Aunt Wendy's Slush

I made this for Morgan's birthday party, and people were asking for the recipe. Well, it's Aunt Wendy's yummy recipe. Mmmmm

6 oz can of Orange Juice

6 oz lemon juice

2 cups sugar

8-10 cups water

1 t. vanilla

1 t. almond extract

7 Up (at least 2 bottles)

Mix together and place in a bowl or pan. Put in the freezer, stir every 30 minutes breaking up the ice. If you don't do this, then you'll just have a big block of ice that you'll have to try to break up. Use a fork to break it apart and make it light and FROTHY. Mmmmmm

Put in a punch bowl and add 7 Up

Maryland Fried Chicken and Gravy

Another Cook's Illustrated recipe. I love this because you don't need a deep-fat fryer to make this chicken, but it tastes like you cooked it in a deep-fat fryer anyway.

4 lbs. bone-in, skin-on chicken

1 T dry mustard

1 T garlic

1 t table salt

2 c. (10 oz) unbleached, all-purpose flour

1 t. baking powder

3 c. peanut oil or vegetable shortening

Opt. Old Bay seasoning (It is a mixture of celery salt, bay, mustard, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, etc.)

Gravy:

1/4 c. pan drippings from frying chicken

1/4 c. (1 1/4 oz) unbleached all-purpose four

2 c. low-sodium chicken broth

1 c. heavy cream

1 t. black pepper

table salt

Pat the chicken dry, mix mustard, garlic, and salt and sprinkle over chicken. (This was pretty strong for me, I think next time, I'll use half as much. It all depends on how much you like garlic.) Combine flour and baking powder in a shallow dish, and dredge each piece of chicken in it. Refrigerate 30 minutes-2 hours.

Heat oven to 200 degrees. Heat oil or shortening to 375 degrees (use a candy thermometer to check). Arrange half the chicken in the pot skin-side down and cook until well browned, about 5 minutes per side. Lower the oil temperature to 300 degrees, and continue cooking chicken until meat thermometer reads 175 degrees for dark meat and 165 for white.

Remove chicken to a wire rack over a baking sheet. Season with Old Bay seasoning and transfer to the oven. Turn the oil back up to 375 and cook the rest of the chicken.

For the gravy:

Pour off all but 1/4c. oil out of the pot. Stir in flour and cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in broth, cream, and pepper. Simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and serve with chicken and mashed potatoes. Mmmmmmm

Perfect Pan Pizza

Hey All! It's Di again, coming to you with another great recipe from my favorite magazine, Cook's Illustrated! This pizza is so easy and yummy. The crust is chewy and buttery and comes out perfect every time!

Dough:

2 T. Olive Oil plus 4 T. for the pans

3/4 C. plus 2 T. skim milk warmed

2 t. sugar

2 1/2 c. flour

2 1/4 t. yeast

1/2 t. Table salt

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 200 degrees. When oven reaches 200 degrees, turn it off. Lightly grease a large bowl with cooking spray. Coat two cake pans (or pie pans) with 2 Tablespoons of oil.

Mix milk, sugar, and 2 T. of oil in measuring cup. Mix flour, yeast, and salt in a stand mixer (or if mixing by hand, mix together and make a well for the wet ingredients) Turn machine to low and slowly add milk mixture, after dough comes together, increase speed to medium and mix about five minutes or until shiny and smooth (or if by hand, stir until the dough becomes shaggy, turn onto floured surface and knead about 10 minutes). Place in greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the warmed oven for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and divide in half. Roll each half into a ball and with a rolling pin, shape each ball into a 9 inch round. Place in oiled pan using knuckles to push the dough to the edges. Cover with plastic wrap and set in warm spot until puffy and slightly risen, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 400 degrees.

Sauce:

1 T olive oil

2 medium garlic cloves pressed or minced

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

salt and pepper

Cook oil and garlic in medium saucepan over low heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, increase heat to medium and cook until slightly thickened, 10-15 minutes.

*I like to add fresh basil to my sauce*

Topping:

1 3.5 oz package sliced pepperoni

3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

any other toppings you prefer

Put half the pepperoni in a single layer on a paper towel on a microwave-safe plate. Cover with paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds. Pat the grease off the pepperoni. Repeat with remaining pepperoni. This keeps the pizza from getting too greasy.

