Apple/Pear Salad with Feta

I generally view salads as wet lettuce. I mean, I absolutely love them when other people make them, but I really don't like making them myself. Therefore, when I make a salad, it has to be really good to be worth facing all that...wet lettuce. This is indeed a good one, which uses apple-pears... a relatively new hybrid to markets near me. They look like huge golden apples and taste like apples soaked in pear juice. If you don't live in a place that has them, just use a sweet variety of apples instead (Cosmic Crisp, Gala, etc.). Adapted from several recipes. 

Yield: serves 6-7 generously plated or 10 as a buffet salad.

Ingredients:

Dressing:

3 T virgin olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T orange juice
3 T chopped pecans
2 T honey
salt & pepper to taste

Greens:

6 C loosely packed baby mixed organic greens (make sure it includes radicchio)
1 apple-pear in very thin wedges (or use apples--Pink Lady apples are my favorite)
1/3 C dried cranberries
1/3 C feta cheese, crumbled.
1 C whole pecans (optional)

Combine olive oil, vinegar, orange juice, pecans, honey, salt & pepper, to taste, mix until well blended in bowl or shake in bottle. Add greens and toss. divide among 4 plates. top with apple-pear slices and sprinkle with rest of ingredients. Be sure and sprinkle apple-pear slices with some kind of citrus (lemon?) if you plan to serve it later than right away! They will brown...

Debbie's Comforting Chicken

This dish is so named because it's my favorite thing to make for people who are sick. I swear this dish has healing properties. I was introduced to it by my friend Debbie Kelly back in about 1985. There I was, sicker than a dog, unable to even get out of bed because I had an inner-ear infection that affected my balance... And my best friend Deb showed up at my door with...(gasp)DINNER. A wonderful, fragrant, melt-y-cheesy dish of chicken-y goodness! Whether it was her kindness or the chicken itself, it made me well! Your family will love it too. Make it for someone who needs your love today...

Ingredients:

8 (half) chicken breasts 

1 pkg. real Swiss Cheese slices (anything that has holes--I use Kraft)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/4 C dry white wine

2 C Pepperidge Farm seasoned stuffing mix

1/3-1/2 C melted butter

Place 4 whole or 8 half chicken breasts in a greased baking dish. Slice swiss cheese over the top. Mix 1 can cream of chicken soup and 1/4 C white wine (2-Buck Chuck is great for this). Spoon over chicken and cheese evenly. Spread 2 C Pepperidge Farm seasoned stuffing mix over the top of the soup. Melt butter (not margarine) and drizzle overall. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes--until brown and bubbly. This is best served the next day--reheated! Just put foil over the top.

Note: I usually bring this to people with a salad that has oranges in it (vitamin C) and a home-baked dessert with ice-cream (i.e. comfort food).

Turkey Black-Bean Chili--a Super Bowl Meal !

The Super Bowl is coming! Time for parties in front of the biggest flat-screen you can find. Even if you aren't a big football fan, it's a fun American ritual to go to the parties. I actually first realized my (future) hubby was adorable when I saw him asleep in front of a Super Bowl game. All the other guys were yelling and screaming all around him. Yet, Alan slept. Propped up against the couch, in a light blue sweater. He looked like a cherub asleep on a cloud in heaven...We got married a year later.

Anyhoo,enough about romance. Time to put on your helmets and make up a big pot of Chili. This is a really yummy version that is easy and also (suprise!) actually HEALTHY! Beans are good for you, so is ground Turkey. From blogger Lori Longbotham. Yield: 4 serving

2 T vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
1 1/2 T chili powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 t ground cumin
1 bay leaf
1/4 t. anise seeds (optional)
1/2 t. ground coriander
1/2 lb.ground turkey (or beef if you have finicky people around)
1 can (16 oz.) whole tomatoes in thick puree, undrained
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, diced
1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
salt and cayenne pepper, to taste
2 T. minced fresh cilantro
Essential Garnishes: Sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, minced green onions, minced fresh cilantro and/or sliced avocado (or guacamole).

Heat oil in a heavy Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook, sttirring occasionally, 5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Add chili powder, garlic, cumin, bay leaf, anise seeds ( I left em out) and coriander, mix well. Cook, stirring, 3 minutes. Add ground turkey or beef; cook, stirring occasionally, 5-7 minutes, or until pink disappears. Add tomatoes with their liquid, black beans, bell pepper, jalepenos, salt and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Remove from stovetop and put in 350 degree oven, uncovered, 45 minutes. Stir twice. Take out of oven and stir in cilantro. Serve hot with various garnishes to pass. Tortilla chips or corn bread is excellent with this!

Lauren's Cream of Parsnip Soup with Bacon

My daughter loves to cook. In Fall/Winter she often makes up a huge pot of soup and freezes most of it to thaw and serve on especially cold evenings. Nothing like soup when we come home from work exhausted, yes? This is a soup she found for Christmas 2009 as a first course. We all nearly died of happiness, happily groaning as we drank every delicious drop. Note: Don't kick yourself too much if you don't make chicken stock--just buy some and make the soup anyway. If you wait until you have some home-made stock, you may never make it!

