Great-Aunt Mae's Fruit Salad

Mix together:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can cherry pie filling
1 can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 cup chopped pecans, if desired
1 container of cool whip, thawed

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate.  This makes a really great fruit salad!

This is not my Great-Aunt Mae's recipe...but my good friend Becky P. who was related to Mae through marriage.  Awesome recipe...so glad she shared it.  I made it Mother's Day weekend 2012 and it was a HIT!

Chai Tea Mix

1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
1 cup French vanilla flavored powdered non-dairy creamer
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cardamom (if desired, good without it too)

Directions
In a large bowl, combine milk powder, non-dairy creamer, vanilla flavored creamer, sugar and instant tea. Stir in ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. In a blender or food processor, blend 1 cup at a time, until mixture is the consistency of fine powder.

To serve: Stir 2 heaping tablespoons Chai tea mixture into a mug of hot water.

Footnotes
Cook's Note:
You may choose to omit the French vanilla creamer, and use 2 teaspoons vanilla extract instead. To do so, mix the vanilla into the sugar, let it dry, then break the sugar into small lumps. Follow the same procedure as above.

I found this on the all recipes site, have to give credit where credit is DUE!!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chai-tea-mix/

I changed 2 small things. I 1/2'd the cloves and took 1 cup of sugar off. It's plenty sweet. I did the calorie work up on this. For a 3 Tbs serving (which is a lot...if you are doing a small mug...you could reduce it to 2 Tbs)

Calories 143
Total Fat 3.2 g
Cholesterol 0.7 mg
Sodium 27.1 mg
Carbs 28.2 g
Fiber 0
Sugars 26.3 g
Protein 1.1g

Pork Chops Ole'

6 Loin Pork Chops (1/2 inch thick), trimmed
Salt Free Herb Seasoning Blend (and pepper to taste)
3/4 Cup Uncooked Long Grain Rice
1-1/2 Cups Water
1 can (8 oz) Tomato Sauce
2 Tbs Taco Seasoning Mix
1 Medium Green Pepper, Chopped
1/2 Cup Shredded Reduced-Fat Cheddar Cheese

In a large skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray, brown pork chops; sprinkle with seasoning blend and pepper. No need to cook through, just brown the outsides.

Meanwhile, in a 13 x 9 x 2-in baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Combine rice, water, tomato sauce and taco seasoning; mix well.

Arrange chops on top; sprinkle with green pepper. Cover and bake at 350 degrees. Check at 1 hour to see if done. Cook as long as 1.5 hours if needed. (My rice came out just a bit dry at 1.5 hours.)

Uncover and sprinkle with cheese; return to the oven until cheese is melted.

Yeild: 6 servings

Nutritional Information:
Calories 268
Total Fat 7 g
Calories from Fat 25%
Saturated Fat 3 g
Cholesterol 61 mg
Sodium 487 mg
Carbohydrate 24 gm
Protein 25 g

Story: I got this a couple years ago from a lady I worked with as I was trying to get my Alt Cert for teaching. Mary Jo Peters...she was SUCH a great lady. I'd love to find her on FB or Linked In and see how she is doing! She had gotten this recipe from someone else as well and her family really liked it. :) Looks like it came out of a magazine, but no indication of what magazine.

THIS WAS SO FAST TO PREPARE! I LOVE THAT!

I might tweek this one just a little...although it was really good for a low fat recipe! Please note that it has some KICK to it. If your kids don't like spicy stuff, they might not like this. You could substitute chicken breast just as easily in this recipe. I also forgot to add the green bell pepper and it was good without it, just in case you didn't have one on hand.

NOW what will I do with that green pepper...Hmmm.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Boats

2 large zucchini (at least 12 inch if possible)
1/2 onion
Garlic, minced
1 lb turkey or pork sausage
2 medium sized tomatoes
1/4 cup green, red or orange bell pepper (or all three)
Salt/pepper
Olive oil
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (they are also really yummy with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top)
2 eggs
1/2 sleeve ritz crackers
2 Tbs butter

Sauté sausage. Try to break up into really small pieces. Combine with vegetable mixture. In the same pan, after sausage is removed, saute onions and garlic then add sausage back to the pan.

