For Lack of a Better Name... Fish!

The original of this recipe had about 1/17 of the spices that I use now days, but I have converted more than one fish hater with this stuff, so it must be good!! :) There are just a few tips you MUST remember when making this fish... Fear not the spice, hate not the onion and despise not the butter. Remember this and your taste buds will hum. When you're all done sprinkling and onioning and buttering your pan should look like this:

 

 Please, just keep in mind that you don't really wanna use every single flavor of seasoning salt you own if you happen to have 37 of them in your cupboard like I do. I practically brined everyone the last time I made this...

 Every-Spice-In-The-Cupboard Fish

1-2 lbs white fish filets

1 med-large onion minced

1 stick of butter

Spices... like:

Mrs. Dash, Old Bay, Johnny's Seafood Seasoning, Onion powder, Garlic powder, Oregano, Basil, Thyme, Rosemary, Italian Seasoning, Cumin, Nutmeg (YES!! It takes away the fishy-ness), Lawry's or Johnny's seasoning salt, Celery salt, Cajun seasoning, you get the picture? Pretty much everything but the Apple pie spice, cinnamon and cardamom and stuff like that.

Place the fish on in a 9X13 pan. Sprinkle with the onion. Sprinkle all the spices evenly over everything. Cut the stick of butter in about Tablespoon size chunks and place all over the fish. Bake at about 350 for 30-45 minutes. I like to cook it to death so the spices really permeate the fish, but it you don;t like twice dead fish you don't have to be like me. Serve with mashed potatoes and spoon the butter spice sauce over them. YUMMY!!

Butternut Squash Soup

Reece's mom had given us this butternut squash and I wanted to do something interesting with it so I started Googling and found lots of soup recipes. Then I decided that apparently all I needed to do was put in the stuff that sounded good to me. So I did. And while we were eating, Rosie kept telling me 'Mommy! This is yummy!!' :)

1 butternut squash
1 medium-large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 medium apple, peeled, cored & chunked
1/2 C. butter
2 (14.5 oz.) cans chicken broth
8 oz. cream cheese, cubed
1 T. sugar (optional)
Salt, cayenne pepper & nutmeg to taste
Half & Half to thin the soup to your desired consistency

Bake the squash at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. In a large soup kettle, sauté the onion in the butter. Add the cream cheese and chicken broth. Simmer until the cream cheese is all melted. Add the apple. Scoop the squash from the rind and add. Add seasonings to taste& sugar if you're using it; simmer until everything is tender. In small batches, puree the soup in the blender until smooth. Pour back into the kettle and add as much half & half as you deem necessary. Reheat and serve.

Strawberry Lemonade

Once upon a time I needed to use up some lemons that were on the verge of rotting to death in my fridge. So I decided to make lemonade. I had just tried the garbage they try to pass off as something wonderful at McDonald's and it's flavor left something to be desired. Very much something. And I have 40,000 bags of strawberries I never use in my freezer. So. I made strawberry lemonade. And it was good. And everybody that tastes it loves it. Even Reece said it wasn't too bad, which REALLY means something because he doesn't even LIKE strawberries. OR lemonade! So here tis... It's extraordinarily easy and extraordinarily good.

Strawberry Lemonade

Frozen strawberries
Lemons
Sugar
Water as needed if it get too thick
Ice -if you feel like using it

 Juice the lemons and don't worry if you get some pulpy stuff in this, the blender grinds it up real well. ;) Pour the lemon juice into the blender and start adding strawberries. If it gets too thick add some water and/or ice to make it the consistency you like. Add sugar to taste and enjoy!

Rosie's Rice

 Rosie came up with this recipe one day when I was talking to Reece on the phone pondering how I was ever gonna make hamburger gravy for him to take in the truck. See, he doesn't like mashed potatoes, and I can't send him his happy happy boiled potatoes that he loves, because after they have been frozen they are all rubbery and he can't stand them. So I was mourning that I can't make him hamburger gravy and he was crying with me when Rosie came up and said thoughtfully, with her finger on her chin and her head tilted, "I think you should use... ... ... RICE!! I think that would taste yummy!" So I made up my hamburger gravy and added rice and cheese and Reece drooled all over his phone and whined 'cause he wasn't there to taste it that very night. Now it is a much requested meal around here!  Enjoy!

