Cream Cheese Carmel Apple Dip

 This is such an easy, fast dip that is SO good! I got this from a friend of mine from Indian, Rena Redmon. The brown sugar in this recipe makes it taste caramelly. Add those toffee bits, caramel chips or a little bit of both! Want something to dress up apple slices? This will do it in a jif! 

8 oz Cream Cheese

1/2-3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

Carmel Chips or Toffee bits

mix all together with a hand mixer. Put in a bowl, and DIP!

Want it a little bit healthier? This is how I usually make it. It still tastes really good (never got any complaints!) and doesn't feel like you are ruining your apples with a ton of sugar. I love the spices with it.

8 oz Cream Cheese

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Honey (or maple syrup, or any sweetener that you want.)

1 tsp. Vanilla

Cinnamon and Allspice to taste! (I usually skip the toffee or caramel)

mix all together with a hand mixer. Put in a bowl, and DIP!

Greek Salad (Traditional Horiatiki Recipe)

This is from Rob's sister who got it from her mother-in-law. I don't usually like these salads. The vegetables are too big, the dressing is too bitter. It's just an all around not that pleasant salad.... I got this when she made it at Thanksgiving. I got it as a vegetable requirement (and you always need to try stuff to make sure you don't like it!). I was so surprised! It was really good! It wasn't bitter! It was actually good and the vegetables were yummy and I was so happy to be able enjoyably meet my veggie requirement :D Really easy to make, just a lot of chopping like every other salad :p 

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

Mix together well

Mix together:

1 sliced cucumber, cut slices in half

1 cubed red pepper

1 cubed yellow pepper

Grape or cherry tomatoes cut in half or a couple of chopped tomatoes (I use one or two cups of tomatoes)

1/2 red onion, slice and then cut up the slices

1/2 lb. feta cheese, cubed (I have also used mozzarella balls)

Olives

When I finished mixing everything together, I wanted more salt and pepper. I also added some garlic parmesan seasoning that I have. it helped a ton. 

This is not my specialty recipe. I found this site with great tips and information (especially shocking the onion cause I hate eating raw onions)!

https://www.themediterraneandish.com/traditional-greek-salad-recipe/

Corn Salsa

(Close enough)

Wow! This is Amazing! No, really, it is! It's always a hit whenever I make it! It is fresh, and delicious, and the ingredients are healthy so you don't have to feel bad eating all those chips! ;P

1& 1/2-2 C Frozen Corn (fresh corn cut off the cob is always Bomb!)

1 Can Black Beans, rinsed and drained

2 Avocados, diced

1/2 Bunch of Cilantro, chopped (NO! DON'T DO IT! DON'T RUIN DELICIOUS FOOD WITH CILANTRO!!!)

1 Bunch of Green Onions, chopped

2 Tomatoes, diced

1 Packet of Good Seasonings Italian Packet, mixed according to directions.

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl, then top with dressing and mix. SO GOOD!

Manderine Chicken with Sweet and Sour Sauce

So, well... When we lived in Provo and my husband finished up his BA at BYU, we lived next door to a couple in our ward who was also attending BYU and in very much the same situation. We each had 1 child the same age, we would often get together as couples and play games, and since neither of us wives worked we had all this time on our hands to hangout, let the children play and COOK! We both enjoyed cooking so it was great!  We became and stayed good friends through the years, kept in contact etc. that is until.... She told me that she wouldn't be my friend anymore... ??? What the???  :(

C'est la vie and what can you do? But BEFORE she disowned me I got this recipe from her! :)

 Of course it's good! Why else would it be on here?  It's breaded, fried chicken with a sweet and sour sauce. What else is great is that it's quite easy actually.  A friend was wanting the recipe recently so here it goes!

Manderin Chicken:

Cubed Chicken

1C. Flour

1 Egg

1 tsp. Sugar

3/4 tsp. Baking Powder

Oil to fry in (I use about 1&1/2 inches I'm guessing)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl then add enough water to make a semi-runny consistency (kind of like really runny pancake batter, not thick though! The batter should easily drip in a line from the spoon, but not too watery! You'll get the hang of it. :) Just remember; you can always add more water, but not so easy to take it out! ;)  Mix in 4 drops of yellow food coloring (if you want to, I never do).  Stir the chicken into the batter and spoon out batches of chicken with a fork or whatever you find works, heat oil over medium-ish until a drop of water sizzles in it. Fry until golden. Tip: Before you start cooking, turn the oven on warm and place an oven safe bowl in there with paper towels inside of it. Then when the chicken is done you are able to keep it warm and crisp until service. Serve with rice and top with sauce!

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

1 C. Crushed Pineapple

2 Whole tomatoes

3 C. Sugar

Double Dash of Accent

2 Tbls. Soy Sauce

1 C. vinegar

1 C. Onion, chopped

1 Green Bell Pepper

Red Food Coloring (if you want it to look the same as the sweet and sour sauce at the restaurants :)

Simmer all ingredients about 20 min, then whisk in 1/3 C. Cornstartch that has been  dissolved (if you will) in 1/2 C. Water  Wait for it to thicken :). If it doesn't get thick enough, add more cornstach/water mixture.

Betty’s Corn Pudding

Corn pudding. Well it was good enough to insist on getting the recipe! It has a good flavor and turns out creamy and delicious! I made this just the other night and my children LOVED it! I hardly even got any!!! Another great thing to love about this is that it is incredibly easy to make and takes almost no time at all except for baking! It would be great for a pot luck!

1 (14oz.) can creamed corn

1 (14oz.) can corn, drained

1 box jiffy corn muffin mix

1 cube butter

1 cup sour cream

2 eggs

½ cup sugar or honey

Melt butter in casserole dish in microwave. Mix rest of ingredients in the casserole dish and bake @ 350 for 1 hour. SOOOOO EASY!!! ;)

Meatballs

This recipe goes with the Marina Sauce below, or any other kind of sauce that would be good with ground beef. These are delicious meatballs!!! Also Very easy to make and great to double for freezing leftovers! I've found that I don't even have to roll them! I just drop them by table spoon onto the baking sheet, form them a little, toss them in the oven and wallah! Delish!

1 lb. ground beef

3/4 bread crumbs

2 eggs

1/2 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. milk

1 tsp. salt

1-2 tsp. italian seasonings

1-2 tsp. chopped parsley

pepper to taste

*I add garlic sometimes, sometimes I don't.

Combine all ingredients except beef. Then mix in beef by hand. Don't over mix. Form into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place in casserole dish. Bake naked or cover in sauce. Bake 350 degrees about 30 min.