Fresh Snap Green Beans

2 lbs fresh french green beans
1 package of liquid chicken broth
1 tsp of bacon fat
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup chopped onion

"Snap" the beans -- i.e., pick the ends off the beans, break the beans in half and toss in a colander and rinse.  Combine all ingredients, bring to a boil, and simmer for 45 minutes or until soft enough for your taste.

Blackberry Chicken

1 1/2 pounds of boned chicken breast
Steak Seasoning
Cooking spray
1/4 cup strawberry or blackberry preserves
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup fresh blackberries

Place chicken on sprayed foil and spray chicken with oil spray.  Sprinkle the steak seasoning rub on bot sides of the chicken and cook in a small oven.  Cover lightly with the foil and cook for 30 minutes at 350 then flip the chicken.  Use a meat thermometer to make sure chicken is cooked before removing from the oven.  Once done, on a small sauce pan combine the lemon juice, soy sauce, and preserves in a sprayed with cooking oil non-stick pan and cook until the mixture mixes together and bubbles for about a minute.  Use this sauce to cover chicken then put the blackberries on top and serve

"Yankee" Crispy Chicken Salad

While this picture is a chicken salad, it not exactly this one.  Monica discovered a variation of this salad in "Yankee" magazine and we sort of "tweaked" it to the recipe below.  Despite some of the things in it you may never have heard of, try it - it's great!

5 scallions chopped
1 bag of salad topping, the kind with mostly nuts
2 cups of instant brown rice
1 small fennel bulb, core removed, sliced thinly
1 granny smith apple, peeled and thinly sliced
1 clove garlic thinly sliced
Garlic salt
1 fresh lemon
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (extra virgin is cold pressed and better for you)
1/3 cup of fresh parsley -- finely chopped. (First cut the stems off -- I know it is tedious but necessary)
Regular black pepper
3 pounds of skinless boneless chicken - cut into chunks

Bake the chicken and sprinkle garlic salt, pepper, and chicken rub on both sides.  Prepare the brown rice and when it is done, put a few pats of butter in the bottom of the pot and the thinly sliced garlic clove in the bottom and cook until the garlic turns brown, mixing it all into the rice.

Once both the chicken and rice are done, put olive oil in the bottom of a large salad bowl, cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the oil and sprinkle with a teaspoon of garlic salt.  Throw everything into the bowl and mix it all up.  Serve immediately -- serves 6.  High in protein.

Family Pizza

Family Pizza night was always a favorite for many years -- too many years I guess now that I look back.  But this pizza recipe is as close to the original as I can come.  I hope you enjoy ...

For two pizzas, 18 inch pan with holes in the bottom

Three packages of pizza dough mix
Bisquick
Olive oil
Jar of pizza sauce - glass jar better taste
Sugar
One 8 oz, one 16 oz package of good quality mozzarella cheese.  Not store variety, the fresher the better.  It is the cheese and the crust that are the secrets to a good pizza.
Italian seasoning
Garlic salt
Pepperoni -- the packaged stuff is OK but not as tastly as the fresh pepperoni in the deli.  If not that then get the roll you slice yourself, it will be tastier than the pre-sliced, non-refrigerated pepperoni

Two medium to large size bowls.

Here's a "how-to" video on making this pizza.  Family Pizza Night

In each bowl put one package of the pre-mix dough and split the third between the two.  Use the appropriate amount of warm water for the two then add one third of a cup more water to the mixture and stir.  Use the bisquick to add to the mixture until it shapes into a ball that is not sticking to the sides of the bowl.  Then cover each bowl with a towel and sit on top of the stove as the stove pre-heats to 425 degrees.
Once 30 to 45 minutes has passed its time to spread the dough on to the pizza pans.  First you need to make a choice - do you want to use more Bisquick and rolling pin to spread the dough out or use olive oil to spread out the dough by hand.  Either way once you've managed to spread the dough and filled the pizza pan, sit it in the oven and bake it until the bottom of the dough turns a light brown.
Take the pan and dough out and spread light layer of sauce on the dough and sprinkle with about a tablespoon of sugar.  On top of this having taken both bags of cheese and combined them, spread half the cheese on one and half on the other.  Top with some Italian seasoning and the pizza is ready for whatever topping you like to include the peperoni.
Bake for about 25 minutes -- really depends on how much "stuff" you put on the top of the pizza.

Variations:
Use white sauce instead of pizza sauce, found in the same section as spaghetti sauce in the grocery.
Make your own pizza dough - make the dough thiner and it will be crispier!
Use gluten free flour and gluten free ingredients -- the crust will brown quicker so make sure you watch it and reduce the oven temperature just a bit.