Addictive Black Bean Dip, from Gael

Addictive Black Bean Dip, from Gael

From an online list I am on. The woman says: "it is my favorite dip ever. It is sort of like crack, so if you have any sort of addictive personality, steer clear. I've warned you. The lime and cilantro make it."

2 1/4 cups of black beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 tsp salt
1 T canola oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 medium jalapeno, minced
2 T fresh lime juice
2 T minced fresh cilantro
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 cup salsa
cayenne
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup grated cheddar

Puree the beans with salt and 1/4 cup of water

Preheat the oven to 400.

Heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the garlic and jalapeno just until tender, about 3 minutes.

Remove from heat, and stir in beans, lime juice, cilantro, chili powder, salsa, cayenne to taste, and half the green onion.

Spoon the dip into a 1 quart baking dish, and top with grated cheese. Bake for 20 minutes.

Garnish with remaining green onions and serve with chips.

Pan-Fried Onion Dip, from Gael

Pan-Fried Onion Dip, from Gael

2 yellow onions, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

4 tbsp butter

cayenne, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste
4 ounces cream cheese

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 sour cream

Saute/pan-fry onions in a mixture of olive oil, butter and seasonings.

Cook over med-high heat for 10 min., then lower the heat a bit and cook until caramelized. Cool onion mixture.

Combine cream cheese, mayo and sour cream with cooled onions.Season to taste. Serve with chips/pita bread/veggies.

Apple Pie Dip, from Gael

Apple Pie Dip, from Gael

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream together and serve with slices of Granny Smith apples and graham crackers.

Hamburger Cookies, from Gael

Hamburger Cookies, from Gael

You assemble these, you don't bake anything. Easy and so cute! Gael made them for July 4, 2008 to take to Dan's barbecue. (Kelly's first fireworks--she was transfixed by them and then fell asleep...they didn't scare her one bit). I remember we used to make these years ago. I wonder if Anne got the recipe when she was teaching? They seem like something school kids would love.

Vanilla wafers
Round chocolate cookies (any brand, Keebler grasshopper are good if you like mint)
Frosting --red, yellow, and green (I buy the small kit of four tiny tubes and just don't use the blue)
Sesame seeds
Egg whites or water

TO ASSEMBLE:

Turn vanilla wafers over so rounded top is on bottom. Put two short stripes of any of the three frosting colors on the bottom of cookie (or what would be the bottom had you not flipped it over). Press the chocolate cookie gently on top, so frosting holds it on.

Put three stripes of frosting, one of each color, around the far edges of the chocolate cookie. I mentally divide the cookie into thirds and put each color about 1/3 of the way around, leaving some chocolate in between.)

Press other vanilla wafer on top, with rounded top up this time so it looks like a bun top.

Use either water or egg white (vegetarians will want you to use water) and brush the top vanilla wafer gently. Use your hand and gently sprinkle sesame seeds on the water or egg white to look like a sesame-seeded bun.

Voila! Tiny cookies that look like hamburgers, perfect for kids or cookouts.

Crispix Party Mix, from Clio

Crispix Party Mix, from Clio

17.5 oz. box of Crispix cereal (Clio says: If I can’t find the big box I use 1-1//2 boxes of the 12 oz. size)
16 oz pretzels (I used the looped ones and at Christmas time I use the Christmas tree ones)
12-16 oz. of peanuts

Put the above 3 ingredients in a BIG pan and slightly mix it up -- I put everything in the roaster that I use for our Thanksgiving turkey and I use a large rubber spatula to mix it.

In a small saucepan bring to a boil:
1 cup butter
2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup light Karo syrup

Boil for 1-1/2 minutes.
Immediately pour this over the dry ingredients stirring slowly to coat.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes stirring every 5 minutes to thoroughly coat mix.
Remove and stir with large rubber spatula every 5 minutes until cool.

Store in airtight container…I use 2-5 quart ice cream buckets.

Clio’s Caramels

Clio’s Caramels

Clio always makes these at holiday time and wraps them so perfectly in green, red and white.

