Chicken Noodle Soup

• 2 1/2 cups wide egg noodles
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 12 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 cups diced, cooked chicken meat

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles and oil, and boil for 8 minutes, or until tender. Drain, and rinse under cool running water.

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, combine broth, salt, and poultry seasoning. Bring to a boil. Stir in celery, carrots and onion. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and water together until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Gradually add to soup, stirring constantly. Stir in noodles and chicken, and heat through.

Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

A Paula Deen classic!

2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
6 to 8 bananas, sliced
2 cups milk
1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.

In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer.
Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth.
Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture.
Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended.
Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Homemade Applesauce

Does not need much of an explanation other than – Once you try this, you will never eat store bought applesauce again.

I was very impatient when I made this for the first time. I did not wait for it to cool. I mashed the apples while they were still warm and then decided to blend them down instead.  We ate it warm. Not a complaint.

• 4 apples - peeled, cored and chopped
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a saucepan, combine apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork or potato masher.

Raspberry Lemon Cream Angel Food Cakes

This is another recipe that is shared by my neighbor THE KRAZY CAKE LADY.

They look and taste delicious. However, I had some failures on this first attempt so I will share what I learned and share her pic:

1. DO NOT over fill the cupcake tins. It is better to under fill than overfill.
2. WATCH THE BAKING TIME CAREFULLY. The box of mix I used said to bake 12-20 minutes. That is a very broad range. My first batch over baked at 16 minutes (I split the difference), so I had to adjust down.
3. If you are piping the cream with a star tip… CHOP THE RASPBERRIES VERY FINE. I was constantly picking out raspberries that were plugging the tip. I ended up removing the tip and piping from the bag without it.
4. DOUBLE THE CREAM (at least) I am sure you will love it as much as I do. I threw out 1/3 of the cakes (burnt) and I still ran out.

Angel Food Cupcakes

• 1 box angel food mix
• Follow all direction on box but add zest of one large lemon, and replace 2 tbs. water for 2 tbs fresh lemon juice.

Line cupcake tin with liners and bake according to package directions.

Raspberry lemon whipped cream

• 2 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoon confectioners sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white corn syrup
  (this helps cream hold it's shape for decorating)
• fresh raspberries roughly chopped

In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla, sugar, lemon juice and corn syrup until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like. hint: if cream is over beaten you can add a dash of unbeaten cream to smooth it out. Once cream is whipped add 1 cup chopped raspberries to cream and mix in by hand.

To decorate
Use a large star tip or round tip and drop into a decorators bag fitted with a coupler. Or just drop a tip into a slightly trimmed large ziplock bag. Or just use a bag with not tip. Starting outside in make a coil shape with cream on top of cupcake. Top with 1 raspberry.

Crockpot vs. Oven

Sometimes I need to cook a roast that is too big for my Crockpot.
Every time I do, I find myself on Google, looking for a temperature conversion.
This is what I found, and thought I would index it and pass it along.

• Low is 180 to 200 degrees.
• High is around 300 degrees.

I found this conversion on TWO different sites, but remember … Crockpot’s vary and this is only a guideline.