Refried Beans

First I'll apologize for the picture. I don't know how to make refried beans look good? I'm sure there is someone out there that could do it, but I don't have that skill. This is a very healthy version of refried beans and so easy to make. I made them in a crockpot but I just bought a pressure cooker and my sister says they are very good made in the pressure cooker and a lot faster. I will be trying them out for sure! This recipe is courteous of allrecipes.

Ingredients:
1 onion, peeled and halved
3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed
1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and
chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic 5 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black
pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin, optional
9 cups water

Directions:
1. Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.
2. Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.

Chicken Feed aka Chex Mix

Ingredients:
1 box Cheerios
1 box wheat Chex
1 box Rice Chex
1 box Corn Chex
1 bag pretzels (straight)
2 lbs mixed nuts (we left this out : )

Melt together and pour over the above
1 lb butter
1 cup oil
2 T Worcestershire
2 tsp garlic salt

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients together. Stir in sauce. Bake in oven for 2 hours at 250 degrees. Stir every 15 minutes.

Biscuits and Gravy

When I was sixteen my parents took me to Georgia to visit extended family. It was on this trip that I fell in love with a good southern breakfast. Every morning my great aunt would have sausage, eggs, bacon, pancakes, and new to me and my new favorite--biscuits and gravy. I've never made it myself. It's been a special treat when I go to a restaurant for breakfast. I saw this recipe on allrecipes and decided it was time I tried to make it myself. I'm so glad I did because it was so good. I won't mention how many calories it has though...kind of ruins it a little bit.

Ingredients1 pound breakfast Sausage Roll
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
Salt and black pepper to taste
8 prepared biscuits

Directions
1.Crumble and cook sausage in large skillet over medium heat until browned. Stir in flour until dissolved. Gradually stir in milk. Cook gravy until thick and bubbly. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot over biscuits. Refrigerate leftovers.

7 layered lettuce salad

This recipe comes from my mother in law. Anything with bacon is great in my opinion. It's easy to put together and a little different from the usual green salad.

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped celery
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup green onions, chopped
1 package frozen peas, uncooked

1 head of lettuce
6 hardboiled eggs, chopped
1 cup cheese, grated
6-7 pieces crisp bacon, crumbled

Sauce:
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream

Directions:
Mix together: celery, green pepper, green onions and frozen peas.
Layer half the lettuce (torn or chopped) on bottom of 9x13 pan. Layer half the celery mixture, the entier 6 eggs, chopped. Then layer the remaining lettuce, remaining celery mixture. Top with mayonnaise mixture. Then sprinkle with cheese and bacon.
Can be refrigerated overnight.

Ribbon Salad

This is my favorite jello salad. I love to have it at Christmas time because of the fun Christmas colors, although anytime is a good time for this salad. I have never been able to successfully make it look pretty myself--for some reason my top layer of jello has never completely covered the middle layer. It still tastes good, it just doesn't look good. So while my mom was in town I asked her to make it for me so I could see where I was going wrong. We decided I was either using the wrong size pan or forgot to add the 2nd bit of water to the red jello. So we will see if I've got it figured out the next time I attempt to make this jello salad.

Ingredients:
1 pkg each 3 oz size Jell-O: Lemon, Lime, and Raspberry or strawberry
3 cups boiling water
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cup cold water
4 oz cool whip
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple

Directions:
Dissolve jello flavors separately, using 1 cup boiling water for each. Stir miniature marshmallows into lemon Jell-O, set aside. Add 3/4 cup cold water to lime Jell-O; pour into 13x9 inch pan. Chill until set but not firm. Add 3/4 cup cold water to raspberry Jell-O, set aside at room temperature. Then add cream cheese to lemon mixture; beat until blended, chill until slightly thickened, then blend in mayonnaise, whipped cream and crushed pineapple. Chill until very thick; spoon gently over lime Jell-O. Chill until set, but not firm; meanwhile chill raspberry Jell-O until thick, pour over lemon Jell-O. Chill.

Oatmeal Cookies

This is a recipe from my sister in law. It actually calls for raisins or craisins but I'm not a big fan of either. But I love chocolate so I used chocolate chips in mine.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3 cups quick oats
1 cup raisins or craisins
1/2 cups chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Combine flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Then add to creamy mixture. Stir in oats and raisins. Mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until edges are lightly brown. Cool on baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to wire racks.

Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:
3 cups Mashed potatoes
1 14oz can green beans or frozen green beans
1 chopped onion
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1/4 tsp thyme
1 clove garlic
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Directions:
Brown the ground beef and onion in a skillet. Drain the grease. Add the can of mushroom soup, thyme and garlic. Pour into 9 inch casserole dish. Place drained green beans on top of the meat mixture. Place the mashed potatoes on top of the green beans. Bake in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.