Marsha's Salisbury Steak and Gravy

I got this recipe originally from Six Sister's Stuff, but with an entire fresh packet of French Onion Soup, it was a little too onion-y for William and I. A few days later, I made it again omitting the soup and it was much blander. So I think the sweet spot for our family is going to be 1/2 a packet. We also tried it with homemade gravy and jarred gravy and it was fine either way. So if all you have is the jar stuff, or if you want to whip up a dry packet mix of beef gravy, if you usually like that kind of gravy you will be just fine. See the original recipe here: 

https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/salisbury-steak

Marsha's Salisbury Steak and Gravy

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1/2 of 1.4 ounce dry French onion soup mix
• 1 egg beaten
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1 12 ounce jar beef gravy, or one packet dry gravy mix prepared according to package directions

Directions:

1. Mix together the ground beef, bread crumbs, french onion mix, egg and water.
2. Shape the mixture into 4 oval-shaped patties, about 1/2 inch thick.
3. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and warm up over medium heat.
4. Add the patties to the skillet and cook for 10 minutes on each side or until no longer pink in the middle (unless you like pink...).
5. Drain the grease from the skillet, and then add in the jar of gravy.
6. Continue to cook in the gravy, covered, for 10 more minutes or until hot and bubbly, flipping halfway through.

Slow Cooker Maple and Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin

I was looking for another good recipe for cooking pork tenderloin and came across this one for the slow cooker. We all really liked how the meat turned out. To see the original recipe, go here: https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/slow-cooker-maple-and-brown-sugar-pork/#wprm-recipe-container-98472

Slow Cooker Maple and Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds pork tenderloin
• salt and pepper to taste
• ¼ cup maple syrup  (cut in half if using pure maple syrup)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 4 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme crumbled
• For Gravy:
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 Tablespoon cold water

Directions:

1. Sprinkle tenderloins lightly with salt and pepper.
2. Place pork in a slow cooker sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Combine syrup, garlic, mustard, honey, brown sugar, vinegar, and thyme. Pour over the pork.
4. Turn pork to coat thoroughly.
5. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours, or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.

For Gravy:

1. Remove pork to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
2. Pour the juices into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
3. Simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Combine the cornstarch and cold water; whisk into the reduced juices and cook for 1 minute longer.
5. Slice the pork and serve with the thickened juices.
   

Marsha's Notes:

It made some pretty yummy meat, but for some reason our juices were a bit heavy on the mustard/vinegar side so we didn't use the drippings to make the gravy as recommended in the original recipe. I was also expecting it to be sweeter with a name like "Maple and Brown Sugar" so I don't know if I needed to up those ingredients to get the results I was expecting. That said, no matter what happened when we tried this, we all liked the meat. So...

Million Dollar Chicken Bake

This recipe has a lot of the same ingredients as the cheesy bacon toasts that my family LOVES, so I knew we had to try it. It turned out super yummy, but I did notice that the chicken released a lot of "water" into the bottom of the baking dish, so I might try next time to grill the chicken first, then put them in a baking dish, cover with the cheese spread, and just broil in the oven to melt everything. But you can make it as directed if you want. To see the original recipe, click here:

https://easyfamilyrecipes.com/million-dollar-chicken-bake/

Million Dollar Chicken Bake

Ingreidents:

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts thinly cut or pounded
• 6 oz cream cheese softened
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup crispy bacon crumbled (about 8 slices)
• 1/2 cup green onions chopped (about 4 onions)
• 1.5 cups colby jack cheese shredded
• Preheat the oven to 350˚F

Directions:

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix cream cheese, mayo, bacon crumbles, green onion and half of the cheddar cheese together until combined.
2. Place the chicken breast in a baking dish and spread the cheese mixture over the chicken. Top with remaining cheddar cheese.
3. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (165˚F internal temperature), or pre-cook the chicken on a grill, then place in a baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray, spread your cheese spread on the chicken and broil to melt.

Focaccia Bread

THIS DOUGH SITS FOR AT LEAST 8 HOURS (SO MAKE THE NIGHT BEFORE).

When I served this bread, Scott told me I had found something special. That's how good it was! I've made it twice now and think it is going to be a regular at our house. Everyone LOVED it! We are also fans of the focaccia bread at Firehouse Pizzeria, which is cheese stuffed, and now I can make a copy cat version of that AT HOME! WOOT! To see the original recipe, click here:

