Corn Pudding

I am not going to lie, I never had any desire to try corn pudding! It just sounds gross! But then I married Wayne, the pickest eater I know, and it is one of his favorites. So I thought to myself, if he eats it, it can't be that bad! And as quoted by Sam-I-Am, "...try them, try them, and you may! try them and you may, i say!" Well I tried them, and I liked it!!! This is by far the best corn pudding recipe I have tried.

1/2 stick of butter

place butter in dish (I use a 9x13, because that is all I have, but I would recommend the next size down, like an 8x11, is that a choice?) and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place dish in oven to melt the butter. Meanwhile mix together:

2/3 cup sugar

3 Tbsp flour

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 can cream corn

add to dish when butter is melted. Bake for 40-45 minutes (in a 9x13 dish it takes less time, maybe around 30-35 minutes, or whenever top is golden brown.)

Taste Rating: 4

Difficulty Rating: 2

This goes as a really good side to ham.

Best Punch Ever

This is another recipe that I got from my Mother-in-law. It is by far my most favorite punch! You should probably make two batches if you are doing this for a party, because I am not kidding, people will drink this until they make themselves sick, it is just that good!!

1 pkg. lemon jello
1 large can pineapple juice
1 qt hot water
2 cups sugar
1 qt cold water
also need bottles of ginger ale

Dissolve jello and sugar in hot water. Add pineapple juice and cold water. Add a few drops of food coloring. Freeze in plastic containers. Remove from freezer 4 hours before using. Chop and add ginger ale to taste.

I am sorry that I don't have any pictures, but I promise the next time I make this I will photograph it and add some.

Taste Rating: 5!
Difficulty Rating: 2.5

Roast Beef Bruschetta

Roast Beef Bruschetta

by Betty Crocker

1 loaf baguette French Bread, cut into 1/4 inch slices

2 Tbsp olive oil

5 small plum (Roma) tomatoes

1/2 cup chive and onion cream cheese

1/2 lb thinly sliced cooked roast beef

1/4 tsp coarsely ground pepper

8 medium green onions, sliced (1/2 cup)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Brush both sides of bread with olive oil. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 5 minutes or until crisp. Cool 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut each tomato into 6 slices; set aside. Spread cream cheese over each bread slice. Top with beef; sprinkle pepper. Top with tomato slices and onions.

Taste Rating: 4 (I make this a lot of times for brunches and pot luck lunches, it is always a big hit!)

Difficulty Rating: 2.5 (too make this a little bit easier, you can make the bread a day in advance and just store loosely covered at room temperature then top them right before you need them.)

Mini Fruit Pizza

Mini Fruit Pizza

by Pillsbury

1 package refridgerated sugar cookies, the roll or the precut (guess which one I use!)

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp frozen limeade concentrate, thawed

1/2 cup powdered sugar

10 fresh strawberries, quartered

1 kiwifruit, peeled halved lengthwise and cut into 10 slices

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 cup fresh raspberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake cookies as directed by the package. Cool completely, about 10 minutes.

In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, limeade concentrate and powdered sugar until smooth.

Spread each cookie with 1 Tbsp cream cheese mixture. Arrange fruit on top of each. Serve immediately, or cover and refridgerate up to 2 hours.

Taste Rating: 5 (this is one of my favorite cookies, I love fresh fruit! I also like a soft cookie better than a crunchy one so I use the lower cooking time from the directions, and I try to stay away from a dark pan on this one.)

Difficulty Rating: 2 (hardest part is slicing the strawberries and making the fruit look pretty! especially if you use the cookies that are already cut out, however the precut cookies don't spread as much so you end up with a smaller, thicker cookie, but that is okay with me!)

Deviled Roasted Potatoes

Deviled Roasted Potatoes

from Cuisine at Home: weeknight meals

Makes 3 cups

Total time: 35 minutes

Whisk Together:

2 T. olive oil

2 T. dry mustard

1 T. white vinegar

2 t. kosher salt

1/2 t. dried dill weed

1/4 t. cayenne

1/4 t. black pepper

Add; Toss:

1 lb. red potatoes, quartered

Now before I give the instructions I would like to tell my variations to this recipe. I only use about 1 T of dry mustard and only do a scant 1/4 t. of the cayenne and black pepper. This recipe has a kick, so this will cut it down a bit. I also cut my potatoes into smaller pieces, probably just slice at one more angle. But I love this recipe, it is full of flavor!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees; line a baking sheet with foil and coat with nonstick spray. Whisk together all ingredients (except potatoes) in a large bowl.

Add potatoes and toss until coated. Place potatoes in a single layer on prepared pan and roast for 25-30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender when pierced. (if you cut them smaller you might want to go with 20-25 min, but still they are ready when they are tender.)

Taste Rating: 4.5

Difficulty Rating: 2

(the hardest part of this is cutting potatoes, because even clean up is easy with the foil protecting your baking sheet!!!)

Chicken Pillows

OK so I got off to a slow start. This recipe I have had for a long time, I got it from my mother-in-law. I am making this my first official recipe because I have had about four people ask me for this recipe and I never got around to giving it to them...so here it is.

4 cups cooked chicken breasts, cubed (reserve broth)
8 oz cream cheese
4 green onions, chopped (this is optional, and I opt not to use them)
4 oz sliced, canned mushrooms, drained and chopped (I like them, Wayne doesn't)
1 pkg. crescent rolls (10 rolls)
1 cup corn flake crumbs or bread crumbs (I use plain bread crumbs)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 onion powder
1/2 c. melted butter
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Soften cream cheese. Add (onion, mushrooms), and chicken. Mix well. Melt butter and set aside.

Combine crumbs, garlic and onion powders in shallow dish. Press rolls flat and thin. Place 1/4 cup chicken mixture on each roll. Seal edges and shape into a pillow. Dip pillow in butter, then roll in crumbs.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Serve with cream of mushroom soup thinned with chicken broth.

Taste Rating: 4
Difficulty Rating: 3.5
see scale on side: This is a scrumpcious meal but I have two kids hanging off my legs and so this one takes a little more effort than I like to put forth, but I don't like to put forth any effort when it comes to cooking. So try it out and then give me your own ratings!

I know there are a lot of variations to the way people make this, so if you know of one please share. There is one listed on kevinandamanda.com, I have not tried it, but I have tried a lot of their stuff and everything I have had so far has been great.