Chocolate Temptation Cookies are very aptly named. Almost no one can resist them, myself included. I have adapted this recipe from one in the “In the Kitchen With Martha and Mary” cookbook. Hope you love it!

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter 1 1/2 cups flour (May use whole wheat)

1/2 cup marg. Miniature peanut butter cups

1/2 cup brown sugar Mini chocolate chips if you are really

1 egg feeling decadent.

1/2 cup regular sugar

1/2 teaspoon each vanilla and salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream together all ingredients down to the baking soda and flour. Add both and form into round balls. Place on a greased cookie sheet or in mini muffin cups. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes. Just after you remove from the oven, push a little peanut butter cup down into each little cookie. Cool before removing . Enjoy!!

PS Add 1/2 a bag of mini chocolate chips if you dare!!

No Crust Quiche

1. Butter, marg, or oil to lightly grease the pan (I bake this in my big ceramic pie plate)
2. 12 oz. of frozen broccoli thawed, broken apart and stemmed. If you use fresh broccoli make it into small pieces and use about 2 cups
3. 8 oz. cheese You can use any kind you like. I like really sharp cheddar but you may also use, feta, milder cheddar, or just about anything except the soft cheeses. You can also make a combination of several different kinds of cheese if you like.
4. 1 pint of cottage cheese (I like the small curd)
5. 4 eggs
6. 1/3 cp. flour
7. S and P to taste.

Set oven to 350 and grease your pan. Par boil or cover with boiling water to lightly cook broccoli-Microwave for 40 seconds will do the same. Add everything but eggs, flour and salt and pepper. Wisk eggs, flour and s and p until there are no lumps. Mix all ingredients and spread in the dish. Bake for about 40-45 minutes until not sqishy to the touch in the center. This is good with a mixed green salad or, actually even though I hate to say it, French Fries!!

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So here I am with my empty plate at the church potluck and I spy what I thought were those yummy spinach balls. I grab a few and pop one in my mouth before I even sit down. UGH!! It is full of sausage. Okay, so that is not a disaster for everybody, but I have not eaten meat for over 30 years and I love my vegetarian, plant based life. Just in case YOU might want a REAL spinach ball, I thought I would share the REAL recipe:

1. Big (10 oz.) package of frozen chopped spinach, cooked. (Really drain it well)
2. One cup of seasoned not chicken or pork etc. stuffing mix. Get the herb seasoned stuffing mix or make your own out of bread crumbs or Panko.
3. 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese. I just use the kind in the plastic jar since this is cooked.
4. 3 beaten eggs
5. A bit of the green part of an onion fine chopped-or not. You may not like this.
6. 4 Tablespoons marg. melted in the microwave
7. Combine all ingredients making sure your spinach is nearly dry. Roll into the size of small meatballs. (Ha, Ha, No Meat!) Bake on an ungreased coolie sheet for about 10 minutes at 350.

PS You can freeze these for an appetizer or whatever but take them out and cook from frozen for about 20 minutes at the same 350. These are really easy and very healthy and yummy.

Just try this. I loved it.

Mix a package of any type of muffin mix. (Think Martha Washington in the packets) and mix it with the appropriate fruit-perhaps blueberry or chopped apple depending on your muffin mix choice. Add 2/3 cp. milk and one egg. Mix well and use it to make pancakes. This recipe has fewer calories than my Krustez mix or the Bisquick mix, and it is really yummy. I have even thought of adding a packet of the appropriate type of instant oatmeal. What do you think???

Refrigerator Yogurt Pie

1. 2 8 oz. containers of any type of fruit yogurt
2. 1 cup of fruit-chopped and drained and the same kind as your yogurt (I like blueberry)
3. Whole container of lo-fat Cool Whip
4. Prepared chocolate or graham cracker crust or four clear glass cups with perhaps a little of your chosen fruit on the bottom

Mix all ingredients and pour into your chosen method and scrape your bowl with a plastic spatula. Refrigerate for several hours until set enough to slice or spoon out without dripping. Serve for dessert with a nice cup of spice tea.

Potatoes are probable the most versatile of all known foods. Okay, so partly why I say this is because I love potatoes, but really, just look at some of the ways you can fix a potato:

1. Like the picture above-slice with a vegetable slicer and make potato chips.
2. Bake in the oven or microwave and top with just about anything. I like cheese, broc, butter, sour cream any mixed vegetables, chili, meat or soy meat gravy, and on and on.
3. Who doesn’t like scalloped potatoes?
4. Who doesn’t love roasted vegetables and you must include both sweet and regular poatoes.
5. Potato soup
6. Mashed potatoes
7. French Fries
8. Hash browns
9. Cottage fries
10. Creamed potatoes

Okay, here are 10 bare suggestions. Have a great Potato Day!!

PS-Did I mention potato Latkes?

Roll out the dough even more and cut out little circles about the size of a large jar lid. Put something in the middle of each little circle: a bit of meat, some cinnamon and sugar, some ricotta cheese, and so on. Fold the circle over and bake until lightly browned. This is about 15 min. at 350.

These little half circles are easy to dress up on a passed appetizer tray and if you use your imagination you can do some really unique fillings. ENJOY!

We have talked a lot about smoothie recipes, but I don’t think we have shared what I call the “winter” version. Think about YOU at Starbucks and what you might order hot. A latte perhaps, some sort of delicious coffee concoction with mocha or a chocolate flavoring?

Well, all you have to do is leave out the ice cubes (Duh) and add a tablespoon or so of protein powder and put it in the blender, and you have a really yummy “winter smoothie.” I also like to sub non-fat milk and use a powdered coco mix like Swill Miss. Try it!