German Pancakes

1 C flour
6 eggs
1 C milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 C butter

Beat eggs. Add flour, milk and salt. Melt Butter and pour into batter. Mix lightly. Pour into a sprayed 10x15 pan. Bake 400* for 20 minutes. Serve with syrup and/or powdered sugar.

Orange Chicken

1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken, cut in 2-inch chunks
1/2 cup flour
olive oil, for browning the chicken
1/2 tablespoon salt
6 ounces (1/2 can) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed (I'd opt for little-to-no pulp. The pulp can taste a bit bitter when cooked)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons ketchup

The Directions.
Use a 4 quart slow cooker for best results. Dredge the chicken pieces with the flour, and shake off the excess. Go ahead and throw away any remaining flour, we won't need it. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on the stove and brown the chicken on all sides. There is no need to fully cook it, just sear it enough for the flour to stick and get a nice coating.Plop the chicken pieces into your slow cooker.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the orange juice concentrate, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, salt, and ketchup. Taste. If you'd like the chicken to be a bit sweeter, add a touch more sugar. Pour sauce mixture evenly over the chicken, and toss gingerly to coat.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or on high for 3 to 4. Serve over white or brown rice.

3 bean Chicken Chili

• 1 medium zucchini, chopped
• 15 oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 15 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 15 oz can corn, drained
• 2 cups (16 oz) thick and chunky mild salsa
• 3 cups cooked shredded chicken
• 1 1/2- 2 Tbsp chili powder
• 2 14 oz cans chicken broth
• 8 oz tomato sauce
• 1 garlic pressed
• 1 tsp ground cumin

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 min. Top with chips, cheese, sour cream, avocado and other desired toppings

This makes a BIG pot of soup.

Awesome Sloppy Joes

This is my first time contributing to this blog, but I couldn't pass this one up. We decided to make Sloppy Joes for dinner, but without a can of Manwich, I was at a loss. (I know, it's sad really... but I'm learning!!!) So I googled "Sloppy Joe Recipes" and came across one that had salsa in the ingredient list and knew that that's the one! (We just finished making a batch of fresh homemade salsa) It's delish!!

Ruby Drive Sloppy Joes (AllRecipes.com)

1 lb. ground burger (we used buffalo, but I'm sure what ever you prefer is great!)
1 1/2 c. ketchup
1 c. chunky salsa (I used our homemade salsa)
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. white vinegar
2 T. Dijon (or spicy) mustard
1 T. hot sauce (we left this out for the kids sake and just added it to the adults sandwiches)
Buns!

**(I also added one large green bell pepper and it was SO good)

Season and brown your burger, drain. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for about 20-30 minutes to let the liquid thicken up and serve! Enjoy!!!

Lemonade

This is really really good.

1 Quart water
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup FRESH lemon juice
Sparkling water (non tonic)

Mix first 3 together, fill glass 3/4 with lemon mixture, then fill with Sparkling water. Enjoy

You can also puree some fruit (raspberries, strawberries etc.) with a little powdered sugar. Put in the glass BEFORE you add the lemonade and water.

Easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

A FAMILY FAVORITE ANY TIME OF YEAR Now bear with me, this is a recipe like most of the recipes I have consist of a little of this and a little of that "Old Family Favorites". That is how I learned to cook by sight, taste and smell. But I will try, here goes..

First this fall I canned some chicken I got on sale and with the ends I wouldn't eat I canned broth, so I am starting with that..... You can start with store bought broth or make your own.

Large Stew Pot fill about half way with broth add onion, carrots, celery, a little sage, garlic, salt and pepper, whatever your family likes.

Add canned chicken or poached chicken pieces.

Bring to a full rolling boil. Let boil whille you get your noodles ready. (this way the chicken gets really tender hopefully falling apart and all the seasoning has a chance to cure)

Homemade Egg Noodles: (for each batch)(Hint: my family of 7 we 4x)

1 1/2 Cups of Flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/8 tsp salt
Enough water to make a moderately stiff dough. (Hint: If it is too soft it will disinigrate in the boiling water so error on the side of stiff)

Mix all ingredients well in a mixer and knead for 5-10 min. You will see the dough become very elastic. Roll the dough with plenty of flour. When you have them as thin as you want (Hint: they will almost double in the water) roll up like a cinnamon roll. Cut into strips all the way down the roll. Toss with flour and then put into the broth. Make sure that you have your broth back up to 1/2 way up the pot. Cook for 10 min. (Hint: The flour thickens the broth and turns it "Creamy" if you don't like this use a bigger pot, more broth and a little less flour, if you don't use enough flour they will stick together) GOOD LUCK and if you have questions, leave a comment and I will try to help you out.