Curried Rice with Almonds

3 cups cooked rice
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 cup parsley minced
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup toasted almonds, finely chopped

Blend butter and curry powder, add to rice. Mix in parsley salt and almonds. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. serves 6

Festive Winter Salad with Walnuts and Apples

1 pkg (10 oz) European Style salad mix, washed
1 thinly sliced tart apple
1 pkg (4 oz) bleu cheese crumbled
1 cup walnut halves
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Salt & Pepper to taste

Combine salad, apples, walnuts, and bleu cheese. Whisk together oil and vinegar and pour over salad. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss well. Serve immediately. 6 servings. 10 min prep time.

Peanut Butter Crunch Cake

This is a recipe from Aunt Eileen.

1 pkg super moist yellow cake mix
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1/3 cup chopped peanuts
1 cup chocolate chips
Heat oven to 350. Grease 13x9 pan. Beat cake mix dry, brown sugar, and peanut butter on low speed until crumbly. Reserve 2/3 cup of the crumbly mixture. Beat remaining crumbly mixture, water, oil and eggs on low speed, scraping bowl frequently, 2 minutes. Pour batter into pan. Stir nuts into reserved crumbly mixture; sprinkle over batter. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center. 40-45 minutes.

Frozen Fruit Ring for Punch

This is a recipe from Nancy Morelock. And of course, her rings were BEAUTIFUL.

12 oz Frozen Raspberry or cranraspberry punch/juice concentrate
Mix up per directions. Fill up 1/3 of ring with juice.*
2 pkg frozen berry mix (*Can place some of this fruit in the ring with the juice above)
3 lemons
3 limes
Grapes (green or red, I like green)
Nectarine
White Grape Juice Concentrate (Mix with 3 cans water)
2 Liter bottle of 7UP

Carefully peel lemons and limes in spiral shape being careful not to break as much as possible.
Coil the peels into flowers. You can choose either edge to be the top. Place the 6 flowers around the frozen ring. Slice the nectarine and place between the flowers. Pour more of the frozen berry mix around the flowers and on the ice ring. Carefully pour more of the juice over the fruit, about another 1/3 of the ring. Freeze. Then pour the rest of the juice (and if you want more of the fruit) in the rest of the ring and freeze.

Make the punch with the white grape juice concentrate, water and 7UP before serving. Take ice ring out of freezer and place in hot water in sink until just loosened from the ring. Put the ring in the punch bowl. VOILA

Quesadillas Huevos Rancheros

Photo: Antonis Achilleos

Daniel doesn’t care for chicken, and I can only eat so much red meat, so I’m often looking for alternative protein sources. Eggs are my current favorite.

Quesadillas Huevos Rancheros

• YIELD: 4 servings
• COURSE: Breakfast/Brunch, Snacks

Ingredients

• 4 6-inch corn tortillas
• Grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 3 sliced hard-cooked eggs
• Salsa

Preparation

• Lay tortillas on a cookie sheet. Place in a 325° F oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and top 2 of the tortillas with grated Monterey Jack cheese and hard-cooked eggs. Top with the other tortillas. Bake until the cheese melts, about 5 minutes. Cut into wedges and decorate with spoonfuls of salsa.

Melissa Clark, Real Simple
APRIL 2004

Meatloaf

This is the best meatloaf EVER. I have friends who request this (okay, maybe just friend – this post is dedicated to Whitney)

• 3 slices soft bread
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/4 c onions, minced
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp each pepper, sage. mustard, celery salt garlic salt
• 1 T Worcestshire sauce

Heat oven to 350. Tear bread into loaf pan. Add milk and egg. Add meat and seasonings, mix thoroughly. Bake 1 hour.

Tomato-and-Mango Salad with Curry-Orange Vinaigrette

A fun summer salad. I made this for some friends and it was a hit. It kind of reminds me of the pineapple-red-onion-mint salad.

Image Credit: Randy Mayor; Mary Catherine Muir

Tomato-and-Mango Salad with Curry-Orange Vinaigrette

This recipe is also delicious with peaches or nectarines in place of the mangoes.

• YIELD: 6 servings
• COURSE: Salads

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh orange juice (about 6 oranges)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 medium tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), cored and cut into 3/4-inch-thick wedges
• 2 medium mangoes (about 2 pounds), peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced mint leaves

Preparation

• Bring the orange juice to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium, and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 25 minutes). Remove from heat. Stir in oil, curry powder, and salt. Cool to room temperature.
• Divide the tomato wedges and mango strips evenly among 6 salad plates. Drizzle evenly with dressing; sprinkle with mint.

Cooking Light
JUNE 2001