https://lilluna.com/focaccia-bread/

Focaccia Bread

Dough has to sit for 8 hours or overnight.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and yeast. (Whisking the flour, salt and yeast helps distribute everything so you don't end up with clumps of salt or yeast in the dough and cuts down on mixing time once you add the water which helps not build up too much gluten.) 
2. Add the warm water, and stir just enough to form a soft and sticky dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or up to 24 hours. (Making it the night/day before you want to serve it is perfect.)
3. After the dough has chilled for at least 8 hours, gently shape the dough into a ball with your hands. Pour a tablespoon of olive oil into the bottom of an 8 inch cake pan (no bigger than 8 inches is important) and spread it to cover the interior surfaces of the pan. 
4. Place the ball of dough in the center of the pan, pat down just a bit, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for 2 hours, or until the dough has expanded to nearly fill the cake pan.
5. Toward the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 450 (400 for convection). Remove the plastic wrap from the pan. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the dough first, then press your fingers down into the dough, pushing to the bottom of the pan. Repeat until the entire surface of the dough is covered in deep dimples. Press the dough towards the edge of the pan if it didn't quite spread all the way. Sprinkle with the oregano, basil (or Italian Seasoning) and sea salt.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp. (20 minutes at 400 convection in my oven was perfect!)

As you can see, this dough is really shaggy. I just left it like this and then covered it with plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight. You could also clean out the bowl, grease it with some olive oil and put the dough back in before covering and putting it in the fridge, but it doesn't really need it.

Done!

Crock Pot Crack Chicken

*This recipe is only low-carb if you don't eat it on or over a carb. This could be good over steamed cauliflower or other veggies. You can also just eat it "as is."

We had this last night and everyone LOVED it! It was simple, tasty and made a lot, so it would be good for when you have company over. The cream cheese has a pretty strong tangy flavor, so I wouldn't recommend using a sharp cheddar unless you like a lot of strong cheese taste. We used our mixed blend shredded cheese and it turned out perfect for us.

See the original recipe here: https://www.julieseatsandtreats.com/crack-chicken/

Crock Pot Crack Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used a bag of 5 frozen breasts and were partially thawed and cut into faster cooking/smaller pieces)
• 1 oz packet ranch seasoning mix
• 2 packages cream cheese 8 oz each, cubed
• 2.8 oz bacon bits
• 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese (I used a cheese blend)

Directions:

1. Spray crock pot with non stick spray. 
2. Place the chicken breasts on the bottom of the crock pot. 
3. Top with ranch seasoning and cubed cream cheese. 
4. Cook on low 6-8 hours or on High for 4 hours. 
5. When cooking time is done shred the chicken with two forks. Then add the cheese and bacon. 
6. Stir to combine and cook on low for about 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. 
7. Serve on buns or how ever you would like to enjoy it!

Marsha's Crunchy French Toast

Thanks to The Rusted Spoon in Perry, Utah, Scott and I have discovered and fallen in love with "crunchy" French toast. Basically, you just take real French bread and slice it up for your toast. Put some cereal in a dish, like a bread pan, and loosely crush it with a drinking glass. You want it still a little chunky and not totally pulverized. After you dip your bread in a milk and egg mixture, then toss it in the cereal before cooking on a griddle or in a pan. It's so good!!! It makes the best crust! I like a lot of sweet topping on my toast, like syrup, whipped cream, powdered sugar, etc., so Scott and I both agreed that we didn't need the extra sugar from using Frosted Flakes, so we recommend just plain Corn Flakes instead, but use what you like.

I think this would be good with just about any cereal you like. I am tempted to even try to recreate Abracadabra's Cap'n Crunch French toast now. YUM!!!! (Update: I did, and here is the recipe: https://1brother2sisters.blogspot.com/2021/03/capn-crunch-french-toast.html)

Easy Ham and Cheese French Bread Pizza

We tried this recipe last night and everyone really liked it... but full disclosure, I think I am going to do it different next time, so I'll put my ideas at the bottom for next time. I think it's going to be EVEN better! But here's the original recipe. This was to use up some leftover holiday ham.

See the original recipe source here: https://www.thekitchenismyplayground.com/2016/09/easy-ham-cheese-french-bread-pizza.html

Easy Ham and Cheese French Bread Pizza

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf French bread
• 3 T. REAL® butter, melted (or use pre-made garlic butter)
• 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. garlic powder (omit if using pre-made garlic butter)
• 1/4 to 1/3 c. jarred Alfredo sauce
• 1 c. chopped ham
• 1/2 to 1/3 c. REAL® shredded Swiss cheese
• 1 to 1 1/2 c. REAL® shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. dried parsley {optional}

Directions:

1. Cut French bread in half lengthwise and place cut-side-up on a baking sheet. Brush cut sides with melted butter all the way to the edges and sprinkle evenly with garlic powder. (Or just use pre-made garlic butter.)
2. Bake at 450 degrees for 4 minutes or until just barely lightly browned on the edges.
3. Remove from the oven. Spread each piece of bread evenly with half the Alfredo sauce, then sprinkle on half the Swiss cheese and chopped ham. Top each piece of bread evenly with half the mozzarella and sprinkle on dried parsley, if using.
4. Bake for 6 - 8 minutes until cheese is melty. 
5. Remove from oven and slice into pieces using a sharp serrated knife.

