Chocolate Chip Cookies

What You'll Need:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup shortening
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 cups (12 ounces) chocolate chips

What You'll Do:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl cream together your butter, shortening, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat your eggs and vanilla into the butter and sugar mixture.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. 
5. Add your flour mix to the creamed mix and beat well.
6.  Stir in chocolate chips and drop by rounded tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 8 minutes.

** If you like nuts in your chocolate chip cookies, add 1 cup of chopped Pecans to the batter when mixing in the chocolate chips. **

Dish Info:

This will make you 11 dozen absolutely scrumptious cookies. Each cookie has 130 calories.

Basic Pot Roast

What You'll Need

• 2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup (10.75-oz each)
• 1 package dry onion soup mix (1-oz)
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 5 1/2 pounds pot roast
• 1/2 pound baby carrots
• 5 or 6  New Potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
• 1 onion, sliced

What To Do

1. Place the carrots, potatoes, onion, and pot roast in your slow cooker.
2. In a bowl mix together the cans of soup, dry soup mix, and water.
3. Pour soup mixture over pot roast and vegetables and cook on low for 8-9 hours.

Dish Info

This recipe will serve 12 hungry appetites and makes for great left-overs. This is adapted from this recipe found on AllRecipes.com

Brownies

What You'll Need

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup Cocoa powder
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

What To Do

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and coat 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Melt the butter in a microwave safe dish.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients in the order given above.
4. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of pan comes out clean.

Dish Info

This recipe make a dozen delicious brownies.

Pumpkin Pie

What You'll Need

• 1 1/2 pints Vanilla ice cream
• 3 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Ginger
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
• 1 prepared pie crusts

What To Do 

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
2. Melt the ice cream.
3. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, stirring in the pumpkin puree, sugar, salt, Cinnamon, Ginger, and Nutmeg.
4. Mix the melted ice cream into the puree mixture until smooth.
5. Pour the filling into pie crust.
6. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes or until the filling is set.

** To melt the ice cream, let the container thaw to the point where you can easily scoop out the amount you need. Transfer the correct amount of ice cream to a microwave safe bowl and heat until melted. **


Dish Info

This recipe serves 8 pumpkin-lovin' appetites.

Chicken Pot Pie

What You'll Need

• package of 2 pie crusts
• 2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, diced and uncooked
• 1 cup carrots, diced
• 1 cup peas
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp Thyme
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup milk

What To Do

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a medium sauce pan combine chicken, carrots, peas, celery, and chicken broth, making sure the broth covers the meat and vegetables. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Drain the cooked meat and vegetables, reserving the chicken broth and set both aside. 
4. In same sauce pan saute your onions and butter until soft, about 5 minutes. 
5. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and Thyme to onion and butter. Then slowly add in 1 3/4 cups of reserved chicken broth and the milk, simmering until thick.
6. Place the chicken and vegetable mixture in pie pan prepared with your pie crust and pour the hot liquid over top.
7. Cover the pie with the second pie crust, sealing the edges and cutting away any excess dough. Cut several slits in top of the dough to allow steam to escape.
8. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

**  Using a bag of frozen carrots and peas is a great way to save time on this recipe. I also recommend baking the bottom pie crust in the pie dish for 5 minutes prior to adding the filling; this will ensure that it gets fully cooked. **


Dish Info

This recipe serves 8 hungry appetites.

Apple Pie

What You'll Need

• Package of 2 pie crusts
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp ground Cinnamon
• 4 Granny Smith apples, evenly sliced
• 2 Golden Delicious apples, evenly sliced
• 2 tbsp butter, cut up
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 tbsp milk

What To Do

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Fit your first pie crust into the bottom of a pie pan.
3. Combine the sugar, brown sugar, flour, Cinnamon, and oats in a small bowl and mix together.
4. Pour 1/4 cup of sugar mix over your apples and toss to coat.
5. Spoon the seasoned apples into your prepared pie dish, making sure that they don't pile up in the middle. Dot the tops of the apples with your cut up butter and sprinkle the remaining sugar mix over top.
6. Place the remaining pie crust over the apples, crimping the sides together with the bottom crust, and brush the crust with milk.
7. Bake for 50-55 minutes

** The top pie crust can be done in lattice form or simply placed as an entire round of dough over the pie. However, make sure to cut ventilation holes in the middle to let the steam from the cooking apples escape. **


Dish Info

This delicious pie serves 12 hungry appetites.

Meat Loaf

What You'll Need

• 1 lb ground beef or turkey
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup green or red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained (8-oz)
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/3 cup Ketchup
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp yellow mustard

What To Do

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix all of the ingredients except Ketchup, brown sugar, and yellow mustard, and place in a loaf pan.
3. Mix together, in a small bowl, the Ketchup, brown sugar, and yellow mustard, and spread over top the meat loaf.
4. Bake for 1 hour.

Dish Info

This recipe serves about 6, depending on your appetite. It is also from non other than Paul Dean; gotta give credit where credit is due!

Black Bean Chili

What You'll Need

• 3 cans of Black Beans, rinsed and drained (15-oz each)
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 1 lb ground beef or turkey
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tsp Chili Powder
• 1 tsp ground Cumin
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 can of chicken broth (14-oz)
• 2 cans Rotel, undrained (15.4-oz each)

What To Do

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot, and add your chopped onion and ground meat and saute until the meat is cooked through.
2. Stir into the pot the Chili Powder, ground Cumin, salt, and pepper and continue to saute for an additional minute.
3. Add the beans, chicken stock, and Rotel to the meat mixture and bring it to a boil. Cover your pot, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. 

*The long you allow the chili to simmer to spicier it will taste. Rob likes it best when it simmers for 30 minutes*

Dish Info

This recipe will serve about 8 people, depending on appetites.