Blueberry Cobbler

I have been looking for a good cobbler recipe for quite some time.  A few weeks ago one of my good friends served this cobbler at our church group meeting.  It got rave reviews! 

Ingredients:
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 stick butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In medium bowl, combine flour and sugar.  Mix in butter, then milk and vanilla.  Beat until blended. 
Spray a 9x9 baking pan with cooking spray.
Pour batter mixture in pan.  Evenly sprinkle blueberries over the batter mixture.
Bake in 350F oven for 45 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean.

Best served warm (with ice cream if you prefer).

Not Your Mama's Meatloaf

Yuck.  I've never really liked the traditional meatloaf.  The heavy sweet tomato sauce on most meatloaves just make the dish unappetizing to me.

The other day while searching through the Foodnetwork.com site, I found a recipe for Giada's Turkey, Feta and Sundried Tomatoes Meatloaf.  I absolutely LOVE feta and sundried tomatoes, so I thought I would give this one a shot.  I followed the recipe (mostly) but I did use a mixture of Italian and panko breadcrumbs.   OH MY GOODNESS - this meatloaf is sooooo good. YOU MUST try it!!

I also used Giada's Loaf Pan that I purchased from Target the other day.  I plan on purchasing more of her bakeware.  Cleanup was a breeze (virtually non-stick) and this pan goes from oven to the table with style.

Try the meatloaf - let me know what you think.  Hopefully you love it as much as we did.    

Turkey Pot Pie

This pot pie makes great use of leftover turkey or rotisserie chicken.

2 pre-made refrigerated pie crusts
2 cups turkey, chopped
can of Campbells(R) Cream of Mushroom Soup
3 Tblsp. leftover gravy
3/4 cup shredded co-jack cheese (or cheddar)
16 oz. package frozen mixed vegetables
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Thaw pie crusts per package directions.
3. Place bottom pie crust in a 8 or 9" glass pie plate.
4. Combine ingredients (NOTE: if gravy is thin, add a 1-2 Tblsp. of flour to it to help thicken)
5. Place ingredients in pie crust - place top pie crust on top and crimp edges.
6. Cover edges of crust with aluminum foil to prevent burning.
7. Bake at 400F for 40 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

NOTE: You can also use leftover rotisserie chicken instead of turkey in this recipe.

Good Old-Fashioned French Toast

I love to preserve recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation.  Once or twice a year, my 84-year old Grandma will send me a hand-written recipe on an old-fashioned recipe (index) card.  I treasure every one, as each is tiny piece of my own written heritage that I will someday pass down to my children.

In a world so dominated by convenience breakfast food (bagels, Eggos, Poptarts anyone?) we have forgotten that many recipes like French toast, are really pretty simply and take very little time to prepare.   As I share my Grandma's recipe for French toast, I encourage you to think about this quote "Cooking done with care is an act of love".



Grandma's French Toast

2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tblsp. sugar
1 tblsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup milk
2 tblsp. butter
8 slices of bread

Directions

1. In a shallow bowl, combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Stir in milk.
2. Dip bread slices, one at a time, into egg mixture coating both sides well.
3. Heat butter in skillet pan over medium heat.  Cook bread in skillet over medium heat (3 minutes per slice or until lightly browned).

Serve with butter and maple syrup.