I haven’t had a In the Kitchen with Linda post in a very long time! It’s time I got back to it! These posts help keep me organized in the kitchen. I hope they help you, too, with tips, menu ideas, and recipes.

 

Last week I made a bacon wrapped venison tenderloin. So good! My family loves it this way.

 

 

I recently made venison summer sausage for the first time. It was pretty easy. I used a prepackaged seasoning mix.

 

 

Instead of using the casings in the kit, I wrapped the shaped meat in foil, then baked. After they were cooled, I cut the ends off and wrapped them in plastic wrap. Don’t worry, the ends didn’t go to waste! My family ate them.

 

 

The next day, I vacuum sealed 9 of the 10 sausages. I put the 10th in the fridge for eating. I don’t usually eat summer sausage, but everyone that tasted it liked it.

 

 

I put these 9 in the chest freezer to store. So far, the family is leaving them alone. lol I warned them that this is the only batch I’m making this year so the better make it last. lol I’m saving them for holiday meals or other special occasions.

 

 

 

In the Kitchen with Linda & Dinner Menu

 

Now…. to answer the question that I get asked about a hundred times a day……….What’s For Dinner?

 

Saturday – quick & easy- Daughter cooked! Kielbasa, yellow squash, and mashed potatoes

Sunday – soup & sandwich day – Fish filets & fries, corn

Monday – chicken or turkey –  Orange Chicken, rice, broccoli

Tuesday – pizza/pasta – homemade pizza using my garlic pizza crust recipe

Wednesday – Taco Night- Easy Taco Soup

Thursday – pork or venison – Venison, potatoes, carrots, and onions in the slowcooker

Friday – venison  – Daughter in law cooking for me!

 

 

 

For more ideas, visit Menu Plan Monday

 

 

 

I adapted this recipe from my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. I don’t like to use shortening in baking, but you can substitute shortening for half the butter if you want.


Chocolate Cookies

1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa

sugar for the tops

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugars, and baking soda together. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour and cocoa.

Drop by rounded teaspoons (I use a cookie scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheet. Using the back of a spoon dipped in sugar, flatten the cookies slightly. (Like peanut butter cookies, only with a spoon). I like to sprinkle a little extra sugar on top as well.

 

 

Bake at 375 for 8 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

 

 

You can stir in chocolate chips, or any other kind of chips to these cookies. You can also add nuts if you want.

These cookies freeze well. I never seem to have enough freezer containers, so I freeze cookies on a paper plate in a freezer bag.

 

 

 

Our Easter dinner was really good. And really unusual.

 

We had 3 Easter dinners! One daughter that lives out of state was coming into town on Saturday but didn’t want to miss dinner. So Easter dinner #1 was that night.

He had ham, mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus, green beans, corn, stuffed eggs (you probably know them as deviled eggs), and Resurrection Rolls. For dessert we had yellow cake with chocolate frosting and banana pudding. I baked the cake, but my daughter frosted it.

 

 

 

The best time for one of my sons and his fiancee to come to dinner was Sunday right after church. that would be dinner #2.

We had ham, mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus, corn, stuffed eggs, Resurrection Rolls, cake, and banana pudding.

 

 

My husband had made 10 pounds of mashed potatoes on Saturday but we were running low for dinner #3 on Sunday night. I cheated a little. shhhhh. There was a packet of instant mashed potatoes for one of my sons in the pantry. Instead of making more mashed potatoes from scratch I made those, then stirred in the leftover homemade mashed potatoes. shhhhh don’t tell anyone! We were running out of other food, too. So Easter dinner #3 was smaller than the others.

 

We had to have dinner #3 because my married son had been with his wife’s family before coming here, so he missed dinner #2. And my college daughter tries to fit in as many home cooked meals as she can when she’s home. lol

We had ham, mashed potatoes, corn, Resurrection rolls. And the same desserts.

And those Resurrection rolls? They are so good! It’s a good thing I only make them on Easter! . We went through 48 rolls! Adding up all the dinners, we feed 27 of us overall. So not too bad on the count, but that’s still a LOT of rolls! lol

 

I don’t think I’ll be doing that many dinners again. For any holiday. If they can’t make the main dinner, then they can get out the left overs themselves when they get here and warm some up in the microwave. It was all just too much work and too many dishes!

