Welcome to our Country Cookin' database. This is where I'm sharing all my homemade recipes, from scratch bread to making pasta, cookies and cakes. I truly hope you find as much joy in making these recipes as I did creating them. Feel free to leave comments, requests, or questions!
This is the dipping sauce we use regularly at our house with chicken nuggets, strips, fries, tater tots… just about anything you would want to dunk.
Cynthia’s Dipping Sauce:
1 Tblspn Honey
1 tsp Lawry’s (or other brand) Seasoning Salt
1/4 Cup Mayonaise
1/4 Cup Ketchup
Mix together thoroughly and enjoy!
This one is similar to the onion ring dipping sauce at Red Robin and super simple.
“Onion Ring” Sauce:
1/4 cup Ranch Dressing (Hidden Valley works best)
1/4 cup BBQ Sauce of choice
Mix and enjoy!
Tonight’s dinner had to be really simple and quick to make.
Chicken nugget-tater casserole:
1 med bag Tater tots
15-20 precooked chicken nuggets
OR
10-15 precooked chicken strips
2-3 cups cheese of choice
With this recipe you can adjust easily to feed as many or as few as you want. I set the recipe for a 9×13 casserole pan. Spray the pan with non stick cooking spray and put a single layer of tater tots at the bottom, cover with about 3/4 of the cheese. Layer chicken in a single layer over the tater tots and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover with tin foil.
Cook at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
Serve with favorite dipping sauce.
So, first Happy Mother’s Day! Tonight I made a yummy little dinner for 5. I cooked Garlic Butter Scallops with Butter Noodles and for dessert I made Apple Pie. All of which turned out super yummy! So let’s dive right in to the recipes.
Garlic Butter Scallops & Butter Noodles:
16 oz Sea Scallops (they are larger then Bay Scallops)
1/4 Cup Butter/Margarine
2 cloves Garlic (pressed)
Dash Black Pepper
Dash Basil
Saute the butter and garlic together in a saucepan until the butter is melted. Add scallops and reduce heat to medium/med-high. Cook scallops about 3-5 minutes each side, add peeper and basil then cook on high heat for about a minute.
Butter Noodles:
1 pkg noodle of choice (I used Angel Hair)
1/2 – 1 Cup Butter/Margarine
Water
Cook as directed on box. When pasta is done, drain and return to pan and add butter. If you like a lot of butter (like I do) use 1 1/2 of butter. Melt thoroughly in with pasta and toss.
For the dessert I made Apple Pie from scratch, crust included. Be sure when starting this recipe you have a pastry cutter, as this will make for a yummy and flakey pie crust.
Pie Crust: (Yields 4 crusts)
4 Cups Flour
2 cups Shortening (for better flavor use Butter Flavored)
1 Tblspn Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Cold Water
1 Egg
1 Tblspn Distilled White Vinegar
Combine flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter. The mixture should resemble crumbs. Add water, egg and vinegar. Continue to blend with pastry cutter (you could switch to a wooden spoon at this point, but I found using the cutter longer makes for a flakier crust). If you need a “prebaked” crust for your recipe, place in plate and puncture crust with a fork all over (this is called dimpling). Bake crust at 350 until golden brown.
*For below recipe use raw crust.
Apple Pie Filling :
1/2 cup Apple Juice
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Butter (I recommend real butter)
6 med Golden Delicious Apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
1/2 cup Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
2 Tblspn Cornstarch
2 (9 inch) pie crusts (see above)
Preheat oven to 350. Combine the apple juice, 1/2 cup sugar and the butter in a sauce pan and heat until melted. Add the apples and cook until fruit is tender, about 10 minutes. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon with the cornstarch. Stir into the fruit mixture, then cook until thickened. Pour into the pie shell. Cover with the top crust and seal. Bake until golden brown (about 15 minutes, but can vary).
We had vanilla ice cream over the pie. I hope you enjoy!
This evening I got a little feisty and decided to make a little dessert. Please be sure to read this full recipe before starting it. As this recipe calls for some utensils not everyone has. Enjoy!
Recipe:
Uses 8×8 or 9×9 baking pan
1 cup Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1 lrg or 2 sml Bananas Mashed
1 Tblspn Water
1/4 Butter or margarine
1/2 tsp Vanilla
Topping –
1 qt Strawberries
1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/3 cup Butter/Margarine
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
Preheat oven to 350 (if using a dark metal pan or glass pan reduce heat to 325)
Hull and slice strawberries and set aside in a bowl with 1/4 Powdered Sugar. Stirring occasionally.
In small bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt. Add sugar and butter and mash together with a fork or pastry blender until well blended and small crumbs form. Add egg, vanilla, banana and water. Mix together until well combined. Grease and lightly flour 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish. Spread batter evenly into dish. Cook for 30 minutes (for those who reduced heat, it may take longer). Confirm it’s done by a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake. The toothpick should come out clean.
Glaze-
Take strawberries and sugar mixture and blend well in blender/mixer/food processor. Food processor and blenders get best results. Pour into a sauce pan and add 2 cups powdered sugar and butter. Cook at medium-high heat until butter is melted and soft boil begins. Reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring consistently. Remove from heat. Allow to cool 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour glaze over served shortcake slices.
This was super yummy and we all enjoyed it. =)
Recipe:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken – cut up to bite size pieces
1/2 cooking sherry
Double Dash of Basil
DoDash of Savory
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 Tblspn Chicken Bouillon
6 oz Farfalle (or pasta of choice)
1/2 cup Milk
1 cup Cheddar Cheese
Mix sherry, basil, savory, pepper and bouillon in a bowl. Add chicken and coat well. Set aside to marinade for 30 minutes. While marinating bring pot of water to boil for pasta. After the 30 min pour entire bowl contents into a fry pan and cook on stove over Med heat. Cook pasta while cooking chicken. Be sure to check directions on the box/bag of pasta for complete cooking details. After all is cooked and pasta is drained, return pasta to the pot and add milk and cheese. Mix with pasta over med heat until all melted (should look kind of saucy).
I dished out the pasta and put the chicken over it. You can add more or less spices, as you desire. I like a bit more flavor in my food so I used as listed above. Enjoy!