In & from my Kitchen:

1. Black bean salsa: Another recipe first shared by Ms. Debby ;) She got a jar of this for a Christmas gift and started making it herself. She served Lauren and I a bowl of it with tortilla chips one of the nights during the ice storm. Her son, Timmy ... some of you may feel you know them by now ... called and declared that day a great day for a "Gathering" and that is precisely what we did! The guys hung out here watching television, playing games, and sliding down hills and the ladies ate soup, jalepeno corn fritters, this salsa and MORE and watched movies! Temple Grandin was one and we LOVED it. What an amazing true story!
Okay, here is the recipe and it is easy as can be. If you want, you can just buy a can of Busch's black beans because it is on the sleeve of cans here.

1 can Bush's Best Black Beans, drained (can also use blackeye peas)


1 can white shoepeg corn, drained

1 can diced tomatoes (basil, garlic, oregano flavored)

1 can Rotel® tomatoes

8 oz. Italian Dressing (we used light)

Chopped onion to taste

Chopped jalapeno to taste

Mix all ingredients together and marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 ½ hours. Serve with tortilla chips (lime flavored are the best).


2.) Vegetarian lasagna: Lauren made this here one night and we just loved it. So delicious. When we heard Mickey (Debby's MIL and Timmy's grandmother) passed away, she made another pan and we took it over there. It was served to a large crowd right after the funeral and one man from Italy said to tell her that it was wonderful!

Recipe coming. I thought I had the magazine page out here but she has used it again so I will get it and edit it in!

3.) Vickilynn's bread. I have made this for years and the recipe is probably on here tons of times but I'll share it again just in case. I making all of our bread and baked goods again so it is nice to have reliable, tested, and big batch recipes to use!


VICKILYNN'S AWARD-WINNING BREAD - 6 loaf

Recipe By :Vickilynn Haycraft © 2000

Serving Size : 72 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

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

6 1/2 cups water -- warmed to 100-110

3 tablespoons yeast -- SAF

6 cups whole wheat flour

2/3 cup olive oil

2/3 cup honey

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup gluten, wheat

9 cups whole wheat flour -- more or less as needed

In a large mixing bowl (I use a Bosch) place warm water, SAF yeast and

4 cups flour. Stir to mix well, then cover and let sponge 30 minutes.

Stir to punch down; add oil, honey, gluten and salt. Mix to blend; add

2 cups flour and turn mixer on low. Add flour by 1/2 cupfuls until dough cleans the sides of the bowl and is no longer sticky. Knead on low speed 6- 8 minutes. The flour amount is approximate, use only enough flour to cause the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixer bowl. Do not add more flour.

Let dough rise in covered bowl 30 minutes until doubled. Punch down dough place on oiled counter and divide into six pieces. Form loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Let rise in warm oven (turned off) until 1 1/2" above the rim of the pans.

With loaves still in oven, turn oven on and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or more, until done.

Remove from oven and cover with clean towel to soften crust.

Description:

"Makes 6 loaves, each 12 slices. Each slice is 2 points"

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 127 Calories; 3g Fat (18.3% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 21g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 66mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.


4.) Meat/cheese/pizza roll: My son's favorite and he was here from college. We make this all kinds of ways but this time, I made four loaves of dough and put two into bread pans. The other two were rolled out in rectangle sheets and I made them similar to how I do our cinnamon rolls. I spread pizza sauce over the entire area and covered in cheese. These were rolled back up and baked. Big hit!

5.) Cinnamon rolls: I have made these in a variety of ways. This time, I made a six loaf batch of Vickilynn's bread and rolled two rectangles out of two of the loaves. I generously spread butter across each and sprinkled lots of cinnamon and brown sugar on top. I rolled them up and cut them in 1-2 inch segments and then baked until no longer doughy on the inside.
I topped with a cream cheese frosting I adapted from the Cinnabon's you find in some malls.
A block or two of cream cheese is blended and softened first. Then a stick or so of room temperature butter is added and blended up .When creamy, I add powdered sugar to taste, vanilla, and freshly ground nutmeg. I spread this on hot cinnamon buns and then give another grate or two of fresh nutmeg on top.


6.) Oatmeal peach bread: Another one I thought the recipe was on hand for. I will edit it in! It was whole grain and really delicious. Debby left some peaches from a local orchard (same place I got ours before I used them all up ) and they were already peeled and the seeds removed. I chose this bread out of the whole grain cookbook my mom gave me and it was just right with a cup of coffee.

7.) Broccoli chowder. I make this up often. I have shared it before --- I just sautee onions in a small amount of butter and olive oil. I add chopped garlic and sprinkle flour over the pan of sizzling goodness. I whisk it around a few times and then add  a couple of cups of chicken broth and let it simmer for a few minutes before adding milk ... enough to stir everyting smoothly.I let it cook long enough to get creamy and then add steamed broccoli and shredded cheese. Just about any cheese will work.  Sometimes, I top with shredded parmesan.

8.) Chicken alfredo style spaghetti. This was a throw together dish! My DIL, Brandy and three of our grandlittles were here for one of our Wednesday's. I wanted something quick so we could watch a movie (we didn't end up having time!) ---
I just sauteed butter, olive oil, and chopped onions for a few minutes before adding some pressed garlic. I added a few shakes of flour and used a whisk to make and keep everything smooth. Next was a guessed amount of milk and I kept whisking. I added onion salt, pepper, and dill. Added lots of parmesan cheese and did all of this while spaghetti pasta cooked on the stove. I also cooked chicken breasts I had cut into bite sized pieces in a skillet with some seasoning and butter with olive oil. The drained pasta was stirred into the creamy and cheesy mixture with a squirt of lemon juice. This was all topped with the cooked chicken bites. More lemon juice went over the plate right before eating. Amazingly good!