Italian Sausage Sandwiches

**I am trying to get a bunch of recipes from growing up on here, because I want to make a recipe book for some family members. This is a recipe my mom used to make quite often that I really liked. I hope your family will like it too.**

Italian Sausage Sandwiches

Mild or Sweet Italian Sausage links (However many you need for your family)

1/2 jar spaghetti sauce

American, Provolone, or your favorite cheese

French rolls

Place the sausage links in a large saucepan and pour the spaghetti sauce over top. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Let cook for about 30 minutes.

Cut open french rolls, and place some spaghetti sauce, then the sausage and then the cheese. You can put more sauce over top if you like.

**For my kids, I cut my sausages in half so they aren't as thick and then lay them on the french bread. (see picture above)

Crock Pot Stuffing Chicken

**This is very similar to the stuffing casserole that my kids love, it is just cooked differently, and the stuffing gets more moist. They all agreed that while it was a familiar flavor, it was different. They like the crunchiness of the stuffing casserole better, but still enjoyed this meal. This is a very quick and easy meal. My husband said he thinks it would be good with some salsa verde added to it. I found this recipe on Food, Friends and Fun.**

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I put mine in frozen)
1 10 ¾ oz can cream of chicken, mushroom or celery soup
1/3 cup milk
1 package Stove Top stuffing
1 2/3 cup water

Place chicken in crock pot. Mix the soup and milk together and pour over the chicken. Evenly spread the Stove top stuffing mix over top of the soup mixture. Slowly drizzle water over top of stuffing, so you get most of the stuffing wet.

Cook in crock pot on low for about 5-6 hours.

Li'l Cheddar Meatloaves

**This recipe came from, Food, Friends and Fun. The only thing I did differently was the ketchup on top. Her recipe calls for more ingredients with the ketchup and I just didn't think it was needed, but go check her recipe out. My kids LOVE my own meatloaf recipe that was passed down from my mom, you can find it here, but I found this recipe and thought it was different from mine and that my family would still enjoy it and they did. They said they still like mine the best, but enjoyed this one. :)**

1 lb ground beef

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 cup shreddad cheddar cheese

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1 pkg Lipton onion soup mix

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

a few shakes Worcestershire sauce

Ketchup (for drizzle over top)

Mix all ingredients but the ketchup in a large bowl. Knead with hands until all ingredients are blended in and incorporated. Shape into 4 or more mini meat loaves. Place in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Drizzle ketchup over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Pretzel Crusted Caramel and Chocolate Brownie Cups

Pretzel Crusted Caramel and Chocolate Brownie

Adapted from: My Favorite Recipes

**Check out her recipe, because she uses a cake mix, has alot more crusted topping which I think would be better and her top is a little different**

1 brownie mix - make as per instructions on box

Pretzel Crumble:

1/4 cup butter, melted

2TB brown sugar

1 cup crushed pretzels

**If I were doing this again, I would for sure double this part

Caramel:

1/3 bag of caramels

milk as needed for consistency

In a large bowl, make the cake mix as instructed on box. Scoop batter 2/3 full into muffin tin. In a seperate bowl, mix together the ingredients for the pretzel crumble. Scoop evenly on top of the brownie mixture. (The runny part is good. It gets crusty as it cooks.) Pat down lightly. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. Meanwhile melt caramel and milk until creamy and soft. Immediately after taking the cups out of the oven, drizzle caramel over top. Let cool. Take out of pan and serve.

(I took the cups out of the pan right away before I drizzled the caramel, but it was very difficult to get them out. If I did it again, I would take a sharp knife and loosen the edges of each one, then let them sit for a little bit, probably at least 15 minutes, then try to take them out. At that point, I would then drizzle the caramel over top.)

This recipe should make 36 if you use a mini muffin pan. When I mad this, I made 24 mini cups, and with the extra, I made 6 in a regular muffin pan for my family.

Cheeseburger Soup

**This recipe comes from my friend Jennifer who posted it in our church cookbook. The only difference I did was that I don't make a white sauce with the butter, flour and milk. I omit the butter, and just blend milk and flour together. It is still delicious. It tastes alot like potato cheese soup, but with meat and some added flavor from the basil and parsley.**

½ lb ground beef

1TB butter

¾ cup shredded carrots or sliced carrots

¼ cup chopped onion

¾ cup diced celery

1 tsp dried parsley flakes

1 tsp dried basil

2 cans chicken broth

4 cups diced and peeled potatoes

¼ cup flour

½ tsp pepper

¼ tsp salt

2 cups milk

8oz Velveeta cheese – cubed

In a 3qt stock pan, brown ground beef. Drain fat, and remove meat from pan. Set aside.

In the same pan, melt the butter, and sauté the carrots, onion, and celery, basil and parsley for 5-10 minutes. Add broth, potatoes and beef. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes until potatoes are tender.

In a blender mix the flour, salt, pepper and milk together. Blend until smooth.

Return the heat on the stove to high, and pour this mixture into the vegetable mixture. Stir until thickened. Add cheese cubes. Let it sit for about 10 minutes or until cheese is completely melted. Stir and then serve.

Snicker Apple Salad

**This is my SECOND most requested salad, next to the Potato salad. This is so yummy and a total kid pleaser! It also deserved it's own post. :)**

Apple Snicker Salad

**This salad disappears QUICKLY at all functions**
3 Apples. I usually use a mix of golden and red
3-4 snickers candy bars
1/2 - 1 stick cream cheese
1/2 cup - 1 cup powdered sugar
1 8oz cool whip

Cut up apples in to small cubes.

