Cooktop Cassoulet

From Southern Living magazine, January 2006:

FYI: cas·sou·let...A casserole of white beans, various meats, vegetables, and herbs, slowly simmered or baked in a slow oven.

• 1 pound smoked turkey sausage, cut into 1/2 inch rounds
• 4 skinned and boned chicken breasts, diced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 (16 oz.) cans great Northern beans, undrained
• 1/4 cup chicken broth

-Brown sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat 10 minutes, stirring often. Remove with a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels; set aside.

-Saute chicken in hot sausage drippings in skillet 8 to 10 minutes or until done; remove with slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels.

-Saute onion, bell pepper, and garlic in hot drippings in skillet 5 to 6 minutes or until tender. Stir in chicken, sausage, tomatoes, and next 4 ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in beans and broth. Cook, covered, 10 more minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf. Serve immediately.

Easy Oreo Truffles

From Kraft Foods and a HIT at any party...

1 pkg. Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
1 brick cream cheese, softened
1 pkg. chocolate coating (unsure of name, in blocks that you will melt, by the almond bark)
1 pkg. almond bark

-Set aside 9 Oreos to eat whenever.
-Crush remaining 36 cookies to find crumbs (I like using a food processor but you can put them in a Ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin); place in a medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended.
-Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1 inch in diameter and put onto wax paper.
-Dip balls into melted chocolate, place back on wax paper to dry.
-Drizzle some of the melted almond bark in a diagonal motion over the top. They look will LOOK and TASTE like you bought the at some fancy-shamancy candy store.
-Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies

From Alton Brown's "GOOD EATS":

2 sticks room temperature salted butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda + 1 pinch more
2 cups chocolate chips

-Beat butter, brown sugar and sugar together.
-In a separate little bowl mix together egg, milk and vanilla just until egg is broken up. Beat this in with the sugar mixture.
-In another bowl combine flour, salt and baking soda then beat in with the sugar mixture.
-Fold in your chocolate chips.
-Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are light brown. Take them out of the oven and they will continue baking to be perfect.

Dump Cake

My cousin, Lola, gave me this wonderfully fattening recipe.

l large can crushed pineapple
l box yellow cake mix
2 sticks butter, sliced
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 can cherry pie filling

Pour pineapple into a 9x13 pan. Spoon pie filling over pineapple. Crumble cake mix evenly over this. Place sliced butter over the mixture and top with pecans. Bake in preheated oven at 350o for 1 hour or until golden brown.

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Pie

My friend, Jessica, gave me this recipe.

1 unbaked 9 inch deep dish pie shell (if using frozen let thaw completely- do not prebake)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup of butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup of chocolate morsels (I use the milk chocolate just because I like it better and use a little more than what the recipe calls for)

PREHEAT oven to 325 degrees
BEAT eggs in large bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, sugar, brown sugar. Stir in morsels. Spoon in pie shell.
BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between outside edge and center comes out clean. Middle of pie will still be a little "jiggly." Cool on wire rack. Serve warm or cold.

Chicken Spaghetti Toss

5 green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1-1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
½ teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
1 package 7 ounces thin spaghetti

In a large skillet, sauté onions and garlic in butter and oil until tender. Stir in the chicken, lemon juice, parsley, seasoned salt and lemon pepper. Saute for 15-20 minutes or until chicken juices run clear. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti according to directions and drain. Add the chicken mixture to the spaghetti and toss. Serves 4.

Apple Dumplings

This recipe was given to me by my mom. She got it from someone at her church. It is yummy and different! Oh, and don't fix these just for your small family...you have to share because it makes alot!

2 cans crescent rolls
2 granny smith apples (peeled, cored, cut into eighths)
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
½ Tsp. vanilla
12 OZ Mountain Dew, Sprite, 7 up, etc.
Cinnamon

Melt butter. Stir in sugar, vanilla and Sprite.

Roll each apple into crescent roll and place in 9x13 inch baking dish that has been sprayed with Pam. They will have to be close together to get them all in the dish. Pour melted mixture over the dumplings then sprinkle with cinnamon. It will appear to be too much liquid but it is not.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Low-Fat Key Lime Pie...

Destiny brought this recipe to scrapbooking last month and I have to say...you would never know it uses reduced fat ingredients.

Reduced Fat Pre-made graham cracker crust
2 Yoplait Light Key Lime Yogurt
1 Fat Free Cool Whip
1 small box sugar free lime Jello

Dissolve Jello into 1/4 cup hot water. Mix in yogurt and fold in coolwhip. Pour into pie crust and chill.

Makes 8 serving, each serving is 4 WW Points.

Roasted Vegetables...

My neighbor, Betty, gave me a wonderful recipe for roasted veggies and I want to share...



-1 tsp. olive oil
-A couple of splashes of balsamic vinegar
-fresh garlic minced (3 cloves if you REALLY like garlic, less if you don't)

-vegetables that you love (pictured zucchini, tomato, onion, and potato) (other good ones carrots, yellow squash, broccoli, asparagus or whatever else your heart desires)
-Fresh cracked pepper and salt

Mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar and minced garlic together. Chop up veggies into decent sized pieces and brush on oil mixture. Lay in pan and sprinkle salt and pepper over veggies. Roast at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes (or until everything is fork tender).

Low-Fat Garlic & Feta Cheese Dip

1 cup low-fat feta cheese (crumbled)
4 oz. fat-free cream cheese (softened)
1/3 cup low-fat mayonnaise
2-3 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/8 tsp. dill weed
1/8 tsp. thyme

Combine all ingredients. Cover and chill until serving time.

Per tablespoon: 24 calories, 1.2g. fat, no fiber (2 tbsps. for 1 point).

Serve with Reduced Fat Wheat Thins or Carrot chips

Rotel Potatoes

From Bitsy Cliburn...her Home Economics students LOVE this recipe...

5 to 6 medium red or yellow potatoes, thinly sliced or cubed, about 6 cups
1 can (10 to 14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with green chilies (Rotel)
1 pound Velveeta
salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until tender. Melt Velveeta in microwave; add Rotel (do not drain) Stir until completely melted. Drain potatoes and place in a 9x13 dish. Pour cheese mixture over potatoes; bake at 350° for about 10 minutes or until bubbly.

Broccoli Casserole

16 oz. package frozen chopped broccoli
8 ounces Velveeta, cubed
1 sleeve Ritz Crackers, crushed

-Cook the broccoli in the microwave 3 minutes (in a microwave-safe bowl, covered in plastic wrap). Add the cubed velvetta, stir and cook 2 more minutes.

-Put into a casserole dish and bake for 10 -15 minutes at 350 degrees. Stir to mix the cheese in well.

-Add crushed Ritz crackers on top and bake 5 more minutes.

Pot Roast

Eloise, Chad's step-mom, who is a wonderful cook, shared her roast recipe with me. I have been making it this way ever since.

Roast (this was a rump roast)

Seasoning to your liking

What I do...

-Get your roast out. Make little slits in the meat and slide a piece of crushed garlic or a piece of onion in the slit (this will help the flavor of the garlic/onion go through the meat).

-Put seasoning on one side of roast (I like Montreal Steak Seasoning from McCormick) and then sprinkle on a little bit of flour and rub it into the meat.

-Put olive oil in a roasting pan and put it on the stove top on "medium" heat.

-Once the olive oil is hot, put the seasoned side of the roast down in the olive oil and sear it on that side for 3-5 minutes. While that is searing, season the side that is up and rub on the flour. Then turn the meat over to the other side to sear.

-Put the lid on and put into a 250 degree oven for about 1 hour and ten minutes per pound.

This is an easy way to cook a roast.