Pozole

This is a delish Mexican wedding soup that we lurrve here at our house. It works the best if you'll cut the meat first. The pork gets super tender with all the cook time.

2-4 lb pork shoulder roast
3 cans (the smaller size) white hominy
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
3 chicken boullion cubes
1 medium onion, cut up really really small or 1 Tbs crushed dried onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
Chili powder to taste (I use about 1 tsp)
-- if you're feeling like an authentic flavor, omit the cumin and use 1 Tbs of the juice from a can of adobo
peppers
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
cut limes
tortilla chips

Cut the pork into cubes, trimming off the fat. Put it in a large pot and add water just until it covers the meat. Add the juice from the hominy, cumin, oregano, boullion cubes (I crush them), onion, garlic, and chili powder. Bring to a boil and skim the foam off. Simmer for about half an hour. Add the hominy and simmer another 45 mins or so until the liquid starts to thicken a little. Be sure to taste it about 30 mins in because if the flavor is a little strong, you'll need to add a bit of water to the broth. Remove from heat, add the cilantro and cover, letting stand for 5 minutes before serving. We squeeze a lime wedge into the soup and crunch up tortilla chips to eat. Yumm-o!

Pretzel Salad

This one comes from the Snow family cookbook. It's exceedingly delicious.

3 C crushed pretzels
1 C melted butter
3 tsp sugar
8 oz cream cheese
1 C sugar
1 large cool whip
2 C water
2 small pkg. berry flavored Jell-o
2 Pkg frozen strawberries or raspberries

Combine pretzels, melted butter, and 3 teaspoons sugar. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool. Mix cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and cool whip. Spread on pretzel crust mixture. Boil water and add Jell-o. Fold in prozen strawberries or raspberries and pour Jell-o mixture over cream cheese mixture. Let set for several hours.

Skillet Lasagne

This is adapted from my sister Mari's recipe. I never have three kinds of cheese, so we just use mozarella.;)

1 lb ground meat (I use turkey burger)
1/2 tsp minced garlic
2 T minced onion (if you like it.. Dave doesn't, so I don't use it)
2 cans diced tomatoes, any flavor
1 small can tomato sauce
1 1/2 C cottage cheese (or ricotta, if you're fancy)
1 T dried basil
1 T dried parsley
1 C grated mozarella
2-3 C uncooked mini bowties or any other favorite pasta

In large skillet, heat 2 tsp olive oil and saute the garlic and onion. Brown meat, adding a little salt and pepper if you like. Dump tomatoes (with juice) into a large measuring thingy and add water to make one quart. (It's something like half a can.) Add tomato sauce. You can season this mixture with garlic, basil, onion salt, and pepper if you have plain diced tomatoes. In another bowl, mix cottage cheese, dried basil, and dried parsley together. When burger is browned, scatter uncooked noodles over the meat and pour the watery tomato mixture over the top. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until noodles are cooked, about 20 minutes or so. Stir in half the cheese until melty. Turn off heat and dollup cottage cheese mixture on top. Finish with the rest of the mozarella and cover skillet. Set aside for a few minutes so cheese can melt. This recipe also makes quite a lote and is very excellent with homemade french bread.

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

This recipe is my mother-in-law's and it makes super soft, yummy sugar cookies. The trick is roll them thick and take them out of the oven before they start to brown. They don't look done at all, but let them cool on the pan and VIOLA! BTW-- this recipe makes a truckload of cookies. I half it all the time and it makes around 30 fat, delicious cookies.

1 C butter or margarine (butter powder from storage works great and cuts the fat in half, if you're interested)
4-6 C flour
2 C sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 C sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Mix in sour cream, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add flour one cup at a time until a soft dough is formed. I usually leave it just a little sticky so I can use more flour to roll them out without drying the cookies out. Roll thick, cut into shapes, and bake 8-10 minutes. (If you have one of those light silver insulated pans, 9 minutes is perfect.;)

Pumpkin Crunch

16 oz pumpkin pulp
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 t pumpkin pie spice
(also can sub 1 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and ground cloves)
1/2 t salt

Mix together and pour into greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle 1 cup chopped pecans and one yellow cake mix evenly over top and drizzle with 1 cube melted butter. Bake 50-55 mins at 350 degrees.

This is delicious, even if you don't particularly like pumpkin pie. We serve it with cool whip.

Chicken Salad

6 chicken breasts (or two large cans of chicken, works great, I promise)
3 c. grapes
2 c. celery
1 c. mayo
1/4 c. sour cream
1 (8oz.) pkg cream cheese
1 lemon (or you can use lemon juice from fridge)
1 T lemon pepper
1/2 T seasoned salt
1/2 c. chopped almonds (optional)

If you're using chicken that's not in cans, boil it on high for 30-45 minutes, cool for 1-2 hrs, then cut into cubes and squeeze the lemon over it. If you're using the cans, open them and sprinkle lemon juice on the chicken. Let the chicken sit while you make the rest of the salad.

Cut grapes into quarters, chop celery (I like it in small pieces). In a small bowl, combine softened cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, lemon pepper, and seasoned salt. In a large bowl, combine with grapes, celery, and chicken. Is great as a sandwich or over lettuce as a salad. I like to toast the bread.

As a sidenote, this makes a cubic buttload. I half the recipe every time I make it. You can also make the full amount of sauce (using the cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, lemon pepper, and seasoned salt) while halving the rest of the ingredients and add a two cups of your favorite cooked pasta and eat it as a cold salad.

Really Easy Pumpkin Cookies

1 spice cake mix
1 small can pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
1 bag chocolate chips (semisweet/dark chocolate is the best)

Mix cake mix and pumpkin together. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

It seriously works, folks. Don't be tempted to add an egg or anything, just those three ingredients. Temperatures and times may vary, of course, by oven.