Wow! What Wonderful Zucchini Bread!

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

3 eggs

 2 cups shredded zucchini

3 cups flour (up to half may be whole wheat)

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325. Spray two 8 x 4 inch bread pans, or line them with parchment paper. 

In large bowl mix together very well the oil, sugars, vanilla, and eggs. Stir in the zucchini. 

In another bowl mix together the dry ingredients except walnuts. Add to first mixture and mix just until flour dust is mixed in. 

Fold in the walnuts.

Bake 45 to 60 minutes until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.

(This tastes especially good if the zucchini has been proudly raised in your own garden! And if the veggie is youthful enough that the skin is soft, by all means don't peel it first.)

chocolate crumb bars (aka: inhalation bars!)

(from Jennifer Anne Warkentin Meissen who submitted it to "Southern Country 2" recipe book)

1 cup margarine, softened

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

Beat margarine. Beat in flour, sugar and salt. Press 2 cups crumbs into 9 x 13" pan. Bake @ 350 for 10 - 12 minutes. While baking, melt 1 cup of the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan or microwavable bowl. Add vanilla. (I always forget to add this and it still tastes awesome.) Spread over hot crust. Stir the remaining chocolate chips into remaining crumbs. (May have to add a little more flour to make crumbly) Sprinkle over filling. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until middle is set.

I usually double this and bake it in a Costco pan. Chopped walnuts or flaked almonds may also be added to the top crumbs with excellent results. 

"Thanks, Jenny!!!"

espresso cheesecake bars

"this recipe combines my two loves...coffee and cheesecake..."

2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup soft margarine

2 cups flour

1 cup chopped nuts (opt)

Mix together and reserve 1 cups crumbs. Press the rest of it into 9 x 13" pan.

2 8oz cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar (or a bit more if using espresso powder in copious amounts!)

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

2 Tbsp (or more!) espresso powder dissolved in--

2 Tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F. Beat cream cheese till smooth. Add remaining ingredients. Beat well. Spread on crust and top with remaining crumbs. Bake until lightly browned approximately 1/2 hour. Cool. Cut. Enjoy.

This is soooo good, I simply canNOT leave it alone. THAT'S not good!!!

mocha cream bars (from Wanda from Kristi from...?!)

BROWNIE BATTER

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

3 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 cups flour

1 cup nuts (optional)

1/3 cup cocoa

MOCHA CREAM

1/2 tsp instant coffee

1 Tbsp hot water

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 Tbsp cocoa

2 cups powdered sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

Grease 9 x 13 inch pan. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix well. Add flour. Divide batter in half. Add nuts to one half and spread in pan. Blend cocoa in remaining half and spread over first layer. Bake at 350F for 30 - 35 minutes. Frost when cool.

For Mocha Cream dissolve coffee in water. Add remaining ingredients and beat until fluffy.

OKAY!

That's the original. I changed it around a bunch. To me nuts are never optional unless there are alergies lurking around. Also in the mocha cream, I couldn't bring myself to add a raw egg yolk so I used a few Tbsp cream to make it "mocha CREAM"! Also instead of instant coffee I put in a Tbsp, yes a WHOLE complete TBSP espresso powder. Oooooo these are good! Store in fridge if you have time to get them there before they get eaten.

Dena? Are you there, Dena? Have I ever thanked you for introducing me to espresso powder? My life has changed for the better and I am forever indebted unto you! I ALWAYS use it instead of instant coffee.

Poco Picante Chicken

(Here is what landed in the pan last night and WOW!!! Was it ever delicious! Carl said I MUST make it again so in order to do so I have to write it down!) Measurements are "whatever amounts you have on hand".

