Hey Sands - since you'll be including a crockpot for their use, I'll give you one of my easiest crockpot recipes to use:

CROCKPOT CHINESE PEPPER STEAK

1-1/2 lbs. steak (any cheap cut)
2 Tblsp. vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup tomatoes, diced
2 green peppers, sliced in strips
1 Tblsp. cornstarch
2 Tblsp. water
1 large onion, cut in chunks

Cut steak in strips. Brown steak in oil. Mix garlic, salt, soy sauce, and sugar; pour over steak. Cook 6 hours on low in crockpot. Turn to high and add sprouts, tomatoes, green peppers, and onion. Dissolve cornstarch in water and add for thickening. Cover and cook an additional 30 minutes to 1 hour. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Also - I'd like a copy of it!!!

Thank you Pat and that gives me another great idea for the basket - crockpot liners for easy clean up! Thanks :)

Chicken Paprikash

A Church Cook Book

1 Chicken, cut into serving pieces
4 T. margarine
3 T. Paprika
1 Can Cream of Chicken soup
1 pint sour cream
Salt to taste

Spaetzles
1 ½ c. sifted flour 2 or 3 T. (heaping) sour cream
2 or 3 eggs

Saute onions in butter until transparent. Add paprika. Combine onions, chicken, & soup in a crock pot. Cook 1 hour on high or 4 or 5 hours on LOW. Or, cook in a covered pot & simmer until done. Remove chicken and add 1 pint sour cream to the liquid. Combine liquid, chicken, & Spaetzles.

Spaetzles

Make well with flour. Add eggs & sour cream; mix. Scrpe bits from a plate into boiling water or use Spaetzle maker. Cook until done; rinse with cold water.

Phyllis does this:

Cook 5 hours low. Take out & debone. Add spaetles . Cook 1 hour more to total 6 hours.

Yes, I would love a copy, please!

Tami

New England Pantry Chili

1½ lb. ground beef
1 14½oz. can Del Monte Stewed Tomato, crushed
1 pkg. Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
2 cups Baked Kidney Beans or 16oz. can Baked Kidney Beans with pork.
2 tablespoons ground cumin
½ cup beer or water
Tabasco sauce to taste.

In a large pot, scramble ground beef. Drain off fat. Add remaining ingredients and simmer 1 hour. This is a great last minute out of the pantry "friends are coming" supper. Serve with tortilla chips. I even scramble ground beef, drain and freeze it for an even quicker prep time.

I don't cook with a crockpot so I'm not sure how to adapt the recipe for one. Maybe someone can add their expertise.

Wonderful idea! I know a newly single man who would benefit from such a thing.
Linda C

Four months ago, I lost my daughter, who was survived by a husband, a 15-year-old daughter, and a 12-year-old son. I've been trying to give them easy recipes to follow, but my son-in-law came up with one himself that was really good. He chopped up some leftover chicken, boiled penne pasta, mixed this all together with mushrooms and garlic, finally adding in a jar of Alfredo sauce with Parmesan cheese. He heated this together, which turned out really well. You could add any Italian spice you wanted to it.

When you are finished with the cookbook, I would love to have a copy of it for him and the GRANDS. They are really struggling with the loss of their mom because she was a homemaker even though she had multiple degrees. She sacrificed so that she could be at home with her kids. Now, they are just lost without her. Thank you so much.

blueenough, I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter. My sympathies to you and your family.

One of my favorite "fast" recipes is for baked beans in the crockpot.

Baked Beans, Quick Version

2 cans Bush's baked beans or your favorite flavor
2 tbls yellow mustard
1/2 cup catsup
Brown sugar and molasses to taste
Bacon strips (optional)

Drain liquid from beans and put beans into crockpot. Add all other ingredients, stir and taste. If they are good, add a couple of strips of bacon to the top and bake on low 8-10 hours or on high 4-5 hours, or until the beans are thick and "sticky".

My family just loves these, any leftovers are eaten cold on bread as "baked bean sandwiches".

Annie

Thank you for the additional recipes Tami, Moose and Annie. I'll definitely add them in.

Blue, I am so so very sorry for the loss of your daughter there is nothing anyone can say to ease the loss of a child. But I am very proud of you for coming forward and sharing a recipe and your story I know that must have been very painful but maybe a little cathartic too. Lotsa Helping Hands [.com] is a web site that helps people in tough circumstances allow their community to help out with meals or rides for the childrens activities or household tasks. I would imagine your daughter and son in laws neighborhood would love to help but may not know how, perhaps a teacher in the community and the LHH site might get them off to a start.

Again I'm so sorry. And thank you for sharing I'll send the end cook book to the email in your GW profile.

Oh, I forgot my girls' camping favorite, Coke Chicken.

Just cut some red potatoes into chunks, put in the bottom of a dutch oven or covered casserole. Add some baby carrots and top with pieces of uncooked chicken. Mix half and half Coke (not sugarfree) and catsup, pour over top, add the lid and bake over the hot coals of a campfire or in the oven at 350 for about an hour and a half. It makes a kind of BBQ type sauce, sweet enough that the Girl Scouts loved it and with some bread and dessert it was a whole meal.

Annie

Thank you so much, Sands and Annie, for your condolences. I must admit that this loss has been the toughest challenge of my life. If it were not for God and my family, I probably would not be here right now. Sands, I really would appreciate your e-mailing me a copy of these recipes so that I can pass them on to my son-in-law and Grands. Their community has been wonderful to them, fixing them dinner every night for over eight weeks. They've also received numerous restaurant gift cards. My grandson's swim team is even wearing shirts that have "In memory of Angie" printed on the back. She touched so many lives during her time here on earth. It just wasn't long enough. Thank you, though, for being caring people.

Sands, I would love for you to email me a copy of your cookbook. I know several people that would benefit from something like this. Thanks for your generosity. Linda

Thank you for the additional recipes and for the requests for the finished product to help people in your world. I'm waiting until the coordinator returns from vacation [07/08] and makes a final request for recipes from the volunteer base. After we have all that wrapped up I'll post the doc on a file site and email everyone with the link so it's easy to download [like Ann does :)] Thank you for your patience, we're almost there!

I forgot to mention in my post with the chicken paprikash that I don't make the spaetzels. I buy them in the meat case at the grocery store. That will be a big help to them, also.

Tami

OK, here's a quick and easy dessert that's still a good old fashioned comfort food and relative nutritious as desserts go. (grin)

Blueberry Crisp-GrandmaÂs
================
3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, unsweetened
2 tbls lemon juice
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
.
Heat oven to 375. Arrange berries in ungreased square baking dish (8 inch) and sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine remaining ingredients until crumbly.
(I use a pastry blender, grandma used two knives). Crumble topping over berries and bake until topping is lightly browned and berries are hot, about 30 minutes. Makes 4-6 servings.

I double this and it still comes out good. Plus blueberries are low in calories, have lots of fiber and no fat, contain antioxidants C, E and beta carotene and have been found to be as helpful in urinary tract health as cranberries. That's why I need ice cream with them, they are just too darned healthy. LOL

Blueenough, it's clear that your daughter was a wonderful person and well loved by her family and community. It's always too soon to lose a child, a mother, a wife, and so I'm sending my prayers for strenth and healing to you all.

And some blueberry crisp, compliments of my own beloved late Grandmother, Delphia Powell, who left me with my love of cooking and a lot of great recipes.

Thanks, Grandma.

Annie