Chicken Alfredo Casserole

Ingredients

1 jar Alfredo sauce

1/2 box of penne pasta

1- 1 1/2 cups of shredded chicken

1/4 cup butter

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 garlic clove minced

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 lemon, squeezed

1/2 cup mozzarella

Reserved 1/2 cup of pasta water

Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta according to instructions on box, just to al dente. It will cook more in the oven.

Melt butter in a pan and add minced garlic.  When butter is almost melted, add Alfredo sauce. Use about a Tablespoon of the pasta water to clean all out of the jar.  Add Italian seasoning, garlic powder, lemon juice and parmesan cheese. Heat until the cheese is melted.

Make the casserole...spread a little of the Alfredo sauce in a 9x9 dish. Top with half the chicken and half the pasta. Pour 2nd third of the sauce over the pasta and repeat checken and pasta. Add mozarella over the top and pour the rest of the Alfredo sauce over everything. Pour 1/4 of pasta water over the top. Cover with foil. Cook 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Sticky crock pot chicken thighs

This recipe is a combo of many, but I think we got it right this time!  Using boneless skinless chicken thighs makes the best meal, but any chicken pieces will do. If you use breasts, I wouldn't cook them as long as the thighs.

Ingredients

8-10 Chicken thighs, or more

1 cup brown sugar

1 T 🧄 powder

1 T onion powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp chili powder

Mix dry ingredients together and dredge chicken.

Add 1 T oil to skillet and brown thighs. Add to crockpot

Mix together

3/4 ketchup

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 c soy sauce

1T balsamic vinegar

Pour over chicken. Top with 1/2 bottle of Coke zero or Diet coke.

Cook on low 3-4 hours for boneless thighs. Add more ketchup and brown sugar as necessary.

Cook sauce down until it thickens. Add cornstarch if necessary. Baste 🍗 cken with sauce mixed with sweet chili sauce and broil a few minutes.  Serve with white rice.

Sheet Pan Fajtas

There are a lot of sheet pan fajita recipes out there but I couldn't find one that had everything that I wanted so I created my own. Les even thought it was good so I vowed to write it all down.  This makes a meal for two with a little left over. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 T salt

1 tsp garlic powder

2- 3 red and green bell peppers

1 onion

3 T olive oil, separated

2 T fajita seasoning, separated

1 T cumin, separated

1 small can green Chiles, drained

Tortillas 

1.  In a plastic bag large enough to cover the chicken pieces, add the salt, garlic powder and chicken. Cover with room temp tap water and seal the bag making sure all of the air is out of it. Put it in a bowl, and put in the fridge for up to 4 hours. When ready to use the chicken, drain and dry the pieces.

2.  Heat oven to 450 degrees. Oil a large cookie sheet with 1 T of olive oil and put in oven to preheat.

3. While pan and oven are heating, slice the bell peppers and onions into long strips. In a bowl, coat the vegetables with one tablespoon of olive oil and one tablespoon of fajita seasoning. Add half of the cumin. When the oven has heated, bring the pan out and spread the vegetables on it. Place in the oven for 10 minutes.

4.  While the vegetables cook, cut the chicken horizontally in half and then into strips.  Coat the chicken pieces with the rest of the olive oil and the rest of the fajita seasoning and cumin and the can of drained chile peppers.

5.  When the 10 minutes are up, put the chicken pieces over the vegetables on the sheet pan and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

6. When done, add toppings such as jalapenos, cheese sauce, sour cream, avocado, etc, and roll into a tortilla.

Grammy's Refrigerator Cookies

When I was a kid, back in the 50s and 60s, my mom used to make fruitcake and fruitcake cookies every Christmas season. While I wasn't that fond of fruitcake, she also made these cookies which I loved.  She also called these fruitcake cookies, but they are light and delicate. She used red candied cherries and pineapple bits, but I've also used red and green cherries, no pineapple, just green ones, etc. The fruit doesn't matter because I've even made them with just nuts.  My husband's grandmother made a similar cookie that she Refrigerator Cookies because you could keep them in the fridge or freezer and just take out as many as you wanted to bake.

