Corn Chowder

I got this recipe from my former co-worker Julie Heaton. I love this chowder!! It's sooooo good! Julie made other suggestions on using this basic white sauce to create other soups such as leaving out the bacon and adding broccoli and cheese to make cream of broccoli soup. I haven't tryed that yet but I will some day.

Corn Chowder

1/2 lb. thick sliced bacon, fried crisp and cut into chunks
2-3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1-2 cans of creamed corn
1 Qt. half & half
1 sq. margarine or 1/2 bacon drippings or a combination of the two to equal 1/2 cup.
1/2 c. flour
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, boil potatoes and onion in slightly salted water. (Just barely enough water to cover the veggies). Cook until tender but firm.

While vegetables are cooking, make a white sauce of the margarine and half and half. Melt margarine or bacon drippings in a large fry pan over medium heat. Add the flour, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes. Add half & half, stirring constantly until very thick. Add salt and pepper.

Add the white sauce, bacon, and creamed corn to the potatoes (do not drain the potatoes). Stir constantly as you bring the chowder to a gentle boil. Remove from heat and serve.

*You can add more milk to make it thinner.

Carmel-Krispie Balls

***Attention Anna!****this is the recipe you like! Lol!

I got this recipe from my mom along time ago and I know its not sophisticated or anything but these little treats are so good you can't stop eating them. I made these one time for my roommates and I came home one day from work and found them all gathered around the treats enjoying them and they told me they couldn't stop thinking about them at school and hurried home. Anna is my coworker and requested these for her birthday.

Carmel-Krispie Balls

1 pkg Rice Krispies

1 pkg large marshmallows

1 can sweetened condensed milk

14 oz. pkg of Kraft carmels

1/2 c butter

Melt carmels and butter in top of a double boiler (I've used the microwave before and it works just as well). Add, condensed milk and mix well. Dip marshmallows into carmel mixture and roll in rice krispies.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I just got this recipe a few days ago from my mom who raved about it. She had gotten it from my Aunt Linda who got it while serving her mission in South America. It seems weird that it came from South America cause I would associate sweet and sour with Asian cooking. I always assumed that South America would have the same cuisine as Mexico. But you know what happens when you assume, it makes an ASS out of U and ME ( A guy at work told me that). Lol!!! Also, my really good friend Maggie is from Brazil and we have a couple of Brazilian restuarants here and their cuisine isn't like Mexican either. In fact, Maggie doesn't like spicy food and she has alot of Italian influence in her cooking. One of my favorite things she makes is Gnocchi which is little balls of mashed potato with marinara sauce and cheese over it like spaghetti. I'll get the recipe from her and post it. Its really good as is this sweet and sour chicken recipe which I will definitely make again except next time I think I will cut it up in smaller pieces or use chicken tenders.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

2 large chicken breasts
garlic salt
1 c corn starch
1 egg
1 T. water
vegetable oil for frying

Sprinkle chicken breasts with garlic salt ( I just use a little cause I don't like alot of garlic) let sit for 1 hour in the fridge to marinate. Then, dip chicken in cornstarch and then in the mixture of egg and water. Heat the oil in a frying pan, brown the chicken 2-3 min. on each side and then place in a baking dish. While the chicken is frying, make the sauce.

Sauce:

1 c. sugar
1/3 c. white vinegar
1/3 c. ketchup
1/4 c. chicken broth
1 t. season salt
2 T. soy sauce

Mix all ingredients together in a microwave safe bowl and microwave 5 minutes, stirring once half way through. Pour sauce over chicken and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes uncovered. Every 10 minutes Baste the chicken with the sauce.

Serves 2

Excellent recipe! I served it over rice with a vegetable on the side.

Buttermilk Syrup

I got this recipe at Macey's after work today. They were having their big case lot food storage sale and had alot of sample tables set up with ways to use your food storage. When I saw this syrup with buttermilk in it, I thought that seemed weird and then I tasted it. It's really good. Super sweet and caramely if thats a word. I happened to have some buttermilk at home that was about to expire so I made some tonight. Excellent!

Buttermilk Syrup

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. Buttermilk
1/2 c. real butter
1 t. light corn syrup
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla

Bring the first four ingredients to a boil and then add the baking soda and vanilla.

Serves 4-6 people