Favorite Family Recipes ~ Texas Tater Casserole

One of our family's favorite recipes is Texas Tater Casserole. I originally found this recipe in the Betty Crocker Favorite Casseroles recipe booklet from September 1999, #154. A slight variation of the booklet's recipe can also be found online at the Betty Crocker website by clicking HERE.

This casserole is yummy and pretty easy to make.

Cook ground beef, chopped onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a skillet until beef is brown. The original recipe calls for chopped celery. I usually just leave that ingredient out. But when I made this casserole last night, I used chopped red bell pepper instead of the celery. By the way, I didn't measure the onions, bell pepper or garlic. But that's okay.

After draining the fat from the ground beef mixture, add cheddar cheese soup, corn, picante sauce, chili powder, and pepper. 

Stir to combine.

Spoon mixture into baking dish.

Top with your favorite tater tots and bake in a 375° oven for 40 minutes. The original recipe calls for a 16 ounce bag of tater tots, but I use a 32 ounce bag.

When the timer goes off, take the casserole out of the oven,

and sprinkle with Pepper Jack cheese. I also didn't measure the cheese. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of shredded cheese, but you can add as much as you like.

Place the casserole back in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the casserole is bubbly.

Remove from oven and enjoy!

Texas Tater Casserole

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
1 red bell pepper, chopped (1/2 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cans (10-3/4 ounces each) condensed Cheddar cheese soup
1 can (11 ounces) whole kernel corn with red and green peppers, drained (I use Green Giant Steam Crisp Mexicorn)
1/2 cup picante sauce
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 package (32 ounces) frozen potato nuggets (I use Ore-Ida Tater Tots)
1/2 cup shredded Pepper Jack cheese (of course, you can use as much cheese as you like)

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cook ground beef, onion, bell pepper and garlic in large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Stir occasionally and cook until beef is brown. Drain.

Stir soup, corn, picante sauce, chili powder, and pepper into beef mixture. Spoon into ungreased 13" x 9" casserole dish. Top with frozen potato nuggets.

Bake uncovered for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

6 servings

Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker Favorite Casseroles Recipe Booklet September 1999, #154.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Favorite Family Recipes ~ See's Fudge

One of our family's favorite treats is See's Fudge. I've been making this fudge for years and years. I couldn't even tell you how many pounds of fudge I've made since I started making and sharing this fudge with our family and friends at Christmas.

The recipe was given to my mom when I was a child. I don't know if it's really a recipe from See's or not. It has a smooth creamy texture and is delicious and quite popular with my family and friends. 

Here's what you need to make this delicious See's Fudge recipe. You can also include chopped nuts if you'd like. An important note: make sure to measure out your ingredients BEFORE you begin cooking the fudge on the stove.

After measuring the ingredients, butter the stock pot and 13 x 9 inch pan.

Before turning on the burner, add the evaporated milk and sugar.

 Stir to combine.

Turn the burner on to medium heat. Stir the mixture constantly. I also scrape the sides of the stock pot as I stir. 

As soon as you start to see bubbles forming (see the little bubbles in the pot below?), set the timer to 8 minutes. It's important to set the timer as soon as you start to see bubbles forming and not wait until the mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Continue to stir constantly. 

Look  at all of those bubbles! That's what you want. Keep stirring constantly.

When the 8 minutes is complete, remove stock pot from burner. Add the butter and marshmallows first.

Stir until they are mostly melted.

Add chocolate chips. 

Stir to combine.

Add vanilla and stir again.

Immediately pour into prepared 13 x 9 inch pan. 

You'll need to work fast because the fudge will start to set up quickly. Spread in the pan and place in the refrigerator.

Let the fudge set up in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. When ready to serve, remove the foil insert from the pan and cut into squares. Enjoy!

See's Fudge

**Butter pan (13 x 9) and sides and bottom of heavy large stock pot (I use an eight quart stock pot)

Ingredients

1 lg. (12 oz.) can Carnation Evaporated Milk
4 cups sugar
2-1/4 more or less cups Kraft miniature marshmallows
1-1/3 cubes butter (1/2 cup + 1/3 cube butter)
12 oz. (2 cups) Nestle Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 plus or minus cups walnuts, finely chopped (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

Pour evaporated milk into buttered stock pot. Add sugar and stir together. Turn burner on to medium setting. Stirring constantly over medium heat, bring sugar and evaporated milk to boil. As soon as the mixture begins to boil, set timer for 8 minutes. Do not wait for a rapid boil before setting the timer. Set the timer as soon as bubbles begin to form. Boil for 8 minutes while stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and add butter and marshmallows. Stir together until mostly melted, then add the chocolate chips and walnuts. Stir well and add 1 tsp. vanilla. Immediately pour in pan and refrigerate.

