Clam Chowda

2 tablespoons butter
2 slices thick cut bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 ribs celery with greens, chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons hot sauce, eyeball it
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pint half-and-half
2 cups chicken stock, from soup aisle
1 cup hash brown style raw shredded potatoes, from dairy aisle of the market
2 cans whole baby clams and their juice

In a medium pot over medium high heat melt butter. Add bacon and onions, celery and thyme sprigs. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce and cook 5 minutes. Add flour and cook a minute more.

Add half-and-half and stock and bring to a bubble, then stir in potatoes and clams. Bring soup back to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, until potatoes are cooked and soup has thickened to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove the thyme sprigs from the soup. The thyme leaves will have fallen off into the soup. Stir and adjust seasonings in your soup.

This is a Rachael Ray recipe but I've tried it and think it's pretty good. My family loves it. I do make some changes to it though. Instead of fresh Thyme, I use the dried stuff. And try to cook up the bacon in the butter first - it just cooks the bacon all the way through instead of leaving the bacon not done in some places. We don't use hot sauce, we just omit it all together. The shredded potatoes, can also be frozen hash browns. 2 % milk can be substituted for the half and half. (Unfortunately, the half and half is good, though.) Tonight I did 1 cup half and half and 1 cup 2% milk and that worked really well. Oh, and instead of baby clams, I just use regular clams and dump the whole can in the soup, with all the liquid. Chicken stock, I use Chicken Broth and even add some water to make the right amount. OK it's not like the original but it's really good, though!

Huevos Rancheros

One of my favorite blogs is Smitten Kitchen - it's a cooking blog full of gorgeous photos (the photo above was taken right from her blog) and a variety of recipes, ranging from super-fancy to totally doable. In a word, it's just plain lovely. Sometimes, I just look this blog to get motivated to make dinner - the way that the author, Deb, approaches cooking as an art, as an expression of herself, is so inspiring. Always makes me want to whip something up.

Anyway, I thought I would share this now on Recipedia because I just made her Huevos Rancheros (again!). This is dinner is so crazy-easy, barely costs anything to make, and it is so yummy. Basically, ever since she published this on Smitten Kitchen, huevos rancheros have become my "I-don't-know-what-to-make" or "I-don't-feel-like-cooking" dinner. Here's the link: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/huevos-rancheros/

I hope you enjoy them as much I do!

Crock Pot Barbeque Chicken Sandwiches

5-6 chicken breasts (can be frozen)

Mix Together:
1 bottle Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup ketchup
1 Tblsp. mustard
1/4 tsp. chili powder

Pour over chicken breasts and slow cook approx. 4-5 hours on low. When done shred chicken and let sit on warm in crock pot for about 20 min. Serve on Kaiser rolls (walmart has the best) with provolone cheese. Easy and Yummy!

Peach Dessert

40+ crushed Vanilla Wafers, reserving some for top
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine

1 can Eagle Brand milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
8 oz. Cool Whip
5 cups diced fresh peaches

Combine first three ingredients in bottom of 9x13 pan. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over wafer mixture. Sprinkle with remaining crushed wafers. Refrigerate.

Zucchini Brownies

2 c grated zucchini
1/2 c oil
1 1/2 c sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
1/4 c cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 c nuts (opt)
Mix zucchini, oil, sugar and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix WELL. Bake in greased 9x13 at 350 for 30 minutes.

As you might have noticed we have a lot of Zucchini over here. So I'm posting these recipes because I've tried them and think that they are worth passing on. I got this recipe from my friend Emily who has a whole bunch of Zucchini recipes on her blog. Just scroll down a little and there are 3 recipes for Zucchini bread, Z. cookies, Z. brownies, and stuffed Z, Z. cake, and Z. Casserole. If your bounty of Zucchini overfloweth, you could try some of these recipes.

Zucchini Bisque

Here is a zucchini soup:

1 1/2 lb. Zucchini, Sliced thin
3 C. Chicken broth

Bring to boil and simmer 15 minutes.
Saute, then add to broth:

2 medium onions (I usually use less than this)
2 Tbs. Butter

Then add:
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Run everything through blender. Add 1/2 cup half and half (or 2% milk). Top with cheese and serve. (we also like to add crumbled bacon or fried ham or anything)

CREAM CHEESE AND SAUSAGE MEXICAN DIP

1 med onion,chopped fine
1 med green pepper, chopped
1 chub Sausage
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 Sm can chilies, chopped
1c. sour cream
1 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese(It will melt in the pan)

Brown sausage; and drain fat. Add onion and green pepper and saute. Add tomatoes,chilies,sour cream and cream cheese. bring to boil then serve hot. Makes about four cups of dip.