Chicken Pot Pie

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 cups milk
1 stick unsalted butter
3 cups chicken stock
1 large onion
1 cup frozen peas (optional)
4 large potatoes
2 tablespoons thyme leaves
1 ½ cup chopped carrots
5 teaspoons salt
12 ounces sliced mushrooms
2 teaspoons ground pepper
1 cup cooking sherry
2 tablespoons parsley
8 tablespoons flour
1 large egg
4-5 large chicken breasts, poached and diced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove puff pastry from freezer and allow to thaw. Melt butter in a very large pot over medium high heat. Add onion, potatoes and carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes and carrots are fork tender, 15-20 minutes.

Add mushrooms, cooking until mushrooms are heated through. Add sherry and cook for 3 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Pour in chicken stock and milk. Bring to a simmer, cook until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Stir in chicken , peas, parsley and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer amount needed to a deep 3-quart dish. Set aside the rest and let cool before freezing.

Roll out puff pastry and cut 1 inch larger then dish. Cut out quarter-size whole in the center. Place puff pastry on filling, making sure it touches the filling all the way to the sides of the dish. Fold over any excess. Whisk egg with ½ teaspoon water, and brush top of pastry, making sure to cover completely.

Place dish in over and bake for 20-30 minutes, until crust is well browned.

For frozen filling: Let filling completely defrost. Place in dish and follow same steps to make crust. The puff pastry sheets come 2 to a pack, so you should have one left over. Cook until crust is browned, 20-30 minutes. Cover loosely with tin foil and cook another 5-10 minutes until filling is hot.

Kelly Ovard's Pitas

Robin Smith

Beautiful Kelly's Veggie Pita Pockets

Kelly O. makes these and they are wonderful to eat after too many conference rolls. Kelly eats healthier than any person in Colorado, but she will still have dessert. That makes me love her.

Beautiful Kelly's Veggies Pita Pockets:

First make a salad:

I put in equal amounts of lettuce (spinach is nice), cucumbers, red (orange, yellow) pepper, tomatoes, and any other veggies I happen to have in fridge. This salad has sugar snap peas and broccoli too. Then I add green onion, feta cheese and kalamata olives to taste. This salad is good enough to eat without dressing so I usually make a huge bowl and eat the rest the next day.
Hint- take it easy with the lettuce. Get the feta and olives at Costco in the deli section - much cheaper than buying at grocery store.

Then make the spread:My spread is made of 1 cup plain Mountain High yogurt (get at Albertsons), dill, garlic and a little salt to taste. Kelly made hers with lots of garlic (2 cloves) and it was spicy. I loved it that strong but my family likes garlic in smaller doses so I only use 1/2 a clove.

Then cut the whole wheat pitas in half. Use whole wheat for better taste and more fiber.Spread the inside with yogurt spread - be generous - really slather it on both sides. Then stuff the salad into the pita, just jam as much as you can into the pita. It might tear a little on the edges but that is okay, you are just going to shove it in your mouth anyway.

These are low calorie, low fat, high fiber and have at least 2 veggie servings. A full serving is 2 halfs. It will keep you full longer than a PBJ sandwitch and tastes much better. It is good for dinner, lunch and a snack! Serve with fresh fruit, a few slices of brie, and grape juice. Yummy.

Browned Butter Bliss

Robin Smith

My sister and I found the recipe at Dinner With Julie, this is a great blog for lots of dinner ideas, and pretty pictures of delicious looking food.

It is really a crossover of pie and cake. The cake was heavy and fruity. I would be more inclined to serve it at a brunch rather than dinner. It is not a show stopper, but rather classic comfort food. The plums we used were fairly tart and that was a great flavor! I would love to try this with rhubarb and apple or any other fruit. The color would be beautiful and the tartness is a wonderful contrast to the heavy cake.

Also I would increase the butter just a little (1/4 cup) to give the cake the golden crispy top that it needs. The top of our cake looked a little pasty.

First, cut your fruit (tart is best) into small chunks - we used plums - and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Second, mix the cake batter:

Third, pour batter over fruit:
Finally, bake and serve warm with ice cream. Actually, we didn't do this part. We didn't have time to eat it until much later and it was yummy, even cold. But it was best the next morning for breakfast. I think it makes a wonderful, easy breakfast cake.
Click here for the recipe and beautiful pictures of the cake.

