Beef and Pepper Stir Fry

Yields: 4 main-dish servings

Total Time: 30 min

Ingredients

• 1 pound(s) flank steak, cut lengthwise in half and very thinly sliced
• 4 tablespoon(s) lower-sodium teriyaki sauce
• 4 green onions
• 1 cup(s) instant brown rice
• 3 tablespoon(s) canola oil
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) crushed red pepper
• 2 red peppers, thinly sliced

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Directions

1. In small bowl, toss beef with 1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce.
2. Thinly slice dark green tops from green onions and reserve for garnish; cut remaining white and light green parts into 1-inch pieces. Cook rice as label directs.
3. In 12-inch skillet, heat 2 teaspoons oil on medium-high until hot. Add garlic and crushed red pepper; cook 1 minute. Add green onion pieces, red pepper slices, and 2 tablespoons water; cook 4 to 5 minutes or until peppers are tender, stirring frequently. Transfer to medium bowl. Keep warm.
4. In same skillet, heat remaining teaspoon oil until hot. Add half of beef; cook 1 minute or until beef just loses its pink color throughout, stirring. Transfer to bowl with peppers; keep warm. Repeat with remaining beef.
5. Add remaining 3 tablespoons teriyaki sauce to skillet; cook 30 seconds, stirring. Add to beef and vegetable mixture; stir to combine. Serve stir-fry over rice. Garnish with reserved green onions.

Chicken Posole

This soup is great with grilled cheeses for the kids and garlic bread for the adults!!! I usually double the recipe. It is fast becoming one of our soup staples!

Jose Picayo

• Serves 4 Hands-On Time: 10m Total Time: 30m

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 32-ounce container low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 dried ancho chili, thinly sliced, or 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken meat
• 1 15-ounce can hominy, rinsed
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and 1⁄4 teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Add the broth, tomatoes, and chili and bring to a boil. Stir in the chicken and hominy and simmer until heated through, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve with the lime.

Nutritional Information:

• Per Serving
• Calories 271

• Fat 10g
• Sat Fat 2g
• Cholesterol 66mg
• Sodium 788mg
• Protein 26g
• Carbohydrate 21g
• Fiber 4g

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies

Prep Time:20 Min
Cook Time:8 Min
Ready In:3 Hrs

Original Recipe Yield 5 dozen

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

**These are the best Sugar Cookies I have ever had! We loved them; super easy to make, and fun to cut out with the boys. Parker loved "painting" them-I made icing with confectioners' sugar and milk. I make it fairly thin, as I 'paint' the icing on the cookies with a pastry brush. Thin enough to spread easily but not so thin that it just makes your cookies wet and runs off.

Pressed Cubano with Bacon

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon extravirgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 (3-ounce) Hawaiian rolls, sliced in half horizontally
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 8 (1/2-ounce) slices reduced-fat Swiss cheese, divided
• 4 bacon slices, cooked and halved
• 12 dill pickle slices
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro
• 6 ounces thinly sliced 33%-less-sodium ham
• 2 ounces thinly sliced deli roasted turkey breast

Preparation

Combine oil and garlic.

Spread cut sides of rolls evenly with mustard. Place 1 cheese slice, 2 bacon halves, 3 pickle slices, and 1/2 teaspoon cilantro on bottom half of each roll. Divide ham and turkey evenly among bottom halves of rolls; top each serving with 1 cheese slice and top half of roll. Brush garlic oil evenly over outside of rolls.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 2 sandwiches to pan. Place a cast-iron or heavy skillet on top of sandwiches, and press gently to flatten. Cook 3 minutes on each side or until cheese melts and bread is toasted (leave cast-iron skillet on sandwiches while they cook). Repeat with remaining sandwiches.

Garlic oil gives these sandwiches a crisp, flavorful crust. Hawaiian rolls provide a slightly sweet contrast to the salty ham, pickles, and mustard. To make this easy supper even quicker to prepare, use precooked bacon. Serve with banana peppers.

Nutritional Information

Calories:432 (30% from fat)

Fat:14.5g (sat 6.3g,mono 4.1g,poly 1.2g)

Protein:27.1g

Carbohydrate:47.6g

Fiber:2.8g

Cholesterol:49mg

Iron:3.1mg

Sodium:1053mg

Calcium:292mg

**These sandwiches are awesome! Very quick and easy, everyone liked!

Knoephla Soup

1 Tbl. butter

1/2 cup chopped onion
6 cups water
3 Tbl. chicken base
1 bay leaf
4 medium potatoes (peeled and diced)
1 pint half and half or milk
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbl. parsley flakes
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 small bag knoephla dumplings ( about 1 1/2 lbs.)

In a medium-sized soup kettle, saute onion in butter. Add
water, chicken base, bay leaf, potatoes, and knoephla. Bring
to boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add milk or half
and half and seasonings, and simmer 5 to 10 minutes. Remove
bay leaf.

Makes 12 cups.


For those who prefer to make their own knoephla rather that
buy the frozen ones, you can use the following:

1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/2 cup water

Mix above ingredients and cut into boiling soup.

Sausage & Pepper Baked Ziti

1 lb sweet/hot Italian Sausage, casings removed if using links
4 cloves garlic, crushed with press
2 lg peppers; red, green and/or yellow, cut into 1/4" slices
1 jumbo onion (1 lb), cut in half, then cut crosswise into 1/4" slices
1 lb sliced white mushrooms
1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes in puree
1 can (15 oz) tomato puree
1 lb ziti or penne pasta
1 pkg (8 oz) mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 c. freshly grated Romano cheese

1. In deep skillet, cook sausage on med. heat 10 minutes or until browned. Transfer to medium bowl.
2. In drippings in skillet, cook garlic, peppers, onion and mushrooms, covered 10 minutes. Uncover and cook additional 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender and most of liquid has evaporated. Stir in tomatoes and tomato puree. Heat to boiling on med-high, stirring and breaking up tomatoes with side of spoon. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook sauce 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile cook pasta according to directions on package, but cook 2 minutes less than recommended.
4. Preheat oven to 400. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water. Drain pasta. Return pasta and water to pot; stir in tomato sauce and meat. Add mozzarella, toss to combine. Divide mixture evenly between two shallow 2 1/2 qt. baking dishes. (I use one 1 1/2 qt and a aluminum 11x9" pan for the freezer serving.) Sprinkle with Romano.
5. Bake on casserole 20-25 minutes or until top is browned and sauce is bubbling. Let stand 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare second casserole for freezing.

**This is a favorite recipe; great to share a serving with someone else, freeze one for later, or bake all for a large crowd.

Chicken Cacciatore

Serve over a bed of spaghetti or other pasta.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: about 1 cup chicken mixture, 2 tablespoons cheese, and 1 1/2 teaspoons basil)

Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Cooking spray
• 2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
• 3/4 cup prechopped bell pepper
• 1 1/2 cups tomato-basil pasta sauce
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup (about 2 ounces) shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil

Preparation

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken evenly with oregano, dried basil, and red pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; sauté 2 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Add mushrooms and bell pepper to pan; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in pasta sauce and wine; bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in salt and black pepper. Sprinkle with cheese and fresh basil.

Nutritional Information

Calories:239

Fat:6g (sat 2.7g,mono 1.4g,poly 0.5g)

Protein:34.2g

Carbohydrate:11.1g

Fiber:2.6g

Cholesterol:75mg

Iron:2.1mg

Sodium:746mg

Calcium:266mg

**Another easy, excellent recipe from Cooking Light!