Here are a couple I have copied and pasted. Lpink's Black Bean Soup with Red Paprika Sauce (This is Lori from near the Battle Creek area) Serves 8 1 lb. bag dried black beans (soak in 4x their volume of water overnight. Drain before cooking) 8 cups water or broth, (I always use broth. For me it's veggie bouillon, but you could use chicken or beef I guess.) 2 med. onions, chopped 2 ribs celery, diced 2 cups chopped tomatoes (I use canned) 2 TBSP paprika (I use Penzey's brand, I have both sweet and hot and I mix the two, but use whatever kind you like to your taste.) 2 tsp. ground cumin 2 bay leaves 1/2 cup cilantro, finely minced (Note: I just add a TBSP or so of dried cilantro or parsley, because I rarely have fresh stuff around, it goes bad on me before I can use it up) 1/4 tsp. pepper 1 cup corn Note: DON'T add salt while the beans are cooking, this toughens their skins. Simmer beans in the broth until soft. Could take 1-2 hours on the stovetop. I do my beans in the crock pot on high for about 5 hours minimum, I add the veggies and spices right at the beginning, except for the corn, which I use frozen so it doesn't need to cook. If you're making the soup on the top of the stove, add veggies and spices during the last hour of cooking. Add sauce (recipe below) before serving. Adjust the seasonings to suit your taste. Red Paprika Sauce 2 TBS olive oil 1 large red pepper diced or sliced thin 3 scallions, minced 2 tsp. paprika, or less, to taste 2 tsp. salt 2 TBS lime juice Saut� pepper and scallions in the olive oil. Add the paprika and other seasonings. Add lime juice just before taking it off the stove. Additonal note: You can add browned turkey sausage to this soup along with the veggies with excellent results. That's how I make it to please the meat-eaters. Use hot or regular sausage, depending on your taste. The soup is delicious served with a dollop of low fat sour cream or yogurt. You can stir in the sauce to the soup and then freeze. You can leave out the corn, but it is colorful with the red pepper. You can puree some of the soup before adding the veggies or pepper sauce or sausage. It's just a great mixture of flavors however you adapt it. You could even add a little garlic, good for the heart. I like to make the soup in the crock pot, except for the peppers. Don't cook peppers in a crock pot because they get bitter. I have made this soup for a crowd and it was very well received. Laurie ____________________________________________________________________ Jayne's Black Bean Soup (Jayne hails from Indianapolis) 1 pound bag of black beans (soak overnight and rinse very well) I put them in a crock pot to cook all day. I add vegetable stock (or water if I don't have the stock). Then finely chopped garlic, onions, celery and carrot and pepper (green or jalapeno or both). I usually don't add meat, but sometimes will add small cubes of very lean ham. I season with salt, pepper and cumin. I've wanted to try adding sherry (per a friends instruction), but haven't tried that yet. Today, I read a recipe that called for adding balsamic vinegar, but I haven't tried that either. Near the end of cooking, I take out a cup or so and puree it, then add it back to the pot so it's nice and thick. I serve it over brown rice, although yellow is good too. I top it with hot sauce and chopped onion. Sour cream sounds good, but I don't need the extra calories (I would have to have a huge dollop). Angie's (Opkikid) Black Bean Soup (Angie is from Chicago) This makes a lot � you can cut the recipe in half or more. This can cook all day at a simmer, if you like. � lb bacon 10 carrots, diced 6 cloves garlic, minced � tsp cayenne pepper � cup (yes, cup!) of each: ground cumin and oregano 6 15 oz cans of black beans, drained 5 (20 cups) quarts of chicken broth � cup sherry or white wine

You just say that you're "pushing this up."

