Baptism BBQ Ribs

Coated eight racks of baby back ribs perfectly.

Two 6oz bottles Grill Mates Maple BBQ rub

Two 6oz bottles Grill Mates Applewood rub 

One shot glass full onion powder

One and a half shot glass full garlic powder

Mix well

Open rib packages, cut into portions. We did not rinse or wipe them at all. Dip all sides into rub mixture, it will stick in a thick coating.  Layer rib portions into foil pans. Refrigerate at least 24 hours.

Boil portions in 75% beer and 25% water, with liberal amounts of quartered onion and jalapeños halved lengthwise. Boil four hours, adding water as necessary. Grill immediately or refrigerate for up to 12 hours. Grill and apply bbq glaze of Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey Bbq Sauce. 

Peach Cobbler

The BEST Peach Cobbler!  (Adapted from Southern Living Recipe)

Do not let this order of elements throw you.  YES... add the butter first to the 13x9 baking dish (I use a foil pan).  NO... you do not mix in the butter with the crust, you place the melted butter and then LEAVE IT ALONE!  And YES... add the butter first, then the crust mix and do NOT stir together, and then spoon on the peach mixture, and do not mix together.  It is weird!  I was certain I was screwing this up. No.  It's heaven! I wavered from the Southern Living recipe a bit so here is what I did, and will do forever!

Peach Mixture:
8 Peaches, ripe but not over-ripe.  (give or take, depends on size) or 2 large cans sliced peaches
1 cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
Dash Nutmeg
1 Tsp Vanilla (GOOD vanilla!  Call me if you don't know what this is!)

Crust Mixture:
1/2 cup Butter, melted  (1 Stick).  This does not go in the mixture, it is melted and goes into the 13x9 by itself
In a medium size bowl mix: 
1 cup Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
Dash Nutmeg
Dash Salt
1 cup Milk

Start with the peaches.  Peel them.  Only a fool does this with a knife as I have seen on some recipe sites.  Rookies!  Slip the skins.  Wash them well, and bring a pot of water to a boil.  Insert 4 peaches at a time and leave them in the boiling water for about 45 seconds or so. Remove them onto a paper towel or a paper plate.  Cool slightly and then with your fingers just pull apart the skin. It will slip right off.  On a cutting board, slice the peaches in half and remove the pits, remove any pit remaining inside the middle of the fruit and slice the peaches into smaller sections.  When they are all pitted and sliced, I like to give them a final rinse in a colander to make sure no hard parts of the pits are remaining.  

Rinse the pot of the boiling peel water out, wash and dry, and use the same pot for the peach mixture.  Add sliced peaches, 1 cup Sugar, 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice, 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon, and a dash of Nutmeg.  Heat and stir until all the sugar is dissolved.  Do not overcook, leave the peach mixture in the pot and remove from heat.  Stir in 1 tsp of Vanilla to the peach mixture.  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare the crust mixture.  In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup Sugar, 1 cup Flour, 1 Tbsp Baking Powder, 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon, Dash Nutmeg, Dash salt, and 1 cup milk.  Whisk together until combined but do not overmix.

Assemble the cobbler.

Melt the 1/2 cup (one stick) butter, and put in the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish or foil pan.  Spread it around and the LEAVE IT ALONE.  Then place the crust mixture on top of the butter, as evenly as possible but do NOT mix it.  It will look weird. It's ok.

Last, spoon the peach mixture onto the crust mixture, again you are NOT mixing, just spooning it on top evenly over the whole 13x9. 

Bake 40-45 minutes and get a good golden brown top before removing it.  The crust makes its way to the top because of the rising of the baking powder (SCIENCE!!) and results in a crust that has absorbed the delicious peachy syrup in the process. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.  The cobbler stays fresh for days, if covered.  Easy!

You have now, rightly, made a perfectly healthy fruit into a decadent dessert as it should be. Carry on!