I've even used a gluten free flour mix to make these cookies with great success! So, however you choose to enjoy them, go ahead and bake some!

INGREDIENTS

1 C. Butter (room temperature, add 1 tsp salt if using unsaltef)

1 C. sifted confectioners sugar

1 egg

2 1/2 C. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

1 C. whole candied cherries

2 slices candied pineapple

1/2 C. chopped pecans (3 oz.)

INSTRUCTIONS

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Grease baking sheet

3.  Cream butter and sugar, beat in egg. 

4.  In separate bow, mix flour and cream of tartar.  Add slowly to butter and sugar mixture.

5.  Fold in candied fruit and nuts.

6.  Form into rolls (1 1/2" in diameter) on pieces of plastic wrap.

7.  Freeze.  Once frozen, slice thinly and place on greased baking sheet.  Bake 6 to 8 minutes or longer if necessary.

White Chicken Chili

Today, I made a most delicious and filling chicken chili. I didn't use a recipe, but want to write it down so I can do it again. It was that good! It made enough for 4 people.

Ingredients

1/2 onion, diced into small pieces

1 Poblano pepper, diced into small pieces

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1 T olive oil

4 pieces leftover rotisserie or fried chicken

1 15 oz. can cannellini beans, drained

1 15 oz.  can white hominy

1 cup unsalted chicken broth

1 small can diced green chilies

1 tsp salt, if needed

1 scant tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

2 cups cooked white rice

Sour cream, if desired

Cook onions and peppers in olive oil til softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds or just until fragrant. Add everything up to rice into the pot and bring to boil. Let simmer about 30 minutes for flavors to come together. Serve over rice. Top with sour cream, if desired.

Sesame Chicken Sauce

Well, it's been quite awhile since I posted, but in this almost post apocalyptic 2020 era, I've been cooking more (and still not liking it.) But....the other night I cooked some asian chicken thighs using a Taste of Home recipe found here: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/asian-chicken-thighs/

I ended up adding to it and revising a bit, so now, I'm calling it my own! Les liked it a lot so I decided to add it to my recipe blog so I could keep it close.  This should work over nuggets too...try it on Chick Fil A nuggets.   I bet it would be great!

Enjoy!

Sesame chicken sauce

1/3 cup water

½ cup packed brown sugar

2 T. Orange juice

3 T. soy sauce

3 T ketchup

1 T rice vinegar

2 tsp garlic paste or 4 garlic cloves, crushed and minced

¼ cup sweet Thai chili sauce, Kikkomans

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp cornstarch

2 T. cold water

2 T. sesame seeds

Mix all ingredients through Thai chili sauce together in a saucepan or skillet.  Cook on low to reduce for about 30 minutes.  Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl and add to sauce mixture.  Cook another 2 minutes.  While sauce is finishing, toast sesame seeds in a skillet for about 2 minutes.  Add sesame oil, cook about 30 seconds and pour sauce over cooked chicken, top with sesame seeds and serve over rice.

Sugar Free Russian Tea

I don't know why this is called Russian Tea, but we've been making it since I was a teenager.  Someone, somewhere, came up with this delicious mix and it ran like wildfire through our Birmingham community in the late 1960s.  There are many versions of it on the internet, but I remember my old recipe card.  It was spotted with drops of who knows what and I always brought it out when it got cold outside.  Those of who sang, always drank it religiously, to keep our throats warm.  I gave it as gifts and everyone who received it was delighted!

The original recipe used Tang (full of sugar) and 2 cups of sugar, a lemonade kool aid packet, ground cloves, cinnamon and a jar of instant tea.  You mixed it all together and Voila, the coziest cup of tea you ever drank.  Now, however, we are all watching our sugar intake and use the even worse for us, sugar substitutes.  And, every year, the ingredients keep changing a bit because packaging is smaller and smaller.  When I first started making it, I could use instant tea, no lemon, no sugar or sugar substitute and then I could monitor how much substitute and what kind went into the mix. Now, I have to use tea mix with lemon and aspartame (yuk) AND an orange drink mix with more aspartame.  Luckily the rest of the ingredients don't have sugar substitute so maybe it's not that bad.  Whatever it is, don't drink a lot of it, or you'll spend your day/evening on the johnny..hahaha.  Here's the 2019 recipe:

