Tomato Soup (served by Jill Heywood @ Diane Goss's)

Tomato Soup
3 TBS chopped onion
3 TBS chopped celery
2 tsp sugar
3 TBS butter
- saute all these in your soup pot until the veggies are golden

add to the pan
1-2 TBS flour
and stir it in until the veggies are kinda pastey

add 1 quart of homemade bottled tomatoes (or 2 cans of storebought)

Stir to incorporate and break up the veggie/flour mix. Use a couple pinches of baking soda to cut any of the acidity from the tomatoes. Stir this in until there are no more bubbles.

Before serving add 1 to 1 1/2 cups milk or cream. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.

Garlic Artichoke Dip (served by Pat Johnson @ Amanda Zarling's baby shower)

Garlic Artichoke Dip
Recipe by Our Best Bites

2 8-oz. packages cream cheese (light works great), softened
1 c. mayonnaise (no Miracle Whip or fat free mayonnaise, although low-fat mayo also works great)
1 c. (packed) shredded Parmesan cheese (try to get a wedge and grate it yourself; the pre-shredded stuff in a bag doesn't melt well)
1 12-oz. jar MARINATED artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
6-7 cloves garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix the softened cream cheese with the mayonnaise and shredded Parmesan cheese. Gently add in the chopped artichoke hearts and minced garlic. Place the mixture into a 9" pie plate (or divided evenly among smaller dishes) and bake for 25-30 minutes or until it's lightly browned and bubbly on top. Serve hot with slices of bread and/or tortilla chips.