Non-Alcoholic Pina Colodas

Ingredients:

1 large can pinapple juice

1 can coconut cream

sugar (If using unsweetened coconut cream)

ice

Put 1/3 of the can of pinapple juice in your blender, add 1/3 of the can of coconut cream or the other sugary cream stuff in with the pinapple juice. If you use coconut cream add 1/3 cup sugar. Fill with ice until there is only about two inches left at the top of your blender. Blend until smooth. Taste. Add more ice, sugar, juice or coconut if necessary.

**Taste the coconut cream to see if it is sweet or not. I have found two different brands of pre-sweetened that I really like. The one in the picture above is a good one and so is Coco Lopez Coconut Cream. What ever you do stay away from teh white squeeze bottle flavoring. It has a wierd after taste. The presweetened type are usually$2.50-$3.00. If you can find the unsweetened coconut cream at an asian market or in the asian isle at your grocery store it is a usually around $1.00. Just make sure you get coconut cream not coconut milk.

These are always a hit and you can garnish them with pinapple if you've got it or a cute umbrella toothpick.

Cranberry Salsa

Ingredients
Mix in food processor:
1 bag fresh cranberries
1 bunch green onions
½ bunch cilantro
1 jalapeno, seeded
Stir in:
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cumin
If you don’t have a food processor, DON’T WORRY! I don’t have a food processor. My little one bit the dust last winter. sniff sniff. I used my Pampered Chef chopper. It worked great, just took a little elbow grease.
Spread cream cheese on red plate, then spread with cranberry salsa, serve with crackers or corn chips. One batch made three 8 oz. jars.

Chew Chex Mix

Ingredients:
2 cubes margarine
1-1/2 cups white sugar
1-1/2 cups light Karo syrup
1 16 oz box rice or corn chex cereal
Dump chex into a large bowl. Set aside. Bring Margarine, sugar, and Karo syrup to a boil. Immediately reduce heat and cook for 3 minutes. Pour over chex and stir until well coated. Nuts may be added for variety. This recipe also works really well on those yellow corn puff things, if you know what I am talking about.

Homemade Carmels

Carmels

2 cups white sugar
2 cups cream
1-3/4 cup Karo Syrup (light)
1 cup (2 cubes) butter
1 tsp vanilla
Cook sugar, butter, Karo syrup, and cream over medium heat, stirring constantly,to firm ball stage or 230º-245º on a candy thermometer. (It should be the color of a paper bag.)Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into a buttered 9×13 glass or metal cake pan. Let cool completely, then cut into squares and wrap in wax paper.
***Hints. When making Candy ALWAYS use a thick bottomed pan. When you pour the caramel into the cake pan do not scrape the bottom and edges. Scrape them out onto a different dish (let your husband have that part..don’t tell him it is the reject pile) or it will leave little dark crisper pieces in the caramels. *Firm ball stage means…when you drop a spoonful in cold water you can form it into a ‘Firm ball’ that holds its shape. Basically you want it to be the consistency of a caramel. For more pictures of the cooking process go here.

Yummy Corn Chowder

Corn Chowder
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup sliced celery (2-3 stalks)
1-1/2 cups carrotts, sliced
2-1/2 cups potatoes, cubed
1 can corn, drained (or 2 cups frozen corn)
1 small can cream of mushroom soup
1 15 oz can evaporated milk
4-5 chicken bullion cubes
2-3 quarts water
1 lb cooked bacon, crumbled
1/2 cup potato pearls or flakes, for thickening
In your favorite soup pot, saute the onion and celery in the butter until they are softened. Add 2-3 quarts water, carrots, potatoes and chicken bullion cubes. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until veggies are soft. While that is simmering, cook the bacon in a frying pan. I like to slice it in small pieces while it is still a little frozen and then fry it–that way it is all ready crumbled and cooks pretty evenly. Set bacon aside on a paper towel to drain. Now, back to the soup pot. Add corn, cream of mushroom soup and evaporated milk. If you want to you can add potato pearls or flakes at this point to make it thicker. Let chowder simmer 5-10 more minutes. Serve with warm rolls or bread. If you know you will be eating all of the soup at one meal, you can add all the bacon to the soup. I don’t like soggy bacon, so at my house, we add our own bacon to our individual bowls. *This chowder will definitely warm you up on a cold evening. It also makes an easy dinner to take to someone who is sick or struggling.

Ginger Snaps

My friend Whitney gave me this recipe. She got it from her mother-in-law because her husband loves them. I have to admit I was skeptical. I hadn't had a homemade ginger snap before.....I was hooked at first bite. They are one of my favorite cookies, especially this time of year. I think my love for them has a lot to do with the soft and chewy texture. You can add raisins if you like. I know it seems like the strangest thing ever to put in a ginger snap. I don't even like raisins but I like them in these cookies. I usually mix them with half of the dough. This recipe makes a ton of cookies but they freeze really well.

CREAM:
2 1/2 cups shortening
3 cups sugar
ADD:
3 eggs
3/4 cup molasses
MIX TOGETHER IN A SEPARATE BOWL AND THEN SLOWLY ADD TO WET MIXTURE:
6 cups flour (I usually use 2-3 cups of wheat flour)
4 tsp ginger
4 1/2 teaspoons soda
3 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
1-2 cups raisins (optional)
Sugar for rolling dough balls in before baking

Roll 1 inch balls and roll in sugar. You may want press very lightly on each ball before baking. Place 2 inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Faux Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Whole Wheat Muffins

These little puppies were sure tasty and a hit on the 4 hour road trip to DC, my husband took some youth from church on, last weekend. I had some butternut squash I needed to use and since it is basically the same consistency and color as pumpkin, I used it in the place of pumpkin for this muffins. I don't know if there is a person in the world who could tell the difference. I got this yummy recipe from my friend Michelle. She is the Muffin Queen!

Pumpkin (Butternut Squash) Chocolate Chip Muffins
cream together:
2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter (that is 1/2 a cube)
1/2 cup apple sauce (If you don't want to use applesauce you substitue veg. oil or butter)
add:
2 cup butternut squash or pumpkin of course
4 eggs
mix well.
sift the following together, then add to creamed mixture:
3 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, you can use white if you want, but if you use wheat you can eat them for breakfast. :)
3 t. cinnamon
1 1/2 t. ginger
3/4 t. nutmeg
3/4 t. allspice or ground cloves
2 t. baking soda
1/2t. baking powder
1/2t. salt

stir until well mixed.
if desired, add 1-2 cups chocolate chips.
fill muffin tins (24 muffins)
Bake @ 350 for ~20 minutes

If you do mini-muffins reduce cooking time to 12 minutes.