Brazilian Rice

1 onion (1/2 onion, depending on what you want)
2-3 garlic cloves (minced)
1-2 t. chicken bouillion (better than bouillion)
1 quart boiling water
1-16 oz. bag brown rice (or white)
1 T. garlic salt or Brazil salt seasoning for rice
1 T. butter/ 1/2 c. oil (varies on type of rice)

1. Cook butter on medium high heat. Chop onions and crush garlic while butter sizzles. Add both when done.

2. Mix the hot tap water and bouillion seasoning and put in microwave for 6-8 min. (until boiling).

3. When onion and garlic brown, add oil and bag of rice to VERY LOW heat. Continuously coat rice with oil until water is done or rice is sticking to pan.

4. Add boiling water to coated rice and cover with a clear lid (holes in rice indicate ready to add rice salt OR garlic salt. (takes 30 min - 1 hour)

5. Take off of heat, but leave covered for 5-10 min.

6. Enjoy!

Recipe Credit: Kelsi DaSilva

Turketti

-8 oz. mushrooms, sliced

-2-3 T butter
-2 T flour (optional)
-2 T sherry (optional, but delicious)
-1 t. thyme (optional, but delicious)
-1 c. milk (to make this extra creamy and delicious, substitute up to half the milk with heavy cream)
-2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

-1/2 box pasta, cooked (I make the whole box and reserve some plain pasta for my sauce-phobic middle child)

-However much pre-cooked chicken you might have on hand, chopped into bite-sized pieces

Preheat oven to 400F.

Saute the mushrooms in the butter with a little salt and pepper. When they are tender, sprinkle lightly with the flour and stir well until there are no lumps. (Proper chefs remove the mushrooms to make the bechamel, but I'm a home cook). Add the milk and sherry, if you're using it, and heat gently until the sauce has thickened. If you omit the flour from this step the sauce will be much thinner. I have seen roux recipes that call for whole wheat flour, but it's such a small amount I just go with all-purpose.

As you would do when preparing lasagna, put just enough sauce in the bottom of an 8x8 glass pan to lightly cover the bottom. Add 1/3 of the pasta, then toss 1/3 each of the chicken & cheddar cheese on top of the pasta. Repeat pasta, chicken and cheese layers for remaining ingredients, EXCEPT for the final cheese layer. Before laying down that last bit of cheese, pour the remaining mushroom sauce evenly over the entire dish, THEN lay the cheese down. Bake 20 minutes, and let cool 10 minutes or so, or until the dish is no longer nuclear hot.

NOTE That this is an excellent make ahead dish and freezes well. If you are only going to make ahead by a day or two, cover with foil rather than plastic wrap before refrigerating. Baking time is if you bake immediately after prepping the casserole.

If you prep and then freeze, defrost as completely as possible to protect the glass dish, and bake covered 40 minutes, then uncovered 15-20 minutes. If you oil the inside of the foil before baking, the cheese won't stick during the covered portion of the baking.

Variations include adding chopped broccoli or spinach, changing up the type of cheese (I would pay my family to let me make it with Swiss cheese, but so far I don't have any takers...), chopped bacon or high-quality ham, sun-dried tomatoes... basically, if it tastes good to you, odds are it will taste good in this casserole. If you're low on milk, I have made this dish with good homemade stock instead of milk, though it will be less creamy (or you can blend stock with half & half or heavy cream).

What other variations can you think of?

If this sounds like delicious comfort food in the middle of a busy week, please share with others!

Recipe Credit: Simply Richer Living

Tasty Pyramid

1-2 T oil
2 chicken breasts, cut into pieces
1 jar (24 oz.) pasta sauce
2 T vinegar
3 c. penne pasta
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1-1/2 c. mixed vegetables

-Heat oil in skillet and cook chicken about ten minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper.

-Remove chicken, add sauce and vinegar to skillet and cook for two minutes.

-Return chicken to skillet, add cooked vegetables, and cook for five minutes (covered).

-Serve over pasta, and add cheese on top!

Recipe Credit: Holly Meek

Tin Foil Dinners

I was digging through some recipes and found that I had not posted this recipe. This was definitely one of my favorite meals growing up. Enjoy!

Version 1:

1 1/2 pounds Lean Ground Beef
3 Carrots, Peeled and cut into chunks
5 Red Potatoes cut into chunks
2 Celery cut into chunks
1 Onion Cut into wedges OR diced
1/2 head of Broccoli cut into small florets (optional)
1 Can 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup
Tin Foil

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Tear off 6 good sized pieces of tin foil.  Portion your meat and veggies into 6.  Shape your hamburger into patties and place in the middle of the tin foil sheet and season with salt and pepper.  Top with about 2 TBSP of the Cream of Mushroom Soup.  Then place the portion of veggies on top and season a bit more with salt and pepper.  Folding up the two longer sides of the foil you will create a little pouch.  Then fold up the shorter sides and kind of roll and crimp them to create a good seal.  Bake at 350 for about an hour or until veggies are soft.  Open the tin foil pouch carefully as it will be hot and steamy.

