Cindy's Dressing

Brad's mom makes the most amazing dressing! It is seriously the best I have ever tasted. It is not soggy and all mushed together like most, it is just delicious. I wanted to write it down because I am planning on making it for Christmas turkey dinner and I don't want to lose this recipe!

If you know Cindy, her recipes are all just a dabble of this, a scoop of this, a handful of these. If you plan on making this recipe, keep that in mind and really you can't go wrong with this recipe!

Dressing (makes lots, probably enough for about 20 people)

1 cup of butter
3 cups celery
2 onions chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

fry this on low in a skillet for about 1/2 hour and then add:

About 6 cups of dry bread pieces
stir and add
1/2 cup cream + one egg, drizzle over dressing
2-3tsp sage
2 grated or chopped apples

steam for 1-2 hours stirring occasionally then add

2 boxes of stove top (prepared)
1 cup of craisins (more or less, depends on how much you like them)

Stir all together and serve! I hope this makes sense, you can call me if you want some help, or call Brad's mom!

Perfectly Shredded Chicken

Maybe I'm the last one to get the memo, and maybe I'm just repeating an amazing idea that everyone already knows. I don't care. I'll still share!

I love to put shredded chicken in pita pockets. Lettuce, cheese and ranch dressing, too. It's delicious. BUT.. I hate shredding the chicken! It takes a life time. So annoying.

Then. The heavens opened and pinterest saved the day.

Perfectly shredded chicken in 20 seconds.

I popped my chicken in the slow cooker, on high, for a good 4 hrs. Left it in there on "warm" until I was ready to shred the crap out of it. Then, wham-bam. 20 seconds later, it was done. I don't actually have a Kitchenaid, but my Bosch works JUST as well with the cookie paddle attachment. So awesome!!! A surefire cure for those "chicken shredding" woes.

Here's the link to the source.

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

I've been super obsessed with everything PUMPKIN lately. I even stocked up on pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie filling. Mmmm! Anyway. Found this recipe on OurBestBites.com and honestly couldn't stop myself from making it. Although... I tried to keep it a little less fattening, so I just used milk and ice cubes instead of icecream. STILL good, but it probably would have been even tastier with the icecream. Try it!

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1/3 C pumpkin, canned or homemade
1/4 – 1/2 C milk
1/4 t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
1/16 t cloves (just use a 1/8 t measure and fill it half way, or do a pinch)
1/16 t nutmeg
2 T brown sugar
2 C vanilla ice cream
1-2 graham crackers

Pop everything but graham crackers in a blender. Start with 1/4 C milk and then slowly add more if needed to make the blender process it all. I used somewhere between 1/4-1/2 C.  Sprinkle with crushed graham cracker crumbs before serving.

A note about blenders: Here’s the problem with making thick, diner style milkshakes at home: A lot of times you have to add so much milk to the thing to get the blender to process that it turns into a milk-slushie instead. Or you have to blend and plunge, blend and plunge, etc. You know the drill, right? So if you have any trouble with your blender, I would recommend blending everything but the ice cream first and then mashing it into the ice cream by hand (well, with a hand. Holding a fork or spoon :) If your scooped ice cream sits out at room temp while you measure the other things and get them all ready, then by the time you mash it all together it should be a good consistency.

Lemon Feta Chicken with Oregano

Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 2 thighs

• 8 skinless chicken thighs (I used 4 breasts instead and filleted them)
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 3 tsp oregano
• salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 375°. Trim all fat off chicken. Season chicken with salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder, and lemon juice. Place in a roasting pan and bake for about 35 - 40 minutes. When chicken is cooked, remove from the oven and sprinkle with feta.

Broil on low for about 2-3 minutes, until cheese is golden brown (careful not to burn).

I've been 90% SouthBeach-ing it for the past few days (gotta lose this preggo weight!!!) so I went browsing through the skinnytaste.com site that Rachelle posted about earlier. Found this yummo chicken recipe, and gave it a try. Super easy, super good.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

My Mom gave me a pumpkin a couple of weeks ago and I wanted find a recipe to use it up. I had to make the snack for preschool today so I googled this recipe and voila, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. These are really good, Brad loved them, Ben wanted to eat them for dessert and the teacher at preschool said the kids loved them too.

If you have never cooked a pumpkin before I used this site. (Because I had never cooked a pumpkin before! It is surprisingly easy...exactly like cooking a squash (duh!)) You cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, cut in smaller pieces, put in a covered dish with a little water, and cook in the microwave or oven. (The site gives more step by step instructions, just click on the pdf link). Easy-peasy. And it tastes so much better than canned!

I used milk chocolate chips for recipe. Enjoy!


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins: allrecipes.com
Original Recipe Yield 12 small muffins

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
2. Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.
3. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Tortellini Soup

• 1 lb Italian Sausage (my mom gets the stuff that's packaged like ground beef, but I could only find the actual sausages. So I just took off the sausage wrappings and broke it into pieces)
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1 clove of garlic, minced OR 1 tsp garlic salt
• 5 cups beef broth
• 1 cup water
• 1 large can (~795ml) chopped/diced tomatoes, blended
• 1 small can tomato sauce
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• ½ tsp dried basil
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 1½ cups sliced zucchini
• small package of tortellini
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 1 medium green pepper
• grated Parmesan cheese

1. Brown sausage in frying pan. Once it's cooked, place it in a large pot (sans drippings).
2. In frying pan; sauté onions and garlic in drippings - then add to pot.
3. In pot: add beef broth, 1 cup water, blended tomatoes, tomato sauce, chopped carrots, basil and oregano.
4. cut green pepper in half, remove seeds, and add both halves whole (this is just for the flavoring. If you want to keep the green pepper IN the soup, just chop it and obviously don't remove it at the end).
5. bring to boil and simmer for 30 mins.
6. Cook tortellini separately while soup is simmering.
7. During the last 15 mins: add zuccini and parsley.
8. When soup is done simmering, remove both halves of green pepper (unless you chopped it) and add cooked tortellini - sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to serve.

SO YUMMY!!! This recipe makes a nice BIG pot of soup. Lots of leftovers! Best part: it tastes even BETTER the next day.. and the day after that, too! Enjoy!!!

Beef Enchiladas

These are the yummiest enchiladas out there. They are a good make-ahead meal. I usually double it and throw one pan in the freezer.

1 can tomato soup
1 tbsp chili powder
dash of garlic salt
1/2 can water
1 tsp cumin
6 large tortillas
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 onion
salt, pepper, garlic
cheddar cheese, grated

1. Fry beef with onion, salt, pepper, and garlic (or garlic powder). Drain and set aside in another bowl.
2. In same pan fry tortillas in a little oil for about 3 seconds on each side. Drain on paper towels.
3. Mix first five ingredients together (I just use the same pan) and beat together with a whisk, heating until just boiling. Remove from heat.
4. Dip each tortilla in sauce and then fill with a spoonful of meet and a handful of cheese. Roll up.
5. Put each filled tortilla in a greased 9 by 13 pan. Pour remaining sauce over top. Sprinkle with cheese.
6. Cover with foil and cook for 15-20 minutes at 350.

Serve with rice. Sometimes I put cooked rice in with the meat and cheese.