1 jar Diet Lipton Decaffeinated iced tea mix with lemon
1 box Crystal Light Classic Orange drink tubes (these are the ones for a 16.5 oz bottle of water)
1 Kool-Aid Lemonade packet (the unsweetened kind)
4 tsp. cinnamon
3 tsp ground cloves

JUST A NOTE about Orange Drink mixes-do not use a store brand.  They just don't have enough orange flavor.  I think you COULD probably use the larger tubes of Crystal Light (maybe 2 of them), but I couldn't find any in my community.

That's it!  Mix it well together and store it in an airtight container.  I just use the jar the tea came in.  To serve, mix a heaping teaspoon with about 12 oz (1 mug) of hot water.  Yummmmmm! Enjoy!

Zucchini Tots

Well, I've gone on Weight Watchers once again.  Sigh.  I know that's the best way for me to lose weight because you can eat whatever you want.  That being said, I'm trying to find the smallest point recipes that I can so I can eat more!  The other thing that needs to be said is...I hate zucchini!  It's almost always mushy and watery and yucky.  I WILL eat it, but just don't like to cook with it, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found this recipe for zucchini "tots" on Skinnytaste.com AND also on simpletasty.recipes.  Enjoy! It's 2 SP for 3 tots.

INGREDIENTS

• cooking spray
• 1 packed cup grated zucchini
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 medium onion, minced (not grated)
• 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs, or gluten-free crumbs
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt and black pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 400°F.  Spray 12 holes in a mini muffin tin
• Grate the zucchini into a clean dish towel until you have 1 packed cup.  Wring all of the excess water out of the zucchini, there will be a lot of water. In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Spoon into muffin tins, filling to the top and packing into each hole.  Cook for 15 minutes until brown. 

Quick Cinnamon Rolls

It's been a while since I posted, but had to keep this one for posterity.  Yes, I'm supposed to be on a diet (all the time, right?) but I just HAD to have something sweet, so here goes.  I adapted this recipe from Kevin and Amanda at https://www.kevinandamanda.com/easy-cinnamon-rolls/.  It's pretty much the same as hers, but I did make a few tweaks. You can head over to her site to see step by step pics, though.  Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients
  2 rolls Pillsbury crescent roll dough (or sheets)
  8 T. butter, divided
  1/4 cup brown sugar (I used brown sugar Swerve)
  1 T cinnamon (I prefer Saigon)
  1/4 cup sugar (I used Splenda)

Icing
  1/2 cup sugar (or sugar equivalent)
  2 T. butter, melted
  2 T heavy cream, milk, or half and half (try using just 1 at a time)

Instructions:

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a glass pie plate, melt 4 T butter.  If you don't have a glass pie plate, just melt the butter and pour it into the pie plate.  Mix the 1/4 cup brown sugar with the butter.  Set aside.

3.  Open first dough roll and pinch seams together.  Open the second dough roll and lay it on the long side of the first one.  Pinch all seams together.

4.  Soften the other 4 T of butter.  Do not melt it completely, just soften.  Mix the cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar with the butter.  Smear it on the dough.  Roll the dough tightly from the longest side.  Cut it in the middle, then each half into 4 pieces creating 8 total rolls.

5.  Place rolls in the pie plate.  Cook for 20-30 minutes watching the tops of the rolls.  If the outside gets darker than the middle, put foil around the buns that are darker so the middle can cook a little longer.

6.  Once out of the oven, let them cool for about 10 minutes and then turn the rolls onto a plate.  After they have completely cooled, make the icing.

7.  Icing:  Combine all ingredients.  Use milk sparingly until you get the consistency you want.  Spread on completely cooled rolls.  The longer they sit, the harder the icing will be.  Enjoy!

Mac and cheese on the stove

I cobbled this macaroni and cheese recipe together from several recipes, but I made it my own!  It's a stove top recipe rather than cooking it in the oven because I made it in the summer and our kitchen gets really hot with the oven on.  I am always on the lookout for great recipes that can be made on top of the stove.  This particular recipe makes a lot, so hope you have hungry folks!

