Cold Outside - Warm Tummies!

Like everywhere else in the Northern states at this time of year, our weather is cold and snowy. You’ve heard me complain enough about that already, so I won’t go into details. The one thing I AM thinking of, however, is how to keep us nice & toasty on cold days & nights.  I offer you several very pleasantly filling and warming recipes:

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Crockpot Taco Soup

1lb. ground beef or turkey, browned and drained

1 can kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

1 envelope Hidden Valley ranch salad dressing mix

1 packet taco mix

1/3 C.  chopped dried onion

1 can Rotel tomatoes

1 tbsp. chili powder

1/4 tsp. cumin

2 quarts tomato juice

Combine all ingredients in crockpot.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serve with your favorites: fritos corn chips or tortilla chips, shredded cheese,sour cream, sliced black olives,

chopped green onions

(recipe: Sandy on one of my recipe lists)

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Amish Chicken Casserole

8 oz. noodles, cooked

2 C. cooked chicken, cubed

2 C. chicken broth (can used canned)

1 C. milk

1 can mushrooms

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 C. margarine

1/3 C. flour

1/3 C. grated Parmesan cheese

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt margarine, then add flour and stir until smooth. Gradually add milk and broth, then seasonings and mushrooms. Combine chicken, cooked noodles, and prepared sauce. Put in ungreased 9 inch x 13 inch x 2 inch baking pan and top with Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350ºF for 35-45 minutes, or until heated thoroughly and top is browned slightly.

(recipe: CK Penner/Amish Recipes site)

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Crockpot Cherry Cobbler

1 can cherry pie filling — (16 oz)

1 package cake mix — for one layer cake

1 egg

3 T. evaporated milk

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Put pie filling in lightly buttered 3 1/2-quart crockpot and cook on high for 30 minutes.

Mix together the remaining ingredients and spoon onto the hot pie filling.

Cover and cook for 2- 3 hours on low.  Serves 4 – 6.

(recipe: exported from MasterCook)

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Not much new around here EXCEPT I finally got all the Christmas ’stuff’ down and packed away . . . well, there ARE a few boxes awaiting youngest son’s arrival home from high school to carry the big boxes upstairs for me (nice ‘perk’!).  Tomorrow night is my Knit group’s “Movie/Knit-Crochet Night” and they’ve decided we’re having baked potatoes with all the ‘works’ for toppings, plus some sort of a dessert. The movie? What else!? “Julie & Julia”! A great movie – I laughed out loud quite a few times; several ‘in/culinary-type’ jokes.  I rarely go to the movies anymore, but this one I took myself to last summer and am looking forward to seeing it again tomorrow night.  It’s a fun night ‘out’ for the ladies and you can’t beat that: dinner, a good movie and great friendship! (Hope our weather ‘holds’ and there’s no additional snow…we’ll see.)  My husband just informed me that the weather report states we were to get snow today (already got a little) then a little warmer throughout the week – I can handle that!

Hope you’re enjoying your day; remember to rest a little, smile a little and sometimes just give yourself a little treat . . . just for fun!

Hugs;

Pammie

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