Assemble:

Remove plastic wrap from dough, put sauce on leaving a border around the edges, sprinkle with cheese and top with pepperoni. Bake until cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Let pizzas rest in the pan for 2 minutes. Using a spatula, remove from pans onto a cutting board and cut into slices.

Here ya go Maggie!

Hope this helps! This is definitely one of our favorites too! Miss you tons!

Green Bean Casserole
10 oz can cream of mushroom soup
¾ c milk
1/8 tsp pepper
2 pkgs frozen cut green beans, thawed
1 1/3 c French’s French-Fried Onions

In a 1 ½ qt casserole dish, mix all ingredients except 2/3 c onions. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Stir and top with the rest of the onions. Bake for 5 more minutes. Serves 6.

tip: if you don't thaw the beans first, use less milk.

-Em
Starving in Seattle

Green Bean cravings

Hello everyone! It's Maggie.

Fall is here and I'm starting to have the holidays on the mind. The one dish I can't stop thinking about? Green bean casserole. Weird, I know.

Maybe it's because I think I have all the ingredients I need for it. I checked my trusty cookbook and realized I don't have a recipe for it.

Do any of you have a recipe for Green Bean Casserole? You know, the one with Cream of Mushroom soup and onion crunchies on top? Jordan makes a great one, I know that.

Post it if ya got it!

Thanks!
maggie

Our Favorite Chili

Oh wow! Y'all have been posting like crazy! I guess that chill in the air brings us back to the kitchen. This is Mandy, up in Alaska where the leaves are already changing colors, and I'm sharing one of my most prized recipes. They say your favorite chili is the one you grew up with. That's typically true, but this isn't your Aunt Wendy's recipe. I adapted this from a friend's when we were newlyweds in Logan. It's my favorite, and your welcome to give it a try if you're looking for a new favorite chili recipe. I love and miss you all! Mandy

Our Favorite Chili

1 C pinto beans
1 C kidney beans
1 C black beans
Soaked overnight and cooked till soft--or if you forgot to soak the beans, just use a can of each.

1 T olive oil
1 onion
1 lb ground beef
Grill onion till clear, brown ground beef.

Mix beans and hamburger in a crock pot, add:
1 1/2 C corn
1 can tomatoes and green chilis, or just the green chilis, if that's what you have
1 package taco seasoning, or your own version--I just make it up each time
3 8-oz cans tomato sauce
1/4 C honey and a teaspoon or so molasses OR 1/4 C brown sugar

Let everything simmer for an hour or so. Serve on corn chips, add a dollop of sour cream, and garnish with green onions.

Healthy Chicken Nuggets

I saw this on a blog ages ago and finally decided to try it now that the hubs is back in school and not home to tell me what he wants for dinner. Now I'm mad I waited so long! Baby girl ate 5 nuggets and was begging for more. Hubs came home and ate the entire rest of the batch. They really are good! I thought it was weird to use rice crispies, but it works! For some reason they don't let any of the juice out of the nugget so the inside is super tender while the outside is nice and crispy. Don't be afraid to use the fat free sour cream, it actually tastes great in the dipping sauce! Enjoy!

Healthy Chicken Nuggets with Creamy Dijon Dipping Sauce

1 ½ pounds chopped chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins

½ c flour

1 – 2 eggs slightly beaten

4 c crisp rice cereal

2 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

½ c reduced fat sour cream

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp honey

carrot and cucumber sticks for dipping

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the rice cereal in a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs form. Pulse in the olive oil, salt and pepper. Place crumbs in a shallow bowl. In a second shallow bowl add the flour and in a third beat the eggs. Coat each piece of chicken in the flour first, shake off the excess, dredge the chicken in the egg next, and then press the chicken in the crumbs to help them stick. Place each piece on a baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes until light golden brown and cooked through (turn once halfway through). Meanwhile, mix the sour cream, mustard, and honey. Serve the chicken nuggets with carrot and cucumber sticks with the sauce for dipping.

Chocolate Raspberry Cake Balls

Hi everyone! It's Maggie!

