Monkey Bread

I just made my first batch of chili soup this season, and that demands some type of sweet and sticky "side dish."  Monkey bread fit the bill perfectly.

Only four ingredients!

Chopping and shaking goes much easier with some help...especially when he ends up eating most of it!

Butter, sugar, & cinnamon for the sauce

Scrump-diddly-umptious!

Monkey Bread
4 tubes Pillsbury biscuits (not Grands)
3/4 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
     Mix sugar & cinnamon in dish.  Cut each biscuit into fourths.  Put biscuit pieces in the sugar mixture & shake to coat.  Put pieces into a greased bundt pan.
Sauce:
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
     Mix these ingredients in sauce pan & bring to a boil.  Pour over biscuits.  Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes.

Fabulous Fall

I have been loving this fall weather lately!  It's so nice to get a break from the oppressive summer heat.  A sweatshirt and jeans is my all-time favorite outfit, and there's also something satisfying about seeing the crops being harvested.  Another plus about fall: soup!  I love soup, but I just can't stand to eat it when it's so hot outside.  One of our best family recipes, courtesy of Grandma M, is chili.  It used to be a highlight at church when she would make gallons of chili for our Christmas caroling night.  But who wants to think about Christmas now?!  It's time for soup, not snow!

Chili Soup
3 lbs. hamburger
1 can chili beans
26 oz. can tomato soup
12 oz. can tomato paste
10.5 oz can Hormel Chili with beans
1 tsp. minced onion
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 qts. water
Brown hamburger; drain grease.  (You may mash beans with an electric mixer, if you wish.)  Mix all the remaining ingredients together with hamburger.  Heat in crockpot for 4 hours or so on low, stirring occasionally.

Add crackers and cheese!  And maybe a side of cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, or other sticky goodness!

Tater Tot Casserole

 Here's a little bit more of an "updated" version of this classic hot dish!

Brown 2 pounds of hamburger.  (And if you don't have one of these nifty things form the Pampered Chef,  you should get one!)

Add soups and rice and put in a 9x13 or two-8x8 pans.

Layer on your can of vegetables, cheese, and tots.

If you don't want to eat leftovers for a week, split the recipe into two pans, and freeze one!

Bake and devour!

 Tater Tot Casserole
2 pounds hamburger
1/2 package dry onion soup mix
3/4 c. instant rice
2 cans cream of chicken soup
Shredded cheddar cheese
1 can vegetables (green beans or corn work well)
Frozen tater tots
     Brown beef; drain.  Add dry onion soup, rice, and cream soups.  Spread in 9x13 pan (or two-8x8 pans).  Layer canned vegetables on top, then shredded cheese, then tater tots.  Bake at 350 degrees for 
1 hour.

M&M Bars

These bars are so moist and delicious.  And easy!

The needed ingredients.

Although the recipe tells you dump everything together, I usually soften the butter and mix it with the two sugars first.

Once everything is mixed, pat into a cookie sheet and bake.

Yummy!

M&M Bars
1/2 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. peanut butter
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
     Mix well.  Add:
4 1/2 c. oatmeal
3/4 c. milk chocolate chips
3/4 c. M&Ms
     Mix and put in a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown.  Do not overbake.