Artichoke, Sausage, & Parmesan Stuffing

1 lb pork sausage
1 12oz jar of Artichoke Hearts, drained
1 and 1/2 (5 oz) bags of garlic butter croutons or one bag of regular cubed stuffing mix
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup of frozen onion/peppers mix or make your own adding variations like celrey, carrots, green bell peppers.
2 cups chicken broth

Preheat oven to 325. Spread sausage over the bottom of the 13 x 9 inch baking dish and bake for 30 minutes. Cut the artichokes into bite size pieces. Remove pan from oven and crumble the sausage then stir in the artichokes, croutons, cheese, onions/pepper mix and broth. COver the entire dish with foil and bake for an hour. Remove foil and return to oven and brown -- about 5 minutes.

Harvest Vegetable Streusel

5 tbs butter
2 sweet potatoes
2 baking potatoes
3 tbs olive oil
3 carrots
3 parsnips
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 package of apple crisp
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325. Cut butter into small cubes and soften in microwave. Peel potatoes potatoes carrots, parsnips, and cut all into 1 inch cubes and place in a medium bowl. Toss vegetables with oil, salt, pepper. Transfer mix into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish and bake for 1.5 hours or until tender. Add the apple crisp mix into the butter, blend with a fork until crumbly. Add raisins to vegetables across the top and then cover with the apple crisp mixture. Bake for ten more minutes

Roasted Brussels sprouts and butternut squash

Makes 6 cups, about 10 to 12 servings

Ingredients

1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in half (about 4 cups)
1 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into large cubes (about 3 cups)
5 ounces roasted peeled chestnuts (¾ cup)
14 ounces frozen pearl onions
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
5 sage leaves, stems removed, sliced crosswise into thin ribbons
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, chestnuts and pearl onions in a large bowl. Add the olive oil and stir to combine, coating all ingredients evenly with oil.

Spread the vegetables into an even layer on a large baking sheet or roasting pan. Roast vegetables for 35 to 40 minutes, or until they are nicely caramelized and fork-tender.

Remove vegetables from oven and, while still hot, drizzle with maple syrup, sprinkle with sage, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a warm serving dish and serve immediately.

Sweet potato apple gratin

SWEET POTATO APPLE GRATIN

Makes 10 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon minced ginger root
1/3 cup chopped dates
½ cup apple cider
½ cup orange juice
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/8-inch-thick rounds
8 ounces Honeycrisp apples, peeled, halved, cored and sliced 1/8 inch thick
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking spray, as needed

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray the inside of a 6-cup baking dish with cooking spray.

Heat a small sauté pan over medium heat, then add the olive oil, shallots, curry powder and ginger. Sweat shallots for 2 minutes until very aromatic, but without browning. Add the chopped dates, apple cider and orange juice, and simmer for 1minute. Remove aromatic mixture from heat.

Place sweet potatoes and apples in a large bowl. Pour aromatic mixture over them, add salt and pepper to taste, and mix well.

Neatly arrange and layer the potato-apple mixture into the prepared pan so that it is level. Pour and spread any remaining aromatic mixture over the top.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Uncover the pan and move it to the top rack of the oven. Bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender and the top is lightly browned.

Remove pan from oven and serve while still hot.

Chef's note: This dish may be made a day in advance and reheated for serving.

Good Seasons Lemon Bake Shrimp

Here's a quick and easy shrimp dish that we got from our brother-in-law Dale that we modified just a bit to suit our taste. We as a family have never been big seafood lovers (except I love Salmon ) but shrimp is one of those that sorta qualifies as a non-fishy meal! Anyway, 15 minutes in your oven and this is ready to eat. We had string-beans, cornbread, and noodle salad with the shrimp.

1 bag of peeled and deveined shrimp (real important to buy these prepared frozen shrimp. Cost a little more but saves you the job of peeling and cleaning before cooking ... and its icky!
2 lemmons
1 package of Spicy Italian Seasoning

1 stick of butter

Defrost the shrimp before starting this meal. Melt the butter in preparation for the meal by placing it on a flat oven pan in the oven that has been pre-heated to 375. In the meantime slice the lemons into 1/4 inch slices. Once butter is melted in the pan place the lemons in the pan in a manner that allows them to touch each other. Next, place the shrimp on top of each lemon slice (here you can actually expand this recipe by using two bags of shrimp and allowing the extra shrimp to overflow the lemons onto the pan) Once all laid out sprinkle the zesty italian seasoning on top and place it in the oven. We like to insure fish is done-done, so at the 15 minute point I put the shrimp in the broiler section and give it a broiler blast for at least a minute!