Marsha's Notes:

I think the French bread held up to the alfredo sauce oooookkkkaaaayyyy.... but I think a more hearty bread like a ciabatta bun would be even better and not get soggy (... even though you toast the French Bread first before you add the alfredo, it still soaked in and got wet) and ciabatta would make a "personal sized" pizza for everyone that wouldn't need to be cut, where cutting the French bread kind of smashed it a little... 

Also, next time, I would add both grilled chicken and crumbled bacon to make it more of a chicken cordon bleu recipe. That would be SO GOOD!

Update: So we tried this with the chicken, bacon and ciabatta buns last night and it was a hit!!! I just bought precooked bacon and chopped it up, precooked grilled chicken and chopped it up, and then cut the ciabatta buns in half. Everyone got two pizzas (or one total bun) and they held up so nicely to the alfredo sauce! You could also put the two buns back together after everything has cooked and have an oven sandwich instead.

Slow Cooker Creamy Mac and Cheese From The Slow Roasted Italian

This was a BIG hit and even reheated pretty nicely!

Slow Cooker Creamy Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

• 1 pound cellentani pasta (also known as cavatappi), uncooked
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced into 1-tbsp pieces
• 4 ounces cream cheese, cut into 1-oz pieces
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 4 cups whole milk
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups freshly shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 cup fresh shredded Gruyere cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• Fresh Italian parsley, for garnish

Directions:

1. Pour the uncooked pasta onto the bottom of your slow cooker. I love my 6-quart for this recipe. 
2. Scatter the butter and cream cheese pieces over the pasta. 
3. Sprinkle the salt, paprika and mustard over the top and pour the milk and cream into the slow cooker. 
4. Stir to combine everything and smooth the pasta into one even layer coated in sauce. 
5. Cover and cook on high for 1 to 2 hours, until the pasta is chewy (not quite crunchy, but very al dente). Your cook time will vary if you use a different pasta, so start with 1 hour and adjust from there. 
6. Stir once halfway through the cook time and be sure to smooth the pasta into one layer so it is well coated with the sauce. 
7. Once the pasta is ready, sprinkle on the cheddar, Gruyere and mozzarella cheeses and stir to combine. The cheese will melt into the sauce to create the most luxurious creamy cheese sauce. 
8. Cover the mac and cheese and cook for 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and it comes together. Stir before serving and garnish with fresh parsley.

Marsha's Notes:

I used a little dry mustard powder instead of the Dijon. I also used about 4 cups of any cheese I have on hand. Lastly, the total liquid is about 5 1/2 cups, so I just used a carton of cream and made up the difference with milk until I had my 5 1/2 cups.

5/7/2025: Cooking on high, I used one bag of Winco brand cavatappi (1 lb.), stirred everything at the 1 hour mark, then added all the cheese and stirred until melted at the 2 hour mark and it was perfect! (Then I left it on warm to serve about an hour later at Scott's Mom's house and it had kind of over-cooked and wasn't as nice and creamy, so two hours would have been perfect.)

Crock Pot Roast and Veggies

*This recipe is low-carb if you omit or sub the potatoes.

The other night, without any recipe, I made a delicious roast and veggies, so I want to document here what I did.

Marsha's Crock Pot Roast and Veggies

Ingredients:

• beef roast
• potatoes
• carrots
• cream of chicken soup
• salt
• pepper
• garlic salt

Directions:

1. Chunk up enough potatoes and carrots to fill up maybe 2/3 of the crock pot. 
2. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. 
3. Spread a can of cream of chicken soup over the veggies. 
4. Top with the roast, which you also season. 
5. Cook on high all day.

When it was all done, it had made it's own nice gravy out of the soup, dippings, and veggie juice, which surprised me. I didn't put any water in the pot.

Overnight Maple French Toast

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Overnight Maple French Toast

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 1 Tbl. margarine or butter
• 10 (1 inch thick) slices French bread
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups skim milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 cups sliced strawberries
• 1 to 2 Tbl powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Spray 13x9 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.  
2. In medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, syrup and margarine.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Boil 1 minute.  Pour syrup mixture evenly in bottom of sprayed pan.
3. Arrange bread slices in even layer over syrup mixture.  Set aside.  
4. In large bowl, combine eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt; beat with wire whisk until smooth.  Pour evenly over bread in pan.  
5. Cover; refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.  
6. To bake, heat oven to 350 degrees.  Uncover pan; bake 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned.  
7. To serve, top each serving with sliced strawberries’ sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Taco Bell Crunch Wrap

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Taco Bell Crunch Wrap

Ingredients:

• Tortillas, large size
• Tostadas, about 6 inch size
• 1 lb. hamburger
• 1 pkg. taco seasoning
• Sour cream (or Ranch Dressing)
• Nacho cheese sauce
• 1 can refried beans
• tomato, chopped
• onion, chopped
• black olives, sliced
• lettuce, shredded
• grated cheese

