Escalloped Potatoes with Spinach and Artichoke Hearts

 

 

 

Here is a delicious side dish that was so easy to make. I made it using fat-free cheeses, but feel free to use whatever works best for you.  Here are the ingredients:

 

6-8 good-sized red potatoes, sliced

1 1/4 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 tsp garlic powder

4 oz. low-fat cream cheese

1/2 cup low fat cheddar cheese

about 2 cups of marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1 regular size bag of spinach, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup of green onions

 

 

 

 

Begin by heating the cheeses and chicken broth in a pot until the cheese is melted. 

Add the spinach and continue cooking until it has wilted.  Stir in the artichokes and set aside.

 

Wash and slice the potatoes....

Last step:  Add the sliced potatoes to the sauce and mix well.  Fold in the sliced green onions.  Spread into a prepared dish and bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees.  Cover with foil, reduce your oven to 375 degrees and cook for 1 hour more, or until the potatoes are tender.

 

To shorten your cooking time by an hour, feel free to boil the potatoes just until they begin to get tender.  Drain well and combine with the sauce.  You will need to bake the dish for 30 minutes at 425 degrees.

 

 

Italian Wedding Soup

 

This is such a delicious soup -- so simple, yet the flavors are wonderful.  There are very few ingredients, and using frozen "Swedish-style" meatballs makes it that much easier.

 

 

Here are your ingredients:

 

1 Onion, chopped

Carrots - about 2 cups chopped

Celery - about 2 cups chopped

garlic - 4 good-sized cloves, chopped

Spinach - as much as you would like

White wine, about 1/2 cup

any type of pasta you have on hand (I used half a box)

Swedish-style meatballs

chicken broth - 2 boxes

(more or less, depending on how much soup you are making)

Parmesan cheese



Making this soup is textbook!  Saute the onions, carrots, celery, and chopped garlic in a little butter.
 

 

 

When they begin to become tender, add the chicken broth, wine, and spinach and simmer for about 20 minutes.



I like to cook the pasta in a separate pot before adding it to the soup because it absorbs too much of the liquid.  So, while the veggies are simmering, cook your pasta.  When done, drain and add to the pot.  Also add your meatballs.  Even though they are small, I like to cut them in half.  They are easier to eat that way.



 

Take a taste to make sure it doesn't need any seasoning.  I wait until I serve the soup to add the Parmesan cheese.  Otherwise, if you add it to the pot, it will just melt and stick to the bottom!

Delish!

 

Rice Krispie Cookies - a blast from my childhood!

One bite of this cookie, and your mouth just feels so happy.  There is just something so comforting about this cookie!  I haven't had these since I was a child, so you can understand how nostalgic they were for me!  They still taste delicious.....just the way I remember them.  Here is all there is to them:

1 cup of shortening or butter

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups of flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup Quick Cook rolled oats

2 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Begin by creaming the butter and sugar.  Once it is nice and fluffy, add the vanilla and eggs.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, soda, powder and salt and incorporate that.  Remove from the blender, and with a spoon,  add the oats and Rice Krispies and gently mix.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Using a tablespoon, make a ball of cookie dough and slightly flatten on the cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes, or until the cookies are nice and golden brown.  About 3/4 of the way through the cooking time, I like to rotate the cookie sheet so that they cook evenly.

 All that is left to do is eat them!  Delish....

Chicken Legs and Brussel Sprouts - Dinner in one pan...and gluten free!

This dinner is quick and easy, with very few ingredients, just the kind of dinner I like.  Your ingredients are as follows:

Chicken legs

Brussel Sprouts (I used one bag)

Coconut oil (to cook the chicken in)

Olive oil (to coat the brussel sprouts)

juice of one lemon

¼ cup chicken stock

salt, pepper, and garlic powder

fresh Thyme

Parmesan cheese

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees.  The first step is to clean and cut up the sprouts.  Place them in a bowl and coat with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.   Set aside.

Wash and thoroughly dry the chicken legs.  Sprinkle with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder and brown in a pan with the coconut oil (approximately 2 tbs).  Let one side get nice and brown before turning.  You want the chicken to be nice and crispy.

 Once the chicken is nice and brown, add in the sprouts, as well as the chicken broth and lemon juice and mix well.  Place your pan in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

When you take it out of the oven, the chicken is so tender and the brussel sprouts are lightly browned.  Take a taste to see if you need to add more salt or pepper.   If you like, add the Parmesan cheese just before serving.  I served this with some rice so that it would soak up the delicious sauce.....

This is probably the best broccoli soup you will ever have!

