No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I have made these before, and I actually keep these in my "Candy" recipe box because they are more like candy than cookies. I will keep this recipe, even though it is sort of one of those recipes for kids. I can be a kid sometimes!!

Followup: I made these again and they failed. And worse, I didn't like them!! So, this recipe will not stay in my recipe file.

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

2 c. sugar
3 T unsweetened cocoa
1/2 c. margarine
1/2 c. milk
dash of salt
3 c. quick-cooking oats
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 t. vanilla extract

1. Bring the first 5 ingredients to a rapid boil.
2. Boil for 1 minute, then add the remaining ingredients.
3. Mix well and drop quickly by spoonfuls onto waxed paper.

One Dish Chicken & Rice Bake

This dish was really easy to prepare, and used everyday ingredients that most people have in their pantry. I liked it better on the first day, the second day I realized that I may not like paprika as a flavor. Thank goodness I am not Hungarian!! I won't keep this recipe, but other people will like it.

As usual I halved the recipe and made my family's tuna casserole with the remaining soup. I have to say that I liked the tuna casserole better than this chicken dish. I guess that is one way to get fish in my diet!!

One Dish Chicken & Rice Bake

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup water
3/4 c. uncooked regular long-grain rice
1/4 t. paprika
1/4 t. pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1. In 2-quart shallow baking dish mix soup, water, rice, paprika and pepper. Place chicken on rice mixture. Sprinkle with additional paprika and pepper.
2. Cover and bake at 375ºF for 45 minutes or until done. Serves 4.

Baked Garlic Chicken

This is one of several recipes that calls for "butter-flavored" crackers (i.e. Ritz crackers), so I thought I would try it. I have to say that this was more of a success than the Corn Flake recipes, but not spectacular enough to keep this recipe. If you have some Ritz to get rid of, by all means try this recipe, though.

Baked Garlic Chicken

2 c. sour cream
2 T lemon juice
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 t. celery salt
4 t. Worcestershire sauce
2 t. paprika
1/2 t. pepper
8 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 c. crushed butter-flavored crackers (about 50)
1/2 c. butter, melted
1/4 c. vegetable oil

1. In a large shallow glass dish, combine the first seven ingredients.
2. Add chicken and turn to coat.
3. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.
4. Place cracker crumbs in a shallow bowl and roll the chicken in the crumbs until coated. Transfer chicken to a greased 13" x 9" x 2" baking dish.
5. Combine butter and oil. Pour over the chicken.
6. Bake, uncovered, at 350ºF for 5o-60 minutes, or until chicken juiced run clear. Serves 8.

Mandarin Orange Salad

Yummy salad, I brought it to a pot luck dinner and it was a hit!! Definitely a keeper. I cooked up some chicken and added it to the salad. I didn't like the chicken, the salad was better without it, even the next day!!

Mandarin Orange Salad

Sugared Almonds:
1 T butter
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. slivered almonds

Dressing:
1/2 c. olive oil
1/8 c. balsamic vinegar
1/8 c. lemon juice
1/4 t. dry mustard
1/4 t. paprika
3 T powdered sugar

Salad:
1 bag Butter lettuce
1 bag Romaine lettuce
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 green onion, sliced
1 can of mandarin oranges, drained well

1. Melt butter in skillet. Stir in sugar until it begins to melt. Add almonds and stir until toasted, watching carefully. Sugar will begin to crystallize. Spread on foil to cool.
2. Mix dressing ingredients together and whisk until powdered sugar dissolves. Makes 3/4 cup of dressing.
3. Toss salad ingredients together in a large bowl. Add just enough dressing to moisten the salad. Sprinkle nuts on top of salad before serving.

Mayoneggs

These eggs were touted (by the Best Foods recipe card) to be "something special--the smoothest, creamiest ever". That much is true, they were smooth and creamy, and if you like wet scrambled eggs, then these eggs are for you. I prefer dry eggs, and won't be keeping this recipe. I thought it was strange that they just wouldn't get hard!! The ubiquitous egg-splash-cooked-hard pieces that are almost always on the edge of my scrambled eggs were not present, which was a good thing. I don't know if it was because of the butter added to the non-stick pan (which I normally don't add), or if it was that they were cooked at medium heat (I normally cook them higher), or the mayonnaise. I will test the butter and heat theories in the future to find out!! I added some shredded cheddar cheese.

Mayoneggs

2 eggs
2 t. mayonnaise
salt and pepper
2 t. butter

1. Beat eggs, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper until well blended.
2. Melt butter in small skillet.
3. Add egg mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until eggs are set. Makes 1 serving.

Variations: add snipped parsley, diced cooked potatoes, chopped green pepper, sliced mushrooms, finely chopped green chili peppers, chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese, curry powder, mustard, or dill.

Tiger Cookies

While I was going through recipes for using up my corn flakes I found a recipe that uses Frosted Corn Flakes!! They happened to be on sale this week, so I purchased a box. I won't keep this recipe, as it didn't impress me enough. If you have kids they will have fun crunching up the frosted flakes, and they will like eating the crunchy cookies.

