Strawberry Pretzel Salad

This is my favorite salad of all time, I could probably eat it on a daily basis. You can substitute other fruit if you don't like strawberries.

3/4 cup margarine melted
3 TBS brown sugar
2 1/4 cup crushed pretzels
1 Large strawberry gelatin (or what other flavor of fruit you use)
2 cup boiling water
20 oz. bag of frozen strawberries (3 cups)
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 12 oz whipped topping

~Mix margarine, TBS brown sugar and pretzels. Press into a 9x13 dish. Bake for 8 min. at 350. Then cool

~Blend together cream cheese and brown sugar. Fold in the whipped topping.

~In another bowl dissolve the gelatin in the 2 cups of water. Stir in strawberries. Chill until begins to set.

~Spread cream cheese mixture onto cooled crust. Pour strawberry mixture over top of cream cheese mixture.

~Chill until set.


Heather Sorenson

Meat loaf

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs beaten

1 cup of crumbs or 18 crackers(I have used both saltines and club)
1 lb burger
1/4 cup onion
salt and pepper
season salt
ketchup

~Mix milk, eggs, and crackers. Add in raw burger and onion. Salt, pepper and season salt to your own liking. We like to put in a little ketchup just a few squirts. Put into bread pans, either one big (regular size loaf pan) or two little. Put a little ketchup over the top and cook on 350 for 1- 1 1/2 hours.

This is one of our quick meals, it doesn't take long to mix it up, and then you have time to get other things done while it cooks. We love it with some fried potatoes.

Heather Sorenson

Cafe Rio Pork and Ranch Dressing

This weekend Dallin and I decided to be ambitious and try a new recipe that we got from someone he works with. I was pleasantly surprised. I like the pork at cafe rio. I know there are about a million knock off recipes out there and none of them taste Iexactly the same, but this one turned out pretty good. We also made the cafe rio rice that Tiffany Morris posted on her recipe blog, and some black beans to make burritos. I must say they turned out pretty good. The pork makes great leftovers for burritos or quesadillas or salads. Let me know what you think. Sorry about the lack of a picture on this one.

Café Rio Sweet Pork (Crock-Pot)
2 ½ pounds pork loin
minced garlic clove
garlic salt
salt
pepper
2 cups Coke
1 heaping tsp each of Dry Ground Mustard and Cumin
1 can red enchilada sauce
1 cup brown sugar

Put pork in crock pot and fill with water half way- cook on low over night (about 12 hours).

Drain liquid and add coke, garlic, dry ground mustard, cumin, salt, and pepper in the crock pot.
Put lid back on and cook on low for 4 hours. Shred pork and drain liquid. Then add enchilada sauce and brown sugar and let cook until warm.

Café Rio Dressing

1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (I made it the way the asterisk says, so I used sour cream and milk)
2 tomatillos (tomato like vegetable with a husk around them)—cut your tomatillos in half and bake for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees to make them a little softer
½ bunch cilantro
1 tsp onion powder
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno

Blend all the ingredients well. Refrigerate.

Amber Koecher

Delicious snack!

Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients: 

2 cups chopped fresh pineapple

1 cup chopped red and/or green bell pepper

1/2 sweet onion slivers

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 T. chopped cilantro

1 to 2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped

Blend pineapple, bell pepper, onion, lemon juice, cilantro and jalapeno pepper in medium bowl. Regrigerate, covered for 4 to 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve with grilled chicken or seafood or as an appetizer with chips.  

I got this from an expo...This is high in Vit. C and Vit A :) Soooo.... enjoy! 

If you have any questions feel free to give me a call. :) Helga

Get in some fruits and dairy :)

Cran-Licious Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup 100% cranberry juice

2 cups frozen strawberries, without sugar

6oz. low-fat vanilla yogurt

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a blender.

Blend until smooth. 

This is sooooo yummy and super easy! ENJOY! 

