Mom's 7 Layer Dip

Bottom layer: 1 can of refried beans and 1 can Frito Bean dip mixed together
Middle layer: Guacamole
Top layer: 16 oz sour cream mixed with 1 package taco seasoning, plus half a cup of mayo

Toppings: Cheese, green onions, olives, tomatoes, etc

Celeste's Taco Salad

2 heads of Romain Lettuce
1 pound of browned ground beef with taco seasoning
Tortilla chips
Olives
1 Cucumber diced
Tomato
1/2 green pepper

1 1/2 cup Ranch Dressing
1/2 cup Miracle Whip
1 package Taco Seasoning

Chop and wash lettuce
Brown beef with taco seasoning and add to salad
Crush Tortilla chips into salad
Dice olives into salad
Add cucumber, diced tomato, and diced green pepper.

For the dressing, mix the ranch, miracle whip, and taco seasoning all together.  Pour some over salada and mix until coated. You may have extra dressing left over.

Chicken Tomatillo Soup

Tomatillo Chicken Chili

OK, after that last post going on and on about healthy food not being so hard and receiving lots of requests for recipes, here's a favorite very easy and very healthy recipe. It's one of our family's very favorite meals and we have it at least every other week. It's especially nice in the winter. Just spend 5 minutes putting everything in the crockpot after getting the kids off to school in the morning and then, just before dinner time, take another 5 minutes to shred the chicken and add the corn.

Tomatillo Chicken Chili

Put everything below into your crock pot, mix together and cook on high for about 6 hours:

• 2-3 cups dry navy or small white beans (about one small bag if you buy them bagged - you don't have to pre-soak or pre-cook them - just put them in hard and uncooked and they'll be fine; use more beans if you like more beans, less if you like less; use a little Bean-o or something like that if you want to reduce the gas that can be involved. You can use called beans - two 14-oz cans if you want instead of dry beans. If you're using canned, pre-cooked beans, add them at the end with the corn or they'll get really mushy)
• 1 16 oz. jar of tomatillo salsa (I usually use La Victoria Thick and Chunky Salsa Verde since that's been easy for me to find - used to use Trader Joe's green salsa - most any kind works well - medium heat doesn't give much of a kick once it's with all the other ingredients; if you want to spend a bit more time you can use fresh tomatillos, onions and jalepeno peppers but it's a lot easier and about the same price to get the salsa)
• 4-5 cups water (depends on how much beans you use - need 2 cups water per 1 cup dry beans - skip the water if you're using canned, pre-cooked beans)
• 4 cups chicken broth or vegetable stock (can use canned or make it with "Better than Bouillon)
• 2 tsp ground cumin (or chili powder if you don't have any cumin on hand)
• 1/2 - 1 tsp garlic powder (based on how much you like garlic)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2-3 large frozen chicken breasts (I usually just use 2 breasts - I like a little less chicken and a little more beans)

After 6-8 hours, use two forks to shred the chicken. It should mostly fall apart. Then, shortly before serving, add:
2 cups of frozen corn (warm in microwave first so it doesn't make the soup cold). You can use canned corn but the frozen is a little tastier.

Serve with a little chopped cilantro and a dollop of lite sour cream or plain yogurt as a garnish.

Makes about 10 one-cup servings.

Enjoy!

Slush

4 C Water
6 C Sugar

Boil and let cool

5 Mashed Bananas
1 Qt Pineapple Juice
1 Can Frozen Lemonade
1 Can Frozen Orange Juice
1 8 oz Package Frozen Raspberries

Mix all together and freeze. 
Serve with 2-3 liters of 7 Up/Sprite

So.. the water takes a few hours to cool, so I sometimes do it the night before and then mix everything up the next day. Then I put in the freezer for at least 24 hours, but 2 days is even better.

Garlic Soup - 52 cloves

26 garlic cloves - unpeeled
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
1/2 cup fresh ginger
2 1/4 cups sliced onions
1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
26 garlic cloves peeled
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 1/2 cups broth

4 lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 350 F. Place 26 garlic cloves in small glass baking dish. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and toss to coat. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake until garlic is golden brown and tender, about 45 minutes. Cool. Squeeze garlic between fingertips to release cloves. Transfer cloves to small bowl.

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions, thyme, ginger and cayenne powder and cook until onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add roasted garlic and 26 raw garlic cloves and cook 3 minutes.  Add broth. Cover, simmer until garlic is very tender, about 20 minutes.  Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth.  Return soup to saucepan; add coconut milk and bring to simmer.  Season with sea salt and pepper for flavor.

Squeeze juice of 1 lemon wedge into each bowl and serve.

Olive Garden Gnoochi Soup Copy Cat

1 Tbsp Oil
4 Tbsp Butter
1 Cup diced onion
1/2 Cup diced celery
2 minced cloves of garlic
1/4 Cup flour
1 quart half and half

Simmer to thicken

14 ounces chicken broth
1 Cup cooked diced chicken
1/2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 Cup shredded carrots
1 package gnoochi
1 cup spinach

Easy Oatmeal Pancakes

2 Cups Oats

1 1/4 cups milk (I use vanilla almond milk)

1 large, ripe, banana

1/2 tsp ground cinamon

1 heaping Tbsp honey

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 large egg

Oil for cooking

1. Place all ingredients except egg and oil in the base of a blender and blend until smooth.  Add egg and pulse a few times until egg is fully incorporated.

2. Heat griddle or large saute pan over medium heat and melt a tsp or two of oil.  When hot, pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle. Brown on both sides and serve hot with maple syrup.

*If batter is too thick and a little bit more milk to thin