• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• pinch of salt

Cream butter and sugar together until light; add vanilla and eggs; beat well. Dissolve soda in milk; add flour, salt and walnuts. Dough should be just stiff enough to draw from end of spoon. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

CARAMEL FROSTING

1/4 cup each of: brown sugar; white sugar; butter & cream (or milk)

Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Let cool a little, add 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla.

submitted by Kathy Beauchot, Ft. Wayne, IN

1 - 10 oz bag frozen fiesta vegetable blend, thawed
1 - 15 oz can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 - 24 oz jar black bean & corn salsa
2 - 14 oz cans reduced sodium vegetable or chicken broth

Combine fiesta blend veggies, beans and salsa in large pan over medium heat. Stir in broth. Bring to boil and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.
Top with crushed tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream.

So simple, but so satifying on a cold evening! Submitted by Jane Boucher, Brazil, IN

We’ve been thinking for some time about a way to:

1. make more recipes available to readers (one of the most popular items in the paper according to your feedback)
2. give you a voice! (let you tell us what you love about our advertisers, the products they sell and our paper)
3. give our shop owners a fast and easy way to let you know about new products in a little more detail than they might have space for in their ads and/or in between edition dates
4. allow you, our loyal readers, a way to show others the completed projects from The Country Register, your quilts, etc.

Then someone said BLOG…here it is! We’ll be posting some recipes soon and you can start sending them in here whenever you like. Check back often!

Merle, Gail, Amy, Dave & the Girls