8 ounces egg noodles

1 lb lean ground beef

1 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce

1 (8 ounce) packages fat free cream cheese

1/4 cup fat free sour cream

1 cup small curd cottage cheese

1/2 cup chopped green onion

2 tablespoons chopped green peppers

2 tablespoons melted butter

Directions

Cook noodles; drain and set aside.

Brown meat; drain.

Add tomato sauce to beef; remove from heat.

In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, onions and peppers.

Butter a casserole dish and spread 1/2 the noodles in the bottom.

Cover noodles with 1/2 the cheese mixture, then 1/2 the meat mixture, then 1 more layer of noodles, then cheese mixture and then meat mixture.

Pour 2 tablespoons butter over top; press down slightly.

Bake at 375° for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minute.

If drier casserole is desired, cook 15 minutes longer.

Ingredients

1 angel food cake

1 (8 ounce) packages soft cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

1 (8 ounce) cartons frozen whipped topping, thawed

2 (21 ounce) cans pie filling

Directions

Cut the cake into 1-inch cubes and set aside.

Mix together the cream cheese and powdered sugar with an electric mixer.

Use a large spoon to gently mix in the shipped topping and cake cubes.

Spread into a 9 x 13 pan.

Pour the pie filling on top.

Cover and refrigerate for two hours or until set.

for pie filling use either blueberry, cherry, or strawberry.

Ingredient

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 (1-oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

2 cups sifted cake flour

1 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking soda

1 Tbsp. vinegar

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

3 (1-oz) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Half-and-half (if necessary)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper.

In large bowl or standing mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar and beat until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in melted chocolate.

In separate bowl, combine four and salt. Add buttermilk and chocolate mixture, alternating. Stir in vanilla.

In small bowl, dissolve baking soda in vinegar. Slowly add this to the chocolate mixture. Mix just until blended. Do not over-mix.

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes then remove from pans. Transfer to wire racks and cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Frosting

In large mixing bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well between additions. Stir in chocolate and vanilla. If necessary, thin frosting with 1-2 tsps. half-and-half.

Crust:  

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting counter

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp sugar

2 sticks cold butter, cut into small pieces

approximately 4 tbsp ice cold water, plus more as needed

Filling: 

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 (3 oz) package strawberry gelatin

3 tbsp cornstarch

2 pounds fresh strawberries, washed and hulled

To make the crusts:  Combine flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times to blend. You can also mix the dough by hand. Add the butter to the processor and pulse several times until it resembles coarse crumbs. Alternately, cut in the butter using a pastry blender. Add the ice water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together and forms a ball.  You may need to add up to 4 additional tablespoons to get your dough to hold together, but be careful not to add too much.  Divide the dough into two equal pieces, flatten into disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for about an hour.  

Remove the dough from the refrigerator five minutes before attempting to roll it out.  Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8 inch thick.  Gently roll the dough up on a rolling pin, transfer to a pie plate, and unroll.  Trim the edges, leaving enough dough to just hang over the edge of the pie plate.  Tuck the edges under and crimp the edges using your thumb and forefinger or a fork.  Repeat with the other crust and pie plate.  Place the crusts back in the refrigerator to chill another 30 minutes before baking to keep them from shrinking in the oven. 

To pre-bake the crusts, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line the crusts with foil filled with pie weights or dried beans.  Bake the lined crusts for 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven, remove the weights and foil, and continue baking 10-15 more minutes until golden brown.  Cool completely before filling.

To make the filling:  Combine the water, sugar, cornstarch, and gelatin in a saucepan on medium high heat.  Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil.  Continue to whisk until the mixture is thickened and forms a thin coat on the back of a spoon.  When the filling it ready, you should be able to draw a line down the back of the coated spoon with your finger and the line will remain clean.  Cool the mixture until it is just warm.  

Place the strawberries in each of your two pie crusts, pointed end up, by starting in the middle and working your way out in circles.  Pour half the gelatin mixture over the strawberries in each pie and chill for at least two hours until the filling is set.  Serve alone or with whipped cream.  

