"Sort of Salsa" by Valerie Ford

1 can corn, drained
1 can black eyed peas, drained
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2-4 tomatoes, diced
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 pkg. Good Seasonings Italian Dressing mix
2 avocados, chopped
lime juice from one lime

prepare italian dressing as directed on package. mix everything together except avocados. chill for a few hours, add avocados before serving. Serve with tortilla chips.

(I also add a can of black beans)

Buttermilk Syrup (aka: nectar of the Gods)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, and baking soda. Bring to a boil, and cook for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the vanilla.

Today, I put in canned pumpkin and pumpkin spice. I don't really have amounts. I used a spice mix from the pumpkin can label and I just did it to taste. Too spiceful, add pumpkin; too bland, add spice.

Strawberry Shortcake

And this was dessert. I'm pretty sure they said it was good like 10 times while eating it :)

Yellow or White Cake mix (I like white)
2 c. warm water
1 small pkg. Instant Vanilla pudding
2 eggs
Strawberries to top


Beat ingredients together. Pour into a greased 9 x 13in pan and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Cake should still be soft in the middle (still doughy).

After cake is cooled, add topping and serve with strawberries

Topping:
8 oz. Cool Whip
1/3 c. butter
1 c. powdered sugar

Melt butter and mix with powdered sugar, fold in cool whip with spatula.

Baked Ziti

Tara and I made this for the boys on Sunday and they loved it:

1 pkg. (16 oz.) ziti pasta
1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 container (15 oz.) Ricotta Cheese
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese


PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Cook pasta as directed on package. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water.

Mix spaghetti sauce, ricotta cheese and reserved 1/2 cup pasta cooking water in large bowl. Add pasta and 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese; mix lightly. Spoon into 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and the Parmesan cheese. Cover.

BAKE 30 min.; uncover. Bake an additional 10 min. or until heated through

Strawberry French Toast

Because several have asked about it:

Strawberry French Toast/Stuffed French Toast*

Eggs & milk for dipping toast
Cream cheese
Powder sugar
White sugar
French bread (works with regular bread too)
Cool Whip
Frozen or fresh strawberries

Dump strawberries into a pot over the stove and put on warm heat. While making the toast, periodically mash berries until they create a sauce. Add sugar to sweeten, and keep on low heat until toast is served.

When slicing bread keep two pieces connected - don't slice through all the way. You don't have to keep the bread connected, but it tends to help when frying. Set aside until time to stuff.

For every 8oz. (1 brick) of cream cheese, combine 1 cup of powder sugar with it. Beat until fluffy, and all the lumps are gone. Sometimes a little extra powder sugar is needed depending upon your preference. Stuff bread with filling amply. More is better than less. If you're afraid you will run out of stuffing, fill them just a little bit than add the leftovers to even them all out.

Crack eggs into a bowl and add a little milk to make it creamy. Dip stuffed toast in, covering both sides with egg mixture. Throw on griddle, into a frying pan or on the burning hot Arizona sidewalk and fry. :)

Ladle strawberries on top and add a dolop of cool whip. Now gorge yourself in deliciousness.

*Amounts:
-For large batches a dozen eggs may be needed, for smaller batches you could probably get away with using just 6 eggs.
-People eat about 2 pieces each (boys-3). Depending upon how big the loaves are you can feed about 10-15 people with 4-5 loaves. In my family if we're feeding all of us we use about 5 loaves (that's 15 people), and that takes about 5 bricks of cream cheese. It's not hard to mix up more filling so sometimes I buy an extra brick just in case I run out of filling.

I read it!

I was going to post something, but I was wondering if people read this more than it gets updated... :)

Spicy Thai at Home

LOVE this recipe. Lots of chopping, but it would go really fast if you had a food processor.



* 4 Servings
* Prep 15 min
* Cook 10 min

Ingredients:

* 3/4 pound spaghetti
* 3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
* Juice of 2 limes
* 1/4 cup rice vinegar
* 1-1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
* Salt
* 4 carrots—peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
* 1 cucumber—peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and sliced crosswise
* 1 red bell pepper, cut into matchsticks
* 6 scallions, thinly sliced

Directions:

1.

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the spaghetti until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water.
2.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, lime juice, vinegar, crushed red pepper and 1/4 cup water; season with salt. Add the pasta and toss to coat. Add the carrots, cucumber, bell pepper and scallions and toss.

Shui Jiao (Pot Stickers)

Scott's brother-in-law served in Taiwan and their family makes them a lot and taught me how. They are really good, pretty easy to make, but kind of take a long time to wrap.

Shui Jiao


Wonton Wrappers
1/2 lb cabbage (I never measure this. I often just half a head of cabbage and chop it up really fine)
1/2 lb ground pork (Same thing: If I'm serving a large group, I'll use 2 lbs and triple or quadruple all the ingred)
2 green onions
1/2 t. ginger juice
1 t. salt (don't always add it: the soy sauce has lots of salt in it)
1 T rice wine vinegar
2 T soy sauce
1 T sesame oil

Mince cabbage. Combine raw pork with remaining ingred. Mix well
Fry in very small amt of sesame oil: once browned, add approx 1/4-1/3 C. of water and cover. Steam till water is gone: only takes a few minutes
You MUST serve these with Sweet Soy Sauce (Many Lands)