Cakesters

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Devil's Food Cake mix
  
• 2 Eggs
• 3/4 C. Shortening

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix cake mixes, eggs, shortening.
   
2. Roll in prune-size balls.
   
3. Bake at 350 degrees on cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet.

FILLING INGREDIENTS:

• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1/4 stick butter

Sloppy Joe's

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 8 hamburger buns

DIRECTIONS

1. Place ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook until evenly browned, stirring to crumble. I like to use a potato masher to even out the lumps. Add onion and celery, cover the pan, and cook until tender and transparent, about 5 minutes. Drain off any grease.
2. Stir the tomato soup (undiluted), ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce into the beef mixture. Season with salt and garlic powder. Heat to a simmer over low heat, and cook until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently to prevent it from burning on the bottom.
3. Spoon the hot beef mixture onto buns, which may be toasted first, and serve.

I have not actually used this recipe, but it got very good reviews. I am a Manwich girl myself, grew up on it, and now so have my kids. I just felt like I needed to add a real recipe if someone wanted one. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Hot Cocoa

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 cups milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• miniature marshmallows

DIRECTIONS

1. Blend cocoa and sugar in a small bowl. In a medium saucepan, heat milk to scalding.
   
2. Mix about 1/3 cup of the hot milk into the cocoa-sugar mixture, then pour cocoa mixture into hot milk in the saucepan; stir until well blended.
3. Add Vanilla and marshmallows or Whip Cream.
   

Pumpkin Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 cup raisins (I didn't add these)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine the flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla then stir in the pumpkin puree. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients until well blended. Mix in raisins. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

I did add nuts and chocolate chips also. Yummy!

Minestrone

INGREDIENTS

• 4 Slices Bacon
• 1 cup Chopped Onion
• 4 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 1/3 pound Ground Beef
• 1 cup minced Celery
• 1 cup cubed Carrots
• 2 cups Tomato Puree
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced Tomatoes
  
• 1 (14 ounce) can Beef broth
• 1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed French Onion soup
• 5 cups Water
• 1/4 cup Red Wine
• 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
• 1 teaspoon Dried Basil
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 cup chopped Zucchini
• 2 cups Spinach, rinsed and sliced
• 1 (15 ounce) can Garbanzo Beans, drained
• 1/4 cup chopped Parsley
• 1/2 Box Elbow Macaroni
  

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large stock pot, cook bacon and drain off fat. Add onion, garlic, and beef. When onions are translucent, add celery, carrot, pureed tomatoes, whole tomatoes, broth, condensed soup, water, wine, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Cook for 15 minutes.
2. Stir in zucchini, spinach, pasta, garbanzo beans and parsley. Cook for at least 20 minutes, but the longer you let it simmer, the better! Serve with fresh Parmesan or Mozzarella.
3. While soup is cooking, cook noodles.

I liked it with Mozzarella the best, and definitely serve with Garlic or French Bread. I also would have loved to have some croutons, or bread crumbs...

Garlic & Butter Noodles

I actually cheated on this one, we just used the Noodle Roni Butter & Garlic flavor, and I grilled chicken to put on top of it. Besides that, it is pretty self explanatory... Noodles with butter and garlic!

Spaghetti with a Twist

Obviously just your regular Spaghetti recipe, with a spoonful of Ricotta Cheese. If you don't like Ricotta, you won't like this, but if you've never tried it, just do it. It's yummy. It reminds me of when I was a little girl, my mom used to do this all the time.