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TOP JOBS

Sometimes it is very difficult to come up with new meal ideas.

If you have the perfect meal to get your family out of a culinary rut, send it to us. It doesn't have to be fancy. It doesn't have to have a lot of ingredients. It just has to be something your family loves to eat.

If you are tired of the same old breakfast, here is an idea from the Texas Beef Council. It also works well for lunch:

Perfect Breakfast Pizza

1 pound fully cooked steak strips or fajita strips (leftovers work well here)

1 prepared pre-baked pizza shell (12 inch)

1 can black beans, drained

1/3 cup salsa

4 eggs

1/2 cup tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 tablespoon fresh jalapeno, chopped

1 cup Colby-Jack cheese, shredded

1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a skillet, scramble eggs. Set aside.

Heat beef strips according to package directions

Set aside 2 tablespoons black beans for garnish. In a small bowl, mash remaining beans with fork until smooth. Place pizza shell on cookie sheet and layer with mashed beans, salsa, scrambled eggs, steak strips, tomatoes, jalapenos and cheese. Top with cilantro and reserved whole beans. Bake in 450 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until cheese melts.

I wanted to share a cooking experience I had with my 10-year-old friend, Alyson. Together, we have made cookies and biscuits. She has watched me prepare dinners, some a little too exotic for a young girl's taste buds.

She wanted me to try one of her recipes, something a little more simple. I wasn't sure if my grown-up taste buds would appreciate this one, but I was surprised by the results.

If you are cooking with children, you might want to give this one a try. It is a good way to incorporate a vegetable into a kid-friendly side. It is from Alyson:

MACARONI, CHEESE AND SPINACH

1 box of macaroni and cheese

1 can of spinach

Prepare macaroni and cheese according to box directions. Open can spinach, drain. Mix a few tablespoons, to taste, with macaroni and cheese.

Here is another recipe worth making for the family. It is from Hidden Valley:

SWEET, TANGY MARINATED

VEGETABLES

8 cups fresh vegetable pieces (broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots and/or red bell peppers, no longer than 1 1/2 inches

1/3 cup distilled white vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1 packet (1 ounce) Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing and Seasoning Mix

Place veggies in gallon-size zipper bag. Whisk together vinegar, sugar, water and salad dressing. Mix until sugar dissolves; pour into bag over veggies. Seal bag and shake to disperse marinade evenly.

Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight, turning bag over occasionally. Will keep up to 3 days in refrigerator.

If you have a request or would like to share a recipe, please write to Readers' Swap, Tyler Morning Telegraph, P.O. Box 2030, Tyler, 75710. Recipes may also fax their requests or recipes to 903-595-0335 or e-mail to food@tylerpaper.com.