I think long, long ago someone tagged me to include a recipe of my favorite messy meal. Well...basically everything I do in the kitchen leaves a path of destruction, but today I discovered THE MESSIEST DESSERT EVER! But It's so good that it's totally worth it.

I call these cake balls.

you'll need:
A chocolate cake mix
3 eggs
apple sauce
1/2 can of chocolate frosting
a package of fresh raspberries
a bag of milk chocolate chips

First you bake a chocolate cake using the lowfat directions. The cake mix I used called for a cup of water, 3 eggs, and 1/3 cup applesauce. Bake and cool.

Next scoop 1/2 a can of chocolate frosting in a large bowl and add about a 1/3 of a cup of applesauce. Mix in about 3/4 a package of raspberries. Using a hand mixer on the lowest speed, mix the ingredients until they are blended. The raspberries will be chunky.

Now's the FUN part! When the cake is cool, cut it up into large pieces and dump them a few pieces at a time into the large bowl with the frosting mixture. Use a hand mixer to blend everything together. The consistency should be very moist but the mixture should hold together enough to hand-form balls.

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Using a spoon, scoop up the "dough" and shape it into small bite-sized balls (kind of the size of a donut hole) with the palms of your hands. Place the balls on the wax paper. You can place the balls fairly close together on the wax paper but just not touching.

When all the dough has been formed into balls and placed on the wax paper. Put in fridge for about 1 hour to cool and firm.

After cooling, pour 1 package of milk chocolate chips into a small saucepan (the smaller the better because you want it to be deep enough to dip the balls in the melted chocolate). Melt the chocolate on very low temperature. Add a little milk if you think you need more moisture. Once melted, hand-dip each ball into the chocolate so it is completely coated. You can also pour spoonfuls of the melted chocolate over the ball while holding it over the melted chocolate. Be careful to not burn yourself if the chocolate is too hot, because throughout this process your fingers will be absolutely covered in the melted chocolate!

Place each chocolate covered ball back on the wax-papered cookie sheet and when all the balls are covered in chocolate, be sure to lick all the remaining chocolate off your fingers!!! :) Place the cookie sheet back in the fridge for another hour or so to chill before serving.

Serve chilled on a plate garnished with the leftover fresh raspberries.

In this recipe I cut back on the fat by using the lowfat baking method, plus cutting back on the frosting by adding applesauce. The result is still a delicious moist chocolate and raspberry flavor. You can probably see that this recipe is very alterable. You could use any cake mix flavor or frosting flavor and could use white chocolate to cover the balls if you want. You could also add different fruit flavors. I'm serving these ToNigHt at a dessert party so I'll let you know how they go!

Miss you all!
Maggie

Pepper Jack Chicken

It's Di again! Matt loves pepper jack cheese, so I put a little twist on mac n cheese, to make him a happy hubby.

2 cooked, chopped up chicken breasts seasoned with salt and pepper (canned chicken works too)

2 lbs. penne pasta cooked and drained
(opt. cooked broccoli)

Sauce:
4 T. butter
5 T. flour
3 cans of evaporated milk or 3 c. milk (evaporated milk makes the sauce smooth)
2 t. salt
2 c. shredded pepper jack cheese
1 c. shredded swiss cheese
1/2 c. shredded colby jack cheese
Salt and pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add flour whisking until it turns a light brown. Slowly whisk in milk and 2 t. salt and cook until it begins to simmer and thickens. Take off heat and stir in cheese. Add salt and pepper if needed.
Place pasta and chicken and optional broccoli in 9X13 dish, pour the sauce over. Stir together. Bake 15 minutes.

The PERFECT Sloppy Joe

Sloppy joe, slop sloppy joe!

It's DI! I have my own kitchen, I'm cooking again, so I'm BAack!
Early in my marriage, my husband asked if I would make Manwich over rice for him. Eh? That sounded so disgusting to me! I had never had Manwich before, and I didn't even know what it was! I soon learned that sloppy joes were a favorite of his. I have tried over the years to perfect the elusive joe to no avail. Seriously, it's either too sweet, or not sweet enough, too spicey, flavorless, etc. I tried adding bell peppers, celery, carrots, even red beans, and it was never very good. Manwich has chopped up pickles in it, and it tastes like a tin can. NO WAY!
Lo and behold, I picked up my favorite magazine, Cook's Illustrated at Costco, and it had a recipe for sloppy joes! This magazine is so awesome because they write an article on each recipe explaining the many experiments they did to perfect it. They also recommend different brands of products and offer many cooking tips. I have never been disappointed by their recipes. So, without further ado:

The PERFECT Sloppy Joe!

