Meal Planning with Connie

Pizza Puffs The Pizza Puffs were a hit with everyone! I think they would be a great dish to serve at sleepovers, birthday parties, youth group meetings, school functions, etc. They're easy to make and inexpensive. They cook really quickly, too. You could make them in batches for a very large group. Pizza Puffs 1 pound ground beef, browned and drained (can add chopped onion and green peppers, if you like.) 1 cup pizza sauce (or 1- 8 oz. can tomato sauce with 1 T. Italian seasonings and 1 t. sugar) 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese 2 cans flaky-style refrigerated biscuits 2 tablespoons melted butter Additional pizza sauce, optional Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 20 cups of muffin pans with cooking spray. Combine meat, sauce and cheese. Pull one can of biscuits in half, placing each half into a prepared muffin cup. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of meat mixture on top of each biscuit. Separate the other can of biscuits, place each piece on top of meat mixture in muffin cups. Brush with mel...

Mini-loaf Have you ever been baking bread or a cake and had too much batter for your pan? I just hate to throw good food like that away! I used to try to force the excess batter into the pan anyway. Of course, this made a mess, if it ran-over in the oven. Then one day I had an idea. I'd make a single mini-loaf of bread or cake from that dab of batter. It works great, and there are a number of fun things to do with the mini-loaf: 1. We have several friends who are older and live alone. This size is perfect for sharing with them! 2. If I'm making a new recipe and am sharing the big cake/loaf, the mini-loaf allows me to "taste test" the new recipe! 3. These loaves can be wrapped, frozen and used for a quick breakfast! What do I use for a pan for the mini-loaf? I use the little Pyrex dish in the photo. As I am writing this, I am shocked to realize that I've had this tiny piece for 40 years!! When I was six, my cousin, who was a young wife and mot...

Whatever good, or bad, can be said of us Baptist, I don’t think anyone would deny that we put on a great "feed!" Yesterday our men had Brotherhood Breakfast. (For you MS State fans, Rocky Felker was the guest speaker. Brother Ken, who holds a degrees from MSU, believes in being an equal opportunity SEC-team-supporting-church. Houston Nutt shared with our men folk a few months back!) Also, our Sunday school department had potluck brunch. And, of course, what is a Baptist Homecoming Service without dinner on the grounds?! Our breakfast feast was super!! Donna L. brought some delicious Money Bread! Hers was perfect! Julie R. and I were breaking pieces off before Donna could get the lid off the cake carrier!! Donna S. brought Blueberry Coffee Cake!! It was great!! I appreciated her sharing that she accidentally left a portion of her ingredients on the counter! I do this all the time!! You make me feel normal, Donna!! We would never had known anything was missing!! ...

When I bought peaches for the Peach Pecan Salad a few days back, it was a much better buy to purchase a tray of the fruit as opposed to a couple of individual pieces. I used the rest of the tray to make this peach cobbler tonight. It was really good! I think we've made fresh blackberry, blueberry, strawberry and now, peach cobbler, during fruit season! Fresh Peach Cobbler Fresh Peach Cobbler 1 stick butter 2 c. sugar (divided) 3/4 c. all-purpose flour 2 tsp. baking powder Dash of salt 3/4 c. milk 2 c. sliced peaches Sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling on top* (optional) Melt butter in 2 quart dish. Combine 1 cup sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Add milk and stir until mixed. Pour batter over butter in baking dish. Do not stir. Combine peaches and remaining 1 cup of sugar. Spoon over the batter. Do not stir. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. You can use the commercial kind that is found with spices at the grocery, or you can make your own by st...

Whatever good, or bad, can be said of us Baptist, I don’t think anyone would deny that we put on the best “feeds!” If I understood correctly, yesterday our men had Brotherhood Breakfast. (For you MS State fans, Rocky Felker was the guest speaker. Brother Ken, who holds a degree from MSU, believes in being an equal opportunity SEC-team-supporting-church. Houston Nutt shared with our men folk a few months back!) Also, our Sunday school department had potluck brunch. And, of course, what is a Baptist Homecoming Service without dinner on the grounds?! Our breakfast feast was super!! Donna L. brought some delicious Money Bread! Hers was perfect! Julie R. and I were breaking pieces off before Donna could get the lid off the cake carrier!! Donna S. brought Blueberry Coffee Cake!! It was great!! I appreciated her sharing that she accidentally left a portion of her ingredients on the counter! I do this all the time!! You make me feel normal, Donna!! We would never had known anyth...

Larry had to work today and was running a bit late. The kids and I went to Rebekah and Will's wedding this afternoon. The wedding was very beautiful!! We decided to save the ribs until Monday night. I think Larry was kind of glad it worked out this way! He is off Monday and can have more of hand in cooking the ribs! He really likes to grill!! One of the kids' favorite quick meals is Nachos Deluxe. It's one of those things that's easy for everyone to fix the way they prefer. Because we keep pre-cooked ground beef and chicken on-hand, this dish goes together really quickly, too! Nachos Deluxe Nachos Deluxe 1 can refried beans (optional) 2 cups sour cream, divided (optional) 1 lb. ground beef*, browned and drained - add a packet of taco seasoning or a can of drained Rotel tomatoes, if you like 1 (16 oz.) container white cheese dip 1 pkg. tortilla chips shredded cheese, your choice - cheddar, pepper jack, Mexican blend shredded lettuce diced tomatoes chopped green o...

Since we ate out on Thursday, we ate at home last night. Plus, I've been wanting to try Roan's Shrimp Scampi for weeks! It was definitely worth the wait!! We loved it!! It went together very quickly, too! This is one of those dishes you can have on the table in a flash, especially if you have some frozen shrimp in the freezer. We are still using some of the shrimp we bought in Destin and froze when we got home. The commercially packaged frozen shrimp that Roan uses would be even quicker!! This is a for-sure keeper recipe!! I did make a few adjustments according to what I had on hand and ingredients that needed using. I had a package of fettuccine, so I used it. As I believe Roan has noted before, angel hair pasta cooks so quickly, it's always a great choice for speed, and we just love the texture of angel hair, too! I also chopped up a bit of fresh parsley, which was on it's last leg in our fridge, and sprinkled it and a bit of Parmesan cheese on top of our p...