potluck couples night!

Amy McReynolds-
Blueberry Lime Cream Cheese Pound cake

Pecan Pie Brownies

Filling
1/2 cup margarine or butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs beaten in a bowl
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups chopped pecans

Grease a13 x 9-inch pan.

In saucepan, melt butter, stir in flour until smooth. Add brown sugar and 4 eggs. Mix well. Cook over medium-low heat until it comes to a boil then cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and pecans. Set aside.

Homemade Brownies

Batter
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9x13 baking pan.

In small saucepan, melt butter; remove from heat. Stir in cocoa, blending well; cool slightly.

In large mixer bowl, beat eggs until foamy; gradually add sugar and vanilla extract, beating well.

In separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt; blend into egg mixture. Stir in chocolate mixture. 

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Spread pecan Filing over chocolate batter. Bake 25-27 minutes or until brownies just begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely; cut into squares.

Michelle Thurber's Clam Chowder- I tend to use more veggies almost double, 3 cans of clams, and the whole bottle of clam juice.


Brittany Major's Brussel Sprouts: I cover the sprouts with a little oil, after cutting them in half, then I seasoned with garlic salt and then you can add whatever your favorite seasoning mix is (I used herbs de Provence).  Heat the oven to 425 degrees.  Cook for 5 min and then add green beans for another 10 min until tender. 
And Oreo Brownies



Michelle Beattie's French Dip Sliders

Bee’s Tortellini Soup

1 Yellow onion, diced

1-2 TBSP minced garlic, or 4-6 cloves 

4 carrots, sliced

4 celery, sliced

Saute onion unless translucent in avocado oil or butter, add garlic in for 1 minute. Remove to separate bowl and saute the veggies until al dente, be sure season with salt and pepper, remove to onion bowl

Cook Italian Sausage -use either the sweet Italian or hot Italian, can do crumbled sausage or slice up the links. When cooked deglaze the pan with the following:

28oz diced tomatoes, can use the Italian seasoned diced tomatoes

Add 1-2 tsp each of oregano and basil

3-4 cups chicken broth

When combined add

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup parmesan cheese (used the cheaper grated parmesan here and saved the good stuff for on top)

1 package cooked tortellini – I used Trader Joe’s pesto tortellini for dinner group night, but also used a cheese filled tortellini the week prior. I prefer Trader Joe’s pasta because they use Italian wheat in their pasta, it makes a higher quality pasta. I boiled it until al dente, drained and hit it with a cold water rinse then added it to the soup. I grabbed handfuls of baby spinach and added them very last so they just wilted and didn’t lose color. 

This takes a little longer than doing it all in a crockpot, but I’ve found sautéing the veggies separately keeps them crisper and more colorful and flavorful. 

Top with shredded Romano or Parmesan