Heavenly Caramel Brownies

1 Devil's Food Cake Mix
1 (8 oz) pkg caramels
3/4 C melted margerine
2/3 C evaporated milk
1 C chopped pecans (optional)
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Melt caramels with 1/3 C evaporated milk. Combine cake mix with melted butter and the remaining 1/3 C evaporated milk. Spread half of the cake mixture in a greased 9x13 pan, and bake for 6 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips, then spread caramel on top. (If you're using pecans, sprinkle on top of the caramel.) Then, crumble remaining cake mixture over the top. (It will spread out while it's baking, so don't worry about it not covering the caramel completely!) Bake for 18 minutes. ENJOY!

Chili & Corn Bread

Chili

1 pound of ground beef
1 packet of chili seasonings
chopped onions
1 can of diced tomatoes (with juice)
1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of red beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of chili beans (with sauce)
1 can of corn (drained)

Directions: Brown ground beef with chili seasonings and chopped onions.
Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Put cheese, green onions, and sour cream on top of the chili.




Corn Bread

1 1/2 cups corn meal
1 cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup milk
1 can cream style corn
2 eggs
1 cup chopped chilies

Directions: Mix all ingredients together except cheese. Stir in oil, corn, peppers, eggs, milk, and 1/2 of the cheese until blended. Pour into greased pan and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Notes: For sweet cornbread mix 2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix and 1 box of yellow cake mix. Mix separately according to individual boxes then mix together. Bake according to cake box.

Beautiful Fruit Pizza

CRUST:

-1 yellow cake mix
-1 egg
-1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

Mix cake mix, egg and margarine together and spread on greased
and wax papered large pizza pan. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool.

TOPPING:

-4 ounces cream cheese, softened
-1 cup confectioner's sugar
-4 ounces Cool Whip topping
-fresh fruit (blueberries, kiwi, strawberries,
peaches, mandarin oranges, bananas, etc.)

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

1 (32 oz.) jar marshmallow creme
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

Mix the marshmallow creme and cream cheese. Blend with a mixer until smooth and creamy. Use as a dip for a fruit tray or as frosting on the cake of your choice or as the sauce on a fruit pizza.

So easy and so yummy!

Country Style Spare Ribs

Country style pork spare ribs (boneless) washed and placed in a 9" X 13" pan.

Mix sauce in medium mixing bowl:
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup Colgin Hickory Liquid Smoke (I can't always find the Colgin brand and haven't noticed a difference)
2 dashes soy sauce
1/2 cup Pace Picante sauce -- mild
1/4 cup brown sugar (you can add a little more if you like)
1/2 tsp. pureed garlic

Pour part of the sauce over ribs in pan, cover, and bake at 350 degrees for 4 hours (make sure there is enough sauce so they don't burn. Pour off most of the liquid and add more sauce and return to oven for a little longer (20 minutes or so).

Tastes great paired with baked potatoes.

White Chocolate Chip Cookies with Craisins

Rich & Chewy Cranberry
White Chocolate Chip Cookies

2/3 cup butter, melted
1 ½ cups light brown sugar
2 Tbsp honey
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup oats
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup Craisins

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter, brown sugar,
and honey. Add egg and vanilla. In another bowl mix flour,
oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix two bowls together,
then add white chocolate chips and cranberries. Cook about
8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about
2 ½ dozen 2" cookies.

Feel-Good Chicken and Rice Soup

Chicken and Rice Soup

1 rotisserie chicken
enough water to fill a pot
1 or 2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 onion, chopped
celery, chopped
carrots, chopped
minced garlic (to taste)
salt (to taste)
Baby Bam (to taste)
dry Italian seasonings (to taste)
1 bay leaf (optional)
crushed red pepper (to taste)
parsley (to taste)
rice (cooked)

Take a rotisserie chicken and put the whole thing (bones, drippings, everything) in a pot. Fill pot with water until chicken is covered; put on the stove and bring to a boil. Cook at a low boil for about an hour or so. Then put a strainer in a big bowl and pour contents of pot through the strainer. Pour the broth from the bowl back into the pot and put the chicken aside to cool a little bit. Put one or two bouillon cubes into the broth depending on how much flavor you want. Add the chopped onions, celery, carrots, and garlic. Put in all of the seasonings and let that simmer all together while you sort through the chicken and bones and just take out the good stuff, which then goes in the pot. At the very end, add however much you want of the cooked rice ( I cooked my rice in a rice cooker).

NOTE: This is a variation of a recipe in Emiril's "There's a Chef in my Family!" called Feel-Good Chicken and Rice Soup. So, for those of you who prefer specific measurements for your ingredients would probably want to refer to that recipe. It's basically all the same ingredients, I just have my own methods for preparing this soup.

Also, this soup is awesome for kids because the rice is easy to eat (easier than noodles) and the vegetables are soft and tasty. Lastly, I find that this is very convenient dinner to make when you serve a rotisserie dinner for chicken by itself, then use the leftovers to make this soup. Make sure that there is enough chicken left on the chicken, if not, you may have to add more chicken.