5-Minute Southwest Layered Salad

Prep Time: 5 min
Total Time: 5 min
Makes: 4 servings, 1-1/2 cups each

6 cups torn romaine lettuce
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained, rinsed
1 can (11 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained
1/2 cup Thick 'N Chunky Salsa
1/2 cup Three Cheese Crumbles or shredded cheese
1/2 cup Ranch Dressing
1 cup broken tortilla chips

PLACE lettuce on serving platter or in bottom of glass serving bowl.
COVER with layers of beans, corn, salsa and cheese.
DRIZZLE with dressing; sprinkle with chips.

Farmers' Market Squash Sauté

Prep Time: 20 min
Total Time: 20 min
Makes: 4 servings, 3/4 cup each

2 zucchini, sliced
2 yellow squash, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
2 Tbsp. Grated Parmesan Cheese

COOK zucchini and squash in hot oil in large skillet on medium heat 3 min., stirring occasionally. Add garlic; cook an additional 3 min. or until vegetables are crisp-tender.

REMOVE from heat; stir in mozzarella cheese and basil.

SPRINKLE with Parmesan cheese.

Oreo Balls

These are soooo good, and really easy to make. I made these for a baby shower so I drizzled them with pink chocolate, but you can buy almost any color chocolate you want at Joann's.

1 package Oreo cookies
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 package almond bark (I buy the "candiquick" from Target)

Use an electric chopper or blender to grind Oreos until they are a powder. Mix in the cream cheese. Form small balls with the mixture. Melt the almond bark in the microwave. Dip the balls into the almond bark until they are covered, and place on wax paper to dry.

Broccoli Salad

2 heads broccoli chopped in small pieces
1/2 cup bacon pieces
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup Craisins

Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. vinegar

Mix dressing and add to all other ingredients in a large bowl. Stir well and chill in fridge for at least an hour before serving.

Strawberry and Cream Cheese French Toast

This is a great recipe that you can prepare ahead of time and then throw in the oven in the morning.


1 loaf french bread, cut into 1 inch slices.
Whipped cream cheese

Spread cream cheese between two slices of bread, place sandwiched slices in a glass pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Mix together:
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Pour over bread and let sit for five minutes, turn bread over and cover pan with saran wrap. Refrigerate overnight. Drizzle melted butter over the top and bake at 400 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Whipped Topping:
1 pt whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. almond or amaretto flavoring

Top with strawberries mixed with sugar and the whipped topping.

Italian Chicken

I'm making this for dinner tonight, so I'll post a picture later. I like to call this "comfort food".

1/2 - 3/4 cube melted butter
1 pkg Italian Salad Dressing (This is the dry mix that comes in a box of 4 or so)
3-4 chicken breasts
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 pkg. Cream Cheese

Melt butter and stir in Italian salad dressing. Put in crock pot with chicken. Cook in a crock pot on low for 4-6 hours. 1/2 hour before serving, pull chicken out and shred it with 2 forks. Put back in crock pot and add soup and cream cheese (be sure it is softened). Simmer until ready to serve. Serve over hot noodles or rice.

Sauerbraten

This may not sound very appetizing, but it is my favorite dish. Since I was a little girl, I would ask for this every birthday dinner. My husband likes it as well, and my four year old son requests this every night for dinner.

1-1 1/2 lbs. round steak
1 Tbsp salad oil
1 envelope brown gravy mix
2 cups water
1 Tbsp instant minced onion
2 Tbsp white vinegar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Noodles - Hot and buttered (I usually use the curly noodles)

I usually try to find a thin cut round steak. Just makes a little more tender. Any will work though. Slice the round steak thinly. Brown the meat in a large skillet in salad oil. Once browned, remove and set aside. Mix the brown gravy mix with 2 cups cool water. I usually add about 1 Tbsp cornstarch to thicken. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Stir in remaining ingredients except noodles. Return the meat to the mixture, cover and simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Serve over hot buttered noodles.

*I sometimes double the sauce...just depends on how much sauce you like on your food.

Quick N Easy Veggies

I am not a veggie person, never have been. So, I don't cook them. It's actually kind of intimidating to thing about cooking veggies because I don't' really know where to begin. A few years ago I discovered these and LOVE THEM!!! They are quick, easy, inexpensive, and healthy. I buy them at Wal-mart for about $1 per bag, and there is a whole variety that you can find. I especially like the broccoli because it is easy to steam in the bag. They all just go in the microwave, they steam right in the bag, then you open and serve. Just thought I'd share.

Pasta Carbonara

I made this for Book club and it was really good! I wasn't too sure about pasta without red sauce but it was really good! Also I would try pancetta over the bacon. It's really salty and yummy!

1 pound dry pasta

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 ounces pancetta or slab bacon, cubed or sliced into small strips

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 large eggs

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving

Freshly ground black pepper

1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the pasta will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian "al dente.") Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the pancetta and saute for about 3 minutes, until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and saute for less than 1 minute to soften.

Add the hot, drained pasta to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon fat. Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.) Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mound the pasta carbonara into warm serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Pass more cheese around the table.

