Pasta Salad with a Thai Twist

• 1 lb. of linguine pasta cooked or 1 lb of rice noodles softened in hot water for 10 mins. (I like the rice noodles best, but sometimes they're hard to find in a regular grocery store.)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 T. green, yellow, or red curry paste or just use curry powder.
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/8 c. fish sauce or soy sauce

Note: fish sauce is the Thai version of soy sauce. It is just what it says it is. They take fish and put them in a barrel and let it ferment for months and then drain off the liquid. It smells horrible, but it sure makes the food taste good.

In a big sauce pan place the coconut milk and curry paste and bring to a simmer. Add the sugar and fish sauce or soy sauce. Taste and adjust to your liking with more sugar, or more soy sauce. Add the hot cooked noodles and toss. You want the noodles to absorb all the coconut milk and then cool down.

Salad
• 1 head Napa cabbage chopped
• peppers sliced (A combination of red, yellow, and orange is best. You know it's all about the presentation!)
• purple cabbage
• matchstick carrots if you don't have colorful peppers
• fresh bean sprouts
• a bunch of green onions sliced
• some cucumbers sliced
• 1 bunch of cilantro chopped or a lot of chopped fresh basil (Basil is best!)
• sliced water chestnuts
• a few big handfuls of baby spinach (you can add more or less of this to stretch the salad)

In a really large bowl add all the ingredients above.

Any of the veggies can be adjusted to your liking. If you don't have something don't worry. Just improvise or add a little more of something else. Once the noodles are cool toss them in the bowl with all the veggies.

Dressing
• 1 c. olive oil
• 3/4 c. rice wine vinegar
• 1 T. soy sauce
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 t. seasame oil (optional)
• 1/2 t. ground ginger

Toss the salad all together and make all sorts of yummy sounds! Sprinkle a handful or two of chopped peanuts, or sugar glazed almonds. Taste it. I usually add a little more sugar, but it's up to you. This salad is huge so make sure you have a big group since it doesn't keep at all.

Raw Sprouted Quinoa Salad

1 cup sprouted quinoa (simply soak quinoa for at least 4 hours preferably overnight, rinse well, you
can then use immediately or let sprout for another day in colander)
½ lemon juiced
10 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
5 or 5 sundried tomatoes thinly sliced
2 T. golden raisens
2 green onions chopped
½ red onion chopped
3 T. fresh mint finely chopped
¼ cucumber finely chopped

Add all the above in a bowl and leave for a few hours to marinate together, the flavors are more intensely infused if left over night in the fridge.

The Woods on Ninth Hawaiian Pork Skewers

www.thewoodsonnith.com

In a bowl combine the following:
3 T fresh lime juice
1 small can chopped green chilies
1 package Lipton onion soup mix
1 t powdered ginger
2 T water

Then add: 1 ½ pound boneless pork butt cut into 1 ½ inch cubes
Marinate for one hour.

Thread pork onto 8 inch bamboo skewers and grill on a HOT grill for 5-6 minutes a side.

Serve with rice pilaf, or alone as appetizer.

SPINACH/ARTICHOKE DIP, by Atty General Mark Shurtleff

• 1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
• 1 jar (14.75 oz.) marinated artichoke hearts, drained. Set aside ¼ and chop remainder
• ½ can (5 oz.) sliced water chestnuts, drained and coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced green onion
• 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 package (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine first 8 ingredients and mix together with a large fork. Add the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise and blend with electric hand mixer until smooth. Stir in half the cheeses. Spread the mixture into a greased 9-inch glass pie plate. Slice the remaining artichoke hearts and arrange them around the edge of the plate. Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheeses on top and bake 5 more minutes or until bubbly. Serve warm with tortilla chips, crackers or torn pieces of French bread.
Makes about 4 cups of dip.

Crispy Bacon & Parm Ranch Chicken, Angel Shannon

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (tenders if you prefer)
• 1 (16 oz) bottle Peppercorn Ranch dressing
• 1 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
• 1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• ½ lb. bacon, fried crispy and crumbled
Pour dressing into shallow pan or pie plate; set aside. In medium bowl, mix bread crumbs, cheese and bacon together. Dip cleaned and dried chicken into dressing then coat with bread crumb mixture. Place prepared chicken in sprayed or lined 9x13-in pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until juices run clear. Serve with buttery herb angel hair pasta! This recipe doubles easily.

Orange-Cranberry Bread - Debbie Shepherd

Makes 1 loaf

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 T grated orange peel
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 T shortening
1 cup orange juice
1 egg, well beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Generously grease and lightly flour 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Prepare cranberries, nuts and orange peel. Set aside.

In a bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and soda. Cut in shortening.

Stir in orange juice, egg and orange peel, mixing just to moisten. Fold in cranberries and nuts.

Spoon into prepared pan. Bake 60 min. or until wooden tooth pick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool on a rack 15 min. Remove from pan, cool completely. Wrap and store overnight.

Easy Egg-less Eggnog

(from the R.S. Christmas Social. . . this recipe is also in the ward cookbook on the first page)

1 quart of egg beaters
1 gallon milk
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1/2 pint whipping cream

Stir egg beaters, and milks together. Mix up whipping cream with sugar and vanilla. Pour/spread the whipped cream over the top of eggnog. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Serves 20 ( I doubled this the other night. You could also easily half it if it's just for your family. Doesn't turn out or taste as thick and rich as store bought egg nog. People who don't like store bought eggnog usually like this recipe)