2 T Vegetable oil (I used Olive oil)
1 medium onion chopped fine
Table salt
2 medium garlic cloves minced
1/2 t chili powder
1 lb. 85% lean ground beef (this percentage keeps it flavorful and less greasy, but just use what you have)
Ground black pepper
1 t. brown sugar
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1/2 c. ketchup
1/4 c. water
1/4 t. hot sauce like Tabasco
4 hamburger buns (the recommend Pepperidge Farm Bakery rolls, but I got the whole wheat buns, still good!)

Heat oil in skillet on medium heat, add onions and 1/2 t. salt. Cover and cook stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. If they start to brown, turn down the heat.
Add garlic and chili powder and cook about 30 seconds.
Add beef and break down with wooden spoon, until just pink.
Add 1/4 t. pepper, brown sugar, tomato sauce, ketchup, water, and hot pepper sauce. Simmer until mixture is slightly thicker than ketchup, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve on buns.

You won't be sorry!

A Different Sort of Salad...

We had this for lunch today. It's different, refreshing, and fun! Logan and Sophie ate so much I had to take it away. I think it's the corn chips.

Some of the ingredients look weird, I know, but trust me...it's fabulous!

Mexican Salad
1 large head lettuce chopped, romaine or iceberg
2 or 3 tomatoes chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
1 onion chopped
1 can kidney beans, rinsed well
1 bottle Catalina French dressing
1 ½ lbs grated cheddar cheese
1 large bag Frito Lay Corn Chips

Toss together the first 5 ingredients, cover and refrigerate until needed. Mix in the remaining ingredients when ready to serve.

Enjoy!

-Em

Greek Shrimp Kebabs

I've never actually made anything with shrimp before and there was a random sale at the store...voila!

These were pretty dang good! I hope you try them!

Greek Shrimp Kebabs
1 ½ lb shrimp, uncooked
1 onion, chopped
¼ c fresh lime juice
¼ c olive oil
1 tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb bacon, uncooked

Peel and devein shrimp. Tails may be left on. Combine onion, lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Add shrimp. Cover. Refrigerate for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Discard liquid. Wrap each shrimp in ½ strip of bacon. Thread 5 to 8 shrimp on each skewer. Grill over low heat (bacon burns easily) just until shrimp are opaque and firm. Yield: 4 servings.

Enjoy!

-Em

Chocolate Torte

Tonight I was in the mood to make a yummy dessert but had no butter, so I pulled out the old ward cookbook and searched through it. The first recipe I found looked simple enough, and I decided to try it out. HOLY HECK! So yummy! And so easy! And so elegant!

Chocolate Torte

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. cocoa
1 c. sugar

combine. Make a "well."

1 c. water
1/3 c. oil
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp vanilla

Add to dry ingredients. Spoon into regular-sized or miniature lined or sprayed muffin tins. Fill 1/2 full

Filling

Combine 8 ounces cream cheese (softened), 1 egg, 1/2 c. sugar, and 1/8 tsp. salt. Stir well. Add 6 ounces of chocolate chips. Spoon 1 tsp over chocolate mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. Makes about a dozen and a half (with regular-sized muffin pan)

I greased a cookie sheet and flipped the finished tortes upside down on the sheet. They popped right out and looked like mini lava cakes.

SOOOOOO yummy!

Enjoy!

Adrienne's Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze

I'm not trying to confuse you, but this recipe was given to me by my friend Adrienne (this is Adrianne). We're both part of the large network of APX wives here in Louisville. All of us decided to have a recipe swap earlier this week, so I now have an arsenal of delicious recipes to try once we move home next week (Meaning, I better see some of you at the Goodrich reunion next weekend). I haven't tried this recipe myself, but Adrienne brought some over to me, and they were DELICIOUS. I snarfed it in seconds!!
I will definitely be adding more recipes as I try the ones that have been given to me!

