Category: Recipes

It has been a while since I posted a family recipe, and this is probably the only recipe I really invented myself. If you like chicken with a citrus kick, you’ll enjoy this. It is based upon a recipe for Pepper Lime Chicken in the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, but has been drastically altered.

Ingredients:

• Three large or four average boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Margarita mix (liquid works best, but powdered works okay)
• Minced garlic
• Fresh ground pepper or coarse ground pepper
• Margarita salt

I don’t usually measure the ingredients much, so I recommend using them to taste. Combine the margarita mix and garlic (I use about 2 tablespoons — I love garlic) in a 13X9-inch baking dish. Marinate the chicken so that it can soak up the flavor from the margarita mix. I recommend liquid mix over powdered mix because this whole process is much easier, but if you use the powdered mix, don’t add as much water (or tequila) as the directions say. I use the liquid mix undiluted, and it is much more flavorful than the powdered mix. If you must use the powdered mix, add just enough liquid for the marinade. After the chicken has marinated for a while, grind fresh pepper over both sides of the chicken (or if you use course ground pepper, sprinkle it over the chicken) to taste. Place the chicken breasts back into the pan and put it in the oven, marinade and all. Bake the chicken at 350° until it is done. This usually takes about 20-25 minutes. You may want to turn the chicken pieces over once or twice during the baking. Once the chicken is done, sprinkle margarita salt over the breasts to taste.

Note: I’m not sure if using any tequila with the recipe would be good or not, as I have never tried it.

You’ll need a crock pot for this recipe, too.

• 2-2 1/2 lb. beef pot roast
• 1 small Vidalia onion, sliced
• baby carrots
• 2 medium-large potatoes, cut in one-inch pieces
• one package onion soup mix
• 1/2 cup water
• salt and pepper to taste

Brown roast on all sides in skillet. Slice onion and place on bottom of crock pot. Put roast on top. Add carrots and potatoes. Pour water over top. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on Low all day (9-10 hours) or on High (5-6 hours).

It occurred to me while I was staying with Mom and Dad over the holidays that we have lots of good cooks in our family (my mom being chief among them), and I should really chronicle our recipes here in this genealogy blog. This first recipe is my mother’s recipe for spaghetti sauce.

Patti Swier’s Spaghetti Sauce

• 1 lb. hamburger
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 large can whole or diced tomatoes (you can buy these in different flavors, like garlic, too)
• 2 small cans tomato paste
• 2 packages dry spagetti sauce mix (it has herbs and spices so you don’t have to add them)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• garlic to taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• water

Brown the hamburger with the onion. Place browned hamburger and onion in a crock pot. If necessary, dice canned tomatoes; place tomatoes in crock pot. Add two small cans of tomato paste and two packages of dry spaghetti sauce mix. Add 1/2 cup sugar. Add garlic, salt, and pepper to taste. Add water until sauce is desired consistency (1/2 cup to 1 cup). Stir all ingredients well.

Allow sauce to simmer on Low all day or on High for several hours.

Leftovers freeze well and taste better the next day.