Broccoli Chicken Cheese Soup

Years ago, before the kids were born, I went to a relief society dinner with my mom. They served soup and salad and included the recipes for this soup and some really yummy salad dressing on the program. This soup is so good. It's pretty and satisfying and delicious. 

Serves 10-12 

3-4 cups water with chicken boul. or 3 cups chicken broth 
5 skinned chicken breasts 
3 large carrots, diced 
3 stalks celery, chopped fine 
1 medium onion, diced 
1/2 cup butter 
1/2 cup flour 
4 cups (1 quart) whole milk 
1 1/2 pounds precooked and drained broccoli 
15 oz. jar cheez whiz 

Boil chicken in 3 cups of broth with carrots, celery, and onion for 1 hour. Remove chicken and veggies. Save 2-3 cups of broth. Set the chicken aside to cool and cut or shred into pieces to be added later. In a large pot, melt butter and stir in flour. Slowly add milk and saved broth. Add veggies, chicken and broccoli. Heat all together and then add cheez whiz. Great in bread bowls. 

Enjoy!

No Knead Bread

I am so so glad I stumbled upon this recipe. It is easy and is one of the few recipes that has turned out every single time I've made it. And I've made it a lot. Also one of the few that the whole family loves.

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups water

In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Cover with the bowl it was mixed in, let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Gently flop dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is fine. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another few minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

*Also really great with add ins. Just add extra ingredients when making the dough. My favorite is a couple tablespoons of chopped rosemary with a few cloves of garlic.

It's also good when you add things into the dough before it rises. I like to add minced garlic and rosemary.

Crock pot

Roast beef, onion soup mix, garlic, bay leaf

Chicken breasts, crushed pineapple, bbq sauce

Microwave Caramel

I looove caramel. But until I found this recipe my success at making it was kind of hit and miss. I've made these so many times and they always turn out.  They're delicious and make a really great gift. 


Microwave Caramel

1 cup Salted Butter- softened
1 cup White Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Light Karo Syrup
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

Mix all ingredients well in a large microwave safe bowl. Place into the microwave and cook on high for 5 minutes. Take the bowl from the microwave (bowl will be hot) and stir well. Continue cooking on high for an additional 5 minutes, remove and stir. Cook for 3 more minutes- for a total of 13 mins. Remove from the microwave, stir and pour into a 9 x 13 pan to set. Once caramel has set cut and wrap in wax paper and store in an air tight container.

Cool aid popcorn

This is a kid pleaser for sure. And you can make it in any color to go with a theme for a party or holiday.


Candy popcorn flavored with Kool-Aid. 

Ingredients

• 2 cups Sugar
• 1 cup Light Corn Syrup
• ⅔ cups Butter Or Margarine
• 6 quarts Plain Popped Popcorn
• 2 packages Kool-Aid (Any Flavor You Want)
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda

Preparation

Preheat oven to 225 F.
Boil sugar, syrup and butter/margarine together for 3 minutes.
On a large shallow ungreased baking dish, spread out popped popcorn.
In a separate bowl, combine the Kool-Aid with the baking soda.
Remove sugar syrup from the stove and carefully stir in the Kool-Aid mixture. (Note: This will make the sugar mixture puff up. Be careful to not get burned.)
Now take sugar mixture and pour it over the popped popcorn. Carefully mix all till combined.
Place it in the oven and stir every 10 minutes. Repeat this 3 more times.
Take popcorn out of the oven and when it starts to cool, break it apart into pieces.
Enjoy!

Cheesy Red Pepper Dip

This recipe is from Our Best Bites and it is super crazy delicious. My mom is now known for it and often brings it to functions. Major crowd pleaser, great left over, easy to make- winning recipe for sure. I always serve it with a loaf of no knead bread.


Cheesy Roasted Red Pepper Dip

7oz jar roasted red peppers (about 1C diced)
4 C grated pepper jack cheese (3/4 lb)
8oz cream cheese- room temperature
3/4 C mayonnaise
2 T minced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350. Remove peppers from jar and blot excess water with paper towels. You want to make sure they are dry so they don’t add moisture to the dip. Then dice ‘em up.

In a bowl, combine cream cheese, mayo, onion, garlic, and dijon. Stir to combine and then mix in grated cheese and the diced peppers. Place in an 8×8-ish dish (pie plate works). At this point you can pop it in the fridge if you’re going to cook it later and you can even make it a couple of days ahead of time. Place in the oven and cook for 40-45 minutes. Baking time depends on the dish. It will start to bubble and brown on the outside edge, and you want it to be bubbly all the way through to the center. It will be nice and golden brown on top, especially around the edges. Serve immediately.

Mint Oreo truffles

These are really easy to make but a little time consuming. They're surprisingly delicious, though, and totally worth the effort. They can be customized to any holiday or occasion and are always a huge hit. You can use a package of regular Oreos instead but I like the mint  truffles best.

Mint Oreo Truffles

1 pkg. Double Stuf Oreos – Cool Mint Flavor – (1 lb. , 1 oz. pkg.)
• use 22 cookies with cream centers included
• use 10 cookies with cream centers discarded
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, room temperature
chocolate bark or candy coating*

1. Finely crush the cookies in a food processor or a ziploc bag with a rolling pin.
2. Stir in softened cream cheese. Use the back of a large spoon(or hands) to help mash the two together completely.
3. Roll the mixture into 1″ balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet.
4. Place covered in freezer or refrigerator for a few minutes to help retain shape when dipping in melted chocolate.
5. Melt chocolate as directed on the package and then dip balls into chocolate, tap off extra and set aside on wax paper covered cookie sheet to dry.
6. Refrigerate and enjoy!