Black Bean and Corn Salsa

From Salena Thomas

1/2 large sweet onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic (a little less than a tbsp from the garlic in a jar)
1 lb roma tomatoes, chopped
15 oz can black beans, drained
15 oz can black eyed peas, drained
15 oz can corn, drained
16 oz bottle Zesty Italian Dressing
1/2 tsp coriander (opt)
chopped green onions to tase (opt)
chopped jalepeno to taste (opt)

Mix and refrigerate 4 hours. Serve with corn chips or lime chips. (I put in about 2 green onions and no coriander or jalepeno.)

Blueberry Bars

From Salena Thomas

1 2/3 c sugar
1 c butter, soft 1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
21 oz can blueberry pie filling (I use 1 1/2 cans filling)

For the Glaze
1 c powdered sugar
1 - 2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp almond extract

In large bowl cream sugar, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add egg, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup, level off. Gradually add flour and baking powder. Blend well. Spread 2/3 batter into prepared 15x10 jelly roll pan. Spread pie filling over batter. Drop teaspoons of remaining batter over the pie filling, slightly spread lattice-like, making connections but leaving spaces. Bake at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes or until light brown. Cool. Mix glaze together and drizzle over bars. Other flavors of pie filling work great on this recipe.

Cream Puffs
From Salena Thomas
I got this recipe from my friend Denise. They are the best I’ve ever tasted.

For the Shell:
1 c water
½ c butter
1 c flour
4 eggs

For the Filling:
3 oz vanilla pudding
3 oz French vanilla pudding
2 ¼ c milk
9 oz cool whip
1 tsp vanilla

For the Chocolate Glaze:
2 oz semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp milk
1 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Boil water and butter until a rolling boil. Stir in flour at once over low heat until the dough forms a ball. Remove from heat. Stir in eggs one at a time and stir until smooth or until your arm just hurts too much and you can’t go on any longer. Scoop by tablespoonfuls and put on an ungreased cookie sheet. I use the cookie-sized scoop. But you can make them bigger or smaller to suit your occasion. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes or until puffs are light brown and have no beads of water on them.
While the puffs are baking, make the filling. Mix both puddings, milk, and vanilla until smooth and starting to thicken. Fold in cool whip. Put In fridge until ready to use. (You can change out the flavors of the pudding if you want)
To make the glaze, combine all ingredients in a pot over medium heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. (I double the glaze recipe cause there can never be too much chocolate.)
When ready to assemble, cut the tops off the puffs and pull out the egg-y middle. Fill to overflowing with the pudding. Replace tops and drizzle (or dump, as I like it) with the glaze. Eat immediately and then make another cause you can’t eat just one (Ask Brother Pauole!).

Mixed Salad with Asparagus Ribbons
From Jocelyn Denyer

6 thick white asparagus spears
½ bag fresh chervil
1 bag mesclun or mixed salad greens with arugula

For the Dressing:
1 tsp honey
A pinch of wasabi or very sharp mustard
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

Trim ends of asparagus and lay in cold water for an hour. Peel asparagus and with your peeler and cut ribbons. Start from bottom end and peel towards tip. Pluck the chervil leaves apart. Make the dressing.
Arrange salad mixture on a plate adding chervil leaves. Decorate with asparagus ribbons. Sprinkle with dressing just before serving.

Pavlova Cake
From Michelle Ford

For the Meringue:
3 egg whites
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp distilled vinegar
1 1/3 cups sifted powdered sugar
¼ tsp vanilla

For the filling:
¼ lb strawberries or raspberries (hulled and sliced)
¼ lb roughly chopped cherries (opt)
4 ripe apricots, halved, pitted and roughly chopped (opt)
2 ripe peaches, halved, pitted and sliced (opt)
2 – 3 kiwis, peeled and sliced thinly
1 ¼ c heavy cream, stiffly whipped

Preheat oven to 300.
Line a baking sheet with non-stick parchment paper and draw a circle 7 inches in diameter. Put the egg whites in a bowl and beat until very stiff and dry. Beat in half the sugar, then continue beating until the mixture is stiff and shiny. Mix the remaining sugar with the cornstarch and fold into the mixture with the vanilla and vinegar. Spread the meringue on the circle and build up into a bowl-shaped shell, swirling the meringue around the outside of the shell. Bake for up to 1 ½ hours or until crisp and delicately colored. Remove from the oven, leave to cool, then peel off the parchment paper.

Fold the fruit into the whipped cream and pile into the center of the meringue, arranging the kiwis and strawberries on top.

Strawberry Pretzel Dessert
From Shirley Pauole

For the Crust:
2 c crushed pretzels
3 tbsp sugar
¾ c melted butter

For the Cream Cheese Layer:
8 oz cream cheese
1 c sugar
1 small cool whip

For the Jello Layer:
1 lg strawberry jello
2 c boiling water
2 (10 oz) frozen sliced strawberries, thawed
1 small can crushed pineapple

Combine all crust ingredients and pat into the bottom of a 9x13 dish. Bake at 400 for 7 min; let cool.
Mix together all of the cream layer ingredients and spread over the pretzel crust.
Dissolve jello in water and add remaining ingredients. Chill until about set and then pour over the cream cheese layer. Chill until ready to serve.

Best Chocolate Mess
From Roz Brown
Especially for single moms with no time to spare

Devil’s Food Cake Mix
Chocolate instant pudding mix
Cool Whip
Heath Crunchies

Bake cake as directed. Make pudding as directed. Crumble cake in bowl. Pour the pudding on top. Slap on the cool whip. Sprinkle on Heath crunchies. Smile real big and eat just a little.