Whipped Apple Salad

This was a recipe I made for Christmas that was shared with me by my dear friend, Jayne, after she brought it to our MOPS Christmas brunch :). Don't be fooled...it looks like potato salad, but it is a creamy, fruity dish and it's delicious!

INGREDIENTS:

20 oz can pineapple tidbits

1/4 cup sugar

1 3 oz. pkg. lemon jello

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

3 apples, diced

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup pecan pieces

1 cup cool whip

DIRECTIONS:

Drain pineapple into saucepan. Add sugar and jello to pineapple juice. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 min. Cut softened cream cheese into chunks and add to juice mixture, stirring until dissolved. Cool completely. Mix pineapple, apples, celery and pecans then add to the other ingredients. Fold in cool whip. Chill overnight.

Zucchini Cakes

I tried this new recipe I found in an old magazine that looked like a great way to use up some of the zucchini we have from the garden. They are basically corn muffins baked with zucchini, cheese, and cayenne pepper for some spice. I couldn't find my cayenne pepper so I used crushed red pepper flakes. Next time I would try adding even more pepper flakes because I couldn't really taste them, but these were still pretty good...just different. They would be a great side for a meal and a nice alternative to a traditional corn muffin.

INGREDIENTS:
* 1/2 of a medium zucchini, shredded (1 cup)
* 1 (8.5 oz) pkg corn muffin mix
* 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 oz)
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1 egg
* 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray, set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl combine zucchini, muffin mix, cheese, milk, egg, and cayenne pepper. Spoon evenly into prepared muffin cups. Bake for 11-14 minutes or until golden brown.

Yields: 12 muffins

Glazed Baby Carrots

This recipe from Taste of Home was so easy to fix and added a slightly sweet glaze that made these baby carrots taste much better than eating them plain. This recipe is for 1 serving, so mutiply ingredients by how many servings you will need.

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 cup baby carrots

* 1 tablespoon butter or margarine

* 2 teaspoons orange juice

* 1 teaspoon sugar

* 1/4 tsp ground mustard

* pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place carrots in saucepan. Add 1 in. of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer 5 minutes or until crisp-tender.

2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter. Add orange juice, sugar, mustard, and pepper. Cook and stir until thickened.

3. Drain carrots. Drizzle with butter mixture.

Yield: 1 serving

Country Green Beans

This was a delicious and simple recipe I used tonight to cook up some green beans from our garden. I had my parents over for dinner and there were many comments on how tasty they were! This will definitely become my basic green bean recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
* 1/4 cup chopped onion
* 1/4 cup butter or margarine
* 1/4 cup water
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp pepper
* optional - 1/4 cup chopped cooked ham

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a saucepan, combine all ingredients. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until beans are tender.

Yields: 4-5 servings