STOVE TOP MACARONI AND CHEESE

Ingredients

1 lb. elbow macaroni (or other smallish pasta)
1/4 cup salted butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup 2% milk
1 cup half and half
3 cups cheeses (see note)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (or not)
1/2 tsp dry mustard (optional)--I didn't use it, but it would probably make the taste sharper.

Cooking Method

1.  Boil pasta according to package directions. I add 2 Tablespoons of salt to the water after it boils.  Drain the pasta while you make the cheese sauce.

2.   In a heavy saucepan, on low heat, melt the butter.  As soon as it is melted, add flour, whisking constantly to make a roux.  Cook the roux for at least 2 minutes to get the flour taste gone.

3.   Add the milk slowly at first to combine the roux and the milk.  Once it's combined a little bit, add it all.  Set the heat to medium-low and cook until thickened and bubbly.  Watch out, though, and don't let it boil!  As soon as you see bubbles, go to the next step.

4.  Add grated cheeses a little at a time to let it melt, stirring constantly. Once it's melted, taste the cheese sauce to make sure it's as cheesy as you want it.  If not, add more cheese!

5.  Once the sauce is good to go, add the pasta.  You can either add it in the same pot or do it in a bowl.  It will definitely take all the pasta and be good and creamy.

Enjoy!

NOTE ABOUT CHEESES:  I used an 8 oz block of Kraft sharp cheddar, 4 oz of Havarti, 2 oz of Asiago and a tablespoon of crumbled blue cheese.  The sauce definitely needs the sharp taste of the Asiago, but you could probably achieve the same results by using all sharp cheddar.  Don't be afraid to use the sharp because the milk smooths it out.  Also, it's best if you use freshly grated cheese because it will blend better.  The cornstarch they use to keep the pregrated cheeses separated, will make the sauce too thick.

Yummy Chicken Salad

I found this recipe many years ago. It's close to what my mom's tasted like. She always added grapes and pecans that made the chicken salad just delicious! Hope you like it!  I always roast my chicken breast fresh in the oven, but you can use leftover rotisserie chicken if you like. White and dark meat are both delicious.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups cooked chicken, 1/2" dice

1 1/2 cups halved red grapes

1/2 tsp celery seed

1 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried chopped onions

1 cup mayonnaise

1 T fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and chill 1 hour before serving.

NOTE: To toast pecans--- heat a skillet on medium and toast just until the pecans give up a slight aroma.

To roast chicken breasts:

Heat oven to 350 F.  Coat chicken with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook chicken, skin side up, for 35 to 40 minutes.

Deeelicious Homemade Hamburger Helper

Well, I haven't posted any recipes in a while so I thought I'd get back to it. My husband and son both LOVE Hamburger Helper. In fact, when I met him, HH was a staple in Hubby's pantry. Cheeseburger Macaroni to be exact. And, I admit, when the kids were young, I resorted to a lot of quick mixes like HH.

But....in my old years, I'm trying to avoid excess sodium and so I prefer to make more from scratch. There are bunches of recipes on the internet, but I couldn't find EXACTLY what I wanted so I made my own! It's pretty good if I do say so myself. And not a lot of added sodium! Yippee! Hope you enjoy.

CHEESEBURGER MAC AND CHEESE
(A Hamburger Helper knock off)
Should serve 4-6

Ingredients

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 small sweet onion, chopped small
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1  1/2 cups elbow macaroni (wheat or gluten free works)
1 cup no salt chicken broth
2 cups whole or 2% milk
2 T cornstarch
1  1/2 cups 2% shredded cheddar cheese
1 slice American cheese (2% is fine)

STEPS
1.  Brown ground beef in a large skillet with a top.  Drain and rinse in hot tap water. Reserve.
2. Brown onions in same pan and add ground beef back in once onions are translucent.
3.  Add garlic powder and pepper and stir.
4.  Add macaroni and chicken broth.
5.  Add cornstarch to milk and stir to dissolve. Pour into pan.
6.  Put lid on pan and bring to boil. Immediately turn to simmer.  You are just cooking the macaroni at this point. Cook until macaroni is the way you like it. I like it al dente, so I cooked it about 11 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and stir in cheeses.