Glatte Kartoffelsuppe (Smooth Potato Soup)

10 medium size potatoes (white potatoes, peeled and cubed)
1 pound of bacon (real bacon not the already cooked)
3 stalks of celery (chopped)
1 large yellow onion (chopped)
4 cloves of garlic (chopped)
4 tablespoon of butter
4 cups of good chicken stock
1/4 pound of butter (one stick)
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon tarragon
1/4 cup of all purpose flour
1 cup heavy cream

How you cook this and prepare the soup depends on your needs. It is possible to make this soup in less than 30 minutes but to me the best way is in a slow cooker, overnight, prepared in two separate steps. That is how I present it here.

In a skillet cook the bacon. You want it crisp enough to easily chop the bacon into small pieces. In the mean tome you have a slow cooker set on high and one slice of the uncooked bacon goes into the slow cooker, the rest in the skillet. While the bacon is cooking chop the onion, garlic, and celery. As the bacon cooks take out the slices that have cooked forst, chop them and drop into the slow cooker. The slice of bacon you had on the slow cooker that has greased the slow cooker but of course not cooked through, put it into the skillet. Once the bacon is done, chopped, and into the slow cooker, put the onion, garlic, and celery into the skillet. Covering the skillet will help in the cooking of the mix on medium heat.
Meanwhile peel the potatoes, cube them, and once the onion/garlic/celery mix has softened, the onion start to turn clear, put the potatoes into the mix. Idea here is to cook for 5 minutes, coating the potatoes with bacon grease, and the mix. When ready place everything you just cooked into slow cooker and add the chicken broth.

Now here's the part where we stop and allow the slow cooker to either sit overnight on low, or all day if you prepared this early in the day. We're allowing the potatoes to cook, to soften and to integrate the broth throughout the potato soup.
Second Section:
When you're ready melt the butter in a small pot, and once melted on medium heat put in the flower stirring with a whisk constantly. Once the flour mixture is completely mixed add the tarragon and the heavy cream. Stir constantly bringing the mixture to a boil and as soon as it boils turn it back down to medium as all of a sudden this mixture will thicken on you -- very quickly in about 2 minutes. Pour the mix into the soup.
Last thing to do is take about half the entire soup with whole potatoes and puree them thickening the soup even more. Salt and pepper to taste, top soup with grated cheese of your choice.

Noodles O-Le-O

Again, like the chicken and rice recipe, this can be a loaves and fishes type of meal. Adjust the amount (or type) of noodles and other ingredients to increase the yield. Mix different types of noodles.

1 box of whole egg wide noodles Vegetable oil Garlic salt 1 Onion Parmesan cheese Bread crumbs Cook the noodles and drain. In a frying pan warm up the oil and add chopped onion. Cook onion until soft then add the noodles and mix throughly. You want enough oil to cover the noodles lightly, not drown in. As you cook the noodles and onion, add garlic salt and pepper. Cook the noodles until they are getting firm on the bottom of the pan then add some bread crumbs to "glue" to the noodles. Mix throughly and cover with cheese (any cheese really) for additional flavor. No bread crumbs? Empty the bottom of your toaster. Need more, toast some bread then dice the bread up. The image used is not exactly this recipe but close enough.

Easy Chicken and Rice

2 pieces of chicken Enough rice to feed the number of people Soup -- cream of chicken/celery/mushroom or another type soup that you have available 1 Onion Olive (or regular) oil 1 egg Garlic salt Pepper This is the loves and fish meal -- expand it as you need. Fry the chicken in some oil to cover the bottom of the pan and seasoning. As the chicken is cooking in one pan, prepare the rice in another pot (instant/boil/whatever rice - substitute noodles if necessary) When chicken is almost cooked chop up onion and add to the pan. Take the chicken out a piece at a time and cut into small pieces and return to the pan. Cook until onion is soft then add the rice and stir. Once stirred throughly form a pocket in the middle of the mixture with the bottom of the pan exposed add some oil to the pocket and then crack the egg and stir into the oil. Cook the egg until it is scrambled and then mix into the rice/chicken mixture. Once stirred add the soup of choice. If you use clear soup, continue to cook the mixture until it is absorbed by the rice mixture. If using a cream soup just stir it in and heat for five more minutes until warm.