Bacon-Potato Soup

6 cups potatoes, peeled and diced
5 cups water
2 cups chopped onions (or minced onions)
4 chicken bouillon cubes
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Combine potatoes, water, onions, and bouillon cubes in greased 5 to 7-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat 6-8 hours or until potatoes are tender. Stir in crumbled bacon, milk, and grated cheese. Cover and cook an additional 20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Makes 10-12 servings

Serve with hot biscuits and garnish soup with fresh chopped parsley.

VARIATION: Add 1/2 cup diced celery and 1/2 cup chopped carrots with potatoes at the beginning of cook time.

I made this on the stove instead of in a crock pot.  I added some flour to make the soup a bit thicker.  You may have to do this with the crock pot also, I'm not sure.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 pkg. (10–oz.) frozen peas and carrots
1/3 c. butter
1/3 c. flour
1/3 c. chopped onion
½ t. salt
¼ t. pepper
1 ¾ c. chicken broth
2/3 c. milk
3 c. cooked chicken, shredded

Rinse frozen veggies under running cold water to separate; drain and set aside. Sauté onions in butter in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat until tender. Whisk in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly. Stir in broth and milk. Heat to boiling, over medium heat, stirring often, and let boil and stir for one minute. Remove from heat and stir in chicken and vegetables. Let cool. Enough for 1 pie, or 6-7 mini pies.

Pastry (Enough for 2 large pies, or 8-9 mini pies)

4 c. flour
1 ¾ c. shortening
2 T. sugar
2 t. salt
½ c. cold water
1 egg
1 T. vinegar

Preheat oven to 425°. Blend flour, shortening, sugar, and salt with a pastry blender until crumbly. In a separate bowl, beat the water, egg, and vinegar with a fork. Pour liquid mixture slowly into the flour mixture while blending with a fork. Be sure to use flour when rolling out the dough. Line your pie plate with pastry then fill with chicken filling. Top the pie with pastry and flute edges. Make slits in top crust and wrap edges of pie with foil. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. (Remove foil 10 minutes before done.) Let stand a few minutes before serving.

Recipe from Shanna Stakkeland

These pot pies are so good with the pastry crust recipe listed above and they also freeze really well (wrap whole or individual pies in saran wrap and then place in freezer bag). However, because making the pastry is pretty time-consuming, I usually use a shortcut (an idea I got from Sunset magazine). Instead of making the pastry, I buy the canned refrigerated biscuits (the large or grand ones). Then after I fill each pie tin with the chicken mixture, I place one or two biscuits on top and it's done. Then I cover the entire pie with foil and bake it at 425 for 30-40 minutes, usually removing the foil for the last few minutes. It's a good time saver. Here's a picture of a mini pie.

Baked Spaghetti

Baked Spaghetti

2 C canned diced tomatoes

2 C tomato sauce

1 C water

1/2 C diced onion

1/2 C diced green bell pepper

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 C chopped fresh parsley leaves

1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1 1/2 tsp House seasoning (1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp garlic powder)

1 1/2 tsp seasoning salt

1 1/2 tsp sugar

2 small bay leaves

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

8 oz uncooked angel hair pasta

1 cup grated cheddar

1 cup grated monterey jack

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a stock pot, combine the tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, onion, peppers, garlic, parsley, seasoning mixtures, sugar, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil over high heat, and then reduce the heat and let simmer, covered, for 1 hour. Crumble the ground beed in a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until fully cooked. Drain fat and add the beef to the stockpot. Simmer for 20 more minutes. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, drain. Cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan with sauce. Add a layer of pasta and then a little less than 1/2 of each cheese; repeat the layers, ending with the sauce. Bake in a the oven for 30 minutes. Top the casserole with the remaining cheese, return it to the oven and continue to cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 4 more minutes.

This recipe is from Paula Deen on the Food Network. When I make this I totally throw in whatever vegetables I have into the sauce when I simmer it - broccoli, carrots, etc. After it has simmered for an hour and before you add the cooked beef I put the sauce in my food processor (or you can use a blender) and puree it so it makes this very smooth, tasty, and healthy spaghetti sauce. My kids have no idea the amount of vegetables they are eating. I also add more cheese than the recipe calls for since more cheese is always a good idea.

Mexican Spinach Dip

This recipe is from the Cooks Country magazine, one of my favorites. I wanted to try it because I love spinach dip and 7-layer dip. This is sort of a combination of the two. And also very yummy!

1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese
1/3 c. sour cream
1 jalapeno chili, seeded and chopped fine
2 (10-oz.) cans Ro-Tel tomatoes, drained*
½ small onion
1 (10-oz.) box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
3 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 t. salt
½ t. chili powder
½ t. ground cumin

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350°. Grease 8-in. square baking dish. With wooden spoon or rubber spatula, combine cream cheese, sour cream, and jalapeno in large bowl. Fold in tomatoes, onion, spinach, cheddar, salt, chili powder, and cumin until well combined. Scrape into baking dish and bake until bubbling at edges and top is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips. (Dip can be assembled and refrigerated for 24 hours prior to baking.)

