Meal Planning with Connie

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan Since it's Mother's Day, I wanted to share a few of my favorite recipes from my momma’s kitchen. Although she has been with the Lord for more than 20 years, in my mind’s eye, I can still see her making biscuits, baking cookies, and frying fresh-from-the-garden okra. All these things were a labor of love for her. I now feel the same joy as I prepare food for my own husband and children. Some of these recipes will be very familiar. I hope they will bring back sweet memories for you, as they do for me.  Happy Mother’s Day!  No-bake  Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies My siblings and I used to literally beg my momma to make us a batch of these cookie! Now my kids plead with me to do the same! 1 stick butter 4 tablespoons cocoa 2 cups sugar ½ cup milk Melt butter. Whisk in cocoa. Add sugar and milk. Bring to a boil and boil...

Weighing In... Just holdin' this week!  I did walk more, but I just ate too much this week to lose anything!  Maybe I'll do better next week.... I am sure most of you are aware of the  National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive Campaign. It's a great cause and participating is so easy! Simply place non-perishable food items, such as canned goods, in a bag. Place the bag in your mail box tomorrow -  Saturday, May 8th. Your letter carrier will pick up your donation and carry it to your local food pantry. How simple is that?  Romans 12:13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. It's "Finger-lickin' Good Recipes Friday!"  I am enjoying all the recipes that have been share in the past few weeks.  Thank you all for participating!! I think a great recipe is one of the best little gifts you can give! If you like (it's not "required"), you can add a link back to this page so your readers can join in our lit...

Happy Cinco de Mayo ! Restaurant-style Salsa  with Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips Many thanks to my buddy, Susieloulou, for  sharing  Pioneer Woman's Salsa recipe! It is absolutely delicious! Thank you, Susieloulou! As PW Ree suggested, I tweaked the recipe to our taste (and to use ingredients I had in the pantry!) This recipe makes about 6 cups of salsa - enough to share! Larry took some to work, and we polished off the rest. You could cut this recipe in half, if you like. Play around with these ingredients and make this salsa your own! I also made good use of some corn tortillas in my fridge by making baked tortilla chips. We love these, and they're much more healthful than the commercially prepared version!  Be sure to check out Pioneer Woman's site (I am sure most of you already have!) and recipe book, which contains great recipes and beautiful photos! Ree has a way of making homemaking, cooking and homeschooling look and sound much more interesting than I...

Here's a simple menu for celebrating  Cinco de Mayo - Southern-style! History of Cinco de Mayo Bacon-wrapped Chicken Stuffed with Cream Cheese and Jalapeno Peppers Easy Mexican Rice    ( You can eliminate the corn in this dish, if you are making the Ranchy Frito Corn Salad, too. ) Ranchy Frito Corn Salad Mexican-style Corn Muffins 1 package Jiffy corn muffin mix 1 egg 1/3 cup milk (I use buttermilk.) 1 cup shredded Pepper Jack cheese Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat muffin tin with cooking spray. Gently mix all ingredients until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about ¾ full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden. Dulce de Leche Cream Cake If you don’t want to whip the cream, substitute a large container of Cool-whip for the whipping cream and powdered sugar. 1 (18.25-ounce) package white or yellow cake mix 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 1/3 cup caramel ice cream topping 2 cups heavy whipping...

Popover Pizza Casserole This recipe, with its popover-like crust, is quick to prepare, especially if you have pre-cooked and frozen your ground beef or pork. Since I had packages of both in my freezer, I used a half pound of each. The combination was really good. I freeze my meat in heaping 2 cup portions, which is about a pound. If I don't need the full pound, a quick tap of the package on the counter will break the package contents in half. Remove the needed portion and immediately return the remainder to the freezer for another use. Popover Pizza Casserole 1  pound ground beef or pork sausage or a combination of the two 1  cup chopped onion 1  cup chopped green sweet pepper 1 cup fresh sliced mushroom(or a small can of sliced mushrooms) 1 clove garlic, minced 1 (3-1/2-ounce package) sliced turkey pepperonis, halved ( Kitchen shears make quick work of this chore. ) 1 (16-ounce) jar pizza sauce 2  eggs 1 cup milk 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup...

Crispy Praline Cookies I received the latest edition of Mississippi Magazine in Saturday’s mail. I love this periodical! It always has several great recipes and lots of interesting information on my home state. The current issue contains the winning recipes for the magazine’s latest cooking contest. This cookie recipe won in the Dessert Cookie category.  A quick Google search turned up a very similar recipe from Southern Living’s 2002 October issue. Southern Living suggested letting the butter sit at room temperature for several hours, or softening it in the microwave at HIGH for 10 to 20 seconds. Do not melt the butter. I allowed mine to soften while I ran some errands. You don’t have to use an electric mixer with the recipe, but I decided to use mine. I creamed the softened butter and brown sugar. I then mixed in the egg until it was just incorporated and gradually added the flour. I stirred in the nuts by hand. I thought these were quite tasty. I served these cookies to th...

Chess Squares No Southern gathering in complete without a pan of these gooey gems! I first learned of Chess Squares when Mrs. Betty Austin gave me the recipe for making them at a bridal recipe shower held for me, when Larry and I were getting married. The recipe was new in our area in the mid-80's, and everyone quickly fell in love with Chess Squares! We all pretty much immediately started playing around with the recipe, seeing how many different varieties of Chess Squares we could invent. Hundreds of variations can be made by using different flavors of cake mix and by adding an array of "mix-in," such a chocolate chips, shredded coconut and pecans - just to name a few! Paula Deen made these treats world-famous when she came on the cooking scene. Paula calls hers Gooey Butter Cakes. Paula's Gooey Butter Cakes are the same as Chess Squares, with an additional stick of melted butter added to the filling ingredients. Personally, I think 2 sticks of butter in this...