I found this recipe online a few weeks ago and finally got around to making it this last Friday. I did substitute 3 chopped fresh tomatoes for the tomato sauce it calls for.

http://www.emilybites.com/2015/12/slow-cooker-beef-and-barley-soup.html

The recipe is a keeper for me.

Shirley

Serve this often. In fact I served it Sunday, and the two young men, that were having Easter at my place cleaned the salad bowl.

Had this first time I went to AK, and Karla, former KT'er who lives in AK, found the recipe for me. I had it at a gold rush camp when they had grilled salmon and the slaw.

Thus I named it Alaskan cole slaw

Alaska cole slaw
5
cups shredded cabbage **I buy the preshredded plain, no carrots, etc at WalMart

1/2 cups almond slivers, toasted
1 1/2
cups dried cranberries
1/2 cup celery, diced**don't use
1/4 cup chopped green onions, white and green parts
1/2 cups chopped green bell pepper **don't use

This is the creamy dressing I used and it
works great:

mix 1/2 c mayo with 2 Tbl cider vinegar
**I use white wine vinegar, 2 tsp sugar, salt and pepper to taste Pour over
coleslaw right before serving and toss JUST TO COAT

Combine cabbage, almonds, cranberries,
celery, green onions, and green pepper in a large plastic bowl with a snap-on
lid.
Combine all dressing ingredients, adding salt and
pepper to taste, and refrigerate until ready to serve. Pour dressing over slaw
just before serving. Stir well

These sound so good! I think I'll make the soup for dinner. Thanks all.

I have a million recipes! But if we're doing veggies and slaw, here's Pioneer Woman's slaw she puts on pork sandwiches. Both recipes are tried and true (you'll have to go to her site to get the pork recipe. I halve the chipotle part of it and use Dr. Pepper). Well loved by my family and friends.

Ree Drummond's Cilantro-Jalapeno Slaw

• 1/2 head Cabbage, Sliced Thin
• 1/2 head Purple Cabbage, Sliced Thin
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Halved Lengthwise And Thinly Sliced
• 1/2 cup Whole Milk
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon White Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 2 cups Cilantro Leaves, Barely Chopped

Combine shredded cabbage and sliced jalapenos in a bowl. In a
separate bowl mix milk, mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt, and cayenne.
Pour over cabbage. Toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate two hours.

Before serving, toss in cilantro leaves.

Sue: Here's my recipe for making Wedding Soup. Haven't made it in years.

Italian Wedding Soup

* ½ lb ground beef
* ½ lb ground sausage
* ¼ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
* 1 egg
* 1 tbsp parsley
* salt and pepper to taste

* 4 cups chicken broth
* 1 cup cooked chicken, chopped
* 2 cups spinach leaves cut into pieces
* ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

Preparation & Cooking Instructions

1. Combine the ground meat, bread crumbs, egg, parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl.
2. Mix well and form into tiny meat balls. Bake on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes at 350°F.
3. Meanwhile, bring broth to a boil and add spinach. Cover and boil for 5 minutes.
4. Add the meatballs to the hot broth, bring to a simmer.
5. Stir in the cheese and serve immediately.

Thank you!!

Shirley/gadgets: I made the stew for dinner, slightly modified. I had to use diluted tomato paste and put in a few chopped green beans for color. Fresh tomatoes would be good, as you did. It's a basic stew recipe, the only thing different is the barley, which is a good change from potatoes.

Oh--I decided to add the mushrooms later in the cooking and completely forgot. So the leftovers tonight will have those mushrooms!

Susan/socks

A couple of my summer favorites. They print out on reg size paper.

A second one

• Oh My....I've been working for days on my cookbooks. I have three binders that have become grubby and the outside covers falling off so I've been rewriting all my recipes. So far I've only finished with appetizers and soups and am now on to the salads and misc. That just takes care of book #1! Since I'm working on salads right now, I'll share a salad recipe:

Jackson Salad

2 heads romaine 1 8.5 oz, artichoke hearts, drained and quartered 1 7.5 oz. Heart of Palm, drained and quartered 4 oz. blue cheese 1/2 lb. bacon, cooked and drained

Dressing:

1/4 C. onion, chopped 3 T. cider vinegar 2 tsp. spicy brown mustard 1/2 tsp. salt - 1/4 tsp pepper

