French Toast

2 slices bread (1 inch thick french bread usually)
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
cinnamon to taste
2 tbsp butter

1. Mix egg, milk, vanilla and cinnamon in a bowl.
2. Soak first slice of bread in mixture
3. Melt 1 tbsp in frying pan. Brown both sides.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with second slice.

This is great with all kinds of toppings - maple syrup, strawberries, just be creative.

Krab Piccata

1/2 lb krab
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
spaghetti

1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions.
2. Heat krab in olive oil.
3. Add butter, lemon juice and garlic to krab and cook until butter is melted.
4. Serve over spaghetti.

This is another one of those really easy ones you can add to. Dill weed is very good with this too.

Chicken with Snow Peas

Chicken breasts (enough for whoever is eating)
Italian salad dressing (1/2 - 1 tsp per chicken breast)
lemon juice (1 tsp per chicken breast)
snow peas or sugar snap peas (lots!)
lemon pepper to taste
garlic, diced, to taste

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place chicken breasts in foil and add lemon juice, lemon pepper and Italian salad dressing.
3. Cover with foil tightly (to keep juices in) and cook 10-15 minutes.
4. Add peas and sprinkle lots of garlic on top.
5. Cover again and cook about 30 minutes more or until both chicken and peas are done (the peas take surprisingly long to cook).

As they say, snow peas for the wicked!

This is one of those recipes where I don't measure things out much at all. I know by looking what will be about enough. It's one of my husband's favorites, however, and the chicken comes out very tender.

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

1-1/2 lb ground beef
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup worchesterchire sauce
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup catsup

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix ground beef, milk, eggs, soy sauce, worchestershire sauce, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, ginger and oatmeal thorougly.
3. In a lightly greased 5x9 loaf pan, spread half the brown sugar and cover with half the catsup. Shape meat mixture into loaf and place on top of catsup. Cover with remaining brown sugar and catsup.
4. Bake for one hour or until juices run clear.

I don't always use the loaf pan for this one - sometimes I use a baking dish so that I have room to add potatoes and carrots, making the entire meal in one dish. I just place the brown sugar and catsup in the middle, and vegetables on either side. It makes for a rougher loaf shape, but it still tastes great, of course, and the juices flavor the vegetables nicely.

This one also freezes very nicely, so if you like to cook ahead, this is a great recipe.

Sticky Roast Chicken

1 4 lb whole chicken
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp lemon pepper
1 clove minced garlic
1 onion, quartered
3 whole cloves garlic

1. Mix salt, paprika, thyme, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, lemon pepper and mixed garlic in a bowl.
2. Remove and discard giblets from chicken. Rub chicken inside and out with mixture. Place onion and whole garlic cloves inside chicken.
3. Recommended: Refrigerate overnight or for several hours.
4. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F
5. Place chicken in roasting pan. Bake uncovered for 4 hours.

If you like the mixture and plan to make this one regularly, consider making a large quantity and store it in a jar to ease preparation of this recipe.

You can also place chopped vegetables such as carrots or potatoes in the bottom of the pan and have most of your meal ready all at once. The drippings add a very nice flavor.

Leftover ham stirfry

leftover ham, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tbsp oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup pineapple juice
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
pepper to taste
2-3 carrots, chopped
1/2 chayote squash, chopped
1/2-1 cup broccoli
1 red bell pepper
1/2 can pineapple chunks

1. Combine oil, soy sauce, pineapple juice, garlic, brown sugar, ginger and pepper in frying pan. Add ham, carrots and chayote squash and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes.
2. Add broccoli, red bell pepper and pineapple chunks and cook on low for 5 more minutes.
3. Serve over rice or noodles.

This is one of my favorite ways to use up leftover ham. The goal is to be a little bit sweet, but not too sweet, and I like my vegetables just a little crunchy. If you like your vegetables more thoroughly cooked, increase the time or heat. I also like to make the ham just a little crispy. If you only want the ham warmed, add it during step 2 rather than step 1.

Stir frying is one of those things you almost can't mess up once you have a basic recipe. So long as your sauce tastes good with the meat, you can throw in almost any vegetables you have on hand.

Orange & Honey Glazed Ham

1 fully cooked bone-in ham (spiral sliced or unsliced ok)
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1/3 cup honey
1/2 orange, juiced and zested
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 cloves minced garlic

1. Cook ham according to package directions or at 250 degrees for 15-20 minutes per pound in a roasting pan.
2. Combine other ingredients in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil then simmer on low for 10 minutes. Be careful as this mixture boils over easily if the heat is too high.
3. When the ham is about 45 minutes from being done, start glazing with the mixture. Use a good brush so that you don't leave any hairs, and brush on mixture about every 10 minutes.

The glaze leaves a beautiful shine on the ham and is quite sweet. It really gets all over a spiral sliced ham, which can be an advantage if you like sweet.

This recipe takes a bit more effort than most of my recipes, but it's well worth it.

Easy Teriyaki Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small bottle teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can pineapple chunks, reserve juice

1. Cook chicken in olive oil in frying pan. As it cooks, combine teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, garlic and juice from pineapple chunks, then add to the chicken.
2. When chicken is almost done, add pineapple chunks and cook for about 5 more minutes.
3. Serve over rice or noodles.
   

Sometimes I like to add carrots or sugar snap peas to this one. This is also very easy to throw into a crockpot and cook for a few hours. Do not add the pineapple to the crockpot until the very end. Pineapple really does not do well when it has been cooked for hours. A half hour or less for pineapple in the crockpot is plenty.