Michele's (Amazing) Peanut Butter Icing

1 C icing sugar
1 C creamy peanut butter
5 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 C heavy cream

Place the icing sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt into bowl. Beat with electric mixer on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down sides as you go. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.
Lick the beaters, the bowl, and whatever you don't put on the cake.

Cherry Crisp

Pour 2 cans of cherry pie filling into a 9x13 pan. If you have real cherries that need to be thickened, consider yourself blessed and then thicken them. Now get a big bowl and use a pastry blender to mix together ¾ cup packed brown sugar, ½ cup flour, ½ cup oats, 1/3 cup butter or margarine, ¾ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp nutmeg. Taste the crumbs. Sprinkle these crumbs over the cherries. Bake at 375* F for about 30 minutes or until topping is browned. Serve warm with vanilla ice-cream. Eat the leftovers for breakfast. If you can’t get real cherries, I suggest making something else so you’re not disappointed.

Easy BBQ Bork Sandwiches

Put 2-4 lbs of beef and/or pork roast in slow cooker. Make sure that you’ve taken off any strings if your meat is tied up, but don’t worry about trimming fat. (A combination of beef and pork is really tasty!) Pour enough Coke (That’s right. Good ol’ Coca Cola.) over the meat to come up to ½ the depth of the meat. Cook on high for 6-8 hours, turning the meat over after 3-4 hours, then turn the slow cooker to low or off.

When the meat is very tender, take the meat out of the Coke and shred it with two forks in a pan large enough to add the BBQ sauce to the meat. If the pieces are too long, snip it with a kitchen scissors (if you don’t have a kitchen scissors, I’m sorry) right in the pan*. Just point the scissors straight down and snip away. Take it from me, kids don’t like to eat this if the meat is in long strands that are hard to bite.

Ok, now dump in about 1 cup of your favourite BBQ sauce**, 1/3 cup of the Coke/broth mixture in the slow cooker, ½ - ¾ cup ketchup, 3 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp mustard and ½ tsp liquid smoke and salt to taste. (These measurements are for about 4 lbs of meat.) Stir it all up and heat till it’s steaming. Add more of the broth if it’s too dry. Serve on buns or rolls of some kind.

This is really good with homemade mac and cheese or potato salad or potato wedges or veggies and dip or coleslaw or 3-bean salad. Or all of the above. I would guess that 4 lbs of meat serves about 10-12 adults.

*I give all the credit for cutting it this way to my sister, Robyn. She is a brain in the kitchen.

**I suppose you could use all bottled BBQ sauce, but for me BBQ sauce is a little expensive so this is what I do.

Homemade Mac and Cheese

In a microwaveable 4-cup measure, melt ¼ cup margarine. Whisk in ¼ cup flour, ½ tsp mustard, ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce, ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Gradually stir in 2 cups milk and microwave till thickened, stirring at 1 minute intervals. Stir in 2 cups grated cheddar cheese.

Boil 2 heaping cups macaroni as directed on package. Drain and return to pan. Pour cheese sauce over macaroni and heat. Taste it to see if it needs more salt. Don’t worry if it looks a little soupy at first, it will thicken up.

If you use a larger pasta (spirals or shells) use 3 cups. I use about ¼ cup cream cheese, 1 ½ cups grated cheese that’s kind of like strong mozzarella and about 4-5 cheese slices. Once in awhile I add a big glob of the “sour cream” we have here, or more cream cheese. Or spreadable bleu cheese. Use your imagination. I also add some yellow food coloring because we don’t have yellow cheese and isn’t mac and cheese supposed to be yellow? Also, the original recipe says to bake this till it’s bubbly, but in my opinion that just dries it out. It’s nice and creamy this way, so why bother?

Pavlova (or Meringue Nests)

4 eggs whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/8 tsp salt
1 C white sugar

Combine egg whites, cream of tartar and salt. Beat until frothy. Add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Spread waxed paper on cookie sheets. Fill icing bag with meringue and pipe onto waxed paper in the shape you want (basic round nests are nice too), about 4" in diameter. Fill in the middle but leave edges slightly higher.

Bake in preheated oven at 300F for about 40 minutes, or until they start turning very slightly brownish around the edges. Turn off the oven and leave them in until cool. Do not refrigerate.

