Bow Tie Spinach Salad

This delicious salad is a family favorite for lunch or dinner; it's a wonderful meal.

Bow Tie Spinach Salad

8 c. baby spinach                                                      1/4  c. salted sunflower seeds

8 oz. bow-tie pasta, cooked & cooled                     1/2 each: red & yellow pepper, chopped
1/2  bunch green onions, chopped                           4 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded or diced

1 - 2 T. parsley, chopped (optional)

Dressing:

1/2 c. oil                                                                    6 T. sugar

2/3 c. soy sauce (or tamari for GF)                           1/2 t. pepper

2/3 c. rice vinegar                                                     1/4 c. sesame seeds

Combine dressing ingredients in a large zip-lock bag or Tupperware bowl. Add cooked-shredded chicken and marinate overnight in refrigerator. Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl. Just before serving toss with dressing and chicken mixture.

Wonderful Sloppy Joes

I was home with a terrible sneezing cold when this recipe was featured on a local television channel by a local grocer.  I was too under-the-weather to write it down, but went to the grocer later to get it.  We’ve used it for years.

~Dana~

Wonderful Sloppy Joes

2 lbs ground meat (beef, pork, etc.)

1 chopped onion

½ t. salt

½ t. black pepper

1 cup catsup

½ cup water

6 T. BBQ sauce

3 T cider vinegar

2 T prepared mustard

4 t. Worcestershire sauce

4 drops tobasco sauce

Brown: meat and onion with salt and pepper.  Add: remaining ingredients. 

Heat through.

  May be placed in a crock-pot and kept warm for many hours on low.

Bean & Ham Soup

I searched the internet for the perfect Bean and Ham Soup recipe.  

This is a combination of several recipes that makes a soup we love.

Bean and Ham Soup

Ø 1 tbsp olive oil

Ø 1 yellow sweet onion

Ø 1 cup of carrots sliced

Ø 1 cup of celery, sliced

Ø 1 clove of garlic minced

Ø 1 1/2 cups of cooked diced ham

Ø 4, 14oz cans of white beans or navy beans (rinsed & drained) OR cook your own beans, 2 cups, dried

Ø 4 cans of chicken stock

Ø 2 bay leaves

Ø Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper (to taste)


Heat a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add olive oil, onions, garlic, carrots and celery. Cook until tender, 5-7 minutes. Add ham and cook for 30-60 seconds before adding 3 cans of stock and 2 cans of beans (rinsed well), bay leaf, and pepper. Simmer over medium low heat for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove bay leaves and blend soup in pot with immersion blender 0r regular blender if you don’t have an immersion blender. Add the remaining 2 cans of beans and remaining can of stock. Simmer to heat beans through, 10-15 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary. (The ham often provides enough salt.)

We love this with crusty bread or good old fashioned soda crackers.

Brazilian Limeade

Our family LOVES this beverage.

Brazilian Limeade

4 – 6, limes (little ones with smooth skin make the best limeade)


1 c. sugar


6 c. cold water

1/3 cup (FULL)  sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

Blend water and sugar in blender till sugar dissolves.

Wash limes very well and cut in to eighths. {I soak them in a big bowl of water with a cup of white vinegar for 10 min or so.  They are squeaky clean!)

Place 1/2 of the cut-up limes in your blender with  2-3 cups of the sugar water. Pulse a few times to beat up the limes.  DO NOT puree them.  They will still be very chunky.  {If you do this too much your drink will be bitter and gross.} Pour the above through a strainer into your serving pitcher. Use a spoon to “juice” the limes, but don’t press too hard. Repeat with the remaining limes.  Add any remaining sugar water to the pitcher.

Add sweetened condensed milk. Stir well.

At serving time, serve over lots of crushed ice. (We like Sonic ice.... :)  Who doesn't?

This does not keep well, so don’t make too far ahead of time. A couple of hours is fine, but not a day ahead....

Makes 4-6 servings.

Beef Barley Soup -- Crockpot

We altered a few recipes to get just what we loved in a hearty beef barley soup. This is what we came up with, and we love it!!

Beef Barley Soup – Crockpot

Cook a roast of any kind overnight in a crockpot with a little beef broth or water. Shred or cut up. Use about one pound per recipe, but the following may be doubled or tripled (and so on) to feed any size of group.

Return cooked beef to crock pot and add:

2 carrots, diced or sliced

2 stalks of celery, sliced

1 chopped onion

2 potatoes cubed

1, 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 quart beef broth

1 T. Worcestershire Sauce

1 T. minced garlic

½ t. dill (or It's A Dilly Salt Free Seasoning)

2 T. Italian seasoning
1 T. Basil

1 T. white sugar

½ t. black pepper, freshly ground

Kosher salt to taste

Cook on low or high until vegetables are tender. (4-6 hours – 6 low, 4 high)

One hour before serving add: ½ cup barley.

This also works well on the stovetop.

Jalapeno Jelly

We eat this on EVERYTHING.  It is a great sandwich spread, good with any meat or fish, and wonderful over cream cheese served with crackers.

White Silk Purse Jalapeno Pepper Jelly

3 cups finely diced peppers, seeded

(jalapeno, bell, red bell, pasilla, Anaheim, etc.)

6 cups sugar

1 ½ cups cider vinegar

1 T crushed red pepper flakes
red or green food coloring, if desired

Bring the above to a a good boil in a heavy bottomed pan.  

Add 2 pouches of CERTO and boil for 1 minute more.  
Add food coloring if desired for a more festive color.

Seal in sterilized half-pint jars. 

-- Water bath 10 minutes.--

Note:  Wear gloves when seeding peppers.  The "heat" in peppers is all in the seeds and ribs.  Remove them for a milder flavor.  I halve or quarter the peppers and use a teaspoon to remove seeds a ribs.  Often this process will induce coughing.  Its just the peppers doing their thing.  :)

Stuffed Pepper Soup

I have searched for this recipe to give credit.  I'm pretty sure I found it online, but I know not where.  It is FABULOUS tasting and easy to make. I put the rice on to cook first and then start the rest. By the time the rice is needed, it's ready. This is an easy recipe to cut in half if you need less soup, but it keeps well and we love the leftovers for lunches.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

2 pounds ground beef

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 small onion chopped

1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic

-------------------------

2 quarts Beef Broth

4 cans (8 ounces) tomato sauce

1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, un-drained

3 cups cooked rice

2 cups chopped peppers (any mix is fine, green, red, black, yellow, orange, Anaheim, etc.)

1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar

Instructions

In a Dutch oven, cook beef with salt, pepper, onion and garlic over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.

Stir in the remaining ingredients; bring to a boil.

Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until peppers are tender.

Optional:  top with cheese to serve

Yield: 12 large servings