It's cold and rainy today,so I thought soup would be nice!

Crockpot Broccoli & Cheese Soup
1/2 white onion, finely diced

1 quart chicken broth

2 cups milk

26 ounces frozen broccoli

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt....or to taste (I added more)

3 cups shredded cheese (I started out using velveeta, but added sharp cheddar too...I think I would just use cheddar next time)



Add onion, broth, milk, broccoli, and spices to crockpot. Cook on low for 7 hours. Stir in cheese and let cook for an additional 30 minutes.



http://daydreamin-lisa.blogspot.com/2010/01/crockpot-broccoli-cheese-soup.html

Summer is coming, which means a lot of us will be asked to bring a cover dish for picnics and parties.

Because I'm always pressed for time, I've created a great little macaroni salad recipe that doesn't take a lot of time and can actually be made a little bit at a time.

Ingredients

1 pound box of macaroni
1/2 30 ounce jar of Miracle Whip Salad Dressing
1 dozen eggs boiled
1 medium onion

Boil the one dozen eggs for fifteen minutes. Let cool.

While macaroni cooks (per package directions), chop onion into tiny pieces.

When macaroni is finished cooking and is drained, pour into a big bowl with a secure lid. Stir in the chopped onions, then put the lid on the bowl and let the steam from the macaroni soften the onion (and release its flavor).

An hour after the onion has steeped with the macaroni, peel the hard boiled eggs and chop them into small pieces. Add into macaroni/onion mixture.

Add the 1/2 jar of Miracle Whip and stir in until evenly spread.

Refrigerate until served.

Simple macaroni salad that will win rave reviews!

susan

My sister and I are both working toward a low fat world. When she told me of these waffles yesterday, I had to have it!

Whole Wheat Waffles...

Get a box of Hodgson Whole Wheat Baking Mix at Walmart (top shelf by the flour). The recipe for the waffles is on the back.

For the blueberry topping:

1 pt of blueberries
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of water
1/3 cup of sugar

Boil these three ingredients for a couple of minutes (3 or so)

Mix 1 tsp of corn starch (2 if you like it really thick) with 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice.

Mix it together (as if you are making flour and water for gravy).

Add it to blueberry mix on stove stirring constantly.

Ba-boom, a minute more of boiling and you are done!

Very easy, very good.

Can always top with just a smidge of cool whip.

For those of you eating low fat, Myrna MacKenzie, also a Harlequin Romance author, gave me a quick, easy recipe for salmon.

You lightly oils a baking sheet with olive oil. Place the salmon on the oil, then brush olive oil on the salmon. Sprinkle on salt, pepper, garlic powder and "Italian" spice.

Broil from 12 to 15 minutes.

It's fantastic!

susan

Just a reminder that THE MAGIC OF A FAMILY CHRISTMAS has my mother's sugar cookie recipe, with a recipe for the icing used to "paint" the cookies.

s

Over the weekend I made a ham pot pie for my niece's family. She'd mentioned that ham pot pie was her husband's favorite and I wanted to make a ham for my family, but knew I'd have a lot of ham left over.

Ham pot pie is a delicious way to use your leftover holiday ham. So I've posted my recipe.

Now...this is a made up recipe. It's probably not like a normal ham pot pie recipe! LOL But it's delicious.

Enjoy!

susan
THE MAGIC OF A FAMILY CHRISTMAS 11/09

1 box (15 oz) refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box. (I use Pillsbury.)

1 cup of diced potatoes
1 large onion
1/2 bag of frozen green beans
1 cup of diced ham
2 cups of "juice" from ham
2 tbs flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Bring juice to boil, add potatoes and onion. Boil for 15 minutes.

While boiling, make flour and water paste. When the potatoes and onions have boiled for 15 minutes, add the flour and water paste to "thicken" the juice of the potato and onion mixture.

Set aside.

Unroll crusts. Line 9" pie pan with first crust.

Layer frozen green beans on the bottom of the crust. Approx 1/2 a bag should make one nice row of beans.

Place diced ham on top of frozen beans.

Pour enough of the potato/onion/gravy mixture to fill pie "almost" to the top.

Place second crust on top of pie. Poke holes in the top crust for ventilation.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. (You might have to cover the edge of the crust with a strip of aluminum foil to keep from burning in the last 15minutes or so.)

Let stand five minutes before serving.