Monday, October 24, 2011

Jenny's Chicken in Sour Cream Sauce

I tried Jenny's Chicken in Sour Cream Sauce for dinner yesterday. I have made something really similar to Heidi's Crock Pot Chicken several times before and the Chicken in Sour Cream Sauce reminded me quite a bit of that. It was really good! Eden ran down the hall saying "that was deeee-licious!" I'll take that as a good sign!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Thanks, Heidi!

Thank you Heidi! I feel so smart now that I can link recipes! Your directions were very easy to follow even for someone as dumb as me! I wanted soup Sunday night for dinner so we had your Butternut Squash Soup. It was so creamy and good. I'm looking at trying more soup recipes this week! Tis the season.
Deb, it was to your recipe for Broiled Shrimp over Black Bean and Corn Salad! I typed it in from the stack of recipes you sent in the big white envelope the week before I took it to the printers! (Secrets out---Deb got caramels at the reunion and her recipes were the last ones submitted!!! ha ha) Where ever the recipe came from, it is delicious!


I made allison's cinnamon roll cookies again for quilt group. They were a hit! I also did the black bean and corn salad that Jennifer had made. It was so good! Supposedly was submitted by me. But I have no memory of it. Maybe it was on the backside of something else. If someone else submitted it....thank you for letting me claim it. It's a good recipe!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Aunt Jennifer is humbled by her stupidity... but not too proud to ask!

Ok, Heidi, I admit that I'm so stupid with technology and this blog stuff is new to me, but, how did you link the recipe you mentioned in your comment to the cookbook webpage? That was cool.

Baked Potato Soup

Last night, I made Marilyn's Baked Potato Soup for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly this soup came together. I've had this kind of soup on a few other occasions and I have loved it, but I figured it would be difficult to make because it is so good! This soup was delicious AND easy to make! The perfect combination!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Some recipes I've tried...

Over the past few weeks I've been using lots of recipes in the cookbook. I was thoroughly delighted with Jill's banana bread recipe. Uncle Dan loved your cinnamon sugar crust! Wow, was that amazing and it turned out so perfect, no cracking or doughy center with overdone crust! We LOVED it.

Amber's chili verde was awesome. (I think Spencer is the one most grateful for this surge of trying new recipes. He is such a huge eater these days with all the racing he does. I can't keep enough food in the house. And he likes GOOD food, not just food!)

I also made Tadd's chicken pot pie. That was quite tasty. Stephanie's breaded garlic chicken in lemon butter sauce. The sauce needs to be tripled to make it into gravy, it was so good!

Jolene and Janette it appears, have the same recipe, different titles but it has become a new refreshing favorite. (Frosty Berry Squares and Strawberry Dessert). It is so very good. I've made the crust with pecans and twice with almonds. The crust crumble alone is worthy to be a dessert in and of itself.

So many more yet to try.....

Broiled Shrimp Over Black Bean and Corn Salad

Note: Deb will understand why I substituted chicken for shrimp in this recipe and will not be offended because she knows me too well.

We made this for our Sunday meal with the Free families that I wrote about earlier. We loved it. The chicken turned out amazing and the salad has become an instant Spencer favorite. We are going to try it again and add a few things to the salad, like jicama, black eyed peas instead of the black beans, and red bell peppers. Deb's salad is very similar to a vegetarian salad we buy at Costco that Spencer and I fight over. We think we can make it to be close to the one we buy. The dish really was great and would be delightful with shrimp, I'm sure! That day we also made Janette's Gorditas (I've made them before, but this time they turned out better with practice) and also Deb's fruit salsa and cinnamon chips. The salsa recipe is a very large one but we managed it quite well...we're a bunch of fatties, as the kids would say! Oh, and White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies, too. It is safe to say we ate well.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Another new recipe online: Fried Dill Pickles!

I just added Janette's recipe for Fried Dill pickles. I have had them before at "Pickles" cafe in Arco, ID and we really liked them. I'm making them for our traditional "snacky" dinner in December. Can hardly wait!

Aunt Marilyn's Fancy Fruit Salad

I also made Aunt Marilyn's Fancy Fruit Salad for dinner tonight too. I've had it several times before at my parents house and we all love it. Melody ate it until I thought she was going to be sick! I substituted the canned pineapple for fresh and it was awesome! Great fruit salad.

Grandma's Crock Pot Roast

I tried Grandma's crock pot roast today for dinner and it was great! Super easy and delicious!

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

I am a lucky participant in the Crites/Frees monthly food gatherings. For our conference weekend meal, I chose Cinnamon Roll Cookies for the dessert I'd bring. Wow! They were everything I'd imagined as I looked at the recipe, and better. I loved how they looked and tasted. I think I will use them as treats to take to neighbors at Christmas time. Thanks for sharing!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

I gave a copy of the cookbook to my best friend here in Layton. She has been calling me off and on since I gave it to her and telling me what yummy recipes she has been making. She mentioned that she is now keeping her own log of what she makes and thinks so that she can let me know. She loves the cookbook. Out of the blue yesterday she told me that "Deb must be a great cook!" I laughed and agreed. Guess she's been making a lot of Deb's recipes and loving them.

I'm excited for fall weather so we can start trying everyone's soup recipes!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Lori's Cinnamon Rolls

So, we wanted something sweet to snack on this conference Sunday and we thought cinnamon rolls would be great. Thanks to Jill for including Lori's recipe in the book. The dough was light and tasty! Probably the best recipe I (Jimmy) have tasted.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Grandma's Bran Muffins

I remember having these at a few different Thanksgiving trips to Aunt Jennifer's house in Mesa. I decided to make them the other day and they were so good! Eden ate four alone! Which is helpful considering the huge bowl of the leftover batter I have in my fridge! I'm pretty sure this recipe could feed an army, good thing the batter lasts 6 weeks!

Proud Moment

I have to pass on what happened just after the reunion. I took a cookbook back to the printer because there was a tab error on Casey's book (two tabs for "This and That" and no "Main Dish". The copy shop has been wonderful to work with and said they would correct it. In fact, the manager who I have been working with, said, "I'll just trade the bad one and give you this one we've been showing customers as an example of what our business can print!" They had been so impressed with our end result that they had kept several copies to advertise their business!

Celebrating the Farmer Cookbook!

Many of you have met or have heard mention of our great friends, the Frees. Joe (wife Diana) and Dave Free (wife Kristin) are brothers who live close to us here in Mesa. Each month our families get together for a Sunday dinner. They all love the dishes I've brought through the years and were excited to buy a cookbook when we printed them this summer. At last month's get-together, Kristin suggested that our October's dinner be completely made from recipes from the cookbook! So everybody is brining 3 dishes (main, side, and dessert) to share. It should be a blast! I'll let you know how it goes. I'm also inviting them to join our blog so that they can give a another voice about using the cookbook!

New recipes online...

I just added a couple more salad recipes to the online cookbook. One is a Rice-A-Roni Salad that I got from Deb years ago. I also added another version of the Grape Salad of Jolene's. Hope you enjoy them!