Here are 9 of my family’s favorite desserts just in time for your holiday meals! Cakes, pie, brownies, and lots of cookies. Most are easy, all are delicious!

 

I don’t know about your family, but my family thinks that they have to have multiple desserts. They don’t think it’s a holiday unless they have all of their favorites. That I don’t make all year long. 🙂

 

 

 

9 Desserts for Your Holiday Meals

 

Cinnamon Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

 

Chocolate Crown Cake

 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

 

Ginger Snap Pumpkin Pie

 

Brownies

 

Sugar Cookies

 

Ginger Snaps

 

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Cookies

 

Chocolate Cookies

 

 

What’s your favorite holiday dessert to make? And eat!

 

 

I got this recipe from a tv show about 20 years ago. Seriously. This was back before tv shows had websites to put the recipes on. I wrote it down, by hand. lol I have used it numerous times over the years. It’s easy. And it’s good!

 

 

 

Easy One Pan Italian Chicken and Potatoes

2 -2 1/2 lbs chicken, boneless, skinless, cut into chunks
olive oil, amount will vary
2 white onions, thinly sliced
8 large potatoes, quartered
2 T oregano
1 c. parsley, finely chopped
salt & pepper to taste

 

Add all of the ingredients to a large pan or sheet pan. Mix well with your hands, be sure that everything is coated well with the oil. Arrange in a single layer.

 

 

 

Bake at 350 stirring often (every 15 minutes). Cook for 1 hour, until potatoes are nice & crisp.

 

 

My son doesn’t like a lot of  “green stuff” on his food, so I left the parsley large so he could easily pick it off.  🙂

 

NOTE: If you want to use pieces of chicken, i.e. the breast, thighs, and/or legs, boil the chicken for 30 minutes before proceeding with the recipe.

 

I got this Easy Taco Soup recipe from my cousin. It’s really easy, and really tasty. I took it to church for a dinner, and everyone that I talked to, that had some, said it was really good. My family loved it!

 

I love that the majority of the ingredients are from the pantry. I like to cook several pounds of hamburger at one time, and package in meal size bags for the freezer. If you have cooked hamburger already, this is a super easy dump recipe!

 

 

Easy Taco Soup Recipe

 

1 lb hamburger fried and drained

2 16 ounce jars of mild salsa

32 ounces beef broth,

1 can whole corn drained

Tortilla chips

Mexican Cheese

 

Mix together and simmer 20 minutes.

Serve topped with lightly crushed tortilla chips or nacho chips and Mexican cheese.

 

 

Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled. Like beans in your taco soup? Add a can of your favorite beans, drained.

 

 

I’ve been making this Chocolate Marble Loaf recipe longer than I’ve had kids.

And I’ve have kids forever. Ok, I’ve had kids for 31 years, and some days, that’s forever! lol

Anyway, this makes an excellent cake. Very moist and flavorful. No frosting needed.

 

 

 Chocolate Marble Loaf Recipe

 

1 3/4 all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 cups milk
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons hot water

Preheat oven to 350* Grease and lightly flour a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Combine flour, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla and bit until fluffy.

Add dry ingredients and milk alternately to butter – sugar mixture. Beating well after each addition.

In another bowl, combine the cocoa, oil, baking soda and 2 tablespoons hot water. Stir in 1/3 of the batter.

 

 

Spoon light and dark batters alternately into loaf pan.

 

 

Zig Zag spatula through batter.

 

 

Bake for 45- 50 minutes or until done. Cool 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

 

 

This will make 12 slices, of course that depends on how thick you slice it. This is delicious served warm.

 

 

This cake is awesome by it self. Every slice looks different. For a fancier, and even more delicious desert, drizzle with homemade chocolate sauce and top with whipped cream. Too bad I didn’t have either of those on hand today. We just ate it plain, and no one complained. They all wanted seconds.

 

 

 

This recipe makes one loaf. Today, I doubled the recipe, which is why there are two in the pictures. I wrapped one for the freezer.

 

 

Now when someone comes over, I can pull out a delicious cake. Just defrost for a few minutes, slice and serve.