*If you can’t find Ro-Tel tomatoes, substitute one 14.5-oz. can of diced tomatoes (drained) and one 4-oz. can of chopped green chilies.

Beef Stew

Again...No picture. Sorry.

This is a great beef stew recipe that I found on thisweekfordinner.com. I have never found a stew recipe that we could actually enjoy. Easy, and my three year old loved it! I know it should be spring...but with the cold days we have had lately this recipe is perfect!

1 lb beef stew chunks
1/2 onion, or 1/2 packet dry onion soup
4 cups water
4 beef bouillon cubes
2-4 stalks celery
2-4 carrots
3-5 potatoes

put the beef (I cut mine in even smaller pieces than it came in) and onion in the crock pot for 3-4 hours. This will give it a head start on getting super tender. Add water and boullion. Let it do its thing for a couple more hours. Add carrots and celery. An hour or so later add potatoes. About an hour before serving add some flour and butter to help thicken...the potatoes will help too. Salt and pepper to taste. Yummy!!!

Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup red onion
¼ cup black olives, chopped
¼ cup red bell pepper (or tomato), chopped
¼ cup fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
4 cups romaine lettuce, thinly sliced
¾ cup seasoned croutons
½ cup Caesar salad dressing
6 (8-inch) flour tortillas

1. Spray chicken with cooking oil. Press garlic into chicken. Heat frying pan over medium heat until hot. Cook chicken 15-20 minutes or until no longer pink in center, turning once. Remove chicken from pan; cool. Slice into ¼-inch thick strips. Place chicken in mixing bowl.
2. Add onion, olives, bell pepper, cheese, lettuce, croutons, and dressing to chicken; toss mixture to coat evenly with dressing.
3. For each wrap, place about ¾ cup of the chicken mixture on tortilla. Roll up tortilla tightly. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling. To serve, cut each roll in half diagonally.

Yield: 6 sandwiches

Barbeque Chicken Salad

I have not made this yet, but had it at a neighbor's tonight. It was so yummy. It's similar to CPK's salad. I will add my own picture when I make it, but this is a picture of CPK's salad.


3 or 4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts*
1 head of lettuce (I use the package of "Just the leaves" from TJ's), chopped
3 roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 jicama, diced
3 or 4 scallions, chopped
1/4 c. cilantro, minced
2/3 can corn, drained
2/3 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2/3 c. jack cheese, shredded (cheddar works too)
tortilla chips, crumbled over top when you're ready to serve
lime juice, from 1-2 limes
barbeque sauce (1/3 c. opprox.)
ranch dressing (1/2 c. approx. and the Organic Ranch from TJ's is the best in my opinion. Its in the refrigerated veggie section)
(the CPK salad has chopped basil, you can try adding that also!)

Mix it all together and viola! (ps, its really good chilled!)

Ideas for cooked chicken:
1) Cook the chicken on high in the slow-cooker for 3 hours, with some barbeque sauce and garlic, then after let it cool in the fridge, cut it into half-inch cubes and mix it with more barbeque sauce.
2) Get the cooked chicken from the store and use that instead. Shred it and mix with BBQ sauce. I prefer this.

I leave out the jicama and scallions, but I am sure it would be good with them in too.

Crisp Bean Burritos (like Taco Time)

1/2 c. oil

5 flour tortillas

1 c. refried beans ( I just buy a can)

1/4 c. cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil in a medium-sized skillet. Spread about 2-3 Tbsp. of refried beans on each tortilla, sprinkle with cheese, then roll up. Fry in oil for about 15 seconds on each side. Then place on baking sheet and put in the preheated oven for about 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven and serve. Dip in enchilada sauce, guacamole, sour cream, or salsa.

Belly Buttons

Ingredients:
Pretzel Snaps or small pretzels
Hershey's Kisses (any kind)
M&M's

Place pretzels on cookie sheet. Unwrap kisses and place on pretzels. Put in 200 degree oven and warm until slightly soft to the touch. Take out of oven and press M&M on top of kiss.

Fresh Tomato and Basil Pasta

In a large bowl mix together:

6 large tomatoes, diced (best when fresh from the garden)
7 sprigs of basil, finely chopped
8 sticks of mozzerella string cheese, cut into rounds
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Let this mixture marinade in the fridge for at least 3 hours then serve cold over your favorite hot pasta. It is really flavorful and fresh.For the bread we just sliced up a bagette, topped it with pesto sauce (from Costco), feta cheese, and some tomatoes from the sauce. Then warm it in the oven for a few minutes.

BBQ Chicken Baked Potatoes

Baked Potatoes
Lloyd's shredded BBQ Chicken

Bake potatoes in oven at 375 for 1 1/2 hours or 400 for 1 hour. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise. Arrange on baking sheet. Cover with Lloyd's BBQ Chicken and smother with cheese (I use white and yellow). Put back in oven and cook until cheese melts. Serve alone or top with favorite toppings.