Cream of Soup Substitute

You know when you find a recipe you don't want to loose..well this is my catch all recipe place.  A friend form church gave me this recipe and as soon as my canned soups are depleted I am going to try this.  She said it is great and the recipe says: "Here's a lowfat, low-cost recipe forcreamed condensed soup."  It is from a cookbook called "Set for life"

Slim Cream of Soup Mix

2 cups instant nonfat dried milk
1 cup cornstarch
3 TBSP low sodium chicken boullion granules
2 TBSP dried minced onion
1/2 tspn thyme leaves, cruched (optional)
¼ tsp pepper

Mix together and store in an airtight container

Slim Cream Soup
1/3 cup dry Slim Cream Soup Mix (see above)
1 ¼ cups water or skim milk

Combine soup mix and water or milk in small pan, bring to a boil and stir until thick. For a casserole or cream soup: combine soup mix and water or milk. Add to casserole or soup, it will thicken as it cooks.

Yield 1 ¼ cups Equals 1 10 ¾ ounce can condensed soup.

Variations:
Cream of Mushrrom Soup Add 1 4oz can mushrooms. Drained
Cream of Vegetable soup Add ½ cup diced cooked vegetables
Cream of Chicken soup Add ½ cup cooked diced chicken

Gooey Chocolate Brownies

I made brownies from scratch before and it was not worth the effort.  These however ARE!~  I made them in less than an hour, so it may take about 15 minutes longer to make these then those good ones from the box!
Let’s Cook: A book for kids who love to cook


Ingredients

6oz dark chocolate broken into pieces (I uses 1/2 bag bittersweet choc chips)
1 1/2 stick butter
1 1/4 cup sugar (I used white but the recipe says golden superfine sugar..is that supposed to be brown?)
pinch of salt
3 large eggs
1 scant cup all-purpose flour
2tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease the cake pan, 8” square, and line it with nonstick baking parchment.

2. Place the chocolate and butter in a bowl. Melt over a pan of simmering water. Stir until smooth. Remove pan from the heat. Cool Slightly.

3. Add the sugar and sale to the melted chocolate. Beat the eggs in a bowl and add them gradually to the mixture.

4. Sift the flour into the mixture and beat until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Scrape the mixture into the pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is pale brown and the middle is soft. Remove from the pan.

6. Allow the brownies to cool in the pan before cutting into pieces. Remove from the pan and serve with ice cream to make a delicious dessert.

Chocolate Scotcheroos

Ingredients

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions

1. Place corn syrup and sugar into 3-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter. Mix well. Add Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated. Press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over cereal mixture. Let stand until firm. Cut into 2 x 1-inch bars when cool.

Pesto Chicken Pizza

I guess with pizza, this is more of a topping suggestion or theory than an actual recipe. But it was delicious and I thought I should share. Sorry I didn't take pictures, it didn't last that long!
I put jarred pesto, fresh mozerella, fresh tomatoes and shredded chicken on top of my favorite (aka store bought) pizza crust. It was DELICIOUS (and green for St. Patty's Day)!!!! I might have skipped the chicken if my husband ate tomatoes... but the chicken was for him, and it actually made the pizza more filling, so that worked.
As a suggestion, if you like pesto at all, I would buy it at Costco, where it is about 1/4 the price as the regular grocery store, but you will have so much left over. Anyways, it was a good alternative to the regular pizza sauce, and was a little lighter than a standard pepperoni pizza.

Easy Cheese Ball

Ingredients:

2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
1 (1 oz) package of ranch dressing mix
2 cups finely shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup finely shredded sharp cheese
1lb bacon cooked and broken into small bits (I put the bacon in a large baggie and broke the pieces up with a rolling pin.)

Directions:
In a medium size bowl mash the cream cheese. Stir in the ranch dressing mix and the cheeses into the cream cheese. Shape the mixture into a ball. (It is a very large ball so I made 2 smaller balls). Cover the ball with the bacon bits. Refrigerate covered.

NOTES: The longer it refrigerates the better it tastes. Mine was in the fridge for 5 days before I served at the party. Also - I let the cheese ball sit out a few hours at room temperature before serving so it was nice and easy to cut.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

***This one will be making a regular appearance in our rotation! :) mmmm***

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

from yourhomebasedmom.com

6 Tbsp honey

5 Tbsp fresh lime juice (1-2 limes)

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

2-3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

8 – 10 flour tortillas (depending on size)

1 lb of a Mexican blend cheese (monterey jack, colby, cheddar), shredded

1 large can of green enchilada sauce

Mix the honey, lime juice, chili powder and garlic powder together with the shredded chicken. Allow it to sit for at least 1/2 hour or you could do it hours before and just cover and refrigerate.

Pour 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce into bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Place chicken and cheese into middle of a tortilla and spoon about 1 tablespoon of enchilada sauce over it and roll up. Place seam down in the pan. Reserve about 1-2 cups of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Pour enchilada sauce over the top of rolled enchiladas (reserve a little bit to add after they are baked) and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

I served with Cilantro Lime Rice (like Chipotle's) that yourhomebasedmom.com suggested. Yum.

Fudge Cookie Bars

This recipe is from my second mom Nyla.

"Cookie" mixture:

1 c shortening

2 c brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

4 c quick oats

Chocolate mixture:

1 pkg chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 Tbsp butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Grease large cookie sheet.

Reserve 2 cups oatmeal mixture and press rest into bottom of cookie sheet.

Melt chocolate chips, and then combine with butter, salt, vanilla, and sweetened condensed milk. Pour over crust. Sprinkle/lay reserved oatmeal mixture on top of chocolate. Bake for 15 minutes at 350*.