Grandma's Macaroni Salad

We've eaten this salad since we were kids and every few months I call Jen for the recipe. Now I won't have to anyMORE! :) Thanks Jen, thanks Grandma! This is the best go-to-lunch for three days straight. Ha!

Grandma's Macaroni Salad

Ingredients:

1 12 oz box of macaroni elbows
1 package of grapes
1 half block of cheddar cheese
1 or 2 1/2 thick slabs of ham from the deli
1/2 to 3/4 cups of Mayo
2 tbs of brown sugar

1. Cut the grapes in half
2. Boil the macaroni, drain and rinse with cool water
3. Cube the cheese
4. We like to pan cook the ham for a minute or two on each side and then cube it
5. Put all of the above in a large bowl.
6. Mix the mayo and brown sugar together and then mix all the ingredients together. Refrigerate and eat whenever you need to. Which I do. All the time.

 She at the whole thing. Well..... I helped. XOXO to Jen!

 PS We only had tiny grapes on hand so they didn't need slicing. :)

That Tortilla Chip Soup I Keep Making

I got this recipe from my best friend Jess. It's the yummiest soup. I thank her every time I eat it. Maybe not actually tooo her, but I sure think about it.

Cook up 2-3 chicken breasts beforehand unless you want to throw this all in the crockpot then you can cook all this together all day or on high for a few hours or whatever.

In a pot:

1-2 cans of black beans
1 24 oz can of crushed tomatoes
16 oz of tomato juice (you can use the little V8-ish sized tomato juice cans)
1 can of chopped green chilis
1 can of corn or an equivalent of frozen corn
2 cloves of minced garlic
8 oz of beef broth
1 cup of water
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp chili powder

When all is said and done add some chips and cheese, maybe some avocado, sour cream etc! YUM!

Cake-In-A-Mug

I haven't posted in a loooong time.

Without any fanfare, I present a MICROWAVED cake-in-a-mug. I have played with the recipe a lot, so I have eaten it a lot. I like this ratio the best:

Add ingredients as listed to a mug.

4 tbls of flour
4 tbls of sugar
3 tbls of oil
3 tbls of milk
2 tbls of beaten egg
1 tbls of cocoa powder
1/8 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of vanilla
10-15 chocolate chips if desired

Stir like crazy, get it all mixed good!
Pop in the microwave for 2 minutes and 10 seconds
 It may look like it will overflow, but it won't!

Turn the mug upside down and drop out the cake, slather on the ice cream, drizzle some *chocolate and caramel on top and enjoy your chocolate cake that you made in 5 ish minutes.

*sigh* this has really come in handy. :)

*Homemade QUICK chocolate icing. I seriously mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1 tbls of milk and about a tsp of cocoa. It's really sweet. I like it.

PS No need to spray the mug, but if you do it might make clean-up faster. Bonus.