Baklava

I thought Baklava to be the elusive snow leopard or giant squid of the baking world.  Insert Richard Atennborough's voice "Baklava, while delicious, is impossible for a common cook to bake, and cannot be reproduced in any palatable form by anyone except dedicated greek grandmothers..." 

It was my pinnacle, my white whale.  Then I tried making it.  <headsmack> It's not that hard.  The Greeks and Turks have us all bamboozled.  This recipe adapted from a you tube video, Robin makes Baklava.  Thanks to Robin!

 

Ingredients:

1 package of phyllo dough, defrosted (2 hours at room temp or overnight in the fridge)
NOTE: One box contains two rolls, I use one roll per recipe and make a 9X13 pan.
3 cups of raw nuts of your choice, I used a mixture of walnuts, almonds and pecans
1/2 to 1 cup butter, melted
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves

Syrup:
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Make the syrup first by adding the water and sugar to a sauce pan over medium high heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Add the honey.   Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Let syrup cool completely, even setting it in the refrigerator if necessary.

Place the nut mixture on a cookie sheet in a single layer and then bake for 8 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. or until the nuts are a golden brown. Be careful not to burn the nuts.

 

Let the nuts cool completely and then place in a food processor until they are ground up. Do not over grind and make paste.

Pour the nuts into a bowl and add the cinnamon and cloves and stir to combine.

Now to assemble the baklava.

Unroll the phyllo dough. Cut the dough with scissors if necessary to fit the baking dish. Count and remove 10 sheets of the dough, then cover the remaining phyllo dough with a very slightly damp towel so it doesn't dry out as you work with a portion of it.

Brush the bottom and sides of the baking dish with butter. Don't over-do it in the butter department as it will make the baklava soggy.

Then lay 10 pieces of phyllo dough, one at a time in the dish. Lightly butter each piece of dough after you place it in the dish.

After the 10th piece of dough, 4-6 tablespoons of the nut mixture to the layer. Spread the nuts out with your hands to cover the layer.  (I had enough dough to do three nut layers, so portion out as you wish).

Then add 3 more pieces of phyllo dough, one at a time, buttering each piece as you place it in the dish. Then add another layer of nuts.

Alternate between 3 layers of dough to one layer of nuts until all the nuts are used.

Finish with remaining sheets of phyllo dough for the top. Butter the last piece on top too. Then cut the baklava into squares or diamonds before baking in the oven.

Bake for 40 to 55 minutes or until it is golden brown.  (mine was about 45 minutes in a glass pan).

Once you remove the baklava from the oven, pour the cooled honey mixture over the top. Let it sit for at least 4 hours before eating. Store on your counter, uncovered.

Tips:

Remember to butter each dough layer lightly with melted butter.
Cut the baklava before baking. It's just easier.
Roast the nuts, do not skip this step.
Make sure to cool the syrup completely and add it to the hot out of the oven baklava.

Chicken Enchiladas

A recipe from our awesome friend Johnny, who passed away.  One of Trent’s and Johnny’s  friends requested the recipe, so here goes.  Hope Johnny doesn’t mind, I’m sure he doesn’t.  Love you, buddy!

Disposable foil baking pans, rectangle, at least two

1 whole chicken, unwrapped, giblets out, washed. You can also use boneless skinless breasts or thighs

1 tsp salt

Water to cover chicken in a crock pot

One 16 oz. container sour cream

2 to 3 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can diced chiles AND/OR one can diced jalapenos, strained (see below)

Flour Tortillas, burrito size

Cans of Enchilada sauce to brand taste and quantity (see below)

Shredded Mexican blend cheese, one bag to two bags

NOTE: The green chiles add flavor and are delicious.  One time I bought the wrong thing, much to the dismay of the man, I got diced jalapenos.  What a fortunate mistake!  It had heat, flavor, etc.  I now add BOTH to ours, because we like HOT.

Sorry for the in-exact-ness of this recipe.  The thing is, you just don’t know how much chicken you are going to yield from your selected yummy fryer.  So…here goes:

Place the chicken in the crock pot and add the water to cover along with the teaspoon or so of salt.  Cook the daylights out of that chicken, 6 hours at least, preferably 8 hours on low.  By then, that thing is falling apart just begging to be in this recipe.

