Sister Beck's Key Lime Cheese Ball

KEY LIME CHEESE BALL:

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup graham crackers (coarsely crushed, cinnamon flavor)
2 T. key lime juice (she uses 2-3 real limes)
2 T. key lime zest (grated) (she uses the same limes she got the juice from)

Combine all ingredients (except for the graham cracker crumbs) in a mixing bowl until well combined. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 2 hours until ball is solid. Remove cheese ball from the fridge and roll in the graham cracker crumbs. Serve with extra cinnamon graham crackers, baked croissants and pound cake.

**Instead of forming it into a cheese ball, Sister Beck just put it in a bowl, sprinkled the graham cracker crumbs on top and served with cinnamon graham crackers. It is softer this way, but still delicious!

Sister Beck's Fruit Salsa w/ Cinnamon Chips

SALSA:

2 kiwis, peeled and diced

2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced

8 ozs. raspberries

1 lb. strawberries

2 T. white sugar

1 T. brown sugar

3 T. fruit preserves, any flavor (jam)

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.

**Side note - Sister Beck said that to save time, she put all of this in a food processor - so it is more mashed up. She said it would look prettier if you individually cut up each fruit. Either way - it was FANTASTIC!

CINNAMON CHIPS:

10 (10 inch) flour tortillas

butter flavored cooking spray

2 cups cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray. Bake in the preheated oven 8-10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approx 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

Sister Beck's Crockpot Chili Dip

Put 3 cans of chili in a crockpot. Smash the beans a little bit. Add 2 packages of cream cheese. Dump in part of a bottle of salsa and a bunch of grated cheese. Turn the crockpot to warm with the lid on. Stir often! Don't let burn!

Serve with chips!

(We didn't get a pic of this, but it was VERY good also!)

Sister Beck's Jalapeno Salsa

This was REALLY good - and there are two ways to make it. From scratch... or from a bottle. Sister Beck did the "bottle" recipe that night and it was still fantastic. (And don't let the title fool you. It wasn't very spicy. Just enough to make it delicious!)

BOTTLE:

1 jar Jalapeno Salsa (from Harmon's)

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 can white corn (drained)

1/4 bottle zesty Italian dressing.

Stir and chill. Serve with chips!

SCRATCH:
1 yellow bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

1 orange bell pepper

5 roma tomatoes

cilantro

4-5 green onions

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 can white corn (drained)

zesty italian dressing

Chop and dice all vegetables. Stir with remaining ingredients and chill. Serve with chips!

Parmesan Breadsticks

16-20 Frozen Rolls (wheat or white) 2 per breadstick
1/2-1 cube Butter
1/2 tsp Garlic Salt
1/4 tsp dried Oregano
1/4 tsp dried Basil
Parmesan Cheese

Thaw dough for about 2 hours. Melt butter and garlic salt in a small saucepan over low heat. Roll each peice between palms and stretch until about 10 inches long. Take 2 and pinch the ends together and wrap them around each other (to form a 2 part braid...) Place on a cookie sheet. Spread on the butter mixture and sprinkle with Oregano, Basil and Parmesan Cheese. Let rise about 30 minutes. Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

**When using 2 rolls per breadstick you don't need more than 1 per person. They rise and make really big breadsticks:)

Minestrone Soup

1 pound Smoked Sausage, cubed
2 Cups Water
4 Stalks celery, diced
3 Carrots, diced
1 Medium Onion, diced
1 (14 oz) can Beef Broth
1 (10 oz) can Bean with Bacon Soup
1(28 oz) can Petite Diced Tomatoes
1 tsp Sugar
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced (or 1 tsp garlic salt)
1 Tbs Oregano
1 Tbs Basil
2 tsp Salt (I had to add a little more salt than it calls for)
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 box Bow Tie Pasta

Brown Sausage in frying pan. Add all remaining ingredients (except pasta) into a large crockpot and Stir together. Cook on Low for about 4 hours. High for at least 2 hours. Just before eating cook your pasta and add to soup.

**My Kids LOVED this! :) I served this with Parmesan Breadsticks:)