Mandarin orange cranberry salad

So delicious. Served with the poppy seed dressing ( or a blueberry dressing that we have {Jenny's Song})

Prep.: 5 min

Total: 5 min

Ingredients:

• 1 head of lettuce
• 1 can of mandarin oranges
• 1 handful or so of cranberries
• Optional: Nuts like almonds or walnuts 

Directions:

Wash the lettuce and cut into strips. Drain the mandarin oranges. (We then drink the juice at dinner). Place the mandarin oranges and the cranberries on top of the lettuce in the bowl. Serve with dressing if desired.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Almond Salad

Beautiful salad served with Brianna's poppy seed dressing.....SO GOOD....

sorry, the pic is not the best quality... :(

Prep.: 10 min

Total: 10 min

Ingredients:

1. 1 pkg. of strawberries
2. around 1 handful of almonds
3. 1 head (and 1/2 if needed) or spinach

Directions:

Put the lettuce / spinach into a serving bowl after washed. Thinly slice the almonds and slice the strawberries into the bowl. Serve with the poppy seed dressing. 

enjoy! 

Really Easy, Fast, and Yummy!!!

Butter Cream Frosting

If you give a robyn a cookie, she'll want some frosting to go with it! :)

Prep.: 5 min

Ready in: 5 min

Ingredients:

1/3 c butter

4 and 1/2 c confectioners sugar / powdered sugar

1/4 c milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Whip butter until fluffy. Gradually add in around 2 c of the powdered sugar, beat it well. Slowly beat in vanilla extract and milk, then the rest of the sugar. Finally, beat in additional milk if needed. If you want to, you can add food coloring. 

Recipe from Allrecipes

Best Sugar Cookies EVER!!!

I made these today and we are going to bake and decorate them tomorrow...

Prep: 5 -7 min

Cool: 1  hour

Bake: 8 min

Ingredients: 

• 1 and 1/2 c butter softened
• 2 c white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 c flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla extract. Then combine the mixture with the dry ingredients. Cover and put in the fridge for at least 1 hour. After that, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out dough onto a floured surface about 1/2 in. thick. Cut with cookie cutters into shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake the cookies for 6 to 8 minutes. They should be crisp but not brown (unless your name is Grammy). Cool completely before frosting. 

Recipe from Allrecipes

7 layer bean dip

Delicious bean dip that I made today for lunch. Perfect with Tostitos scoop tortilla chips.


Ingredients: 

• 1 can of re-fried beans
•  1 package of taco seasoning
• 16 oz of sour cream
• 2 green onions
• a green pepper
• 1 can of black olives
• 2 c of cheese (cheddar or colby jack)
• 1 jar (16 oz.) of salsa
• 1/2 a head of lettuce
• 1 or 2 tomatoes

Directions: 

• Mix the taco seasoning with the re-fried beans. Spread as 1st layer in the dish.
• Add the sour cream over the beans, then the salsa over the sour cream.
• Slice the tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, and one of the green onions and add over the salsa. 
• Then, distribute the cheese over the top and add sliced olives and a green onion for garnish.

Enjoy!

Carly's Sweet Sea-foam Smoothie

Serves 4
Prep: 5 min

Ingredients:

• 4 bananas 
• 2 c water
• 4 c of ice cream
• 1/4 c lime juice

Directions:

• Break the bananas into pieces and put them into a blender.
• Add remaining ingredients and blend shortly

Tip: 

For a nice twist, add 7up or Sprite as desired after served. I added around 1/4 c of 7up into my 1/2 c of smoothie.

Thanks Carly, it was delicious!

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

This is one of the pies that we had for Thanksgiving. The crust is made up of crushed gingersnaps that I made the day before with my friend Marian.

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/4 c pumpkin
• 1/2 c milk
• 1/16 t ginger (scant) {I just put in a small pinch)
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 c of sugar 
• 1/4 t orange zest 
• 3 eggs separated 
• 1 envelope gelatin
• 1/4 c of water

Combine first 6 ingredients & 1/2 c of sugar and egg yolks in a pan. Cook in heavy pan on med. or in double boiler until thickened. ( Tip: don't turn the heat on until everything is mixed together). Add gelatin to water in a small bowl and mix well / let it stand to absorb the water. Add to pumpkin mixture. Stir, take the pan of the heat, and let it cool until it mounds and is no longer hot/very warm. Whip egg whites & remaining sugar ( 1/4 c ) with the orange zest in a separate bowl. Add to pumpkin mixture and gently turn it over to mix it with a spatula. It is very important to try and handle it as least as possible / try not to let the pie loose any of the air inside ( the pies height ) Pour into pie pan with ginger snap crust, and ...

...ENJOY!  :)