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.

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.

Sweet Potato & Apple Saute

What You'll Need

• 2 tbsp butter, unsalted
• 2 Golden Delicious apples, unpeeled and diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cans sweet potatoes, drained and diced (15-oz each)
• 1/2 cup apple juice or apple cider
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1/4 tsp Kosher salt

What To Do

1. In a large skillet, melt your butter over medium-high heat.
2. To the skillet add the apples and onions, cooking until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in diced sweet potatoes, apple juice (or cider), pumpkin pie spice, vinegar, and salt, bringing the mixture to a boil then reducing the heat.
4. Simmer for 10 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Dish Info

This recipe will serve 6 people, depending on your appetites. It is also straight from the Semi-Homemade Queen, Sandra Lee, and her wonderful book Semi-Homemade 20 Minute Meals.

Raspberry Lemonade

What You'll Need

• 3 cups cold water
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 6-oz lemonade concentrate, thawed

What To Do

1. Combine 3/4 cups of water and raspberries in a blender and process until smooth.
2. Strain the raspberry mixture into a pitcher and discard the seeds.
3. Combine the raspberry liquid, 2 1/4 cups water, and lemonade concentrate into pitcher and chill.

** To make a beautiful presentation, save a handful or rasperberries to thrown into the pitcher, along with some sliced lemons, before serving. **

Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

What You'll Need

• 1 egg
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cups mini M&M

What To Do

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat together egg, brown sugar and peanut butter until smooth.
3. Fold in M&Ms.
4. Drop dough onto baking sheet by the rounded teaspoon and bake for 8-10 minutes.

** If you don't have M&Ms on hand, substitute chocolate chips. **


Dish Info

This recipe  makes 2 dozen cookies.

Brownies

What You'll Need

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup Cocoa powder
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

What To Do

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and coat 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Melt the butter in a microwave safe dish.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients in the order given above.
4. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of pan comes out clean.

Dish Info

This recipe make a dozen delicious brownies.

Roasted Chicken & Portobello Risotto

What You'll Need

• 4 tsp butter
• 2 bacon slices
• 3 cups Portobello Mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
• 6 tbsp Parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup shallots, minced
• 1 1/2 cup Arborio
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 cans chicken broth (14-oz each)
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

What To Do

1. Cook the bacon in a skillet until crispy, then remove and crumble into a small bowl.
2. To the bacon drippings in your pan add 1 tsp of butter and the chopped mushrooms and saute for 5 minutes.
3. Sprinkle into skillet 1/ 4 tsp salt and stir in your shredded chicken and 4 tbsp of Parsley and set aside.
4. In a large skillet melt 3 tsp of butter, adding shallots and cooking for 3 minutes.
5. To shallots add your rice, cooking for 1 minute and stirring constantly.
6. Stir wine into rice and cook until nearly all of the liquid is absorbed, then add chicken broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of liquid is absorbed before adding the next.
7. Remove your skillet from the heat and stir in the mushroom mixture, cheese, 1/4 tsp salt and your pepper.
8. Sprinkle the dish with your reserved bacon crumbles and 2 tbsp Parsley.

Dish Info

This recipe serves 6, depending on your appetite. A cooked Rotisserie chicken from the grocery store is a great time saver for this dish! It also stores and re-heats well for left-overs.

All-In-One Spaghetti

What You'll Need

• 1 lb ground beef or turkey
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 can tomato paste (6-oz)
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1/2 lb spaghetti
• 2 cans chicken broth (14-oz each)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp Chili Powder

What To Do

1. Cook your ground meat, onion, and garlic in a large sauce pan until meat is cooked through and drain if needed.
2. Stir the spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, chicken broth, Oregano, salt, sugar, and Chili Powder into sauce pan with cooked meat mixture and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes stirring often.
3.  Add your spaghetti to the pan. If needed, add additional water to cover, and simmer, stirring often, for 20 minutes or until noodles are tender.

Dish Info 

This recipe will serve 8 hungry appetites.

Chicken Pot Pie

What You'll Need

• package of 2 pie crusts
• 2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, diced and uncooked
• 1 cup carrots, diced
• 1 cup peas
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp Thyme
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup milk

What To Do

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a medium sauce pan combine chicken, carrots, peas, celery, and chicken broth, making sure the broth covers the meat and vegetables. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Drain the cooked meat and vegetables, reserving the chicken broth and set both aside. 
4. In same sauce pan saute your onions and butter until soft, about 5 minutes. 
5. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and Thyme to onion and butter. Then slowly add in 1 3/4 cups of reserved chicken broth and the milk, simmering until thick.
6. Place the chicken and vegetable mixture in pie pan prepared with your pie crust and pour the hot liquid over top.
7. Cover the pie with the second pie crust, sealing the edges and cutting away any excess dough. Cut several slits in top of the dough to allow steam to escape.
8. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

**  Using a bag of frozen carrots and peas is a great way to save time on this recipe. I also recommend baking the bottom pie crust in the pie dish for 5 minutes prior to adding the filling; this will ensure that it gets fully cooked. **


Dish Info

This recipe serves 8 hungry appetites.

Braised Chicken with Carrots & Potatoes

What You'll Need

• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 lb new potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch chunks
• 2 cups baby carrots
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 tsp garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp dried Thyme
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 6 chicken thighs, bonless and skinned

What To Do

1. Slightly grease your slow-cooker and place sliced onions in the bottom, followed by the cut potatoes and baby carrots.
2. Combine 3/4 ts
3. Combine 3/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, chicken broth, white wine, garlic and Thyme and pour into the slow-cooker.
4. Mix together the remaining salt and pepper as well as the Paprika and run the spices evenly over the chicken thighs, arrange them on top of the vegetables when finished.
5. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

** If you prefer not to cook with alcohol, feel free to replace the wine with 1/4 cup of chicken stock **

Dish Info

This recipe serves 6 people, depending on your appetite.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole

What You'll Need

• 6 sweet potatoes, medium size
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup Bourbon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• Mini Marshmallows, 1 bag

What To Do

1. Wash sweet potatoes and wrap in foil, then cook in 400 degree oven. When the potatoes are soft, remove from the oven and let cool.
2. Remove the foil and the skins from the potatoes and mash in a large bowl.
3. Add the brown sugar, butter, orange juice, Bourbon, salt, and Cinnamon to your mashed sweet potatoes and beat until smooth.
4. Pour potato mixture into a slightly greased 9X13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
5. Remove dish from oven and sprinkle marshmallows over potato casserole and bake until the marshmallows are golden brown.

Dish Info

This recipe, always requested at Thanksgiving, will serve about 10 people. If you use more Bourbon you will serve less.

Fruit Salad

What You'll Need

• 2 cups strawberries, sliced
• 1 lb seedles grapes
• 3 bananas, peeled & sliced
• 8-oz strawberry yogurt

What To Do

1. Mix all ingredients together and serve immediately.

Dish Info

This recipe contains 12 servings, depending on your appetite.