Blend in b,ender. Gradually add 1 C. canola oil

This one is on my to make soon list

Slow cooker Green enchilada soup

yield: 6 SERVINGS

prep time: 15 MINUTES

cook time: 4-5 HOURS

total time: 5 HOURS

Ingredients:

• 5 chicken breasts, I used frozen
• 1 (16 ounce) container chicken stock
• 1 cup water
• 2 (10 ounce) cans Old El Paso green enchilada sauce
• 2 (4.5 ounce) cans Old El Paso chopped green chiles
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
• 1/3rd cup chopped onion
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 (8 oz) block cream cheese, softened and cubed
• Salt and Pepper
• Optional toppings: shredded monterey jack cheese, sour cream, cilantro and tortilla strips

Directions:

Combine the chicken breasts, chicken stock, water, enchilada sauce, green chiles, black beans, corn and onion in a large slow cooker. Add in the cumin, chili powder and garlic powder and cook on high for 3-4 hours, or until the chicken is tender enough to shred. Remove chicken and place on a cutting board. Stir cream cheese in the slow cooker and then turn the heat to low. Next, shred the chicken, removing any fat and then place back in the slow cooker and cook for an additional hour, or until the cream cheese has melted. Salt and pepper to taste.

The giant size chicken breast I have been getting lately I don't think I would use 5 but the ones that come in the big bags frozen like the ones from Costco are about half that size so probably 5 wouldn't be too much. I swear I don't want to see one of those big breasted chickens! They are almost as big as a turkey breast.

Green enchilada soup

I'm glad to see more people posting their recipes. I really like reading them, and have gotten quite a few from the KT over the years. Susan/socks: Glad you liked the stew. You're like me, not afraid to add to or subtract/substitute in making a recipe. Thanks, Sue, for starting this thread.

I love the recipe threads and miss having them regularly.

Since we are discussing cornbread in another thread...

My mom used to make these for me for breakfast and I love them, they have many names, hoe cakes, Johnny cakes, fried cornbread, I called them cornbread pancakes. They had a hint ofof sweet.

Fried Cornbread - Southern Cornmeal Hoecakes

©From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

1 cup of self rising flour

1 cup of all purpose cornmeal

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of sugar, optional

2 eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup of canola oil

1 tablespoon of canola, for frying, or canola

combined with a bit of butter

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar. Measure out the buttermilk in a liquid measuring cup, and add to that the water and oil; blend well. Add eggs and mix well; combine with dry ingredients. Heat oil and butter in a cast iron skillet over medium to medium high and drop batter by about 1/8 cup measures into the hot skillet to form small medallions.

Fry until brown and crisp, turn and brown the other side. Remove and let drain on paper towels. Serve immediately with warm syrup for breakfast or as a snack, or dip 'em in a mess o' greens to sop up that pot likker (juice from the greens)!

Variation: When corn is at peak and in-season, add about 1 cup of corn cut and scraped off the cob. You'll need about 2 medium sized ears of corn. Can also make this into a pan hoecake. Add only enough buttermilk to make a stiff batter. You may not need the additional water. Pour into a screaming hot, well greased 8-inch cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Reduce heat and let brown underneath about 10 - 15 minutes. Run a metal egg turner underneath and turn to brown the other side. Can also bake in a well preheated 425 degree F oven for about 15 to 20 minutes (no turning needed).

For years we didn't eat cauliflower, just because it's tasteless. Then I started preparing it like Lidia does. It's now our favourite vegetable.

I head cauliflower cut in florets

3 cloves garlic, sliced

crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup olive oil

Heat the garlic cloves and red pepper flakes in olive oil. Add the cauliflower and stir for a few minutes.

Add some water, about 1/2 cup, then cover and steam the cauliflower until almost tender, about 8 minutes. Uncover, and let the water evaporate, and the cauliflower caramelize a bit. Delicious.

This is hoe cake as I know it, and the only way I ever make it, taught to me by my MIL. Her dad was a plantation owner and the recipe was passed to her by Suzy, one of the workers on the plantation back then. I remember the two of them making Camp Stew in the back yard, in a huge cast iron pot over a wood fire.

South Alabama Hoe Cake

One cup of corn meal

3/4 cup HOT water or less Use less and add more of the measured water if needed. You have to eyeball it

pinch of salt

Mix together and let it sit for a few minutes until the mixture is pourable. Not too thin, not too thick.

