Daley Jello Salad

NOTE: This is a food tradition on my husband's side of the family. Uncle Roger makes it the best. This is his "verbal" recipe written down. You can play with the flavors. Some of our favorites are raspberry flavored Jell-O with frozen raspberries mixed in; lime Jell-O with pineapple; and (our personal favorite) strawberry flavored Jell-O with fresh cut up strawberries (sliced bananas may also be added). Feel free to experiment and try out different combinations of your favorite fruit. 

INGREDIENTS: 
16 oz Original Cool Whip
24 oz Small Curd Cottage Cheese, 4% milk fat
6 oz Jell-O Gelatin Dessert, Strawberry flavored
2-3 cups of strawberries, sliced or 2-3 cups frozen raspberries

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place first 3 ingredients in a bowl. Mix with a rubber scraper until there are no white spots remaining.
2. Add fruit and mix in. 
3. May serve immediately, which we like to do if there's frozen raspberries in it!

Serves: 8

Michelle's Re-fried Bean Filling

I use this filling for homemade burritos (just throw it in the tortilla with some cheese or no cheese for those allergic kiddos). I also recommend using this recipe for your 7-layer taco dip instead of re-fried beans mixed with taco seasoning. You'll be glad you did!

INGREDIENTS

2 cans re-fried beans
1 can of chilies
1 and 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoon ketchup
Onion powder to taste
Garlic salt to taste (if the mixture tastes too sweet add more of this)
1-2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (if the mixture tastes too sweet add more of this)
Parmesan cheese to taste (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Dump all the ingredients in a bowl and stir.
2. Spread over tortillas and wrap burritos or use in 7-layer taco dip.

Sausage and Hash Browns

We frequently have breakfast foods for dinner. This is one of our favorites.

INGREDIENTS
1 large baking potato
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as safflower
1 pound sausage
1 onion, chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Peel potato; cut into 1/2-inch dice. In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add potato; cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 6 minutes.
2. Add sausage and onion; cook, breaking up meat with a spoon, until beef is thoroughly browned, about 4 minutes.
   

Homemade Tomato Soup

I got this from the food network's website. I made it today for my allergic kid's lunch. The recipe below is doubled. Yields 8 servings.

INGREDIENTS

2 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes
1 and 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (I only used about 1/2 cup)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 stalks celery, diced
2 small carrots, diced
2 yellow onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
4 tablespoons butter (or margarine-for the allergic kid)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves (I didn't have this and didn't add it--and it was still delicious. I can't wait till I do have some though!)
1 cup heavy cream, optional (I used whole milk for me and goat milk for the allergic kid, but actually, it tastes fantastic without any milk or cream!)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Strain the chopped canned tomatoes, reserving the juices, and spread onto a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, to taste, drizzle with 1/4 cup of the olive oil and roast until caramelized, about 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat remaining olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the celery, carrot, onion and garlic, cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the roasted chopped canned tomatoes, reserved tomato juices, chicken broth, bay leaf and butter. Simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add basil and cream, if using. Puree with a hand held immersion blender until smooth. (I dumped mine in my blender, I don't have an immersion blender.)

Michelle's Corn Bread

This is yummo! I made up my own corn bread recipe a while back, but this beats it hands down. My old recipe tastes more like yellow cake, and this recipe tastes like the corn bread I remember being served at Frontier Pies (they've since gone out of business where I live). It's sweet, dense, and delicious! It also worked well with my substitutes for my allergic kid.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, melted
1 1/3 cup sugar
4 eggs, beaten (I used the Ener-G Egg Replacer)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk (for my allergic kid, I used 2 cups goat milk + 2 tablespoons lemon juice, let it sit for 5 minutes before incorporating into the recipe)
2 cups yellow corn meal
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt butter.
2. Combine flour, cornmeal, and salt. Stir well.
   
3. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter and sugar.
4. In a 4 cup glass measuring cup, combine the 2 cups of buttermilk and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Set aside.
5. Add eggs to the butter and sugar mixture. Stir. Add buttermilk mixture to egg and sugar mixture. Stir.
   
6. With a wooden spoon add flour/cornmeal/salt to wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. The mixture should be lumpy.
7. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 30-40 minutes.
   

Michelle's Imitation Bajio Sweet Rice

I served this with Michelle's enchiladas—it was heaven. I love this rice!

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon cooking oil (not olive oil)
1/2 white onion, chopped
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped-no big stems
1 and 1/3 cup white rice
1/4 cup sugar
3 cups chicken broth

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add oil to large skillet and warm on medium high.
2. Saute onion until translucent
3. Add cilantro. Saute a minute more.
4. Add rice cooking till light brown but not burned.
5. In a separate pot, take the chicken broth and add sugar, stirring and warming until the sugar dissolves.
6. Stir broth sugar mixture into the rice. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low for 25-35 minutes.
7. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Cheree's Pasta Salad

I made this pasta salad up since most boxed pasta salads have some trace of egg or milk. Not only do they not work for my son because of his allergies, but they're usually severely overpriced. You can't really mess this pasta salad up. Feel free to add the vegetables you enjoy the most. However, I'd at least stick with the tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives. Whenever I make this at our house it's gone pretty fast!

NOTE FOR EGG ALLERGIES: If you're looking for egg-free pasta, I usually purchase mine at Costco.

