recipes | Bead Happily Ever After

Clenna Cooks

Posted on February 23, 2010 by crystal

Clenna is one of the regular readers here on the blog and she often surprises me with a book suggestion or a recipe!

In fact, even her Dear Hubby cut-out a recipe from the paper a while back and Clenna kindly sent it along. (It’s in the recipe box on the right, under the heading: “What’s for Dinner”.)

Here’s her very latest. She says she can’t take credit; she found it on the internet, but this Gal has a knack for scouting out recipes that are good plus easy-peasy!

And when you think about it… isn’t that the best kind of recipe? 😀

Cranberry Chicken

Ingredients
4 skinless/boneless chicken breasts
1 8 oz. bottle of Catalina Dressing
1 package dry onion soup mix
1- 1 lb can whole berry cranberry sauce

Instructions
Mix together dressing, onion soup mix and cranberry sauce. Place chicken with cranberry sauce mixture in greased baking dish and bake at 350 degrees hour 1 to 1 ½ hours uncovered. Or place in the Crock Pot on low for 8 hours.

Thanks Clenna!

Raisins and Spice

Posted on January 28, 2010 by crystal

Now don’t laugh, but this morning I was having a yen for gingerbread of all things! 😉

I’ll bet you understand, though. Doesn’t it seem that sometimes, right out of the blue, a favorite food comes to mind and you immediately wish you could have some?

Well . . . there was no gingerbread and no chance of making any. I didn’t have all the necessary ingredients on hand. So, I decided to pull out the recipe and add what I needed to this week’s shopping list.

Here’s the recipe I found, written in my very own childish scrawl at the age of about 8 yrs. old. In those days, I used to be my mother’s “secretary”. Often, we’d be visiting a friend or relative who wanted to share a recipe with us, and my Mum (usually holding onto a baby – or three!) would ask me to do the copying.

You’ll notice that this was a piece of “scrap” paper. Luckily, I was able to eek out a bit of space to finish the recipe on the printed side! (By the way, I’m sure the final phrase “add raisins” means that they are optional and, if desired, should be added before you bake the gingerbread! LOL

“So what did this little “scribe” look like?” You ask.

This picture was taken a couple of years before the recipe was written; it’s my first grade photo. I’m wearing my school uniform, which included the blue satin hair bow(!) along with the blue jumper and white blouse.

As you can clearly see, it appears that jewelry was a fixture in my wardrobe even then! 😉

Hugs for all,

This One’s for Grace

Posted on January 19, 2010 by crystal

My godmother liked to cook. . .

She’s been gone for a few years now, but she always loved to “talk recipes” with me. She enjoyed sharing them and she’d patiently go over her favorites – step by step – as I wrote them down for my own collection.

Grace enjoyed those complicated dishes that many of us shy away from, but she also liked things that were quick and easy.

I want to share one of the easy ones today – an appetizer. We brought this to our family Christmas gathering this year, and I have a feeling she was smiling down on us when she “saw” it! 🙂

Auntie Grace’s Cheese Spread

2 Large Packages Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 8-oz. Can Crushed Pineapple in heavy syrup – well drained.
1 Large Green Pepper – Use about half of the pepper, chopped finely.
1 Small Scallion, chopped well (all of the white part and about 1-inch of the green part).
Salt and Pepper – to taste
Pecan Halves

Open the cream cheese a little ahead of time. Place it in a bowl to soften and use a fork to make it creamy.

Add all other ingredients to the cream cheese and blend well.

Mound on a serving plate and cover/decorate with the pecan halves. Start on top in the center and work down and around in rows.

Surround with crackers and serve!

Sons and Daughters

Posted on January 7, 2010 by crystal

Recently, I had the chance to experience just how heart-warming it can be when the younger generation reaches maturity and begins to take on some of the responsibilities of their parents.

At our holiday get-together this year, several of the “kids” brought special recipes they had made for the family meal. And what impressive dishes they were!

For example, my sweet niece, Lisa, made this mouth-watering treat . . .

“Onion Tart”

If I close my eyes . . . I can still clearly see Lisa, when she was just a little girl, standing in the middle of a room full of relatives. She’s smiling a smile that would win over the grumpiest of curmudgeons, as she recites her own adorable version of “Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed”. Her voice is clear and lilting and her incredibly animated expressions are cuter than cute. Today, she is studying medicine. Where did the time go?

Lisa’s dish was a big hit at the party last week. It’s a good thing she made two of them because the first one disappeared within minutes. I asked for the recipe and she kindly provided this link (Scroll down the page for the “Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette”.)

‘Til next time,

Still Have Leftover Turkey?

Posted on December 2, 2009 by crystal

So, it’s almost a week since Thanksgiving and you say there’s still some leftover turkey? 😉

Or maybe you’re always looking for something different to do with leftover chicken?

Well, here’s a quick and easy recipe that’s perfect to make whenever you have leftover chicken or turkey!

CHICKEN BROCCOLI DIVAN

1 lb. fresh broccoli or 1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen broccoli
1 1/2 c. cooked chicken or turkey, cubed
1 can Campbell’s cream of broccoli soup
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. dry breadcrumbs

In shallow baking dish, arrange broccoli and top with chicken.
Combine soup and milk and pour over meat.
Sprinkle with cheese.
Combine butter and breadcrumbs and sprinkle over cheese.
Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes or until hot.