Living On Cereal

Well it looks like Google may have blocked ads from appearing on my site. That is okay though. Living On Cereal is use to not having any money and will continue to Live On Cereal.

Ground Beef Casserole

If I had to choose between making a ground beef casserole or Hamburger Helper; well the man in me definitely would go for the "hand with the red nose". We will get back to the ground beef casserole in a second; right now let's talk about the Helping Hand. Well the Helping Hand made its debut in 1977 (I was 5) and has been around ever since. Right now there are over 50 varieties of Helper meals.

Okay, back to the ground beef casserole.

Heat oven to 350 and spray a 11 x 13 dish with Pam

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 4 0z wide egg noodles, 1/2 cup sweet milk, 1/4 cup of mayo, celery and bell pepper to taste.

Cook noodles and celery together and drain. Brown ground beef and bell pepper together the drain; add all ingredients to the mixture. Pour into baking dish and top w/ grated sharp cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

Nancy said that this is one of her husband's (Al) favorites. Now Al is not here to confirm that so we will have to go on Nancy's word. Al would probably like to add that this is best served from the oven and not a microwave.

Carrot Cake

My wife makes this about once a month and how long it lasts is dependent on a couple of factors. Factor #1 - My Mom. My Mom is a "diabetic" that will occasionally go over to the darkside and have a small piece. It would be alright but she usually take two large pieces home with her. Factor #2 - The Nancy Factor. Now if my Mother-n-law finds out my wife is baking then she will find a reason to be driving past our house and decide to come in and see the girls. When cake is around seeing the girls means come into the kitchen while I eat a small piece of cake. The piece is just small enough to justify another piece. Of course she has to take some to Al and Kelly. I do not know if the cake ever reaches them. Factor #3 - The drop-in company. We live in Macon and the rest of my family lives in WR. To eat at a decent restaurant the have to pass our house. This causes a "what are you doing phone call" and turns in a "do you mind if we take some home". When all of these factors combine then the cake will last maybe a day. The cake usually does not see the sunrise. Now for the recipe:

MIX: 1.5 cup oil, 2 cups sugar, 4 eggs beaten, 2 small 4 oz jars of Gerber baby carrot food (NOT A TYPO)

SIFT and Mix with above: 2 cups all purpose flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt

Pour into a 9x13 greased cake pan and place cake in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake between 30 and 45 minutes. Meanwhile.....Mix the icing

Icing; 6 oz cream cheese, 1/2 stick of butter, 1 box of 10x sugar, milk. Mix to proper consistency and add chopped pecans.

Enjoy (do not for get to put the icing on the cake)

Alabama Biscuits

I found this recipe on the Sams Family web-site. I googled Alabama Biscuits and this is what I found. There is actually a minor-league baseball team named the Montgomery Biscuits. The Biscuits are associated with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Biscuit is named Monty. This makes me want to attend a Biscuit game. Can you imagine cheering for a biscuit. They play the Chattanooga Lookouts so it is up to Sonny's bunch to catch a game and cheer on the biscuits.

5 cups of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of baking soda

8 tablespoons of sugar

1/2 cup of shortening

2 cups of buttermilk

yeast mixture of:

1/4 cup of warm water

1 package of yeast

Mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Cut in shortening and then add buttermilk and yeast mixture. Roll out and cut. Dip into melted butter and stack in 2's. Let them stand for 2 hours and then bake at 375 degrees.

Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings

Dave had a birthday last week; so happy birthday Dave. Dave has always been a decent cook. I do remember however when he almost burned down Johnny's tent when he was cooking his "famous" wings.

I did some research on Mountain Dew and here is what I found. Mountain Dew was created in Knoxville in 1954. The bottle of Mountain Dew sported a hillbilly with a hound dog. I am not sure who is Charlie and who is Bill. Mountain Dew sold the beverage to Pepsi in 1966. Pepsi dropped Charlie and Bill shortly after that. I guess they are living on cereal right now.

2 cans crescent rolls

2 large Granny Smith apples

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 sticks butter

2 cans of Mountain Dew

Preheat oven to 350-degrees and lightly grease a 9 X 13 pan/glass dish. Core, peel, and slice apples into 8 wedges for 16 total apple dumplings. Roll apple slices into crescent rolls, roll from wide end first. Place them in the pan. Melt butter in a saucepan and then stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Spoon or pour the mixture over the rolled apples. Pour Mountain Dew around apple dumplings in the pan. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes.

While you wait you can drink the last can of Mountain Dew. Angie would rather you clean up your mess Dave.

Living on Cereal

Just wanted to remind all of my wonderful visitors to visit livingoncereal.blogspot.com

It would be great to be able to make these wonderful recipes every night of the week but sometimes you can not afford all of the ingredients so you have to live on cereal for a while.

Grandma Sams' Wonderful Rolls

Okay, here is the recipe that I have been waiting for. This recipe is courtesy of Jacqueline so thank you very, very much.

1. Start with cold oven (I thought all oven's started cold?)
2. Dissolved 2 packages of yeast in a 1/2 cup of warm water.
3. Mix 3 cups of warm water, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 tbs. salt and 2/3 cup of cooking oil
4. Add 8 cups of plain flour (Hudson Cream if available)

Set aside in same bowl to let rise until double in bulk. Punch and repeat three times (pretend it is Mark). The last time divide into three loaves or make rolls in well greased loaf pans or a pan for rolls. Let rise to the top of pan. Place in cold oven. Bake for 40 minutes at 350.

Nancy's Pecan Pie

My mother-n-law has been dying for everyone to know her name. I am surprised she does not sew an N on all of her clothes like Laverne (Laverne and Shirley) would sew an L on everything. Nancy joined us on our vacation last year to Disney World. We had just enough rope to tie her on top. Bringing her to Disney World was a recipe for disaster but it all worked out. Kenzy would just unhook her battery on her electric scooter every now and then.
Anyways, Nancy does know how to make a great Pecan Pie. It really is the best I have ever had. Now on her recipe card she wrote, "To make THREE pies DOUBLE the recipe"(that is really true though for this recipe). I have no idea where she went to school at but I can assure you that my brothers and I are doing everything we can here in GA to properly teach math to these rednecks down here.
Here is her recipe:

1 cup sugar
1/2 stick butter
1 cup light karo syrup
3 eggs, well-beaten
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Heat over to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Add syrup, eggs, salt, and vanilla. Mix well and add pecans. Pour into unbaked pie shell (use a fork to poke a few holes in pie shell before you pour mixture). Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

Mrs. Rackley's Banana Bread

Mrs. Rackley is a co-worker here at Crossroads High School and I consider her a good friend. One day she arrived at school with a tupperware container full of banana bread. This banana bread reminded me of my Grandma Simms' recipe. We would walk into Simms' house and eat all of the banana bread that was on the table. Of course Grandpa Simms would get upset. He could not believe that three young boys could eat so much. He should have known that any time a little boy who wears Huskies (jeans) comes in the front door you need to be ready for your pantry to get ambushed. From then on, anytime we would go over there to visit he has hidden all of the good stuff from us. Since my Grandma Simms had a stroke she has not been able to make her good banana bread so this was a good suprise for me. I hope you enjoy this recipe.

1 c. Wesson Oil
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
3-4 ripe bananas ( mashed)
2 ½ c. plain flour
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped nuts

Cream oil and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Sift together flour, soda and salt. Gradually stir flour mixture into oil mixture. Add mashed bananas, then nuts.
Divide mixture between two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake in preheated 3500 oven for about 45 minutes. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.