Fake Crunch Bar

This is an easy candy that can be made for any occasion. In my family, we do not need an occasion. Use saltine crackers as a base for the toffee and chocolate. I make this recipe in a 1/2 cookie sheet. You can double it for a regular size cookie sheet.

Ingredients:
2 oz. saltine crackers (make sure they are fresh and not stale)
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. chocolate chips
1 and 1/3 c. chopped walnuts

Directions:
Line the cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Spray the foil generously with nonstick spray. Arrange crackers in a single layer on foil. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Boil the sugar and butter for 3 minutes. Pour evenly over the crackers. Use caution as this is very hot and sticky. Bake for 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over the hot mixture. Wait a few minutes for the chips to melt, then spread with a spatula or back of a spoon. Sprinkle with nuts. Allow to cool completely and then break up to desired sized pieces.

Baked Beans

This is an easy dish that is a big hit with my family. You can make a large casserole dish for around $4.00 or less, depending on what you get on sale and what you already have on hand. This size serving feeds my family of 5 for two meals.

Ingredients:
4 cans of pork and beans
1/4 - 1/2 lb of bacon
1/2 diced onion
1/4 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
3/4 c ketchup
3 tbls mustard
5 tbls Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry until brown. While cooking bacon, open the cans of beans and place them in the dish. You can also dice the onion at this time. You can go ahead and place all of the other ingredients, except for the bacon and onion, in the dish with the beans. Once the bacon is done, drain, and place in the dish. In the pan of bacon grease, fry your onions until tender. Drain and place in dish. Mix well, and place in a 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours. No need to preheat oven and waste the electricity.

Easy No-Fail Barbeque Ribs

This recipe is so easy that anyone can do it, and no grill is needed. You can use any type of ribs, but my favorite are country style ribs. You can buy these for less than $1.50 per pound when they are on sale. This is a cheap and easy meal. I made it tonight, and for around $11.00, I feed a family of 5, and even had a little left over.

Directions:
Ribs
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Cayenne Pepper, Red Pepper Flakes, or any other spice you like
1/8 - 1/4 cup water
1 - 2 bottles of favorite sauce

Place ribs in pan. You can use a casserole dish or a cake pan. Sprinkle the ribs with the garlic and onion powders. Use as much as you like for your taste. Add any additional spices. Pour water into the pan. Use the smaller amount for one package of ribs and use the larger amount for two packages of ribs. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Place in a 325 degree oven. No need to preheat the oven and waste the energy. Check ribs in one hour. If it is close to fork tender, then top with your preferred bottled barbeque sauce. Cover again with foil and bake 30 additional minutes. If the ribs are not fork tender, recover and check in 30 - 45 minutes. Once fork tender, add the sauce and finish.

Blueberry Sauce

This is great for angel food cake, ice cream, pound cake or anywhere else you can think. I did add about 1 tablespoon of cornstarch so the sauce would thicken up some more for my taste. Enjoy, I know my family did.

Blueberry Sauce

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Wash and crush blueberries; add sugar, lemon juice and salt. Mix well. In a small saucepan, bring blueberry mixture to a boil; boil 1 minute. Add vanilla. Chill.

Blue Cheese Dressing

I would much rather make my food at home, then buy it in a store. Here is another example of something that I make for my family. This dressing is so thick and wonderful, that is can easily double as a dip. I adapted this for a recipe for allrecipes.com.

Blue Cheese Dressing

1/4 cup milk
3 cups mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1 container of crumbled blue cheese (They range from 4 oz. to 5 1/2 oz.)
2 teaspoons garlic salt

Mix together the milk, mayonnaise, sour cream and garlic salt until smooth and well blended. Stir in the blue cheese. Cover and refrigerate. It is best to allow the flavors to mix for at least 2 hours before serving.

French Dressing

This is the best French Dressing I have ever had. It is so much cheaper to make than the bottled version, plus it is better tasting and no artificial ingredients. I hope you like this as much as my family does. This recipe comes from Cooking with the Horse and Buggy People cookbook.

French Dressing
2 t. dried minced onion
2 t. salt
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. oil
1/3 c. white vinegar
1 c. ketchup
1 t. paprika
juice of one lemon
1 T. mayonnaise

Whisk everything together but the mayonnaise until all mixed. Then stir in the mayonnaise just until blended. Keep refrigerated.

Cold Oven Pound Cake

This is the best pound cake I have ever eaten. It is moist, tasty and has a great texture. For years, I was told not to over beat my mixture. My cakes did not turn out very fluffy. They were dense and heavy. I do use my mixer, and I do mix it a lot. This is a great recipe that my friend Kellie Furr shared with me. You can switch around the extracts to adjust the taste to suit you. I am a traditionalist, so I just use vanilla. But you can use 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1 1/2 tsp of lemon extract, brandy extract, almond extract or any flavor you want to try.

Cold Oven Pound Cake

2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 c. shortening
3 c. sugar
3 c. all purpose flour (I only use unbleached flour - no one needs the extra chemicals used to bleach the flour.)
5 eggs
2 - 3 tsp. vanilla extract (I only use the real, not the imitation. Imitation comes from charred wood, not from the vanilla bean.)
1 c. milk (I do use skim, and it turns out just fine.)

Cream the butter and shortening. Add sugar and beat well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and alternate with mild. Blend thoroughly. Add flavorings. Pour into a greased and floured tube or fluted pan. Place in cold over and bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees. Then raise the temperature to 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 -15 minutes before turning out of pan. Allow to cool before cutting. Serve plain, with powdered sugar, strawberries and syrup or any way you wish.