Melvin's Stovetop Dutch-oven Potatoes

1/4 c. butter
1/2-1 lb. hamburger
1 medium onion
4-6 medium potatoes
2-4 carrots (if desired)
salt and pepper
1/4-1/2 cup grated (or sliced) cheese

Crumble hamburger across the bottem of large pot and heat with butter.  Add sliced onions, potatoes, and carrots (shake salt and pepper over each layer.)  Cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.  Turn contents and cook 5-10 minutes more until vegatables are soft.  Melt cheese over top during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Alternatives:  Omit meat altogether or substitute any other pre-cooked meat (ham, bacon, beef, or chicken) layered between vegatables.  Add a stalk or two of celery for more yummy flavor.

This is super easy and so delicious that we had it two days in row this week.  The credit should probably go to Mom, but Dad can make it turn out pretty well too.

Baked Rice Pudding

We eat this for breakfast when we need to use up leftover rice! I usually cook with short grain brown rice, but any kind of cooked rice would work fine for this recipe, as long as you didn't cook it in chicken broth :-) I usually multiply the recipe by three, but I'll put it down single so you can figure it out based on how much leftover rice you have.

1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup raisins (these are optional, Mary)

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix ingredients together well in a medium to large bowl.
3. Pour into a baking dish (a x3 recipe fits into a 9x13 pan) that can nest into another dish (I use a broiler pan to next the 9x13 pan in--but you could use a 9x13 pan to nest a 8x8 etc.). Sprinkle with more cinnamon if desired.
4. Place pan in oven, pour enough HOT or boiling water into the outside pan to reach the pudding level as closely as you can without overflowing.
5. Bake 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, until slightly set in center.
6. Eat warm or cold, with or without milk. Enjoy!
We cook it at night often, and put it in the fridge for morning.

Berry Cheesecake Bars

*Disclaimer this recipe is known to cause increased abdominal girth. It is best shared!

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Ingredients:

1/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup brown sugar ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon cinnamon ¼ teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1 ½ cups oats ½ cup flour

¼ cup chopped walnuts (optional) ½ cup butter 2 (8oz) packages cream cheese ½ cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 egg 1 (21 oz) can pie filling of your choice ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13X9 inch pan.
2.In a bowl mix first 9 ingredients (sugar-walnuts); cut in butter
until mixtures is crumbly. Lightly press half of mixture into
greased pan and bake for 10 minutes.
3.Meanwhile beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and egg together
until smooth.
4.Spread cheese mixture evenly over baked crust.  Mix cinnamon and
pie filling and spoon over cheese.  Crumble remaining cookie on top. 
5.Bake 35 minutes, cool, and then serve.