Directions:

1. Amounts vary depending on how many Crunch Wraps you are making.  All toppings are optional.  Just use what you like on your other Mexican foods.  
2. Prepare hamburger and taco seasoning according to seasoning package directions.  
3. Heat refried beans and nacho cheese sauce.  
4. Take one tortilla and spread sour cream (or Ranch Dressing) around the center in a circle the same size as your tostada.  
5. Add any desired cold toppings (lettuce, tomato, olives, onion, shredded cheese, etc.)  
6. Top with a tostada.  
7. Spread refried beans on tostada and top with nacho cheese and then hamburger (taco meat).  
8. Preheat a frying pan to medium high heat.  
9. Take the tortilla (that should be sticking out around the tostada pile that you have created) and fold the tortilla around the tostada and various toppings by making little pleats in the tortilla.  Don’t worry if the tortilla is not large enough to completely cover the tostada pile.  Seal as best you can and place Crunch Wrap in frying pan folded side/meat side down.  Press down firmly with a spatula to help seal the folds in the tortilla, but try not to break the tostada.  
10. Lightly brown the outside of the tortilla, then flip over and brown the other side.  Serve. 

Apple Crisp

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

• 4 medium, tart cooking apples, sliced 
• ¾ cup brown sugar 
• ½ cup flour 
• ½ cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2-3/4 tsp nutmeg

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.  
2. Grease bottom and sides of a square baking dish.  
3. Arrange sliced apples in pan (about 4 cups of apples).  
4. Mix remaining ingredients together and sprinkle over apples.  
5. Bake about 30 minutes or until brown and apples are tender.  Drizzle with caramel sauce if desired with serving.  Serve warm.

Marsha's Notes:

I used Fugi apples and it turned out nice.

Boston Cream Pie

One of Scott's favorite desserts is Boston cream pie, eclairs, cannoli, or basically any recipe that calls for the combination of some kind of base pastry/cake, cream filling and chocolate. For two years in a row now, I have made him a Boston cream pie for his birthday and I wanted to start documenting my recipe so I can just get better and better! Everyone LOVED this one from Life Love and Sugar, so with my notes added, enjoy!

Boston Cream Pie

Ingredients:

Pastry Cream:

• 4 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup (155g) sugar
• 4 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 cups (480ml) milk
• 2 tbsp (14g) salted Challenge Butter, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (using dark vanilla can change the color of the cream to a darker color)

Vanilla Cake:

• 2 1/2 cups (325g) all purpose flour
• 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup (168g) unsalted Challenge Butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups (310g) sugar
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups (300ml) milk

Chocolate Ganache:

• 6 oz (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp corn syrup
• 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Cream:

1. To make the pastry cream, put the egg yolks in a medium sized bowl and gently beat them together. Set aside.
2. Add the sugar, cornstarch and milk to a large saucepan and mix until smooth.
3. Cook, stirring continuously, over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken and bubble.
4. Simmer for 2 minutes, then remove from heat.
5. Add a little bit of milk mixture to the egg yolks and whisk together, then add egg mixture to milk mixture. This process ensures that you don’t cook the egg yolks too quickly. (Go slow, careful, and just little bits at a time.)
6. Place everything back in the pan and the pan back on the heat and bring to a light boil. Allow to boil for 2 minutes, stirring continuously.
7. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth, then pour into a bowl and cover with clear wrap pressed against the top so that it doesn’t get a film on top and set in the fridge to cool completely.

Cake:

1. To make the cake layers, prepare two 9 inch cake pans with parchment paper circles in the bottom and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).
2. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
3. Add the butter, sugar and oil to and large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until completely combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
5. Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined.
6. Add the milk and mix until well combined. The batter will look a little curdled, but that’s ok. (I tried using warmed milk just in case the curdling was from the butter getting cold again, but it's not, so don't bother.
7. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.
8. Divide the batter evenly between the cakes pans and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
9. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.

Assembly:

1. To put the cake together, use a large serrated knife to remove any domes from the tops of the cakes so they are flat.
2. Place first cake layer on a serving platter (my red pie plate holder is too narrow in the well to safely hold the Boston cream pie, so use the bigger white cake holder), then top with the pastry cream. If needed, give the pastry cream a good stir with a whisk to smooth it out before adding it to the cake.
3. Add the second cake layer to the top of the cake. If you have cut the dome off the top cake to make it flat, place this top cake on upside down with the bottom crust surface facing up to avoid crumbs in the ganache.

Ganache:

1. To make the chocolate ganache, add the chocolate chips and corn syrup to a medium bowl.
2. Heat the heavy whipping cream just until it begins to boil, then pour over the chocolate chips and corn syrup. Allow to sit for 1-2 minutes, then whisk until smooth.
3. Pour the chocolate on top of the cake, in the center, then spread out towards the edges, letting some of the chocolate drip down the sides.
4. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Cake is best if eaten within 2-3 days and well covered.

