Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

1 large onion, diced
2 c. carrots, diced
1 c. celery, diced
1 cube butter, melted
1 c. flour
Saute the carrots, celery and onions in a large soup/stock pot with the butter. Saute on medium heat until the vegetables are soft. Add the flour to the vegetables and season with salt, pepper, parsley and garlic powder (or fresh garlic). Combine until flour is evenly distributed on the vegetables. to the vegetables and flour mixture add the following:
5-6 c. whole milk, half & half, heavy whipping cream or water with powdered milk
1-2 cans chicken broth (start with one and see if you need the other)
4 c. cooked white rice (long grain, basmati, jasmine, etc. will work well)
1/2 c. cooked wild rice
4 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (if you have frozen cooked chicken in your freezer, use that--if not, just saute or boil the chicken breasts and then shred or cube before adding to the soup)
2 T. salt
1 T. pepper
2 t. garlic powder
Dash of cayenne pepper
2 T. dried parsley
Stir in the milk and chicken broth until combined and everything is mixed together. Once the milk/soup is warmed through, add the chicken breasts and rice. If the soup is too thick, add more milk or chicken broth. This recipe can easily be adjusted with more broth or milk to make the soup to your desired consistency. Simmer the soup for 30 minutes on low heat until ready to serve. Taste soup to see if any more seasonings, salt or pepper are needed. Garnish soup with extra parsley (dried or fresh). **Soup will be as thick as the type of milk product you use. If you use heavy whipping cream your soup with be extra thick and creamy. Using 2% milk however, will give you a thinner soup but still be delicious. If your soup is too thin you can always add a little more flour or cornstarch to your soup and let it simmer.

Mrs. Fields Cookies

2 cup brown sugar
2 cup white sugar
2 cup butter
Beat top ingredients then add
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
Mix together
Add
4-5 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
2 cup chocolate chips
5 cups oatmeal
Mix together and place cookies on sheet
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes
Makes about 6-7 dozen

Sour Cream Enchiladas

Shredded chicken or beef
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 small container sour cream
1 can green chilis
Flour or corn tortillas
Shredded cheddar cheese

Mix chicken, soup, sour cream and chilis
Spread on tortillas
roll tortillas and place in 9x3 pan
Top with remainder of mixture and cheese
Ake at 365 for 30 minutes

Corn Chowder

1 lb. bacon fried and crumbled (cook with 1 onion diced)
In same pan add 2 cans creamed corn, 16 oz. half and half, 1 small container sour cream, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, and 2 cups potatos cooked and diced
Cook on simmer until warm

Cilantro Lime Chicken and Rice Salad

3 Cup cooked rice
2 Chicken breasts cooked and shredded

Saute in pan
Chicken, 1 onion diced, 1 can diced tomatos, 1 can green chilis, 2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp salt

Mix in rice then add
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1.5 cup frozen corn
1 cup cilantro, chopped
0.25 cup green onions, chopped
3 tomatos, diced
2 avacados, peeled and diced

Dressing
0.5 cup lime juice
0.25 cup white vinegar
0.25 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup veg. oil
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
salt

mix dressing then stir into salad
can serve hot or cold

Buttermilk Biscuits

Buttermilk Biscuits
Makes 12
2 c. flour
1 T. cornstarch
2 t. baking powder
1 t. sugar
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
8 T. butter, cut into 1/4 in. cubes and chilled
3/4 c. cold buttermilk (or 1/4 c. milk & 1 t. lemon juice--you could also use powdered milk if you didn't have milk on hand with the lemon juice)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix with a wisk. Scatter the butter evenly over the top and pules to combine, about 12 pulses (or use a dough blender/pastry knife to cut butter into dry ingredients). Stir in the buttermilk with a spatula until the mixture forms a soft, slightly sticky ball. Do not over mix. Divide the dough into 12 even pieces (I just grabbed balls and eyeballed 12). Roll into a rough ball and place on an ungreased baking sheet. If you want cute and evenly formed biscuits you can roll the dough out onto a floured counter, roll the dough out, and use a cup to make perfectly shaped biscuits. Bake until the biscuit tops are light brown, 10-12 minutes. Serve warm with jam or gravy.

Marinara Sauce

Marinara Red Sauce (great for freezing!)
Makes 18 qts. (can 1/2 recipe for a smaller batch)
4 lb. ground Italian sausage (spicy is optional)
1 8 oz. pkg. mushrooms, sliced
3 large fresh garlic cloves
1/3 c. salt (or more depending on taste)
1 T. pepper
Red pepper flakes (optional—to taste)
1 1/2 lb. mini carrots finely blended/diced
1 bunch celery finely blended/diced
3 medium white onions/diced
Other vegetables-optional (zucchini, peppers, etc.)
1 tbsp. olive oil
5 T. basil (Add at the end of the cooking process to retain it's flavor)
2 T. sugar
30 cans of stewed tomatoes (15oz.), with juices (whole) or frozen/fresh tomatoes from your garden-if they are fresh, add a little more sugar and salt to balance the acidic flavor. If you use only fresh tomatoes you will need anywhere from 40-50 tomatoes (depending on their size).
4 cans tomato paste for thickening

Use food processor to dice carrots, onions and celery (and any other vegetables) into small chunks. Sauté all above ingredients (carrots, onions, celery, sausage, mushrooms & spices) in large saucepan with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add tomatoes including juice from can. For a smooth red sauce, puree all tomatoes and ingredients together in blender (or use blender/wand-- they work great!). Or, for meatier sauce, puree tomatoes only, and leave other ingredients in chunks. Allow sauce to simmer 2-5 hours on low with out the lid, sauce should reduce about one third. Add basil right before serving. Taste to make sure sauce does not need any more salt, sugar or seasoning. Simmer on stove or in roaster pan until thick. Let sauce cool and then freeze sauce in Tupperware’s or freezer bags for later meals.