Broccoli and Chicken Casserole

2 packages frozen broccoli spears
4 chicken breasts, cooked & diced into large pieces
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
1/2 c. mayo
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 c. grated cheddar cheese
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top

• Preheat oven to 350 F. 
• Spray 9x13 inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
• In a bowl, mix cream of chicken soup with 3/4 quarter of the can of chicken broth. Stir in mayo and lemon juice.
• With remaining 1/4 can of chicken brother, steam the broccoli spears until barely tender (DO NOT overcook!). Drain.
• Layer ingredients to the pan in the following order:
• Broccoli
• Chicken pieces
• Sauce mixture
• Grated cheese
• Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese
• Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes. 

Oatmeal Fudge Cookies (AKA "Goat Doo Doo")

So here's a family recipe that should really take us all back - Goat Doo Doo. 

Before I went looking for the recipe I had no idea that (a) they were really called Oatmeal Fudge Cookies and (b) Grandma June submitted this recipe to a cookbook at some point. When I am feeling better, I will scan in the page from the book so you can all see it! One of the things I love about it is the hand-scrawled words, "Goat doo-doo" underneath the recipe title.

Just for kicks, here's a story to go along with this recipe:

One time summer during cherry season when I was 12 or 13, I really, really, really wanted to make these cookies. Unfortunately, it was a time period when the parents were on one of their NO SUGAR IN THE HOUSE kicks.  So I went and borrowed 2 cups of sugar from the Leemasters across the street and the chocolate chips from the Johnson's next door.

When Mom got home and found out that I had borrowed the sugar, she was so upset with me she made can quarts of cherries at 10 cents a quart until I had earned enough money to buy a 10 lb. bag of sugar to repay the Leemasters.  I am not sure I learned any kind of lesson, other than how to bottle cherries very efficiently.  I still borrowed sugar from the neighbors to make forbidden foods while the parents were away. I guess I can share that secret now - all of you know I did it because you would eat what I would make but I have a feeling that at this point Mom won't make me bottle cherries anymore.

So without further delay, here's the recipe:

Goat Doo-Doo

In a heavy sauce pan mix:

• 2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/2 c. evaporated milk
• 1/2 c. butter

Boil for one minute, then pour over:

• 1 1/2 c. quick oats
• 1 c. chocolate chips
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix well. Drop from teaspoon onto wax paper. Let cool. Makes about 4 dozen. 

Red Lentil Spaghetti Sauce

1 c. chopped onion
2 green peppers, diced
12 oz. sliced mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. oil
1 tsp. pepper
2 T. + 1 tsp. oregano
1 T. parsley
1 T. + 2 tsp. basil
4 c. tomato puree
1 c. tomato paste
4 c. water
2 c. red lentils, rinsed
2 T. Parmesan cheese

• In bottom of large dutch oven, saute onions, garlic, green peppers, and mushrooms in oil until tender
• Add seasonings, tomato puree and paste, lentils, water, and Parmesan cheese
• Simmer on low heat for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally (keep pot uncovered)
• Serve over hot pasta topped with more Parmesan cheese. 
• Makes about 10 servings

I love lentils because you can sneak them into so many things and the family never knows.  Here's another one of those recipes that the boys never know is meat free and I don't volunteer the information!  Am I a bad mom or what?  They gobble it up and I sit back, satisfied that my family is eating some healthy stuff for dinner. 

Happy eats -

M.

Moist Chocolate-Lentil Cake

2 c. boiling water
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 c. washed lentils
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. oil
4 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. cake flour
1/4 c. cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

• Add lentils and salt to boiling water.  Cover and simmer for 40 minutes. 
• Drain lentils, reserving liquid.  
• Add 1/4 c. of liquid back to lentils. Make puree in blender or food processor.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.
• Mix sugar, oil, eggs and beat well for 2 minutes.
• Add vanilla and pureed lentils to creamed mixture.
• Sift flour, cocoa, salt, and soda and then add to creamed mixture. Beat for an additional 2 minutes.
• Pour into prepared cake pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
• Cool and then frost with favorite frosting!

Sssshhhhh - this cake is SO delicious your kids will never know there are lentils tucked away in there!  You can reduce the fat by substituting 1/2 c. applesauce for 1/2 c. of the oil as well. It doesn't stay as moist for as long but I have found it never sticks around long enough to matter. 

Happy eats -

M.

Family Recipes ~ The Easiest One Ever

I thought I would start with the simple and easy recipes first.

Now all two of my readers might be wondering, "What does a stick of butter with a finger swipe out of it have to do with family recipes*?" However, if either of you grew up in my house, you know exactly what it has to do with family recipes.

You see, my former-father was notorious for eating butter. By the spoonful, the fingerful, the what-ever-was-convenient-ful. Just plain butter. Not butter on toast. Or butter melted over veggies or potatoes.  Or butter as part of another recipe. Just butter, straight up. Certainly I had my own gastronomic idiosyncrasies, but this is one Family Recipe I can proudly admit that I have never tried.

I think this recipe is so easy it speaks for itself so I won't bother including instructions.

Just be on the look out for Scalloped Potatoes in the next day or two. My gorgeous sis Melynie requested that recipe way back in January and I fully intended to put it together for her birthday at the end of that month but here it is...April.  Can I blame it on this pregnancy? Has that excuse worn thin yet? At any rate, I am excited and pleased to be able to do it for her, even if it is a very belated birthday present.

Smooches -

M.



* As further evidence that genetics do in fact play a role in an individual's behavior, this picture is actually one that was taken after The Professor helped himself to some butter I had sitting on the counter getting soft for another recipe. When I asked him about it, he declared that he couldn't help himself because it was so good! Remember, this is a child who has never met his biological grandfather and so there is no way he learned his love of butter by watching other people eat it. Plain.