Flourless Chocolate Cake

Just wrote about this delish cake recipe that Julie found.  Please check out my blog for the recipe!

A good ol' salad dressing

Since we were married, we have made and enjoyed this salad dressing every once in a while.  My mother-in-law said it was a Gas Company recipe.  It's a French dressing made with Campbell's Tomato Soup.

Anna's French Dressing

1 can tomato soup
1 teasp. salt
1 teasp. dry mustard
3/4 cup corn oil  ( I use cannola)
3/4 cup dark vinegar  (I use cider)
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 teasp. paprika
1 teasp. worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons onion soup mix or onion flakes

Mix in quart jar and refrigerate.  Shake before using.

Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches

3 lb. chuck roast, fat trimmed
1 12 oz. jar whole pepperoncini peppers, with juice
1 C. water
2 beef boullion cubes (may substitute 1 cup beef broth for water and cubes)
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 t. dried oregano

Cut roast in large cubes.
Put all ingredients in a large crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred. Serve on kaiser rolls or Italian bread.
Makes spicy sandwiches! Use 1/2 jar peppers if you are afraid of the heat. We all enjoy it.

Spicy Smashed Chick Pea Dip

1 can organic chick peas, drained and rinsed
2 T. extra virgin olive oil (you need the flavor of extra virgin)
juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
1 clove fresh garlic, crushed
1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
sea salt
fesh ground black pepper

This mixture is kind of like hummus, but lemony and fresher tasting. Just put everything in a food processor and whip it until it's creamy. Not sure of a blender would work well. Serve with pita chips, warm pita bread or blue corn chips(my favorite). Yummy, healthy snack!

Fresh Pesto

Here's a little something that doesn't require much measuring.... just make sure one has fresh ingredients:

#1

Basil (I used some dried from the garden)

Olive oil

Parmesan cheese (grated)

Garlic cloves

Pine Nuts

2#

Have your taste tester make sure all the ingredients are fresh..

and then serve on good pasta and fresh tomatoes

( I usually make some, and freeze some too...--- with the frozen stuff, I dribble a little olive oil on top, so the top layer stays "green".)

ENJOY!

Comfort Food

At the right side of this picture, you will see a dish that Julie made for my Valentine party.  It is "Corn Pudding"a recipe from Susan Branch's "Autumn" book.  Putting a helping of it in your bowl before you pour on some chili is delish! 

1 cup sour cream
1-14 oz. can corn, drained
1-14 oz can creamed corn
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/4 tsp. paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix first 7 ingredients and pour into buttered 9" square baking dish or casserole.  Sprinkle top with paprica and bake 1 hour. 

If you are not having it with chili, you can heat maple syrup and serve over pudding hot ro warm. 

While the cookies were cooling

We needed to have something to distract us from the wonderful aroma while the cookies were cooling, so they wouldn't be all eaten from the metal rack. So, we worked on 2 puzzles & here is the result of one. Can you tell what the scene depicts? (Don't worry, --dad's feet in the fireplace were fine, since the logs weren't burning :)