I'll be the first.  We grow our own artichokes - so I have lots of artichoke recipes.

Baked Artichokes

Ingredients:
  •3 artichokes
  •olive oil
  •dry basil
  •dry oregano
  •cayenne
  •salt (easy on the salt)

Directions:
Cut off bottoms and about one off the tops of the artichokes / de-hair.
Rinse them thoroughly.
Slice each artichoke lengthwise into eighths.
Place them into a baking pan.
Drizzle olive oil and seasonings to taste over them.
Spread them out but overlap is ok.
Cover the pan with foil and bake in a 350 Fahrenheit oven for 40 min.

Take foil off, mix them up and continue baking for 5 more min.

Yummy,
You can freeze these too for later consumption.

Coconut Poke Cake
1 (18.25-ounce) package yellow or white cake mix (I use Duncan Hines Butter Recipe)
1 (16-ounce) can coconut milk
1 (14-ounce) can Eagle Brand Mild
1 (16-ounce) container Cool Whip
1 (8-ounce) bag sweetened flaked coconut

1. Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions in a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan

2. Remove cake from oven and while still hot, using a utility, fork poke holes all over top of the cake.

3. Mix coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk together. Pour over the hot cake. Cool completely then frost with the cool and sprinkle with the flaked coconut. Cover and store in refrigerator.

Makes 12 servings.

This is one of my very favorite desserts to take places.  It is easy to make and people LOVE it! 

My husband is diabetic, and allot of the sugarfree products are very exspensive if you can even find them, so I have made up allot of sugarfree recipes for stuff.
Thank you for the cool MOS
Sugar free Cake Icing
1 package sugar free chocolate pudding
3/4 cup milk
8 ounces cream cheese.
8 ounce sugar free whip cream ( cool whip makes a good one)
In med bowl mix pudding mix, milk,   mix and let sit 5 minutes
beat cream cheese until smooth.
add pudding and mix well
fold in whip cream.
Ice cooled cake and serve.

Thank you for the contest.

This is pretty simple and my family loves it.

Taco Salad-

Large bag mixed salad or 1-2 heads lettuce
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1 can drained kidney beans
1lb ground beef (browned and drained)
Any other veggies you enjoy
1/2 bag tortilla chips-smashed
1 bottle russian dressing (2 if using the small bottles)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and serve. This is even good leftover.

This was a recipe brought to a Christmas dinner that I went to tonight.  I didn't try any because I have a weird thing about food, but my sister almost ate the bowl that it came out of ~ lol!  They literally were scraping the bowl!

Captain Rodney’s cheese bake

1/2 cup mayonnaise

8 ounces cream cheese

1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

2 green onions, chopped

6 Ritz crackers, crushed
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (or bacon bits), optional

1/2 cup any flavor Captain Rodney’s glaze (tonight's recipe was with boucan glaze)

In a bowl, mix mayonnaise, cream cheese, Cheddar cheese and onions. Pour into a greased quiche pan. Top with crackers and bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. While still hot, top with crumbled bacon and Captain Rodney’s glaze.

Serve with ritz crackers, toast, bread sticks or fresh bread or anything else that you think would taste good.

Captain Rodney's boucan glaze can be found on the internet ~ here is one link ~ http://www.theeverydaygourmet.com/browse.cfm/4,164.html

Okay I know this sounds gross - but really yummy (an Indonesian thing).

Salty Duck Eggs

Ingredients
12 Raw Large Eggs
500gms Salt
4 Litres Water
Large Boiling Pan
Big Glass Jar

Preparation
1. The eggs are salted in a saturated brine solution. This means the maximum amount of salt you can dissolve in the water!
2. Boil water in a large pan.
3. Add the salt to the water and dissolve it. Add more salt until the salt can no longer dissolve.
4. Leave to cool, as the water cools, salt crystals should form. If they do not, heat it up and add more salt.
5. Put the cold brine and eggs into a jar, the eggs must be submerged in the brine.
6. After 14-20 day take it out of the jar. They can be kept for a long time in that salted condition.
7. They can be used boiled or fried or to add salt to a dish.

(My mother's recipe called for burying the mixture in the backyard for a month!)

I love spinach and this is my favorite way of preparing it.