Fill with sliced strawberries and whipped cream or lemon pudding topped with fruit.

*Note: This was the first time I made these and I'm not sure what to think about the baking time/oven temp. Part of them was melt-in-your-mouth and part of them was chewy (on the same piece). I couldn't tell if the chewy part was underbaked or overbaked. I liked them melty and Daryl liked them chewy. If you know what the secret is, please tell me! Either way, they are quite delicious.

Grilled Teriyaki Salmon

1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground mustard
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
4 salmon fillets (approx. 6 oz. each)

In a large resealable bag or shallow glass container, combine the first 6 ingredients. Add salmon, skin side up, to marinade; cover and refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours. Drain and discard marinade, or use it to baste the salmon while grilling. Grill salmon, skin side down, over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork. Do not overcook or salmon will be dry.

my salmon had no skin, and i flipped it over half way through marinading so the flavor was all the way through. this is very easy and very, very delicious.

Summer Salad

Romaine lettuce - however much you will eat!
Strawberries, sliced
Grapes, halved

Dressing:
1/2 C mayo
2 Tbsp vinegar
1/4 C sugar
1/4 C milk
1 Tbsp poppy seeds

Next time I will throw in some carmelized pecans or toasted almonds.
Yummy!

Vegetable-Beef Soup

This is the most delicious homemade vegetable-beef soup that I’ve ever tasted. I adjusted another recipe a lot for what I had and the fact that I can’t serve chunky tomato things to my family. The broth turned out to be SO good, so I would recommend pureeing the tomatoes and onions, even if you don’t mind the chunks. It makes a huge batch and for me that’s fine cause I could eat this every day. If you leave out the potatoes I think you could freeze this well. Just add the potatoes when you reheat it. The original recipe called for celery and peas, but I couldn’t get either one. Also, keep in mind that my onions are very small, but strong.

Brown one kilo diced beef (roast) with one chopped onion and ½ chopped green pepper. When beef is nearly browned, add 5 cloves minced garlic. Brown completely and add 8 cups beef broth. Puree 3 tomatoes and 3 small onions in blender, adding a bit of water if needed. Add to soup with 2-3 Tbsp tomato paste, 2 Tbsp sugar and pepper and salt to taste. Simmer for 1-2 hours. Add 1 cup chopped fresh green beans, 1 cup diced carrots, 1 ½ - 2 cups finely diced cabbage, 1 ½ cups diced potatoes, 1 small can corn, 1 small can kidney or white beans. Simmer 20-30 minutes, or until vegetables are done. Add salt if needed. Serve with biscuits or cornbread.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

(i got all these recipes from allrecipes.com, but i thought i'd put them on here anyway. here goes...)

1 (16 oz) package pound cake mix
3 eggs
2 T. butter, melted
4 t. pumpkin pie spice, divided
1 (8 oz) softened cream cheese
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1/2 t. salt
1 c. chopped pecans (optional)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 15x10 in. jelly roll pan with non-stick spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, on low speed, combine cake mix, 1 egg, margarine, and 2 t. pumpkin pie spice until crumbly. Press onto bottom of prepared pan.
3. In another large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk, then remaining two eggs, pumpkin, remaining 2 t. pumpkin pie spice, and salt; mix well. Pour over crust; sprinkle with pecans.
4. Bake 30-45 min., or until set.
5. Cool, then chill in refrigerator. Cut into squares. Store covered in refrigerator.

these bars are phenomenal. they remind me a bit of those pumpkin things they used to sell at jim's bakery. yum!

Unbelievable Chicken

1/4 c. vinegar
3 T. prepared mustard
3 cloves minced garlic
1 lime, juiced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
ground black pepper to taste
6 T. olive oil
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast
Directions:
1. In a large glass bowl, mix the vinegar, mustard, garlic, lime juice, lemon juice, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil. Place chicken in mixture. Cover, and marinate 8 hours, or overnight. (I marinated it over 24 hours and it was great)
2. Preheat an outdoor grill on high heat.
3. Grill 6 to 8 minutes per side, until juices run clear. Baste during grilling, then discard marinade.