Slice zucchini in half lengthwise and spoon and throw out seeds. Carve out the rest until about 1/2 inch of zucchini is left in the "boat." Make sure to keep this part of the zucchini to put back into the veggie mixture. Rub a small amount of olive oil and salt and pepper and put on a cookie sheet in the oven on 375 degrees while you dice the rest of the veggies.

Dice tomatoes, bell pepper and rest of zucchini. Grate some cheese maybe 1/4 to 1/2 cup and add to vegetable mixture. Add sausage, onion and garlic mixture. Whisk 2 to 3 eggs depending on how much vegetable mixture you have. Add in with vegetable/sausage mixture.

Remove boats from the oven and spread mixture evenly into prepared zucchini boats. Top with a little more cheese (cheddar or parmesan).

Lastly, crush ritz crackers in a gallon baggie and combine well with melted butter. Top each boat with these crumbs.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes at 375 degrees or until zucchini boats are fork tender and topping is golden brown

Mug Cakes

This recipe was posted previously, but was really formatted funky and didn't look right. SO, I'm retyping. These make really great gifts for those friends in the office. They are fast, unique and individual. You could even give them as a gift inside a mug. :)

There are 2 sets of instructions here...#1 tells you how to make the mix packets...#2 tells you what to do with those packets once you package them up and give them away. This 2nd set of instructions would be really good to give to the person that you give the packets to. :) Otherwise, they won't know how to make your wonderful little individualized cakes.

#1 How to make the Cake Mixes

1 box cake mix
1 box instant pudding
3" x 4" baggies (jewelry baggies...can be found at Michael's)

Mix the above 3 ingredients (all dry) in a bowl. See the chart below for good flavor options. Put 1/2 cup of the this mixture in each baggie. Label it 'Cake Mix'. One batch yeilds about 8 baggies.

2 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar
Flavor mix-in (see chart below)

Mix the above 2 ingredients. Put 1/3 cup of this into another baggie and label it 'Cake Glaze'.

#2 Instructions on using your Cake Mix Packets

1 egg white
1 Tbs Oil
1 Tbs water

Spray PAM in a mug. Pour the 'Cake Mix' powder into the mug and combine well with the above ingredients. While this is cooking, empty the 'Cake Glaze' packet into a small bowl or glass and add just enough water (1.5 Tbs) to make the glaze the consistency you'd like.

Pour the glaze on top of the hot Mug Cake and ENJOY! Don't forget milk with your chocolate cake. :)

Apple Brickle Dip

1 package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
vanilla, as desired
1/4 cup toffee pieces, or amount desired

Combine all ingredients. Mix until well combined. Best if made the day before.

This recipe comes from my sister Kim and is a BIT HITwhenever I make it.

Chinese Salad

This makes a big bowl of salad...so if you aren't a large family, or you aren't bringing it to an event, you should probably 1/2 the recipe. This is also really delicious with grilled chicken on top! :)

Salad Ingredients

2 Romaine Hearts Chopped (approx.)
1/2 Head of Green Cabbage
Chopped Green Onions or Chives
1/4 Cup Sunflower Seeds
1/3 Cup Slivered Almonds
Aprox. 3/4 Cup Chow Mein Noodles

(all amounts are flexible, as desired)

Dressing Ingredients

1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Oil (she uses Canola)
1/4 Cup Vinegar
Aprox. 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce

Mix all together, put dressing and Chow Mein dressing on last, just before served.

__________

I got this recipe from Lori S. She goes to church with me, we team teach Primary together. Her family and her extended family have "taken me in", so to speak. They feed me on Sundays and I have family home evening with them Sunday night too. I love their company and I'm so glad to be able to hang out with them! :) I've eaten this 2 times now and loved it BOTH TIMES! Lori was nice enough to share the recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Also, if you want to bring this to an event, Lori tells me that you can make your dressing in a sealable, shakable container, and take it with you that way. Save the chow mein noodles to the side...then everything will be nice and crisp when you get there. Combine remaining ingredients just before serving.