CHALUPAS & BANANA BARS RECIPES!!!

CHALUPAS

I made this for supper last night...My granddaughter's husband loves it!

INGREDIENTS:
2-lbs pork roast
1-lb pinto beans
2-cloves garlic, minced
2-tablespoons chili powder
1-tablespoon cumin
1-tablespoon mexican oregano
1-tablespoon picante sauce
1-teaspoon salt
1-1/2-lbs cheddar cheese grated
1-head lettuce shredded
12-bunches green onions & chives, chopped
5-tomatoes, chopped
corn chips
guacamole
extra picante sauce

DIRECTIONS:
In a large pan or crock pot, place the pork roast and cover with water.
Add the next 7 ingredients and cook over low heat for 8 hours, stirring occasionally to blend all ingredients well.
Serve over corn chips.
Top with cheddar cheese, lettuce, onions tomatoes, guacamole, and extra picante sauce as desired.
Let your family;guests build their own Chalupas.

BANANA BARS

Our desert...Everyone loves these!

INGREDIENTS:
1/2-cup butter, softened
2-cups sugar
3-eggs
1-1/2-cups mashed, ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1-teaspoon vanilla extract
2-cups all-purpose flour
1-teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
frosting (recipe below)
chopped nuts for garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Cream butter & sugar.
Beat in eggs, bananas and vanilla.
Combine flour, salt and baking soda.
Add to creamed mixture, and beat well.
Pour into a greased 15-by-10-by-1-inch baking pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until bars test done. Cool. Frost. Add chopped nuts for garnish!

BANANA FROSTING

INGREDIENTS:
2-large ripe bananas
1/2-teaspoon lemon juice
1/4-cup butter
3-1/2-cups powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:
Mix together bananas & lemon juice.
In a seperate bowl, beat butter until soft and creamy.
Gradually and alternately add powdered sugar and banana mixture to butter, and beat until fluffy.

THREE SOUP MIX RECIPES & DESK ORGANIZER!!

The dry ingredients of these satisfying rice soups are measured and jarred as a ready-to-use soup mix, allowing you to prepare it whenever an easy, quickly prepared meal is required.They make wonderful Christmas gifts...Homemade gifts are great all year long, but most especially during the holiday season. Layered soup in a jar mix is an attractive, easy to assemble, and tasty gift...Cover the tops in some Christmas homespun cloth, place them in a basket along with some soup mugs, soup spoons and crackers, for an unique gift...

CREAMY WILD RICE AND MUSHROOM SOUP MIX RECIPE

DIRECTIONS:

GIFT INSTRUCTIONS:
Layer the ingredients in the order given into a wide mouth one quart canning jar.
Pack each layer in place before adding the next ingredient.
Cover the jar tightly with a canning jar lid.
Attach a gift tag on top of the jar with the cooking directions on it.

COOKING DIRECTIONS:
Place creamy wild rice and mushroom soup mix into a large soup pot.
Add mushrooms and water.
Heat to boiling then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the rice is tender.
Stir occasionally.

INGREDIENTS:

MIX INGREDIENTS:
2 packages (2.75 oz. each) country gravy mix
2 tablespoons chicken flavored instant bouillon granules
1 1/2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1 tablespoon dried celery flakes
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 cup wild rice
1 1/3 cups white rice
1/2 cup wild rice

COOKING INGREDIENTS:
1 can (4 oz.) mushrooms
14 cups water


Having this tasty, pre-measured chicken soup mix on hand is a great way to prepare a delicious meal whenever time is short. This soup mix can also be made with brown rice.

CHICKEN AND WHITE RICE SOUP MIX RECIPE

DIRECTIONS:
Layer the ingredients in the order given into a wide mouth one quart canning jar.
Pack each layer in place before adding the next ingredient.
Cover tightly with a canning jar lid.
Attach a gift tag at the top of the jar with the cooking directions written on it.

COOKING DIRECTIONS:
In a large soup pot, bring water, butter and chicken rice soup mix to a boil.
Reduct heat and add chicken.
Cover and simmer for 30-35 minutes or until rice is tender.

INGREDIENTS:

MIX INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
3/4 cup chicken flavored bouillon granules
1 tablespoon dried tarragon
2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1 1/2 cups long grain white rice

COOKING INGREDIENTS:
18 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 can cooked chopped chicken or 1 cup of cooked cubed chicken from favorite recipe!

CHICKEN AND BROWN RICE SOUP MIX RECIPE

DIRECTIONS:
Layer the ingredients in the order given into a wide mouth one quart canning jar.
Pack each layer in place before adding the next ingredient.
Cover tightly with a canning jar lid.
Attach a gift tag at the top of the jar with the cooking directions written on it.

COOKING DIRECTIONS:
In a large soup pot, bring water, butter and chicken rice soup mix to a boil.
Reduct heat and add chicken.
Cover and simmer for 30-35 minutes or until rice is tender.