Pot luck brown rice & corn with peach salad

This is easy, quick and high in protein and fiber Ingredients: Bag of cook in the bag brown rice 1/4 lb. ground beef pkg of frozen corn in steamer bag Soy sauce garlic salt Tsp of horseradish 1 tomato 2 cloves garlic Olive Oil 1 Large and fresh peach 1 Granny Smith green apple Olive oil 5 slices of butterkase cheese (or your favorite solid cheese) chopped Brown the meat with some olive oil while microwaving the corn and boiling the bag of rice (10 minutes) In the ground beef once browned include chopped up garlic and a diced up tomato. Let this cook on low and covered for about 5 minutes. Add some soy sauce, just a little at first you can add once complete to taste. Stir and blend in the corn and horseradish. Cover again for 5 minutes drain the rice in the bag in a colander and then pour the rice over the meat and corn in the skillet and stir throughly. Give it a taste -- can't taste the soy sauce Slice the peaches into two small bowls and then cut them into smaller bites size pieces. Do the same to the Apple and the cheese. Drizzle olive oil (Extra Virgin Cold Pressed always) and sprinkle with garlic salt.

Fruit and Vegetable Cobb Salad

Makes: 5 servings Serving Size: 1 cup Preparation Time: 25 minutes Ingredients: 2 large carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into 1/8-inch slices 1 med. cucumber, peeled and cut diagonally into 1/4-inch slices 1 large mango, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch slices 2 cups fresh pineapple chunks 1/2 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced 1/3 cup fresh lime juice 2 tsp. honey Pinch chili powder ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Directions Arrange the carrots, cucumber, mango, and pineapple in separate rows on a flat platter. In a blender, combine the jalapeño pepper, lime juice, and honey. Drizzle the dressing over the vegetables and fruit and garnish with a sprinkle of chili powder. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fruit and Vegetable “Cobb” Salad Makes: 5 servings Serving Size: 1 cup Calories 95 Fat 0 g Saturated Fat 0 g Trans Fat 0 g Carbohydrate 24 g Fiber 3 g Sugars 19 g Cholesterol 0 mg Sodium 25 mg Potassium 340 mg Protein 1 g Phosphorus 35 mg Choices: Fruit 1.5, Nonstarchy Vegetable 1

Broccoli Cheese Soup

2 1/2 cups fat free low sodium chicken broth

2 cups chopped fresh broccoli or a box of frozen broccoli

1 medium chopped carrot

1 medium rib of celery chopped

1/4 tsp salt1/4 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 cup half and half

3 Tbsp. all purpose flour

Low-fat sharp Cheddar cheese 3 slices torn into pieces

In a large saucepan stir together the broth, broccoli, carrot, celery, salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender.  In a small bowl whisk together the half and half and flour.  Stir into the saucepan and simmer for 2 more minutes or until the soup thickens, stirring occasionally.  Add the cheese.  Remove from heat and stir until the cheese is melted.

Chicken, Potato & Vegetable Bake

6 small chicken breasts half's
11/2 lb.

gold potatoes (about 3) peeled and cubed
3 carrots coarsely chopped
1 onion coarsely chopped
3/4 cup zesty italian dressing (or use dressing found this web site)
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 400.  Place chicken and vegetables in large baking dish and drizzle with dressing.  Bake for 1 hour until chicken is done.  Sprinkle with cheese

Easy quiche

5 eggs
1/2 cup Bisquick
2 cups milk
1/2 cup mushrooms/ ham/ bacon/ or whatever
1 stick melted butter
1 package cut spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan  cheese
1/4 teaspoon Tumeric

Precook spinach and melt the butter with the mushrooms to soften the mushrooms.  If not using mushrooms cook whatever meat or substitute you are using.  In a bowl combine all the ingredients and stir.  Preheat oven to 375 and pour contents into a 10 inch dish.  Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until eggs are set.  (Check with a toothpick - if inserted toothpick comes out clean it's done!)