My New Year's Resolution

Thoughtful Thursday

Hot Artichoke Dip

Is there anything better than dipping a slice of French bread into a bubbling, cheesy, gooey artichoke dip? Probably, but this stuff is pretty doggone good! 

I got this recipe over 20 years ago from a good friend and it's been a staple around the holidays for my family since. Such a simple recipe, but one that makes family and friends come back for more.

HOT ARTICHOKE DIP

3 cans artichokes cut up

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

5 cloves of garlic, crushed

Preheat oven to 350º.

Combine all ingredients and put in 9”x9” casserole.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Serve with cut up French bread.

A Christmas Tradition

We always have a big spread for Christmas morning: gorilla bread, lefse, and smoked salmon with bagels and cream cheese. I always smoke the salmon myself using our stove top smoker. It's so easy, and so stinkin' good!

If you'd like to try it yourself, here's the recipe. Just follow the instructions according to the smoker you are using.

SMOKED SALMON

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup kosher salt

1/3 cup soy sauce

5 1/3 cups water

2 pounds salmon

Mix first four ingredients.  Add salmon; make sure it’s submerged in liquid.

Marinate 6 to 8 hours.  Smoke until dry.

If using stovetop smoker, ½ hour on stove top, then 1 hour in oven at 250º.

A Quote to Live By

Best Prescription Ever!

Sunday Dinner from the Bishops' Storehouse

I haven’t blogged for a while now, but I have been thinking a lot about it. My husband has been out of work now for 19 months. That’s right. It’s been very difficult, but we have received oh, so many blessings!

We have been richly blessed by our ward and by the help we’ve received from The Bishops’ Storehouse. I’ve tried to post recipes and meal plans using the food received from the storehouse, and this is another one I want to share. I know I’ve searched the web for blogs and websites with recipe ideas for the storehouse, and thought I would add my tries in case anyone out there needs that too.

While we normally fix this meal in the colder weather of winter, today is a stormy August afternoon and my husband and my mother (who lives with us) are under the weather. We were going to barbecue, but I decided to go with this instead.

We take a pork roast from the Bishops’ Storehouse and slice it up, since pork chops are not available. I sliced ours into five pieces since we have five in our family. I served the meal with a lettuce and tomato salad and applesauce. For dessert, chocolate pudding! It’s a good family dinner.

Pork Chops and Potatoes in Tomato Soup

1 pork roast sliced into 5 pieces, or 5 pork chops
5 potatoes, peeled and slice lengthwise into quarters
2 cans tomato soup
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a covered roaster pan, place pork evenly. Salt and pepper the “chops.”

Place peeled and sliced potatoes on top of pork. Salt and pepper those as well. Pour tomato soup over all.

Cover roaster and place in oven. Bake for about 1 to 1-1/4 hours, or until potatoes are done.

Positive Thoughts

A Bishops' Storehouse Recipe

Here's a wonderful recipe that we made for our Sunday dinner today. It is simple, and good. Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy) is a simple stew-like dish served over noodles. It is easily doubled if you need to. Try it, you'll like it!

Beef Bourguignon

1 pound stewing beef

1 onion, coarsely chopped

1/2 pound carrots, peeled and sliced

8 oz sliced mushrooms

1 cup beef broth

1 cup water

3/4 cup grape juice

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 packet gravy mix

small can tomato paste

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon parika

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

1 package noodles

In frying pan, heat some vegetable oil and brown beef, then remove and place in slow cooker. In same pan, sauté onions; place in slow cooker with beef. Cook onions in same pan and remove them to slow cooker as well.

Add mushrooms and liquids to slow cooker, along with seasonings and bay leaves. Turn on low and let cook 2-1/2 hours.

When you get ready to cook the noodles, packet of gravy mix into slow cooker and let it heat up white noodles cook. Remove bay leaves and serve. 

Thursday Night Supper from the Bishops' Storehouse

Making a menu plan is one of the hardest things for me to do. I am just not very creative at putting things together to make an interesting, healthy, and tasty meal. But tonight I think I hit the jackpot, and the only thing you need to get is an envelope of onion soup mix. Here's what we did for the first day of spring!

We barbecued some hamburger patties. Along with that, we had some lime jello, a lettuce and tomato salad, and onion roasted potatoes (recipe below.) It was soooo good, and easy and it set the mood for the beginning of long nights and lots of outdoor grilling.

Onion Roasted Potatoes

2 pounds of potatoes, scrubbed and cubed

1/4 cup oil

1 envelope onion soup mix

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Toss potatoes, oil and soup mix together until well combined. Place them in a 13" x 9" pan that's been lightly sprayed or oiled.

Bake uncovered for 40 minutes, and serve.

A Bishops' Storehouse Recipe

March is an unpredictable month. It can be bright and sunny with the promise of spring, or it can turn into a blizzard at the drop of a hat. I am constantly scouring the internet and cookbooks looking for recipes that I can make for my family. Soups are one of my favorite things to make. They're warm, comforting and nourishing. Serve with a warm loaf of homemade bread or biscuits, and -- voila! -- dinner is served.

