Taco Dip

1 (8 oz.) carton of sour cream

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese

1/2 jar (16 oz. jar) of taco sauce

Cream all three ingredients together, then top with shredded cheddar cheese and desired toppings such as - lettuce, tomato, onion, green pepper, red pepper, etc.) Drizzle more taco sauce over top. Serve with chips (it's really good with Doritos or Tortilla chips).

Grilled Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches

Blogger won't let me copy/paste so here is the link from Cooking Light. This was really easy to prepare and even though I didn't have all the ingredients on hand (didn't use the jalapeno jelly/water ) it still turned out great. I had plenty of leftovers so this would do 2 meals for a family of 4 probably. We served it with these Ranch Potato Wedges and they were yummy too! A pork tenderloin can be up to 14 dollars in Kroger but you can get 2 in a package at Costco for about 12 or 13 dollars. And since I break this meal into two, it makes it more affordable for us.

Grilled Marinated Chuck Steak

I got this out of my most recent Taste of Home Magazine. It was in a section about budget cuts of meat and such and while I didn't use the exact cut, it was still yummy!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp onion powder
2 lbs boneless chuck steak

In a medium bowl, mix together the first 7 ingredients. Then place steaks into a large Ziploc bag and pour the marinade over the steaks and let it sit in the fridge at least a8 hours or overnight.

Drain marinade from steaks and discard liquid. Grill steak, covered over medium high heat for 8-10 minutes per side or until meat reaches desired doneness. 145 for medium rare, 160 for medium, and 170 for well done. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Rhubarb Cake

1/2 cup butter

1 and 1/2 cups white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups rhubarb, chopped

1 Tblsp. flour

1/4 cup butter

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup packed brown sugar

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and white sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In another bowl, stir together 2 cups flour, soda, and salt. Add ingredients alternately with buttermilk to creamed mixture.

Toss rhubarb with 1 Tblsp. flour, and stir into batter. Spoon batter into greased 9 x 13 pan.

Blend together 1/4 cup butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar, sprinkle evenly over batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 - 55 minutes or until done.

Can top with whipped topping or ice cream.


This cake is so good, I've made three of them in the last 2 weeks (not all three were for us, though)!

Mushroom Oven Rice

1 cup uncooked long grain rice

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (I use 1 small can, drained mushrooms instead)

1 can chicken broth

1/3 cup water

1 to 2 Tblsp. soy sauce

1 Tblsp. dried parsley flakes

In a skillet, saute the rice in butter for 2 minutes. Add celery and onion, cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms; cook and stir until celery is tender. Transfer to a greased baking dish. Stir in the broth, water, soy sauce, and parsley. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until liquid is completely absorbed and rice is tender.

Monster Cookie Bars

1 cup corn syrup or honey

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup chocolate chips

4 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup mini M & M's

Boil corn syrup or honey to gentle bubbles, and remove from heat. Quickly add peanut butter, then chocolate chips until melted. Add oatmeal and M & M's. Press into lightly greased 9 x 13 pan.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Melt 1/3 cup butter in 8- or 9-inch round cake pan. Sprinkle 1/2 cup brown sugar evenly over butter. (Reserve pineapple juice as you drain pineapple rings.) Arrange drained pineapple rings in an attractive pattern on the butter-sugar coating. Garnish with maraschino cherries and pecan halves.

Make the cake batter (see below) and pour it over the pineapple. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a wooden toothpick thrust into center of cake comes out clean. Immediately turn upside-down on serving plate. Do not remove pan for a few minutes. Brown sugar mixture will run down over cake instead of clinging to pan. Serve cake warm with whipped cream.

Cake batter:

Beat 2 eggs until thick and lemon-colored (5 min)

Gradually beat in 2/3 cup sugar.

Beat in all at once:

6 Tbsp. reserved pineapple juice

1 tsp. vanilla

Sift together and beat in all at once:

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour or cake flour

1/3 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

This recipe is from the 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook, which my grandma gave me for a bridal shower. I have made this once, for a French-Canadian rich woman classmate of my husband's during graduate school, and she loved it! (She is a pineapple fan.) That's the kind of thing a new bride gets nervous about... I hope it turns out as well for you, Kristin, if you decide to try this recipe, and it kind of makes me want to try it again!

The recipe doesn't give the size of canned pineapple to buy, but make sure you get the rings, not tidbits or chunks (those would work, but this looks prettier). You could always use fresh pineapple, too, I suppose, though cutting into those things confuses me. That's another thing I should try sometime...

Photo credit: thecakelab.com

(Doesn't that cake look lovely up there? In my cookbook, it shows pecan halves placed kind of between the pineapple rings.)