Sausage Potato and Corn Chowder

Jenn Peterson

2 lb bulk pork sausage 2 tsp marjoram
2 C coarsely chopped onion 1/2 tsp pepper
8 C peeled potatoes, cut into cubes 2 17-oz cans cream style corn
4 C water 2 17-oz cans corn, drained
2 tsp salt 24 oz fat-free evaporated milk

In a large pot cook the sausage and onion until the sausage is brown and the onion is tender. Drain the mixture on paper towels. Return sausage to the pot and stir in potatoes, water, salt, marjoram, and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until potatoes are just tender. Add corns and evaporated milk. Heat through.

Freeze in ziplock bags.

Brunswick Stew

Jenn Peterson

1/2 package bacon, diced 1 red pepper, diced and seeded
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1 teaspon thyme
6 Tbsp flour 1 bag frozen lima beans
2 tsp salt 1 bag frozen corn
1 tsp pepper 1 bag frozen okra
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 2 Tbsp parsley
3 onions, diced 1/4 C worcestershire sauce
4 tomatoes or a 16 oz can diced tomatoes


Cook bacon until crisp in the biggest pot you have. Remove bacon with slotted spoon and reserve. Brown chicken pieces a few at a time in bacon drippings. Stir in onions and cook until softened, 5 minutes. Once onion is cooked, return chicken to the pot.

Sprinkle evenly with flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Cook, stirring constantly, until chicken is evenly coated, about 1 minute. Add 4 C water, tomatoes, red pepper, and thyme. Bring to boiling and then cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add lima beans, corn, okra, parsley, and Worcestershire. Return to boiling and cook 15 minutes. Serve sprinkled with bacon.

This makes about 6 dinners for Jenn's family. Add the remaining bacon to the soup before freezing. Simply reheat and serve.

Avocado Feta Salsa

Tami Roberts

2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 ripe avocado - peeled, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar
4 ounces crumbled feta cheese

In a bowl, gently stir together tomatoes, avocados, onion, and garlic. Mix in parsley and oregano. Gently stir in olive oil and vinegar. Then stir in feta. Cover, and chill for 2 to 6 hours.

Easy Spaghetti Sauce

Jenn Peterson

1 lb ground beef, turkey, or bison 2 bay leaves
1 large onion, diced 2 Tbsp parsley
2 cloves garlic 1 Tbsp oregano
3 cans tomato sauce 1 Tbsp basil
1 can diced tomatoes 2 tsp salt

In a large pot over medium heat, combine meat, onion, and garlic. Brown meat and drain. Add rest of ingredients. Bring to a simmer and cook 30-60 minutes, stirring occasionally. Check seasonings and adjust to taste. Serve with pasta.

Freeze leftovers in Ziploc bags. Defrost at least 1/2 of the way and then put in a pot with a small can of tomato sauce. Heat through and serve with pasta.

Lasagna

Jenn Peterson

2 lbs ground beef 2 tsp basil leaves
2 lbs pork sausage (not italian-style) 24 oz cottage cheese
1 1/2 C chopped onion 24 oz ricotta
2 cloves garlic, minced 1 C grated parmesan
2 cans (1 1b each) diced tomatoes 1 C grated romano cheese
2 cans (15 oz each) tomato sauce 2 Tbsp parsley
4 Tbsp parsley 3 tsp salt
4 Tbsp sugar 2 tsp oregano leaves
2 tsp salt 1 1/2 C grated mozarella
2 16 0z packages of lasagna noodles, cooked and well drained

Cook and stir ground beef, sausage, onion, and garlic in 2 large pots until meat is browned and onion is tender. Drain fat.

Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, 4 tsp parsley, sugar, 2 tsp salt, and the basil. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered 1 hour or until mixture is the consistency of spaghetti sauce.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cottage cheese, ricotta, 1/2 c parmesan, 1/2 c romano cheese, 2 tbsp parsley, 3 tsp salt, and the oregano. Reserve 1 C meat sauce for thin top layer.