I found this recipe at allrecipes.com. It's a hearty soup, perfect for a cold March evening. Most of the herbs I have in my pantry. I found the chicken soup base at Sam's club for around $4.00 for a fairly large jar. Everything else, including the ingredients for the bread or biscuits, I was able to get from the Bishop's Storehouse. Enjoy!

Slow Cooked Ham and Potato Chowder

3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons chicken soup base
1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup
4 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup cubed ham
1 cup corn kernels
1 small onion, diced
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon celery seed
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Whisk 3 cups warm water and chicken soup base in slow cooker until soup base has dissolved; stir in cream of chicken soup until almost smooth.

Stir potatoes, ham, corn, yellow onion and butter into the soup mixture.

Place flour and 1/2 cup water into a small container with a lid and shake well to combine into a smooth mixture; stir flour mixture into soup Mix in parsley, dill and celery seed. Season soup with salt and black pepper.

Cook chowder on High for 4 hours or Low for 8 hours, stirring once or twice during cooking.

A Bishops' Storehouse Recipe

This recipe is based on an old Betty Crocker recipe from their cookbook published in 1950. My mother used to make if when I was growing up, and I have tweaked it a bit to make it my own. It is easily doubled if you need to, which we generally do in our home.

Beef and Black Bean Chili

1 pound ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 can tomato soup

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can black beans

1-2 Tablespoons chili powder

Brown beef and onion until no pink remains in meat and onions are soft. Place in crock pot along with remaining ingredients. Stir well and let cook on low 4-5 hours.

Serve with shredded cheese and sour cream if you desire. We also like to have cornbread with it. Enjoy!

Weight Watchers Breakfast from the Bishops' Storehouse

Trying follow Weight Watchers is a challenge, but I've found that a good breakfast always gets me off on the right foot. And I'm sharing one of my favorite breakfasts using food we've been blessed with from the Bishop's Storehouse.

Poached eggs on toast is an old-fashioned, traditional breakfast and one I grew up with. Here's how it works out point-wise for the WW program: 1 slice whole wheat toast is 2 points, 1 egg poached is 2 points. That's a 4 point breakfast. I like to add a cup of tomato juice for 1 point. And there you have a 5 point breakfast!

You can gild the lilly if you like and can spare the points. Add a slice of ham for 3 points, or some sliced tomatoes for 0 points! If you like, you can just have poached egg white which is also 0 points. And 1/4 cup shredded cheese is an extra 3 points and oh so nice!

Of course, this is a terrific breakfast even if you're not counting WW points. So go ahead and enjoy and get your morning off to a good -- and yummy -- start!

A Bishops' Storehouse Recipe

There are a lot of wonderful things available from the Bishop's Storehouse, and you can even get some fun items for desserts too: cake mixes, puddings and gelatin. And here is something else.

This recipe comes from the blog Cooking Classy by Jaclyn (http://goo.gl/AZrAqq.) It’s another perfect recipe using ingredients you can get from the Bishop’s Storehouse. You could probably use strawberry jam if you prefer that. A good yummy snack, and perfect for dessert, or as a Family Home Evening treat!

Raspberry Crumb Bars

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup rolled oats (old fashioned)
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup raspberry jam, seedless if preferred

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 by 8-inch baking dish with aluminum foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang of foil on two sides. Grease foil.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in oats and brown sugar, and use clean fingertips as needed to break up brown sugar clumps. Add butter, and using fingertips, work butter into mixture until evenly moistened.

Add 2 cups of the oat mixture to the prepared baking dish and press into an even layer. Spread raspberry jam into an even layer over oat layer, coming within 1/4-inch of all edges. Sprinkle top evenly with remaining oat mixture, then slightly press into jam layer.

Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 34 - 38 minutes. Remove from oven and allow bars to cool completely before cutting into squares. Store in an airtight container.

A Bishops' Storehouse Recipe

This is a wonderful recipe that we made for dinner tonight. I'm sharing it for all of you out there who may be looking for something good to make with ingredients you can get from the Bishop's Storehouse. This is a terrific Sunday dinner, and one you can put in your crockpot before you leave for church and it will be ready and waiting for you when you want it.

It is a fantastic meal. I hope you try it and like it too!

Slow-Cooker Southwestern Pot Roast

5 medium-sized potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
3-pound beef roast, trimmed of fat
2 tablespoons flour
1 pound carrots peeled and sliced
1 jar salsa

Place potatoes in 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker. Coat beef with flour; place on potatoes. Arrange carrots around beef. Pour salsa over all.

Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 10 hours.

Remove beef from cooker; place on cutting board. Pull beef into serving pieces, using 2 forks. To serve, spoon sauce over beef and vegetables.

The Piccolino Dress

I have been a big Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers fan since I was a girl. I always thought Ginger was the most beautiful woman. In high school I had my hair cut and styled to match hers. And her clothes! All those amazing dresses! The gossamer one, the feather dress, the jodphurs .... but my favorite was always the dress she wore when she sang and danced "The Piccolino" in their movie Top Hat.

It is also the dress she selected to donate to The Smithsonian Museum. I was fortunate to see it there many years ago. Since the Astaire-Rogers films were mostly in black and white, the colo of her dresses was left to my imagination. I wavered between thinking this dress was either pink or blue. In reality it is .... well, maybe that should be left to your imagination as well.