Asian Coleslaw

Asian Cole Slaw
Ingredients
1 16 oz bag cole slaw
15 oz can mandarin oranges, drained
Approx 1/4 cup butter
4 oz slivered almonds
1 package crushed ramen noodles
1/2 cup diced green onions
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/4 apple cider vinegar
2 tbs soy sauce

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cole slaw with diced onions, put in fridge to keep cool. Melt butter and mix in crushed ramen noodles and nuts. Spread on cookie sheet, bake on 350 until browned, turning often to avoid burning. Set aside to cool at least 15 minutes.

In a blender (three cheers for the Magic Bullet!) mix sugar, oil, vinegar, and soy sauce. Refrigerate until ready to mix and serve.

When browned and cooled, add nuts/ramen mixture to cole slaw and stir well. Add drained mandarin oranges, then pour dressing over entire mixture. Stir well and serve immediately.

Vanilla Ice Cream

For Justin's birthday, I got him an ice cream maker. We busted it out last night for our maiden run. Justin made the ice cream all on his very own and it was delicious! Thanks, Kim and Shay for the inspiration, and for the recipe!

From Better Homes and Gardens
Vanilla Ice Cream
Makes 2 Quarts

4 cups half-and-half
1 ½ cups sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
2 cups whipping cream

In a large bowl combing half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla. Stir till sugar dissolves. Stir in whipping cream. Freeze ice cream mixture in ice cream freezer according to manufacturer’s directions.

Amish Macaroni Salad

I found a macaroni salad that I actually like. I found it on http://www.allrecipes.com/ and it was the highest rated macaroni salad listed. I think the sugar in it makes it deliciously sweet. The kids both ate it semi-willingly, though they didn't absolutely love it. But why would they? There are green things in it.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped (I used green)
2 tablespoons dill pickle relish
2 cups creamy salad dressing (e.g. Miracle Whip)
3 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
3/4 cup white sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon celery seed

DIRECTIONS
Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until tender. Drain, and set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, stir together the eggs, onion, celery, red pepper, and relish. In a small bowl, stir together the salad dressing, mustard, white sugar, vinegar, salt and celery seed. Pour over the vegetables, and stir in macaroni until well blended. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

More Meatballs

Meatballs
Approx 70-100 frozen meatballs
4 cups ketchup
3 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped onion
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (87 cents at Wal-mart!)  *optional
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions
Mix sauce in crock pot. Add meatballs and stir well. Cook on high for 3 hours. Delicious and easy! Serve on sandwich rolls or with toothpicks.

Stovetop Meatloaf

I first heard of this recipe from my friend Jen and from some of her friends and family suggestions. I made it tonight and it was a big hit with the whole family! Extremely easy, very moist (but not gross-moist), and very different from any meatloaf I've had before! Kinley is already asking if she can have it tomorrow for lunch :)

Stove Top Meatloaf
Ingredients:
Loaf*:
1 & 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 to 1 box of stuffing
1 & 1/2 cups applesauce

Sauce (optional, but really yummy!):
2 tbs brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp mustard

Directions:
Mix beef, stuffing and applesauce, put in greased breadloaf pan. Mix up sauce, spread evenly on top. Bake uncovered for 90 minutes.

*These are the exact amounts that I used. You can use more or less of any of the ingredients to taste. I think that's the amount of beef I used, LOL. Mom Bradshaw, how much Bradshaw beef is in one of those things anyway?? :)

Chicken Stoup

My friend Laney makes a frightfully delicious chicken "stoup" or "stewp", I don't know how you spell it. I'm adding it to my master menu and thought I'd share the recipe while I'm at it! Thanks, Laney!

Ingredients
3 chicken breasts
3 c chicken soup stalk/broth
2 c carrots
2 c celery
3/4 onion
2 c cream of chicken soup
1/4 c evap milk
2 1/2 -4 c noodles

Directions
Boil chicken in soup stalk and 3 chicken boullion cubes. Once cooked, remove chicken and add veggies. While veggies cook, cut up chicken put back in with veggies, add soup and evap milk. Separately cook noodles until they are al-dente and then add to soup.

Smoothie

Yum-Yum smoothie recipe, made with friends (my dates, since my usual hot tamale was off counting other people's taxes!) Thanks for the invite!

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh pineapple
1 orange
1 banana
1 container strawberry yogurt
1/2 cup water
1 cup ice

Directions:
Blend pineapple, orange, water, and yogurt together until smooth. Add banana and blend again. Add ice and blend again. YUMMY!!