Marsha's Notes:

Although the pastry cream can be made a couple days ahead and the cake layers can be made a day ahead, I recommend putting the cake together within a couple hours of serving so the chocolate is fresh.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Scott requested this for Father's Day 2025, so I took some updated pictures and notes. Enjoy!

Marsha's Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Ingredients:

• 5 large chicken breasts
• 1-2 pkg thin/regular sliced bacon
• 12-16 oz cream cheese
• 2 cups shredded cheese, approx.
• Seasoning (we used Maddox, which is not available to everyone, so use your favorite seasoning combos) (in 2025, we didn't have more Maddox seasoning, so I used a garlic parmesan blend from Weber)

Directions:

1. Start out with your chicken breast on top of a layer of plastic wrap, then another piece of plastic wrap on top. Or, alternatively, place your chicken inside a plastic food storage bag.
2. Pound the chicken into an even layer with a meat tenderizer. Be careful not to get holes in your chicken.
• Thinner on the chicken is better than too thick, because then you can wrap the chicken completely around the filling to keep more of it from leaking out during the baking process. So don't be afraid to go thin, but don't go so thin that it makes holes.
3. Next, lay out some bacon on a plate. 2-4 pieces vertically, and 2 pieces horizontally, if using two packages. If using one package:
• Marsha's Note: One package of bacon is not enough to wrap five breasts this way, so just divide up your bacon into as many piles as you need for the number of breasts you are using. We still wrapped all of our chicken just fine with one package, but it was more like 3 or 4 strips TOTAL per breast. The bacon does not need to go both vertically and horizontally if you don't want it to because...
• As you wrap, any bacon that overlaps may not crisp up under the broiler, so if blubbery bacon bothers you, make sure as much of your pieces of bacon is exposed to the broiler as possible. This makes wrapping the bacon in two directions problematic because one layer gets covered and not crisp. Instead, I would wrap my chicken with bacon in one direction only and possibly seal the ends of the chicken with toothpicks to hold the cheese in (rather than sealing the ends of the chicken with wrapped bacon).
4. Lay your chicken in the center of the bacon. You can season your chicken a bit at this point if you want to, but I put enough seasoning in my cream cheese that I didn't find it necessary. 
5. Mix together some cream cheese and garlic salt, or use the herb flavored cream cheese. Spread a layer of the mixture on the chicken, then add a little bit of shredded cheddar cheese. You can also add other desired things to your filling, like other chopped up veggies.
6. Roll the chicken up a little and fold up the horizontal pieces of bacon, making sure the sides are covered. then fold up the vertical pieces and secure with a toothpick if they won't stay. Sprinkle with additional seasoning, if desired.
7. Lay the chicken seam side down on a greased pan. I just put mine onto some tinfoil on top of the pan and it worked great. You can bake as-is, or sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar on top for some sweetness.
8. Bake at 400° for about 45 minutes (ours took an hour to 75 minutes for big chicken breasts), turning it over about halfway through.
9. Then turn the oven up to 500° or broil (watch closely!!) to brown the bacon and make it crispy. *You can turn the chicken over again to make sure all the bacon is cooked.
10. If you cut open the chicken after all of this and if the chicken still isn't cooked all the way through, you can put it back in the oven (covered) for another 15 minutes or so and it will be perfect!

Marsha's Notes:

This is one of the seasoning blends I have used in this recipe:

For our family of five, I just bought a large package of five boneless skinless chicken breasts from the store and then used two full blocks of cream cheese. I just added probably a couple of tablespoons of this seasoning blend to my softened cream cheese, blended it with a hand mixer, taste-tested, and then added more if needed until I had the filling the way I liked it. I am sure I would use more or less depending on what seasoning blend I was using. 

If you don't have a blend to use, you could just eyeball some salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder until you got something that you liked. Maybe start with a teaspoon of each or so, and go from there. You can also just buy the kind of cream cheese that already has herbs in it.

I also really don't like blubbery bacon fat, so I used the broiler to crisp up my bacon on the top of the chicken, and then I flipped the chicken over to crisp up the bottoms as well. Even with all of that, any bacon that was "double wrapped" on the chicken and protected from the broiler still had some "not crispy" bits, so I would probably try really hard to only wrap my chicken with bacon going one direction with as little overlap as possible... at least for my piece.

I foiled-lined a baking sheet with some extra-long tin foil so it would all be in one piece to contain the fat drippings. Then I put the wrapped chicken on a wire rack placed on top of the foil-lined pan. I did spray the wrack, just to make sure the chicken didn't stick, but it seems like there is enough fat from the bacon that you probably don't need to.

Covered and stored in the fridge until I was ready to bake.