",,,along with a bill for $175." The "$250 cookie recipe" hoax lives on... (sigh) Was it Nieman Marcus or Mrs. Fields? LOL Jasdip, that thing happens all the time. I laugh every time I see one poster claiming a recipe (or multiple recipes!) is (/are) "hers", posting it at every opportunity with same claim and it was clearly stolen from the Southern Fried Succubus' website. At least Deen gave credit (that time) to the source of the recipe. It's so hilarious because the language is quoted verbatim and so clearly identifiable. Don't need DNA with those fingerprints all over it! I always try to give credit to a source, and if I change it, which I often do, I say something like my variation of _____. Often I'll even include what I modified. Seems only right to me. Guess I don't have that kind of ego that needs to be fed that way. I always get a kick out of stolen recipes too when they include the typos! Yes there's times I've done things I thought were original and it'd been done before. I remember when I was a kid looking out the window at the ice dams on peoples houses thinking there's got to be a way to hook up an electrical wire to melt that ice and mount it to the roof. If I were like some, I'd have sued the ones who came up with the idea years before I was born! I don't decline recipe requests unless it's one person who I know will screw it up and then not only blame me, but spread it around. I could see how she messed up a recipe I gave her once and she wouldn't admit it. She kept on "YOU didn't give me the right recipe!" And it was a simple foolproof recipe. But as I learned in life, make something idiot-proof, they develop a better idiot. Most "cooking" recipes to me are guidelines and vary a lot. But I'll still share the guidelines. I was known more for my baking and always gave recipes freely. Especially when I got it from someone else anyway! Or I'd tell them where to get it. I usually prefer to do that since as mentioned people change things or occasionally if there's certain tools that make a difference that can very well impact the results. I will say I would not give a recipe to someone who would try to sell it or profit from it unless they shared with me. Some get overly concerned that they'd be ruined if their "secret recipe" got out, but Tony Chachery hasn't gone under and he sold his seasoning salt recipe in his cookbook. (Gotta laugh at the people screaming "gotta have some Tony's" and it's 80% salt then some garlic, pepper and MSG, that's all.) Emeril has given away his "Essense" recipes and still sells a lot. KFC's ingredients from several sources say there's not 11 herbs and spices anymore after doing a lab test on the contents. Their "secret" is not the spices, but the preparation (pressure cooker deep frying in specified amounts). Different ovens can make a difference, different altitudes and more. I modify a lot. I make no bones that I'll be leaving out mushrooms, olives and other things from a certain dish. I never blame someone if I make it wrong. But if you require a cast iron pan and a wood fired oven, say so, then the responsibility is on the other person. I know people who will be going to their graves with their secret recipes. Too bad really. The legacy of good food died with them. But there's always other options. Often I wonder if that recipe I remember as a kid was so good or whether I just thought it was great at the time and with tastes changing over the years, maybe I wouldn' like it now. A great gal on another forum has "Recipes are to be shared" on her website. So true IMO.

Well, if LindaC were still here, she'd tell you to make those caramel covered Cheetos. I'd probably make some no-bake cookies, maybe some of Ann T's brandied cherry balls, the peanut butter rice krispie treats that my daughters love so much, Chex mix and/or Puppy Chow (which is now called Muddy Buddies, I guess), and those ranch oyster crackers. Add some Divinity or pralines to the candy mix, or make Oreo Truffles. Caramel Cheetos - Linda C 2 cups light brown sugar 1 cup margarine - yes, for this one you must use margarine 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 - 21 oz. pkg. Cheetos - crunchy kind Mix sugar, margarine and corn syrup in pan. Bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and add soda. Stir until light in color and foamy. Spray a roasting pan (deep 10 x 14) with Pam. Put Cheetos� in pan. Pour the mixture over Cheetos� and stir, coating each piece. Place in oven at 250 degrees. Bake for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes. Immediately, pour onto wax paper, or cookie sheets, sprayed with Pam. (This is the hard part.) VERY QUICKLY spread out as thin as possible. If not quick and spread out as thin as possible, you will get a big hard glob. After about 5 minutes, pull/break these apart even more and loosen them from the wax paper. If you don't, you'll have wax paper stuck to them when you go to eat them. You will regret it if you don't double the batch as guests are going to demand MORE! You can bake batches together and add an extra 20 minutes to bake time. I do them separately because of having to work so quickly to keep them apart at the end. The one batch can almost get too hard while working with the other batch. Chocolate Scotcheroos 1 cup light corn syrup 1 cup sugar 1 cup peanut butter 6 cups Kellogg's® Cocoa Krispies® cereal OR or 6 cups Kellogg's® Rice Krispies® cereal 1 package (6 oz., 1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate morsels 1 cup butterscotch chips Directions 1. Place corn syrup and sugar into 3-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter. Mix well. Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated. Press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Set aside. 2. Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over cereal mixture. Let stand until firm. Cut into 2 x 1-inch bars when cool. Cream Cheese Brandy Cherry Balls (Ann_T) Source: 1983 Oct/Nov. Entertainment and Recipe Booklet 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, quartered 2 tablespoons Brandy 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips 1 cup butterscotch chips 1 8 ounce package cream cheese 2 cups mini marshmallows 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 2 cups flaked coconut Marinate cherries at least 4 hours or overnite in brandy Melt Chocolate chips and butterscotch chips and add cream cheese. Stir in cherries, marshmallows and walnuts and refrigerate until cold enough to roll into balls. Roll in coconut. Refrigerate. The longer the better. The flavours intensify. (I do use my own home canned brandied sweet cherries in these, and I cut the miniature marshmallows into quarters so I get smaller pieces. Sometimes I don't have butterscotch chips and use all chocolate, it's all good) Happy Holidays. Annie