hearty winter vegetable soup

well, it's getting to be that time of year in st. george when i want soup all the time. i made this recently and had to share it. it is delicious! 

just a couple of things i did differently:

*i didn't have escarole, so i used cabbage.

*i went a little heavy on the dill because i LOVE it.

*i didn't have chick peas, so i used cannellini beans and really liked it. 

*added a little bit more lemon juice. if you can't taste it when you eat it, add just a little more. i think it makes all the difference. 

 serve with crusty bread and enjoy!!

lettuce wraps

i made this heavenly harvest pork recipe (which you must try by the way) and had some leftover pork. i wanted to turn it into something besides boring leftovers, so i decided to try out lettuce wraps. i've been a little intimidated by making these, but tried them anyway and they were a HUGE success! my sister even thought they were better than p.f. changs. what do you think?

leftover pork or chicken
1 head of iceberg lettuce-rinsed
1 can water chestnuts-minced
1tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 stalk of celery-chopped
2T soy sauce
2T brown sugar
1T rice vinegar

*mix together soy sauce, brown sugar, and vinegar into a small bowl. set aside. (i added a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch to thicken).
*heat some oil in a non-stick pan. add all ingredients except for the sauce and cook until veggies are as tender as you'd like. then add your soy sauce mixture and cook until your desired consistency. (mine was about 5-7 min).
*let cool for about 10 min and fill up your lettuce cups. enjoy!!

ps. you'll want everything to be about the same size except for the shredded carrots.

White chili

This is my favorite chili! Every time I make it I am asked for the recipe. My sister-in-law even made it for here ward chili cook off and won!

Here is what you need

1-pound boneless, skinless chicken
1 med onion, Chopped
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tab veg oil
2 -15oz cans great northern white beans rinsed and drained
1-15oz can white hominy (found in the Mexican food section)
1-15oz can chicken broth
1-4oz can of green chilies
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Cup sour cream
1/2 Cup heavy cream

First cook the chicken in a pot. The original recipe says to cut in chicken into 1/2 cubes and cook with onion, veggie oil and garlic powder until chicken is not pink. But I like to poach the chicken before and then shred it and then cook it with the onion, oil, and garlic powder. either way works.

in a separate sauce pan mix the can of chicken broth and 2-3 Tab of cornstarch stir over high heat until thick (add more cornstarch if you need it can be quite thick at this point.)

add to the cooked chicken and onions the thickend broth, beans, hominy, chilies and seasiongs. Bring to a boil simmer uncoverd for 30 min. Remove from heat. Stir is sour cream and heavy cream. serve immediately.

yields 5 servings. (trust me you will want to double this!)

yummy, yummy taquitos

ok, so obviously i got this recipe from our best bites, but i just wanted to post and tell you how good they were and the changes i made to mine. after dinner morgan said "this is the best dinner, you could totally do a throwdown with bobby flay and win!" so funny. really, they were a hit!

you could go to their blog and get the exact recipe that they used, which i'm sure is wonderful, or you could use my filling instead. here's what i did:

1 8oz pkg. of cream cheese.

1 cup mango salsa (i bought the kind from costco).

1/2 cup cheese (any kind you want, but i used colby jack)

shredded chicken (i don't know how much. probably about 4 breasts or so. whatever consistency you want)

mix all together. (make sure the cream cheese is at room temp.)

then you just roll them up on your tortillas. the recipe says corn, but i used flour. make sure you get the baby tortillas or your taquitos will be too big. you want them to be a good size for dipping. also, make sure when you put your filling on, that you place it on the lower third of the tortilla. you get a better roll that way.

i served them with spanish rice, guacamole, sour cream and salsa. so yummy. enjoy!

mozzarella meatballs

from the cookbook "fix, freeze, and feast"

i have made these for a couple of different freezer meal demonstrations in the ward and with friends and they have been a HUGE hit! i had never made meatballs before, but these are so easy and yummy and freeze well. the recipe makes 120 of them. you could half it if you wanted, but i would suggest making all 120 and freezing them in quart sized bags. they'll go fast. sara, you can be my witness.

6 lbs. lean ground beef

15 string cheeses

3 cups dry bread crumbs

2/3 cup milk

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup minced onion

2 Tablespoons minced garlic

1 Tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons black pepper

1. remove string cheese from wrappers and cut each one into 8 equal pieces.

2. preheat oven to 500 degrees.

3. using your hands, thoroughly combine beef, bread crumbs, milk, eggs, onion, garlic, salt and pepper in a LARGE bowl. shape into 1 to 1 1/2 inch meatballs around each piece of cheese. seal meatballs well to keep the cheese from oozing out.

4. place meatballs close together on a lightly greased cookie sheet (i would use foil so you don't have a huge clean-up). bake for 15 min. let cool and place in baggies to freeze.

5. serve as spaghetti and meatballs, meatball subs, sweedish meatballs, sweet and sour meatballs, mushroom gravy meatballs, or whatever else you like. enjoy!

black bean & avocado salsa

okay, so this really isn't a meal, but i've been craving it lately and thought you all might enjoy it!

1 can black beans - drained and rinsed

1 can black eyed peas - drained and rinsed

1 can drained corn (i use frozen:  just run about 1 cup of it under hot water to thaw)

3T chopped red onion

2 avocados - diced 

8 roma tomatoes - diced

2 squirts of lime juice

1/2 - 3/4 bottle of italian salad dressing

salt and pepper to taste

you could put in cilantro, but i hate the stuff so i never do.

mix all together and serve with chips. enjoy!

italian chicken and veggies

this recipe is super easy, and super yummy.  

4 chicken breasts

5 lg carrots

5 lg red potatoes

1 lg onion

2 stalks celery

salt and pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 cup italian dressing

place chicken breasts in the bottom of crock-pot.  season with salt and pepper.  add chopped up veggies, garlic powder, and the italian dressing.  cook on high until chicken is cooked through, and veggies are tender. enjoy!