Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Divine! From Betsy via another lady from church.

http://www.marthastewart.com/339353/chewy-chocolate-gingerbread-cookies

Pumpkin Muffins

My kids loved these pumpkin muffins recommended by my friend Betsy. Here is the link:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-wheat-honey-muffins/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=whole%20wheat%20pumpkin%20muffins&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page

Meatless Mexican Lasagna

I requested this from my friend Betsy. It works great for a freezer meal too:

2 c. frozen corn, thawed
2 cans (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes with basil, oregano, and garlic- undrained
1 can chopped green chilies
3 green onions, sliced
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. ground cumin
6 corn tortillas (6 inch or larger)
1 ½ cups colby jack cheese
sour cream for topping

Heat oven to 350.
Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl.
place three corn tortillas in a greased (with butter or spray) 13 x 9 pan. Place half of filling on top of tortillas and repeat the steps. Top with cheese and bake for 25-30 minutes. Garnish with sour cream.

Spinach Lasagna Freezer Meals (Makes 14)

Yield 14 (6-8 servings) lasagna dishes

3/4 c. vegetable oil

14 c. chopped onion

1 #10 cans tomato sauce

2 #10 cans crushed tomatoes

1/4 c. dried basil

1/4 c. dried oregano

2 Tbsp sugar

4 Tbsp salt

pepper

 

120 oz fresh spinach (3 Costco or Cash and Carry  bags)

15 lbs cottage cheese (Cash and Carry sells these in 5 lb tubs)

10 lbs mozzarella cheese (reserve 7 cups for topping at the end)

60 oz sour cream

14 boxes of oven ready lasagna noodles

 

In a large skillet over medium heat, warm oil. Add onions and sauté until tender. Add garlic, basil, oregano, sugar, salt, and pepper. Add all cans of tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce temperature to low and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

 

While the sauce is simmering, prepare spinach: In a large steamer steam the spinach until leaves are wilted (about 3 minutes). Squeeze as much water out of the spinach and then chop. Mix together the sour cream, cheeses, and spinach. Spread 1 ladle of the tomato sauce on the bottom of each 9x13 pan(about 1 cup). In layers, add 3 noodles (no boil noodles expand so don’t worry if they don't touch), 1 heaping, large serving spoon of cheese (it will not completely cover the noodles), 1 ladle of tomato sauce. Repeat until you have 3 layers of noodles ending with cheese/sauce on top (total of 9 noodles).  Top each lasagna with 1/2 cup mozzarella. Cover and freeze.

Cooking Directions: Bake, uncovered 45 minutes at 350. Let stand 10 minutes, cut into squares and serve.

My Old Pizza Crust Standby

When we were first married we went to dinner at Jen and Brian Gardner's house. They served pizza and we have been using this recipe ever since.

1 1/2 Tbsp Yeast
1 1/2 C Warm Water
1 1/2 Tsp Sugar
1 1/2 Tsp Salt
4 1/2 Tbsp Oil
3-4 C Flour
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in Sugar, salt oil and 2 1/2 C flour. Beat until smooth. Add remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. Divide in half and place on 2 greased pizza pans or cookie sheets. Roll out and make pizza to your liking. If you want to make it early in the day you can "par bake it" by cooking it 400 degrees for about 8 minutes. If you par bake it you can "dress them up" later in the day. I do this when I am feeding a group and I want to get a lot of pizza out of the oven fast.

Double Chocolate Brownies

Baloney wanted to make this for a friend's birthday. I was surprised that his mom asked for the recipe because I don't consider myself much of a brownie maker but I am not much of a brownie eater so I don't know if I am the best judge of a great brownie recipe.
It is from the Mrs. Fields cookie book but I altered it. Originally it was called Carmel-Filled Brownies. It has a caramel center but Baloney did not know if his friend liked caramel so we played it safe with the chocolate chip substitute.
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1/2 c. butter
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. chocolate chips
Preheat oven 350 degrees. Oil 8x8 baking pan.
Melt chocolate and butter in microwave.
In a mixing bowl beat eggs with electric mixer on high until the thicken slightly. Add sugar slowly. Add vanilla and mix well. Add chocolate/butter mixture and beat on medium until uniformly brown. Add flour and blend at low speed until just combined. Do not over mix. Pour half the brownie batter into pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the brownie batter. Add the last half of brownie batter to the top. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (there will be a little chocolate on the toothpick but there should be no batter.

Canned Salsa

This is a recipe I requested from my good friend Julie. I am going to make some this summer because with the weather the way it has been for the last 2 years I will never get enough tomatoes from our garden to make salsa. I figure why not make it easy with tomatoes already processed. Thanks Julie!

1 #10 can diced tomatoes

1/2 #10 can crushed tomatoes

1/8 #10 can tomato paste

2 onions, diced

2-4 cans green chilies

2 green peppers-diced

3 heaping tbsp minced garlic

1 bunch cilantro-chopped

jalapenos to taste (I usually use 3-4 per batch) minced

1/4 c lemon juice or vinegar

1 tbsp pepper

1 1/2 tbsp sea salt

1 1/2 tsp cumin

To spread the jalapeno around, I usually take about 1 cup of crushed tomatoes and the jalapenos and blend them all together in the blender, then pour into the rest of the salsa. That way no one gets a big chunk of jalapeno in their bite of salsa

Bottle in pints or quarts, process for 20 minutes.