INGREDIENTS:
1 packet Good Season's Italian Dressing, prepared (I use olive oil and red wine vinegar)
1 lb cooked pasta (your favorite kind, I've used rotini and radiatori) drained (you can rinse it or not, I've done it both ways and it doesn't really matter)
4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch radishes, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
1 can sliced olives, drained
1 large cucumber, deseeded and chopped
1/2 bag matchstick carrots
1/2 cup-1 cup chopped broccoli (optional)
1 can artichokes, chopped (optional)
parmesan cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix cooked pasta with prepared Good Season's Italian Dressing
2. Cover and let sit overnight
3. Add vegetables
4. Top with Parmesan cheese

NOTE: If you're looking to make this into a lunch, add some cooked chicken or kidney beans.

Cheree's Southwest Go Back for Seconds Salad

Yesterday I attended a Pampered Chef party. We had a fantastic salad. Unfortunately, the hostess didn't have recipes printed off for us to take away. It had a wonderful dressing which she shared the ingredients to. I never got the proportions so, I made this salad up today and "tried" to recreate yesterday's dressing for the salad to take to my Mom's house for dinner and was ecstatic about the outcome. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! We ate this with my Mom's grilled chicken which she marianates in Good Season's Italian Salad dressing. If you're not having chicken on the side, chopped grilled chicken is a great addtion to the salad!

DRESSING INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
3 tablespoons water
1 packet Lipton Onion Soup Mix
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 vegetable oil

DRESSING DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix vinegar, water, soup mix, and garlic vigorously with a wire whisk.
   
2. Add the vegetable oil.
3. Mix again.
4. Store chilled for up to 3 weeks.
5. Makes approximately 1 cup of dressing

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SALAD INGREDIENTS:

1 avocado, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2-4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed, drained, and patted dry with a paper towel
1-2 hearts romaine lettuce, chopped, rinsed, and dried (I used 2 hearts)

SALAD DIRECTIONS:

1. Toss all the ingredients.
2. Drizzle desired amount of dressing over salad (I used about 1/3 cup) and toss again.
3. Serve immediately.

Easy Roasted (crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside) Potatoes

I got this recipe out of a Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book and altered it. It's great as a side dish for a dinner or for a hearty breakfast with eggs and sausage.

INGREDIENTS:
5 pounds red or medley potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces

SEASONING OPTION 1:

Combine everything below 

1/4 cup + 2 TBSP olive oil

2 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

5/8 teaspoon paprika

SEASONING OPTION 2:

Olive oil drizzled over potatoes

Freshly ground salt & pepper to taste

Garlic powder to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Boil potatoes, starting with cold salted water – counting 8 minutes from the boiling point
2. Drain and cut the potatoes into quarters and place them onto a parchment lined sheet pan.
3. Top with one of the seasoning options above.
4. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes. 

Basil Rice

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 and 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
3/4 teaspoons lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place chicken broth and butter in a stock pot.
2. Cover and bring to a boil.
3. Add rice and reduce heat to low. Cook covered for 20 minutes.
4. Stir in seasonings and serve.
   

"Impress Your Friends" Salsa

My sister-in-law gave me the original recipe for this salsa. It originally calls for chopped jalapenos and 2 cans of stewed tomatoes. I don't usually have jalapenos on hand so I substituted the jalapenos and stewed tomatoes for 2 cans mexican stewed tomatoes. Every time I've brought this to a gathering I'm asked for the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cans mexican stewed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon red onion, minced
1 can petite diced tomatoes

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place mexican stewed tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, 1/4 cup red onion, salt and pepper in a blender or food processor. Blend until well combined.
2. Pour into a separate bowl. Stir in 1 tablespoon red onion and petite tomatoes.
3. Chill for 1 hour before serving. (You can also serve immediately if desired.)
4. Serve with tortilla chips.
   

Creamy Vegetable Soup

Makes 8 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1 large carrot
4 large potatoes
1-2 medium onions
2 tablesppon butter or margarine
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon thyme
5 cups chicken broth
4 cups millk (cow or goat)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Peel the carrot, potatoes, an onion and chop them into small cubes.
2. Melt butter or margarine in a heavy saucepan over low heat.
3. Saute carrots, onions, potatoes, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme in the butter for 1 minute.
4. Stir in 1 cup chicken broth and cook, covered, until liquid has mostly evaporated, about 15 minutes.
5. Stir in remaining 4 cups chicken broth and milk.
   
6. Cook uncovered over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.
7. Stir in salt and pepper.

Note: Because of the large quantity of potatoes in this soup, it's hearty enough to be a main dish. I serve this with some homemade bread and a salad.

Black Bean Corn Salsa

INGREDIENTS:

2 cans 14.5 oz black beans, drained and rinsed well
2 cans 14.5 oz yellow corn, drained well
1/2 large cucumber, peeled, deseeded, and chopped to the size to a kernel of corn
1/3 cup red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 roma tomatoes, chopped fine
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
3 Tbsp. garlic flavored vinegar
1 tsp. salt (to taste)
juice from one lime

DIRECTIONS:

1. Stir all ingredients together
2. Cover
3. Chill for 1 hour
   

Black Beans and Rice

I layer a tortilla, shredded cheese, the rice and beans, lettuce, and top it off with my Mom's ranch dressing. Then, I wrap them up and make rice and bean burritos out of them!

Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 25 Minutes
Ready In: 30 Minutes
Yields: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup uncooked white rice
1 1/2 cups low sodium, chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 1/2 cups canned black beans, drained

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a stockpot over medium-high heat, heat the oil. Add the onion and garlic and saute for 4 minutes. Add the rice and saute for 2 minutes.
2. Add the vegetable broth, bring to a boil, cover and lower the heat and cook for 20 minutes. Add the spices and black beans.

The original recipe can be found here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Black-Beans-and-Rice/Detail.aspx.

Some members of my family have tender mouths. You may want to cut back on the cayenne pepper if that's the case at your house too.

You can substitute 1 tsp garlic salt and dehydrated onion to use this as a food storage recipe.