Done!

Crock Pot Pizza Dip

We enjoyed this recipe from Real house Mom's (see here), so I wanted to put it on the blog for other's to enjoy!

Crock Pot Pizza Dip

Ingredients:

• 8 oz cream cheese , softened
• 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 oz pizza sauce
• 1/4 cup cut up pepperoni pieces

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients in crock pot and cook on high for about 1 hour
2. Turn to low once melted

Marsha's Notes:

I have a note that this recipe fits in my small crock pot for serving, and that it was yummy with buttered toasted French bread slices.

Easy "Drop Drinks"

To round out my posts about all my favorite home-made cocktails, so far, I am going to do a quick post about all of my easy "drop drinks." Simple, fast, and yummy... they basically involve a serving of the base of your choice and about a shot of the preferred liquor. Enjoy!

Rum and Coke- 1 shot rum to a serving of cola. You can change things up by using vanilla rums or other complimenting flavors to your cola.

Lime Ricky- 1 shot grape vodka to a serving of lemon lime soda pop plus grape flavored syrup (1/4 cup or so depending on taste) and optional fresh lime juice/wedges.

Bailey's and Coffee/Hot Chocolate- approximately 3 oz of your favorite Bailey's Ice Cream Liquor to a serving of coffee or hot chocolate. For a cold twist, add to chocolate milk or iced coffee.

Rumchatta and Coffee/Hot Chocolate- same as Bailey's.

Dr. Malibu- 1 shot Malibu rum and 1 serving Dr. Pepper

Marsha's Notes:

1/2 a shot usually equals about 25 ml or .845 oz. 1 full shot usually equals about 50 ml or 1.7 oz.

Hot Rolls

I could have sworn this recipe was already on here, but I guess it's not! So, it's about stinking time I shared my favorite roll recipe. Years ago, my step-mom gave me a cookbook full of recipes from her coworkers, and this recipe for "hot rolls" was in there. We LOVE it!!! It makes huge, fluffy rolls. I pull it out when asked to bring rolls for Thanksgiving or Christmas. (The images I pulled from the Internet, but my rolls look EXACTLY like these, so I thought it would do until I could take my own pictures the next time I make a batch.)

Marsha's Hot Rolls

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups water, hottest you get from tap
• 6 Tbsp. sugar
• 3 Tbsp. oil
• 1 Tbsp. yeast
• 5 cups flour
• 2 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Mix eggs, water, sugar and oil together.   
2. Sprinkle yeast on top of mixture, stir slightly, let sit for 10-15 minutes or until yeast is foamy.  
3. Sprinkle enough flour on top of yeast to protect it from salt.  
4. Sprinkle salt on top of the flour, then sprinkle more flour on top of the salt.  
5. Mix in then add the rest of the flour until dough is not sticky.  
6. Let raise for one hour.  
7. Roll out on floured surface and cut in to rolls.  Place rolls in two greased pans and let raise.  
8. Cook for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Marsha's Notes:

Rolls are HUGE if you use one 9x13 pan, so I use one 9x13 and then another smaller pan to make my rolls.  

Italian Grilled Cheese

Many years ago, when I was working at ICON in Smithfield, I discovered a wonderful lunch treat at the local gas station. I know, gas station, right!??!!!  They served these wonderful grilled cheese sandwiches that they called "Italian Grilled Cheese" with a side of (my favorite) steak fries and fry sauce. Fattening? Yes. Unhealthy? Mostly. Delicious? Oh YEAH!!!!! When I first noticed the menu option, I ask what it was all about and they inadvertently gave me the recipe. It's mostly a basic grilled cheese with a twist, so it's super easy to make at home, and now I am sharing it with you! Enjoy!!!!

Marsha's Italian Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:

• 2 slices white bread (or your favorite sandwich bread)
• 1 slice American cheese
• 1 slice processed Swiss cheese
• Garlic butter (or regular butter/spread with some McCormick Garlic Bread Sprinkle) 

Directions:

1. Basically, prepare as you would a normal grilled cheese; butter the outside surfaces of your sandwich with garlic butter (or regular butter/spread and then sprinkle with some McCormick Garlic Bread Sprinkle), assemble the sandwich with the cheese on the inside and toast in a frying pan (or griddle) over medium/medium low heat until toasted and golden on both sides.

Marsha' Notes:

I really love this sandwich for a bit of a twist on a boring old grilled cheese. Depending on the bread you use, you can end up with a more "adult" fancy grilled cheese, especially with the garlic butter. It's the perfect accompaniment for soups!