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

1/2 cup sea, kosher, or other coarse salt

1/2-3/4 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed or from a bottle

A couple things to note: Washing soda is not the same thing as baking soda. It’s in the laundry aisle, usually conveniently located next to the borax. As far as the salt, any coarse one will do. I used an off brand sea salt because it was cheaper, some of the recipes even used epsom salt, which would likely be even cheaper. I just chose what I happened to have onhand. The salt is used for the abrasive quality and to help soften hard water if that’s an issue where you live, so the type isn’t a deal-breaker.

Mix them all together and it’ll be the consistency of soggy sand. Add the lemon juice slowly, and once you get it to the consistency where it’s easily sticking together, stop. It’ll still work if it’s too wet, but it’ll be messier and harder to form. Next, scoop out tablespoons of the mix. As I scooped it out, I thought I must’ve been doing something wrong because the little half-spheres I was scooping onto my sheet of tin foil seemed a bit crumbly, like they’d fall apart at a touch. Don’t fret, dear reader, your tablets will dry out and somehow become more stuck-together as they do.  I let it stay in the shape of the 1 tablespoon sized scoop and just plopped them out onto the foil, but you can form it into little blocks if you prefer. You might want it to be a different shape to fit just so into your compartment of your dishwasher, it’s up to your preference. I’ve seen several versions where people pressed it into different ice cube trays or even cookie cutter shapes, so go ahead and get creative if you want to. Have an old bachelorette party penis shaped ice mold? Who doesn’t want a little soapy penis to do their dishes? Just make sure there isn’t more than about a tablespoon of the mix in each tab, or you’ll risk having too much detergent, which means that you may end up with soapy film on your dishes. And that would be a bummer, because it defeats the whole purpose of a quick, cheap and easy tab if you have dirty dishes at the end. Who wants to re-run a rinse cycle or some other nonsense? Not this gal. Pay attention and save yourself the headache.

Once you have your own special little creations, let them dry. You can use it immediately but it’ll be mooshy, which means that you can’t store them without them all drying together, becoming one big hunk of hassle requiring an ice pick and a strong arm. If you’ve scooped them out like mine, it takes a few hours for them to dry out. If you put them into an enclosed mold such as an ice cube tray (of any shape, naughty or nice), it may be better to wait a full 24hrs. Let them sit until fully dried out, then place into an airtight container. I reused the container that my old store-bought tabs came in: take that, cascade! This recipe makes 36 tabs 🙂

When I used mine, I just tossed it into the bottom of the dishwasher, because the little compartment wasn’t quite deep enough to fit mine. In the future I could flatten them a bit, but realistically, I doubt I will. That extra few seconds per tab is really not going to matter since they work great the way I am using them, but if you’re the type that will want it to fit, you may want to check that yours do before they dry out.

Ingredients

½ cup packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into several pieces

About 2 bananas, sliced in ¼ inch rounds

½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1½ cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup white granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup mashed overripe bananas

2 large eggs

⅓ cup coconut or vegetable oil

⅓ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Caramel Glaze:

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

How to Make It

 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9X5 inch loaf pan.

Spread the brown sugar on the bottom of the loaf pan. If using nuts, sprinkle them evenly over the sugar. Dot with the butter. Put it in the oven for about 8 minutes. Stir the mixture until dissolved and spread evenly on the bottom of the pan. Place a single layer of the banana slices on top of the sugar mixture along the entire bottom of the pan.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add all the remaining wet ingredients and beat just until combined. Do not over-beat.

Pour the batter over the sliced bananas in the pan.

In an oven preheated to 325 degrees F, bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean but moist.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 20 minutes before inverting it on a cake platter.

To prepare the Caramel Glaze, place the butter, brown sugar and heavy cream in a small saucepan (you can also microwave the ingredients for a minute). Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let it sit for a minute. Pour the glaze evenly over the cake (on the upside down side with the bananas on top).

Ingredients

Crust

2 cups crushed Graham crackers

3 tbsp unsalted butter

Cheesecake

2½ packs cream cheese, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

2½ cups thickened cream or whipped cream, chilled

4 tsp unflavoured gelatine

2 tbsp hot water

½ cup white chocolate chips

½ cup roasted unsalted macadamia nuts, roughly chopped

Toppings

caramel sauce

roasted unsalted whole macadamias nuts

roughly chopped roasted unsalted macadamia nuts

Instructions

Crust

Combine all ingredients and make sure it’s mixed well and butter is evenly spread throughout the crushed crackers, press it in a 9 in pie pan.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 10 minutes (this makes the crust more firm, but you can omit this process if you wanted to)

Chill in fridge for around 20 minutes.