Put 2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a skillet on medium heat
Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and heat til garlic is sizzling
Add the spinach til is overflowing the pan and cover. Cook 2 minutes
Flip it all over with a spatula, cover and cook 2 more minutes. It's done!
I usually sprinkle lemon or lime juice on mine before eating. Yummy!

Please note the if you have never cooked spinach before that it cooks down alot.   

Easy Chocolate Fudge

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 can Regular Eagle Brand®

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cups chopped nuts (optional)



1.  Melt chocolate chips with Eagle Brand Milk and butter. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and nuts.

2.  Spread evenly in parchment paper-lined 8-inch square pan. Chill 4 hours or until firm.

3.  Remove from pan and cut into squares.

Just in time for leftover Holiday Ham.

Ham and Split Pea Soup

Use bout 2 1/2-pound of left over ham pieces and the ham bone.

4 bay leaves
1 pound (2 1/2 cups) split peas, rinsed and picked through
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped medium
2 medium carrots, chopped medium
2 medium stalks celery, chopped medium
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
Pinch sugar
3 small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch dice
Ground black pepper
Minced red onion (optional)
Balsamic vinegar

1. Place ham, bay leaves, and 3 quarts water in large stockpot or Dutch oven. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until meat is tender and pulls away from bone, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove ham meat and bone from pot and set aside.

2. Add split peas and thyme to stock. Bring back to boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, until peas are tender but not dissolved, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, when ham is cool enough to handle, shred meat into bite-sized pieces and set aside. Discard rind and bone.

3. While split peas are simmering, heat oil in large skillet over high heat until shimmering. Add onions, carrots, and celery and sauté, stirring frequently, until most of liquid evaporates and vegetables begin to brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and add butter, garlic, and sugar. Cook vegetables, stirring frequently, until deeply browned, 30 to 35 minutes; set aside.

4. Add sautéed vegetables, potatoes, and shredded ham to pot with split peas. Simmer until potatoes are tender and peas dissolve and thicken soup to consistency of light cream, about 20 minutes more. Season with pepper to taste. Ladle soup into bowls, sprinkle with red onion, if using, and serve, passing balsamic vinegar separately.

Chopped anything salad.  The best thing about this salad is taht you can add or subtract anything to it and it will probably still be good.

1 head romaine lettuce (chopped into bite sized pieces)
1 large tomato (chopped into bite sized pieces
1 cucumber (again, chopped)
1 pkg blue cheese or feta crumbles
1 C dried cranberries
1C grapes (halved)
1 stick celery, chopped
1C small pastas (like ditalini) cooked


(and these are good, but optional)
5 pieces of crispy cooked bacon (I have found the best way to cook it is line a cookie sheet with foil, place in oven.  Turn oven on to 350deg, and set timer to 30 mins.  When timer goes off, check on it to see if it's crisp-if it is, remove and set pan on a slant so grease goes to one side.  Once cooled chop up or break with hands.  Not only is it easier but it smells SO GOOD)
1/2 lb cooked and chopped chicken

Mix all ingredients together,and then prep dressing.  For dressing, I use either raspberry vinaigrette or just use about 1/4C balsamic vinegar, a dash of oregano and basil and garlic salt, and about 3T oil.  Combine all, right before eating.

Yummy!  Makes a great potluck dish but also a great meal with a nice crusty roll.

Had to have a Guava recipe because I have guava trees.

•   8 cups guavas, variable in degree of ripeness
•   8 cups sugar
•   Juice of 1 lemon

Cut the fruit in half. Place in a pan with a little water and cook until soft.
Strain the fruit, leaving behind the seeds and skins.
Add the sugar and the lemon juice and bring to the boil.
Steadily boil until you achieve the setting test for jam.
Bottle and seal.
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No for a z variation - before bottling the jam, I stir in some sambal (Indonesian Chili Paste).
This really gives it a exotic flavor!

This is my BFF Recipe - boy did we have fun with it - yummy.

Pomegranate Martinis


¾ cup vodka
1/3 cup triple sec
1/3 cup pomegranate juice
1/3 cup roses sweetened lime juice (optional)


The lime juice is very sweet, so I don’t always use it or I use very little.  The pomegranate juice I got at Vons, it’s called pom & it is in the produce dept.