Divide crackers between two ungreased 10 × 9-inch baking pans.
Top each with rice, spread evenly over the crackers.
In a large skillet, brown the hamburger and onion; drain.
Add the tomato juice, water, and seasonings and simmer for 20 minutes.
Spoon meat mixture over rice.
Next, layer on the lettuce and tomatoes.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter.
Stir in the flour and continue stirring until mixture is smooth.
Gradually add the milk.
Continue stirring, bring to a boil, and cook until the sauce thickens, about 2 minutes.
Reduce heat to low and stir in Velveeta cheese until melted.
Pour cheese mixture over the lettuce and tomatoes.
Top with Cheddar cheese and olives and serve with the tortilla chips.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
Haystack Supper is a very forgiving meal. You can add or omit ingredients depending on what you have on hand or what your family is especially fond of. You can also put the individual ingredients into serving dishes and everyone can concoct their own haystack at the table. It’s fun!
In the loaf pan you plan to use, melt the butter; add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Lay in the pineapple slices evenly across the bottom of the pan.
Using your hands, mix together the ham, breadcrumbs, milk, eggs, and salt and pepper.
Spread over the pineapple slices and bake at 375° for 1 hour.
Turn out ham loaf on a serving platter so the pineapple is right-side-up and serve.
You might wonder where to get cooked ground ham, but there’s an easy way to accomplish this at home if you don’t have a meat grinder.
You can easily find 1-lb.
cans of cooked ham; buy two and either lavishly use it all in this recipe (if your loaf pan is big enough), or save out half of one can for something else such as scrambled eggs and diced ham for breakfast.
Now all you need to do is smash the ham with a meat tenderizer or your hands.
2cupsleftover cooked meatdiced (chicken, pork, beef, or hamburger, etc.)
2T.butter
3T.flour
1canvegetable soup plus enough water to make a total of 2 cups
leftover mashed potatoesor make a fresh batch, enough to cover your pie
Instructies
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and add the diced meat; cook, stirring, until meat is hot.
Add the flour and stir until well blended.
Pour in the soup mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened.
Turn into a 9 × 9-inch baking dish and top with a thick layer of mashed potatoes.
Bake at 375° for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are lightly browned on top.
I often make this dish using hamburger that I cook fresh, and instead of draining off the fat, I use that in place of some of the butter that’s needed to make the gravy.
It gives a nice flavor to the finished dish.
And I usually use a quart jar of my home-canned vegetable soup in place of the store-bought can of soup.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
Really, this is the sort of recipe that doesn’t take careful measuring. Just throw into the pot what you have on hand and top with mashed potatoes that have been made with rich milk and plenty of butter.
½cupcrushed peppermint candy canesor other hard peppermint candy
Chocolate Peppermint Frosting
½cupbutter
½cupcocoa powder
3⅔cupspowdered sugar
7T.milk
1tsp.vanilla
1T.crushed candy canes
Instructies
Grease and flour two cake pans; set aside for now.
For the cake:
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and eggs until well mixed and smooth; then beat on high speed for 3 minutes more.
Mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with the milk, blending well after each addition.
Blend in the crushed candy canes.
Spread batter evenly between the two cake pans and bake in a preheated 350° oven for 35 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes before slipping cakes from pan and allow them to cool completely before frosting them with chocolate peppermint frosting.
For the frosting:
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter; stirring constantly.
Add the cocoa powder and cook for about 1 minute until smooth; remove from heat.
Beat in the powdered sugar and milk and continue beating (I do this by hand with a large wooden spoon or rotary egg beater) until mixture is smooth and of spreading consistency; add the vanilla and crushed candy canes and beat again until smooth.
Spread between the layers and all around the top and sides of Chocolate Peppermint Candy Cake.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
We love this cake and I always make it with candy canes, which means we have to wait for the holidays to make (and eat!) it. But it’s worth the wait. The candy caramelizes on the bottom and the crunchy, minty taste is delightful!
Mix together the salt, baking soda, rolled oats, and flour and then gradually add to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.
Make Filling:
In a medium saucepan, mix together filling ingredients except for walnuts.
Over medium-low heat and stirring often, cook until chocolate is completely melted.
Add walnuts if using and stir to mix; set aside.
In an ungreased 10 × 15 × 1-inch baking pan (or you can use a 9 × 13-inch pan, but you may need to bake the revel bars for 1-3 minutes longer) spread about ⅔ of the dough evenly across the bottom.
Using a rubber spatula, scrape the filling onto the dough in the pan, spreading evenly.
Dot the top with the remaining dough.
Bake at 350° for about 25 minutes or until top is golden.