Makes about 3 lbs.

Note: For easier cutting of fudge, I line the 13 x 9 pan with heavy duty foil and then butter the foil at the same time I butter the stock pot. Simply pour the fudge into the foil-lined pan and refrigerate until firm. Once you're ready to serve, remove the fudge block out of the pan and cut into pieces. Wrap any remaining fudge in foil and place back in the refrigerator.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 
© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Favorite Family Recipes ~ German Pancakes

German Pancakes have become a Christmas morning breakfast tradition in our family. I don't even remember exactly when or from where I got the recipe. It's included with a bunch of recipes on a two-sided photocopy paper.



What I do know is that these pancakes are delicious. It's fun to watch the German Pancakes puff up while they bake in the oven. They deflate pretty fast once they're removed from the oven though. But that's okay. They're still really yummy. We serve them with sifted powdered sugar and maple syrup.

Here's the recipe. I hope you enjoy these German Pancakes as much as we do.


German Pancakes

Ingredients

5 Tbsp. butter
6 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions

Melt the butter in a 9 x 13 inch pan. Whip remaining ingredients together (don't puree) and pour into melted butter in pan. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes. It puffs up around the edges and can be topped with syrup, peaches, pears, etc.

Serves 4 adults.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Favorite Family Recipes ~ Spritz Cookies

Here's another of our family's favorites ~ Spritz Cookies. I usually make them during the Christmas season.

They really are deliciously sweet, buttery cookies.

Here's the recipe I use. I adapted it from the Wilton Spritz Cookie recipe found on the Wilton Spritz Cookie Press box that I've had for years.

Spritz Cookies

1-1/2 cups butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp. milk

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 400°. Thoroughly cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour and baking powder. Gradually add to creamed mixture, mixing to make a smooth dough. Do not chill. Place dough into cookie press and press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate with decorating sugar crystals as desired. Bake at 400° 6 to 8 minutes. Remove cookies from sheet. Cool on rack. Enjoy!

Makes 6 dozen cookies.

Recipe adapted from Wilton's Spritz Cookie Recipe found on Wilton Spritz Cookie Press box.

If you've never used a cookie press, here's a helpful video about how to use one.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 
© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Favorite Family Recipes ~ San Francisco Marriott's Pink Punch

This delicious punch is one of our family's favorite beverages. We make it on special occasions and holidays.



San Francisco Marriott’s Pink Punch

Ingredients

1 quart cranberry juice
1 quart pineapple juice
1-1/4 Cups sugar
2 quarts ginger ale, chilled

Directions

Refrigerate juices and ginger ale. When ready to serve, combine juices and sugar in large container. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add ginger ale, stir and serve.

Note: You can also mix the juices and sugar, mixing until the sugar dissolves and then place in the refrigerator. Then when you are ready to serve add the ginger ale to the juice mix.

Serves 20

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Favorite Family Recipes ~ Molasses Fruit Bars

Molasses Fruit Bars are one of our family's favorite recipes. And it's another recipe that was printed in the Relief Society cookbook called "The Best of Everything." Last year I shared a recipe for Peanut Butter Fingers from this same cookbook.

Relief Society is the women's organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.



This cookbook has been in our family for over 48 years. It first belonged to my mom and she handed it down to me. Here's the cookbook page showing the Molasses Fruit Bars recipe.



Beverly Green originally shared this recipe. As you can see, my mom made notations next to the recipe amounts. The recipe I'm sharing today will fit into a large (approx. 17½" x 11½") cookie sheet.



As you can see from the photo above, these cookie bars contain raisins. If you aren't a fan of raisins, they can be left out of the recipe. Or (and I've done this), prior to adding the raisins, place part of the mixed dough onto the cookie sheet. Spread the dough to fill part of the sheet. Add the raisins to the rest of the dough in the mixing bowl, mix and spread the remaining dough onto the empty part of the cookie sheet. Spread both kinds of dough out so they fill the whole cookie sheet.

Here's a picture to show you what I mean. It doesn't have to be perfect. You can adjust the amount of non-raisin dough depending on how many people don't like raisins.




I hope you enjoy these soft and delicious cookie bars. 

RECIPE

Molasses Fruit Bars

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups shortening (I use butter flavored shortening)
2 cups light brown sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup light (golden) molasses
4 cups sifted flour
4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cloves
1-2 cups chopped raisins

Directions

Place shortening, brown sugar, eggs and molasses into large mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixer until well blended. Add the following sifted ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves. Blend well.

