Craisins Salad

Colleen Swan

 1 head red leaf lettuce
 1 head green leaf lettuce
1 head iceberg lettuce
 1 (8 oz) package shredded mozzarella cheese
 1 (8 oz) package shredded Parmesan cheese
 1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
 1 (8 oz) package Craisins
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted
 1 recipe Craisins Salad Dressing

Break red and green leaf lettuce into pieces. Shred iceberg lettuce. Toss together with the other ingredients just before serving. Pass dressing with salad. Makes 12 servings.

Craisins Salad Dressing

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. mustard
1 cup salad oil

Quaker Oatmeal Cookies

Karen Marler

Cream: 1 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Add:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups quick oats

Optional: add nuts or raisins.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Bonnie's Taco Soup

Bonnie Winward

First you have to start with my recipe of home canned tomato soup! Click here for recipe.

1 pound ground beef, browned
1 onion chopped
1 small can kidney beans (drained)
1 small can kernel corn with juice
1 mild taco seasoning mix
1 quart of home canned tomato soup

Simmer all ingredients. Serve with following garnishes: sliced olives, grated cheese, sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips. Place soup in bowls and put garnishes op top. Serves 6-8

Bonnie's Home Canned Tomato Soup

Bonnie Winward

1/2 bushel of tomatoes
6 medium onions
3 red peppers
1/2 cup salt
1 bunch celery
3 green peppers
2 cups of sugar
3 cubes of butter
pepper to taste

Blend tomatoes and put through a colander to remove seeds and skins. Pulverize celery, onions and peppers in blender (add a little tomato juice to help it mix well). Add pulverized vegetables to tomato juice in large kettle. Add sugar, salt, pepper and butter and heat thoroughly. Put into quart bottles and seal lids in cold pack canner. Process for 45 minutes.

(Makes about 18 quarts.)

Tortilla Soup

Linda Nelson

Saute 1 onion with 1 tsp. garlic, chopped
3 cans tomato soup
3 cans chicken broth (I use chicken bullion)
1 can rotel tomatoes (regular)
3 chicken breasts cooked and diced (or canned chicken)

Put all ingredients together and bring to boil, then simmer.
Serve with: grated cheese, tortilla chips, avocado, sour cream

Wild Rice Soup

Melissa Spelts

5 cups water - boil
1 bullion cube

Add pkg wild rice
Rice-a-roni original plus seasoning
Bring to a boil, turn down. Simmer 10 minutes.

Optional Add any vegetables - simmer 5 more minutes
1 Tbsp dry onions, simmer 5 more minutes

Add 1 can cream of chicken soup. Heat through.
Add  pkg cream cheese - 8 oz and wisk - room temperature
Serve with almonds on top. Add chicken already cooked.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Gayla Veater

4 cups Swanson Chicken Broth
generous dash ground black pepper
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1/2 cup uncooked extra wide egg noodles
1 cup shredded cooked chicken or turkey

Heat broth, pepper, carrot and celery in 2 quart sauce pan over medium high heat to a boil. Stir noodles and chicken in saucepan. Reduce heat to medium. Cook 10 minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring often.

Cheesy Broccoli Soup

Ida Larsen

1 quart water
3 chicken bullion cubes
Bring to a boil
Add 2 pkg broccoli and or cauliflower and carrots. Cook until tender.
(separately) Melt 1 1/2 cube margarine, take off heat and slowly stir in 1/2 cup flower .
Add this mixture to liquid and broccoli. Stir until smooth and thickened
Add 16 oz. Velveeta. Heat until melted. 

Chicken Breasts

Colleen Swan

10-12 chicken breasts, cooked and cut up

1/4 c butter

1/4 c flour1 tsp salt

1 c milk

1 c chicken broth

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 c sour cream

1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 pkg broccoli spears, cooked and drained

cheese, sliced

Cook chicken, cool. Melt butter and add flour salt & blend well. Add

Milk & broth & cook until slightly thickened. Stir in nutmeg, sour

Cream & Worcestershire sauce. Arrange cooked broccoli spears in pan (13x9x2) put chicken

On top and pour sauce over top. Broil 10 min in very hot oven until heated. Top with

Sliced cheese. Put back in broiler until cheese is melted.

Chocolate Appreciation

Last night's enrichment activity was a "Chocolate Appreciation Night". Check out the awesome chocolate taster's table Karla Chambers put together:

The following posts are a few chocolate recipes and our freezer meal recipes for this month...

Chocolate Torte

Karla Chambers

1st layer:

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Cut butter into flour with knife, add pecans, and press into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Cool.

2nd layer:

1- 8 ounce cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup cool whip

Mix together, then spread on cooled crust.

3rd layer:

1 large package chocolate instant pudding

3 cups milk

Mix together, then spread on top of 2nd layer.