When it’s done, remove the meat from the bones, clean it WELL of all skin, bone, gristle, and anything un-yummy, that all needs to go to the “Thank You For Coming” can.  Shred the good chicken either with a fork or *bazinga* I just tried it with my handmixer the other day on a tip, and it worked like magic.  Shred-er-roni, fast.

Mix the shredded chicken in a large bowl with the sour cream and 2 cans chicken soup, add the strained green chiles or jalapenos or both and mix well.  In-exact-ness alert:  If it’s not creamy enough add another half can of soup.  It should still look firm and chunky with chicken but not like it’s battling itself for moisture.  A nice, stirrable concoction, but not too runny. 

Fill your flour tortillas with a few or more than a few tablespoons of the chicken filling and roll.  Place them seam side down in the unprepared (naked) disposable foil pans.  Fill the pan with a single layer of enchilada rolls.  You might need two pans.

Another in-exact-ness here….enchilada sauce.  Use your favorite.  We like Las Palmas, the big cans (available at Winco, probably at Walmart).  We would use at least one large can per pan of tortilla rolled enchiladas.  We make a regular pan and a spicy pan, using the regular and spicy enchilada sauces.  Make sure each tortilla roll gets a good soaking of enchilada sauce.  If in doubt, pour more out.  Yum.

Cover the whole enchilada (that’s a joke) with shredded cheese and bake 30-45 mins at 350 degrees, basically to bubbling and cheese melted deliciousness.

You can freeze any unbaked pans for later, make sure they are tightly protected in bags or with foil, we do both.  .  Make sure they are covered with foil for baking.  It takes longer for them to bake, but bake  from frozen at 350, and just make sure it all gets well heated through, taking the foil off at the end to melt the cheese, and keep testing the middle ones .  Yummo.

Zelma's Authentic Green Chile

Again, from a dear old co-worker of mine, this is her GREEN CHILE recipe, which I have not tried.  It doesn't state the number of green chiles to use to make this recipe, but I imagine it is at least a dozen or so, maybe even up to 30, depending on how much chile you want to make. 

Zelma's Green Chile - Zelma Savage

Once, again, you will need the right kind of chile to make this dish come out right.  Buy the long green variety, Anaheim are the most available here.  I get mine at Hatch, New Mexico.
Heat broiler in oven, place chiles on a flat surface, cookie sheet, or other similar surface, as many as I usually roast, I have to throw the pans away, they pick up the heat of the chiles and are unusable as cookie sheets ever again.
Place chiles under the broiler and let skin brown and bubble up.  Turn chiles at intervals so all chiles are browned fairly evenly.
Remove from pan, place in a wet dish towel and let stand and steam for a while, you can start peeling them when the peels come off easily or wait until they are completely cooled off.  You must peel them before using them.
After peeling the skins off, cut them into small strips and then take your knife and roll, cut, roll, cut, roll cut, until you have very small pieces, or instead of a knife you can squeeze the chiles through your fingers, but wear gloves.
Crush several pods of garlic with the handle of a butcher knife or run through a garlic press.  Add salt to taste, and garlic to chile.  I like chile sandwiches and at this point you can use the chile as a relish over most anything you want.  You can also add fresh cut tomatoes to this and have another fine tasting dish.

My favorite recipe and most of yours is as follows:

Green chile as prepared above
1 round steak or 3-4 pork chops (cut into small pieces 1/4" to 1/2")
1 cup flour
salt to taste
garlic to taste
Sharp cheddar cheese, use as you like it, shredded or cut into small cubes
2-4 tomatoes depending on size of the tomatoes

Flour the meat in a bag.  Cook meat in a heavy skillet or sauce pan, making sure the meat is done.  Add chile and water to cover the whole mixture.  Add tomato if you are going to use them, let simmer together about 30 minutes.  When chile is about done, add the cheese to the mixture and simmer until cheese is melted into the chile.
Serve with potatoes, beans, tortillas, bread, pie, cake, or anything.  It goes well with anything, except strawberry jam.  Henry could have told you exactly how sick that mixture makes you.  I am joking about the pie and cake but I like this dish well enough to eat it almost every meal.  Just think if I had been born a Mexican!
And now dear friend, can I have my kidnapped mug back?  And, I really think after this  second recipe you should reveal yourself.