Heat a cast iron griddle with your choice: tablespoon of bacon grease, preferably OR cooking oil, or butter

Pour all the mixture onto the hot griddle

Spread it out of the griddle

Cook until the center looks dried out and edges become thin and crispy

Slide off with spatula onto a dinner plate with another plate on top and flip.

Add more oil to skillet and slide gently onto the griddle, Cook few more minutes until the bottom is good and grown, and edges crisp. Lift with spatula to check for doneness.

Remove to plate, immediately spread softened butter.

Cut into wedges and ENJOY!

Wonderful with vegetable soup, or any kind of soup.

Recipes are so interesting to most everyone. Why doesn't HOUZZ put this thread closer to the beginning of the forum?

Pink, are you saying recipes are more interesting than our other topics; therefore, a recipe thread should always come first? If that's what you meant, I would vote against it. This is the KT, not a cooking forum. Any topic is easy enough to find, and adding to a thread always moves it up to the top anyway.

Plus if recipes stayed at the top, and new recipe thread were started, a log-jam of recipe threads would soon form. The alternative--having a single recipe thread--could get so long it could become unmanageable.

Mexican lasagna

I found this recipe on pinterest and it sounds like one I need to try.

This amazing lasagna recipe with Tex-Mex flair is fantastic. The beef mixture includes refried beans and chilies. The recipe is layered with noodles and cheese and has a salsa layer before adding sour cream, cheese, green onions, olives and tomatoes for the topping.

Author: Teresa Ambra inspired from Taste of Home

Recipe type: Beef Main Dish/Pasta

Cuisine: Tex-Mex

Serves: 10

Ingredients

2 lbs. 93% lean ground beef

16-oz. can refried beans

4-oz. can chopped green chilies

1 pkg. taco seasoning or Homemade Taco Seasoning

2 8-oz. bags shredded Colby-Jack cheese, divided

16-oz. uncooked lasagna noodles

24-oz. jar Pace mild or medium chunky salsa, divided use

2 cups water (see note below)

16-oz. sour cream

2 ¼-oz. can sliced ripe olives, drained

3 green onions, chopped

3 small roma tomatoes, chopped

Instructions

In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.

Add the beans, chilies, taco seasoning and 2 heaping tablespoonfuls salsa; mix well.

Heat through over medium heat about 5 minutes.

In a well greased 9x13” baking dish, spread at least a cup of the meat mixture on the bottom to prevent noodles from sticking.

Layer a row of four noodles and spread with one-third of the remaining beef mixture.

Sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese.

Repeat layers twice.

Combine remaining salsa and water; pour over top.

Cover and bake at 350° for 1 hour and a half, or until noodles test fork tender.

Uncover; top with sour cream, then cheese, then olives, then onions, and finally tomatoes.

Bake 5-15 minutes longer—until cheese melts.

Let stand 10-15 minutes before cutting.

Notes

When pouring salsa/water mixture over top it is imperative that you cover the noodles as much as possible so they don’t get dried out while baking.

You must spread at least a cup of beef mixture on the bottom of the baking dish or the noodles will stick to the bottom of the pan.

You can use enchilada sauce with the salsa to pour over top, if desired.

Since the noodles aren't pre-cooked you cannot add additional layers or there is not enough moisture in the casserole to bake them through sufficiently.

Baking time is approximate. Your oven may take 1 hour or 2 hours depending on if it runs fast or slow. Check for doneness by pricking noodles with a fork. If the noodles are tender, the casserole is cooked enough.

If you wish to precook your lasagna noodles, cook only to al dente. Then spread the salsa over top of the casserole WITHOUT mixing it with water. Bake about 30-40 minutes or until casserole is bubbly. Then spread with sour cream, add cheese, green onions, olives and tomatoes. Bake an additional 5-10 minutes or until cheese melts.

Recipe by Can't Stay Out of the Kitchen at http://cantstayoutofthekitchen.com/2012/06/28/mexican-lasagna/

alisande: No, I'm suggesting that ANY thread that garners a lot of attention should be kept near the top instead of waaaay back.

Sorry, that makes no sense to me. But it's not important.

The only way it can stay at the top, or near the top, is by people making comments. Unless you're talking about making a "sticky" but Houzz doesn't do that.