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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Easy One Pot Garlic Parmesan Noodles

Do you need a quick side dish or even a main entree? Here’s a recipe even my vegetarian friends can eat. The sauce is not quite an Alfredo Sauce but has most the elements of one. I love how everything is cooked in one pot, because I like to cook, but I hate to clean up.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 cup milk
• 8 ounces uncooked fettuccine
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan  cheese
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
• Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt butter in large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook stirring frequently, until fragrant; about 1-2 minutes.
2. Stir in chicken/vegetable broth, milk and fettuccine.
3. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer. Stir occasionally until pasta is cooked through, about 18 to 20 minutes.
4. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Add more milk if mixture is too thick; or more cheese if too thin.
5. Add Kosher salt and fresh cracked blck pepper to taste and garnish with chopped parsley.
6. Serve immediately.

Southwestern Style Rice

One day, I’m going to make my own tamales. But for tonight, I needed to make a side dish to go with the tamales I bought. Originally I was going to make a basic Mexican rice. But I decided to amp it up a little and add some beans and corn. I guess this would then make this more of a Southwestern style rice. This recipe makes a full skillet of rice. So a good 8-10 servings. If you need less, you may want to half the ingredients.  Or save the extra and add shredded chicken to it for a chicken and rice dish to eat the next day!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 2 cups long grain rice
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 can (14.5 ounce) black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels, defrosted
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2  teaspoon tumeric
• fresh cilantro for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

Add onions and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Reduce heat to low and add garlic and rice. Stir constantly to make sure the rice does not burn. Cook for 3 minutes.

 

Add diced tomatoes with green chilies.  Stir to combine.

Add black beans and corn.

Add chicken broth.

Then add cumin, chili powder, salt and tumeric.

Stir to combine. Increase heat back to medium high and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat back to low.  Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until rice is done.

Garnish with fresh cilantro.

 

 

Crock Pot Cheesy Potatoes

Now this may not be the healthiest recipe, so I am not encouraging you to eat this casserole all by yourself. As with everything in life, serve in moderation. But are you looking for a side dish for an office pot luck or your family dinner? With just a few ingredients and your crock pot you can put out a tasty, cheesy side dish that can feed 10 people easily. And if you want to kick up this recipe even more, try adding some cut up cooked bacon pieces and some green onions or chives to make this a fully loaded cheesy potato casserole. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any bacon handy when I made this, so I stuck to the basics.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 30 ounce bag frozen, shredded hash browns
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, 10.75 ounces
• 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Spray the sides of your crock pot with cooking spray. (You will thank me later for reminding you.)
2. Add sour cream, cream of chicken and cheese to your crock pot and mix well.
3. Next add frozen hash browns and combine with sauce mixture. (I loosened the hash browns by squeezing them in the bag because mine were frozen solid.)
4. Cook on High for 3 hours; or on Low for 6-8 hours.
5. Season with salt and pepper to your taste. Enjoy!

French Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Almonds

Sometimes the hardest part of deciding what to  cook for dinner isn’t the main entrée, but actually coming up with a side dish. My go to vegetable side dish is French green beans. They pair nicely with most proteins. And they are fairly quick and easy to cook.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound of French green beans (haricot verts)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/3 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1 small red onion cut in half and sliced

DIRECTIONS:

1. Boil water in a saute pan. Add 1 tablespoon salt once water is boiling.
2. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath for the beans. (Large bowl with ice and water.)
3. Carefully add the green beans to boiling water for 1 minute.
4. Blanch green beans by removing them from the boiling water and immersing them into the ice bath.
5. Clear saute pan of remaining water and wipe down with paper towel.
6. Bring saute pan back to stove on medium high heat.
7. Add oil and butter and combine using a wooden spoon.
8. Once oil and butter begin to ripple, add garlic, red pepper flakes and almond slices and stir.
9. Next add red onion slices and stir every minute until onions are translucent and caramel in color.
10. Strain green beans from ice bath and add to saute pan. Combine beans and onion mixture for 2 to 3 minutes until beans are heated throughout.