Poppyseed Chicken and Rice Casserole

Since I started back to work on Monday, I have been looking for made-ahead recipes that I can pop in the oven for dinner when I get home.  Sunday evening, I cooked some rice and put together the remainder of the casserole on Monday morning before leaving for work. 

Poppy Seed Chicken and Rice Casserole

1 cup uncooked brown rice
1 quart home-canned chicken tenders (approx. 12 tenders, but you could use less)
8 oz. sour cream (I used half sour cream and half yogurt because I didn't have enough sour cream)
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used the cream of whatever soup mix that I had made earlier)
1 sleeve crackers, crushed

Cook rice until done.  Mix in remaining ingredients except crackers.  Spread crushed crackers along the top of the casserole and bake at 350 degrees until warmed throughout and crackers are golden brown.   Just before serving, I sprinkled some grated cheddar cheese on top and melted it.  It turned out very good!

3-2-1 Biscuits

We lived in Louisiana several years ago and some friends we had made the best biscuits.  They used a rough 3-2-1 recipe.

Homemade Biscuits

3 parts self-rising flour (can be made from all purpose flour if needed)
2 parts milk (I used milk made from reconstituted dry powdered milk)

1 part oil (you can use melted butter or oil)

Mix all three ingredients together.  Add additional flour if needed to get to the right consistency.

This is a very quick and easy way to throw together some delicious biscuits!

Tomato Gravy

On Saturday morning, my husband took our son squirrel hunting for the first time.  While they were gone, I decided to fix them a good breakfast.  My husband has always loved tomato gravy (which is odd since he doesn't like tomatoes), so I decided to make some for him.  I had never made it, but started with a basic gravy and went from there.  Here is the recipe I used:

Tomato Gravy

1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1 1/3 cup milk (make from reconstituted dry milk powder)
1 quart home-canned tomatoes, drained
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oil in skillet and add the flour a little bit at a time, stirring while adding.  Once flour and oil mixture is browned, add milk, stirring constantly.  Finally, add tomatoes and cook until thickened.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

It was delicious!  I will share the biscuit recipe I used tomorrow.

Home Canned Pasta Sauce Secret

I mentioned earlier that I used my home canned spaghetti sauce for the marinara dipping sauce for the pizza and bread sticks. To do this, I just added some sugar to the sauce.  I added about 1 tablespoon to a cup of sauce, but you can adjust to your liking.  The current batches of spaghetti sauce that I am using were made with Mrs. Wages Pasta Sauce mix and number 10 cans of crushed tomatoes from Costco.  I have made my own sauce before, but I found these Pasta Sauce mixes on sale last year and stocked up.  If you were to pay full price for the mix (approx. $2.5 per package) and number 10 can (approx. $3 each), you could can you own sauce for approx. $1.70 per quart.  I haven't purchased spaghetti sauce in the store lately, but based on what I have seen, that does still compare favorably to the cost of those cans or jars of sauce.  This is a very versatile sauce.  I use it for pasta sauce, pizza sauce (with 1 small can of tomato paste added per quart), and marinara sauce.

Pictures from Around The Farm

It is beginning to feel like fall here, so I wanted to share some of the pictures I have taken around the farm this week.  The beauty of God's creation is all around us.  We just have to take the time to stop and see them.

This post is being shared at Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday and Homestead Revival's Barn Hop #33.

Acorns To Oaks

Last fall, our church did a program titled, "Acorns to Oaks".  It was a great little play and made me think about how God grows each of us into exactly what He needs us to be.  Wednesday night at church, the book that my son selected was Max Lucado's The Oak Inside the Acorn (Novel) .  It is a wonderful book that my son has wanted me to read over and over.  The moral of the story is that none of us knows what is in store for our future, but we just have to be "the person God made us to be" and stop trying to be what those around us are.  I highly recommend this book if you have a child or grandchild.  It does open up some great lines of communication about growing up and following God.

Note:  The links in this post are my referral links.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Last year, I got some sweet potatoes at a good price and canned some.  They have made it very easy to make a quick candied sweet potatoe side dish on a week night.  The recipe that I use comes from the Calling All Cooks Three cookbook that I have mentioned before (Blueberry Pound Cake).  It is a very good cookbook and I highly recommend it.  The recipe that I use is as follows:

Candied Sweet Potaotes (modified from Calling All Cooks Three cookbook):

1 quart jar home-canned sweet potatoes
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup

These are delicious!  I am just about out of canned sweet potatoes.  I need to get some more and have a canning session!