Friday Friend Recipe #266, Helen's Cream Wafers, #267, Chicken Tortilla Casserole and #268, Spinach Parmesan

Come with me as I continue to countdown my Friday Friend Cookbook!

What is it, you may ask?

In a nutshell....

About 21 years ago, 50 of my closest friends and family, who had been on an

  e-mail forum with me, sent in recipes in different categories and we compiled a cookbook.

I decided to count those down!

Why?

because one night I was looking thru the cookbook and I said, "I should make every recipe in  here for my blog."

The Handyman, who thinks he knows me better than I know myself, said "you'll never EVER do that."

Well, maybe I will!  Maybe I'll show him!

Which brings me to recipes #266, #267 and #268

Barb's "Helen's Cream Wafers, Chicken Tortilla Casserole and Spinach Parmesan"

These cookies are delightful.  One of my son Luke's favorites.

We first had them when we went to spend New Year's with the Brown family, 25 or so years ago.  We played board games and ate leftover Christmas cookies all weekend long.

It was a blast.  

When I made these for the countdown, I made them for Valentine's day.

The Chicken tortilla casserole---

The Handyman liked it a lot.  It was warm and cheesy, so what's not to like?

(forgive photo--that is melted cheese on top, but picture taken the next day, after it had been in the fridge.  Don't judge--it's good.)

Spinach Parmesan.

It was good. A creamed spinach with some onion and Parmesan cheese.

Look at all those cheese 'strings' in the pictures.

I do love a good creamed spinach with a bbq steak. (grilled steak I mean)

I have to confess--I might have run out of pictures of Barb.  And stories.

I mean this is her 58th appearance in the countdown after all.  

Let me see what I can come up with...

So, I guess that I wrote "so I guess" a lot back when I had the Friday Friend forum.  LOL

(see my old forum texts/emails)

Anyway---Barb is a woman of many talents.  She can:

recite Casey at the Bat (my favorite poem ever)

tie a cherry stem into a knot in her mouth

and jump on a pogo stick without using her hands!

She is amazing. 

That's my story.  The many talents of Barb.

(she can also quilt like no one's business!)

and this is how I know she can do those things---she's never actually showed me in real life.  And we we finally DID have a reunion, we didn't have a talent show, dang it!

I'm making her do them all the next time I see her!

And these my friends are

recipes #266, 267 and 268

Only 99 left to go!

I can do it!

WOO HOO!  I am below 100 recipes now.  Yay!  Yahoo! Whoopie!

Altho.... do you remember when I counted wrong before?  I think I did it again.

I keep counting what I have left by recipe AND by person and it does not add up to 99-- it's more like 86. 

Which would make me very happy, but for now....I'll stick to the 99 until it gets closer to the end and I'll recount what I have left.

I think next week I'll introduce you to my cousin Barb. (not to be confused with Barb the  original cookbook typist.  My cousin Barb has only 1 recipe entered, Barb Brown, FF Cookbook typist/editor blah blah, has a gazillion recipes in this countdown(

Friday Friend recipe #253, #254, and #255-Enchilada Pie, Spinach and Mushroom Salad and Thai Chicken with Peanut Sauce

My Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown #253, #254 and #255

(#willreallyfinishthissomeday)

all of them Barb's recipes

and you know all the whys and wherefores of this countdown, right? Homemade cookbook, friends contributed, Handyman said I couldn't/wouldn't do it, I'll show him, yadda yadda yadda....

...and the rest is cookbook history!

Just remember, the countdown is not all about pretty food and food design---it's about the people and the stories.

And (the most important thing)  proving my husband wrong--and that I can and WILL make every recipe in this cookbook

Do not judge a dish by a picture Debbie takes.

It's Enchilada Pie--a mess of a casserole dish, BUT it tastes great! So there all you photo geniuses, so there!

This is a scrumptious, filling, semi (not at all) Mexican dish that's good enough for company.

Today, you're getting a 3-in-1 recipe deal!

I am trying to get thru my cookoff challenge.

So... the Spinach Mushroom Salad was good.

I made one little addition tho--

I ADDED some SPINACH!

It turned out good with that addition. 😁

(I just like to tease Barb a little bit)

It looks like I added a cucumber too!

And this chicken dish?  Well worth making it.  

Even with the Bisquick.  I have to come clean here and say out loud that I've always been suspicious of recipes made with a pre-mixed baking mix. 

And now, without further ado-- oh wait!  Barb has entered, and I have made, a gazillion and one recipes for this countdown.  So no real story about her this time-- just this cute little thing!

So, again, without further ado--oh wait!  Barb has waited for this for (a little less than) a gazillion years and she is over the moon!  Which is a very touching and cute thing to see.

One day maybe I'll get to see and hold cute little Charley. 

Okay, okay, NOW without further ado-- the editor and typist of the original Friday Friend Cookbook, Barbara Jean Brown and her first ever grandchild, Charley (Charlotte Faye)!

That's it. That's my story of Barb. 

She sometimes wondered if she'd every become a grandma and here she is!

Congratulations to everybody!

******

And this my friends is 

recipes #253, 254 and 255

Only 112 left to go!

Woo Hoo!