INGREDIENTS:

MIX INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups long grain brown rice
3/4 cup chicken flavored bouillon granules
1 tablespoon dried tarragon
2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1 1/2 cups long grain brown rice

COOKING INGREDIENTS:
18 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 can cooked chopped chicken or 1 cup of cooked cubed chicken from favorite recipe!

DESK ORGANIZER

This is a quick post about a desk organizer that is made from an old book. An old hardback Readers Digest works great. Making it is really simple and fun and it holds scraps of paper, notes, really anything flat very well.
If you want to make one then click on My Desert Cottage for the instructions!

BABY ONE, BABY TWO & BABY THREE

My 16th Great-Grandchild was born Thursday, September 17th and I want to share some pictures with you...
My Great-Grandchildren, Ethan age 3 and Evelyn age 2;

This is how they told my daughter Anita that she was going to be a grandmother again!

Baby Three, Aiden Scott;

My granddaughter Malinda Sue & husband Ben;

Malinda is going to collage studying to be a RN, where she has a 4.0 grade average and she also works at a Montessori school in Northfield...Needless to say I am very proud of her!

My granddaughter Jessica, who just turned 30, has been belly dancing for a number of years and is very good at it...

The first belly dancing outfit she made;

My daughter-in-law is an award winning photographer...this is a picture she just took of her two youngest...Annabelle & Liam;

Don't you love the red hair?

Tomorrow I will have a post that more of you will enjoy...Just had to show off a little....

Hugs

CHOCOLATE, CHOCOLATE & MORE CHOCOLATE!!

My family really enjoys anything chocolatey. These recipes are not exactly healthy considering that they have chocolate and chocolate chips in them, but they are so YUMMY & GOOD!

This is a cake that you & your family will go crazy over.
Lisa from "The Cutting Edge of Ordinary" found this recipe at Slice of Sueshe and adapted it a bit by filling the middle with chocolate/caramel chips.Be sure to check out her blog for more scrumptious recipes like this one...Just click on her blog's name to go there!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE CAKE

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 stick butter, room temp
½ cup & 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ cup & 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, lightly packed
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 cup chocolate chips or chocolate chunks

Filling
1 cup chocolate/caramel chips
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans, set aside.

In a medium bowl sift or whisk the flour and baking soda, set aside.

Cream together the butter and the sugar, until it turns pale yellow in color (about 2 minutes). Add in the sugars, salt and vanilla. Cream until smooth. Add the egg and beat on low until incorporated. Stir in the chip or chunks.

Divide the dough between the two cake pans. To get even dough amounts I weighed the dough then split it in half. Pat the batter into the pans. I let my batter come it just about a ½ inch from the edge. Bake for 15 – 18 minutes.

Allow to cool completely.

Filling: Pour the chips and shortening into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals just until the chips are starting to melt. Spread chocolate mixture onto cooled cake bottom and top with second cookie.
microwave about a half cup of the chips and put them into a plastic zip lock bag with the tip snipped off so you could drizzle the chocolate over the top cookie!

I was going through some old cookbooks & found this recipe in the "Pillsbury Best Muffins and Quick Breads" It is beautiful, chocolatey, and moist.

BUTTERMILK CHOCOLATE BREAD

1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease only the bottom of a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the buttermilk. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir into the buttermilk mixture until moistened. Mix in 1 cup chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared pan.
Bake for 55 to 65 minutes in the preheated oven, until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely..
You can serve this with some;

HONEY CHOCOLATE BUTTER

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

There's nothing like a good chocolate chip cookie...unless it is a Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE PIE

Recipe from Nestle Classic Recipes, 2003
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell*
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped pecans
Serve with ice cream (optional)

Preheat oven 325 degrees F.
Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high until foamy.
Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter.
Stir in morsels and nuts and spoon into pie shell.
Bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm.

QUICKIE PIE & AMERICAN CHOP SUEY!!!

My friend Angie posted this recipe in Primitive & Rustic Crafts & Decorating Forum a really great forum...Click on the name to go there to join!

QUICKE PIE

I like the crust better than the filling and so I made a 1/2 recipe more of the crust and then baked it in a cast iron skillet. Crust is fabulously crusty...Made one with the Blueberry Pie Filling and my grandson ate half of it as soon as it had cooled down some...Made an Apple Pie Filling one and then sprinkled cinnamon/sugar all over the top and that was also good, but our favorite is the Blueberry one...My grandson wants me to make a Strawberry Quicke Pie next!

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
1 cup SELF RISING FLOUR
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 21 oz. can of fruit pie filling ( your choice)

DIRECTIONS:
Melt butter and pour into a 2 qt. casserole dish
Combine flour, sugar and milk together, stir til well blended
Pour over melted butter (DO NOT BLEND)
Add fruit filling. (DO NOT BLEND)
Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour.
Use toothpick in the center to check for doneness!
Even tho I added extra to the crust mix, it only took one hour to bake!