Helga

Fast, Easy & Healthy Homemade Spaghetti

Spaghetti

1 lb. lean ground beef or ground turkey

2 garlic cloves, minced or 1 tsp. garlic powder

1 medium onion, chopped

1 large 28oz can tomatoes

1 6oz can tomato paste fill can once with water and put in. :)

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 1/2 oregano

1 tsp. basil

1 bay leaf

about 12 oz whole wheat angel hair noodles. (or whatever you like)

In a large pan brown and season meat to your liking and drain fat.(I like to cook the onions with my meat to give them more flavor and help them to soften.) Add remaining ingredients except noodles and simmer 30 minutes (or as long as you have, if you only have 5 minutes, like we usually do, that works too.). :) Cook noodles according to package directions. Put together and enjoy!! :) 

This is a very yummy, inexpensive, healthy and easy recipe. It's Makylas favorite meal! 

Feel free to call me if you have any questions.

Helga

Chicken Puffs

This is a recipe my grandma and mom make that has become one of our favorites. It's not very hard and tastes great. Sorry that the picture isn't very good. The chicken puffs taste a lot better than the picture looks. :-)

2 cans of canned chicken

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese

2 pkgs of cresent rolls

1/4 c. butter (melted)

Seasoned bread crumbs
2 packages of chicken gravy mix

Combine chicken and cream cheese in a bowl. Season the mixture (I like to use Montreal Chicken, salt, pepper, and garlic salt). Unroll the cresent rolls and place a scoop of the chicken mixture on each roll. Roll up the cresent rolls. Roll each puff in melted butter then seasoned bread crumbs. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for approximately 25 minutes. Serve with chicken gravy.

Amber Koecher

Beef Enchiladas

1 16 oz can refried beans
1 10 oz can enchilada sauce(which ever hotness you prefer)
1/2 1b hamburger
soft flour tortillas (about 6-8 depending on how full you fill them)
shredded cheese (to you likeness, we like lots)
small container of sour cream
If you want them to be a little fuller, we like to add corn and rice in the tortillas.

~Brown hamburger and drain off grease, add beans. Fill as many soft four tortillas as you prefer. Roll them up and place in a baking dish.
~In a bowl combine sour cream and enchilada sauce. Pour over the top and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted, aprox. 15-20 mins.

Heather Sorenson

Sugar Cookies and Cream Cheese Frosting

Here's a fun sugar cookie recipe. I love soft sugar cookies and this recipe isn't too hard. I don't claim that they are good for you, but they sure taste good :-) Amber Koecher

Ingredients

1 c. butter

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

1 c. sour cream

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Cream butter, add sugar and egg. Add sour cream, dry ingredients and vanilla. Mix together well. Roll until about 1/2" thick. Cut out and back on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for 10-12 minutes until barely brown on the bottom.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese

1/2 c. butter

1 lb powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Beat ingredients together well. Use to frost cooled cookies.

Menu Plan Monday

I am really bad at menu planning lately, so I have challenged myself--and you, too!--to post a menu plan. Here's mine for this week:

Monday: Crock Pot Pickle Roast (sounds gross but my husband loooves it--you just dump a bunch of pickle juice over a roast and cook it on low all day. I don't eat meat, so I can't vouch for it!)

Tuesday: Spinach Alfredo Fettucine

Wednesday: Crockpot Chicken Curry (1 can coconut milk, 2 Tbsp. curry powder, 2 chicken breasts--not exact recipe, I usually wing it on this one) with rice and steamed carrots

Thursday: Turkey Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

Friday: "Out" Day--I won a free pizza from our apt. manager for getting a trivia question right!

Saturday: Meatball Subs and Fruit Salad (Just frozen meatballs simmered in spaghetti sauce served on whole wheat buns. Fruit salad is oranges, canned mandarin oranges, canned pineapple chunks, and some banana slices)

Sunday: Sweet Lentil Stew (boil 2 cups lentils, 6-8 cups veggie broth, 1/2 cup each diced carrots, onions, red pepper, add 1 diced sweet potato and 1 can of diced tomatoes. Simmer for about 40 minutes)

Okay--your turn :)!

Amy Ellis