Cheesecake Cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 Packages 8 ounce Cream Cheese (softened)
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 Eggs
Nilla Wafers

*Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees
*NOTE! Use Silver (Aluminum) Cupcake Liners only

Mix all ingredients except eggs, till no lumps with mixer
Then add eggs, Mix well.

Place one vanilla wafer in each cupcake liner and pour mixture over wafers 3/4 full.

*Bake 25 minutes at 325 degrees
Remove from pan when cool
Chill in refrigerator
Top with canned cherries

Cheez-it Chicken

Cheez-it Chicken

Ingredients:
1/2 of a 13.7 ounce box of Cheez it crackers
1 stick of Butter
2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets (sliced horizontally for thinner pieces)


directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt stick of butter in microwave and set aside. Crush Cheez-it crackers into pieces and crumbs for breading chicken. (I put Cheez-it crackers in a bowl and use the bottom of a mug to crush crackers!)
Dip Chicken into melted butter, then into Cheez-it pieces and crumbs.
Spray baking pan with Pam baking spray and place chicken onto pan and bake for about 25 minutes, or until done.

Delicious cheese tasting chicken! :)

Lentil Stew

This recipe is so delicious! It's from my mother, who is a vegetarian, and uses vegetable broth instead of chicken. It tastes wonderful either way. A great hearty meal with crusty bread and a tossed salad! Enjoy!!!

Ingredients

1 cup dry lentils
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1-14 1/2 ounce can peeled Italian-style tomatoes, cut up
1 cup peeled and chopped potato
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 Tb. snipped parsley
1 Tb. dried basil, crushed
1 clove garlic, minced
Dash pepper

Rinse and drain lentils. In a large saucepan combine lentils, broth, and undrained tomatoes, potato, carrot, celery, onion, parsley, garlic, and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer to 50 minutes or until lentils and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Makes 4 servings.

282 calories, 19g protein, 49g carb., 0mg cholesterol, 873 mg sodium, 1,258mg potassium

5 points per serving

Mexican Wedding Cakes

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees

Ingredients:
2 Sticks Unsalted Butter, softened
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar (10x confectioners sugar) (plus additional for rolling in later)
2 Cups Flour
1/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Vanilla

Cream Butter and Sugar. Beat in the rest of the ingredients (will be stiff). Roll into 1" balls. Bake 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 13 minutes @ 375 degrees. (Don't let the tops brown). Roll in powdered sugar after slightly cooled (or shake in bag of powdered sugar) Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.

**NOTE! I made these cookies this morning with "salted" butter, and omitted the added salt in the recipe. They still came out delicious! :)

Enjoy!
Louise

Powdered Sugar Cutouts (Orange Peel Cookies)

Ingredients:
1 Cup of Butter room temperature
1 and 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar (10x confectioners)
1 Egg
1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Tablespoons Grated Orange Peel (or) Lemon Peel
2 and 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

Egg Yolk Paint ...
1 egg yolk
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of water
Assorted Food Colorings

In Medium bowl beat together butter, powdered sugar, egg, vanilla and orange or lemon peel until light and fluffy. Add flour and baking powder, beating until blended. Wrap in clear saran wrap well and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours. To bake cookies, preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough 3/16 to 1/4 inch thick. With lightly floured cookie cutters, cut dough into desired shapes. Place 1-1/2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Prepare egg yolk paint. Using pastry brush, brush on egg yolk paint..Sprinkle cookies with desired sprinkles. Bake 8-10 minutes or until the edges begin to slightly brown. Remove cookies from baking sheets, cool on racks.

*This recipe doubles nicely

Enjoy!
Louise

Royal Icing

This icing makes about 2 1/2 cups. Do not double the recipe...you'll have plenty!

Ingredients

5 Tb. meringue powder
1/2 cup water, plus more for thinning as needed
1 pound confectioner's sugar

In a bowl of electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat meringue powder and the water on low speed until combined. Add sugar, scrape down the sides of bowl, and beat on medium speed until soft peaks form, about 10 minutes. Thin with a bit more water, as needed. Icing should be used immediately, as it hardens quickly. This is a great icing that is used to make gingerbread houses. It works like glue!

Gingerbread Cookies

This is a must-have recipe for your holiday baking. Makes about 4 dozen.
Chilling the dough before and after cutting into shapes makes for neater, crisper cookies. You can bake and ice the cookies up to one week ahead; store in an air-tight container at room temperature...or put them in the freezer...they are sooo good cold with a glass of milk!!!!

Ingredients

6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for baking sheets
1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
2 large eggs
4 tsp. ground ginger
4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup unsulphured molasses
1 recipe Royal Icing

Into a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. In a bowl of electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add spices, slat, and beat until combined. Beat in molasses.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat on low speed until combined. Turn out dough onto plastic wrap; flatten into a disk. rap; chill 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface; roll out 1/8 inch thick. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters, and arrange on greased baking sheets.

Bake until firm, about 12 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely before icing. Decorate with royal icing and anything you wish.

Fudge

Here is a very simple recipe for very tasty fudge. :)

FUDGE

Ingredients
3 Cups of semisweet chocolate
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butter cut up in chunks
1 Cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
1. Place chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter in large microwaveable bowl. Cook in microwave till chips are melted, about 1-3 minutes, stirring once or twice during cooking. Stir in nuts, if desired.

2. Pour into well-greased 8x8 inch glass baking dish.(I used Butter Pam baking spray), Refrigerate until set (hard).
Then, cut into slices when hard.

Orange-Scented Cranberry Sauce

I'll make this every year now...it's sooo yummy with turkey!

Ingredients
2 bags(12 ounces each) fresh or frozen cranberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 wide strips orange zest,
plus 1 cup fresh orange juice
coarse salt and ground pepper

In a medium saucepan. combine cranberries, sugar, orange zest, and 1/2 cup water; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high. Reduce to a simmer and cook until thickened, 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in orange juice. (to store, refrigerate up to 1 week. Bring to room temp. before serving)

Makes 3 1/2 cups

Spice-rubbed pork loin with butternut squash

Ingredients
4 Tb. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cp. packed light-brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ancho chile powder or other single chile powder
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 lbs. butternut squash, seeded and cut into 1 inch thick cubes
1 boneless pork loin (5 lbs.), tied
coarse salt and ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together 3 Tb. oil, sugar, chile powder, cinnamon, cumin, and 2 Tb. water. Add squash and toss to coat. Set aside.

Generously season pork with salt and pepper. Heat a heavy skillet or pan over high. Add 1 Tb. oil and swirl to coat. Cook pork on all sides until deep golden brown, about 10 minutes total. Place pork on a rimmed baking sheet; pour oil from skillet onto sheet and spread evenly.

Arrange squash around pork. Brush pork with sugar mixture from bowl. Bake until pork is cooked through (an instant-read thermometer inserted in center should register 135 degrees), 40-45 minutes, brushing meat with sugar mixture and turning squash every 15 minutes. Tent pork with foil and let rest 10 minutes before slicing.

Enjoy! Serves 8

~submitted by Nicole