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze:
prep: 15 minutes cook time:15 min. makes 44 cookies

Ingredients:
cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp lemon juices
1 lemon zested

Directions:
preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cookies:
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. set aside.
In the large bowl combine the butter and sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. stir in the dry ingredients.
Line 2 baking sheets with the parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookies) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.

Glaze:
combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. spoon about 1/2 teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours. Pack the cookie into decorative container.

P.S. I am making Emily's french chicken with cool whip tonight, so I'm excited to see how it turns out!
P.P.S. I cannot wait to get back to Utah. Another cousins' part, please?

Pepperoni and Cheese Breadsticks

These are so easy and fun for the kids to help with. They love them too - major plus!

Pepperoni and Cheese Breadsticks
2 ¾ c Original Bisquick mix
1 c shredded Monterey jack cheese
1 medium onion, finely chopped
½ c sour cream
½ c buttermilk
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 package (3 oz) sliced pepperoni, chopped
1 c grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 2 cookie sheets. Stir all ingredients except Parmesan cheese until a dough forms. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons into the Parmesan cheese. Roll in cheese to coat. Roll into 8-inch breadsticks. Place about 1 ½ inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, cheese sauce, or ranch for dipping!

ENJOY!

If you feel like GRILLING...

YOU MUST MAKE THESE! These are my birthday ribs. Logan makes them for me special on my birthday (or whenever I beg and plead enough). They are SERIOUSLY so amazing. You may need to add another rack to the grill because I promise you'll be tempted to eat the whole thing.

Logan’s Baby Back Ribs

Rub:
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon prepared chili powder
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

2 racks baby back ribs, 1 ½-2lbs each

1) Mix rub
2) Remove thin white membrane from back of ribs. Season ribs all over with rub. Wrap ribs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-3 hours.
3) Allow ribs to stand at room temp. for 20-30 minutes.
4) Grill over indirect low heat until the meat is very tender and has shrunk back from the ends of the bones, 1 ½-2 hours.
5) Transfer ribs to a baking sheet and tightly cover with aluminum foil. Let rest for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

-Emily and Logan

Summer is here, and I am in fear!

I'm running out of dinner ideas!!! I feel like we have the same 5-10 dinners, and it's time to try something new. I like recipes with fewer ingredients. Anything crock pot recipe is great.. because Jed doesn't get home from work until 10pm-12am depending on where he is working that day. Oh.. and I'm looking for some new ideas with beef (we eat chicken allll the time, and he's getting tired of it), but we're usually too poor for anything but ground beef. Does anyone have anything they'd like to share?

One of our favorite beef meals is pretty easy, and scruptiously delicious! --Stuffed Bell Peppers!
This recipes is for 2 peppers. You can adjust as needed.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium green bell peppers
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce, divided
• 1/4 cup uncooked instant rice
• 3 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 tablespoon chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions:

1. Cut tops off peppers and discard; remove seeds. Blanch peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water; set aside. In a bowl, combine beef, 1/4 cup of tomato sauce, rice, 2 tablespoons of cheese, onion, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and egg; mix well. Stuff the peppers; place in an ungreased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Pour the remaining tomato sauce over peppers. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 45-60 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and peppers are tender. Sprinkle with remaining cheese; return to the oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

This recipe is very easy to modify. I've used all colors of peppers. I always use soy sauce instead of Worch. And sometimes I like to use half ground beef/half ground sausage so it has some zing to it!

Spring Time Pasta

Spring is here and it makes me want to stuff my face with vegetables! Asparagus is one of my favorites and it makes this pasta delicious and healthy. Try it with wheat pasta too! It is super easy and really quick! Enjoy!Asparagus Pasta
16oz pkg penne pasta
1 lb bunch asparagus
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 c low sodium chicken broth
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
3 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
¾ c shredded parmesan cheese (divided)
2 Tbsp butter
1 c pecan halves, toasted and divided
parmesan cheese and pepper for garnish

Prepare pasta according to package, rinse, and drain. Snap off tough ends of asparagus and cut into 2 inch pieces. Sauté asparagus in hot oil in a large skillet over medium heat for about 4 minutes. Stir in bell pepper and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally for about 2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 2 minutes or until asparagus is crisp/tender. Season with salt and pepper. Toss together pasta, asparagus mixture, basil, ½ c cheese, butter, and ½ c pecans. Sprinkle evenly with remaining cheese and pecans.