Zelma Savage's Real Mexican Red Chile

MY FRIEND FOUND THE RECIPE!  I'm so grateful!  Here it is, typed exactly as Zelma wrote it, with a few comments from me in [.....].  I LOVE THIS so much, I make it with pork and eat it with warmed tortillas, it's so delicious.

REAL MEXICAN RED CHILE - Zelma Savage

In order for either of these chile recipes to come out right, you HAVE to have the right kind of chiles.
Most grocery stores carry cellophane packages of dried red chiles.  It is in the Mexican section of the grocery store and hangs by a hook, usually.  [there are so many now!  I use NEW MEXICO CHILE PEPPERS, DRIED.  They are large and very flavorful, they are what Zelma herself told me to use.]
It is up to you how much chile to buy, I never measure, but I usually use 20-30 pods for my recipe.  It makes 1-2 quarts of sauce.
20-30 Red Chile Pods
6-8 Garlic pods (whole, peeled)
1 Tbsp salt
then:
1 round steak or 3-4 pork chops
1 cup flour in a plastic or paper bag for shaking meat pieces in
To prepare the chile pods, take the stem off the top, and if you like hot chile, preserve as many seeds in the pod as you can, if you like milder chile, shake the seeds out into a container [or garbage]. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE OR YOUR EYES AFTER STARTING TO HANDLE THE CHILES [I wear latex gloves for this, and I leave a little over 50% of the seeds in, I like it a little hot].
Put the chile pods in a large glass bowl or container.  DO NOT USE METAL, put salt and garlic in with the chile pods.  Bring three quarts water to a boil and pour over the chiles.  Place a heavy object on top of the chile to hold it all under the water so it can soak, this process softens the meat of the chile.
Cut beef steak or pork chops into small pieces, I cut them anywhere from 1/4" to 1/2" square.  Place meat into the bag of flour and shake to cover well with flour.
Remove meat from flour, shaking as much flour off of it as possible.  Place meat in large heavy bottom [soup pot] pan with the oil and cook until as done as possible without burning or making it crisp.  Stir often.  I cook mine covered so it will be as soft as possible and not burn.
While meat is cooking, remove chile from the bowl of hot water and drop into a blender [or food processor] about enough to make it half full, be sure to keep the lid on and hold down very tightly.  If you don't, it will shoot up to the top and you will have a stained red kitchen and clothing for a very long time!  Hit PULSE.  Let blend for a while and then add more chile, keeping enough water added to make it easy for the blender to work.  Continue this process until all the chile is blended and all the water is used.  Or, if it is getting too runny, save the water to rinse your blender into your strainer.
You will need a large strainer, not a colander, the holes are too large.  Place the strainer over a bowl and pour some of the sauce out of the blender into the strainer, using a wooden spoon to help push the sauce through the strainer, leaving the pulp behind, it will be the chile skin and seeds.  Continue this process until all sauce is strained, then rinse with the remainder of hot water, rinsing blender and strainer to get all the sauce.
Drain all the excess cooking oil from the meat, add the chile sauce to the cooked meat and let it all come to a boil, turn on lowest heat setting and let simmer.  Simmer long enough for flavors to blend, if you still have any left after smelling and tasting it, put in a large bowl and serve as a condiment or main dish [with tortillas].

