American cheese
1 can Roi-tel (I use 2 cans)

1)  Boil chickens for about 1 hour (remove gizzards & livers & neck from inside)
In large boiler (I use my pressure cooker 8qt pan)

*Season chicken stock with 1 tsp salt per lb of chicken 1 onion 1 stalk celery, 8-10 peppercorns (makes a great tasting chicken stock-save stock) I do this a day early

2)  Remove chicken s after about 1 hr-skin should fall off when tender & done-chop chicken
3)  Boil spaghetti in chicken stock-8-10 min. drain save stock
4)  Butter large roaster or spray with Pam
5)  Mix spaghetti, chicken, sautéed vegetables and all other ingredients in roaster.  Add stock to make juicy.  I usually use all stock
6)  Bake 45 min-1 hr till bubbly @ 350 degrees

Servings 12-18

2  7oz. pkg spaghetti-cook and drain
2 lb lean ground meat-brown & drain fat
2 T.  butter or margarine
1 16oz can cream style corn
1 whole kernel corn (drain)
1 can chopped celery
2 bell peppers chopped
2 medium onions chopped
1 can roi-tel tomatoes
1 tsp worcestershire
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 ½ C. cheddar or American cheese grated

1) Preheat oven 375 degrees
2) Brown ground meat-drain-add 1 tsp Worcestershire, 1 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp salt
3) Combine with all other ingredients in roaster or large baking dish (butter roaster or spray with Pam-easier to clean)
4) Stir in 1 cup cheese
5) Place other ½ cup cheese on top
6) Bake 1 ½ hours @ 350 degrees

Serve with green salad & French bread

(you can freeze in Ziploc bags—works great!!)

“EZY” Chocolate Birthday Cake

Heat oven to 350 degrees/Bake for 30 minutes
2 C. sifted flour
2 C. sugar
2 eggs
1 C. wesson or canola oil
1 C. buttermilk
½ C. cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking soda
dash ¼ tsp salt

1) Mix all ingredients together—mix by hand
2) Add 1 cup boiling water (I add 1 T. instant Nescafe coffee)
3) Use 13X9 cake pan spray with baker’s joy!
4) Test by sticking toothpick into center of cake—needs to come out clean—it also pulls away from sides of pan!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Coffee Cream Icing

4 T.   margarine
¼ tsp salt
3-5 T. hot strong coffee
2 T. cocoa
2 C. powdered sugar

1) Blend softened margarine, salt and ½ C. powdered sugar till smooth.  (Use hand mixer on slow speed—add sugar gradually)

2) Add coffee, cocoa and rest of sugar—mix till smooth spread on cake.

Good on chocolate cake, yellow cake, or white cake—

*You can control amount of coffee flavor

I like stronger flavor so I make the coffee very strong—you can use less coffee.