Orange Julius

I always loved when my Dad would make us an Orange Julius, and to me it was always better than the ones from the actual smoothie place! Here is his recipe...
You will need the Orange Concentrate that comes in the tube frozen. You will use half of the can.
I used a large cup of crushed ice
1/4 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla
When I blended this it still was a little more icy and not as thick as we wanted so we added 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream and it was perfect! Sorry no picture this time...we drank it all way too fast!!!
Serving size about 5.

Chocolate Eclair Cake

Submitted by: Suanne
Here is the items you will need...

1 cup of water
1/2 cup of butter
1 cup of flour
4 Large eggs
1 8OZ. cream cheese softened
1 Large box 5.1 ounce vanilla instant pudding
3 cups of milk
1 8OZ. cool whip or whipped cream
Chocolate Syrup or home made chocolate sauce
 Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9x13 glass baking pan.
Eclair crust: In a medium saucepan, melt butter in water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in flour. Mix in one egg at a time, mixing completely before adding another egg. Spread mixture into pan, covering the bottom and sides evenly. *If the sides of your pan are too greased you won't be able to get the mixture to stay up the sides so make sure to just lightly grease.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown(mine only took 25 minutes though.) You may want to check it occasionally-you don't want to overcook the crust, it will ruin the cake! Remove from oven and let cool (don't touch or push bubbles down.)
Filling: Whip cream cheese in a medium bowl. In separate bowl make vanilla pudding. Make sure pudding is thick before mixing in with cream cheese. Slowly add pudding to cream cheese, mixing until there are no lumps. Let cool in fridge. When the crust is completely cooled, pour filling in. Top with layer of cool whip however thick you want it and serve with chocolate syrup. 

 Yum!!!

Chicken Empanadas

This was definitely a 5-star recipe! I love pie crusts and it was perfect for this meal!

Submitted by: Jessica

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 1 (8-ounce) package shredded Colby and Monterrey Jack cheese (or whatever cheese you like. All I had on hand was cheddar and that was still good!)
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened (I used light and it was still really good!)
• 3 oz green chilies
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped. *optional
• 1/2 Tbl ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 package refrigerated pie crusts. Should have 2 pie crusts.
• Water

Preheat oven to 400*F. Lightly grease a baking sheet. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except for the water and pie crust. Unroll 1 pie crust onto a lightly floured surface. Place half of the chicken mixture on one half of the pie crust, then fold pie crust over (in half) over the filling. Lightly brush the edge of the crust with water. Press edges down with a fork to seal. Do the same thing with the second pie crust and the other half of the chicken mixture. Put on baking sheet and sprinkle top with cheese. Bake for 25 minutes.

Mini Taco Pizzas

This is actually a recipe Suanne emailed me a couple of weeks ago. I love tacos so I knew I would love this recipe! It was easy and so tasty. I love to have Krew help me out with dinner as much a possible and this was perfect for that because he could add any of the toppings he wanted!

Submitted by: Jessica

Ingredients

• 1 lb of pizza dough. I used the Walmart brand of pizza dough. It's in a little white bag. Sorry I didn't get a picture!
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 package of taco seasoning
• 1 can refried beans
• 2 cups cheddar cheese
• shredded lettuce for topping
• salsa or pico de gallo, for topping
• guacamole, for topping
• sour cream, for topping

1. Preheat oven to 450 F
2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the ground beef. Cook until almost no pink remains, then add taco seasoning. Continue to cook until the beef is cooked through.
3. Put the refried beans in a small pot over medium heat until warmed through.
4. Divide the pizza dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each out into an individual pizza. Top each with 1/4 cup of the refried beans, 1/4 of the beef mixture, then top with 1/4 of the cheddar cheese.
5. Cook in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or according to the pizza dough directions.
6. After it's done cooking, top with lettuce, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.

We served ours with chips and salsa! Delicious!

Pizza Roll

We eat this one a lot! Because it is easy and so good! If you love pizza you'll love this one!

Submitted by: Jessica

Ingredients:

• Rhodes frozen dough. Looks like this:

• Olive oil
• Pizza toppings such as, pepperoni, ground beef, bacon, olives, canadian bacon, pineapple, chicken, really anything you love on a pizza!
• Shredded mozzarella cheese.
• Shredded cheddar cheese

I don't have measurements for cheese amounts, I just use a couple of handfuls of each.

