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. 

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.