By omitting the meat, I use this sauce to make enchiladas:
Place a corn tortilla in a small amount of hot oil in a skillet, immediately flipping the tortilla over, take out of pan and place in a pan of the red chile sauce, which I keep warm on another burner, turn the tortilla over so as to coat both sides with chile.  Place tortilla flat on a dinner plate or shallow bowl, sprinkle shredded cheese on the tortilla, spread a small amount of chopped onion on the tortilla, and repeat the process until you have a stack, each individual can have the size he or she wants, I usually take three tortillas. After completing the stack, place in a warm oven, 250 degrees, and leave there while you finish making enough for everyone.
The last step is to fry eggs, again a personal preference as to how many, I don't eat eggs on mine, Henry always took 3 eggs, runny yolks seem to be preferable to most people who eat them, put the eggs on top of the stack of tortillas, pour more sauce over everything and sit down to enjoy a delicious meal. 

Thank you Zelma, I know you're up there watching over all of us making your fantastic recipe, we miss you!

Southern Chicken Salad

3-4 cups diced cooked chicken or leftover turkey
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream

4 green onions, chopped well
2 stalks celery finely diced
1/2 tsp pepper (I add more to taste)
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1 Tbsp honey
2 tsp lemon juice
1 cup red grapes, halved lengthwise

1/2 cup cashews (add just barely prior to serving because they absorb moisture and get chewy otherwise.)

Mix all together and let set for flavors to blend. Serve in rolls or croissants. 

SELF NOTES: This is what I made for Courtney's wedding shower delicious. No grapes and no nuts for Trent, but he loves it :)

Cranberry Salsa

This is a very tasty salsa, made with cranberries, my friend Christina brought it to our Christmas party. Serve over bricks of cream cheese with wheat thins crackers. Great pot luck or party dish. Buy a few extra bags of cranberries during the holidays and freeze them to make this recipe in the summer. Freezing cranberries is easy and works well, just place the bag of cranberries into a freezer bag.

12 oz. bag fresh cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 medium jalapeno pepper, seeded
3 green onions
1/2 a bunch of fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp cumin

Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until well chopped and combined. Chill for at least a few hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend.

Banana Bars

This is a great way to use up over-ripe bananas! Very moist and everyone loves them.

1/2 cup butter (one stick, softened)
1-1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 medium or 2 large bananas, mashed

Cream butter and sugar in your mixer. Add eggs,sour cream and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients, then add bananas and mix together. Pour into a jelly roll pan that is sprayed with Pam or baking spray.

Bake 350 degrees for 25 minutes. cool completely and frost with buttercream (recipe on this blog) or cream cheese frosting.

Salsa (Blended)

I've come frighteningly close to cloning Plum Loco's salsa in the squeeze bottle. Danger! Mine is hotter...fills two squeeze bottles nearly full.

Tomatoes, either three quarts of home canned or 6 cans italian style stewed tomatoes,

(drained well)

2 large cloves garlic, peeled

1 large onion, peeled

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp cayenne powder

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp chipotle powder

1 tsp jalapeno powder

1 tbsp chili powder (texas style)

1 tsp salt, more to taste

1/2 tsp accent (optional)

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp oregano IF you are using home canned or unseasoned tomatoes.

Blend the garlic and onion in the food processor. Add everything else and blend until well pureed. Fill squeeze bottles and squeeze onto chips. Bliss!

Chicken Wings

I love homemade hot wings! This is the best I've done...

The actual recipe is in a book called Top Secret Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur. Of course any commentary is my own. I am a big fan of his clones. Don't confuse Frank's cayenne pepper sauce with Frank's wing sauce. The wing sauce is ready to use on wings. Frank's cayenne pepper sauce is the base for this hot wing sauce...I prefer this, even though it takes a little time.

Buffalo Wild Wings Medium Spice Wings

This coats 20 wings well. Make the sauce first:

1 cup Franks's cayenne pepper sauce

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/8 tsp black pepper

1 egg yolk

2 tsp cold water

2 tsp cornstarch

Combine the first 7 ingredients (everything but the egg yolk, water, and cornstarch) in a saucepan. Heat to boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and allow to cool 10 minutes. Marvel in the smell of your house! mmmm.

