Spinach Artichoke Dip

1 14 oz can of artichoke hearts, finely chopped

1 10 oz pkg of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

3/4 c grated parmesan cheese

3/4 c light mayo

1/2 c shredded mozzerella cheese

1/2 t garlic powder

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients and spoon into 9" pie plate or baking dish. Bake 20 minutes, or until heated through.

Cabbage Patch Stew

1 lb hamburger, browned
1/2 onion, chopped
2 c cabbage, chopped
1/2 c celery, chopped
4 carrots, sliced
2 cans kidney beans
1 qt stewed tomatoes

2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1-2 T chili powder (I like it milder, so I use a scant 1 T)
4 1/2 c water

Bring to boil and simmer until tender.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

These cookies are SUPER yummy, and are so easy. Everyone's always impressed, too, because they look so fancy. Now, the only ratio I haven't really figured out is the dough to packages of Reese's mini peanut butter cups, but the way I look at it--extra of either is still a good thing! (To give you an idea, I doubled the batch, and made it through 4.5 bags of Reese's cups)

1/2 c butter or margarine
1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 egg
1/2 t vanilla
1 1/4 c flour
extra sugar for rolling
2 (?) packages Mini Reese's cups


Mix all ingredients well. Refrigerate, if necessary, until easy to handle. Roll into 1" balls, then roll in sugar. Bake in a mini muffin tin at 375 degrees for 7 min. While they are in the oven, unwrap all your Reese's cups. As soon as the cookies come out, immediately press a Reese's cup into each cookie. Let cool in pan. Optional: I use a knife to gently remove them from the pan, line them up on wax paper, and drizzle melted chocolate over them. (I melt chocolate chips in the microwave in a quart freezer bag--30 seconds-flip-30 more seconds, and then snip the tiniest corner off and pipe out the chocolate. Wear an oven mitt or glove, it's hot!)

Yummy Salsa

Meet my new pregnancy craving. So tasty, and just the tiniest kick.

6 Roma tomatoes

4 oz can diced green chilies

1 bunch cilantro (1 c chopped)

1 bunch green onions (1 c chopped)

1/2 c chopped onion

1 1/2 t garlic salt

1/8 t cumin

1 t crushed red pepper

Place all ingredients in blender and pulse to chop.

Cheese Ball

6 oz Blue Cheese
2 (5 oz) Jars Old English Cheddar
4 (3 oz) packages of Cream Cheese
2 T. Grated Onions
1 t. Worchestershire Sauce
1/2 t. Accent

Garnish:
1 c. Ground Pecans
1/2 c. Parsley

Combine all ingredients. Add 1/2 of the pecan and parsley mixture. Form 2 equally sized balls. Roll balls in the remaining garnish. Refrigerate and serve with crackers. Delicious!

Oreo Balls

Completely de-lish. Totally easy. Also, fat free and calorie free. Okay, that part wasn't true.

OREO BALLS

1 pkg Oreos
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 pkg almond bark, or dipping chocolate

Finely crush Oreos. (I do this in a food processor, and it's a snap. Otherwise, you can put them in a gallon ziplock bag and use a rolling pin, which is a pain). Mix cream cheese in well (I do this in my KitchenAid. It makes it so easy. And, I'm trying to see just how many appliances I can dirty for a three-ingredient recipe.) Form into 1" balls and chill.

Melt chocloate or almond bark and dip the balls. Set on wax paper to cool. To make them extra fancy, you can drizzle them with white chocolate.

Refrigerate. And try to share.

Pear Cranberry Compote

Try this instead of your traditional cranberry sauce. It's sweeter and very tasty.

12 oz bag cranberries, rinsed.
1 c brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t allspice
1 t vanilla
3 med pears, cored and chopped

Combine all ingredients, except pears, in saucepan. Cover, cook over medium heat until cranberries pop (about 5 min). Stir in pears, cook 2-3 more min or until tender. Serve warm or chilled.

Yummy Pull-apart Bread

We had this over Thanksgiving while Hilary was here, and, let me tell you, it is YUMMY!! And very simple. You need a bundt pan for this, though. This is a 'start the night before' recipe for a yummy breakfast, or 'start in the morning' for a yummy dessert bread.

24 frozen Rhodes rolls
1 small box butterscotch pudding
2.5 oz pecan pieces
1 c brown sugar
1 1/4 sticks butter

Melt butter and mix in brown sugar. Place 12 rolls in the bundt pan. Sprinkle half the dry pudding, half of the pecans, and pour half the butter mixture over it. Then repeat. Let rise over night (6-8 hours) (I did this 8 hours in the garage so it was colder and they turned out perfectly--the rolls should be about double in size). Bake 350 degrees for 30 min.

Peppermint Pinwheels

I'm just about to make these, so I'll post a picture when I'm done. For now, picture perfect little red and white swirl cookies. These cookies are kind of a pain in the prep, but pay off in the end.

3/4 c butter, softened (no substitutes)
3/4 c sugar
1 egg yolk
1 t vanilla
2 c flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t peppermint extract
1/4 t red liquid food coloring (use less for pink swirls instead of red)

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide in half. Add extract and food coloring to one portion. Roll out 16X10 rectangle (this is the hard part) from each half (see hint at the bottom). Place red rectangle over plain. Tightly roll, starting with long side. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate over night or until firm. Unwrap dough and cut into 1/4" slices. Place 2" apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake 35o degrees, 12-14 min, until set. Cool 2 min before removing to wire racks to cool completely. 4 dozen.

Hint: I just came up with an easier way to roll out the rectangles. I spread parchment paper over a 10X15 cookie sheet (with edges), covered the dough with another sheet of parchment paper, and rolled out the dough to the edges. That way, I came up with a uniform size and cleaner edge. It's not the 'right' size called for in the recipe, but for my purposes it works perfectly. I can't get it much bigger than that anyway.  It saved a ton of work.