Southwest Cornbread Salad

3/4 cup ranch dressing

3/4 teaspoon curry powder

15 slices packaged precooked bacon

8 cups cubed (3/4 inch) cornbread

1 medium tomato, diced (3/4 cup)

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 can (11 oz) Green Giant® SteamCrisp® Mexicorn® whole kernel corn, drained

In 1-cup glass measuring cup, mix dressing and curry powder; let stand 5 to 10 minutes to blend flavors. Meanwhile, cook bacon as directed on package until crisp. Drain on paper towels; crumble. In large bowl, combine cornbread, tomato, onion, cilantro and corn. Add bacon and dressing mixture; toss gently to coat.

Makes 15 servings (1/2 cup each)

MarkX ~ Cheeseburger Soup

2 lb 96% lean ground beef

Hamburger seasoning or salt/pepper

1 large onion, diced

1 Tb light butter

1 box (32 oz) Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth

~1/2-3/4 of a 2 lb log (so, approx 1-1.5 lb) of 2% Velveeta Cheese (On the show, she used Cheese sauce from a can, but all I found was Cheese Wiz, and thought Velveeta would work better)

1-1.5 pint Fat Free Half & Half

1 Tb flour

1 Tb cold water (may take a bit more)

3 medium tomatoes, diced

1/2 head of lettuce, shredded

Directions:

In a skillet sprayed with cooking spray, brown the ground beef. Season with your choice of hamburger seasonings—I used McCormick Hamburger seasoning. Drain and set aside.

In a large soup pot, add 1 Tb light butter, and diced onion. Allow the onion to sweat over medium heat. When the onions become translucent, you are ready to continue.

Add the chicken broth (she used a chicken base–like bouillon + water–but I think it is just easier to use broth), the diced Velveeta and the half & half. Allow the velveeta to melt into the mixture.

In a small bowl or ramekin, mix the flour and water to make a slurry. You may need a bit more of water–just add enough to make a smooth mixture, somewhat thin, but not watery (if that makes sense). Once mixed well, add to the cheesey mixture. Stir to combine, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly (the cheese likes to stick).

Add the ground beef to the soup pot, turn down to medium low heat.

Dice tomatoes and shred lettuce and then add to the mixture. Stir to combine and turn to low heat until ready to heat.

I NEVER would have thought that lettuce in a soup would be good, but it really, really is!

This is comfort food at its greatest, ladies! MMMMMMMMM

Now, what's the damage you may ask? Well, it's not horrible, really!

Nutritional Information:

Servings: This makes about 14 cups of mixture—so 9 servings

Per serving (1.5 cups);

Calories: 359

Fat: 12 g

Fiber: .9 g

Dixie's Favorite' Corn Fritters

2 cups   flour
2            eggs, beaten
1 tbsp.   baking powder
1 cup     milk
1/2 tsp.       salt
1/4 cup       (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
4 tbsp.  sugar
1 cup     whole corn, drained

       Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a small bowl.  Combine eggs, milk and butter-blend; fold into dry ingredients.  Stir in corn; mix well.  Melt butter over medium-high heat until bubbling.  Drop corn by tbsp. into hot butter.  Fry about 5 minutes, turning them once, or until golden brown.  Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.
Serve warm.

French Bread Pudding

1 cup sugar
1 stick butter, softened
5 eggs, beaten well
1 pint (2 cups) half and half
Dash of cinnamon
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/4 cup raisins
12 slices stale French Bread (sliced 1 inch thick)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream together the sugar and butter. Add eggs, cream, cinnamon, vanilla and raisins, mixing well. Pour into a 9-inch square pan (1 3/4 inches deep). Arrange the bread slices in the egg mixture and let stand for 10 minutes to soak up some of the liquid. (You can tear the bread up into pieces and pour the above mixture over and press down lightly to get it to soak up the liquid either way is great). Let the bread slices sit another 10 minutes and push them down so that most of the bread is covered by the egg mixture. Set the pan in a larger pan filled with water to 1/2 inch from top. Cover pudding with foil. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, uncovering the pudding for the last 10 minutes to brown the top. When done, the custard should still be soft not firm. Serve slightly warm with Lemon Sauce.