Roasted Vegetable & Ricotta Pizza

What You'll Need:

• Pizza dough, either refrigerated or scratch made
• 2 cups Cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup Zucchini, sliced
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 medium Yellow Bell Pepper, sliced
• 1 medium Red Onion, sliced
• 5 1/2 tsp Olive Oil
• 1/3 cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/3 cup part-skim Ricotta cheese
• 2 tbsp fresh Basil leaves

What You'll Do:

1. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees.
2. Ready and pre-bake your pizza dough according to directions or recipe.
3. Combine the mushrooms, zucchini, black pepper, red onion, and bell pepper in a large bowl, mixing with 1 1/2 tsp Olive Oil.
4. Arrange vegetables on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes.  
5. Brush the pre-baked pizza dough with 1 tsp Olive Oil, then spread your tomato sauce over the dough leaving a border for a crust.
6. Sprinkle 1/2 cup Mozzarella over the tomato sauce and top with the vegetables.
7. Over the vegetables sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup Mozzarella and crushed red peppers. Then dollop with the Ricotta cheese.
8. Bake pizza for 11 minutes or until crust is golden and cheeses are melted. Once the pizza comes out of the oven top with fresh Basil leaves.

** I use Pillsbury refrigerated pizza dough; all you need to do is unroll the dough. Nothing easier! **

Dish Info:

This delicious recipe serves 8 hungry adults at 347 calories a serving. It is taken from the April 2011 issue of Cooking Light.

Pasta with Caramelized Onions & White Wine

What You'll Need:

• 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 3 tbsp Olive Oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• 2 cups yellow onion, thinly sliced (about 1 pound)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 8 ounces uncooked spiral pasta
• 1 tbsp Kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper

What You'll Do:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine the Panko, 1 tbsp Olive Oil, 1 clove of garlic, and a dash of salt in a small bowl until combined, then spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 6 minutes, or until golden. Stir the Panko mixture after 3 minutes.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add remaining 2 tbsp Olive Oil.
4. Add your onions to the skillet and cook about 20 minutes or until brown. Be sure to stir frequently.
5. Cook your pasta with 1 tbsp Kosher salt according to the package directions.
6. Add the remaining minced garlic clove and wine, increasing heat to medium-high. Cook for 1 minute.
7. Add broth to skillet and cook about 5 minutes, or until liquid is reduced to 1/2 cup.
8. Combine your cooked and drained pasta, remaining salt, and pepper to onion mixture in the skillet and toss together.
9. Once pasta is served, sprinkle each serving with Panko mixture.

** If you don't have Panko, or would prefer not to purchase Panko (a box shouldn't be more than $2), feel free to use regular breadcrumbs. **

Dish Info:

This flavorful dish will serve 4 people and each serving has 364 calories. It was also adapted from a recipe found in the April 2011 issue of Cooking Light. While this is a great dish (wonderful for company), it does not reheat well so isn't a good choice for left-overs. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

What You'll Need:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup shortening
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 cups (12 ounces) chocolate chips

What You'll Do:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl cream together your butter, shortening, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat your eggs and vanilla into the butter and sugar mixture.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. 
5. Add your flour mix to the creamed mix and beat well.
6.  Stir in chocolate chips and drop by rounded tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 8 minutes.

** If you like nuts in your chocolate chip cookies, add 1 cup of chopped Pecans to the batter when mixing in the chocolate chips. **

Dish Info:

This will make you 11 dozen absolutely scrumptious cookies. Each cookie has 130 calories.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

What You'll Need:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup wheat bran
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
•  1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/3 cups bananas, mashed (2-3 medium bananas)
• 1/3 cup applesauce, unflavored
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup pecans, chopped

What To Do:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line your muffin pan with paper or foil liners. If you prefer, you can spray the muffin cups with non-stick spray instead.
2. In a large bowl combine both flours, your wheat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl combine your eggs and milk. Once mixed, stir in the bananas, applesauce, and vanilla.
4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just moistened.
5. Add your chocolate chips to the mix and stir together.
6. Fill your prepared muffin cups three-fourths full and sprinkle the chopped pecans over the batter.
7. Bake for 18-22 minutes.

** If you don't have whole wheat flour or wheat bran on hand, just substitute all-purpose flour in their place. Same goes for substituting vegetable oil for the applesauce. Your muffins will still taste super yummy, they just won't be as healthy. Also, I use wheat germ in place of wheat bran, simply because I can't find wheat bran in my tiny town. **


Dish Info:

Each muffin contains 191 calories if prepared as the recipe states. I got this dish from my wonderful Taste of Home Cookbook. You should be able to bake a dozen muffins with this recipe.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

What You'll Need:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• frozen chopped broccoli, (12-oz)
• 2 cans chicken broth (14.5-oz each)
• 1 lb Velveta, chopped
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/3 cup corn starch
• 1/2 cup water or chicken broth

What To Do:

1. In a medium stockpot melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Add the onion to the melted butter and cook until softened.
3. Pour broccoli into stockpot and cover with the 2 cans of chicken broth. Simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add cubed Velveta and stir until melted.
5. Pour the milk and garlic powder into the stockpot and stir.
6. Mix the water or chicken stock and the corn starch until smooth and pour into soup and cook, stirring frequently until thick.

Dish Info:

This dish has 266 calories per serving and came from here.  I also halved the recipe, so this will feed 6 very hungry appetites.

Basic Pot Roast

What You'll Need

• 2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup (10.75-oz each)
• 1 package dry onion soup mix (1-oz)
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 5 1/2 pounds pot roast
• 1/2 pound baby carrots
• 5 or 6  New Potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
• 1 onion, sliced

What To Do

1. Place the carrots, potatoes, onion, and pot roast in your slow cooker.
2. In a bowl mix together the cans of soup, dry soup mix, and water.
3. Pour soup mixture over pot roast and vegetables and cook on low for 8-9 hours.

Dish Info

This recipe will serve 12 hungry appetites and makes for great left-overs. This is adapted from this recipe found on AllRecipes.com

Teriyaki Chicken

What You'll Need

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
• 1/2 tsp ground Ginger
• 1 garlic clove, minced

What To Do

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a small bowl combine brown sugar, Soy Sauce, Ginger, and garlic, stirring well to combine.
3. Place chicken breasts in 8x8 baking dish and pour marinade over top.
4. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through, making sure to baste every 10-15 minutes.

** For extra yummy flavor, place chicken and marinade into a Ziploc bag and refrigerate for several hours. When done marinating simply pour the chicken and marinade into the baking dish. **


Dish Info

This recipe will serve 2 hungry adults and was adapted from this recipe on AllRecipes.com.