AMERICAN CHOP SUEY

Adapted from Country Cookin' by the Monterey County CowBelles, 1975 edition

INGREDIENTS:
2 medium onions, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 pound pork sausage, finely chopped, or ground beef
1 cup uncooked rice
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 can bean sprouts, or 1 cup fresh bean sprouts, chopped
1 can water chestnuts, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
6 ounces chow mein noodles

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
Over medium-high heat, sauté onions, celery, and green pepper until just cooked but not yet brown. Add meat and cook for 1 minutes, until no longer red. Transfer to a casserole dish. Add rice.
In a separate bowl, mix together Cream of Chicken, water, soy sauce, bean sprouts, and water chestnuts. Pour half into the bottom of the dish, layer rice on top, and pour the rest of the mixture over the rice. Add meat and onion mixture on the top.
Bake for 1 hour.
Sprinkle chow mein noodles on top before serving.
This is an easy casserole to fix for a fast Chinese supper...

FALL DECOR CRAFTS!!!

I found these neat Fall Decor Crafts at Martha Stewart and thought you would enjoy making them...There are more ideas on her site....

Cornhusk Votives
Wrapped in dried corn husks, votives cast a soft glow and serve as a reminder that corn was part of the first Thanksgiving feast.
Wrapped in dried cornhusks, votives cast a soft glow and serve as a reminder that corn was part of the first Thanksgiving feast.
On a cutting mat, use a ruler and utility knife to cut the widest part of the dried cornhusks (available in my ebay store) to the height of your votive holders. Apply double-sided tape around a votive holder, about 1/4 inch from the bottom. Affix 2 or 3 cornhusks, overlapping the edges, to the holder. Finish by tying with a ribbon

Autumn Luminarias
These luminarias are perfect for lighting the way to your front porch, on Halloween or for any fall party.
Collect fallen leaves, and arrange them on top of brown lunch bags.
Put 1 teaspoon acrylic paint (choose colors that contrast with bags) in a 2- to 3-ounce misting bottle. Fill halfway with water and shake to mix. Mist bags and leaves. Let dry 20 minutes. Remove leaves. Repeat on other side. Fill bottom of each bag with sand.
Illuminate: For safety reasons, use either glass holders that are three times as tall as candles or substitute battery-operated lights.

Pumpkin Pie Potpourri
Use a pumpkin incense burner to suggest the cozy scent of pie just out of the oven. Cut off the pumpkin's top and scrape out the innards; carve round vents with an apple corer. Rub cinnamon or pumpkin-pie spices onto the lid, or push cloves into it. With a lighted tealight candle inside, the pumpkin will give off a lovely fragrance for about six hours.

Pumpkin Chandeliers
Casually adorned with colorful fallen leaves, a simple grapevine wreath is illuminated by tea lights set inside mini-pumpkin holders. Suspended from a ceiling hook, it gives a warm, rustic atmosphere to a front porch. To make the glow last, light the candles just before your guests arrive or use battery operated tea lights.

"IF TODAY WAS MY LAST DAY ON EARTH"!!

Sunday Sayings;

By Sue Atkins

"If today were my last day on Earth and I could share 500 words of brilliance with the world, here are the important things I'd want to pass along to others...

For me, there's more to life than money.

For me, it's all about people and relationships and in particular it's about the relationships we have within our own families - with our kids, our partners, and our own parents.

Family life is the most important aspect of our true well-being - and so is the really important job of bringing up happy, confident, well-balanced adults - today's children - but tomorrow's future.

For all children and for most adults, family life is the most important thing in life.

It gives meaning to our lives - as it's a place of safety, security, support, laughter, and a feeling of belonging.

You only have to ask yourself - who was there to pick you up from a late night party, give you a bit of "extra" money when you'd run out, or sorted things out when you got into trouble or made mistakes?

Or who was there to get you over a broken heart, a messy divorce, or there encouraging you on the sidelines on a frozen cold January morning when you were playing netball?

Who taught you to ride a bike, rollerskate or drive a car?

And who is always there believing in you and encouraging you when life is overwhelming and challenging?

Your family.

Your family is your rock in a very fast-paced, hectic world of change - it's your anchor in the stormy seas and choppy waters of growing up.

And that's why for me it's so important.

It's from this centre that children thrive and go on to believe in their dreams and make a success of their lives - whatever that means for them.

It's like a ripple in a pond - each generation building on the other.

I believe every parent loves their child and is doing their very best for them but because kids don't come with a handbook. Life with kids can be enormously challenging, tiring and frustrating, but it can also be the most rewarding and uplifting experience in the world too - and nothing can prepare you for that either.

It's not about the background you come from, the colour of your skin or the amount of money you have in your bank account that matters - it's about the memories you build with your kids that will last their lifetime.

Here is a quote I came across many years ago that changed the course of my life and I hope you find it thought-provoking too. It's was written by Dr. Forest E. Witcraft who was a scholar, teacher, and Boy Scout administrator.

"Fifty years from now it won't matter what kind of car you drove
What kind of house you lived in
How much you had in your bank account
Or what your clothes looked like
But the world may be a little better because you were important in the life of a child"

You are that very important person in the life of your child.

So paint more rainbows, buy more earrings and kick more footballs in the garden and learn to cherish, nurture and embrace your children as you are building bridges of unconditional love and lasting self-esteem deep within them."

From Positive Parents