Oatmeal Cake

1½ cups water
1 cup quick oats
½ cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt

In large saucepan, bring water to boil. Remove from heat. Add oats and butter. Cover and let stand 15 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour thin batter into greased and floured 9-cup bundt pan or 9" tube pan. Bake at 350º for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out on serving plate.

Prick hot cake with fork and pour hot topping (recipe follows) over cake. Serve hot or cold.

Topping: ¼ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup butter, 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Combine all ingredients in small saucepan; heat until butter is melted and sugar dissolved. Pour over hot cake.
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Cabbage Salad

1 bag shredded cabbage and carrots (cole slaw mix)
1 cucumber, peeled, quartered and sliced (opt)
1 tomato, diced (opt)
1 can corn, drained (opt)
3/4 cup (approx) bottled Italian salad dressing
1/3 cup (approx) granulated sugar

Mix and refrigerate; stir well and serve. The sugar will pull moisture, so the measure of "dressing" will increase. [We serve this salad in ramikens, so the dressing won't run all over our plates. ºÜº]

Since this came out of my head and into a bowl one day, I've never measured ingredients, and it should lend itself well to whatever additions, deletions, or adjustments may sound good to you and yours.
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Rat on a Stick

Marinate in teriyaki sauce for a few hours boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Thread each thigh lengthwise onto a water-soaked (so they won't catch fire), wooden skewer. Cook on the barbecue grill. Moist, tasty, tender and can be served and eaten on the skewer.

You can eliminate the skewers, in which case I guess they're just grilled rats.
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Taco Trick

If you'd like your taco meat to be like that of a Mexican fast food restaurant chain, after your meat is cooked and seasoned, run it through the food processor. Pulse until you get the consistency you want.

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Mother's Walnut Fudge Brownies

½ cup butter (1 stick)
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ tsp vanilla
¾ cup flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup broken walnuts
Fudge Frosting

Melt butter and chocolate over low heat; cool slightly. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Bake in 8" x 8" greased pan at 375º, 25-30 minutes. Cool and frost.

Fudge Frosting: 3 cups powdered sugar, 1/8 tsp salt, 4½ tbls each of cocoa, very soft butter, and warm, strong coffee. Mix well. Spread over brownies and top with ¼ cup chopped walnuts.

Note: I double the brownie recipe and use one batch of frosting to frost both pans of brownies. There's plenty 'nough, and the brownies then aren't quite so gucky.

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Mock Mushrooms

1 sleeve saltines, coarsely crushed
1 can cream of mushroom soup (undiluted)
2 beaten eggs
1 small can mushroom pieces, drained
1 stick butter, divided

Mix together crushed crackers, soup, eggs, and mushroom pieces. Melt half stick of butter in non-stick skillet over medium heat. Drop mushroom mixture from well rounded tablespoon into skillet, spreading a tad to form patties. Brown on both sides. Remove. Wipe skillet with paper towel to remove remnant of butter and/or bits. Add other half stick of butter to skillet and repeat frying. (Or man two skillets at once. ºÜº)

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Cream Cheese Chicken

Pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer to flatten.

Spread each breast piece with about 1½ tsps of softened butter and 2-3 tbls of softened cream cheese (enough to make a moderate coating on entire breast piece)

Sprinkle with thinly sliced green onions or with onion powder.

Roll breast pieces like jelly roll, beginning, though, at narrow end; wrap/wind a slice of raw bacon around each roll; secure with toothpicks.

Place bacon-wrapped chicken rolls in baking dish and bake uncovered in 350º oven about 35-40 minutes, or until done.

Chicken and bacon will give up some juices/fats, and cream cheese and butter will melt forth a bit from the rolls. Pour these drippings into a bowl and offer at the table with the chicken rolls.

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