In 2 ungreased 9x13 pans, layer noodles, meat sauce, mozzarella and cottage cheese mixture; repeat 3 times. Spread reserved meat sauce over top. Combine remaining parmesan and romano cheese and sprinkle on top. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.

Wrap second, uncooked lasagna well in plastic wrap and foil. Freeze. When ready to eat, cover in tin foil and cook at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook another 45 minutes.

Enchiladas

Jenn Peterson

4 chicken breasts, poached and chopped 1/2 C finely chopped onion
4 C light or fat-free sour cream 1/2 tsp pepper
2 cans reduced fat cream of chicken soup 1/4 tsp salt
3 C grated colby or monterey jack cheese 1 C grated cheddar
3 C grated cheddar cheese flour or corn tortillas
14 oz chopped green chilies enchilada sauce (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first 9 ingredients; stir well. If using flour tortillas, place about 1 C filling in each tortilla and place in a 9x13 pan, seam side down. If using corn tortillas, heat 1 C cooking oil in small pan. Add tortillas one at a time and cook on each side for about 5 seconds. Fill with about 1/2 C filling and place seam side down in a 9x13 pan.

Pour on enchilada sauce, if desired, cover with tin foil and cook for 20 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle with 1 C cheese, and bake 5 more minutes.

Freeze remaining filling in ziploc bags. To use, defrost completely and fill tortillas. Cook according to above directions.

Baked Ziti

Jenn Peterson

1 lb ziti or any other shaped pasta
1 lb mozzarella, grated
1 jar good spaghetti sauce
1 package link sausages (not maple)

Brown sausages until cooked through. Cut into bite-sized pieces. Cook pasta in boiling water and remove about 3-5 minutes before cooking directions say. Rinse under cold water. Using 2 8x8 pans, layer starting with sauce, noodles, sausage, and then cheese. 2 layers. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is browned.

If you are going to freeze this - freeze covered in saran wrap and then tin foil. When you're ready to use bake it at 350 for 20 minutes and then for 15 minutes uncovered.

The Biggest Vat of Chili You've Ever Made

Jenn Peterson

2 lbs ground beef, bison, or turkey 1/2 C finely diced celery
1 medium onion, diced 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 cans tomato sauce 3 Tbsp chili powder
2 cans white kidney beans with liquid 2 tsp cumin
2 cans pinto beans or great northern beans with liquid 1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 can diced tomatoes 2 tsp salt
1 large can diced green chilies 2 C water

Brown meat and onions. Drain off fat. Return to heat and add all other ingredients. Bring to simmer and cook over low heat stirring every 15 minutes for the next 2-3 hours. Serve with chips and diced avocado or serve over polenta.

For Jenn this makes 4 meals. Freeze in ziploc freezer bags.

Apple Berry Sasla and Cinnamon Chips

Kym Harvey

Mix the following and chill:

Fresh or frozen strawberries, chopped finely
3-4 kiwi, chopped finely
3-4 granny smith apples, chopped finely
1 T lime juice
sprinkle of brown sugar
2 T apple jelly (can also use strawberry jelly)
juice from 2 oranges or 1/8 C orange juice (optional)

Use 1 package of tortillas. Spray tortillas with water on both sides and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake whole tortillas at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. Use kitchen scissors to cut tortillas into triangle slices (pizza style). Don't let tortillas sit too long on the cooking sheet or they will stick to the bottom. Cut chips and let them sit until they are crispy. Dip chips in salsa and enjoy!

Annie's Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

Tami Roberts

Mix in a large bowl and chill for at least 15 minutes:

2 Kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Golden Delicious Apples, peeled, cored, and diced
8 oz raspberries
1 lb strawberries
2 Tbsp white sugar
1 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp fruit preserves, any flavor

Serve on Cinnamon Chips

10 flour tortillas
butter flavored cooking spray
2 C cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with cinnamon sugar and spray again with cooking spray. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool 15 minutes.

Spicy Corn Dip by Rachel Crawford

In a medium bowl mix the following:

1 (8 oz) container sour cream
1 C mayonnaise
1 (11 oz) cans Mexican-style corn
4 green onions, chopped
3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 (7 oz) can diced green chiles
1 1/4 C shredded cheddar cheese