Sarah's Salad

I was craving this salad for a while so luckily I was assigned to bring a salad to my nephew Ben's blessing today! I knew just what I wanted to do, AND I already had the precooked bacon from the wraps over the weekend :) This recipe was taken from the Nelson Family Cookbook.

1 head iceberg lettuce

3 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled

5 oz frozen peas

1/4 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese

2/3 c chopped green onion

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup miracle whip

Wash and drain lettuce. DRY THOUROUGHLY. Run hot water over frozen peas and drain. Tear lettuce into bite sized pieces into salad bowl. Sprinkle with sugar, salt and pepper. Add peas, cheese, onion, mayonnaise and miracle whip in layers. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. Toss when ready to serve and garnish with bacon. Serves 8

Buttermilk Pancakes and White Syrup

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup oil

In mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and baking soda.

IN another bowl, mix milk, egg and oil. Add to flour mixture and stir just until blended. (It's normal for some small lumps to remain in batter. Batter should be slightly thick, but pourable. Add an additional tablespoon of milk, if needed.

Preheat griddle or skillet to medium-high and spray lightly with cooking spray.

With ladle, pour approximately 1/4 cup batter onto hot griddle for each pancake.

Flip each pancake over when bubbles form and edges are set. Flip only once and do not flatten pancake while cooking.

Cook until golden brown. Serve with homemade syrup.

*Makes 6 (5") pancakes.

This syrup recipe was one in the New Nelson Family Cookbook. After I tried this for the first time, I definitely prefer it to regular maple syrup. It makes quite a bit, but keeps for quite a while covered in the fridge.

Famous White Syrup

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Do NOT boil. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Place in blender and blend on low until well blended. Serve over waffles of pancakes. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Mock Lasagna

• 1 8-oz. cream cheese
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1-1 ½ lbs. ground beef with chopped onion
• ½ lb. lasagna noodles*
• Can of Hunt’s spaghetti sauce (+ 8 oz. tomato sauce for more sauce)
• Mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese

Combine cream cheese, sour cream, and cottage cheese in mixing bowl. Heat beef with onion in saucepan until cooked. Boil lasagna noodles until cooked. Layer half of the noodles in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Top noodles with all of cheese mixture. Top cheese mixture with remaining half of noodles. Top with meat mixture. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and then bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese to taste. Pairs well with French Peasant Bread

*To cut out 1 preparation step, oven ready lasagna noodles can be substituted. Just add 1 cup of water to the spaghetti sauce mixture so the noodles can cook the same time as the lasagna. I still like it a little better with regular noodles, however.

French Peasant Bread

• 1 pkg. dry yeast
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups flour
• Oil
• Corn Meal
• Melted Butter

Place yeast, water, sugar and salt in warm bowl and stir until dissolved. Add flour and stir until doubled in size (about an hour). Flour hands, remove dough from the bowl and place in 2 rounds on a lightly oiled cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Let rise an additional hour. Brush the top with melted butter and bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 and cook an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and brush again with butter. Serve warm!