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Jello Dirt Cups 2 cup Cold milk 1 pk JELL-O chocolate pudding 1 pk COOL-WHIP topping,thawed 1 pk Chocolate sandwich cookies 10 7 ounce plastic cups -------------------SUGGESTED DECORATIONS------------------------ Gummy worms Gummy frogs Candy flowers Chopped peanuts 1. POUR milk into large bowl. Add pudding mix. Beat with whisk until well blended, 1-2 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. 2. STIR in whipped topping and half of crushed cookies. 3. PLACE 1 tablespoon crushed cookies into cups. Fill cups 3/4 full with pudding mixture. Top with remaining crushed cookies. Refrigerate 1 hour. Decorate.

Brownie Cones 1 package of your favorite brownie mix Ice cream cones- the ones with flat bottoms Muffin tin Chocolate Glaze (see bottom) What you do: 1. Prepare brownie mix according to instructions. Spoon the brownie mixture into a cone to the half way point and stand in a muffin tin section. Do the same until the entire mix is used. 2. Bake according to package directions. Allow to cool before glazing. The brownie will look a little bumpy, but don't worry they'll taste great and the glaze will smooth them over. 3. After the brownie cones are completely cooled, dip the brownie side of the cone into the chocolate glaze. While the glaze is still damp, top the brownies with sprinkles or candies. Allow the glaze to harden before serving, if you can wait! Chocolate Glaze: What you Need: 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1 tablespoon chocolate sauce What you do: Melt chocolate chips with butter in top of double boiler over barely simmering water OR microwave chocolate and butter according to package instructions. Stir until smooth. Cool slightly and add chocolate sauce.

Make Your Own Jello Place a small amount of soda pop in bowl with one package plain gelatin. Let sit while heating the rest of any soda (Fago/Shasta, etc. regular or diet) to boiling. Mix boiling liquid with gelatin mixture and refrigerate to gel.

Cherries in the Snow 2 8oz. pkg. cream cheese (softened) 4 cup cool whip 1 tsp. vanilla Angel Food Cake (crumbled) 1 or 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling Mix first three ingredients. In a 9x11 glass baking dish place half of the cream cheese mixture, sprinkle the crumbled angel food cake over it then the other half of the cream cheese mixture. Top with cherry pie filling. Chill!!!

Stone Soup For those of you who know the old tale of the hobo who brought a town together with his stone soup.....here is the recipe! You will need: 3-4 cans vegetable broth (or make your own) 6 red potatoes (cut in slices about 1/4-1/2 thick) 3 carrots (peeled and sliced) 1 zucchini (sliced) 1 summer squash (sliced) 1 onion (diced) 3 cloves garlic (mashed through a press) 1 stalk celery (sliced) 1/2 bell pepper (sliced/diced) 1 cup green beans (fresh is best but canned/frozen works) 1 large tomato (chopped up) 1/2 cup peas (again fresh is best but canned/frozen works) 1/2-1 cup corn (frozen works better than canned for some reason) salt & pepper small amount of butter or oil for sauteing the veggies 1 small CLEAN and STERILE stone shredded parmesan cheese have your child place a stone in a soup pot saute the garlic, onion, green pepper, celery and carrots until the onion is tender add broth add potatoes and squashes bring to a boil and add the remaining ingredients (if you are using fresh veggies you can add them all at the same time.....canned/frozen will turn mushy if added too soon though) cook over medium-low heat until veggies are tender. scoop out the stone.......serve with parmesan cheese on top

Cheese Straws Preheat oven to 425 Deg Grate or grind 1/4 to 1/2 lb. aged cheddar cheese Combine with: 3-4 Tblsp soft butter 3/4 cup all purpose flour 1 tsp worcestershire sauce 1/2 tsp salt dash of hot pepper sauce Roll the dough into 1 inch rolls. Wrap in foil and refrigerate or freeze until cold enough to slice as thin as possible, under 1/4 inch. Bake in preheated oven 475 Deg oven about 12 minutes The pastry keeps for weeks in the refrigerator or freezer and can be quickly sliced and baked for the unexpected guest. Or, just after mixing put the dough in a pastry tube to make straws. Or, use the 1.5 inch ribbon disk on a cookie press to make ribbons. Cut into 2 in lengths. They are yummy, sinful with a tiny bit of pepper bite to them. I made them once without the pepper sauce and they just weren't the same.

Microwave Carmel Corn 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 1 stick margarine 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 cup white corn syrup 4 quarts unsalted popped corn Combine ingredients except baking soda and popcorn in quart dish. Bring to boil, then cook full power for 2 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir in soda. Put popped corn in brown grocery bag. Pour syrup over corn. Close bag and shake. Cook in bag on high for 1 1/2 minutes. Shake and cook another 1 1/2 minutes (May need an additional 1 1/2 minutes). Pour into bowl and allow to cool.

