Spicy Potatoes

From The Four Ingredient Cookbook by Linda Coffee and Emily Cale

4 large potatoes, cut into small chunks
1 package onion soup mix
1/4 c olive oil
pepper to taste

Whisk together soup mix, oil, and pepper. Toss with potatoes to coat. Place into a 9x13 pan and bake at 375 °F for 45 minutes.

Serves 4 (with leftovers)

Carrot Cake

Helen Averett

1 c oil
2 c sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
3 c finely grated carrots

With an electric mixer, mix oil and sugar until well combined. Add eggs and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Add cinnamon and vanilla and mix well. Add baking soda and flour and mix, scraping down the sides of the bow as necessary. Add carrots and mix until carrots are evenly distributed. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 °F for 50 minutes. (Top may look not quite set, but if a toothpick comes out clean it's done.) Let cool, then frost with cream cheese frosting.

English Muffin Sandwiches

4 slices ham
4 slices cheddar cheese
4 English muffins
3 eggs

Beat eggs. Melt butter in a small frying pan over medium-high heat. While pan heats, split and toast English muffins. Add eggs to hot pan and cook until mostly set, then flip over with a spatula. When cooked, put on a plate to cool slightly before cutting into quarters. Grill ham in the same pan until warmed through. Layer one slice of ham, one piece of egg, and one slice of cheese on each muffin. Place tops on muffins and microwave for 30 seconds to melt cheese.

Pumpkin Cake

by Sharon Kofford, from KSL-TV's noon news cooking segment quite a few years ago

2 c sugar
1 c oil
4 eggs
2 c flour
2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 c pumpkin
1 c chocolate chips or chopped nuts

Beat eggs, oil, and sugar together. Mix with flour, soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin. Stir in chocolate chips or nuts if using. Bake in an ungreased bundt pan at 350°F for 1 hr or a 9x13 pan for 50-55 minutes. Let cool completely (remove from pan if using a bundt pan). Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Asian Chicken Salad

Salad:                                                                     Dressing:
2 chicken breasts                                              1/8 c soy sauce
1 head leaf lettuce                                             1/8 c rice vinegar
1/2 bunch green onions                                 1/4 c oil
1 large can mandarin oranges in juice      1/8 c ginger ale
chow mein noodles

Poach chicken in enough water to cover. Meanwhile, wash and drain lettuce, drain mandarins (reserve a splash of juice for dressing), and thinly slice onions. Place soy sauce, vinegar, oil, and juice to a shaker. When chicken is cooked and cool enough to handle, shred. Tear lettuce into bite-size pieces and place in a large bowl. Add mandarins, onions and chicken. Just before serving, add ginger ale to dressing, shake to combine, and pour over salad. Toss to coat lettuce. Serve with chow mein noodles.

Makes 4 meal-size portions.

Menu Planning

I started planning menus a couple of years ago (Aaron's suggestion). The compulsive planner in me loves the organization of it all, but the extra benefits were a surprise:

• we spend less on groceries
• we eat a good variety of food
• meal time is less stressful because the 'what should we eat?' decision is already made
• meals are suited to our other plans (quicker meals on days when we have nighttime activities)
• making a grocery shopping list for the week is easy (I know what I need from the recipes)

My advice for starting to plan menus:

• write down meals as they come to you (you don't have to plan a whole month at once!)
• start with meals you already eat and fill in with other things you'd like to try
• look for food balance - are you eating hamburger meals all week long?
• balance your shopping list - mix produce-heavy meals in with meals that call for staples already in the pantry
• use what is available - if a recipe calls for half of something perishable, use the rest later in the week
• write your evening appointments on your menu so you don't forget to plan meals that fit with your activities
• find a planning medium that works for you - dry erase board, printed calendar, notepad...
• don't be afraid to substitute - just move the unused meal to the end of the list

Ham Fried Rice

Aaron taught me how to make this Loertscher family favorite.

rice
1 green pepper
1/4 onion
1/2 lb ham
soy sauce
3-4 eggs

Cook enough rice to make 4 cups. While rice is cooking, dice pepper, onion, and ham and place in a wok or large skillet. When rice has only 5-10 minutes of cooking time remaining, cook ham and vegetables with soy sauce until vegetables soften. Move ham and vegetables to the side and add eggs one a time, breaking the yolk and stirring to cook scrambled. Mix eggs with ham, turn off the heat, and add rice. Mix together, adding soy sauce to taste.

Serves 4.

Waffle Cookies

The best quick fix for sudden cookie cravings - and a good way to win friends.

