Recipes from Donna McNew

Baked Potato Soup

6 slices bacon (Cook until crisp and crumble)

1 onion

1/3 c flour

2 TBS Butter or margarine

3 cups chicken broth ( I use bullion and hot water)

4 medium size baked potatoes (bake, cool, cut into bite size pieces)

1 cup cream or half and half

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

½ c sour cream  (optional)

Fry bacon, crumble and set aside.  Cook onions in butter or margarine until just translucent, add flour, stirring to prevent lumps.  Add chicken stock gradually, stirring until liquid begins to thicken.  Reduce heat, to a simmer, stir in potatoes, cream, crumbled bacon, salt and pepper.  If the mixture is too thick, add some milk (about 1 cup).  Add grated cheese and stir, just prior to serving, stir in 4 ounces of sour cream.  As soon as cheese is melted, serve.  Can top with a few bacon pieces, cheese, or green onion.

Breakfast Casserole

8 slices cooked crumbled bacon or ½ cup ham or sausage (cooked)

8-10 eggs scrambled

½ cup milk

1 package of frozen hash browns (small package approx 10 ozs.)

1 cup cheddar cheese (grated)

Prepare bacon, ham, or sausage and set aside.  Scramble eggs; add milk and half of the cheese.  Stir in the hash browns, add breakfast meat, and stir gently.  Pour into greased 9x13 casserole pan.  Top with remaining ½ cup of cheese, salt and pepper to taste, cook at 350 for 45 minutes until eggs are well set.  This is an excellent casserole for Christmas morning.

Kettle Corn

1/3 c vegetable oil

½ cup Sugar

½ c  un-popped popcorn

In a heavy kettle with a lid that fits well, heat oil and sugar, stir in popcorn.  Cover with the lid and begin shaking lightly over medium heat.  Make sure you shake the pan enough to prevent the ingredients from burning.  Continue shaking until all popcorn has stopped popping.  Remove from heat, pour into large bowl (I use glass because the mixture is hot).  Sprinkle lightly with salt.  This is a delicious, easy, family night treat.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup shortening

¾ c  Brown Sugar

¾ c  Sugar

2 1/3  cup  flour

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

¾ cup chocolate chips.

Mix shortening, sugars, eggs, and vanilla until creamy and well blended, stir in flour, salt and baking soda.  Stir in chocolate chips last.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes, Enjoy.

Sticky Chicken

3-4 chicken breasts

1 cup apricot jam

1 cup bar-b-q sauce

1 packet Lipton Onion Soup Mix

Cut chicken breasts into strips.  Pour a small amount of oil into a skillet and brown the chicken.  Mix the remaining ingredients together, and then pour over the chicken.  Let cook (simmer medium heat) until the chicken is fully cooked and the sauce is thick and bubbly.  Serve over cooked rice.

Pulled Pork for Tacos

2 lb pork roast (I prefer pork shoulder or pork sirloin)

Salt, pepper, and add a sliced onion, cook in the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours until it shreds easily.  Remove from crock pot, (I reserve about ½ cup of liquid from the roast and stir back into the shredded pork) shred, stir in one cup salsa and ½ cup brown sugar, serve warm with tortillas and other taco toppings.

Pepper Jelly

2 Cups Bell Pepper

2 Cups other Peppers, if you do not like it really hot use more bell peppers and only about 1 cup of hot peppers (The peppers need to be chopped, the more kids of peppers you use the more colorful your pepper jelly will be)

¾ cup to 1 cup Apple Juice (Depending on desired consistency of your jelly)

4 cups sugar

1 package pectin

Mix peppers, apple juice and sugar together, as the sugar begins to dissolve add the pectin.  If the mixture is thin add one Tablespoon of clear jell or a little more pectin.  You can also reduce the apple juice to ¾ cup to make a thicker jelly.  Pour hot liquid into jars and seal.

Makes 4-5 8 oz jars of pepper jelly.  Serve over cream cheese with any type cracker.  This is a very good appetizer especially during the holiday season.