Last night I really felt like having some broccoli soup, so I went on line to get some ideas...  I noticed that almost all of the recipes I found were very similar, broccoli with onion, celery, some sort of cream and cheese.  Now, don't get me wrong.  This type of broccoli soup is delicious, but not so good for my high cholesterol!  I stumbled across a recipe that called for things like white beans and sausage, along with broccoli and thought that sounded delicious.  I have to tell you....this soup came out amazing, and the best thing?  no cheese and no cream!  So here goes...

Begin by making the "broccoli" part of this soup:

Broccoli (I used half of a large "Costco" bag)

1 Vidalia onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

Olive Oil

1 Box of chicken broth

In a heavy pan, I cooked the onion in a small amount of olive oil.  When it was almost done, I added the garlic.  After about 5 minutes, put in the broccoli and season with salt and pepper.  

Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Cover and turn down to a simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the broccoli is nice and tender.

Take off the heat and use either a hand blender or your food processor and thoroughly puree.  This part is done, and you can move on to the white bean and sausage part!

Here are your ingredients:

1 package of sausage, casings removed and broken up (I used sweet Italian)

1 bunch of kale (remove the stalks and chop)

mushrooms (I used about 5-6)

1 can of Cannelini beans, drained

2 thick slices of panchetta, diced and cooked (you could use bacon instead)

Salt and Pepper

fresh Thyme

Chopped onion

Crushed red pepper

fresh chopped parsley

In a large, heavy pan, cook the sausage.  After draining the fat, add your kale, season with some pepper, and cook until the kale is wilted.  Add your sliced mushrooms as well.  I don't like to cook the mushrooms separately because I find they get too over cooked by the time the soup is done.  I had some left over green beans, so I threw those in as well.  Feel free to add any other vegetable you would like, such as carrots or zucchini, or even cauliflower!

At this point, combine the broccoli soup with the sausage and kale, and add your white beans.  Your taste buds will have to take over now!  The measurements stop and the random sprinkling begins.  I found the soup needed more onion flavor, so I added some dried chopped onion. I also added more crushed red pepper than I thought I would.  As for the Thyme, I just kept adding more until I could get that wonderful fresh Thyme flavor.  Don't forget  the parsley!

This is the part I enjoy the most, customizing the soup to the way I like it!  It really gives you a chance to get creative.  Just remember to write down all that you add so that you can re-create your masterpiece!

Cannoli Cheesecake......oh my!

Cheesecake that tastes like a cannoli?  What's not to love?  This was such an easy dessert to put together....

     For the crust:

1 ½ cups Vanilla Wafers Crushed

2 tbs granulated sugar

¼ cup butter, melted

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Begin by taking two pieces of aluminum foil, and cover the bottom and sides of your 9" spring pan.  You do this because you are going to sit the pan in 1" of water while it cooks.  Mix these ingredients together and press into the bottom and up the sides of your pan.  Bake for 10 minutes, and allow to cool before pouring in your filling.

     For the Filling:

2 ½ large tubs of ricotta cheese

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 tbs vanilla

2 tsp freshly grated orange rind

7 eggs lightly beaten

miniature chocolate chips

Begin by combining the ricotta cheese and sugar in a mixer, and beat until smooth.  Add in the flour, vanilla, and orange rind and continue to beat until well mixed.  Now turn down the mixer to low and add the eggs, one at a time, only long enough to incorporate them.

Pour the batter into the spring pan and sprinkle the mini chocolate chips over the top.  Place the pan inside another pan and fill with about 1" of water.

Bake in the 350 degree oven for at least 75 minutes, or until the center is almost set, and the top has a nice golden color.

When the cake is done, remove the pan from the water and let cool for about 10 minutes.  Now, take the aluminum foil off and run a sharp knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake.  Let the cake remain in the pan for a good hour more.  At this time, remove the sides of the pan, sprinkle the top with confectioners sugar and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Get ready for all of the oohs and ahhs....!

Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup

I have always loved plain old butternut squash soup, but I wanted to try to make it a little different this time.  The flavors I used made this so unique.  I hope you like it as much as I did.  Here are the ingredients:

1 whole butternut squash, peeled and diced

2 cups of carrots, cut up

1 medium sized Vidalia onion, diced

1-2 tbs of butter (or margarine)

1 box of chicken broth

Salt and Pepper

fresh thyme (about ½ tsp)

cumin (to taste)

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ cup of ½ and ½ (feel free to use fat free to cut calories)

In your soup pot, melt the butter and cook the onions, squash and carrots for about 10 minutes.  Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer (covered) for about 30 minutes.

Once the veggies are really tender, use either a stick blender or a food processor and puree the soup.

And now for the seasoning... add your salt and pepper, cumin, nutmeg, and thyme.  Let the flavors simmer together for another 5-10 minutes and take a taste.  Feel free to add whatever you need so that you can taste everything.

Last but not least, stir in your ½ and ½.

All that is left to do is eat it!  A great idea when serving is to toss a couple of salad croutons and a little Parmesan cheese on top...