Thai Pizza

This is one of our favorite meals. It's super yummy, light, healthy. I love to serve it with the fruit salad below. The ingredients are easy to find year-round, which is nice. Try it- you gotta try it.

1 regular size Boboli pizza crust
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 Tb. butter, melted
1/3 C. creamy peanut butter
2 Tb. honey
2 Tb. rice vinegar (or just a touch less)
1 Tb. soy sauce
1 tsp. shredded fresh ginger (this is the ingredient that puts it over the top!)
red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, cut in small slivers
carrots, shredded
green onion, chopped
cilantro
bean sprouts

Spread butter and garlic on top of crust and bake at 425° for 7-10 minutes until slightly browned. Cool. Whisk peanut butter, honey, vinegar, soy sauce, and ginger in bowl, then spread evenly over cooled crust. Combine veggie toppings in a bowl. Pile veggies on top of peanut sauce. Enjoy.

Favorite Fruit Salad

I love this fruit salad. It's different, quick, and delicious. Doesn't make for good leftovers though, so eat it all.


½ C. vanilla yogurt
½ Tb. orange juice concentrate
¼ tsp. cinnamon
1 medium apple, chopped
1 C. green grapes, halved
¼ C. dry roasted peanuts


Beat together yogurt, orange juice, and cinnamon in medium bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix lightly. Serve immediately.

Pineapple Chicken

Garlic salt
3-5 pounds of chicken pieces
Cornstarch
Beaten egg

Sprinkle garlic salt on chicken pieces. Dip in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in oil until browned. Place chicken in a casserole dish, pour the sauce over the chicken, and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Sauce
½ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 cup crushed pineapple
½ teaspoon salt

Mix and bring ingredients to a boil
Add rice or noodles with a veggie to complete the meal.

Note: I would suggest making more sauce... every time I forget to make more sauce and the sauce is really good to poor over the chicken again when it is over rice or noodles. Another note... when browning the chicken is does not have to cooked all the way through. If you do that then when it cooks in the oven you will dry out the chicken slightly. Enjoy!

Crockpot Applesauce Chicken

My husband found this website: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com, "A Year of Slow Cook: Crockpot". It is excellent. I am trying out recipes he is selecting and amazed at the tasteness and quality of the recipes. Here is one we tried tonight and really liked!



Ingredients:
--4 frozen chicken breast halves or thighs (I used 2 of each)
--1 1/2 cups of applesauce
--1 T dried onion flakes, or 1 yellow onion, chopped finely
--1 T apple cider vinegar
--1/4 tsp cinnamon
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--2 cloves garlic, minced
--1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional, I used them, and added more to the adult servings)

The Directions.

A 3 or 4 quart crockpot is the best size for this, but I did use a 6 quart. If your pot cooks fast, err on the lower end of cooking time.

Put the frozen chicken pieces into your crockpot. Add the onion (if you are using the dried onion, wait and add it to the applesauce). In a bowl, mix the applesauce, vinegar, garlic, and spices together. Pour on top of the chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 3-4.

Saucy Mexican Chicken

We tried this recipe tonight and we absolutely LOVED IT! I have found using Kraft Foods recipes (from their magazine) has been a "hit and miss" with finding tastey foods. This one was easy, fast and good. :)

What You Need!
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 small breasts)
1 jar (16 oz.) Chunky Salsa
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed
1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Make It!

COOK chicken in nonstick skillet on medium-high heat 4 min. on each side or until browned on both sides.

ADD salsa and beans. Bring to boil; cover. Simmer on medium-low heat 5 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF).

TOP with cheese. Remove from heat. Let stand, covered, 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

Substitute
Prepare using 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs.

Parmesan- Dijon Chicken

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3/4 cup Progresso® dry bread crumbs (any flavor)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 3/4 pounds)

1. Heat oven to 375ºF. Mix butter and mustard in shallow dish until well mixed. Mix bread crumbs and cheese in large plastic bag.
2. Dip one piece of chicken at a time into butter mixture, coating all sides. Then place in bag of bread crumbs, seal bag and shake to coat with crumb mixture. Place chicken in single layer in ungreased rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches.
3. Bake uncovered 20 to 30 minutes, turning once, until juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut.

Prep time: 10 min
Cook Time: 30 min
5 servings

Chicken-Green Bean Casserole

3 cups of frozen French-style green beans
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup
2 cans (5 ounces each) chunk chicken, drained
1/2 cup sour cream
1 package (6 ounces) chow mein noodles
Paprika, if desired

1. Heat beans, soup and chicken to boiling in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream.

2. Serve hot chicken mixture over noodles; sprinkle with paprika

Serves 4
Prep: 2 min
Cook: 5 min
I usually double the recipe and sometimes put it over rice. Great short and quick meal, my kids love this. There are some variaties of this that are more "casseroly" and they are good too.

Crock Pot Spaghetti

I usually do horrible at crock pot recipes but this really turned out good. I did add 1/2 cup of water with all the other ingredients at the beginning and then an extra 2 cups of water when I added the noodles. I didn't want the spaghetti to burn. Just be careful not to add toooo much water or the noodles will taste weird.

CROCK POT SPAGHETTI
Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
2 tbsp. dry onions
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 (4 oz.) can mushrooms
3 c. tomato juice
2 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
1 (4 oz.) pkg. spaghetti, broken in pieces

Directions:
1. Brown ground beef in skillet. Place in crock pot.
2. Add all remaining ingredients (except dry spaghetti) and stir together.
3. Cook on high 4 to 5 hours. Add dry spaghetti and stir in. Cook on high for 1 hour more.
AND of course coat with Parmesan Cheese to make it "Cheezy".

