Nachos - Made by Jamila

These are the nachos that my niece Jamila made for our Super Bowl party!! Awesomely delicious!!!

She hooked us up!!! By the way, this was her plate.  I don't think mine looked as pretty as hers!! ;-)

Lentil Soup - Made by Ty

I wish I could put it into words how GOOD this homemade lentil soup was!!! My daughter made this totally vegan, and it was awesome!!

She used veggie broth, added mushrooms and veggie sausage.  

Great job Ty!!!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, that little weird looking decoration was my idea! I somehow thought I would be good at making a design out of a fresh tomato...WRONG!!! haha  This was my attempt at making a flower!! 

Slow Cooked Asian Style Pork &Chicken - Made by Leomar

Here is a pic of some slow cooked Asian style pork & chicken.  Using the slow cooker for meats gives you some of the most tender melt in your mouth meat that you have ever eaten.

I've even used my slow cooker for ribs!! I didn't believe it until I tried it, and I was not disappointed!! 

Thinking about how tender and juicy this dish was, makes my mouth water!! Yummy!!!!

Spinach Artichoke Dip - Made by Leomar

I'm SO late with these posts, but it has been a crazy month.  Leomar, here are the posts!! As they say, better late than never. ;-))

I don't know about you good folks, but I LOVE spinach artichoke dip!!! In this pic that Leomar was kind enough to share with me is her homemade spinach artichoke dip.

It looks SO yummy!!! I want, I want!!!! 

Homemade Sweet Potato Fries

This is the first time that I've made sweet potato fries from scratch.  I usually buy them frozen and bake them.

I must admit, cutting a sweet potato is NOTHING like cutting a regular white potato.  Russet, or Yukon potatoes are much softer when you cut them.  This was a real experience for me.

I was thinking "don't cut your finger off" while slicing the sweet potatoes!!

I cut them up, placed them in a large bowl and drizzled olive oil over them, just to coat.  I added kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, paprika and some garlic powder.

After about 20 minutes in the oven, they were ready!!

Loved these fries!!! I got the recipe from the link below. Copy and paste to your browser.

Link:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/baked-sweet-potato-fries-recipe.html

Southern Style Cornbread Dressing

Every year, I get selected to make the dressing for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner with the extended family.  This year was no different, except for some reason, I couldn't find my recipe or really remember what I used as far as seasonings are concerned.

I lucked out and happened to have the right combo of seasonings in my cupboard.  It's kind of funny to me, but I keep making WAY to much and have left over mix.

This is the pic I took of the dressing I made for my family at home with the leftover mix.  I made some chicken gravy to go over it, since I wasn't the one that made the gravy for Thanksgiving dinner.

One of my nieces said I need to enter my dressing into a contest! If felt good to hear such a compliment coming from my niece!! :-))

Bruschetta - By Leomar

Just look at the beautiful homemade Bruschetta that Leomar made!! I can practically taste them now!! Looking at this pic is making me hungry!! I want some!!! :-))

This is one of those foods that was love at first bite for me!! Mmm, mmm good!!

French Onion Soup - By Ty

Here is my daughter's version of French Onion soup! This girl can seriously cook! I haven't tasted anything that she's made that wasn't good.

I didn't taste the french onion soup at the Hilton, but I did get to taste this one!! It was AWESOME!!

She topped it with focaccia bread, Parmesan cheese and mozzarella!!

Slow Cooker Caramel

I keep hearing that you can make homemade caramel using a slow cooker.  I'm going in ya'll!!! lol

I just peeled the label off of the can of sweetened condensed milk, and placed it fully covered with water in the slow cooker.  It will be in there for 8 hours (on low), and then I'm supposed to let the can cool.

The alternative to using the actual can is to use canning jars, but I didn't have any, so the can it is!!

I'm kind of excited about this, and I can hardly wait to taste it!!  I will be sure to give you all an update about how it came out.

Wish me luck!!! :-))

Homemade Tomato Soup - By Ty

My oldest daughter came up with a recipe for tomato soup, and it is SO good!!! She give the old standard a new twist.  It's a little bit spicy, and she adds pasta shells, and sometimes she even adds mushrooms to it.

It will make you never want to open a can of tomato soup again!!! I sprinkled a little sharp cheddar cheese on top of mine!! :-))

UPDATE - Homemade Soft Pretzels

I did it, I did it!! I'm so happy!!! They came out perfect!!! :-))

Getting ready for the oven:

Freshly baked!!

On my plate and ready to eat, with some cheese and mustard on the side!!

The family even loved them!!! 

The recipe can be found at the link below.  Copy and paste to your browser.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/soft-homemade-pretzels/

Roasted Potato Garlic Pizza - Made by Ty

My daughter went away to college and came back a serious cook!! I didn't teach her a thing about cooking before she left!! haha  I like to be in the kitchen by myself, so she didn't get a chance to do much experimenting before she left.

Most college kids learn how to make better ramen, not this one!! This is her homemade pizza, which was to die for.  

This pic does NOT do this pizza justice.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to convince her to make another one!  Maybe she'll see this post and feel a little bit guilty!! Hint, hint!! :-))

Spaghetti with Veggies

This inspiration was due to the fact that I didn't feel like eating meat for dinner.  I wanted spaghetti, but I didn't want to put my usual ground turkey meat, with hot links in, so I came up with this.  I used yellow squash and zucchini instead.  It came out really good and my picky eater even liked it!  I would definitely make it again!! It's good to think outside of the normal "box" from time to time, you would be surprised with what you come up with.

Tuna Salad Sandwich

Betty's Tuna Salad Sandwich

This is one of my favorite sandwiches now.  I decided to switch it up and use spinach instead of lettuce.  It was SO good!!! I think I'll use spinach instead of lettuce from now on.  Here is a pic of it!!