Muddie Buddies (or Puppy Chow)

9 cups Rice, corn or Honey Nut Chex (I use store brand)

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Into a large bowl, measure cereal and set aside.

2. In a microwaveable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter uncovered on high for 1 minute; stir. Microwave 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla.

3. Pour chocolate mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. (I mix it with two spoons, one in each hands, like I am tossing a salad)

4. Pour into a 2 gallon bag. (or into two 1 gallon bags as I havenever seen a 2 gallon bag) Add Powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake untilwell coated. Spread onto waxed paper until cooled.

5. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

This is actually a Chicken Potpie recipe I got from Allrecipes.com, but I just changed it to turkey. It makes 12 servings, which wil make two pies for our family of 3. One to eat right away, the other to freeze until later on. My changes (other than the meat, are inbold type)

Turkey Potpie

2 cups diced peeled potatoes

1 ¾ cups sliced carrots

2/3 cup chopped onion

1 cup butter or margarine

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 ¾ tsp salt

1 tsp dried thyme 3.4 tsp pepper

3 cups chicken broth

1 ½ cups milk

4 cups cubed (or shredded) turkey

1 cup of frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn

1 pastry for 9 inch double crust pie

1. Place potatoes and carrots in a large saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until crisp tender. Drain and set aside. In a large skillet, sauté onion in butter until tender. Stir in the flour, salt, thyme, and pepper until blended. Gradually stir in brother and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add the turkey, peas, corn, potatoes and carrots; remove from the heat.

2. Line two 9 in. pie plates with bottom pastry; trim even with the edge of plate. Fill pastry shells with turkey mixture. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pies. Cut slits or decorative cutouts in pastry. Place over filling; trim, seal and flute edges. I didn’t put the pastry shell in the bottom (gets soggy that way and we like it crisp). We put the mixture in the pie plates and put the pastry shell on top. Also this way, all we need is one box of pastry shells to make two pies. For the second pie that I freeze, I just pour the cooled mixture into a container to freeze without the pastry shell.

3. Bake one potpie at 425°F for 35-40 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.

Americain Apple Pie

Pastry for double crust 9 inch pie

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp salt

6 cups cored, peeled, and thinly sliced apples

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp butter

1.) Preheat oven to 425 F. Line pie plate with half the pastry.

2.) In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add apples and toss to coat evenly. Spoon apple mixture into pastry lined pie plates. Sprinkle with lemon juice and dot with butter.

3.) Top with remaining pastry. Trim and flute edges. Cut slits in top crust to allow steam to escape.

4.) To prevent over browning, cover edge of pie with foil. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 20-25 minutes or until top is golden brown.

*Note* While I am peeling and cutting up the apples, I place them in cold water with some lemon juice added to prevent the apples from browning.

Hot Mulled Cider

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 quarts cider

1 tsp whole all spice

1 1/2 tsp whole cloves

2-3 sticks of cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

Combine sugar, nutmeg and cider in crock pot. Tie the whole spicestogether in cheese cloth. Add to crock pot. Cover, cook on low 2-8 hours. Serve from crock pot with ladle.

I am not sure where this recipe came from, but it is a winner here in my house. We had it tonight for dinner in fact.

Savory Meatloaf

1 1/2 lb. ground beef

1 cup milk

1 tbs Worchestershire sauce

1 tsp fresh sage, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground mustard

1/4 tsp pepper

1 clove garlic, finley chopped ot 1/8 tsp garlic powder

1 egg

1/2 cup dried bread crumbs

1 small onion, chopped

1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. Mix all ingredients Spread mixture in ungreased loaf pan or shape into a 9x5" loaf in ungreased rectangular pan
3. Bake uncovered 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.

I was finishing cleaning out this storage unit I had been renting for the past 10 years, when I stumbled across this vintage cookbook that had to be from my father's collection. I don't remember it much at all. I was having fun looking through it last night. My hubby thought it was cute to see me curled up in bed like I was reading a novel, but instead I was looking at this cookbook. Some of the recipes are ones that I have never herd of or seen in this day and age. All the recipes are hand written, some are easy to read, others very hard.

The copyright page said it was first published in 1939 and the edition I have was published in 1944. It is a church cookbook complied by the trinity Mission of Trinity Church in Rutland, Vermont and The Women's Service League or St. Paul's Church in Burlington, Vermont. There are alot of little drawings throughout the book which just add to the charm of the book. I think I might give some ofthese recipes a try.

So, the other night, after reading a post about these cookies on Homeschool Reviews, I was craving these cookies. Lots of people call them No Bake Cookies, but growing up, we knew them as Boiled Cookies, because, well, you boil them on the stove. In a way you do cook them, so you can't call them no bake cookies. Great to make duringthe hot summer months.

Boiled Cookies

2 cups white sugar

3-5 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder (add more or less to your taste)

½ cup butter (never ever use margarine)

½ cup milk

1 pinch of salt

3 cups quick cooking oats

½ cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1.      In a saucepan, bring sugar, cocoa, butter, milk, and salt to a rapid boil. Make sure that it is boiling for 1 minute (from start of the rapid boil not from the very start). 

2.    Add peanut butter and stir until mostly melted. Take off heat and add vanilla and oats, mix well. 

3.    Working quickly, drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper and let cool.