Chill in refrigerator. Top with whipped cream and garnish with fresh strawberries if desired.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

Ashley Mason

Mix together:

1 package Devils Food Cake mix

2 eggs

1/4 oil

Roll into small balls. (I usually press them flat with a fork because they don't seem to flatten on their own.) Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

Cool and frost one cookie (I like to use cream cheese frosting). Top with another cookie to make a homemade Oreo cookie sandwich!

Rolo Cookies

Melanie Warnes

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

40 rolos

Beat butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. In another bowl combine flour, cocoa, and soda. Stir into egg mixture to form soft dough. Chill in fridge at least an hour. Place on Tablespoon of dough in palm of hand and press flat. Put one Rolo candy in the center. Bring up sides of dough between palms to make a smooth ball. Roll cookie ball in sugar, place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until tops crack.

Monster Cookies

Karla Chambers (from the Standard Examiner)

1 1/2 cups butter

2 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 cups sugar

6 eggs

3 cups peanut butter, extra crunchy

2 Tbsp light corn syrup

4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla

9 cups quick oats

1 large package M&Ms, plain

1 package chocolate chips, optional

Use ice cream scoop to form dough balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake at 350.

(This recipe makes a 'monstrous' amount of cookies!)

Pineapple Meatballs

Shar Fletcher

30 frozen meatballs

3/4 cup barbeque sauce

3/4 cup orange juice

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 (20 ounce) can crushed pinapple

Combine barbeque sauce, orange juice, brown sugar, cornstarch and pinapple. Place meatballs into freezer bag and pour sauce over meatballs.

To serve: Thaw. Place in a greased baking dish. Bake covered at 350 for 1 hour. Serve over rice.

Hamburger Stroganoff

1 lb extra lean hamburger

1 med onion

1/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 Tbsp flour

1 can mushroom pieces

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup sour cream

Noodles

Brown hamburger and onion in butter until light brown. Add flour, salt and pepper, and mushrooms. Stir in soup. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly 5 minutes. Reduce hear, simmer 10 minutes uncovered. Stir in sour cream. Heat through. Serve over noodles.

Freezes well.

Russian Chicken (VERY easy)

Melissa Evans

Combine together:

8 oz. Russian salad dressing

1 pkg. Dry Onion Soup Mix

1 cup any kind of jam

Layer uncooked chicken (breasts, tenders, whatever you want) in sprayed 9x13 pan. Pour sauce on top and bake covered at 325 for 1 hour.

Serve over hot rice. (Despite the name it tastes like sweet and sour chicken so I also serve it with Chinese noodles.)

Parmesan Chicken Fingers

Melissa Evans

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

Combine in bowl:

2 Tablespoons melted butter

1 Tablespoon hot sweet mustard (or any mustard)

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Dip uncooked chicken tenders or sliced breasts in wet ingredients, then in dry. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Serve with favorite dipping sauce.

Wellness Enrichment Night

Karla Chambers arranged for a "wellness expert" to come and talk with us about healthy eating, exercising, etc. She was a wonderful speaker and had a lot of great tips, one of which was to try as hard as possible to up our intake of fish, nuts and fruit. She said that the majority of people do not get enough of these three things.

Visiting afterward...

Some of us stayed after for the freezer meal group:

We made chicken enchiladas, chicken pillows and poppy seed chicken.

It was a wonderful evening! The recipes from the healthy choices taster's table as well as the freezer meal recipes are included in the following posts. Enjoy!

(F.Y.I. Along the upper right hand side of this site are two sections: labels and blog archive. You can click on the labels to pull up all recipes under certain categories and in the archive each recipe name is listed which you can click on to pull up each recipe, rather than having to search through the site to find one you are looking for.) 

Cherry Berry Trifle

Karla Chambers

(adapted from Susan Stokes' recipe)

1 - 14 ounce Angel Food Cake, broken into 1 inch pieces

1 - 8 ounce Lite Cool Whip

1 - 1/3 ounce instant fat free vanilla pudding, prepared following package directions

1 - 20 ounce Cherry Pie Filling, lite

plus

1 - 20 ounce Berry Pie Filling (or berry jam with fresh or frozen berried added or whole cranberry sauce, etc.)

Almonds, sliced.

Layer in a 3 quart clear glass (trifle) serving bowl.

*** use only 1/2 of the portions in each layer

Layer #1 Angel Food Cake (using only 1/2 the ingredient portions)

Layer #2 Cool Whip and Vanilla Pudding, stirred together

Layer #3 Cherry Pie Filling and Berry Filling, stirred together

Layers #4, #5, #6: repeat layers #1, #2, #3

Top with almonds.

Refrigerate overnight.

Yum! Yum!