YUMMY!! Low-Fat Baked Potato Soup

This creamy, dreamy soup is great on a chilly fall day. And you would NEVER know that is is low-fat!

INGREDIENTS:
3 Medium Baking Potatoes (baked in the oven or microwave until done; discard peel and mash into chuncks)
32 ounces of Chicken Broth
12 ounces of Fat Free Evaporated Milk
1/4 Cup Flour
1/4 Fat Free Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Medium Onion Chopped
1/4 Cup Low-Fat or Fat Free Sour Cream (Daisy is the best)
1/4 Cup Real Bacon Bits (I use Hormel Peppered Bacon Crumbles)
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Onion Powder
1 tsp. Minced Garlic
1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. black pepper

FOR TOPPING:
Fat Free Shredded Cheese
Low-Fat or Fat Free Sour Cream
Diced Scallions
Real Bacon Bits

INSTRUCTIONS:
Bake potatoes and prepare as instructed above. Spray a large stock pot with non-stick cooking spray and saute chopped onions and minced garlic until soft. Add chicken broth and evaporated milk. Slowly add flour and stir until disolved. Add mashed potato and stir until blended. Add all other ingredients execpt for topping ingredients and simmer for 2 minutes.

Use toppings as desired and ENJOY!

Crissi's Nutter-Butter Banana Pudding

Another recipe courtesy of my sister.

INGREDIENTS:
3 C. Milk
3 Large Eggs
3/4 C. sugar
1/3 C. Flour
2 TBSP. Butter
2 tsp. Vanilla
5 Ripe Bananas
1 package of Nutter Butter Sandwich Cookies (1 pound package)
Tub of extra creamy Cool-Whip

Whisk together first 4 ingredients in large saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, 15 to 20 minutes or until thickened. Removed from heat; stir in butter and vanilla until butter is melted.

Fill a large bowl with ice. Place saucepan in ice, and let stand, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes or until mixture is thoroughly chilled.

Meanwhile, cut bananas into 1/4 inch slices. Break all cookies into thirds.

Spoon half of pudding mixture into a 3-quart bowl. Top with bananas and cookies (about half of bulk) Spread half of tub of cool whip on top. Spoon remaining pudding mixture over bananas and cookies and layer more bananas and cookies before adding remaining cool whip. Add a few slices of bananas and cookie chips to top for garnish. Cover and chill 2 to 24 hours. The longer it chills, the better it tastes! It gives it time for the flavors to infuse and the cookies to soften!

Crissi's Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is courtesy of my sister Crissi Brooks. I take no credit, good or bad, since I myself have never tried this one before.

INGREDIENTS:
1 C. Regular Crisco Shortening
1 Stick Butter, softened (Do not use margarine)
1 1/3 C. sugar
1 C. light brown sugar
4 eggs
1 TBSP. Vanilla
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 1/2 tsp. Salt (optional)
1 tsp.Cinnamon
1/2 C. Oats
3 C. Flour
2-12 oz. packages of chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate whichever you prefer)
2 C. chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
Beat Crisco, butter and sugars for 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat Well. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Mix dry ingredients together - then add to sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop 1/4 cup mounds, 3 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes.

Makes huge yummy cookies!

Opal Stout's Sugar Cookies

OK...so I am not really sure who Opal Stout is but, I do know she was a resident of Tulia, Texas where I grew up and apparently her recipe for Sugar Cookies is the BEST EVER!!!!!

Posted by request of my sister Crissi Brooks.

INGREDIENTS:
Mix together in a VERY large bowl:
1 C. Sugar
1 C. Powdered Sugar
1 C. Fleishman's Margarine, softened
1 C. Canola oil
2 Eggs

Add the following and mix...you may have to use your hands
5 C. Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Vanilla (After starting this recipe one time and discovering I was out of vanilla, I found that substituting Brandy for the vanilla makes an equally delicious sugar cookie)
1/2 tsp. Almond Extract

Pinch off dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Flatten each ball on a cookie sheet with a glass or cookie press that is dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown around the edges.

Makes a lot of cookies!

Strawberry-Hibiscus Sorbet

I have just returned from Mexico where I had a delicious Hibiscus Sherbet. As I was eating this delicious dessert, I said to myself, "I must make something like this when I get home."

I frequently drink Hibiscus tea, so I already had the dried flowers at home just waiting for me to create my own delicious dessert.

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 C.water
1/4 C. dried hibiscus flowers

SYRUP:
1 C. water
3/4 C. sugar
1/4 C. light corn syrup
1 C. sliced Strawberries
1/2 C. very sweet dessert wine like Barefoot Moscato

INSTRUCTIONS:
Combine the water and hibiscus in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to steep for at least 1 hour, until cool. Strain and discard hibiscus flowers, being careful to discard any sediment at the bottom of the pot. Refrigerate until chilled.

Make the syrup by bringing the water, sugar, corn syrup and straberries to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and blend strawberries until smooth then add the wine and refrigerate until chilled.

Combine the syrup with the hibiscus tea. Pour mixture into an ice cream freezer and procees until freezer stops. ENJOY!

Mom's Potato Salad

Now this is truly a recipe you are going to have to use as a guideline. I never measure any of the ingredients when I make this potato salad, so I am just guessing here on the amount of eveything in this except for the potatoes and eggs...I actually know I used 3 potatoes and 2 eggs. Everything else is a complete guess. Good luck!

YOU WILL NEED:
3 large baking potatoes, peeled, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1 inch pieces (boil until tender, drain, and cool)
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped (you can boil with the potatoes, just put them on top)
1 cup or so of light mayo
2 tablespoons or so of yellow mustard
½ red onion chopped
¼ to ½ C of Sweet Pickle Relish (if you like sweeter potato salad, add 1 package of Splenda or Equal)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Sprinkle Paprika on top for color and presentation

DIRECTIONS:
After potatoes and eggs have been boiled and cooled, mix all ingredients together except for the paprika. Add the mayo and mustard a little at a time until it is just right.

BBQ Baby Back Ribs

OK...you know you have made a good meal when the ones you are trying to please make "Ummm, Ummm, Ummm" sounds with every bite they take. And in the case of these baby back ribs, when your 7 year old son asks if he can suck your bones and you say you have alreay sucked them and he acts as if the world is coming to an end, you revel in the fact that you have made one great meal! Oh, and did I mention, these things literally fall off the bone.

YOU WILL NEED:
3 racks of Baby Back Pork Ribs (7.5 to 8 lbs) with membranes removed. Your butcher can remove the membranes for you if you ask, but do not skip this step.

1 28oz. bottle of your favorite thick BBQ Sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's Gourmet Sauce)

DRY RUB:
1/4 C. Packed Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 Tbsp. black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cumin

Mix all dry rub ingredients together until mixed well. Rub mixture onto both sides of the ribs and wrap each rack in an aluminum foil pouch. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours. I usually let mine marinate for 24 hours.

After marinating, bake in foil pouches on cookie sheets for 3 hours at 300 degrees. Carefully open foil pouches and trim off the loose ends of foil so that the ribs are still on a piece of foil on the cookie sheet. Drain all of the liquid off that has accumulated during cooking. Coat both sides of the ribs with BBQ sauce. Return to the oven under the broiler for approximately 8 minutes watching carefully so they don't burn.

For a more spicy sauce, add 2 tbsp. of red chili flakes to about a cup of sauce before spreading on the ribs. One cup of sauce is enough to cover 1 rack of ribs.

Serve with potato salad or cole slaw to round out your BBQ meal. (Recipes will be posted soon.)