Cheryl's Carmel Apple Salad

Cheryl Higbee brought this yummy Carmel Apple salad to Jaelin's baby blessing.  Yummy :-)

16 oz Cool Whip
1 small box Instant Vanilla Pudding
Mix together

Add:
6-8 Granny Smith apples, diced into small pieces

Stir in just before serving:
6 Snickers candy bars, chopped (can also try other candy bars like Twix or Whatchamacallit)

Skillet Summer Vegetable Lasagna

I made this tonight and it was delicious! It's a good recipe to put your garden veggies to use, and it's meatless. However, Steve said that it would be good with ground beef, of course. I got it off of melskitchencafe.com.

Skillet Summer Vegetable Lasagna
*Serves 4-6

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped fine
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28-oz.) can diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper
10 curly-edged lasagna noodles, broken into 2-inch lengths
1 small zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 small yellow squash, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1/4 cup shredded fresh basil**
1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Drain tomatoes into a 2-cup liquid measure. Add water to tomato liquid to make 2 cups. Add tomato/water mixture and 1 teaspoon salt to skillet.

Scatter noodles into the skillet, layer tomatoes over the noodles and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, covered, stirring occasionally (so the noodles won’t stick!) for about 10 minutes.

Stir in zucchini and squash, cook, stirring now and then, until noodles and squash are tender, about 8 minutes. Add basil and half of the rictotta cheese and half of the Parmesan cheese to the noodles, stirring until the sauce is creamy. Dollop remaining ricotta cheese over the noodles, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.

**I didn't have fresh basil so I used dried and added it just before adding the zucchini and squash to the skillet. I just filled my 1/4 cup measuring cup 1/3 full (whatever measurement that may be). I also ran out of parmesan cheese so I used half mozerella with good, cheesy results!

Spinach Pasta Salad

Here is the recipe for the best pasta salad ever.

8 oz bow tie pasta
8 oz penne pasta
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cups fresh parmesan cheese, grated
4 bonesless chicken breasts, optional
1 6 oz bag baby spinach
16 oz bottle paul Newman's Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing

Boil pasta noodles, drain and rinse with cold water. In a large bowl, mix pasta with spinach, red bell pepper and Parmesan cheese. Cook chicken breats in olive oil and season with garlic salt and pepper. Chop chicken into small pieces, cool and then add to salad. Add salad dressing.

BBQ Meat

This is what I made at Julie's cabin.

1 lb Italian Beef (from the deli- do not use regular roast beef).
1 c Russian dressing
1 c BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Rays is the best)
1/2 c sugar
Rolls

Heat all ingredients in the crock-pot on low for about 2 hrs. Serve meat on rolls.

Buttermilk Syrup

Buttermilk Syrup:

1/2 Cup Butter
1 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Buttermilk
1 TBSP corn syrup

Boil 1 Minute

Stir in 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp vanilla.

Carmelita Bars . . . Yum!

Julie made these bars at the Higbee reunion over the weekend and they were tasty!

Carmelita Bars

1 jar Mrs. Richardson’s Butterscotch (has to be this kind!)
1 pkg. milk chocolate chips
2 cups flour
2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups butter
1 tsp. baking soda

Combine flour, oats, melted butter, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Grease 9×13 pan. Put 2/3 mixture in a greased 9×13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 17 minutes. Sprinkle chocolate chips, then butterscotch sauce over the top, then crumble remaining mixture on top. Bake at 350 degrees for another 17 minutes. Let cool, then serve.

Chewy Choc Chip Cookies!

My neighbor girls sold these cookies at a lemonade/treat stand and they were so good!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2/3 cup shortening (use butter flavored)
2/3 cup butter (do not use margarine)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix together, then add:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 375 and bake 8 - 10 minutes.