Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes by Ginia Oehlschlager

10# potatoes
2 eggs
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp salt
16 oz. cream cheese

Peel and quarter potatoes. Cover completely with water in saucepan. Boil and cook gently until tender. Drain well. In large bowl, combine potatoes with other ingredients. Mash well. Spoon into well greezed 3 qt. or 9x13 pans. Refrigerate up to 2 days or freeze. To bake: thaw. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes or until top is golden.

**I had a big bag of potatoes that needed to be used up and this recipe was a great way to do it. I left out the eggs (something about uncooked eggs freaks me out) and added some extra butter and some leftover heavy whipping cream that I had in the fridge. Creamy, yummy goodness! Great with the stroganoff (see recipe below).

Crockpot Stroganoff by Theresa Barnett

1# lean beef cut diagonally into very thin strips
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can water
small can mushrooms (undrained, optional)
1 pkg. onion soup mix
2 cups uncooked noodles
1 carton (8 oz.) sour cream

Place beef into crockpot. Add soup, water and onion soup mix. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Add noodles. Cook an additional 30 minutes or until noodles are done. Stir in sour cream before serving.

**I used stew meat for this recipe and it turned out fantastic - so tender! I just threw the meat in there right out of the freezer and omitted the can of water. We ate it with Ginia's mashed potatoes (see recipe above).

Garden Update

I have been picking about a dozen strawberries per day and have picked a couple of handfuls of green beans already. The yellow squash and zucchini are coming on STRONG and I have probably 30+ tomatoes on their way. Summer fun!

Banana bread by Jessicca Oehlschlager

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
2 bananas (or more)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
cinnamon (optional)

Grease and flour pan. Heat oven to 350. Beat sugar and oil together. Add eggs, bananas, sour cream and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

**I doubled the recipe with 5 bananas and came out with 3 loaves of very moist banana bread. Excellent warm out of the oven!

Layered Ice Cream Cake by the Duggars

Makes a 9x13 pan.

24 ice crem sandwiches
8 oz. Cool Whip
1 chocolate syrup bottle
1 caramel syrup bottle
2 king size candy bars, chopped up

1st layer - 12 ice cream sandwiches
2nd - half of Cool Whip
3rd - half of candy bars, caramel and chocolate syrup

Repeat layers and freeze.

**I made this over the weekend for a camping trip. It was great! The recipe suggests Butterfingers but I prefer Snickers. I think it would be excellent with Skor or Heath bars too. A cool summer dessert that serves a crowd.

Mashed Potato soup by Yours Truly

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, diced
6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cups water
1 cup diced celery
4 cups milk
2 cups cold mashed potatoes (prepared with milk and butter)
1 can evaporated milk
salt and pepper to taste

In a soup kettle or Dutch oven, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the cubed potatoes, water and celery; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add milk, mashed potatoes, evaporated milk, salt and pepper. Heat through but do not boil.

*I actually found this recipe at allrecipes.com because I was looking for a way to use up leftover frozen mashed potatoes from Christmas. As usual, I left out the onion, but I did use some minced onion. I never peel my potatoes either. Joy likes soup to be very thick so I didn't add the 4 cups of milk. This really is a hearty, chunky soup. Great with grilled cheese!

Sloppy Joes by the Duggars

1 pound ground beef or turkey
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 envelope dry onion soup mix
2 tsp. liquid smoke

Brown and season meat. Add all other ingredients and heat through. Serve on buns.

**I got this recipe from the Duggar's website (18 Kids and Counting on TLC). It was wonderful and I like it better than the sloppy joe sauce that comes in a can. This has a smoky/BBQ flavor that is really yummy.

Chicken & Noodles by Ginia Oehlschlager

1 chicken, cooked and deboned (or canned chicken)
2 cups chicken broth
1 pkg. frozen egg noodles
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cans cream of chicken soup.

Mix all ingredients and simmer. Can also add frozen veggies if you like.

**You would not believe how fantastic this turned out. I could have eaten the whole pot all by myself! I bought one of those rotisserie chickens from the store and there was plenty of meat. I can't wait to fix it again!

Grilled Turkey Club Quesadillas by Kraft Food & Family

2 flour tortillas (6 inch)
1 Tbsp. Miracle Whip
1/4 tsp. chili powder
4 slices turkey breast
1 slice bacon, cooked
1 slice of cheese

Spread tortillas with dressing; sprinkle with chili powder. Layer turkey, bacon and cheese. Grill for 2-3 minutes.

*This recipe is originally meant for a BBQ grill but I did it on my George Foreman with ham, Swiss cheese and that bacon you can buy that is already cooked. Joy really liked it and I didn't have to heat up the kitchen to cook during the summer. Always important because we haven't turned on our air conditioner yet!

Crockpot BBQ chicken by Jennifer Carter

4 chicken breasts
1 bottle of BBQ sauce

Put chicken in crockpot. Pour BBQ sauce on top. Cook on low for 6 or 7 hours.

It doesn't get any easier than this one! I shredded the chicken, added more BBQ sauce and we ate it like sandwiches. So simple and so yummy!