If it feels too thick to you, add about tablespoons of milk until you reach the consistency you like.

We served ours with some No Sugar Added canned pears, but a nice salad would be good too!  Enjoy!

Kitty's Chicken and Dumplings

A few months ago, I was really craving chicken and dumplings.  Although I have previously changed my eating habits to gluten free, I thought I would try adding some gluten back into my diet...just to see how I tolerated it.  Turns out, I was able to tolerate it just fine, however, eating too much (more than one or two times a week), caused joints to hurt, stomach to bloat and made me feel generally bad all over.

But chicken and dumplings just ain't the same without the skinny, noodle-like dumplings I used to get at places like Piccadilly and Morrisons.  And, folks, that was gluten all the way.  Thankfully, I was able to eat this deliciousness and I have preserved the recipe here for you!  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 Rotisserie Chicken, skinned, bones removed and shredded
1 T. olive oil
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/4 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 tsp chopped garlic
3 T flour
4 cups no salt chicken broth
1/2 tsp low sodium chicken Better than Bouillion
1/4 cup water
1 bay leaf
1/2 small pkg frozen flat dumplings (like Anne's)
Salt and pepper to taste if needed

(NOTE ON INGREDIENTS..all of the veggies, chicken, garlic, dumplings are subjective.  Use what you want and how much you want.  Just know that if you use much more than is listed in total, you'll need to add more broth and more flour to thicken it with. I don't think I would add more Better than Bouillion because it is very salty even at low sodium.  Also, the dumplings are sometimes too wide for my taste.  I actually broke them in half long ways so they were more square.)

1.  Cook diced veggies in olive oil in large soup pan until soft...about 4 minutes.  Add chopped garlic and cook 1 minute.
2.  Add flour to veggies in the pan (if no oil is left in the pan, add a drop just so you can make a roux.  Cook for 1 minute.
3.  Add chicken broth, bouillion and water.  If it's too thick, add a little more water or broth.  It should stay pretty liquidy because you are going to add the dumplings in.
4.  Bring the pot back up to a boil.  Add dumplings one at a time into the boiling liquid.  Turn down heat, cover and cook 20 minutes or so. 

Yummy Potato Soup

One day I decided to go for it and make a pot of creamy potato soup. Now, I'm not really famous for creating new recipes, but this one turned out great so I thought I'd share it with you!

INGREDIENTS

3 medium russet potatoes
8 oz no salt chicken stock
1 T. dried minced onion
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash table blend
Dash garlic powder
2 T. Unsalted butter
2/3 cup fat free milk
1 T. Cornstarch
1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream
Sprinkle of salt

1. Peel and dice potatoes.  In a saucepan, bring stock and minced onion to a boil. Add potatoes and cool until soft, about 10 minutes.

2. Once cooked, mash potatoes into a creamy texture, leaving a few chunks.  Add butter, Mrs. Dash and garlic powder. Mix cornstarch into cold milk and stir into potatoes. Stir in sour cream. If it's too thick, add a little more milk.

3. Sprinkle a little salt to taste.  Garnish with cheese and bacon if desired.

Enjoy!

Microwave Meat Loaf

Years ago when microwaves were fairly new to the home cook, one of the first microwave cookbooks came from Southern Living.  It was called Microwave Cooking Made Easy and it was published in 1978,  I made a few things from it when I sold Tupperware and could use the recipes to sell the Tupperware microwave collection. The only thing I use it for now, though, is the recipe called Basic Meat Loaf.  Yes, I cook my meat loaf in a microwave!  Scandalous, I know, but I use a microwave bacon tray with the ridges that allows the fat to collect away from the meat loaf.  The only real thing different about the recipe is that you cook it in a doughnut shape so that it can cook completely through.  Other than that, you could probably use any 1 lb. meatloaf recipe, but use this technique.


Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
1 pound ground chuck
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cracker crumbs (I use gluten free oatmeal)
2 T. dry minced onion
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese

(Ingredient note:  I don't use the cheese, but you have to put something on the top because microwaved meat doesn't brown well.  I use a mixture of ketchup, brown sugar and a little mustard)

1.  Combine all ingredients except cheese in a bowl.  Arrange this mixture in a doughnut shape on the bacon tray.
2.  Cover with waxed paper.  Microwave at MEDIUM POWER 10 minutes.  Rotate dish 1/2 turn after 5 minutes (you don't have to do this if you have a turntable in your microwave.)  After 10 minutes, remove from oven and either sprinkle the cheese on top or drip the brown sugar topping over the meat loaf.  Do not recover at this time.  Return to microwave and heat on MEDIUM POWER for 2 minutes.
3.  Let stand, covered, 6 to 8 minutes before serving.

YIELD:  4 servings

My Mom's Bean Soup

Although we lived in Alabama, my parents were from Ohio. I guess the northerners eat bean soup as a sign of high and prosperity in the New Year because that's we always had come January 1. It wasn't until I married a Georgia born and bred boy that I learned the southerners ate black eyed peas on New Years Day. After being married for 30 years, I still have to make black eyed peas AND bean soup on New Years. Traditions die hard. Enjoy!

MY MOM'S BEAN SOUP (feeds 4)

Ingredients
 
1/2 lb dry navy beans
Ham with bone
1 stalk celery
1 small onion, grated
1/4 tsp soda
3/4 c. tomato juice
2 med carrots, grated
Salt to taste
Bisquick

1. Soak beans for 2 or 3 hours or overnight. Add soda to water and simmer (not boil) for 1/2 to 1 hour. Drain and rinse well.

2. Cover beans again with water and add the ham and bone. Cover pan and cook slowly for 3 hours.

3. Add carrot, celery, onion, tomato juice and salt to taste. Continue cooking for 1 more hour.

4. Add Bisquick dumplings (1 cup Bisquick with enough water to make a dough) in the last 20 minutes. Cook with lid on the pan to help steam the dumplings.

Enjoy!

Oven roasted okra

OMG!  I have a new favorite vegetable!  I adore fried okra, but for several reasons, don't like to cook it at home.  For one thing, it's messy and uses a lot of oil.  Secondly, I'm trying not to eat so many fried foods and third, the coating never stays on the way I want it to.  So, for some odd reason, I thought I'd try to bake it like you do Baked "fried" chicken.  Big mistake.  Tried it several times and never did like it.  It was too bready, or the coating got too hard, etc.

Anyhoo, one day I thought, I'll just try roasting it with olive oil without the coating and see what happens.  This is the easiest thing I've ever done and you simply MUST try it.  The taste of fried okra without the coating, making it low-fat and allergen free!

INGREDIENTS

1 bag of sliced frozen okra
1 T. olive oil
Sea salt

1.  Heat oven to 425 degrees.  I use a really dark pan, so I heated to 400 degrees.  Spray the pan with olive oil spray.

2.  Pour the frozen okra onto the pan and drizzle the tablespoon of olive oil over it.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  I like my okra salty, so I used a teaspoon and a half, but you do it to taste.

3.  Mix it with your hands or spatula and place in oven.

4.  Cook for a total of 25-30 minutes, stirring it after 15.  If the okra hasn't gotten a little black, by the end of the 30 minutes, keep cooking until a lot of the moisture comes out and some of the pieces have become blackened.

5.  Eat and enjoy!

Deconstructed Fried Green Tomatoes

Well, okay so they aren't completely DECONSTRUCTED, but I LOVE Fried Green Tomatoes and I'm avoiding fried foods...for several reasons.  I've been trying to make things I could substitute.  Last time it was an oven baked Fried Green Tomato.  The outside burned and the tomatoes weren't soft enough.  Yuck.  I mean, it was okay, but just not that comfort food feeling that Fried Green Tomatoes gives me.  The sweet and tart softness just makes a yummy right in my mouth!