3 lb chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces

6 or 7 pressed garlic cloves

2 sweet peppers, sliced

1 large onions, sliced

1 pkg fresh sliced mushrooms

Saute this all till browned and then add the following ingredients:

1 can tomato soup

1 1/2 Tbsp Epicure's Poco Picante Salsa seasoning

1 1/2 tsp oregano

1 Tbsp cumin

1 or 2 tsp chili powder

salt to taste

2 cans Niblets corn

1 lg can kidney beans

Add a bit of water if necessary and simmer a few minutes until the hubby is ready to eat! Serve in tortillas or on rice or on corn tortillas. Top with shredded cabbage, sour cream, salsa, and whatever you want. Oh, cheese of course.

rhubarbjam-from-jars-that-have-unsealed-and-must-be-used-up oatmeal bars

First of all, the origin of this recipe is from Pioneer Woman, but I sure did change it! I doubled it and put it into a Costco pan cuz there was so much jam to use up. I still have half of it left. PW said to use Strawberry Preserves. This version is great, too! Tanner made these, actually. They are a huge hit!

1 3/4 stick cold butter, cut in pieces (translate into Canadian to read 3/4 cup)

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 cup quick oats

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp salt

1 10-12 oz jar preserves, in my case, rhubarb jam-m-m-m-m!!!

Make crumbs outa all ingredients except jammmm. Spray 9x13 pan and press 1/2 crumbs into it. Spoon jam over crumbs, careful not to lift crumbs up. We weren't successful at all with amazing results! Dump rest of crumbs on top and lightly press. Bake @ 350F 30-40 minutes until lightly brown. Cool and cut. Or be like us and snitch while hot. We dreamed of piling on the ice cream, but no one felt like waiting for someone to run downstairs for it! It was instant gratification!

grace's favorite salty party mix

16 to 18 cups of whatever quantities of the following you like...or substitute anything with anything!!!

(pretzels, nuts, goldfish crackers, ritz bitz, rice chex, krispix, cheerios, honeycomb cereal, life cereal, bugles...)

Melt the following in microwave:

1 cup butter

1/4 cup worcestershire sauce

1 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt, 

cumin and chili powder optional

Mix with dry stuff and bake at 250F for 1 1/2 hour stirring every 20 minutes or so. When cool add a pile of peanut m&m's. (3 cups or more!!!)

craisin party mix from my-friend-rachel

sauce: 

1/3 cup white syrup

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

Boil this for 1 minute and pour over the following stuff:

9 cups Krispix

1 cup craisins

1 cup sliced almonds

(ad-lib on amounts of craisins and almonds. Rachel adds more craisins; I add more almonds.)

Bake at 250F for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes. I always double the recipe and bake it more like an hour and a half, stirring every 20 minutes. Dump out on wax paper to cool. Addicting.

turkey barley soup

leftover turkey, diced finely, maybe 3 cups give or take

1 1/2 cups shredded carrots

few stalks shredded/sliced celery

1 or 2 chopped onion

1/2 to 1 cup pearl barley

chicken broth to cover above ingredients

salt and pepper to taste

2 or 3 bay leaves

1/2 tsp each poultry seasoning and sage

Very slowly simmer together all afternoon. Serve with sour cream and mozza and parmesan cheese. We just love this soup. It's so simple and delicious. Last night I added some shredded potatoes that needed using up and that worked too.  What makes this soup so good IMO is the sage and poultry seasoning. It would work to quad this and can it.

(I'm realizing just how difficult it is to write my recipes down; I do NOT measure much at all! Hope you can use these.)

fruit slush for lunches

(There are no measurements to this recipe; it works however you do it! YAY! That's easy!)

FRUIT SLUSH FOR LUNCHES

1 can frozen orange juice concentrate

sugar to taste

fresh peaches

bananas

strawberries

blueberries

pineapple

raspberries

Pour concentrate into massive Tupperware mixing bowl. Dice and slice whichever combination of fruit/berries you like into the orange concentrate, making sure to put in lots of bananas! :):) Don't worry; they won't turn brown if mixture is stirred well. Add sugar to suit your taste. Mix well and pour approximately 3/4 cup into individual Dixie cups. We added the blueberries on top of each cup since we were fearful the whole mixture might turn a gooshy purply bruised color. Cap and freeze. Put one cup into each lunch in the morning. It serves as an ice pack to keep other foods fresh besides being just the right slushy consistency for eating at noon. 

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