If you don't have garlic butter on hand, you can substitute your own by either adding some McCormick Garlic Bread Sprinkle on top of the bread that already has regular butter spread on it, or you can make your own garlic butter if you have some garlic (garlic powder, garlic salt, fresh garlic, or the minced in a jar kind), plus some parsley for color and maybe some salt. There's lots of recipes on online, but I haven't field tested any yet. (Maybe I should do that soon and post a recipe, huh?!) :)

Marsha's Favorite Jam Recipe

(From 2016 with 2025 updates.) I decided to document my current favorite way to make jam because I have tried different ways and had mixed results in the past. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's runny, sometimes it's bubbly (???!!!), etc. But, I have made three kinds of jam this summer using the same technique and so far they have all turned out fantastic. To the point that Scott even said, "I think you have mastered jam." Yay! So, here goes.

Homemade Jam

(Strawberry, Raspberry, Blackberry) 

Ingredients:

• 4 pints (or 30-32 oz.) berries (equals 3 1/4 cups crushed berries), washed and debris removed (for strawberries, quarter the berries for easier mashing)
• 1 box MCP Pectin
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
• 4 1/2 cups sugar (added later, see recipe)
• 1 cup corn syrup (added later, see recipe)
• For storage of the jam, I use five 16 oz. (2 cup) containers

Directions:

1. Crush fruit to your desired consistency.
• I like chunks of fruit in my jam, so I used a potato masher for raspberries and blackberries. Sometimes strawberries are harder to crush with a potato masher, so with larger berries I will quarter them and then use an immersion blender sparingly to blend some of the fruit, while still leaving some bigger pieces. 
2. Gradually mix crushed fruit with pectin and lemon juice. 
• One time I messed up at this step and starting adding my corn syrup as well, but in the end, the jam turned out just fine. However, technically, you add the sugar AND the corn syrup later in the process.
3. Let sit for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. 
4. Mix in corn syrup (according to the package, this is supposed to help with crystals forming during freezing). 
5. Slowly add sugar. 
6. Pour into containers, cover with lids, and let sit on counter for 24 hours. Freeze or use immediately.
• The jam should start to thicken within a short period of time (an hour or less) so be sure to put it in your containers and not leave it sitting in the mixing bowl for very long.

Marsha's Tips:

Without knowing for sure, I imagine part of my jam-making success was strictly following the "stir every 5 minutes for 30 minutes" pectin step. It sounds like a pain, but it made GREAT jam.

Fruit Container Measurements-

• Strawberries: Currently, our store sells strawberries in 16 oz. containers. A flat of strawberries is eight 16 oz. containers, which will need four boxes of pectin, an entire 32 oz. bottle of corn syrup, 18 cups of sugar, and 1 cup of lemon juice (about half of a 15 oz. bottle). It will make about twenty 2 cup containers of jam.
• If you wanted a single batch of jam using only one box of pectin, then you would only need two of the 16 oz. containers of strawberries and not an entire flat. You would end up with about five 2 cup containers of jam.

16 oz.

This shows what supplies I bought and had on hand for making jam, including the flat of strawberries (one more larger bottle of corn syrup not pictured).

• Blackberries and Raspberries: Both of these currently come in 6 oz. containers. You need five or six of them to make a batch of jam that uses up one entire box of pectin, plus about 1/2 of a smaller 16 oz. bottle of corn syrup, along with 4.5 cups sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice.
• I bought six 6 oz. containers of each kind of berries (see in above picture) and ended up with more like 4 cups of crushed fruit in the end, so five would have been closer to the recommended amount of fruit per package of pectin... but in the end, it seemed to turn out just fine even with a little extra fruit. The blackberry seemed to tighten up nicely, and the raspberry was runnier, but still fine. If it turns out problematic after freezing and then thawing the jam, I will try to remember to come back and report.

6 oz.

6 oz.

Here are some pictures to show my process:

Here are all six containers of blackberries, washed and ready to go.
I set this strainer full of berries inside of one of my biggest mixing bowls and filled the entire thing up with water so I could stir the berries around and get the bits of leaves and things to float to the top of the water so I could pick out any debris. Initially, if any of the berries appeared to have any mold on them, I removed the moldy berries and then added just a touch of white vinegar (2 Tbl to about 1/4 cup) to the water to help sanitize the remaining berries. I would let the berries sit in the vinegar water mixture for just a couple minutes. Then I pulled the strainer with the berries out of the water in the larger bowl and rinsed everything again off with my faucet sprayer and let sit and drain for a minute or so. 

Clean berries crushed with a potato masher.

As you can see, six packages of berries made about 4 cups crushed, so five probably would have been closer to the recommended 3 1/4 cups berries. So in the future, I will use 5 packages.

Raspberries washed and ready to go.

Crushed, these also made about 4 cups, similar to the blackberries, so again, I would only get five containers next time.

Strawberries getting their final rinse before being stemmed and quartered. Because there are so many strawberries, I did them two 16 oz. containers at a time, washing, rinsing, stemming, and mashing in batches.

Some of the berries I started to slice and then realized that I didn't need to go to that much work if I was just going to mash them, so I quartered the rest of the flat instead.