Stir in 1 to 2 cups chopped raisins (depending on your love of raisins; you can also omit raisins). Grease and flour large jelly roll size (1 inch deep) cookie sheet. Pat dough evenly into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

While warm, frost whole pan of cookies with:

1-1/2 Cups powdered sugar
Hot water to make paste
Approx. 2 drops of vanilla

Cool. Cut into squares and enjoy. These keep well and have more flavor after being stored.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Favorite Family Recipes ~ Angela's Awesome Bread

Have you ever named a recipe after the person who gave it to you? That's what I did with this amazing bread recipe. I don't even know the actual name of the recipe. I named it Angela's Awesome Bread because it IS awesome, and my friend Angela gave the recipe to me.

This bread is really delicious and pretty simple to make. There's no hand-kneading involved. At all. So, here we go. I'm going to show you how easy it is to make this amazingly awesome bread.

First of all, place 2-1/2 cups of warm water, 1/3 cup sugar and 3 (3/4 oz. each) packages of yeast in your mixing bowl.



Mix together with a dough hook attachment and then let it proof until bubbles appear.



Add 1/3 cup of softened butter, 6 cups of flour, and 1 tablespoon salt. Mix. Then add 1/2 - 1 cup of flour until dough cleans the sides of the mixing bowl. It should look something like this.



Remove the dough hook and place a damp kitchen cloth on top of the mixing bowl. Place it in a warm oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, replace the dough hook, and mix for 10 seconds.

Repeat this process for an hour.



Grease a large cookie sheet.



Then dump the dough onto the cookie sheet.



Form the dough into two loaves. Score the tops of the loaves with a knife and place in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Turn the cookie sheet and bake for another 10 minutes.



Remove from oven and place cookie sheet on a wire cooling rack.



Place loaves of bread directly onto wire cooling rack.



It really is that easy! I hope you like this delicious and simple bread. It's especially good served warm topped with butter and jam. And it makes excellent toast too. Yum!


RECIPE

Angela’s Awesome Bread 

Ingredients

2-1/2 Cups Warm Water (120-130 degrees)
1/3 Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp. Active Dry Yeast [I use 3 (3/4 oz. each) packages of yeast.]
1/3 cup Softened Butter
7 Cups Flour
1 Tbsp. Salt

Directions

In a Kitchenaid Mixer with dough hook attachment, mix together the water, sugar, and yeast.

Let the yeast mixture proof (until bubbles form). Then add the softened butter, 6 cups of flour and the salt. 

Mix together and add ½ cup – 1 cup flour until dough cleans sides of bowl.

Remove the dough hook and place a damp kitchen cloth on top of the mixing bowl. Place bowl in a warm oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, replace the dough hook, and mix for 10 seconds. Repeat this process for 1 hour.

Form into two loaves on a greased cookie sheet. Score tops of loaves with knife.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn cookie sheet and continue baking for 10 additional minutes.

Remove from oven. Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Favorite Family Recipes ~ Chicken Spaghetti Olé

This recipe has become a new family favorite. It's called Chicken Spaghetti Olé. Actually, maybe I should call it Chicken Vermicelli Olé because I use vermicelli instead of spaghetti when I make this dish. I've also changed a couple other ingredients from the original recipe too. It's pretty simple to make and delicious. I hope you enjoy it!



As I mentioned, I've changed a couple of the ingredients in this recipe. Instead of using a 10-oz. can of diced tomatoes with green chiles called for in the original recipe, I use a 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes and a 7 oz. can of diced green chiles.



I also don't include the celery called for in the original recipe. Instead I just sauté chopped onion and bell peppers.



This is what the dish looks like after adding all of the ingredients except for the vermicelli and chicken.



At this point, add the vermicelli and chicken into the sauce.



Here we are. All of the ingredients have been combined.



Spoon the combined ingredients into a greased baking dish and put it into a preheated 350° oven.



Here it is! Out of the oven and ready to enjoy!



RECIPE

Chicken Spaghetti Olé 

Ingredients 

6 ounces uncooked vermicelli
1 tablespoon butter
1 small green bell pepper, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 small onion, chopped (1/4 cup)
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 can (7 ounces) diced green chiles
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 package (8 ounces) process cheese spread loaf, cut into cubes (Velveeta)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 cups diced cooked chicken
Sliced jalapeno chilies, if desired

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°. Grease rectangular baking dish, 13x9x2 inches. Cook and drain vermicelli as directed on package.

2. Melt butter in 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook bell pepper and onion in butter, stirring occasionally, until tender. Stir in tomatoes, diced green chiles, tomato sauce, cheese, salt and pepper; reduce heat to low. Heat, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted.

3. Stir in chicken and vermicelli. Spoon into baking dish. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until bubbly around edges. Top with chiles. 6 servings.

Adapted from Betty Crocker's Chicken Spaghetti Olé originally found in Betty Crocker’s Favorite Casseroles Booklet September 1999 .

This recipe is also online. To see the original recipe for Betty Crocker's Chicken Spaghetti Olé, click HERE.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved