Apple Cranberry Stuffing

When you have a big family dinner planned it’s hard to give all your dishes your full attention. So take help where you can, and go the semi homade route. This quick recipe is an excellent side dish and if you substitute the chicken stock for vegetable stock it can be vegetarian too.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 stick of butter or 3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped
• 1 red or yellow onion, chooped
• 1 package  (6 ounces) Ocean Spray Craisins® (dried cranberries)
• 2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 package (14 ounces) Pepperidge Farm® Herb Seasoned Stuffing mix
• Poultry seasoning optional

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre heat the oven to 350°F degrees.
2. Heat the butter or oil in a 3 quart sauce pan over medium heat.
3.  Add the apples, celery and onion and cook for 5 minutes or until tender-crisp, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the stock to the saucepan and heat to a boil.
5. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
6. Add the stuffing and dried cranberries and mix lightly.
7. Add additional poultry seasoning to taste. (This is optional, as the stuffing mix is already seasoned.)  Spoon the stuffing mixture into a greased 9×13 inch baking dish.  Cover the baking dish with foil.
8. Bake for 30 minutes or until the stuffing mixture is hot. (For crunchier stuffing, bake uncovered.)

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Creamy Wild Rice Soup

It’s finally getting chilly around here. Soup is my favorite “go to” meal when the weather gets colder. This soup is really decadent since it’s creamy and full of vegetables.  Don’t be deceived by my picture, there is wild rice in this soup. For my strictly vegetarian friends, substitute the chicken stock with vegetable stock. And for my friends who want an even heartier soup, feel free to add diced, cooked chicken.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup wild rice
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 4 cups water
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 large russet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 teaspoon crushed rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups cooked, diced chicken (OPTIONAL)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the rice, oil and water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, cook the carrots, celery, onion, and potatoes in butter until vegetables are almost tender. Stir in flour until blended; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Slowly stir in broth and undrained rice.
3. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Reduce heat; stir in the cream, rosemary and poultry seasoning. Simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes or until rice is tender.
4. Salt and pepper to taste. If adding in chicken, do so the last 5 minutes to warm through.

Slow Cooker Lentil and Vegetable Soup

What’s that? I’m posting a vegetarian dish? Yes, believe it or not, I actually like a lot of vegetarian dishes. It’s just hard to find a vegetarian dish that my picky “meat and potatoes” son will enjoy as well. So I have to take baby steps with him and made a vegetarian soup. And slow cooker recipes are the best. Just prep your ingredients, put into your slow cooker and let it do all the work! Hopefully, my friend, Sue T. will approve. This recipe makes 6-8 servings.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups lentils (green or red)
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 bag (5 ounces) baby spinach
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 6 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place all ingredients but the baby spinach, in your slow cooker. And pour in the vegetable stock.
2. Cook on high for 5 hours or on low for 8 hours.
3. Stir a few times throughout the cooking.
4. Add the baby spinach during the last 10 minutes of cooking cycle.
5. If you like a more brothy soup, add in 1-2 cups additional stock.
6. If you like a more creamy soup, carefully ladle out 1/3 of the soup into your blender and puree. Add back blended soup to slow cooker and mix well.
7. Salt to taste and garnish with chopped parsley.

Joann’s Egg Salad Sandwich

I know. Egg salad. Not much of a recipe. But I always like to put a little “extra love” into my recipes. So this is not just plain old chopped eggs and mayonnaise.  It is MY version of an egg salad sandwich. And there is no mustard in this recipe. Why? Well, because I just don’t like mustard. But feel free to substitute it for the caesar salad dressing if you prefer. This will be posting around Easter. So maybe you have some extra hard boiled eggs you need to use?

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 hard boiled eggs, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely diced
• 1 spear kosher dill pickle, diced (one quarter of a whole kosher dill pickle)
• 1-2 tablespoons red onions, diced
• 1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon caesar salad dressing
• 1/2 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water.  Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover and let eggs stand in hot water for 15 minutes.
2. While eggs are cooking, dice celery, pickle, onion and romaine lettuce. Add to a bowl.
3. After eggs have sat in the saucepan for 15 minutes, remove the eggs from the hot water. Let eggs cool. Then peel and chop eggs.
4. Add your chopped eggs into the bowl with prepared vegetables.
5. Then add mayonnaise, caesar salad dressing, salt, pepper and paprika.
6. Stir to combine. You may serve now or place bowl (covered) in your refrigerator  to chill before eating.
7. Use your favorite type of bread to make the sandwich and serve with fruit on the side. Enjoy!
8. Makes 4-6 sandwiches depending how much you like to stuff them. 🙂