Pasta Salad

Place in large bowl:
1 lb bow tie or other fun shaped pasta (cooked per box directions and rinsed in cold water)
1 green or red pepper
½ red onion
2 cucumbers
1 can olives sliced
sliced pepperoni or sausage

Stir evenly through:

8 oz Italian dressing

Marinate for at least two hours

Add two tomatoes, thinly sliced and wedged if you so desire

Elder Chandlers Honey Apple Chicken

6 Chicken Breasts
3-4 Apples
1 C Honey
2/3 Zesty Italian


Brown the chicken, partial cook, line apples up with chicken pour honey and zesty Italian over the chicken and apples, cook for 25-30 minutes, until chicken is done. @350

What's For Dinner?

In order to make the 5pm rush to make dinner, just a little easier. I am trying to come up with 90 of our favorite meals, that our family will enjoy eating 4 times a year. I have come up with about 60 or so, I am working on my second month, so I thought that maybe other would be interested in trying some new food, so I thought I would post what I am planning on making for dinner, with maybe a link on how to make it with a recipe. That way if you need some new ideas, you can look on our blog. Also I found a wonderful resource that will e-mail you a weekly menu and the recipies and shopping list, click here for the link to Menus4Moms. Let me know if you have any recipies that I should add to our collection as we are always taking new ideas. Enjoy!

Stromboli

Stromboli

Stromboli is one of my new discoveries in just the last few months. My friend Megan introduced me to it. The general idea is a hot baked sandwich. You will need:

Garlic Salt
Parsley
Butter
1 Rhodes Frozen White or Wheat Bread Loaf
1 Package of Deli Meat of your choice (I like to use Ham or Turkey or some Pepperoni with marina sauce)
1-2 Cups of Grated or Sliced Cheese (Pick some kind that goes well with our deli meat like Ham and Swiss of Turkey and Cheddar)

Take the Frozen Bread Loaf out of the freezer 5 to 8 hours before you want to start making dinner, take a cookie sheet and spray it with non stick spray, place the loaf on the sheet and cover the sheet and load with plastic wrap. Place in a warm area of your kitchen. In the 5-8 you allow it to defrost the loaf should be close to double in size.

When your ready to make dinner roll the loaf out to make a rectangle close to the size of your cookie sheet, spread butter on the entire top side except for one of the longer ends, sprinkle the garlic salt and parsley on top of the buttered bread. Next layer the Deli meat, then the cheese. Roll the loaf like a cinnamon roll, tuck the ends under themselves and then place on the cookie sheet. Bake for 30-45 min until golden brown. Allow the Stromboli to sit for 5 minutes before slicing width wise with a bread knife.

This is my very first attempt to write a recipe. Please let me know what you think, if you have any questions, etc. I hope you enjoy it!

Brazilian Black Bean Soup

Brazilian Black Bean Soup my mom used to make this sometimes. I think she found in the old Moosewood Cookbook. Hope you enjoy!

Group A:
1 Ham bone from the butcher or left overs
2 cups dry black beans
1 C chopped onion
3 cloves garlic crushed
2 large chopped carrot
2 large stalk celery chopped
1 C chopped gr. pepper (optional red, yellow, orange peppers)
1t. gr. coriander (optional fresh cilantro)
1 1/2 t. gr. cumin
1T oil (optional)
Group B
2 oranges peeled, seeded, and diced
1/2 c orange juice
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 t. red pepper
1/2 t lemon juice
toppings: non fat sour cream or plain yogurt

Directions
Rinse and sort 2 cups black beans. Cover with water and let them soak overnight. Pour off water. Place in soup pan with 6 cups water and ham bone. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer 1 1/2 hrs over very low heat. Saute group A. and add a little water if necessary to steam vegetables. When tender add sauté to the cooking beans.
Add group B to the soup. Give it a stir, cover, and sit down for 10 min. Now return to the soup refreshed. Look at it and ask yourself if this soup suits you. Puree one cup of beans to make it thicker. Add more red pepper to make it spicier. I like lots of cumin so I add that.
Serve topped with yogurt or low fat sour cream.