A friend of mine gave me a small container of gorgonzola cheese, which I had never used before. I excitedly got onto supercooks.com (thanks, Lori!) and found a recipe that I decided to try. I really wanted it to be good. The caramelized onions smelled amazing and it looked delicious, but I just don't like bleu cheeses. I know, however, that some of you love bleu cheese, so I decided to post this because I think you would really like it. All you do is make pizza crust, thinly slice up 2 large vidalia onions (I promise, you want that much) and caramelize them. Put them on the pizza crust and sprinkle about 5 oz. of gorgonzola or bleu cheese on top. Bake according to the pizza crust recipe. I think it would be good with chicken on it as well.

Lemon Chicken Breast with Almonds

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice 1 cup canned chicken broth

1/4 cup olive oil 2 TBs butter or margarine

3 Tbs Dijon mustard 1/2 cups slivered almonds

3 Garlic cloves 1 tsp grated lemon peel

1/4 tsp dried rosemary salt and pepper

6 chicken breast halves 3 TBsp chopped parsley

1 TB cornstarch

In blender, combine lemon juice, oil, mustard, garlic and rosemary and process until well blended. Arrange chicken in a 13 X 9 inch dish. Pour marinade over chicken. Cover and marinate 1 hour. Remove chicken, reserve marinade.

In small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in 2 TB of the chicken broth. In large frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add chicken and cook until white, about 5 minutes a side. Remove chicken and set aside. Scrap reserved marinade into frying pan. Whisk in remaining broth and dissolved cornstarch. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring until thickened and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add almonds and lemon peel. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Return chicken to pan and heat through. Garnish with parsley, Serves 6.

Mom

Earthquake Cake

Just in case you can't get enough calories into your diet...

1 chocolate cake mix
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup coconut flakes

Mix together the coconut and pecans [I, of course, had to mess with it and add 1 cup toffee chips] and sprinkle mixture on bottom of a greased 9x13" pan. Make cake mix as instructed on box and pour batter over crumb mixture. Cream together butter and cheese, add vanilla and powdered sugar and whip together until creamy. Spoon cheese mixture onto top of cake batter. Bake at 350 degrees until done (about 40-45 minutes). Serve hot or cooled!

Lori

Jerky

A friend gave me a 7 pound roast last week and we made the best jerky out of it. Thought I'd pass along the recipe.

2/3 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp seasoned salt
Frank's hot sauce (optional -- as much as you like)
1/4 bottle liquid smoke
2 pounds roast

A lean meat works best, so a top round, bottom round, or sirloin would be best. Don't use chuck. Dehydrated fat is very tough to chew. Trim all the extra fat and slice thin, about 1/8 inch to 3/16 inch thick. If you have a meat slicer, it cuts easier and makes less mess if the meat is slightly frozen. If you don't have a slicer, the deli will cut it when you buy it. Combine all ingredients and marinate overnight. Squeeze out meat and place individual slices on dehydrator tray or cookie sheet with sides if you're doing it in the oven. We had LOTS of meat, so we had some in the dehydrator and some in the oven. The oven worked a lot faster (about 1/3 of the time) but I think the jerky from the dehydrator was a little more tender. Sprinkle the meat with pepper if you like it peppered. We did some both ways and liked the peppered better. Rotate dehydrator trays every couple of hours. It takes up to 18 hours in my dehydrator. Or turn the oven on as low as it will go (140 to 160 degrees) and leave the oven door propped open a few inches. It should be done in 6 to 8 hours.

-Mindy

Beef and Bean Chile

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. ground beef
2 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can beans (I used black)

Saute beef, onion, and garlic in oil, combine remaining ingredients and simmer for at least ten minutes. Season with salt and pepper. You might want to add a can of tomato paste to thicken it. So good and easy! I like easy.
-by Heidi

Green Leaf, Pear, and Goat Cheese Salad

I figured after my two yummy dessert recipes, it was time to set a better example for my family. Here are some more health-conscious recipes:

Don't judge this one before you try it! I was VERY pleasantly surprised. I don't know how you can fail with walnuts and Feta, though.

1/3 cup walnuts, toasted
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 head of lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces
1 bosc pear, cored and thinly sliced
3 ounces goat cheese (I used Feta because, well, yum)
Salt and Pepper

Combine oil, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper and shake well. Put everything together and enjoy!! This is a South Beach Diet recipe, phase 2 for anyone who cares, but once again, don't judge it because of that.
-by Heidi

The Recipe You've All Been Waiting For..... BBQ Chicken Pizza

OK, probably not ALL of you have been waiting for but I know Mark has. So here you go Mark.

The Sauce
1 small can tomato paste
1 can tomato sauce
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 TBSP garlic powder
1 tsp of each: Oregano
Parsley
Basil
Italian Seasoning
Onion powder
1/2 tsp of both salt and pepper
1/4 cup of Parmesan
1 TBSP sugar
(you can add ground beef and use this same sauce for spaghetti and it's very good as well)


The Crust (feel free to use any crust recipe, this is just the one I use)
2 3/4 - 3 1/4 cups- Flour
1 pkg- Dry active yeast
2 tsp- Sugar
1 tsp- Salt
1 cup- Warm water
2 TBSP- Cooking or olive oil

**In a large mixing bowl combine 1 1/4 cup of the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, warm water, and oil. Beat on low for 30 seconds scraping bowl. Beat on high for 3 minutes with spoon stir in as much of remaining flour possible, knead until flour is just barely not sticky, and elastic. Divide dough in half, cover and let rise for 10 min.

The Pizza
Chop: 1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 yellow or orange bell peppers

*I really like the bell peppers so I usually do half of all four. They're just good.

**Cover baking stone with cornmeal. Spread a light layer of pizza sauce on crust. Add some mozzarella. Add shredded BBQ chicken. Cover with peppers and add more cheese.
(Optional: you can also add some crushed red pepper flakes if you want it to be a little spicy)

Bake @ 400 for 15-20 min or until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden brown.

It's tasty and you'll love it!!