French Onion Beef Stew

Story:
I love my Mom's Beef Stew. Way good. It has that nostalgic feel to it, too. It was always one of my favorite family dinners growing up.

But just for variety's sake, I tried my friend's (Janae E.) recipe. My kids love it. (Or as Megan says, "I L-O-V-E love it!" - It was even her 7th birthday dinner request, so you know it's gotta be good.) It has a creamy, more flavorful taste... which also means that it's not quite as "low fat" as my Mom's. But, hey, if you have a good beef stew recipe, why not share it? You can never have enough crock pot recipes, as far as I'm concerned.

And, of course, we love it with Mom's Cornbread or with my Easy Breadsticks.

Ingredients:
2 cans French Onion soup (the regular-sized Campbell's kind)
2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup (1 large and one small)
carrots, chopped
celery, chopped
potatoes, chopped
frozen peas
1 lb stew beef (I always cut it into smaller pieces)

Directions:
Put all the ingredients (except the peas) in a crock pot. Cook on high for 6-8 hours, or on low for 10-12. About 10 minutes before serving, stir in the peas. Easy as that!

Notes:

• Warning: It makes a ton, so be prepared to have lots of leftovers. (Hooray for leftovers!! That just means no cooking tomorrow!)
• How many veggies to use? A lot!
• Janae's recipe didn't call for the peas, but personally, I think it adds nice color, gives the kids a little 'legumes' (said all fancy-like) and makes it look a little more like stew than dogfood.

Picture coming soon. (It's in the crock pot as I type...)

Lisa's Chicken Parmesan

Story:
My friend Monica T gave me this recipe; she got it from another friend, Lisa P. They were in a dinner group together and apparently this was a popular dish. I tried it and we think it's pretty great too (and easy!).

Ingredients:
chicken breasts
egg whites
bread crumbs (Italian style)
mozzarella cheese
parmesan cheese
spaghetti sauce (just a can of Hunt's'll do)
pasta (angel hair, spaghetti, whatever you like...)

Directions:
Dip the chicken breasts in egg whites and then roll in the bread crumbs. Coat really well. Pan fry the coated chicken in a little oil; just to brown both sides.

Place browned chicken breasts in a baking dish. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Then spoon spaghetti sauce generously over each one. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over that. Spoon the remaining sauce around the chicken in the dish.

Bake 40-45 minutes at 350. Serve over pasta.

Note:
I had never bought bread crumbs before; they were in the baking section by the flour and cornmeal... just if you're wondering... just so you don't wander aimlessly around like a lost soul like I did...

Easy Breadsticks

Story:
In South Ogden, I had a friend named Jessica H. who invited our fam to dinner with them one Sunday evening. (By the way, Jessica makes some way-yummy food!) She served these breadsticks that night, and they have since become my good ol' standby bread for dinners. They have garlic salt and parmesan on top, so they taste great with those meals with which you would usually serve garlic bread.

My good friend and back-door neighbor here in Crestwood, Shawn D., just brought by some soup for my family for dinner tonight. She said she made a ton, and well, that's just the good friend she is to share with us. (I love my neighbors!) So, I thought I'd whip up a batch of these breadsticks to go with the yummy soup...

Ingredients:
3 1/2 C flour, divided
2 T sugar
1 t salt
1 T yeast
butter
garlic salt
parmesan

Directions:
Mix 2 C flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a bowl. Stir well. Add 1 1/2 C warm water and the additional 1 1/2 C flour. Knead into a ball. Let rise for one hour.

Roll into a rectangle and cut into strips. Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a bowl. Dip half of each strip into the melted butter and then twist the two halves together. Brush any remaining butter on top of the breadsticks. Sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan cheese.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes at 425. Hope ya love 'em!

Mom's Cornbread

Story:
I'm not sure that there's really a great story to this recipe, well, except that my mom is practically famous for it!! (Well, among her kids, at least.) It's a sweet and delicious cornbread... it looks like a cake and it tastes FABULOUS with her beef stew or with my chili.

Ingredients:
1 C flour
1 t salt
1 T baking powder
1/2 C sugar
3/4 C yellow corn meal
2 eggs, well beaten
1 C milk
1/4 C oil
2 t vanilla

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together.
Pour into a greased and floured 8x8 (or 9x9) pan.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Note:
Double the recipe for a 9x13 pan. Baking time seems to vary a little, but I've never gotten it down to perfection. Just bake until it's lightly browned on top... oh, and the good ol' bake-until-toothpick-comes-out-clean trick works as well.

Autumn Chili

Story:
I didn't know that I like chili as much as I do until I learned how to make it. I pulled a chili recipe out of... well, I don't know where. But I've since embellished it and made it my own, so I guess this is pretty much my own recipe. It's an autumn-time-rainy-day favorite at our house. (Posted just in time for Halloween!)

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 sweet onion
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 bell pepper (any color), chopped
1 packet chili seasoning
2 T brown sugar
Shredded cheese

Directions:

• Brown meat with onions in skillet; drain.
• Add all other ingredients. Stir in.
• Simmer for 15 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on top before serving.

Note: We LOVE it with my Mom's cornbread. So cozy-like.