Southwest Chicken Skillet Excellent and easy. I used boneless turkey fillet, cubed, instead of the chicken. The vegetable mixture wasn;t exactly what the recipe called for (I couldn't find it) but it was similar. I sprinkled the crisped tortill astrips and cheese on at the end and did NOT cook it. The cheese melts without cooking and I was afraid the tortilla strips would be mush. I used a small pkg of corn torillas and cut into strips, then crisped in the oven. My husband loved it also.

Slow Cooker Italian Beef Stew I tried this over the weekend and thought it was great. I used boneless beef chuck, cubed, instead of the stew meat. I find it not as tough. I doubled the recipe for my 5 1/2 to 6-QT slow cooker and cooked on high 5 hours, then added frozen Italian beans with the seasoning and cooked another 25 minutes because of the large quantity. I couldn't find plain tomatoes so used those with Italian seasoning. I think they might have even been better. When I bought ingredients I wasn't planning on doubling the recipe but since I had 2 lbs of chuck roast and the large slow cooker I decided it would be better doubled. I used one 28 oz can of tomatoes and one 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes. I think it might have been even better. I served it with a sprinkling of shredded Romano cheese. The robust flavors were a nice change of pace. It's a "keeper." It was plenty thick for our tastes.

Almond Poppy Tea Cookies Great recipe. I made these with 1 TSP lemon extract in place of the almond extract in the cookie base and 1/2 TSP lemon extract in the icing. I omitted the almonds and sprinkled a few sprinkles of yellow sugar on the glaze before it hardened. It is a very nice "tea cookie."

Holiday Thumbprints Excellent cookie and nice change of pace from regular thumbprint cookies. Well liked by all and espcially nice on Holiday cookie tray assortments.

Orange-Avocado Salad What a wonderful recipe!! I used your suggestion of 2 TBSP olive oil and also used orange juice concentrate. It does not need any more oil than the 2 TBSP. Also, to keep the avocados from browning, slice them into the same bowl with the orange sections and toss gently. This salad is a great accompaniment to many dishes. I served it with the Sloppy Joe Casserole (made with ground bison).