Cream of Parsnip Soup with Bacon and Potato Crisps (from the Food Network circa 2006)

3T butter
2C chopped onions
1C chopped celery
salt
pepper
1 bay leaf
1 t. chopped garlic
10 cups chicken stock
3 lbs parsnips, peeled and diced
1/4 to 1/2 C. heavy cream
6 oz. raw bacon, chopped or 6 t Hormel Real Bacon Bits

Note: This will serve about 10-12 people! Cut recipe in half if you wish!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt the butter in 6-qt. stock pot over med.-high heat. add the onions and celery. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté until vegies are soft, about 4 minutes. Add bay leaf and garlic. Add stock and parsnips and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until the parsnips are very soft--about 1 hour. Remove from heat and allow to cool a little. Discard bay leaf. Using a hand-held blender, carefully puree soup until smooth ( a regular blender on low speed will do) Stir in cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

In small saute pan, fry bacon till crispy. Remove and drain on paper towels. Optional: Fry thin potato slices in leftover bacon fat till crispy and brown. Drain on paper towels and salt. Use either or both bacon and potato crisps as a garnish. Another option: use a sprinkle of Hormel Real Bacon Bits.

Sally Shelby's Oatmeal Bread

I am not the best bread baker. But when I was a child, I wanted to grow up and turn out loaves of fresh white bread every week for my family--like Sally Shelby did. Sally was one of the moms in our neighborhood. She was an AMAZING cook, and we lived for her bread. Occasionally she would bring us a loaf of her Oatmeal Bread, still warm from the oven. It was gone in 15 minutes. I'm not kidding. It would have been 5 minutes; except we had to slice and butter it first.

Here is Sally's Oatmeal Bread recipe. It's a treasure! Almost foolproof, it still is one of the only yeast breads I can make that doesn't turn out like a hockey puck.

1 1/4 C. regular rolled oats
2 1/2 t. salt
1/4 C. light molasses
1/4 C. honey
2 T. butter
2 C. boiling water
2 eggs
2 envelopes yeast
1/3 C. warm (not hot) water
5 to 7 C. flour

Place oats, salt, molasses, honey and butter in large bowl. Cover with boiling water and let stand until lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in warm water; stir into the cooled oatmeal mixture along with the slightly beaten eggs. Measure the flour; add enough to oatmeal mixture to make a soft dough.

Turn out on floured surface and knead thoroughly being careful to add only enough additional flour to keep dough from sticking to the board. Knead about 10 minutes. Place in a greased mixing bowl and let rise in a warm (but not hot) place until almost double in bulk. Punch down; divide itno loaves. Knead piece of dough until smooth and put into well-greased loaf pans (2 5X9" or 3 4X8"). Let rise again until almost doubled. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Cool and slice with a serrated knife.

San Francisco Cioppino--A Recipe to Bring the House Down

When Alan and I got married, his parents couldn't come out to the wedding, so my mom had the rehearsal dinner at our family home. Good old 75 Sausal Drive. Upstairs it had a great room... It could accommodate at least 50 people. This caused me a bit of consternation as a child. I was afraid that the whole thing would someday crash into the downstairs because we had so many people at our parties. I mean, it was built solid, but just how many large grownups can plywood take? Our rehearsal party was no different. Big and fun. The Shelby family was there and so there was Jim (Cricket) Shelby on piano and lots of harmony and everybody hamming it up. The wine was flowing. Alan sang "Get Me To The Church On Time" and brought down the house. Well, nearly. Despite my fears it stayed up. And we had my mother's famous Cioppino, from a recipe that she found in a magazine long ago.

San Francisco Cioppino:

1/2 C. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 C. chopped green onion
3/4 C. chopped green pepper
1 jar (11 1/2 oz.) whole clams
1 can (1lb. 12 oz.) tomatoes
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
1 3/4 C. Burgundy or Cabernet (buy the best you can afford)
1/3 C. chopped Italian parsley
2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. dried basil
2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 1/2 lb. Halibut or Red Snapper
1/2 lb. raw shrimp
3 cans (6 1/2 oz.) King Crab meat, drained and boned (or use fresh or faux crab)

--In hot 6 qt.pot, sauté garlic, onions and green pepper until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Drain clams, reserving 1/4 liquid, and set aside. Add clam liquid, un-drained tomatoes, tomato paste, Burgundy, parsley, oregano, basil, salt, pepper and 3/4 C. water to vegetables, mixing well. Bring to boiling, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Cut halibut in 1-inch pieces, discard skin and bones. Add with shrimp, crab and clams to tomato mixture. Simmer. uncovered, 15 minutes. Serves 8 --but the recipe can easily be doubled or tripled. And feel free to add any kind of white fish or shellfish you like (Muscles are good) to the mix. Serve with French bread for tearing and dipping. For best results make the soup part the day before so that flavors will meld. Always a big hit, we have shared this recipe with many people!