Ziplock Ice Cream 1/2 cup milk (doesn't matter what kind, but I used Whole Milk) 1 Tablespoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon vanilla or other flavor 1. Add ingredients to pint size ziplock bag and zip shut. 2. Place that bag in larger ziplock bag. 3. Add ice to fill bag 1/2 way and 6 Tablespoons of salt. 4. Zip that one shut and shake, turn, toss, and mix the bag. In about 5-10 minutes you will have cold hands and yummy ice cream. Do not double recipe!! Kids may want to use mittens to do this! Have fun! :~) NOTE: You may need to put an additional large ziploc bag over the one containing the salt and ice since they tend to spring leaks once you get into the shaking it up.

Boneless Butterball Turkey Roast Mashed Potatoes- Gravy Corn, sounds good Jello with fruit Applesauce Total cost of meal per person: $1. 35

I guess we won't be eating canned butter..LOL I think I will stick to buying the Molly McButter Product. What do you all think of using a product like Molly?

Here are two good recipes which I use that I got out of a Tofu Cookbook: Tofu recipe Forward from Karl E. Weingartner (kweingar@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu) This guy is like the national expert on small scale soy food production. Ingredients 400 g whole soybeans (2 3/4 to 3 cups) that's 13 ounces 15 g calcium sulfate (approximately 3 tablespoons) that's half an ounce Method Notice this Intsoy method is a simple method that makes a beany milk great for tofu, pretty strong-flavored for drinking. For drinking, try the blanching method that follows. 1. Clean whole soybeans by removing dirt and damaged soybeans. 2. Soak 400 g of cleaned dry whole soybeans in 5 times top quality water by weight overnight or at least 8 hours at room temperature. That's 2 1/2 quarts water, and you should soak in the refrigerator if it is very hot outside. 3. Drain and rinse with cold water(weight of the soaked beans is about 800 g). You can freeze the beans at this point. You can start here with thawed frozen soaked soybeans; thaw overnight in the refrigerator or pour hot water over them so they are warm before you blend, or they will chill the boiling water so you lose the effect you are aiming for! 4. Grind the soaked soybeans into slurry in a glass-topped or stainless steel blender in 3000 g (that's about 3 quarts and a cup- do it in batches in a home blender) soft water for 3 minutes at high speed. 5. Filter through 4 layers of cheesecloth to remove fibrous materials/ pulp (raw okara). Collect the liquid portion.Set aside the okara. Be sure to cook this okara before using it in recipes. 6. Simmer the soymilk for 10 minutes (Ellen says bring to a boil that can't be stirred away, turn down just below the boil and count 7-8 minutes exactly, stirring vigorously in one direction. Weigh out 3000 grams 7. Cool the cooked soymilk to 80°C/ 180°F. Monitor the temperature of soymilk closely with a thermometer. 8. Add the preheated coagulant solution (15 g or one half ounce)calcium sulfate in each 100 ml (scant half cup) boiled water to the soymilk with agitation. (Ellen's note: Stir in 3/4 of the coagulant. Stir gently but persistently in one direction. As soon as the curd begins to firm, immediately stop stirring and cover. Allow the curd to set without disturbing for 10 minutes. If there are any milky patches, shake up the coagulant again and stir in a little more coagulant this way: sprinkle the rest of the solidifier in and poke the top gently and let it sit again for a few minutes. Make sure to stir coagulating tofu gently so as not to break up the curds. It ends up soft white clumps in a yellow whey. If the coagulant is poured in too fast, the curd breaks apart and won't clump well. Too slowly and it starts coagulating early, creating hard blocks. *In general, the amount of coagulant is 0.25 to 0.5% of cooked soymilk by weight. Ellen's note: If you don't have calcium coagulant, try to get it, but if you can't, to prepare your solidifier, combine 1 cup warm water with one of the following: 2 tsp. Epsom salts, 2 tsp. nigari, 1/4 cup vinegar or 1/4 cup lemon juice. They take about twice as much volume and need about twice as long as the calcium sulfate. 9. Break/cut the curd evenly into cubes. Transfer coagulated dispersion into a tofu mold lined with cheese cloth. (Note: Cheesecloth should be long enough to fold over the top of the filled block. You can rinse and reuse the cheesecloth you used for straining out the okara. You can make a tofu mold from any plastic container with holes punched in it,up to the size of a loaf of bread for a large block. I use the smaller of two nesting plastic containers as my tofu mold. I rest it over the larger one on chopsticks, to catch the whey (a great cleaner), then I empty the large one and use it to store the tofu under water in the larger one! Spoon and tofu mold should be freshly dishwasher clean and not contaminated for best results. No fabric softener on the cheesecloth. 10. Fold cloth over curds, cover with a lid that fits inside the mold, weighted with a rinsed 2 pound can of food,and press for at least 15 minutes- or use more weight or press longer for a very firm tofu. 11. Remove tofu lid, unfold the cloth and remove from the tofu mold. Cut tofu into pieces and soak covered in cold water 5 minutes before handling, to firm it. 12. Hold the tofu in covered in cold water in the refrigerator and change soaking water daily. Karl E. Weingartner International Soybean Program (INTSOY) Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition Phone: (217) 333-6422 University of Illinois, 169 EASB Fax: (217) 333-5838 1101W. Peabody Dr., Urbana, IL 61801, USA e-mail: kweingar@uiuc.edu 2. Home Made tofu recipe: Tofu or Soy-milk at home from powders. This is the recipe I use Cat! You do not have to use whole soybeans as the starting material. Tofu can be made using full fat soy flour. The technology involved is similar. The basic technique is similar. 2 cups full fat soy flour and 6 cups boiling water, blend and cook briefly, strain the soymilk using cheese cloth or some filtering material, bring back to a boil and remove from heat. Coagulate with calcium coagulant above or 3 tablespoons white vinegar or lemon juice, warm/reheat for just 30 seconds. Form (press), cut, and cool. Although soy flour can be used, you may get a better tasting milk if your starting material is either whole soybeans or dehulled soybeans. I have not yet tried to make soymilk using Kinako (Japanese soymilk powder). It may produce a pleasant taking milk. However, the flour may not stay in solution and you may have to stir it vigorously and then drink it soon after stirring.

