Cheryl's Coffee Punch

1 1/4 cups instant coffee
2 1/2 cups sugar
5 cups hot water
1 gallon chocolate ice cream
1 gallon vanilla ice cream
1 gallon milk

Add coffee, sugar and water together in a large punch bowl, scoop out slightly melted ice cream; pout wamr coffee mixture on top and add milk. Stir until creamy. Serve.

English Toffee

14 tbsp margarine (not butter)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
dash of salt
1 6oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1/2 cup toffee candy pieces

Put margarine and sugar in a heavy pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Bring to a bubbling boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon (or heat resistant spatula) for about 10 minutes. When it starts to turn a light brown, remove from heat and add vanilla and salt (this is also where you add pecans if desired). Quickly stir and pour onto a cookie sheet (lined with wax paper). Cool completely. Top with melted chocolate and spread over toffee. Sprinkle with toffee candy pieces and cool. Break into pieces.

Pot Roast

1 Pot Roast
2 T. vegetable oil
garlic powder
onion poder
paprika
salt
pepper
any other spice you like
vegetables (potatoes and carrots for sure, but any others you like)

Put large stock pot over high heat with vegetable oil. Rub seasonings into roast. Put roast into pot, sear all 3 main sides of the roast. Add water until it just covers roast. Add a little more salt than normal to the water. Reduce heat to medium low. Water should gently roll throughout cooking. Cover. Cook for 3 to 4 hours. Add vegetables in for the last 30 minutes. "Baby" carrots and small red potatoes work well. If you are using large potatoes, cut them to about 1 inch slices to decrease cooking time. Remember that potatoes soak up a lot of salt, so expect to add more salt when you have it on your plate.

Can be adapted to the crock pot, but I am not sure what setting to put the pot on.

This recipe works well to put on in the morning before church, come home and add veggies or open a can of green beans.

The meat is usually cooked by about 2.5 hours, but cooking it longer makes it very tender!

Chicken and Dumplings

I adapted this recipe from one I found on All Recipes.

3 boneless chicken breasts
1 box chicken stock
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (12 ounce) package refridgerated biscuit dough
3 stalks celery
3 carrots
1/2 medium onion
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 teaspoon dried sage
salt
pepper

In a large pot over high heat, combine the chicken with enough water and chicken stock to cover, and boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Drain some of the water from the pot, reserving 3 cups in the pot. Remove chicken and allow it to cool, then pull it apart into bite size pieces; return to pot.

Chop all veggies into bite size pieces. Reduce heat to medium, and add the cans of condensed soup, veggies and seasoning.

Season with salt and pepper. Pull the biscuit dough into pieces, and add to the soup. Simmer over medium heat for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the dough is cooked through.

Lemon -Strawberry Punch

I made this for Whitney's Shower and got rave reviews. It's super simple.

Lemon-Strawberry Punch

1 16-ounce can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 6-ounce can frozen lemonade concentrate
1 package frozen sliced strawberries w/ sugar added (I used the small cartons)
1 quart carbonated water
1 quart ginger ale

In a large punch bowl, mix partially thawed orange juice, lemonade and strawberries with ice. Just before serving, add carbonated water and ginger ale (add a bit more ginger ale than carbonated water). Add slices of oranges and lemons or limes.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Joe requested homemade chicken pot pie this week, so I came up with this easy recipe. I mixed several recipes together from www.allrecipes.com and from the back of the Cream of Potato soup can.

1 can cream of potato soup (or you can use cream of chicken or cream of mushroom)
1/4 cup milk
1 large can cooked chicken breast
1 cup frozen vegetables, thawed (or use canned mixed vegetbales)
2 refrigerated or frozen pie crusts

Basically you just mix the first 4 ingredients together in a bowl. You might want to add some spices like thyme, but I didn't and mine still tasted great. Follow the directions on the package for the pie crusts. I read on allrecipes that if you bake the lower crust for a few minutes first then it will turn out less mushy, so I did that. Then I added the mixture and put the other crust on top, cut holes for steam, and baked according to the package directions. It tasted great and was very easy, plus the cleanup was a snap since my crust came in a metal throw-away pan. Very easy and yummy, with lots less sodium I'm sure than those frozen ones!

Mustard Glazed Salmon

I made this two nights ago, and both the hubby and kids loved it. I adapted my recipe from this one found at Food Network.com. I was missing some of the ingredients, and didn't want to use others, so this is how it worked for me:

Nonstick cooking spray
1lb fresh salmon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1tsp garlic powder
3/4tsp dried rosemary
3/4tsp dried thyme
1tbsp water
1tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2tbsp Dijon mustard


*Line baking sheet with foil(for easy cleanup, not a must), spray with non-stick spray, and lay salmon in center.

*Sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and salt, and place under broiler for two minutes

*While broiling, combine remaining ingredients in a processor to make a paste. You can probably omit the water, this sauce did come out a bit runny.

*Remove salmon and spoon mustard mixture on top. Broil for another 5-7 minutes, until fish flakes likes it's supposed to.

I used a piece of salmon that was exactly one pound and there was a perfect amount of sauce, so this can be adjusted for larger or smaller pieces. Also, the recipe originally calls for fresh herbs, but the taste was just great with the dried ones, and I used water instead of wine, as we have none in the house right now. :)