Mashed with a potato masher. There are still lots of big chunks that were hard to mash up very well this way, so I decided to try the immersion blender instead, which worked well. 

You can see here that two containers made about 3 1/4 cups almost perfectly, so that is what you need to use one box of pectin.

Sporadically using the immersion blend to get some of the larger pieces chopped up, without blending the entire thing because I like some pieces of fruit to remain intact in the final product (you could probably also use a regular countertop blender for this, using the pulse feature so you can control how blended up everything gets).
After trying the potato masher with that first batch of strawberries and deciding that was too much work, I just added my quartered strawberries directly to this red bowl and processed them entirely with the immersion blender moving forward.

Here is the entire flat done. But this bowl is too small to hold the strawberries AND all the sugar and other things to make the jam, so I had to transfer it to another REALLY BIG container (but this container is plastic and I would be afraid to use the immersion blender in this blue tub, so I would still use the red bowl for mashing the berries in the future because it's ceramic).

Berries all mashed and ready for pectin and lemon juice. Then comes stirring every 5 minutes for 30 minutes before adding the corn syrup and sugar later. I found that tucking the handle of my whisk into the handle space of the blue tub kept my whisk from falling into the strawberry mixture between stirrings.

After the pectin has processed and all the other ingredients are added, it's time to divide everything into containers. This worked really well with my large canning funnel and a soup ladle. Between the jam being finished and when I put them in the containers, I stopped to eat dinner and was surprised by how much some of the jam had thickened up already, so don't wait too long to get it all divided up in the containers and ready to sit for the night.

All divided! As you can see, I got 5 raspberry, 5 blackberry, and 19 strawberry. If I had divided things more precisely, I probably would have gotten 20 containers of strawberry.

Lids cleaned and marked, ready for the jam to sit out overnight before freezing.

These are the supplies I had leftover:
I had a partial bottle of corn syrup in the house, so I bought both a full 32 oz. and a 16 oz. bottle for this project. I used all of the full 32 oz. bottle (for the strawberries) AND 16 oz. bottle (for the raspberries and blackberries) of corn syrup, leaving me with that partial 32 oz. bottle that I had from before.
I had a partial bottle of lemon juice (about 1/2 full) so I bought a new 15 oz. bottle. I used all of my partial bottle of lemon juice and part of the new bottle I purchased. It should take less than a 15 oz bottle to make 6 boxes of pectin into jam, just for reference.
I had one old box of pectin, plus I bought eight more boxes because I wasn't sure how much I needed. It turns out for all this jam I needed 6 boxes, so I had three leftover.
For sugar, I have a huge storage tub of sugar in the basement that I dip out of to fill my kitchen sugar container, and I had to fill my container twice from my large supply to get all of this jam made. In total it was 27 cups of sugar. My kitchen container probably holds a 4-5 lb bag of sugar, so if I was buying smaller bags of sugar for this project I would get at least two... maybe three.

I also realized that some of the members of my family live alone now and probably won't want an entire larger container of jam, so I bought some of these smaller containers and dipped out of a couple of the bigger ones so I could give out smaller portions to anyone who wanted it. I would have needed 12 total smaller containers to use up all three of those larger containers. The larger containers are 2 cups (16 oz.) and the smaller are 1/2 cup (4 oz.).

Notes from before 2025: The history of figuring out pectin-

• As I mentioned, I have had mixed results in the past, so this time I even took a picture of the box of pectin I used because not all pectin seems to be the same. They even have different kinds of Sure-Jell pectin, one of which is clearly labeled for lower sugar jam recipes, but two of them have different names with no real indication on the box what the difference is; Sure-Jell vs. MCP. 
• I Googled it, and it appears I am not the only one confused. Here is what one lady wrote, "I went to the Albertsons, and they had the Surejell right next to MCP pectin, and I got very confused. MCP is made by Surejell. Surejell is 1.75 oz at $2.99 a box. The MCP is 2.0 oz for $2.49 a box. More for less? I called Kraft and asked about the differences, and they said the formulas were different. Sure enough, I checked the back of the boxes, and Surejell lists dextrose, citric acid, then pectin. MCP lists dextrose, pectin and then citric acid. I have my formula for jam dialed in, so I didn't want to "mess with success" and switch now, with just one batch to go, but now I'm wondering what, if any, are the differences in the products?" Even the Kraft website (who makes Sure-Jell) lists the same description for it's Sure-Jell pectin and it's Sure-Jell MCP pectin, with the one difference that says, "MCP is available on the west coast." 
• Okay? I live on the west coast, and the regular Sure-Jell is available alongside the MCP, so why do our stores carry both? Any who... So here's the one I liked:

• I made jam successfully, following these steps, with strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. I imagine you could combine and do a mixed berry with the same success. I am also going to try it with peach in the fall and will try to make a note if peaches worked the same.