Beech Tree News Network

As the cool-weather months approach, I’m beginning to eat a little differently. My family and I like “comfort foods.” Most of the recipes below fall into that category.

Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili Dip

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

1 8-oz. block cream cheese, diced

1 packet ranch seasoning mix

1 packet taco seasoning

1 can corn, undrained

1 can rotel tomatoes, undrained

1 can black beans, drained

Directions:

Cook in crockpot on low for 6-7 hours. Stir to shred chicken. Serve with tortilla chips.

Jennifer’s Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients:

4 soft flour tortillas, burrito style

1 12-oz. can of chicken, drained

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 packet taco seasoning

1 c. sour cream

1 can white corn, drained

1 can dices tomatoes

8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease 9x13 baking dish. Cut each soft tortilla into four pieces. Mix together drained chicken, condensed cream of chicken soup, taco seasoning, and sour cream. Add white corn and tomatoes to the chicken mixture. Place tortilla pieces in the bottom of the 9x13 baking dish, then add 1/2 of the chicken-vegetable mixture, sprinkling top of mixture with shredded cheddar cheese. Repeat the layers: tortilla pieces, chicken-vegetable mixture, topped with shredded cheddar cheese. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Take off aluminum foil, and continue to bake for 5 more minutes.

Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:

4 T. unsalted butter

2 c. heavy whipping cream

1 tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

3 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter, then stir in whipping cream. Whisk until cream comes to a boil. Add garlic powder, salt and pepper, and whisk into mixture. Stir in Parmesan cheese and reduce heat to low, stirring continuously. Cook for about 5 minutes or until cheese melts and mixture is smooth and begins to thicken. Makes about 2 ¼ cups. Serve over rotini or other pasta of your choice.

Note: Freshly grated Parmesan cheese melts better, but packaged shredded Parmesan cheese may be substituted.

Heather’s Chocolate Delight

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, melted

1 c. flour

1 8-oz. block cream cheese, softened

1 c. powdered sugar

3 c. milk

2 boxes instant chocolate pudding mix (small boxes)

Cool Whip

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix melted butter and flour and line bottom of 10x13 baking dish. Bake until golden brown, then cool. Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth – set aside. Beat milk and chocolate pudding mix until thick. Add cream cheese mixture and mix until smooth. Pour this over the cooled crust. Cover top with Cool Whip, and refrigerate.

JRW’s County-Famous Caramel Pie

Ingredients:

3 cans sweetened condensed milk

2 graham cracker pie crusts

1 small tub Cool Whip

Chocolate bark (optional)

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Remove wrappers from sweetened condensed milk cans; put all three unopened cans into the pot of boiling water. Boil cans for 3 hours and 15 minutes. Add water as needed to ensure water totally covers cans. The cans need to be fully submerged the entire time to keep them from exploding. (Optional: Shave some chocolate bark and put it in the bottom of the pie crust.) Remove cans from water after the cooking time has elapsed. Open immediately, being careful not to burn yourself. The contents of the cans will be the consistency of melted peanut butter. Pour into a mixing bowl, quickly stir, and then pour one-half of the caramel into each pie crust. Refrigerate overnight. Before serving, add Cool Whip to the pie.

Note: The cooked caramel may also be used as a fruit dip. Delicious with apples!

Comfort foods are about anything you want at a given time. Montel Williams said, “Whenever I feel like having some sort of comfort food, I’ll have some of it but won’t have tons of it” (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/comfort-food-quotes_2). That’s moderation – good advice for most things in life.