Frequent dinner favorite since we found it in Cooking Light over 10 years ago. Only changes: Jarred roasted red peppers subbed, 2 cans of diced tomatoes rather than 1 of whole, frozen corn instead of canned. Changes noted in recipe in ( ).

1 pound ground round (or ground turkey)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper (or jarred roasted red pepper)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups cooked elbow macaroni (about 4 ounces uncooked)

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 (14.5-ounce) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped (or two 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes, I like the fire roasted tomatoes)

1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained

1 (8 3/4-ounce) can whole-kernel corn, drained (or frozen corn)

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Cook first 4 ingredients in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until browned, stirring to crumble beef. Drain well; wipe drippings from pan with paper towels. Return beef mixture to pan; stir in macaroni and next 9 ingredients (macaroni through tomato paste). Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon onto each of 8 plates; top with cheese.

Yield:  8 servings (serving size: 1 cup beef mixture and 2 tablespoons cheese)

CALORIES 295 (28% from fat); FAT 9.2g (sat 4.4g,mono 3g,poly 0.8g); IRON 4.3mg; CHOLESTEROL 50mg; CALCIUM 151mg; CARBOHYDRATE 32.5g; SODIUM 529mg; PROTEIN 22.6g; FIBER 4.2g

Homemade Marshmallows

Please note: these marshmallows are dairy / egg / gluten / soy / wheat and nut free.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin

• 1/2 cup chilled water

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

• 1 cup light corn syrup

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 cup water

• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract, or almond extract, or peppermint extract, or orange extract or lemon extract (avoid imitations and synthetics)

• 2 cups powdered sugar, for dusting

Optional:

• a few drops food coloring

• 2 ozs. bittersweet (non-dairy) chocolate

• 2 ozs. semi-sweet (non-dairy) chocolate

• 2 tbsp. powdered sugar rice milk

…

Instructions:

1. Place gelatin and chilled water in bowl of stand mixer with whisk attachment. Let stand 30 minutes.

2. Combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/2 cup water in medium-size, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Place over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Rinse sides of pan with wet pastry brush to dissolve crystals that may form. Raise heat to high. Cook syrup mixture until it reaches firm-ball stage, 244 degrees (measured with a candy thermometer). Immediately remove pan from heat.

3. With mixer on low speed, slowly pour syrup into softened gelatin. Increase mixer speed to high; beat until mixture thickens, turns white, and almost triples in volume (15 to 20 minutes). Add vanilla extract (or other extract flavor) at the very end and whip into the marshmallow mixture for a couple minutes longer.

Optional:

After adding flavoring, but before pouring into the pan to set, put four or five drops of food coloring into the mix. Stir gently, only four or five times, to get a swirl effect of color thru the marshmallows. Do not over-stir, otherwise you will have colored marshmallows.

4. Coat an 8-by-12-inch glass baking dish pan with powdered sugar. Pour marshmallow mixture into pan. Dust top with powdered sugar, colored crystallized sugar or whatever topping you choose. Cover pan with wax paper (careful not to touch the tops of the marshmallows) and let set overnight… this is the drying step. Turn on to board and cut marshmallows with either a dry hot knife, or with kitchen scissors. Dust with powdered sugar or whatever topping you desire.

Again optional:

Melt 2 ozs. bittersweet (non-dairy) chocolate and 2 ozs. semi-sweet (non-dairy) chocolate in a double boiler. Note: you don’t have a double boiler, no worries – make your own with a mixing bowl on top of a pan of water on the stove. Melt the chocolate down, then whisk in 2 tbsp. powdered sugar and rice milk (about a teaspoon at a time) until the chocolate mixture gets viscous. Dip one end of the marshmallows into the chocolate mixture, then dust with whatever topping you want. Flavors I’ve made so far are vanilla (with vanilla extract), peppermint (used peppermint extract and red food coloring for swirls), orange (pictured, used fresh orange zest, orange extract and vanilla for flavoring, then topped with crystallized orange sugar) and chocolate coconut (pictured, used vanilla, coconut extract and shredded coconut for flavoring, then dipped into chocolate mixture and dusted with powdered sugar and shredded coconut).