Jell-O with Cool Whip

Looks like more work than it is-- 
in fact it ISN'T work at all!

I don't use Cool Whip® too often, but... 

every now and then,...  I do.

Ingredients:

• ONE of the 6 oz. size (8 servings) boxes of Jell-O
  ®
   of your choice.
• 3 cups boiling water.
• ONE of 8 oz. container Cool Whip
  ®
  , thawed.*

Directions:

• Dissolve the Jell-O 
  powder in the 3 cups boiling water.  Stir for at least two full minutes to make sure every grain of sugar is dissolved.
• Stir in the thawed Cool Whip  (stir until it is thoroughly dissolved and mixed in).
• Pour into serving cups/dishes.  Refrigerate for a minimum of four hours.  On its own, the Jell-O 
  mixture separates into what looks like two layers.
• Because I planned to leave these in the refrigerator overnight, I covered each with a piece of Saran Wrap after a couple of hours.   If I would have covered them while still warm, I'm sure a lot of condensation (water droplets) would have formed and I didn't want that to happen.

 *  If you haven't let the Cool Whip® thaw ahead of time, you can put it in right from the freezer-- you'll just have to stir it longer while/until it totally dissolves.

This time I used STRAWBERRY 

flavored Jell-O®.   Next time, maybe 

on a HOT Summer day, I will 

use LEMON Jell-O®... and I 
will like that, too!

Cereal Flake "Hello" Cookies

                                                 (Photo by me, Doris)

Good taste, with a bit of crunchy goodness as a bonus!

The cookies in the picture were rolled in corn flake crumbs.

I made these cookies a lot during the time we lived on the 'chicken' farm and they were a favorite then, and still are.  This recipe makes a rather small batch, so I almost always doubled it.

MIX:

1/3 cup butter, softened 
½ cup granulated sugar

1  large egg

STIR IN:

1 tablespoon milk

1 tsp. vanilla

MEASURE, BLEND, and STIR IN:

1 and 1/2 cup flour

¼ tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

STIR IN:

½ cup raisins OR chopped dates, OR craisins, OR dried cherries
½ c. nuts, chopped coarsely

Drop Walnut-sized dough ball into:
1 and ½ cups finely crushed crunchy kind of cereal crushed.  I've used bran flakes, cornflakes, etc. 

Coat cookie balls with these crumbs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Place 2” apart on greased (or parchment paper-lined) baking sheet/.  Press ½ of a maraschino cherry into center of each ball of dough and bake for 12-13 minutes in a 375-degree oven.  Bake only until cookie is set and lightly browned-- it will finish baking as it sits on the hot baking sheet until cooled.

                                                                                                                                    (Photo by me, Doris)

CREAMY TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE

And,...it IS CREAMY!

If you google Creamy Tuna Noodle Casserole, you'll come up with over 500,000 websites.  Certainly, I haven't checked very many of them out.  Even if I don't remember exactly where I got the basics of this recipe from,... we do like it.

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 cups (about 8 oz.) DRY medium egg noodles, PREPARED ACCORDING TO PACKAGE DIRECTIONS.  (Macaroni noodles work for this, too.)
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 6 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 2 cans (5 oz. each) tuna, drained and flaked (I think MORE tuna would work, too.)
• 2 cans (10 oz. each) condensed cream of mushroom soup (I like the low-fat kind)
• 1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk.
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese of your choice
• 1 cup of  green beans OR frozen peas (Optional).  When adding peas, I prefer frozen peas because they keep their color and shape better than canned peas.
• 2/3 cup crushed potato chips (Optional).  I did not use them.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Boil the egg noodles (or macaroni noodles) according to directions on the package.
2. While the noodles are boiling, do the following...
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease or spray a 9x13" baking dish (I used a glass dish)
4. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat.  Add celery and onion; cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.   Stir in drained noodles, flaked tuna, soup, evaporated milk and grated cheese.  Mix well.
5. Pour into prepared casserole dish.  Sprinkle with potato chips (optional).
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until top is only lightly browned (or until the "optional" potato chips topping is lightly browned).  
7. IF you do not add potato chips to the top, you can sprinkle a little cheese on top for the last five minutes of baking time.

What I like to do with this casserole:  Once it's cooled and 'firms up', I like to cut it into about 4 x 4" squares.  Freeze the individual squares overnight.  Next day, I vacuum seal the frozen squares for 'grab a meal' when I need it.   TASTES SO GOOD-- even after freezing.