While the sauce cools, vigorously whisk egg yolk and the 2 tsp water in a medium bowl for a full two minutes. It will be pale yellow and frothy. Then add the cornstarch and whisk to combine well.

Drizzle the hot sauce mixture into the egg yolk mixture in a slow thin steady stream while rapidly whisking. This creates an emulsion that prevents the oil from separating. Cover and chill until sauce is needed.

Wings:

Fry. That's it. Really. Heat a couple inches of oil in a frying pan or an electric fryer until very hot. Carefully drop in thawed, rinsed and patted-dry wings sections...I can do 15 at a time in my huge frypan. Fry at least 10 minutes, I do mine 12 minutes but no longer. Drain on racks or paper towels and then toss in the delicious sauce.

Spread a tarp over all exposed areas, wear clothing that is practically disposable, and be sure no one is present that has not already formed a first impression of you. Get plenty of blue cheese dressing, celery sticks, and napkins handy... and suck those wings off the bone like a screen door in a hurricane. ooooh yeah.

Old Fashioned Egg Salad

The white bread I made started a chain reaction. Trent remembered his mom made egg salad all the time to feed a crowd for cheap, and he loved it. So, I found a recipe, tweaked it a bit, and it is really good.

We only have this once in a while because even if you use fat-free or light mayo, the salad is mostly egg so it's pretty heavy on the cholesterol.

A note about boiling eggs: Use your oldest eggs. As eggs age, they become better candidates for boiling because fresh eggs are harder to peel. I boil eggs using a shut-off method. Place eggs in pan. Cover with hot water at least an inch over the tops of the eggs. Turn burner on high. Bring to full rolling boil. Leave the pan where it is on the burner but shut the burner off. Leave there for 13 minutes. Place pan in sink and run cold water over the eggs until the water is cool enough for you to easily drain. Then cover the eggs completely with cold water. To peel, crack eggs on all sides and gently roll to loosen shells. Dip in and out of the water while peeling to make it easier.

Egg Salad

12 boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

3/4 - 1 cup cup mayonnaise, depending on the creaminess you like (light is ok)

1/4 cup fresh onion very very finely chopped (or substitute 1/2 tsp onion powder, I prefer fresh)

1 tsp lemon juice

2 -3 Tbsp regular mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper or to taste (I add a bit more)

Mix, chill and serve. I make the "sauce" (everything but the eggs) first and let it sit while I prepare the eggs, that gives the flavors time to blend.

You could add optional diced dill or sweet pickles, or very finely chopped celery, which I add to my portions but Trent does not like that.

Enjoy! Next assignment...chicken salad. Stay tuned.

Texas Taco Chili

I got this recipe from my sister Dani. Great crock pot meal that's fast to make, then cook 3-8 hrs in the crock pot on low. Great for parties, makes a full crock pot and serves a lot of people.

2 lbs ground beef
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 bell pepper, diced (optional)
2 cans pinto beans (drained and rinsed)
2 cans navy beans (drained and rinsed)
2 cans kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
2 cans black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 package frozen corn OR 2 cans of corn
2 cans diced tomatoes, either italian or mexican style
2 packages taco mix
1 package ranch dressing dry mix


Saute the beef and onion, drain off some fat if necessary. Add the taco mix and stir until well combined.
In the crock pot, combine all the ingredients along with the beef/onion mixture, stir well to combine. You may want to add a cup or so of water or broth to bring to the consistency of chili or thick soup. Cook on low for 3-8 hours for flavors to blend.

Top with whatever you like: Cheese, sour cream, diced onion, hot sauce, cilantro... and serve with warmed tortillas.

Antipasti Salad

Good salad to take to parties. ..this was enough for 20 people. Makes a lot, can be halved for smaller groups. I took this to a picnic and served it with bruschetta and baguette bread, with slices of honeydew and cantaloupe melon.

