More cookin', more easy recipes

I went back and actually checked this time to make sure I didn't repeat some recipes! I saw that I had repeated the lemon chicken and easy chicken with sour cream/soup...oops! : ) As you've figured out, I'm all about the easy stuff. I like food that I can throw together relatively quickly and tastes good. My hubby also can't have anything too spicy (bummer) and my kids won't eat certain things either, so I try to fix things everyone can eat.

Tonight I marinated a pork loin that I picked up at the store yesterday with one of those bottled teriyaki meat marinades that I found on sale. I cooked it, covered with foil, for 1 hour on 350, then I lowered it to 300 and cooked it another 1 1/2 hours. It was a little more dry this time than it usually is, but it still tasted great! I added some roasted potatoes and steamed veggies. To top it off, I made some fruit salad. This is the good and easy part! The "magic" ingredient...just a package of sugar free vanilla pudding mix!

It really works well if you take a can of crushed pineapple and use it as a base. I didn't have crushed tonight, but I had the chunks, so I used that. Don't drain the juice. Then I added some cut up fresh strawberries. Then I began to pour the pudding packet (I used the 1 oz package) over the fruit and mixed it in with a spoon. It starts to thicken your mixture and give it a good flavor. I noticed that it was a little too thick for my preference, so I got out a can of mandarin oranges. I drained most of the liquid, but left a little bit to help thin everything out a little. That was all I did! Yum! The kids loved it, too. You can basically add any fruit to this that you like--bananas, apples, grapes, etc., as long as you had some "juice" in your mix to help thin out the pudding powder. If you don't like pinapple juice, you could probably just do your fruit and add some fruit juice of your choice. My friend Elizabeth told me about this when she made it at her house one time and I have loved doing it for an easy dessert. Hey...just thought of something...it would be great with a little whipped cream on top!

I also wanted to add another easy recipe. Homemade biscuits. Now don't get nervous. I know that making biscuits yourself does require some work and can sometimes be intimidating. Plus the canned kind are easier and taste good...but are not necessarily cheaper (I guess they could be if you stacked a couple of coupons and found them on sale...maybe?). Anyway, I got these recipes off the side of my flour bag (Southern Biscuit self-rising flour). The buttermilk ones are really good! : ) I'll even throw in the "No Fool Pie" recipe. I don't know how it is because I haven't made it before, but it looks pretty easy to me. Enjoy!

Self Rising Biscuits

2 cups of self-rising flour

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

2/3 to 3/4 cup of cold whole milk

2 Tbs. melted butter or magarine (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450. Measure and sift 2 cups of flour into a mixing bowl (I just run a fork through it! lol). Add 1/4 cup of shortening to the bowl. Cut the shortening into the flour until the particles of shortening are about the size of grains of rice (which means, I put my hands in and work the grease in until it's in small pieces..about the size of rice). While slowly adding the milk, stir with a large spoon until the flour shortening mixture is thoroughly moistened. Do not over mix. For a drier dough, use less milk, for a wetter dough, use more (wetter is better--if you ask me : )). Turn the dough from the bowl onto a smooth floured surface (it'll be sticky, folks--put some flour on your hands, too). Using as few strokes as possible with a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to a uniform thickness of 1/2 in. (ok...I don't really like my rolling pin, so I use a blue hard plastic cup from my cabinet. It also doubles as my biscuit cutter.) Cut the biscuits using a floured cutter (aka blue cup) and transfer to a shallow baking pan. Arrange biscuits on the pan so that each biscuit is slightly touching the one next to it. Bake for 10-14 min., or until done. Remove biscuits from the oven and brush the top with butter.

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour

1 teaspoon of sugar

1/4 cup shortening

3/4 to 1 cup cold buttermilk

2 Tbs. melted butter/margarine (optional)

Directions:

Just follow the same exact directions as the one above, except add the sugar to your flour and sift (my version, once again--stir it up with a fork--hey..it seems to work just fine!)

Mmmm...they're good with jelly!

No Fool Pie

1 cup self-rising flour

3/4 stick (6 Tbs) butter or margarine

3/4 cup of sugar

3/4 cup cold whole milk

1 to 1 1/2 cups drained fruit

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Melt your butter and pour it into an 8 or 9 inch baking dish. Set aside. Combine the flour, sugar, and 1/2 of the milk in a mixing bowl. Stir until all of the dry ingredients are moistened. Add the remaining milk to the bowl and stir until smooth. Pour the batter into the dish containing the melted butter. DO NOT MIX. Place the drained fruit on top of the batter in the dish. DO NOT STIR. Bake 30-40 min, or until done (golden brown).

If you make this, let me know if it's any good : ). I hope it is!