1 stick (1/2 c) butter
2/3 c sugar
3 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 c flour

Melt butter and mix in other ingredients. Bake 1 minute on a heated waffle iron. (A regular waffle iron works better than a Belgian waffle iron.)
Makes about 12 cookies.

For cinnamon waffle cookies, replace cocoa with 1 tbsp cinnamon and use 1 2/3 c flour.

Tuna Casserole

I think of college when I think of tuna casserole - probably because we ate a lot of it one semester when we weren't working!

1 can (6 oz) tuna
1 package (8 oz) egg noodles
1 can (10 oz) cream of mushroom soup
1/4 c milk
1/2 c shredded cheese

Boil water and cook egg noodles according to package directions. While the pasta is cooking, open and drain the tuna and open the soup. Drain pasta and add tuna and soup to the hot (now empty) pot. Stir to combine. Add milk and half the cheese and stir until well combined. Return the hot pasta to the pot and mix to coat pasta with the sauce. Mix in the rest of the cheese.

Serves 2-3. To stretch it, add more noodles, milk, and cheese.

Cornbread

This recipe comes straight from the package of Kroger yellow cornmeal. I like it so much I haven't changed it at all.

3/4 c cornmeal
1 1/4 c flour
1/4 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 c milk
1 beaten egg
1/4 c vegetable oil

Mix dry ingredients together. Add milk, egg, and oil and mix until just combined. Pour into a well-greased 8x8 or 9" round pan and bake at 400°F for 20 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean). Let cool 5-10 minutes in pan before slicing and serving.

Lemon Chicken

I created this marinade after reading a bunch of lemon chicken recipes online to get inspiration.

2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp favorite spice(s) (I use sage and basil)

Combine all ingredients in a gallon-size Ziploc bag. Add 4 chicken breasts (frozen chicken should be at least partially thawed) and seal bag. Turn bag and move chicken around to make sure the marinade is evenly distributed. There will be only a small amount of liquid. Let sit for at least 30 minutes, turning occasionally.

Lift the chicken from the marinade and cook on the grill or pan fry with a little olive oil. Do not add the excess marinade to the pan because that makes the lemon flavor too strong.

Ranch Chicken Salad

The inspiration recipe here came from the back of a Hidden Valley Ranch bottle.

2 chicken breasts                          1 can sliced olives
1 head leaf lettuce                         bottled ranch dressing
1-2 roma tomatoes                       Tabasco sauce
1 can kidney beans                       shredded cheddar cheese

Prep work:
Poach chicken in just enough water to cover. Cool and shred or chop. Wash lettuce and allow to drain. Drain and rinse beans in a colander, add olives to colander. Chop tomatoes and add to colander to drain juices.

Putting it together:
Place beans, olives, and tomatoes in a large salad bowl. Add enough dressing to coat and toss to combine. Add more dressing and a few drops of Tabasco (just enough to add a little Mexican flavor). Mix again, then add chicken. Tear lettuce into bite-size pieces and add to bowl. Toss to combine, adding dressing as needed to lightly coat lettuce. Fold in cheese. Serve with tortilla chips.

Serves 4 with leftovers. Also good for potlucks.

Whip Cream Cake (Sour Cream Cake)

Credit goes to Aaron's grandma, Helen Averett. She made birthday cakes for Aaron and his siblings when they were younger.

This is Aaron's all-time favorite dessert. It is super easy to put together and absolutely delicous.

3 eggs
1 1/3 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c whipping cream*
1/4 c cold water

Use an electric mixer to beat eggs and sugar at high speed until thick and lemon-colored. Add vanilla. Add soda, baking powder, and 1 cup of flour, mixing well. Mix together cream and water and add to batter. Stir to combine. Add the rest of the flour and combine well. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Use a rubber spatula to cut through the batter several times in each direction to release air pockets.

Bake at 375 °F for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool, then frost with chocolate cream cheese frosting.

*Grandma used old (soured) whipping cream, but we use the fresh stuff. (I can't taste a difference.) You can also use sour cream, but it makes the cake a little less moist.

Cream Cheese Frosting

No Whip Cream Cake would be complete without chocolate cream cheese frosting. Again, credit to Helen Averett.

1/2 stick butter
1/2 bar cream cheese
1 lb powdered sugar
cocoa to taste (about 1/4 c) for chocolate frosting

Beat together until smooth. Will frost a 9x13 cake generously.
And just leave out the cocoa for a plain cream cheese frosting (especially good for carrot cake and pumpkin cake).

Mom and Dad Loertscher like to make a double recipe and use the rest to spread on graham crackers.