Cranberry Salsa Appetizer

This is such a festive recipe. The colors are beautiful for this time of year, and the flavors are addictive. So here it is: The trickiest thing in this recipe is the fresh Ginger. It's in the produce section... it's a root. Peel it like a potato and grate it up. I highly suggest making it the day of, (it's less mushy and more fresh) but at least 4 hours before so the flavors can mix.
Cranberry Salsa Dip with Cream Cheese 
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained (6 oz.)
1/8 cup minced green onions
1 small jalapeno chile pepper, cored, seeded and minced
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 cup fresh cilantro leaves, minced
1 tablespoons finely-grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
Cranberries and/or cilantro sprigs for garnish

1. Rinse, drain, and pick over cranberries, (discarding all that are soft or bruised). Place them in a food processor; pulse until finely chopped but not mushy.
2. Place crushed cranberries in a bowl; mix together with minced green onions, jalapeno peppers, sugar, cilantro leaves, ginger, and lemon juice.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours so flavors develop (salsa will be too sharp and tart to begin with).
4. On a serving plate, place cream cheese; cover with the dip. Garnish, if desired, and served with crackers.

Quick and Easy Stovetop Stuffing Chicken Bake

I wanted to post a quick variation to this recipe that I posted a while back. I made this for dinner tonight and tweaked it a little bit to make it work better. Sorry if any of you tried to make it before and it didn't work out well, that's my fault  because of the way I posted it. This time, I cooked and shredded the chicken beforehand. Then I only had to bake it long enough to warm it through. It's such a quick and easy meal and tasty!

Easy Stovetop Stuffing Chicken Bake

1 box Stovetop Stuffing - chicken flavored
3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, shredded (I just boiled them)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2/3 cup sour cream

Prepare stuffing as directed on box, set aside. Mix together chicken, soup, and sour cream and spread in a 9 X 13 pan. Spread stuffing over the top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until warmed through.

Chicken Fingers

These are sooooo easy! I got the recipe from my cousin who said her kids just love them.

chicken breasts (cut into slices)

Honey Bunches of Oats cereal (crushed)

2 eggs, beaten

After slicing the chicken breasts, dip them thoroughly in the egg, and then into the crushed cereal. The less you touch them at that point, the better the coating will stay on the chicken. Place them on a cookie sheet... or the better way is to put it on a cooling rack set on top of a cookie sheet (see picture). That keeps the chicken from being soggy on one side. Bake in the oven at 375 for 25 minutes. Dip in honey mustard, BBQ sauce, ranch, or whatever you like.

*** For some reason I didn't think about the fact that Honey Bunches of Oats (which is my all time favorite cereal) is really sweet. So when I tried the chicken fingers for the first time I was surprised that they still had that sweet quality to them. They're very satisfying though! Try it!

Crockpot Shredded Lime Chicken w/Cilantro Lime Rice

SHREDDED LIME CHICKEN

4-5 boneless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cup sprite
1/2-1 t. cumin
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
2 limes

Cook in a crockpot on medium heat for 6-8 hours or until chicken falls apart with a fork. Stir in the juice of two limes before serving.

CILANTRO LIME RICE

1 c. white rice
2 c. chicken broth
1 T. lime juice
1 garlic clove
1 pinch salt
1/2 c. fresh cilantro

Cook rice according to package directions using broth instead of water. When done, fluff with a fork and add other ingredients.

Recipe courtesy of Karly http://recipestopasson.blogspot.com/

Crock Pot Lasagna

Ok, so this is a Jessica Seinfeld recipe. I saw it on TV the other day and wanted to give it a shot. I've only made it once and it was pretty yummy. It makes a HUGE thing of lasagna, however.

3 (14.4 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes (I wouldn't be opposed to it being saucier)

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tbsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 containers (15 ounces each) fresh ricotta

2 cups grated mozzarella

1/4 c. parmesan

12 lasagna noodles (not the no boil ones, but DON'T boil them - put them in dry)

5 ounces baby spinach

In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, garlic, oregano, salt, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. In a separate bowl mix the ricotta, 1 c. of the mozzarella, and parmesan. In the bottom of a 5-6 qt. slow cooker, spread a thin layer of the sauce. Top with 3 of the noodles (breaking to fit as necessary). Spread about 1 c. of the sauce over the noodles and layer with 2 cups of the spinach and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese mixture. Repeat twice more with the noodles, sauce, spinach, and cheese. Top with the remaining 3 noodles, sauce, and 1 c. mozzarella. Cook on low, covered, until the noodles are tender - especially in the center of the lasagna - about 3 to 3 1/2 hours.

We generally like sauces to be a little spicier, so I upped the quantities of all of the spices for the sauce. I never would have even thought to make a lasagna in the crock pot, and it's not necessarily super authentic, but it was good nonetheless.

Homemade Pizza Dough (BBQ chicken pizza)

This week I made my first ever pizza dough from scratch. I don't know what I was afraid of all this time! I can't believe I used to drive all the way to Trader Joe's or Fresh n Easy to get their $1.25 pre-mixed dough instead of just making it myself. Duh. Honestly you can't mess this up!

Combine and let sit for 5 minutes:

3/4 cup warm water

1 1/2 t yeast

1 T sugar

Add:

1 t salt

1 1/2-2 cups flour

Let rise for 30 minutes. Roll out with a little extra flour out, if necessary. Let sit 5 minutes. Roll out again. Top with whatever you like! This makes one 15 inch pizza. For thicker crust, double the recipe. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes.

***I used both cups of flour because my dough still seemed really sticky.

***I did double it, thinking we'd have a nice thick crust, but it ended up being way too much for one pizza. I ended up pulling off about a quarter of the dough and making it into breadsticks.

***When our pizza came out after 20 minutes it was a little overcooked. I would suggest a shorter amount of time... maybe 15 minutes? Just make sure your toppings and cheese are hot and melty.

BBQ PIZZA RECIPE (pictured above):

1) Simply cook a chicken breast and shred/chop it up, or use leftover rotisserie chicken. Toss it with your favorite BBQ sauce. I actually cooked a couple of breasts in the crockpot with some BBQ sauce, shredded them and used that. (I had leftover shredded chicken for dinner the next night too)

2) Chop up some red onion and saute it with a little oil until they are cooked and golden.

3) Spread BBQ sauce on the pizza dough, put the red onion all over, then the chicken, then lots of cheese. We like the Italian blend pre-shredded kind, for ease, and some parmesan on top.