Turkey Soup

For years, chicken noodle has been the miraculous cure for the common cold- at least according to everyone’s grandma. My family relies on Turkey Soup to cure their ills though. Mind over matter most likely, but as long as they think it “cures” them, I’m happy.
4-8 turkey wings
4-8 carrots
4-8 stalks of celery
Clean turkey [...]

Shrimp Jambalaya

1 1/2 cups White rice (I prefer Uncle Ben’s)
3/4 cup Tomato juice
3/4 cup water
1 pound of shrimp, peeled and deveined (or just buy a couple of cans of cocktail shrimp)
1 can of cooked okra
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1 cup of chopped ham
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper to taste
Additional tomato juice
Cook rice [...]

Salmon Patties

If keeping costs to a minimum is important to you, you can’t go wrong with salmon patties (also called croquets- fancy name for a simple thing). For about $3, you can fix enough to adequately feed a family of 5 and still have left-overs.
1 large can salmon (I prefer red, my family prefers pink)
1 [...]

Potato Pancakes

I hate left-over mashed (or creamed) potatoes.  No matter how you reheat them, they never are quite that great.  My Grandmother didn’t believe in wasting anything, so she’d take those left-over mashed potatoes and turn them into a tasty treat- albeit, probably an unhealthy sidedish.
1 1/2 cups cold mashed potatoes
3 eggs, beaten
1 small [...]

Chicken Salad

This works well with left-over turkey after Thanksgiving too.
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken
1 stalk celery, chopped into small pieces
2 eggs, boiled, peeled, and chopped
3 tablespoons sweet pickle cubes or relish
salt, pepper, mayonnaise to taste
Bake chicken (covered) with a sprinkling of salt and pepper at 350* until no longer pink.  Allow chicken to cool to a [...]

Pecan Cresents

These are named “cresents” because you’re supposed to make them into cresent moon shapes.  Personally, I think they look gross shaped like that- definitely nothing I’d want to eat.  So I make mine into small round cookies.  They taste great and look better that way.
1/2 cup of margarine at room temperature
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup [...]

Chocolate Peanutbutter Balls

This recipe has no twist of my own.  It’s impossible to improve on sheer perfection.  I got the recipe from Home Ec. class back in high school.  The students made these near Christmas every year and got to take home their creations.  Home Ec. students had lots of friends on chocolate peanutbutter ball day. [...]

No Cook Fudge!

I swear I could eat my weight in good chocolate fudge. I’ve always had a hard time with candy though, as apparently I don’t know “hard ball” stage from “soft crack”. I finally figured out, fudge doesn’t have to be cooked to be good.
4 ounces German sweet chocolate
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup [...]