1  1/2 lbs. hamburger
1 medium-large onion, minced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1  1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. Mrs. Dash
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
2 beef bouillon cubes
Water -about 3 cups?
1 C. brown rice (I use the instant stuff that cooks in 10-12 minutes)
2 C. shredded sharp cheddar cheese

 Brown the hamburger with the salt, onion and garlic, drain off the fat if there is any. Add the water and seasonings. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the rice and more water if needed so the rice can cook properly. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the rice is tender. Mix in the cheese and serve when it's all incorporated. ;) (I like to sound important.)

Bacon Chicken Drumsticks

I absolutely love chicken legs. If I was the one building chickens they'd have 10 legs and nothing else. Specially not any gizzards. I wanted to do something different and good and wonderful but I didn't know what I wanted so I started inventing. Since I also love bacon and I had some in the fridge, I decided to combine the two. I had no idea what I was doing, so I wrapped the chicken with the bacon and slathered on honey mustard & barbeque sauce. I did two separate pans so we could decide which one tasted best. I had gross barbeque sauce so we liked the honey mustard better, but they would both be great if you have the right stuff! Plus, they are easy to make and even easier to eat! Serve these with these Parmesan Roasted Potatoes, some veggies and a salad, and even your mom will say you made a balanced meal!

Broiled Bacon Chicken Drumsticks

Chicken legs
Bacon
Barbeque sauce or Honey mustard

 Place a metal cooling rack in a cookie sheet. Rinse and remove the skin from the chicken legs; wrap with bacon. Slather on the sauce of your choice and place on the rack. Bake at 400 degrees, basting with more sauce until chicken is tender and starting to fall off the bones.

Parmesan Roasted Potatoes

I apologize. I don't have a picture of this recipe 'cause I figured that everybody already has the Stenersen Cookbook and so therefore they don't even NEED the recipe, but I know that there are SOME people (Glenda) who don't have theirs handy. At least I don't think she has hers yet... Original recipe from Brenda Seppala.

6 medium unpeeled potatoes
Olive oil
3 T. Parmesan cheese
1 T. dried parsley
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1/8 - 1/4 tsp. pepper

Mix together the Parmesan cheese & spices in a small bowl. Scrub the potatoes, cut into cubes and place in a gallon size plastic bag. Pour olive oil over top and shake to coat. Add the spices and shake to coat the potatoes evenly. Spread on to a greased 15X10 cookie sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes or more until browned. Stir them halfway through cooking to brown them more evenly.

Awesome Peanut Butter Brickle Cookies

This is the down side of being a Life Member of the Cooking Club of America... Recipes like this. I wonder if I'd accomplish anything if I drank my weight loss shake with a couple of these cookies?? After all, the lady at Melaleuca said that if you're nursing you should probably eat a small meal with the shake so you still get the required calories in your diet for the day... HA!

3  1/2 C. flour

2 C. oatmeal -we used the instant stuff

1 tsp. soda

1 tsp. salt

2 C. (1 lb.) cold, unsalted butter, cut up

1  1/2 C. packed brown sugar

1 C. creamy natural peanut butter

4 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

3 C. honey roasted peanuts

2 (10 oz.) bags peanut butter chips

2 (8 oz.) bags toffee bits

Stir together the flour, oats, soda & salt; set aside. Beat the butter & brown sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat in the peanut butter & vanilla. Add eggs one at a time beating till just combined. Beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the peanuts, peanut butter chips & toffee bits. Refrigerate until firm enough to shape, 2-3 hours or overnight. (Or you can just set the dough on the porch for about an hour if it's below zero! :D) Use a medium size cookie scoop to form cookies on parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Freeze for 10 minutes or until firm. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until light brown on the edges. Cool on the baking sheet on a cooling rack for 3 minutes. Place cookies on cooling rack and cool completely. (The original recipe said to make 1/4 C. sized cookies so that'd be a little bit bigger than the large size cookie scoop!) Makes 8 dozen cookies if you use the medium scoop, 3 dozen if you use the large scoop.