This one should do the trick, though. It certainly works for me!  It's a very simple polenta (shhhh, I microwaved it) and grilled slices of green tomato. Now, you polenta purists out there will probably not like this because it's more like yellow grits than polenta.  BUT, if you like grits like I do, this is da bomb, only in yellow.

Now for the ingredients:

2 cups water (or broth)
1/2 cup yellow corn meal (the coarser, the better, but any will work fine)
1 tsp salt
olive oil
1/2 T butter
2-3 oz. of cheese (I used a mix of parmesan and a bagged mix of Italian cheese)
2 medium green tomatoes

1.  Spray your indoor grill with cooking spray and begin to heat it up. It's okay if you don't grill the tomatoes, but it gives them some nice grill marks.  If you decide not to grill, just use a non-stick pan.  Cook 5 minutes on each side.

2.  In a 2 quart microwave bowl, mix the water, salt and corn meal.

3.  Cook the cornmeal mixture, covered, in the microwave on high for 5 minutes.  Stir and cook 5 minutes more. You might want to give it a stir during the second 5 minutes a little early.  Depending on your microwave it could cook slower or faster.  You don't need to cook it until it is completely dry, though.

4.  While the polenta cooks, cut the tomatoes into 1/2" slices and coat both sides with olive oil and salt.

5.  When the grill is hot, place the tomatoes on th grill and cook for 5 minutes on each side.  If it's a contact grill, that's a total of 5 minutes.

6.   When the polenta is done, add the butter and the cheeses and stir.
 
7.   And that's it.  Serve the cooked tomatoes over the polenta. Yummmmm! 

If there is any polenta left over, you can let it solidify in a pan, then cut into squares and serve with tomato sauce.  I usually just roll mine in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.  The next time I want polenta, I just cut off a piece!

Best Lemon Cake

I found this recipe by accident when I was looking touse a cake mix I had in the cupboard. Found it at www.duncanhines.com and it was called Icing in the cake. It turned out to taste a lot like the "creme cakes" they have at all the grocery stores here and it's super easy. Here are the ingredients:

1 Yellow Cake Mix
4 eggs
1 cup milk (I used 1%)
1/2 cup oil
1 can lemon frosting

STEPS:

1. Set oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12 cup tube or Bundt pan.

2. Combine all ingredients except frosting in a large bowl.

3. Add 3/4 of the can of frosting and pour into prepared pan.

4. Cook for 1 hour. Test with a knife to make sure it's done, but don't overcook.

5. While it cools, stir 2 tsp milk of milk (may need a little more) and 1 tsp of fresh lemon juice into reserved frosting. Turn the cooled cake onto a plate and drizzle the frosting over the top letting it dribble down the middle and sides. Enjoy!

Pasta Salad for Katie

One day a couple of years ago my then 21 year old daughter came home and announced she'd had "the best pasta salad ever." I asked her where she had it and she said "at Liz Bellmer's house." Never actually having made a pasta salad myself, I asked, "What was in it?" Imagine my surprise when I found it was a very simple recipe, basically pasta, tomatoes, black olives, bell peppers and italian dressing. Katie took this recipe with her when she moved to Orlando for a year. She made it for me when I visited and again when she moved home.

Wanting to "tweak" it for myself, I made my own pasta salad last week and I'm sad that I had never made it before! It was delicious and will be a staple for me for quite awhile. Here are the very simple ingredients. You can, of course, use whatever Italian dressing you like, but my very favorite is Good Seasons that I mix up myself right before pouring. (I think I could drink the stuff directly from the bottle I love it so much) I use red wine vinegar and EVOO. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

1 box "pretty" pasta (fusilli, ditalini, gemelli, etc.)
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 can small black olives, drained and halved
1/2 to 1 small red onion, chopped, but not minced
1 whole package Good Seasons Italian dressing
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
10 slices Hard Salami or Pepperoni, chopped(optional)

1. Boil Pasta according to package instructions. Use the whole box. Drain it and run cold water over it to cool it off. Put into very large bowl. I use a Tupperware Thatsa Mega bowl with a seal.

2. Prepare the dressing according to the package instructions.

3. Toss everything together. Let it rest in fridge for at least an hour to meld flavors. Enjoy!