1 cup butter
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk (15 oz)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Tip from Gael: I measure out and line up all the ingredients first--even the vanilla (which I put in a shot glass) I also line up small bowls of cold water on the stove.

Melt butter in heavy 3-quart saucepan. Add brown sugar and salt. Stir in corn syrup, mixing well. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly.

Now the recipe says to cook and stir over medium heat until candy reaches firm ball stage (245 degrees on candy thermometer), after 12-15 minutes. But for me, this made it too hard. I suggest heating and stirring it for 12-15 minutes, then putting candy thermometer in pan. Keep stirring, but only let it get to the stage below firm ball (soft ball). Keep testing by dripping some candy into the water bowls, leaving it for 30 seconds and then testing to see if it's caramel-like firm or too soft. When it's the firmness you want, quickly take it off the heat, stir in vanilla and pour into buttered pan. (I use a 9 x 13 pan that I've sprayed thoroughly with Pam.)

Let it cool 2-5 hours, then slice it into long rows with a pizza cutter, then hack it into smaller pieces with a chef's knife and wrap with waxed colored wrappers you can buy at Maid of Scandinavia.

TO DOUBLE: Dump an entire pound of butter, a 2-pound bag of brown sugar, a 16 ounce bottle of corn syrup and 2 cans sweetened condensed milk . Other then measuring the salt (1/2 t) and vanilla (Clio wouldn't double that) there's no measuring. Makes 5 pounds -- that's an awful lot of caramels!

Caramel Corn

Caramel Corn

Mom says Claudia made this often

2 cups brown sugar
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
6 cups popped corn
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon butter flavoring

Pour into big cake pan, bake at 200 for 1 hr, stir every 15 minutes. You have a lot of sauce--Claudia always added more popcorn to compensate.

Artichoke Dip, from Gael

Artichoke Dip, from Gael

Gael’s friend Ann Simerson gave her this recipe on New Year’s Eve, 2000. It’s always a hit at parties and there’s never any left. By the end of the night, people are scooping it up with their fingers!

1 c mayo
8 oz cream cheese
14 oz can artichokes, drained and chopped
1 1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese (not canned)
2 cloves garlic, minced (I substitute a little garlic powder)
Baguette slices, pita bread, etc for dipping/spreading

Mix all ingredients together, saving ¼ c Parmesan for the top. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until top is golden and center is warm. Serve with toasted bread of some kind, although tortilla chips will work, too.

Blue-Ribbon Chili, from Gael

Blue-Ribbon Chili, from Gael

This chili is my favorite. It was the grand-prize winner in a contest held by Country Woman Magazine, and I can see why it won. It's fabulous and even though it has a lot of ingredients, it’s actually very flexible--if you don't have bacon, leave it out; mess with the spices to make it hotter or milder, etc.

3/4 pound Italian sausage, links or ground
3/4 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
6 cups tomatoes, chopped
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

Brown sausage and beef, drain. In the drippings, sauté onion, peppers and garlic for 3 minutes. Add broth, Worcestershire and spices, bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, bacon, and browned sausage and beef, return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add all of the beans. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Serve garnished with shredded cheese and sour cream.

Neapolitan Bundt Cake, from Gael

Neapolitan Bundt Cake, from Gael

Beautiful Bundt cake that shows all the three colors of Neapolitan ice cream when you cut into it. Gael served at a party 5-5-07 and the entire cake was gone in a half hour. Recipe from Cook's Country Magazine, which says it was a Betty Crocker recipe from the 1970s.

1 box white or yellow cake mix
1/3 cup chocolate syrup
2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam
3 drops red food coloring, optional

Make the batter as directed on box. Divide into three equal-sized bowls.

Keep one bowl of batter plain.

For second bowl, mix chocolate syrup and cocoa powder together, than stir into batter.

For third bowl, stir in jam, and food coloring if jam doesn't make it pink enough for you.

Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt cake pan. Pour plain batter into pan. Gently pour in strawberry batter, then chocolate batter.

Bake on middle rack in 350-degree oven 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 30 minutes in pan, then turn out on rack to cool completely.

You can leave unfrosted or frost with your choice of chocolate glaze, icing, or powdered sugar.