Taste of home recipes I have tried
With Halloween just around the corner, I have a couple great recipes for your family. If you are having a Halloween party both of these recipes would fit perfectly. When our kids were young we always had big parties with family, friends and neighbors before the kids would go trick or treating. One of the things I always made sure of is having a pot or slow cooker filled with something warm. Living in NH the kids had been trick or treating in rain and snow and most always cold! This sloppy joe recipe serves 8, but can easily be doubled and kept warm in a slow cooker! We really liked this for a couple reasons. While is simmered on the stove top my house smelled really, really good. Secondly the flavor is a little bit sweet, nothing over powering, so this is very kid friendly. Trust me the adults will also enjoy this. Robby had two portions before it hit the table!
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/4 cups ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon allspice
8 sandwich buns, split
DIRECTIONS
In a large pot, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink, drain excess fat. Stir in ketchup, water, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, mustard, chili powder and allspice. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer, keep uncovered. Simmer for 35-40 minutes. Spoon about a half a cup on to each of the buns and serve warm.
Enjoy!
I love apple season and take full advantage of it every year! Apple dip, apple pie and my family favorite, apple crisp. This apple crisp comes from Taste of Home and is an award winning recipe! My family really enjoyed this crisp, although I thought it was just a little too sweet for me. That did not stop my family from putting a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on it and devouring it!
INGREDIENTS
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups chopped, peeled apples
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vanilla ice cream for serving
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine the flour, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon and cut in the butter until crumbly. Press half into a greased 9 inch square baking pan. Cover with apples. In a small saucepan combine the sugar, cornstarch, water and vanilla. Bring to a boil, cook and stir until thick and clear about two minutes. Pour over the apples and top with remaining crumb mixture. Bake 60 – 65 minutes or until apples are tender. Serve warm with ice cream, if desired.
Enjoy!
I wanted to make a quick dinner and turned to my trusted Taste of Home group and this recipe was quick, easy and can easily be adapted to suit your family. Adding shredded rotisserie chicken would work really well. The one change I did make was to add 1/4 cup of milk to the recipe to keep everything from getting dry during the cooking time.
INGREDIENTS
4 ounces spaghetti, broken into 2 inch pieces
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup shredded Parmesean cheese
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup milk
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 can french fried onions- use as much as you would like on top of the casserole, can also be mixed in the casserole.
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook spaghetti according to package directions, meanwhile in a medium bowl, beat egg. Add sour cream, parmesan cheese, garlic powder and milk. Drain spaghetti, add to egg mixture with monterey jack cheese, spinach and french fried onions if desired. Pour into 2 qt. greased baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, uncover and top with french fried onions and continue to bake for five minutes or until onions are golden brown.
Serve warm.
Enjoy!
As most of you know I have been working as a Taste of Home Magazine Volunteer Field Editor and one of the things we do as part of that is to try and write reviews for some of the Taste of Home recipes. This particular recipe had quite a buzz around it among many other Volunteer Field Editors, with everyone really loving it. I’ll be honest I was a little skeptical because I don’t really like cheeseburgers all that much, but decided to make it anyway as Jim is a huge burger fan! We both really, really enjoyed this dish and it does taste like a cheeseburger. The one and only thing I would do different the next time, is that I make it using slightly less relish as it really made the dish sweet. This is a keeper for me!
INGREDIENTS
1 refrigerated pie crust
3/4 pound ground beef
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup relish
1/2 cup crumbled and cooked bacon
5 large eggs
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup 2% milk
2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet cook beef over medium heat until cooked through. Drain any fat from the bottom of the skillet. Add tomatoes, onion, relish and bacon mix to combine. Add the beef mixture into your unbaked pie crust. In a large bowl whisk the eggs, cream, milk, mustard, and pepper. Pour this over the beef mixture. Sprinkle the top with both cheeses. Bake at 375 degrees for 50 – 60 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cover edges with foil during the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent over browning of crust. Let stand for ten minutes before cutting. Serve warm.
Enjoy!
You heard about the main course and the appetizer I made for my parent’s anniversary…well here is dessert! This was excellent. Not too sweet but sweet enough to know you are having dessert. I served this with fat free Cool Whip but ice cream would also be a great choice! This was good enough for Robby to come looking for seconds a little later in the day!
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup of butter, softened
1 cup of sugar, divided
1 large egg
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 1/2 cups plus 1 Tablespoon of all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups fresh blackberries
Optional for topping
Cool whip
Ice cream
Sprinkle of powdered sugar
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 inch spring form pan. In a large bowl cream butter and 3/4 cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in one egg and orange peel. In another bowl whisk 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda and salt, add to creamed mixture alternating with the sour cream, beating well after each addition. Transfer to prepared pan. In a bowl toss the blackberries with remaining flour and arrange over batter. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake 40 -45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Loosen sides of the pan with a knife and remove rim from pan. Cool on a wire rack and serve warm or at room temp. Add one of the toppings if desired.
Enjoy!
