Hawaiian Rice Salad

I found this recipe a few years ago when I was invited to a Luau potluck. It was so enjoyed by all that I sent out the recipe by request. I forgot all about it until recently when someone brought it to another party and said she'd gotten the recipe from me! I lost mine in a computer crash so she sent it back to me. It's delicious!

• 3 cups cooked brown rice
• 2 cups drained pineapple chunks, reserve liquid
• 2 cups sliced celery
• 2 cups cooked chicken, cut in bite-sized pieces
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• Salt and pepper to taste

Combine rice, pineapple, celery and chicken. Blend 1/2 cup pineapple juice with mayonnaise. Add to rice and chicken mixture. Toss lightly. Serves 6.
Garnish with sesame and/or celery seeds (optional)

CREAMY TACO SOUP

I really have nothing to say about this soup, other than YUMYUMYUM.

It is a low carb recipe. If you don't care about carbs, you can add corn, and you could also use regular black beans. The black soybeans are low in carbs and taste just like regular black beans. But they are expensive and hard to find.

CREAMY TACO SOUP

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 recipe taco seasoning
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 10-ounce cans Ro-tel tomatoes, undrained (tomatoes with green chilies)
2 cans beef broth

1 can black soybeans

2 cups finely chopped cabbage

1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

In a large soup pot, brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic; drain. Add the spices and cook a couple minutes. Drop the cream cheese in bits into the meat. With the back of a big spoon, smash it into the meat until no bits of white remain. Stir in remaining ingredients and heat through.

Makes 8 cups or 6-8 servings
Freezing not recommended

Creamed Spinach

We love creamed spinach and have tried several recipes. One of our main requirements when searching was that it had to be able to use frozen spinach.

My sister-in-law made this at Thanksgiving and I had to bug her for the recipe! It's now my favorite. I normally double it because we really, really love it. It's low carb too!

2 tbsp butter

1/2 c chopped onion

2 tbsp flour (see note at the bottom)

3/4 c half and half

10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 c shredded swiss or mozzarella

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

1/4 t gr nutmeg

Melt butter in skillet, add onion and cook till tender. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly for 2 min. Stir in 1/4 c half and half till smooth. Stir in spinach, cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg and remaining half and half. Spoon into baking dish and broil 5 inches from heat until hot and bubbly.

This serves 2 in large ramekins. Carrie doubled and cooked in shallow pyrex.

Notes:

Substituting flour for low carb diet: I have used soy flour (same amount) and it turned out great. I also left the flour out entirely once when I had no soy flour. It just wasn't as thick. You could use cream instead of half and half to make it thicker, or maybe just half the amount of half and half. Replacing with sour cream will also leave it thicker in the end.

Additions (we have tried all of these and they are delicious!):

2 pieces of bacon, crumbled
1 can artichoke hearts, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

Top with sprinkled parmesan cheese before broiling.

It's also great if you don't broil it at all!

Sugar Cookie Icing

I found this while making Christmas cookies with the kids and it was the best one I've found yet. It takes color really well and the touch of lemon tastes great. Play around with other flavors if you like!

NOTE: This doesn't make much. We went through 4 batches before we were done with the sugar cookies. it does get hard fast and it was easy to whip up more as needed.

Ingredients

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
• assorted food coloring

Directions

1. In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
2. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each till desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.