The Sparrow's Nest

Bunny Salads

We had the pleasure of lunch company (my friend Angela, her 2 boys, and new baby girl) yesterday, so I whipped up a few of these little cuties (recipe found in my 1950s Betty Crocker children's cookbook) as well as some weiner pigs-in-a-blanket. Aren't these just the sweetest little bunnies? :o)

Here are the foods you need to make a "bunny":

• pear half (body)
• cottage cheese (tail)
• sliced almonds (ears)
• raisins (eyes)
• cinnamon candy (nose)

I laid each one on a Romaine lettuce leaf for ease in transferring to plates. They were easy to make and oh, so cute. Perfect for springtime! :o)

Homemade Banana Bread

Pretty she is, but she doesn't stand a chance with all the "monkeys" in this household!;o)
Find my favorite recipe for banana bread here.

Easy Pigs-In-a Blanket

This morning I took a batch of these yummy treats for our Bible Study. They're easy to make and taste delicious! :o)

To make these, you need:

• 16 sausage links
• 2 cans of (8 ct.) crescent rolls

Prepare sausage as directed. Dry links with paper towel and let cool for 5 minutes. Then, laying the link at the wide end of the individual crescent roll triangles, roll them up! Bake as directed on crescent roll tube.

Variations to use with crescent rolls (without cooking meat ahead of time) could include:

• pepperoni and mozzerella cheese
• rolled deli turkey or ham
• hot dogs (cut in half) with ketchup and mustard for dipping
• chicken tenders with barbeque sauce for dipping

Depression-Era Recipes: Mother's Homemade Noodles

I plan on trying this recipe later this week in chicken broth. It sounds like it will be delicious-very reminiscent of my mother-in-law's spaetzle recipe. :o)

• 1 cup, plus 1 rounded tablespoon flour
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg, plus 1 yoke
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Broth from chicken or other meat

On a bread board or in a large bowl, make a mound of the flour with a hollow in the middle. Beat milk, eggs, and salt together with a fork. Place in the hollow spot. Mix together from the outside in toward the center until you have a stiff dough. Let set for 5 minutes or so, no longer than 10 minutes, then roll out in two batches, as thin as you can. Keep flouring the dough as needed to keep dough from sticking to rolling pin. Roll up very tightly. Slice the rolled dough into thin strips. Separate at once and hang over a broomstick, or spread out on a table. Let dry 2 hours. Ten minutes before serving, drop into gently boiling broth, stirring constantly so that the noodles do not stick together. Noodles will be ready to serve when no longer doughy; the clinging flour on the noodles will thicken the broth.

Recipe Courtesy of Geocities, Image Courtesy of Google Images

Rainy Day Cheerios Treats

It's fairly rainy and gloomy outside today (plus we need to get groceries tonight), so I wanted to mix up a fun treat for the boys today. After scrounging the pantry, I was pleased to find a jar of marshmallow creme and the remnants of a box of Cheerios (I purchased at CVS the other week) and thought to myself...Cheerios Treats!

To make these, you need:

• 1/4 c. butter
• 7 oz. jar marshmallow creme
• 5-6 c. breakfast cereal

Melt the butter in the microwave or over the stove. Remove it from heat and stir in marshmallow creme. Stir in cereal (you can add more with smaller flake kinds, less with larger bits like Cheerios). Butter a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Pour in cereal mixture and press down firmly with buttered hands. Let cool and cut into squares. :o)

NOTE: With larger cereal pieces like Cheerios, I would advise pressing down extra firmly. We had some loose Cheerios floating around after our bars were cut, which left us with no alternative but to eat them. Sigh...it just HAD to be done. ;o)

NOTE AFTER NOTE: I think in retrospect, I'd rather have these with marshmallows rather than the creme. They just don't taste as "marshmallow"-y as rice krispie treats usually do, and they don't have the solid form that regular ones do either. They still taste pretty good, though.

NOTE AFTER NOTE AFTER NOTE: I found another recipe for Cheerios Treats online which uses 8 c. Cheerios, 1/4 c. butter, and 1 10 oz. bag of marshmallows. The rest of the directions are the same as above. I think I'll try this next time, but for what we had in the house today, this recipe was fine. :o)

Depression Era Recipes: Tomato Soup Cake

(NOTE: One of the features I am excited to present during a "Month of Cheerful Thrift" is a host of Depression-Era recipes. It is amazing to look online and see how these creative women made thrifty, delicious meals with little cost during this time period. This recipe was originally found at Allrecipes, but has been altered a bit by me to be less salty (it originally calls for 1/2 t. salt, along with salted butter, baking soda, and self-rising flour. Ewww! LOL).)

Tomato Soup Cake was probably invented by a homemaker who needed to produce a dessert with little expense. I am certain she probably searched her cabinets, found a can of tomato soup, and became culinarily creative with it! Tomato Soup Cake is a moist, dense cake with a spicy taste- in other words, it's delicious! Your guests will never guess the secret ingredient, but I'll bet they'll ask for seconds!

• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup butter, unsalted
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 cup raisins

Combine soup and baking soda in a bowl and let stand. Cream sugar, egg, butter, cinnamon, and cloves in mixing bowl until smooth. Add soup mixture. Mix in flour and stir in raisins. Pour into a greased bundt or tube pan and bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour (or until done). Cool and sprinkled cake with confectioner's sugar or frost cake with cream cheese frosting. (I mix 1 block of Neufchatel cheese, 1 lb. confectioner's sugar, and 1/2 t. vanilla together to make a dripping, thick glaze for this cake- it looks so pretty!) :o)

Mrs. Wilt's "Sugar and Spice" Chicken Salad

I have fiddled and fussed with this recipe for ages as I do love a good chicken salad sandwich. Here is my sugar and spice recipe...with just a hint of sweetness and a tangy bite! Enjoy!:o)

• 3 chicken breasts, baked and shredded
• 2 (heaping) T. mayonnaise (I use Duke's)
• 1/4 c.(or more if you prefer) seedless red grapes, halved
• 1/4 c.(or less if you prefer) celery, chopped
• 2 T. honey
• 4 pinches of seasoning salt
• 3 t. chopped walnuts (optional)

Mix together all ingredients. Chill for a half-hour. Serve on warm, crusty bread with tomato and lettuce on top. Yum!

PS- I'm going to put in a word here for green leaf lettuce. It sells for the same price as romaine, but is beautiful for sandwiches because of the leafy, fluted edge. The texture also helps keep slippery sandwich filling inside the roll where it belongs. :o)

What Do I Do With All This Easter Candy?

If you are like us, you still have a jar of Easter candy floating around your kitchen. What to do? Here are some tips to use it up frugally (before next Easter rolls around!). ;o)

• If you have leftover M&Ms, use them in lieu of chocolate chips for cookies. You can even substitute them into my cookie recipe HERE.
• Chocolate rabbits can be grated with a vegetable peeler to produce chocolate curls to top cakes or cupcakes.
• Hershey kisses or any type of milk chocolate can be grated to top ice cream or melted to make chocolate sauce.
• Jelly beans can be strung together on fishing wire or dental floss to make pretty bracelets or necklaces for little girls.
• Marshmallow peeps can be used to make rice krispie treats.

If all else fails and you're really brave, try this recipe for "Leftover Easter Candy Cake" from cooks.com:

• 2 c. coarsely chopped leftover Easter candy (such as chocolate eggs, marshmallow chicks, chocolate bunnies, candy eggs, jellies)
• 2 3/4 c. sifted flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 8 oz. unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 3 lg. eggs
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 1 c. sour cream
• Optional: Confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter a tube or bundt pan (10 to 12 cup capacity) and put in a bit of flour. Tap out excess flour. Set pan aside. Sift together the 2 3/4 c. flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.
3. In large bowl, cream butter until soft, add vanilla, almond extracts and sugar. Mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one. On low speed, alternate adding dry ingredients with sour cream, scraping bowl as necessary.
4. Place 1 1/2 cups mixture in prepared pan. Add candies to remaining batter, fold in gently. Pour this mixture into pan over plain batter.
5. Bake 1 hour or until tests done. Cool 15 minutes. Cover pan with rack and invert. Remove pan. Let cake cool. Serve plain or with confectioners' sugar dusted on top.

Chicken Enchiladas 101

Ole'! This is one of my favorite and fast meals for our family. Find the original recipe HERE- I've altered it a teeny bit for our family's likes/dislikes. Plus, this recipe makes 2 9x13 casserole dishes. Yum! Hope you enjoy it- we sure do! :o)

1. Do your prep work. Chop an onion and 3 c. cooked chicken. Reserve in bowls.

2. Assemble your ingredients: 4 c. Mexican cheese, sour cream, chicken broth, 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, and spices (refer to recipe for what you like: I use Adobo and cumin).

3. Stir together 16 oz. chicken broth, 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, and 16 oz. sour cream in a large bowl until relatively smooth. Reserve 2 cups of this mixture in a separate bowl.

4. To the original large bowl, add chopped chicken, onion, 2 c. of Mexican cheese, and spices to taste. This is your filling. Stir well.

5. Spoon 3 T. of filling into the center of each tortilla. Roll up and place in a 9x13 pan running from side to side.  I usually fit about 6 in each pan.

6. Pour your original reserved liquid over the top of each pan of enchiladas. Don't worry about dousing everything. As it cooks, it will spread around in the pan. Sprinkle with remaining 2 c. of Mexican cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly. Mmm...great served over rice. ;o)

A QUICK TIP: This recipe makes 2 pans, and if you don't need both for a meal, freeze one! I usually plastic wrap one casserole dish and write important information with a Sharpie on top of a piece of foil (that way, I won't have to dig for a recipe when heating the freezer meal). Plus, I'm also not having to play "What's In That Dish?" when I pull out this casserole a couple of weeks (or months) from now. :o)

EDITED TO ADD: I April Fooled myself accidentally! Look at the date I wrote on the casserole dish: April 2007. Hmmm...now where's that Sharpie?!? LOL :o)

Puttin' on the Ritz

My mother brought up a batch of delicious treats for me today. She spread peanut butter between 2 Ritz crackers (you can also use the mini Ritz peanut butter sandwich crackers) and dipped them in melted white chocolate. They are the perfect blend of salty and sweet. Delicious! :o)