• Shredded or grated parmesan cheese
• Italian seasonings. Basically dried oregano, parsley and basil. Be careful with the oregano, it can be strong.
• Garlic powder
• salt
• half a cube of melted butter

1. Place 2 or 3 frozen dough on a sprayed cookie sheet. One loaf equals one roll, and one roll serves about 3 people. But I always make more for leftovers.
2. Spray the top of loaves with pan spray and cover with plastic wrap. Allow loaves to thaw for about 3 hours at room temperature.
3. Roll dough out to approximately 11x11 square
4. Brush dough with olive oil.
5. Lay toppings on dough (except the cheese).
6. Now sprinkle with shredded cheeses and parmesan.
7. Lightly sprinkle with Italian seasonings, garlic powder, and salt.

 This is what mine looked like all rolled out with the toppings.

    8. Roll up dough starting at one end of the square.

    9. Place rolls on a baking sheet, leaving space between.

   10. Brush some melted butter on top of uncooked pepperoni roll.

   11. You don't have to let rise. Bake it right away.

   12. Bake at 375* for approx 20-25 minutes. Keep an eye on it because every oven is different.

When done, top of roll should be golden brown and you should be able to make a tapping sound on the crust with your fingernail. Make sure you let cool before slicing and serving!

This is one roll that I cut in half.

We like to dip ours in marinara sauce! 

DELICIOUS! 

Amish White Bread

I know bread can kind of be an intimidating thing, but just give this a try! It's really pretty easy! This is my go to white bread recipe that doesn't require a bread machine.

Submitted by: Jessica

Ingredients:

• 2 cups warm water
• 2/3 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 tbl active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 6 cups bread flour

1. In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water, then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
2. Mix salt and oil into yeast. Mix flour 1 cup at a time. I love to use my kitchen aid with a bread hook for this part (but you don't have to)

  3. Knead dough on lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, then turn dough to coat. 

Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

 4. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes and divide in half. Shape into loaves & place into 2 oiled/sprayed 9x5 loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.

    5. Bake at 320* for around 42 minutes.

I spread some butter on top right when it comes out of the oven.

Enjoy!!

Lacie's Healthier Chicken Bake

So we {try} to eat healthy at our house. This recipe can be changed up quite a bit to fit any ones needs or desires! I love meals that I can prepare ahead of time. Especially while Lindley is sleeping and then I can put it straight in the fridge until I am ready to bake it! Before we had a baby and I was working I always tried to plan out my meals for a week that way one of us that was home could get started on it while the other was still gone, even if that meant we ate at 8:00...at least we had dinner together right?!
You will need the following things{remember you can add or take away whatever you would like}

1 jar of red marinara or pasta sauce.
1 routisseray chicken {I found those are kind of expensive now so when I just have bags of frozen chicken I use that} or 4 large chicken breasts
Fresh mushrooms {really as many as you want}

1 cup of mozzerella cheese
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese (or  you could use canned parmesan too)
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil (any oil would be okay, but this is a "healthier" kind)
 Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted and has crisp edges
First things first...You will need to start cooking your chicken if you are using chicken breasts. I boil my chicken, its quick and easy. Once the chicken is done, I take it out of the water and cut into bite size pieces similar to this...

 Next I start with the mushrooms over medium heat, I cook them ALMOST all the way. I let them cook the rest of the way in the oven. This is when you add in the tablespoon of olive oil to cook the mushrooms.

 After you have cooked your chicken and mushrooms you start preparing the dish. Normally I use a glass baking dish. First you want to spray the dish with pam. (You can thank me later) Next you will put half the jar of red sauce on the bottom like this.

 Next you lay down the mushrooms and chicken like this...

 Then add half a cup of mozzarella and sprinkle a little of the parm cheese.

 Then next you would add the rest of the red sauce again, and the rest of the chicken and mushrooms, and the rest of both cheeses and your done!

 Some side ideas to pair it with are...whole wheat noodles, or regular noodles. Also if you want to be even more healthy we suggest serving over broccoli or asparagus! Some salad on the side would also be good. Or for you carb lovers (we all are) bread sticks would be good too!
Let me know if you have any questions about this recipe!!!
Enjoy!