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!

Cranberry Pomegranate Jello

This Jello is wonderful! It might sound like a strange combination, but one taste is all it takes and you will be hooked. It is a great thing to take to any holiday parties, or just to make for your family.

1 small package orange Jello
1 small package raspberry Jello
1 package frozen raspberries with syurp crushed
1 Pomegranate - Seeds only
3/4 C. chopped cranberries

In a large serving dish or jello mold dissolve both packages of Jello in 2 C. Hot water, once dissolved add 1 C. cold water. After Jello is mixed, add fruits and stir. Place Jello in fridge to set. Once Jello is set, serve with whipping cream.

Homemade Crescent Rolls

This is the recipe for the rolls that my sister brought. They were REALLY good - AND she said they were really easy to make!

Mix the following ingredients together and warm in the microwave (1-2 mins)

2/3 C Powdered Milk

2 1/2 C Water

1/2 C. Sugar

1/2 C Margarine or Butter

2 tsp. Salt

Add 2 beaten eggs and 2 Tbl. Instant yeast to the warm liquid (whisk yeast in.)

Stir in 7 C flour (NOT bread flour) and beat with a large spoon until smooth.

Cover and let rise until doubles (approx. 30 mins)

Divide into 4 equal parts. Roll one part into a circle and cut into 12 pieces (like a pizza). Repeat with all 4 circles. Roll up each piece and place on greased sheet and let rise again (30 mins).

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 mins or until lightly brown. Remove from oven and brush with butter.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Here's what my sister brought to our Thanksgiving dinner. This recipe would NOT win any low-fat awards, but it was fantastic! :)

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked mashed yams
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup softened butter
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup butter
1 cups brown sugar
1 cups pecans

Directions:
Combine first 5 ingredients. Stir well and pour into baking dish. Combine remaining ingredients and mix until crumbly. Spread evenly over yam mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Cheesy Smashed Potatoes

1 lb red potatoes, cut into small chunks
1 c bite-size cauliflower florets
1/2 c light sour cream
1 c shredded cheddar

Place potatoes and califlower in large saucepan. Add water to cover.
Bring to a boil on high. Reduce heat to medium, simmer for 20 minutes.
Drain, return to pan.

Add sour cream; mash until mixture is fluffy. Add cheese. Add 1-2 TBS milk, if necessary.

These potatoes taste GREAT with meatloaf. And extra healthy too, great way to sneak veggies into your kid's meals!