This New Year’s punch recipe is non-alcoholic, so it’s great for guests of all ages.

What you’ll need:

• 6 ounce frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed.
• 6 ounce frozen limeade concentrate thawed.
• 1 cup cold water.
• 4 cups cold 7-Up, Sprite or Ginger Ale.
• Optional - A few drops of green food coloring.
• Optional - Sliced limes and lemons for garnishments.

Mix limeade and lemonade concentrates with cold water in a non-metal pitcher. Add food color (if desired) and blend well. Add cold Sprite, 7-Up or Ginger Ale right before serving, stir gently.

Serve over ice if pouring straight from the pitcher. If serving in a punch bowl, pour over ice and serve.

This makes around 14 1/2 cup servings, but the recipe can easily be doubled for larger gatherings.

Garnish with slices of limes and lemons, if desired.

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

There’s nothing quite like the holidays, and one tried and true holiday favorite is Sweet Potato Casserole. If you’re looking for a great holiday sweet potato recipe, be sure to give this recipe a try.

What you’ll need:

• 1 40 ounce can sweet potatoes, drained or 4 large sweet potatoes peeled, cooked and sliced.
• 1 8 ounce can pineapple chunks or tidbits, drained.
• 1/2 cup butter, softened.
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
• 1 7 1/2 can marshmallow fluff.
• 1 cup chopped walnuts.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a shallow 2 quart casserole dish and arrange sweet potatoes and pineapple so they’re spread evenly. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

In a saucepan, mix butter and marshmallow fluff. Heat to boiling, while stirring constantly. Pour butter/marshmallow mix over top of sweet potatoes and pineapple, sprinkle with walnuts.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until top is golden brown.

This recipe makes 6-8 servings and can easily be doubled for larger gatherings.

Enjoy!

Disadvantages of chemically treated cookware make cast iron cookware attractive to serious cooks

One problem with newer cookware is that some of it is coated with materials that aren’t the best for human consumption. That’s why you’ll often see a label that warns you to not preheat the cookware before putting it in the oven. Seems simple enough, but this can be a real problem for many cooks. Unless you preheat, you’ll probably have problems browning your food in a chemically treated skillet.

Advantages of using cast iron cookware

The first advantage is that you won’t have the dangerous fumes problem. With the right seasoning, cast iron cookware tends to be a great nonstick surface, far better, in fact than the alternatives of stainless, aluminum and copper pans. Of course the surface won’t be nonstick at first, but as you add seasoning over time it will become and absolutely delightful surface.

Price is one of the biggest advantages of cast iron cookware. It costs much less than alternatives, because cast iron cookware has always been such a popular seller with the masses. Most of the time you’ll end up paying less and having a better cooking experience overall when you purchase cast iron.

Cast Iron cookware tends to be very durable. If you dry it correctly, you can expect your cookware to last for years.

For price and performance, cast iron cookware is a formidable for its competitors in the kitchen. Don’t overlook the classics in favor of untested technology.

What you’ll need:

• 6 Strips of Bacon.
• 3 tablespoons chopped onion.
• 3 medium cooked and cubed potatoes.
• 6 beaten eggs.
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese.

How to prepare

Fry bacon until crisp, remove from pan. Saute chopped onion in bacon drippings and then add cooked and cubed potatoes. Cook until brown.
Pour beaten eggs over the potato/onion mixture. Cook, stirring gently
until done. Season with salt, pepper or other preferred seasonings.

Crumble bacon into small pieces and cover eggs, top with cheddar cheese and allow it to melt. Makes about 4 servings.

I hope that you enjoy this Breakfast casserole farmer’s recipe!

Categories include:
Classic for tried and true family favorites, Light for recipes that are lower in fat and calories, Time-Savers for great dishes that require less time or effort to cook and Serves 2 for recipes that make the perfect amount for two.

Other prizes include an all expense paid trip for two to the Taste of Home headquarters. Unlike other contests Taste of Home has sponsored, America will be the judge.

To enter, log on to Taste Of Home or send your recipe and category choice to Taste of Home: America’s Best Loved Recipe Contest, 5400 S. 60th St., Greendale, WI 53129. Entries must be received by midnight CST
on March 1, 2009.

This garlic green bean recipe is quick and easy to prepare and goes well with chicken, fish or steak.

What you’ll need:

• 3/4 pound of fresh green beans with ends removed.
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil.
• 1 tablespoon minced or slivered garlic.
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (or squeeze directly from lemon.)
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• 1 tablespoon water.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add beans and garlic, stirring for a minute or two. Add water, lemon juice and salt and pepper, stir and cook until the liquid evaporates. Green beans should be crisp and crunchy with just a hint of garlic.

This dish is also tasty with rice or potatoes.

Enjoy!

Stephanie Izard smiles with a win under her chef hat.

Stephanie Izard prepared lamb with olives, braised pistachios and berries to secure her win. For her efforts, she was awarded $100,000, a showcase at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and a spread in Food & Wine magazine.

Of her win, Stephanie said “I won Top Chef—holy s–t!” the 31-year-old Chicago resident said. “This is the biggest thing that has happened in my life. My life’s about to change, it’s going to be absolutely insane. I’m so glad I was able to pull through and, after all this hard work—and maybe doubting a little bit—this is a reaffirmation that this is what I’m supposed to do with my life.”

Stephanie is the first female contestant to win Top Chef. We wish her much success in her career as a professional chef.

Nina Dumanski of Tazzi’s Cafe and Bakery in Ontario, Canada, says the situation is getting bad.

“Flour, butter, eggs, sugar ? everything that pertains to baking. . . . You see items like coffee and sugar increase now and then but now it seems everything has gone up across the board,” she said.

Worse yet, rice and flour are starting to be rationed in certain parts of North America, so it’s likely things will get worse before they get any better.

Of course, it’s the customer who will end up paying more in the long run. Dumanski is considering raising prices, a move made by many bakeries already. If availability of certain foodstuffs declines even more, you can expect baking to become prohibitively expensive as a hobby, or a business.

Some 50.1 per cent of homes are buying olive oil, up from 47 per cent last year, according to manufacturer Filippo Berio.

The firm’s Diane Anderson said: “It can be attributed to more emphasis on healthy eating and the evolution to a more Mediterranean diet.”

The big advantage to using olive oil as your cooking oil is that it’s mono-unsaturated, meaning it doesn’t contain saturated fats, which tend to be bad for your heart.

What you’ll need:

• Chopped lettuce.
• 1/2 cup chopped onion.
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper.
• 1/2 package thawed frozen peas.
• 2 cups mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons sugar.
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese.
• Bacon Bits.

In large bowl, layer lettuce, onion, green pepper and peas. Mix mayonnaise and sugar in a separate bowl. Top lettuce mixture with mayonnaise. Add cheddar cheese and top with bacon bits. Toss well before serving.

Enjoy this tasty pea and cheese salad recipe!