Cheesecake

Place softened cream cheese and sugar in a bowl together; using an electric mixer beat the cheese until thoroughly mixed and creamy.

Melt white chocolate in a double boiler then mix this together with the cream cheese mixture

Dissolve gelatine in hot water then let it cool for a while. Once cooled down add into the cream cheese mixture, continue to beat until mixture becomes fluffy.

Now add thickened cream and chopped roasted unsalted macadamia nuts then fold until it’s evenly mixed.

Pour over the prepared crust.

Top it with whole and chopped roasted unsalted macadamia. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving.

Before serving drizzle caramel sauce and chocolate shavings on top then serve.

1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

 4-6 (6 -8 ounce) cod fish fillets

 2 whole eggs, beaten

2 tsp lemon juice

Directions

 1. Preheat oven to 425°F Line your pan with aluminum foil and coat with a layer of cooking spray.

 2. Combine garlic, salt, flour and Panko breadcrumbs in a shallow plate or bowl.

 3. Beat egg and lemon juice together in small bowl and coat fish fillet,  then press fillet into the crumb mixture.

Place fillets on baking pan.

Coat each fillet with thin layer of cooking spray and bake until firm, about 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.

Serve with lemon wedges, malt vinegar, and/or tartar sauce [mayo/relish/ and a bit of lemon juice]

So last night Evan (11) was keeping everyone awake with his cough. I got up, went to the kitchen and sliced a purple, make me cry onion, at 3am. I got some snug socks and put it on the bottom of his feet. To boost my own immunity, I decided to try this too. During the rest of the night, I started feeling good. I mean really good! I felt tingly, like my blood was being cleansed. It was so cool! 

This works in 2 ways. 

1.) Onions are known to absorb toxins. In fact, during the days of the Plague in England, folks would keep chopped onions around to absorb toxins and clean the air. This helped protect them, against getting the plague. 

NEVER SAVE AN ONION. It will absorb all the toxins in the air of your refrigerator. Eat that and you eat the toxins. Instead: Chop your left over onion, put it on a plate and keep it in your kitchen as a natural air purifier. I do this all the time! If someone is ill, place a chopped onion on the night stand, next to the bed. They'll be better in the morning. I placed the remaining onion, next to Evan last night.

Onions are toxin absorbers. Thus why they are great internal mops for the body. Eat plenty of onions! 

2.) The onion and garlic families are anti-microbial and anti-bacterial. Placing them on the bottom of the foot gives them access to your internal organs through meridians in your body. The onion can be directly delivered. Transdermal delivery (on the skin) is one of the best delivery mechanisms, as it will bypass the stomach acids and go directly into the blood. The bottom of the feet and the forearm are great places to put high powered foods and essential oils into the body. Sliced garlic on the bottom of the feet will work nicely too. 

Evan woke up cough free and hopped on the bus this morning. 

1 4-5 lb. whole chicken

1 16oz. can of beer, room temperature (or your favorite, Soda, Sprite works well)

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. ground sage

1 tsp. black pepper

1 T. dried rosemary

1/2 tsp. salt

1 T. olive oil

1 potato (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a roasting pan with tinfoil, pour about 1/2 C. of the beer in the bottom of the pan. Place the beer can in the center. Remove giblet packet from the inside of the chicken and rinse chicken inside and out. Carefully place the chicken over the beer can and slide the chicken down over the can and use the legs to prop the chicken up. Combine the spices in a bowl, rub the chicken with the olive oil and then rub with the seasonings. Place the chicken in the oven and bake for 3 hours or until internal temp. reaches 165 degrees. Remove from oven and let chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving.

INGREDIENTS

4 pork chops

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons soy sauce or 2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce

1 tablespoon sherry wine

2 cloves garlic, minced

DIRECTIONS

1 Combine all ingredients in a plastic zipper bag and refrigerate for a day (quickly putting everything together first thing in the morning is easy and works well).

2 At cooking time, drain chops and reserve some of the marinade for basting, then either preheat a grill with medium-hot coals or preheat your broiler; depending on the thickness of your pork chops, total cooking time should take 12 to 15 minutes, turning once and basting with the reserved marinade a couple of times early on.