Baked Potato Soup

We were home from work today- iced in- and I made this baked potato soup from cooking light I have been wanting to try. For a printable recipe click here.

You need: 4 baking potatoes, 2/3 C all-purpose flour, 6 cups of 2% reduced fat milk, 1 C of reduced fat extra sharp cheddar cheese, salt pepper, 1 C of reduced fat sour cream, 3/4 C chopped green onions (I left these out), and 6 bacon slices cooked and crumbled.


First preheat your oven to 400 and pierce the potatoes with a fork. Place them on a tray in the oven and bake for 1 hour, or until tender.


Once tender, remove the skins or leave them on however you like.


Mash them to your desired amount, if you like chunky soup- don't mash completely.


Then put the flour in a pan


and add in the milk gradually, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly.


Add the mashed potatoes


3/4 C of cheese, stirring until the cheese is melted, add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.


Stir in 1 C of sour cream and the onions if you are using them. Cook over low heat until thoroughly heated through. I also added some onion and garlic powder.


Sprinkle each serving with 1 1/2 t of cheese, onions, and 1 T of bacon. Recipe makes 8 servings with 7 WW points per serving.

This recipe made tons for us, so I divided it into portions to freeze for meals later. It was really good!

Papa Dodgen's Biscuits

My mom's family put together a cookbook of family recipes several years ago. I tried making these biscuits for the first time today. I am glad to have the recipes as our family continues to change with losing our loved family members and gaining some new additions too.

First preheat your oven to 425


Mix together 1 1/2 C of flour, 1 T baking powder, 1 t baking soda, 1 T sugar, 1 T of oil, a little bit of salt


Then add 2/3 C of buttermilk
You will have to look at see if you need a little more flour for your dough to look right


Roll out on wax paper for easy clean up


Cut out your biscuits with a small glass or biscuit cutters. I got these for Christmas.
Place on a lightly greased pan and cook at 425 for 12-15 minutes


This recipe makes 6 biscuits, you can double as needed.

Pizza Roll-ups

This is one from Michael's mom.

You need: a pizza crust, whatever pizza sauce you like, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni (or whatever meat you like)


Unroll the crust and cover with pizza sauce, layer pepperoni then cheese. Roll up like a cinamon roll (my hands were too messy for a picture). Then once you have it all rolled up cut out individual rolls.


Place in a pie pan and cover with some more cheese


Cook in the oven at 425 (or whatever temperature is on your pizza dough) for 15 minutes, or until the dough is cooked.
Easy and delicious!

Meat Balls

My sister made these the day we cooked together

You need 2 lbs of ground beef, 1 C of bread crumbs, 2 large eggs, 1/3 C of milk, 1 t. dried onion powder, 1 t. dried basil, 1 t. salt, 1/2 t pepper, Preheat the oven to 375F


Adding the bread crumbs to the meat


Mixing it all together


Take a rounded tablespoon of the mixture and roll it into a ball with your hands. If you have a broiler pan use that. When I made them at home I used a cookie sheet covered with foil (for easier clean up). Bake the meatballs until brown, 30-40 minutes. Serve at once or cool and freeze for later.


I used all of the ones we made together and made more later. They are great to freeze into the portion size you need and have on hand in the freezer for a quick filling meal. When you want to use them heat them on the stove with pasta sauce and serve with whole wheat pasta.

Shannon's Peanut Butter Balls

You need: 5& 1/4 C of powdered sugar, 2 sticks of margarine, 2 cups of creamy peanut butter, 12 oz of milk chocolate pieces, 1/4 square of paraffin wax.


Melt the butter and mix with sugar and peanut butter


Mix and then chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.


First you melt the paraffin wax over low heat and then add the chocolate and melt mixing together (this is my make shift double boiler)


Make 1 inch peanut butter balls and dip in chocolate using a tooth pick. Set on wax paper to cool.

Thanks for the recipe Shannon! These were great!

Wedding Punch

I call this wedding punch, because it is the one my mom made for my wedding. I made it for a friend's baby shower last month.


Mix 5C of water with 2 C of sugar stirring the water until the sugar melts


Puree a carton of strawberries in a food processor


Mash 3 large ripe bananas


Add a carton of concentrated orange juice to the water mixture


Add in one large can of pineapple juice


Add in the strawberries and bananas


Mix together


I'm sure there is some other way to do this, but pour the punch into plastic cups and place in the freezer. Before you serve take out and defrost under hot water. Put in punch bowl and mash frozen punch into sprite. Makes 28 cups with this recipe + 2 liters of sprite. It is so good!


Here we are at the shower and the punch.

Breakfast Casserole

My mom makes this on Christmas morning. It is one of my favorites!


You will need 2 C of milk, 8 eggs, 6-8 slices of bread, cheese, and sausage or ham.


Butter the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan and lay the pieces of bread so that they cover the bottom.


Together in a bowl wisk 8 eggs and 2 cups of milk until completed mixed together


Layer the cooked sausage on top of the bread, and cover with grated cheese


Cover with the egg and milk mixture.
Cook at 325 for 45 minutes. You can also make this the night before and refrigerate until the morning.