Enjoy!


This next version is closer to the ones I remember eating growing up, but they are both delicious.

Version 2:
1 lb. ground beef or chicken breast pounded flat 
5 Red Potatoes cut into chunks
1 Onion Cut into wedges OR diced
3 Carrots, Peeled and cut into chunks
garlic salt
pepper
tin foil

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Tear off 6 good sized pieces of tin foil.  Portion your meat and veggies into 6.  Shape your hamburger into patties and place in the middle of the tin foil sheet and season with garlic salt and pepper.  Then place the portion of veggies on top and season a bit more with salt and pepper.  Folding up the two longer sides of the foil you will create a little pouch.  Then fold up the shorter sides and kind of roll and crimp them to create a good seal.  Bake at 350 for about an hour or until veggies are soft.  Open the tin foil pouch carefully as it will be hot and steamy. Serve with ketchup, mustard, and pickle relish.

Jeff 1 1/2 pounds Lean Ground Beef
3 Carrots, Peeled and cut into chunks
canned/frozen corn
peas
3 Russet potatoes cut into chunks
2 Celery cut into chunks
1 Onion Cut into wedges OR diced
head of cabbage
salt
pepper
Tin Foil

Enjoy!

Grandma Petty's Chicken Burgers

1 1/2 lb. chicken breast or thighs
1 c. chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 small onion
1 green pepper, diced
several sticks of celery, chopped
4 or 5 green onions
1 small can of water chestnuts, drained
1 bottle of pimientos, drained
1 c. of cubed yellow cheese, mild
fresh fancy rolls

1. Cook 1 1/2 lbs. of chicken breast or thighs for several hours in crock pot, along with about 1 cup chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper (see Crockpot Chicken Recipe on blog).

2. Shred chicken using stand mixer.

3. To chicken, add onion, green pepper, celery, green onions, water chestnuts, pimientos, and cubed yellow cheese.

4. Mix with low-fat mayonnaise (generous). This part may be made the day before.

5. That morning, get fresh fancy rolls, slice in half and spread generously with chicken mixture. Hold together with toothpicks. Wrap rolls in tinfoil.

6. Bake at 350 degrees approximately 30 minutes in the oven. Enjoy!

Recipe Credit: Grandma Petty

Copycat Waffle Love Waffles

• 3/4 c. whole milk, scalded and cooled to warm milk
• 2 T water, warmed
• 1 1/2 t. brown sugar
• 3 t. active dry yeast OR 2 t. instant yeast
• 2 large eggs, lightly whisked
• 3/4 c. unsalted butter (the original recipe said 1 cup, but we thought that was way too much)
• 3 T honey
• 3 T brown sugar
• 3 t. vanilla
• 2 c. bread flour
• 1 1/2-1 3/4 c. AP flour
• 3/4 c. granulated sugar (The original recipe said 2 cups of belgian pearl sugar, but we thought that was way too much)

1. Add the 1 1/2 t. of brown sugar to the milk and water and add the yeast, stirring to combine. allow the yeast to proof, or get foamy and puffy.
2. In a large stand mixer bowl, beat together the butter and sugars with a whisk (or with whisk attachment). Add the eggs, honey and vanilla. Stir together with spatula and add the yeast mixture. Place in a stand mixer with the dough hook and add 2 cups of bread flour. Mix until the dough is thoroughly incorporated, and add the remaining 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 c. AP flour, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for up to 4 hours on the counter, or up to 24 hours covered with plastic wrap in the fridge. The dough will need to sit on the counter and come back to room temperature to use. Then punch down and knead in the pearl sugar. Separate into 8 to 10 balls and place on a hot, greased waffle iron. Cook until golden brown and serve with biscoff, whipped cream and fresh berries.

Notes: Need to skimp on the rise time? No biggie, though you will lose some of that awesome flavor.

Recipe credit: Oh sweet basil

Our Favorite Banana Bread

ingredients

• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 1/2 cup white sugar (can be lessened to 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (can be lessened to 1/4 cup)
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup of sour cream or greek yogurt*
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed (I usually use medium-large sized ones)

instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease or spray a 9 inch loaf pan, set aside.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the melted butter, and sugars. Add the eggs one and a time and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
3. Sprinkle the flour, baking soda and salt over the butter mixture and stir to mix until just combined. Fold in the bananas and sour cream.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 70 minutes or until crust is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool until warm before serving.

notes

*I have used sour cream, greek yogurt, regular yogurt and buttermilk in this recipe and they all yield awesome results. I usually heap the sour cream into the measuring cup so it's just a little over-full.

Recipe adapted from: All Recipes

Recipe Credit: The Baker Chick