http://www.richters.com/- Richters HerbLetter and place to get a free catalog.

English Muffin Bread.....simple and nooks and cranies for the butter. YUM. Mix together...3 cups flour, 2 pkgs. yeast(or 2-3T. bulk depending on freshness),1 T. sugar, 2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. soda. Add two cups milk and 1/2 cup water that is heated to baby bottle warm(I use instant milk and works fine). Gradually stir in 3 more cups flour to make stiff batter. Grease two bread pans and then sprinkle their bottoms with cornmeal. Spoon in batter. Let rise 45 minutes or so. Bake at 400 degrees about 40 minutes--cool on rack.

Save leftover veggies to be used later in soups. I put veggie and meat leftovers in a large plastic container I have in my freezer and once a month I take out the leftovers in the container and make a nice pot of soup Save breadcrumbs to be used on casseroles or for other toppings. I add some parmesan, romano cheese to the crumbs along with garlic, salt and pepper for a different taste to the crumbs Washing baggies/ziplocks and reuseing them. Remember to discard the baggies that you store meat in. They can carry salmonella poisoning on the inside of the bag from the raw meat. Using dried milk in recipes instead of regular milk.

Thanks for posting that info for us Lois. I didn't realize that dandelions had such nutritional value and lots of vitamins which I am always looking for to get from the foods I eat.

Happy B-Day Momo, and many more...HUGS

OssoBucco Silcilian Style from New Orleans Ossobuco Sicilian Style 6 veal shanks, with marrow 2 cups chicken stock 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp oregano 1 tsp black pepper 2 tsp sweet basil 4 tbsp flour 10 anchovy strips, mashed in olive oil 3 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp capers 1 cup diced onions 2 strips lemon peel, no pith(white stuff) 4 cloves fresh minced garlic 1/2 stick butter 2 cups peeled tomatoes salt and pepper to taste (for sauce) 1/2 cup dry red wine Salt and pepper the veal shanks and dust them in the flour. Put them into a greased baking pan and roast them in a 450 degree oven until lightly browned. (Turn them once to brown on both sides) Set them aside. Meanwhile, take a 6 qt. dutch oven and heat the olive oil to HOT. Saute the onions and garlic, just watch that the garlic doesn't burn. Add the wine and the tomatoes and cook uncovered over medium-high heat until the liquid reduces to 1/2 its original volume(about 20 min). Now stir the chicken stock, with oregano, basil, anchovy and capers. The reduction should give you a full-bodied sauce-not think, but not watery either. Place the browned shanks into a heavy pan, generously top with the sauce, cover tightly, and bake in 350 oven for about an hour. Then gently remove the shanks (cut they will fall apart) and set them on a platter in warm oven. Put remaining sauce along with the lemon peel into a skillet and bring to high heat. When the sauce is just about to boil, salt and pepper to taste and remove it immediately from the fire, add the butter in small pieces, agitate. DO NOT STIR THE PAN. Blend everything together until smooth and creamy.. Serve the shanks, topped with the sauce, alongside a plate of rotini or any pasta you like. We love angel hair, garlic sauteed zucchini, a loaf of Italian bread, and a chilled glass of wine. Instead of baking in oven, you can cook them on top of the stove in a skillet. But the pan must have a tight lid and the meat should cook only on the 'simmer' setting, very slowly. OssoBucco means 'hollowbone' and is usually done in a deep iron pot, but it can also be cooked in the oven. This recipe is more Sicilian than Milanese, more New Orleans flavor, which is why I love it.

