E'Clair Dessert

Crust:
1 cube butter
1 cup water
1 cup flour
4 eggs
Melt butter and add to water; bring to a boil. Add flour. Cool for 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between each egg. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. *Note to self: if doubling the recipe, use 2 cookie sheets :D
Filling:
1 8 oz package cream cheese
2 small packages instant vanilla pudding
3 cups milk
Cool Whip
Chocolate topping
Cream the cream cheese. Add pudding and milk and beat until thickened. Spread pudding over cooled pastry crust, then spread a layer of cool whip on top. Drizzle with chocolate topping.

Sooooooo yummy! My younger brother-in-law made it with my supervision. We doubled the recipe, because it did not sound like it would be enough, and put it into 1 cookie sheet...lesson learned. Follow the recipe when it comes to quantity, lol. It was ok, though. It didn't overflow, just looked like an ocean, haha. I definitely recommend it!

 Half of what was left disappeared by the time I put it away for the night.

Definitely a success!

Chinese-Style Pork Stir-Fry

1 Tablespoon oil
1 lb boneless pork chops, in strips (or bite-size pieces)
2 cups frozen stir-fry vegetables
1/4 cup Zesty Italian Dressing
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Heat oil in large nonstick wok or skillet on med-high heat. Add meat and cook thoroughly; add stir-fry vegetables and cook 5 minutes or until veggies are heated through. Serve over hot cooked spaghetti or instant rice.

This is a family favorite from Kraftfoods.com

Hearty Mixed Bean Stew with Sausage

 I got this recipe from the Campbell's Slow Cooker Recipes cookbook. Super yummy!

3/4 lb sweet Italian pork sausage, casing removed
10 cups Swanson Chicken Broth (I used Shirley J's chicken bouillon with water)
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 medium carrots, chopped (about 2/3 cup)
1 stalk celery, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
4 oz dried pinto beans (about 3/4 cup)
4 oz dried navy beans* (about 3/4 cup)
4 oz dried kidney beans (about 3/4 cup)
6 sun-dried tomatoes** in oil, drained and thinly sliced (about 1/4 cup)

1. Cook the sausage in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until it's well browned, stirring frequently to separate meat. Pour off fat.
2. Stir the sausage, broth, black pepper, carrots, celery and beans in a 5-quart slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours.
4. Stir in the tomatoes. Cover and cook for 1 hour or until the beans are tender.

*I used black beans since I didn't have navy beans and it was just as good. It just made the meat look black :D

**For this I used diced tomatoes with Basil, Garlic and Oregano and it just tasted sooo good!

 

This is Harley's version. 

He decided it needed to have his bread and chocolate milk in it :D

Lasagna

1 lb ground beef
2 medium cans tomato paste
2 T parsley
1/2 t basil
1 t oregano
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2-1 t garlic (my family likes a little more)
1 pkg Italian sausage
1 T brown sugar
Cottage, Mozzarella & Parmesan Cheeses
1 pkg lasagna noodles

Cook noodles according to package. Cook ground beef and Italian sausage together with a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Add tomato paste and 2 cans of water (or as much as you'd like to make it as thin or thick of a sauce as you want); mix well. Add the spices. In a 9x13 glass pan layer sauce, noodles and cheeses. Top layer is sauce and mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted enough.

Note: If you don't like Italian sausage, this dish tastes just as good without it.

Toffee Torte

This is a recipe from my Grandma Forciea and a woman named Marge Mork. This has been a favorite in my family for as long as I can remember. Many battles have been fought over this dessert. For the last several years, I have even asked my mother to make it for my birthday instead of a regular birthday cake.

1 stick butter
1 cup flour
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
1 cup Cool Whip
1 cup powdered sugar
3 cups milk
3 heath bars
2 lg pkgs intstant chocolate pudding
1 banana
1 lg container of Cool Whip

Blend flour and butter, pat in 9x12 pan. Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes. Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and cool whip; spread over crust. Blend pudding and milk together until it thickens. Pour over cream cheese. Slice bananas and place on top. Spread 1 lg container of Cool Whip over bananas. Chop heath bars and sprinkle on top. REFRIGERATE. Enjoy!

Finally

I have finally decided to do as my wise mother-in-law suggested and create a blog with all my recipes in it until I am satisfied enough to make a hard copy. So, in the next few days, I will post all the recipes I have gathered so far. I will say, a good portion of these have been collected from various cookbooks and other blogs. I am not taking credit for creating any of them, merely posting a collection of the ones I like. Please, if you have a recipe that you or your family just love, send it to my email dhopper7707@yahoo.com. Thanks!