Salads with pasta will soak up dressing fast, so I always put the dressing on it just before serving. Lesson learned this time: I mixed the dressing the night before and put it in a jar in the fridge, it was fine, BUT do not put it in a cooler with ice...the olive oil will solidify (did it.) But remember you can run the jar under hot water and get the oil to 'melt' back to it's correct consistency. Whew.

6 cups dry pasta. I used mini raviolis I found at Winco in bulk food. It is stuffed with parmesan cheese and it's good!

2 cans medium olives (drained)

2 jars marinated artichoke hearts (drained)

2 jars sun dried tomatoes (I used the dry packaged kind at Winco and chopped them then soaked in a little olive oil...way cheaper and very delicious)

Sliced banana peppers to taste (I used about 3/4 cup, drained)

3 cans sliced mushrooms or 1pkg fresh sliced mushrooms

1 each red, yellow, green bell pepper, chopped

3 cups chopped or sliced meat...pepperoni, salami, ham, whatever. I used these cute little mini pepperonis from Winco

Cook pasta, rinse and cool. You can toss in a little olive oil to keep it from sticking. Toss with all the salad ingredients except the dressing and the meat and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Dressing:

1 1/2 cups olive oil

3/4 cup red wine vinegar

3 tbsp dried basil

3 tbsp dried parsley

3 tbsp dried rosemary

1 tbsp fresh minced garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder

3 tbsp parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

red pepper flakes to taste (I used 3 packages of the dominoes kind lol!)

Mix and shake all together in a quart jar or bowl. Best if made a few hours in advance or the night before. To Serve, add the meat to the salad then shake the dressing very very well and toss into the salad. I kinda winged this for our picnic trip...it turned out great and everyone liked it. Looked impressive and was filling enough for lunch. Enjoy!

Halloween Witch Fingers

Hilarious! Great Halloween Party Food.
**I get all these ingredients except the peanut butter and gel in the bulk food at Winco. Much cheaper than buying packaged**

Peanut Butter Clay:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
Up to 2 cups powdered milk (will use probably 1 cup to start then more if needed)
1/2 cup honey

Look at the powdered milk first. It it looks like crumbs or if it is a little "chunky", break it up in the bowl first and get it nice and powdery. Mix in the peanut butter and honey. Mix all to a play-dough like consistency adding more powdered milk if too sticky, more honey if too dry.

Fingers:
About 40 regular sized pretzel sticks (bones)
Slivered Almonds (fingernails)
2 Tubes Red Gel (blood)

Make the fingers by rolling the clay with your fingers into little cylinder shapes of dough and pressing it around a pretzel stick, covering the pretzel completely. Use a spoon and make little rounded cuts to look like knuckles. Place a slivered almond on it for a fingernail. Continue and make all the fingers you can until you run out of peanut butter clay. I can usually get 35-40 if I make them a little skinny! Place the fingers on a tray or cutting board, or whatever you are serving them from. Dab red gel on the "stub" of each finger to look like they've been chopped off.

This is great served on a big platter along with a meat cleaver or big knife that has some red gel on it, looks like the fingers are freshly severed. When your guests eat these, it's like chomping into a finger bone, it's really funny.

Sausage Dip

No one has ever accused me of being a healthy cook. Probably ain't gonna happen so...on that note, here is an artery clogger. Great party dip.

2 "chub" packages Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage

3-4 brick packages cream cheese (8 oz).....I use 4, because this is usually for a football party and I need a lot of dip.

One red pepper, chopped very fine

One regular sized container sour cream


Cook the sausage and crumble it, drain off the fat. Put it back in the skillet and add the red pepper and cook just until the pepper starts to soften a little.

Put all that in a crock pot set to low, add the cream cheese bricks and about a half cup sour cream to start. Stir together when the cream cheese starts to soften up. Cover and check every little bit and add more sour cream until it's a "dippable" consistency. I usually use the whole container of sour cream, to "cut" the thickness of the cream cheese. Takes an hour or so to heat all the way through, so start it a bit early for your party.

Serve with tortilla chips. Tostitos scoops are the best.