Serves 3-4. See comments on how to double this recipe.

Baked Spaghetti Squash, Lasagna-Style

I really enjoy spaghetti squash. If you haven't tried it, it's very mild, and takes on the flavor of whatever you put on it. There are simpler, lighter ways to eat it than this that are also delicious, but this recipe is family-friendly (and the presentation is pretty cool). It's good and cheesy, and healthier than lasagna or baked ziti, though it tastes similar. If I'm going to consume vast amounts of cheese, I feel better if it's on top of a vegetable! This recipe includes a homemade sauce, but you could absolutely use your favorite pre-made spaghetti sauce for an easy, great meal.

1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeded

olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 T. minced garlic

1 sm. can mushrooms

1 28 oz can stewed or diced tomatoes, drained well

1 c. tomato sauce, or your favorite spaghetti sauce

1 T. dried basil

2 t. sugar

black pepper

Mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray sheet cake pan with cooking spray (I lined my sheet with foil first for easy clean up). Add a small amount of water into your baking dish. Place squash halves cut side down on the baking sheet. *Be careful when cutting your squash--it can be pretty tricky to cut through the hard outer shell.

2. Bake squash approx. 45-60 minutes, or until squash easily can be scraped out of the shell with a fork. Squash should be soft, not crunchy when it's done. Remove from oven, and cool.

3. Meanwhile, in a large pan, use your olive oil to saute the onion and garlic until golden. Add in mushrooms, then tomatoes, sauce, sugar, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then simmer for at least 15 minutes until your sauce has cooked down and is not watery.

4. Remove squash pulp with a fork, placing in a bowl and reserving the shells. Layer each shell with a spoonful or so of the sauce, a layer of spaghetti squash, then cheese. Layer another layer of sauce, then squash, then sauce again, ending with a good layer of Mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan and basil. If your shells didn't survive baking, you can use a casserole dish.

Bake for 20 min. in preheated oven, or until cheese is melted.

Makes 8-10 adult servings.

*It would be nice to make this dish ahead of time, as it takes so long for the squash to cook and it's hard to predict when it will be done. It's challenging to time the whole thing if you like to eat at a certain time. Next time, I would just cook the squash ahead of time, pull the pulp from the sides (leaving it in the shells) and refrigerate it till I was ready. I would probably add 10-15 min. to the cooking time once I layer it with cheese and bake it again. You can also choose to freeze half of this recipe if it is too much.

Shrimp Jambalya

1 lb shrimp (peeled, w/o tails)

1 T. olive oil

1 bunch of scallions, chopped

1 green bell pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 cups quick brown rice (I use 2)

1/8 t. Cheyenne pepper or Cajun seasoning

2 c. chicken broth

1 large can diced tomatoes

1. Saute shrimp, olive oil, scallions, peppers and garlic in medium saucepan.

2. When peppers are tender, add chicken broth, tomatoes, Cheyenne pepper, and rice (more for soupy v. dry). Boil on low for 30 minutes. Then serve.

Ginger Glazed Mahi Mahi

3 T. honey
3 T. soy sauce
3 T. Balsamic vinegar
1 t. fresh ginger
1 t. crushed garlic
2 t. olive oil
4 (6 oz.) mahi mahi fillets
salt and pepper to taste
1 T. vegetable oil

In pie pan, stir together honey, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic, and olive oil. Season fish with salt and pepper. Put in dish. Cover and marinate at least 20 minutes. Heat vegetable oil in skillet over med-high heat. Remove fish and fry 4-6 minutes on each side. Remove. Pour marinade in skillet; cook unitl it becomes a glaze and pour on fish. Serve immediately. I love mahi mahi--such a mild taste for fish and my kids love it, too. I like to serve it with fresh green beans and couscous or wild rice.

Chicken and Apples in Honey Mustard Sauce

This is a recipe I got off of a fantastic website, here: www.simplyrecipes.com (the picture is from there, too). I hope I don't get in trouble for posting it! I made it a month ago, and the entire family loved it! I love meat and fruit cooked together, so this is a top recipe for me.

Chicken and Apples in Honey Mustard Sauce Recipe

Preparation time: 30 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup apple cider
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp mustard
• 2 Tbsp seasoned dry breadcrumbs
• 4 4oz chicken breasts
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 small unpeeled apples, cored and cut into eighths (use Golden delicious, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Pippin, or McIntosh apples, seecooking apples chart)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• Fresh parsley

METHOD

1 Whisk cider, cornstarch, mustard, honey, salt and pepper (to taste) in a bowl. Set aside.

2 Spread bread crumbs on a piece of wax paper, lightly coat chicken with crumbs.

3 In a large non-stick skillet, heat the oil and add the chicken breasts. Cook over medium heat until golden brown on one side, about 3 minutes. Turn chicken, add apples, and cook until browned on the other side.

4 Add chicken broth, cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 15 minutes.

5 With slotted spoon, remove chicken and apples to serving plates. Whisk cider mixture again and add to skillet. Cook and stir over high heat until lightly thickened and bubbly, 1 to 2 minutes. Spoon over chicken and apples, sprinkle with parsley.

Serve with rice. Serves 4.

Below is a picture of how my meal turned out! Really yummy--I think I used Fugi apples.