Baked Sesame Chicken 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 pinch ground black pepper 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F 2 Place soy sauce in a 9x13 inch baking dish. On a piece of wax paper, mix together the sesame seeds, flour, salt and pepper. Dip the chicken pieces in the soy sauce to coat, then dredge in the sesame seed mixture. Arrange in baking dish in a single layer, then drizzle with melted butter. 3 Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for approximately 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and tender and juices run clear. Baste with drippings once during cooking time. Garnish with extra sesame seeds if desired, and serve. You can find Sesame seeds in the dollar stores. They are in the spice area.

Tonight for dinner I am making: cranberry pork chops asparagus (1st time this year!!) biscuits mashed potatoes fruit and a home made Banana Nut Cake. Total cost per meal per person- $1.15

How about Sun Tan Lotion ! I pack my items in popped popcorn and they can eat the popcorn so there is no muss and no fuss. If you plastic bag up your items and fill them in with popcorn then close up the bag and box it the popcorn stays pretty fresh I have been told.

Gado-gado Spaghetti Recipe Ingredients 1/2 pound spaghetti or ramen noodles 4 cups water 3 Tbsp plus 1 tsp oil 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds 1 Tbsp dried onion, rehydrated 1/2 Tbsp or one packet powdered bouillon base (see notes) 3 Tbsp brown sugar 1 tsp garlic 1/2 tsp black pepper (optional) 1/2 tsp hot sauce (optional) 1/2 tsp spike (optional) 3/4 cup water, or more as needed 3 Tbsp vinegar 3 Tbsp soy sauce 3 Tbsp peanut butter Sliced green or wild onions, if available Instructions Notes: A spicy peanut butter sauce makes this a light spaghetti dish that is excellent either hot or cold. This dish can have a fairly salty taste. Cut back or eliminate the base if you are concerned about saltiness. This recipe is designed to be made in a camping or hiking environment, but work just as well at home. Break pasta in half and put into boiling unsalted water to which 1 tsp of oil has been added. Cook until done; drain immediately. In a fry pan, heat 3 Tbsp oil and add the sunflower seeds and rehydrated onions. Cook and stir over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the base with the brown sugar, garlic, other spices if desires, and 3/4 cup water. Add the vinegar and soy sauce. Add peanut butter and stir. Do not burn! To eat this hot, heat the sauce thoroughly and pour over hot spaghetti. This recipe is best cold, and it loses some of its saltiness as it sits. Mix sauce and spaghetti, cool quickly, and serve chilled. If available, sliced green or wild onions as a garnish add to the flavor. Yield: 2 to 3 servings

Canned Butter This is where Low-fat butter and Non-fat butter just don't measure up. Only real butter will can and store without separating into chemicals and water. Ingredients and Instructions 1. Use only highest quality butter (Land O Lakes or equivalent). 2. Heat jelly jars in 250 F.-degree oven for 20 minutes, without rings or seals. 3. While jars heat, melt butter slowly until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. 4. Pour melted butter carefully into heated jars, being careful not to get any butter on rim of jar. 5. Add lid and ring and close securely. They will seal as they cool. Shake jars a few times during cooling to prevent separation, although this step is optional. 6. Put into refrigerator or other cool place until butter hardens. After hardening, butter will store for 3 years.

No-Bake Powerhouse Cookies Recipe Ingredients 1 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup margarine 3 Tbsp powdered milk 4 Tbsp water 1 cup oatmeal 1 cup peanut butter 1/2 cup nuts 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/4 cup chocolate or carob chips Instructions These cookies are designed to be made in a camping or hiking environment, but work just as well at home. Mix sugar, margarine, powdered milk and water in a pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and boil 3 minutes. Stir constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls onto a flat surface such as pan lids. Let sit for about 10 minutes to set. In hot weather, they might not set as well. Yield: about 20 to 24 cookies

Homemade Soymilk Traditionally soymilk is made from whole soybeans, but it can also be made quickly and economically from soy flour. 3 cups water 1 cup soy flour Bring water to a boil, then slowly add 1 cup soy flour (do not use toasted soy flour), stirring constantly with a whisk to prevent lumps. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Line a colander with cheesecloth or nylon mesh (a nylon stocking works well) and place over a large bowl. Strain the soy flour mixture through the lined colander. Stir sweetener or other flavoring into the strained soymilk and refrigerate