Tiger Cookies

1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
3 c. frosted corn flakes, crushed to measure 1 1/2 c.
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate morsels, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Stir together flour, soda, and salt and set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Add flour mixture, mixing until well combined.
4. Stir in crushed cereal. Drizzle melted chocolate over dough. With knife, swirl melted chocolate gently through dough to achieve marbled appearance.
5. Drop by rounded measuring tablespoon onto un-greased baking sheets. Bake about 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove immediately from baking sheets and cook on wire racks. Makes about 5 dozen.

Corn Flake Cookies

I know, you are thinking "Another Corn Flake recipe!!" But, I had to use up the corn flakes I bought a couple of weeks ago and had so many disastrous recipes with. I am not doing so well with these cookie recipes. This one tastes pretty good, it sort of reminds me of a recipe I have called Crisp Cringles, basically a Rice Krispie cookie. What makes that cookie better than this is that the dough is nice and crispy, probably from the cream of tartar. I realized as I was typing the recipe up that I forgot the brown sugar and the baking powder (duh!!), perhaps that made a difference with the consistency. I won't be keeping this recipe, but other may like it.

Corn Flake Cookies

2/3 c. butter, room temperature
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 c. flaked coconut
2 c. crushed corn flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Beat butter, sugars, egg and vanilla together until creamy.
3. In separate bowl, combine flour, soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir into sugar mixture and mix well. Stir in coconut and corn flakes.
4. Drop by teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto un-greased cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool slightly, then remove from pan onto racks to finish cooling. Makes 4 dozen.

Crunchies

This recipe was a complete disaster. I don't know why it went wrong, except that perhaps the measurements were off. The final "dough" was not moist enough to hold together when I made the cookie. I baked them anyway, but only the portion of the cookie that had enough of the corn syrup mixture hardened up, the rest was still like a floury-sugary dough. I tasted the hard portions and it tasted good. I will include the recipe just in case someone can get the proportions better.

Since I hate wasting ingredients, I used the leftover flour-sugar-corn flake-coconut mixture and created a yummy bar cookie by adding more butter, brown sugar, an egg yolk, vanilla, flour and baking soda. I used a smaller pan, but wished I had used a larger pan because the middle didn't cook through. I will have to bake the middle again, but the edges were yummy!!

Crunchies

1 1/2 c. crushed corn flakes
3/4 c. sifted flour
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. shredded coconut
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. butter
1 T light corn syrup
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Combine corn flakes, flour, sugar, coconut, and salt in bowl and set aside.
3. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add corn syrup and cook over meduym heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Add baking soda and stir rapidly to blend. When foam settles, remove from heat at once. Add vanilla and blend well.
4. Pour corn syrup mixture over flour mixture and mix thoroughly. The mixture will be dry and crumbly. Shape into rounds by pressing mixture by tablespoons against the side of mixing bowl. Arrange carefully on un-greased cookie sheet, placing cookies about 2 inches apart. Press with fork to flatten slightly.
5. Bake for 7-8 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cook on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove carefully.

Peanut Butter Candy Cookies

These cookies were a bit difficult to shape, but they tasted good. I don't think I will keep the recipe, though. Someone with kids would definitely like these, they are easy to put together and with all the hand-work the kids can help out (and get a bit messy)!! I used half-and-half instead of evaporated milk because I didn't want to open a whole can of milk when I was cutting the recipe down.

Peanut Butter Candy Cookies

1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 c. evaporated milk
2 1/2 c. corn flakes

1. Mix peanut butter, sugar, and milk to a smooth cream.
2. Stir in corn flakes until thoroughly blended with peanut butter mixture.
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an un-greased baking sheet.
4. Bake in a 375º oven for 6 minutes, or until evenly browned. Makes 32 cookies.

Spaghetti with Chicken and Asiago

This was a recipe that I couldn't resist. I like spaghetti, I like chicken, I like peas, how could it go wrong?? But, it did. I had forgotten that I don't like canned peas, not that frozen or fresh peas would have worked any better!! I can't imagine who thought this recipe up, much less put it in the chicken cookbook where I copied it from. I ended up eating it, but left the peas in the bowl, at least as many as I could. Other people might like it, but I didn't.

Spaghetti with Chicken and Asiago

2 boneless chicken breasts, cubed
3 T olive oil
1/2 t. salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
8 oz. baby peas, un-drained
1 pound spaghetti
3 T grated Asiago
1 egg, beaten

1. Saute chicken in olive oil until golden. Season with salt and generous amount of pepper.
2. Heat peas in their own liquid in saucepan. Drain liquid from peas into chicken. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add peas to chicken mixture and season with more pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes longer.
3. Cook spaghetti in boiling, salted water until just tender, following package directions, and drain. Place in heated bowl.
4. Blend cheese and egg together. Pour gradually into chicken and peas. Stir until sauce is well heated. Toss half the chicken mixture with pasta. Spoon remaining chicken sauce on top and serve. Serves 4-6.