Cut up Candybar into small cubes (I usually do 4 long slices down the length of the candybar and then cut small cubes going the opposite way). Then place the apple and snickers a medium - large sized bowl ***LATELY, I HAVE JUST BEEN FREEZING MY CANDYBARS, AND THEN PLACE THEM IN A BAGGIE AND HIT THEM WITH A MALLOT. SO MUCH EASIER THAN CUTTING!***

Blend the cream cheese and powdered sugar together. Fold in the cool whip. Pour this into the bowl with the apples and the snickers. Stir until well blended.

Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

Potato Salad

**This is one of my most asked for recipes. It is already on this blog in a post for 4th of July salads, I believe, but it is so good that it deserved it's own post. All my friends and family ask for me to bring this to parties. My mom has made this salad since I was young and it is the ONLY potato salad that I will ever eat. All the others have some kind of bitter flavor that isn't enjoyable to me.**

Potato Salad
You could always add celery and/or onion if you want too
3 medium to large Russet Potatoes (I like to use red potatoes and just keep the skin on them, but you have to use more potatoes because they are smaller)
1 dozen eggs
2 single packets, or 1 side of the double packet "Buttermilk Recipe" ranch packets
(MUST BE PACKET THAT SAYS BUTTERMILK RECIPE)
1-2 cups Mayonaise

Boil the potatoes until cooked through. Cook the eggs until hard boiled. Cut the potatoes and eggs in to cubes. Place in a large bowl. Sprinkle Ranch packet dressing on to the potatoes and eggs. Stir well. Now add mayonaise until the desired consistency.

Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

**This is my sister in law Amanda's favorite dessert from Chili's restaurant. I have been wanting to make it for her, but have always thought it would be too hard or time consuming. I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman and it tastes just like it came from the restaurant! It is also SO SO SO SIMPLE to make. I can't believe I was kind of afraid to make it before today.**

4 oz "Bakers" semi sweet baking chocolate

1/2 cup butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

6 TB flour

(Serves 4)

6oz "Bakers" semi sweet baking chocolate

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

9 TB flour

(Serves 6)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray Ramekin or custard dishes with no stick spray really well. Place them on a cookie sheet.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a large glass dish. Whisk until mixture is melted and smooth.

Add powdered sugar. Mix well. Add eggs and egg yolks. Whisk together until completely blended. Stir in flour.

Divide evenly among the ramekin or custard dishes.

Bake at 425 degrees. Bake 13-15 minute.

Invert cakes onto a plate by placing plate over ramekin and then inverting onto the plate.

Top with whipped cream or ice cream. If you are using ice cream, squirt some "chocolate hard shell" over top.

Easy Chicken

**My mom used to make a dish called Easy Chicken growing up. When I got the recipe from her, I could never seem to make it right. It never turned out. You would sprinkle the onion soup mix in the bottom of your baking dish, pour the uncooked rice over that, then lay the chicken breasts on top. Then you would pour chicken broth over the top and bake. For some reason, my chicken was always dry and my rice was always mushy. So, I was pretty happy when I found this recipe on Foods, Friends and fun blog. This was a much simpler way of achieving the same flavors, but with moist chicken and non-mushy rice. **

**I used 4 frozen chicken breasts and halfed this recipe. We served it over brown rice.**

Easy Chicken

Chicken Breasts or thighs

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1 pkg Lipton onion soup mix

Lay your chicken breasts on bottom of your crock pot. Pour canned soup over top of chicken and sprinkle the onion soup mix over top. Cover and let cook in your crock pot on low 4 hours. (Times may vary depending on your crock pot)

Serve over rice or noodles.

**If you want to make this and you don't have a crock pot or you don't have 4 hours, just combine all your ingredients in a large saucepan or stock pot pan. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer. Let it simmer until the chicken is cooked through. It will probably be close to an hour to be finished.**

White Taco Casserole

**This is a recipe that my husbands Grandmother used to make. I didn't know about it until my sister-in-law introduced it to us after we went over there one night around dinner time. It is very simple to make, especially for those with busy households.**

(I made 1/2 this recipe in a 1.5 quart round baking dish. It easily served 4+)

White Taco Casserole

1 lb ground beef

1 4oz can green chiles

2 10oz cans cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup

2 cups milk

1 bag Fritos (my sister in law likes to use the Frito Scoops)

3-4 cups grated cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef in a skillet. Drain and set aside. Mix cans of soup with milk and chiles.

In a round, deep dish casserole dish or in a 9x13 layer half of the meat, soup, fritos and cheese. Repeat layers one more time. Cover with foil.

Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes COVERED, then remove foil and bake another 5-10 minutes.

Creamy Ranch Chicken

**This is one of those super easy family meals. My family really enjoyed this. This recipe is all over the internet as RANCH HOUSE PORK CHOPS, but I didn't have pork chops, and I don't know what Ranch House means, so I am calling it Creamy Ranch Chicken. As I was online this morning, I got the idea from Chef In Training. Check out her page. She has some yummy looking stuff.**

Creamy Ranch Chicken

4 Chicken breasts (Mine were 5oz each)

1 10oz can Cream of Chicken soup (I would think cream of mushroom would work too)

1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing

Mix together soup and ranch packet. Lay Chicken in a crock pot and pour soup over top. Cook on low for about 4 hours.

***I did not make this in the crock pot. I put the chicken in a covered saucepan, poured the soup mix over the top, put it on the stove and heated until it started to bubble. I turned the chicken over, and then turned the burner to simmer. It simmered for about 30 minutes.***

Parmesan Garlic Potatoes

I served this over instant potatoes. I added 1 tsp minced garlic and about 1/4 cup parmesan cheese at the same time I added the potato flakes to the water mixture. You could always do homemade potatoes and then add the garlic and parmesan. Yum.