P.S. We're coming to Utah for the summer if anyone wants to play!

Emily

Easy Greek Feast!

Greek Salad and Souvlaki

This is Di! Today is Greece's independance day, so we had to celebrate. Why? Because it's a reason to eat Greek food! I looked up some recipes on the internet that were so easy and turned out so well, that I had to share! Our menu consisted of Greek kabobs called souvlaki, white rice, and Greek salad with baklava for dessert. Then enjoy your favorite Greek movie like My Big Fat Greek Wedding or Mama Mia.

Keep in mind I had to convert the measurements, so they aren't exact.

Souvlaki
3 lbs tender pork or beef (I used a pork roast)
3 T olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
3 T oregano
1 T thyme
Salt and Pepper

Cut meat up into cubes removing any fat or gristle. Thread on to skewers (if you're using wood skewers they need to be soaked in water for a few minutes) brush with olive oil, season with oregano, thyme, and lots of salt and pepper.

I cooked mine on a grill pan under a sheet of aluminum foil. This traps the heat in so they cook faster and more evenly. Over medium heat, they need about 3-5 minutes per side. You can use a thermometer to check if they're done, it should register at 170 degrees. These are also good cooked on a bbq or you could broil them in the oven.

When thoroughly cooked, put the skewers on a plate and pour lemon juice over them. I garnished it with some lemon peel, that is why you see yellow chunks on it in the picture.



Greek Salad

Make a yummy salad with romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta cheese and Greek olives. Top with red wine vinegar and olive oil or your favorite salad dressing.

Baklava
Filling:
1 lb chopped walnuts (since my mom is allergic, I used almonds, and that was really good too!)
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Mix together in a bowl

Pastry:
8oz. Fyllo dough (you find this in the refrigerator section of the store)
1/2 c. melted butter (you may need more)

Butter the base and sides of a 9X13 pan. Put a sheet of fyllo dough on the bottom of pan, brush with butter, then another sheet and brush with butter, repeat five times. Keep in mind the dough may be too big for the pan, but it will shrink. Sprinkle some of the filling on. Layer more dough with butter brushed between each layer 3 times. Then sprinkle more filling, then layer 3 more sheets brushed with butter. Add the remainder of the filling. Layer the rest of the dough (there should be about 8 sheets left). Be sure to put a lot of butter on the top layer so the pastry gets nice and brown. Cut the pastry halfway through-don't cut it all the way to the bottom-in diamond shapes with a sharp knife. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 and bake 20 minutes longer. Cool, pour the syrup over the top. It will be a little soupy, but that just makes it yummy. The pastry slowly soaks in the liquid, so this dish is good for days after it's made.

Syrup:
1 c. sugar
1 c. water
2 cinnamon sticks or 1 t. cinnamon
2 t. lemon juice
a few pieces of lemon peel
2 T honey

Put all the ingredients except the honey in a saucepan. Dissolve the sugar in the water simmer for 6-8 minutes. Add the honey, simmer 5 minutes more until it thickens.

Baklava (Obviously, I made two. You can't just make one and expect everyone to be happy!)

I got these recipes from http://www.greek-recipe.com/

Aunt Kathy's Debut Post...

Aunt Kathy's Black-Eyed Pea Dip
1 15-ounce can black-eyed peas (drain and rinse)
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 Tablespoons minced onion
1 Tablespoon diced jalapeno pepper
1 Tablespoon jalapeno juice
1 1/2 cups grated sharp Tillamook cheddar cheese
1/4 cup butter
1 3ounce can deviled ham
3 ounces grated mozzarella cheese
Cook peas two minutes and drain. Lightly mash peas and mix with salt, and mix with next 6 ingredients. Pour into a 9-inch round baking dish. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve warm with chips, crackers and veggies. Enjoy!