Pasta with White Bean Sauce

This is a great vegitarian recipe from the Better Homes and Garden's cookbook. Since my Noah has, so far, proven himself to be a vegitarian I thought I'd try this out and see how we like it. We LIKE it! Noah ate his up in less than 5 minutes (which he NEVER does) so it was a winner before I'd even tasted mine. Once I'd tasted it though, I could see why he ate it so fast - delish!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups milk
1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese (but you could also use Swiss or American - I used the Gruyere)
1 - 15 oz. can great Northern, navy, or white kidney beans, drained
1 - 4 oz. can diced green chili peppers, drained
1 ounces dried linguini or spaghetti

Directions:
1. Cook the onion and garlic in a large saucepan with hot margarine until tender. Stir in the flour and 1/8 tsp of pepper (you could probably leave that out but whatever). Add the milk all at once. Cook and stir over medium heat until it's thick and bubbly (probably took me about 5 minutes to get it the consistency I wanted). Cook it and stir one minute more. Add cheese; stir until melted. Stir in drained beans and chili peppers (I used about half of the chili peppers that it called for just because I didn't want it to be too spicy for my kids. It ended up being a good amount of heat for them - if you ever cook this just for adults though I'd use all the chili's). Heat through.

2. Cook the linguini (I'm assuming you probably know how to cook pasta so I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how to do that). Serve the sauce over the pasta. Enjoy!

Chicken and Rice

My friend Vanessa gave me this recipe the other day and I made it last night and it is a WINNER! So easy and delicious - even my vegitarian Noah ate it!

Ingredients:

2-3 lbs of chicken - cut into bite size cubes (the more chicken you use the less sauce you end up with)
4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp curry

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread your cut up chicken around in a baking dish. Melt the butter and mix the honey, mustard, salt and curry into it. Pour it evenly over the chicken. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

2. For the rice. You could do plain old minute rice and that would be delish. But for a little extra flavor, try mixing a packet of Lipton's French Onion Soup mix (you know, the powdered stuff) into whatever rice you make. It gives it a little extra zing and compliments this meal beautifully!

Pear Salad

So here is a delicious salad that whenever I make it I get tons of compliments on it and everyone wants the recipe, so I thought I would share it with the masses:

Ingredients:
-One head of lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces or a bag of salad greens
-2pears-cored and cut into slices (or you can use canned pears and just cut them up)
-5 ounces crumbled blue cheese
-1 avocado-peeled,pitted, and diced
-1/4 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup pecans
-1/3 cup olive oil
-3tablespoons red wine vinegar
-1 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard
-1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
-1 clove garlic, chopped
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a skillet over medium heat, stir 1/4 cup of sugar together with pecans. Continue stirring gently until sugar has melted and the pecans are caramelized. Carefully transfer nuts onto waxed paper. Allow to cool, and break into pieces.
2. For the dressing, blend oil, vinegar, 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, mustard, chopped garlic, salt, and pepper.
3. In a large serving bowl, layer lettuce, pears, blue cheese, avocado, and green onions. Pour dressing over salad, sprinkle with pecans and serve!!

Ravioli Soup

I got this recipe from Parents magazine and it is really good (and healthy). My kids also seem to enjoy it so extra bonus!
-1/2 lb. ground turkey
-1 Tbs. Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
-1/8 tsp. ground sage
-1/8 tsp. pepper
-1/8 tsp. salt
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 can (14.5 oz) Italian-seasoned diced tomatoes
- 1 can no-salt-added tomato sauce
-1 cup chopped celery
-1 cup chopped carrots
-1 cup frozen cut green beans, thawed
- 1 pkg (7 oz.) refrigerated mini cheese ravioli
1. Heat oven 400 degrees. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil and coat with vegetable cooking spray. Combine turkey, bread crumbs, sage, pepper, and salt in bowl; shape into 48 meatballs. Bake for 12 minutes, or until browned.
2. In saucepan, combine broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, celery, and carrots. Boil, then reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir green beans and ravioli into broth. Cook covered, for 5 minutes. Add meatballs to serve.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I am having lds food services chicken tortilla soup today and it is really really yummy. I think this is the recipe but I could be wrong. I'll give it to you anyway though.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

4 6-inch corn tortillas

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 12 ounces)

1 garlic clove, pressed through garlic press

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

cumin ? ? they didn't include it but it's in it and mentioned later in the recipe....the main flavor!

2 14 1/2-ounce cans chicken broth

1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 4-ounce can chopped green chilies, undrained

4 teaspoons snipped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

4 thick sliced fresh lime (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut tortillas into 1/2-inch strips using kitchen shears.

Place on flat baking stone. Bake 7-8 minutes or until crisp.
Meanwhile, chop onion.

Cut chicken into 1/2-inch pieces.

Heat 4-quart casserole (or pot) over medium high heat.

Spray with vegetable oil.

Add chicken, cook and stir 3 minutes.

Add onion, pressed garlic, chili powder and cumin.

Cook and stir 2 minutes.

Stir in broth, tomatoes and chilies.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Serve:
Snap cilantro, using kitchen shears.

Divide tortilla strips among 4 bowls.

Ladle soup over tortillas.

Grate cheese over the top.

Sprinkle soup with cilantro.

Garnish each bowl with lime slice to squeeze juice into soup, if desired.