Luscious Lemon Bars

This is my favorite recipe for lemon bars:

http://alpineberry.blogspot.com/2006/11/luscious-lemon-bars.html

I baked a Krusteaz lemon bar mix tonight because I needed to use it up and I'm going to bake some from scratch, too, and have a side-by-side taste test. The lemons will come from my tree! (Don't be impressed, there are lemons on it in spite of my gross neglect.)

Taco Soup

2 tbsp. oil
half an onion, chopped
cooked ground beef OR 1-2 cups Hereford Beef Chunks, chopped & shredded
4 cans chicken broth
2 cans chopped tomatoes
1 small can green chilies
1 tomato can of water
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 pkg. ranch dressing mix
1 tbsp. Knorr chicken flavor bouillon, if necessary
2 cans black beans, drained
1 cup cooked leftover rice, or ½ cup raw rice

Toppings: Sour cream, tortilla chips (or Fritos), cheddar cheese, avocado

Blend tomatoes, chilies, and water in blender until smooth. In a large pot, saute onion in oil until soft. Add cooked meat, or brown raw meat at this time. Add broth, tomato-chili mixture, seasonings, and raw rice (if using) and simmer for about 30 minutes until rice is cooked and flavors are blended. Add beans (with liquid) and cooked rice (if using) and simmer until heated through. Serve with toppings as desired.

Cobb Salad

My girls helped make the dinner menu this week and this was what they chose for tonight. Everybody puts what they like on their salad.

Lettuce, washed and broken into bite-sized pieces
Fried bacon, broken up
Hard boiled egg, chopped
Sliced cucumber
Croutons (in our house, Pepperidge Farm Parmesan Goldfish)
Avocado, chopped
Blue cheese crumbles (I couldn't eat these separately but mixed them into a little dressing)
Dressing (we made Ranch from the mix packet and it was really good)

German Oat Cake

I made this tonight and it was the most moist, delicious cake ever! I made some substitutions (see below):

German Oat Cake

This is my Grandma's recipe and it’s my favorite cake. Oatmeal gives it some redeeming nutritional value.

1¼ cup boiling water
1 cup quick oats (instead of uncooked oats and water I used 2 cups already-cooked steel cut oats I had in my fridge)
½ cup buttter
1 4-oz. bar German chocolate broken in pieces (I used half a bag of chocolate chips)
1½ cup sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup white sugar
½ tsp. salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Pour boiling water over oats in a mixing bowl. Add butter and chocolate. Cover with a plate and let stand 20 minutes; stir. Sift together flour, baking soda, white sugar, and salt. Stir in brown sugar. Add eggs and oatmeal mixture; beat. Pour into greased 9x13 pan and bake 35-40 min. Spread on topping and broil 1 minute. (I made cupcakes, and I did not bother to broil the topping.)

Caramel Topping:

6 tablespoons real butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. evaporated milk
1 c. oatmeal (also can add coconut, chopped nuts)

Melt the butter together with the brown sugar over medium-low heat in saucepan, watching & stirring constantly. When sugar seems dissolved (doesn't feel grainy) and mixture bubbles for a minute or so, remove from heat and stir in evap. milk, then stir in oatmeal, coconut, etc.

Broccoli Salad (Lisa G. & Laureen)

5 cups broccoli florets (about 2 heads)
1 cup reduced fat mayo (I use less)
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
Sliced celery (optional)
1 cup real bacon bits (I try to use turkey bacon)
1 cup salted sunflower seeds or sliced almonds (optional)
1/2 cup raisins

Mix mayo, sugar, and vinegar and pour over broccoli to marinate several hours or overnight. Before serving, stir in remaining ingredients.