Beef Enchiladas

• 1 lb ground beef,
• 1/4 of a white onion, diced
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Lawry's Enchilada Sauce seasoning packet
• 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 2 2/3 cup water
• 15-18 corn tortillas
• Canola oil
• Shredded Cheese

Sauce: Pour water and tomato sauce into a sauce pan. Whisk in seasoning packet until mixed thoroughly. Bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly.

Meat: Brown onion and ground beef in a skillet. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Drain excess grease and remove from skillet.

Tortillas: Add just enough oil to coat the bottom of the skillet. When oil is hot, place tortillas in for 3-4 seconds on each side. Remove and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Let cool a few minutes. Blot excess oil off of the tortillas.

Enchiladas: Pour a little bit of the sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 pan, just covering the bottom of the pan. Place a small amount of ground beef in the tortilla, roll and place in the pan. Repeat until all tortillas are rolled. Add any leftover meat into the remaining sauce. Pour the sauce over the rolled enchiladas as evenly as possible. Top with as much cheddar cheese as you like. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes or until nice and bubbly. You may want to cover with foil to prevent excess browning.

Serve with beans, rice, chips and guacamole, and a tomato and lettuce salad, for a full Tex-Mex meal.

Serves 4-6 people.

Recipe adapted from Wanda DeLoach's Isn't Life Delicious cookbook

Basil Balsamic Vinagrette

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 12 basil leaves
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2-3 garlic cloves

Stack basil leaves and roll length-wise to create a log. Slice very thinly to create a chiffonade (long skinny strips). Chop garlic cloves into very small pieces, almost minced. Pour all ingredients into a bowl or a salad shaker. Mix thoroughly before serving. Makes approx. 1 1/4 cups

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup butter-flavored Crisco
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using an electric hand mixer, beat Crisco, butter, brown sugar, white sugar, milk and vanilla. Add eggs and beat until nice and fluffy. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Stir into sugar mixture just until combined. Gently stir in chocolate chips. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet lined with a silpat mat. Bake for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Don't over bake! Move to wax paper immediately after removing from the oven.

Serve with ice cream or a tall glass of milk!

Makes 5-6 dozen cookies.

Recipe adapted from the Isn't Life Delicious cookbook by Wanda DeLoach

Dirt Cake

• 1.5 lbs Oreos
• 2 small instant vanilla pudding mixes
• 2 2/3 cup milk
• 8 oz softened cream cheese (It's very important to soften this a bit!)
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 8-9 oz Cool-Whip
• Gummy worms, flowers, or other decorations (optional)

Use food processor to crush cookies and set aside. Mix pudding mix with milk.With a mixer blend in cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar. Add in cool whip. In a large container (a clean flower pot or deep dish) layer cookies and filling. End with a layer of oreos. Add gummy worms or a flower or other decoration, if desired. Be creative and enjoy!

Hint - if you use a flower pot (or something with solid sides), it won't matter as much if your layers are exactly equal. But, it makes a really pretty dessert in a trifle bowl, individually in parfait glasses, or in any clear sided bowl; you just become a lot more aware of your layers! Either way, the end result is worth it!

Recipe from my dear friend Kim, who ate it a lot growing up and had it served at her wedding! Thanks for sharing!

Dutch Apple Pie

• 1 deep dish pie crust (frozen or refrigerated is just fine!)
• 2 cups sliced, peeled apples (or enough to fill the pie crust almost to the top)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup flour
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix apples with sugar and cinnamon. Place in unbaked crust. Mix flour, butter and brown sugar into a crumbly topping. Pack the topping over the apples in the crust. Bake for 55-60 minutes. (Put foil under pie plate to catch any drippings!)

Serve with Ice Cream! It's super easy and very tasty!

Recipe from my Aunt Joy Schuster

Carnitas (aka Spicy Pulled Pork)

• 5-7 lb pork shoulder (I've never found any this big. Usually they are are between 4 and 5 lbs.)
• 1 whole onion, quartered
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1-2 Tbsp salt
• 1/2 Tbsp black pepper
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp vinegar (I've used white vinegar and rice wine vinegar and both worked fine)

Preheat oven 300 degrees. Mix onion, chili powder, brown sugar, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar in a food processor until thoroughly combined. Rub all over the pork. Place in a roasting pan and pour 2 cups of water around it. Cover and roast for 6 to 7 hours, turning once every hour or so. (I usually roast it for closer to 5-6 hours, because I use a smaller piece of meat. Also, I usually forget to turn it, so no worries if you are putting this in and will be gone all day. Toward the end of cooking, if done right, it will basically fall apart when you try to turn it so it won't matter anyway!) Once it's fork-tender, turn the oven up to 425 degrees and roast, uncovered for 20 minutes, to get the skin crispy and to thicken the juice. (I've left it covered and let it roast an extra 5 -10 minutes because it does splatter everywhere!) Remove and let rest for 15 minutes. Shred with a fork. Serve with the following toppings...

• Tortillas (corn or flour)
• Grated Cheese
• Lime Wedges
• Cilantro
• Sour Cream
• Guacamole
• Salsa

I love to serve this with black beans and then tortilla chips, of course!

FYI...A 4.5 lb roast served about 7 people. A 3.5 lb roast served 4. So you can do the math of about what you think a larger or smaller roast would serve.

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman....love her!

Cookie Pie

• 1 unbaked 9" deep dish pie crust (Refrigerated or frozen & completely thawed works just fine!)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Beat eggs on high until foamy. Add flour, sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. (If you don't add the nuts, a few more chocolate chips won't hurt!) Pour into pie crust. Place pie pan on a baking sheet to catch any drippings. Bake 50-60 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream!

Yummy! I love this recipe because I almost always have the ingredients on hand to throw this together as a last minute dessert.

Recipe originally found on http://www.bakerella.com/

Caramel Corn

• 2 sticks butter
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cups light corn syrup
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 6 qts popped popcorn (1 cup unpopped popcorn)

Place popped popcorn into a brown paper bag. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Melt butter in saucepan over medium/medium-high heat. Add the corn syrup, brown sugar and salt. Stir continually until mixture boils. Boil for approximately 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat. Add baking soda and vanilla. (Be careful when pouring the vanilla into the hot sugar mixture!) Stir well. Pour over popcorn and mix well. Bake for 1  hour, stirring well every 15 minutes. Let cool and break apart, if needed.

Enjoy!

Recipe from my wonderful Aunt Chloie Jan, via my mother!