CHEESE CAKE by Marilyn Hendriksen

Graham Cracker crumbs (about 2 squares)
1 pound small crud cream style cottage cheese
2 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese (softened)
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup margarine, melted
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 T lemon juice
1 t. vanilla
1 pint (2 cups) dairy sour cream

Butter a 9: spring-form pan.  Dust with graham cracker crumbs.  Sieve cottage cheese into large bowl.  Add cream cheese.  Beat high speed until creamy adding sugar, then eggs.  Reduce to low speed adding corn starch, lemon juice and vanilla.  Add melted margarine and sour cream.  Blend on low speed.  Pour into pan.

Bake in 350 oven for one hour and 10 minutes or until firm around edges.  Turn off oven and let stand in oven for 2 hours.  Remove and cool completely on wire rack.  Chill.  Remove sides of pan.  Makes about 12 servings.

Note:  Cheesecake may be frozen.  Cheesecake may be topped with fruit glaze made with either fresh or frozen fruit.

This is truly delicious!  A plain and simple cheesecake that's not hard to make and fills the house with a wonderful smell.  I made the mistake of making it for game night, and I didn't realize that it needed to sit in the oven for 2 hours and then sit out of oven and then chill, so it wasn't ready in time.  It looked so beautiful that I hated to cut it in half and freeze it in two hunks in freezer, but I did and brought out one half the following week.  It was really good although the consistency gets a little softer when thawing, so it would've probably been better had I not frozen it, but anyway still good, and needless to say there's none left.

CHICKEN TORTILLA CASSEROLE

                                                  To serve 3 or 4                          To serve 6 or 8

Chicken (3/4" cubes) cooked         2-1/2 cups                                      5 cups
Corn tortillas cut in strips               4                                                     8
Cream of Chicken soup                  1/2 can                                           1 can
Ortega Diced green chiles              1/2 small can                                  1small can
onion, grated or diced fine             1/2 medium                                     1 medium
milk                                                1/2 cup                                            1 cup
cheddar cheese, grated                   1/2 cup                                            1 cup

Mix soup, chili, milk and chicken.  Butter baking dish well.  Layer tortilla strips on bottom, then layer of mix, then strips, etc. until all is used (mix being last layer).  Cover with cheese.  Set in refrigerator 18 to 24 hours.  Bake 1 hour in 350 oven.

This is nice, and I really like the way the recipe is divided up depending on the crowd size.  I have a recipe similar to this that I like a little better because it also has salsa in it.  There is no problem with this one too, and may be good for those that like a milder flavor.  I like to add a dollop of sour cream on top of each serving!

CRANBERRY-APPLE PUNCH

3 quarts water
2 cups sugar
2 cups strong tea
2 cans (6 oz) frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
2 quarts cranberry cocktail
1 quart apple juice
2 cups orange juice

Heat water and sugar to boiling.  Stir until sugar is dissolved.  Cool.  Prepare tea using 3 tsp. or 3 tea bags and 2 cups boiling water.  Cool.  Chill all ingredients.  Combine in large punch bowl.  60 servings of 1/2 cup.  Pretty with frozen fruit ring.  Champagne or 7-up may be added.

This is really refreshing.  Everyone thinks it tastes like Snapple, which makes sense since it's like a flavored tea.  I also think you could sub in different juices and experiement with this, maybe even using Splenda instead of sugar if you want to make it sugar free.  I'm going to mess around some more with this one.

M & M's Party Cookies

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1-1/2 t vanilla
2-1/4 cup sifted flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1-1/2 cups M & M's

Cream sugars, shortening, eggs and vanilla together.  Mix dry ingredients together and add.  Stir in M & M's.  Drop by teaspoonfls on ungreased baking sheet.  If desired, decorate tops with additional M & M's.  Bake at 375 for 10 - 12 minutes.  Makes 5 to 6 dozen cookies.

Well, who doesn't like these?  Apparently this recipe has been around for decades, and they're just as good as always.  Ah, the smell of baking M & M's wafting through the house.....