Romaine and Feta Green Salad

1 C chopped pecans or walnuts
3 T butter
2 tsp pepper
1/2 C sugar
- Saute nuts in butter for 5 min. Don't let butter brown. Then toss nuts in pepper and sugar until coated.

8 oz spinach (can skip and add more romaine)
1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped
1/4 C dried cranberries
1/4 lb crumbled feta cheese

Dressing:
Blend - 2 tsp sugar
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
1/2 med red onion
1/2 tsp salt
1 C fresh parsley
1 C canola oil (can use olive)

Toss everything together and Yum! This makes a lot of dressing, can half that.

Brownie Cake - Hinckley Family Favorite

Brownie Cake
1 C butter
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate (Or 6 T cocoa pwdr)
1 C hot water
2 C flour
2 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 C milk or buttermilk (I make buttermilk with milk and a 1/2 T vinegar)
2 tsp vanilla

Melt butter and chocolate in saucepan. Add water and boil for 2 minutes. Mix in dry ingredients. Then add rest of ingredients. Beat with mixer until creamy. Batter will be a little thin. Pour into 9x13 greased pan. Bake 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool a bit before frosting. Don't dump out of pan.

Frosting for Brownie Cake
1/2 C butter
2 oz unsweetened chocolate (Or 6 T cocoa pwdr)
1/3 C milk
1 pkg (16 oz) powdered sugar (I add a little bit more than this)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C copped nuts (optional)

- Melt butter and chocolate in saucepan. Add milk and boil until it thickens, careful not to burn it. Add in other ingredients with mixer until creamy. Frost while frosting is still hot.

Snicker Doodles

This is a very good recipe that I have received many compliments on. This makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Cream these indgredients well:

2 c butter

4 eggs

3 c sugar

Add and mix:

4 tsp cream of tarter

2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

5 c flour (add this last)

Refrigerate dough until firm.

Roll balls of dough in a bowl of:

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1/2 c sugar

Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Oriental Salad

This recipe is a tweaked version from the back of the salad dressing bottle.

1 Head chopped romaine lettuce

1-1.5 lbs. chopped turkey breast or chicken

1/3-1/2 cup slivered or chopped almonds

1 chopped sweet bellpepper (red, yellow, or orange)

2 tsp black sesame seeds

Feast from the East All Natural Sesame Dressing (Costco)

Put all ingredients together and toss salad dressing into salad according to taste.

Minestrone Soup

This is a DELICIOUS recipe from my sister-in-law, Kacey. Enjoy. This makes a TON, so you may want to half it.

2lbs. sausage (Jimmy Dean's regular, all natural from Wal-Mart is good)

2 qts whole tomatoes

29 oz canned tomato sauce

8 tsp beef buillion

1 qt water

2 chopped onions

5 sliced carrots

4 stalks celery chopped

Simmer above ingredients for two hours, then add:

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp basil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 16 oz can kidney beans drained

1 16 oz can green beans drained

1/2 lb pasta

Saute onions and cook sausage. Simmer indicated ingredients and let the pasta cook in the soup for about half an hour or until tender. However, if time is an issue, just simmer ingredients until vegetables are tender, then add pasta. It should cut off about one hour of cooking time.

Cafe Rio Pork - Rice - Dressing = Cafe Rio Salad!

I LOVE cafe rio, so I was on a mission to get the best pork recipe possible. This is a combination of a few cafe rio pork recipes and my own addition. It's our favorite version of the pork. You may substitute pork with chicken or beef.

3-5 lbs pork loins or pork roast
1 1/2 cans caffeine free coke OR 1 small bottle
1/2 C brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard (heaping)
1 tsp cumin (heaping)
1 tsp minced garlic (heaping)
1 bay leaf (remove after cooking)
2 C jalapeno tomato salsa (or your favorite salsa)
1/4 C white vinegar
ground pepper (you know this is a must in all of my recipes)

- Mix all sauce ingredients together. Pour over meat and crock pot all day!

Cafe Rio Rice:
1 C rice
2 C water
3 cubes chicken bouillon
1 T dried onion
1/4 bunch cilantro
1 T oil
1 fresh lime
Cook all together, except for the lime. Squeeze lime in before serving.

Cafe Rio Dressing - 2 delicious versions:
Version 1:
1 envelope buttermilk ranch dressing
1 C mayo
1 C milk
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 green tomatillos (remove husk)
1/2 serrano pepper with seeds removed.
- Blend it all up until creamy!

Version 2:
1 C mayo
1 C sour cream
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 green tomatillos (remove husk)
1 clove garlic
1 jalapeno pepper with seeds removed
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp salt
- Blend it all up until creamy!

If you haven't eaten Cafe Rio you might wonder what to do with all of this! Start with a tortilla. Layer on top if it: black/pinto beans, cafe rio rice, cafe rio pork, cheese, guacamole, tomato, sour cream, lots of chopped romaine lettuce, cafe rio dressing, crushed tortilla chips. It's called a Cafe Rio Salad! YUMO!!!

Sausage, Potatoe & Cabbage Stew - Rachel Ray

I got this from another blog. It's a Rachel Ray recipe. We never eat sauasage, but I really wanted to try this. So I used very lean turkey kielbasa by butterball. It's a natural, lean, healthier turkey sausage. It's delicious stew and the kids liked it too! Leftovers are even yummier!

2/3 lb turkey kielbasa, cut up
1/2 red onion chopped
2 T spicy mustard
1 1/2 T white wine vinegar
4-6 C chicken broth
1 lb red potatoes, cut up with skin on
2 1/2 C shredded cabbage - I used bagged cole slaw mix
2 lrg carrots grated
salt and pepper (careful w/ salt, sausage is salty)

Cook kielbasa and onion in a pot. Stir in mustard, vinegar broth and potatoes. Put cabbage and carrots in last. Simmer until potatoes are done.