Ahh pot pie! It’s such a warm comforting food.  To make my pie easier, I just buy ready made pie crust and it works perfectly.  My husband likes to eat his slices of pie with a side of steamed rice. This was new to me but I guess this is how his mom served it and its pretty good.  This recipe uses chicken but you could always substitute turkey. When I feel really lazy, I buy the turkey strips already cut up. Super simple.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cubed
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup milk  
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

This traditional Filipino dish is offers a nice mild broth with hints of ginger in the background. It is a recipe that is truly simple to make.  My mom has often had to substitute fresh spinach leaves in place of the sili/pepper leaves (which is the original ingredient) because it is not always found in normal grocery stores.  I use spinach as an ingredient in this recipe because this is how I am so used to having it nowadays, but please, if you have an asian store nearby, grab the pepper leaves for a more authentic taste.  The chayote squash can be substituted with one green papaya and in true Filipino fashion, we wash the rice before cooking it and use the water from the 2nd washing for this dish. It gives the dish a bit more flavor.

Ingredients:

• 3 pound whole cut up chicken, or any part of the chicken you prefer
• 2 chayote squash, peeled, centers removed and sliced lengthwise in half, then cut into 1/2 inch strips
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 thumb-size ginger root, peeled and cut into strips
• 2 tablespoons patis/fish sauce
• 4 cups of water or the 2nd washing of rice water
• 1 bunch of spinach leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a casserole heat oil over medium to medium high heat and sauté garlic, onion and ginger until soft.
2. Add the chicken pieces and stir fry for about 5 minutes or until the chicken turns white. Remove from pan.
3. Add the chayote squash and simmer until the vegetable is tender.
4. Season with the fish sauce (patis) and salt and pepper to taste.  The recipe has 2 tablespoons of patis listed, but please feel free to adjust to taste.
5. Pour in the water and bring to a boil for about 2 minutes. Add chicken back into the pot and lower heat. Cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked.
6. Taste the broth and re-season with salt, pepper and fish sauce (patis) to taste if needed.
7. Add the spinach leaves and cook to soften, about another 3 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and serve over steamed rice or eat alone as a soup.

Chicken Tinola

These whole wheat pancakes are full of flavor and are very healthy. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can substitute regular milk soured with about 2 tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice. Let it sit in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to curdle the milk.  These cook up a bit delicately so make sure you don’t have your heat up too high or they will burn. Mix in some blueberries into the batter for homemade blueberry pancakes. YUM!

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup oatmeal or wheat germ
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
• 1/8 teaspoon cinamon (optional)
• butter flavored cooking spray, butter or oil

1. In a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, wheat germ or oats, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, and salt.
2. Add the canola oil to the flour-mixture and mix thoroughly.
3. Make a well in the center of the flour-butter mixture, and add the buttermilk and eggs. Stir until the liquids are fully incorporated.
4. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and grease the surface with a spritz around the pan with cooking spray, or 1 tablespoon of butter or oil. Ladle the batter onto the surface to form 4 inch pancakes. Once bubbles form on the top of the pancakes, flip them over, and cook them on the other side for about 2 minutes.

If you are looking for a fail safe Thanksgiving turkey recipe, this is it. This recipe is tried and true and super simple to make. The chicken stock can be replaced with champagne or a white wine, if you prefer. To free up my oven, I made this in an electric roaster last year and it still turned out beautifully. If you want a really nice browned exterior, I would recommend doing this in the conventional oven. Be forewarned, this makes for such a moist, juicy turkey that the meat will fall off the bones, especially in the turkey legs. Happy Thanksgiving!

Ingredients:

• 1 (12 pound) whole turkey
• 8 tablespoons butter, divided
• 2 (14 oz.) can of chicken broth (or 3 1/2 cups of your favorite champagne/wine)
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 2 tablespoons dried minced onion
• 1 1/2 tablespoons seasoning salt
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Rinse and wash turkey. Remove the giblets from the cavity and If unwanted, discard them. If you want them, add them to the pan or reserve them for your gravy.
  2. Place turkey in a roasting pan or electric roaster. Make little pockets under the skin by separate the skin over the breast of the turkey. Put 3 tablespoons of the butter on each “pocket” between the skin and breast meat and rub it in as best as possible. Take the other 2 tablespoons of butter and rub all over the outside of the turkey.
  3. Combine the chicken broth with the parsley and minced onion and pour over the top of the turkey. Sprinkle seasoning salt and garlic powder over the turkey.
  4. Cover with foil, and bake in the preheated oven 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until the internal temperature of the turkey reaches 180 degrees F (80 degrees C). For the last 45 minutes or so, remove the foil so the turkey will brown nicely.

I often make this easy dish for brunch get togethers, baby showers, and potlucks. The spinach, mushroom, and bacon quiche is super easy to make and always gets rave reviews. The recipe is pretty forgiving and can be altered to suit your tastes as it is a great base recipe. If you don’t like bacon, you can omit it and instead just use butter as your base for sauteing the garlic and onion. One stick of butter should do it.

Ingredients:

• 3 slices bacon
• 4 Tbls butter (or omit bacon and use 8 Tbls butter)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 4 ounces fresh mushrooms, chopped
• 1 (6 ounce) package feta, crumbled
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded 4 cheese Mexican blend
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Place bacon in a medium skillet and turn on stove to medium heat. Pan-fry bacon until crispy. Remove bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and drain excess oil.  Crumble when cool enough to touch.  Reserve 1/4 cup bacon grease in pan and add  4 Tablespoons butter. Saute garlic and onion in bacon grease and butter until lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Stir in spinach, mushrooms, crumbled bacon, feta and 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon mixture into pie crust.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into the pastry shell and with a fork, stir spinach filling to allow egg mixture to thoroughly combine with spinach filling.  The eggs will act as the binding for all the filling ingredients.
4. Place a cookie sheet in the bottom rack of your oven to catch any fluid that may drip from your quiche.  Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle top with remaining Cheddar cheese, and bake an additional 40 minutes, until set in center. Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2  teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
• 2 pounds tilapia fillets

1. Preheat oven to broil.
2. Grease a broiling pan or line pan with aluminum foil.
3. In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients except for the Old Bay Seasoning.
4. Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan and sprinkle each fillet with the Old Bay Seasoning. Broil each side 2 to 3 minutes. Total broil time will be approximately 4-6 minutes.  Remove the fillets from the oven and top them with the Parmesan cheese and breadcrumb mixture. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork.

It can’t get any easier than this oven baked-fried chicken breast. You will have dinner made in a flash. The longest part of the wait is when it is baking in the oven! The chicken breasts turn out moist and succulent!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup Italian bread crumbs or crushed cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Beat eggs in a shallow bowl.  Place bread/cracker crumbs in a separate shallow bowl. Mix the salt, pepper, garlic powder and parmesan cheese in with the bread/cracker crumbs.  Dip chicken in the eggs then dredge in the crumb mixture to coat.
3. Arrange coated chicken in a 9×13 inch baking dish and drizzle melted butter over each piece of chicken.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

We love tilapia at our house because it is such a mild tasting fish and usually doesn’t break the bank.  This is a quick go-to recipe of mine for those week nights after work when you just don’t feel like fussing too much in the kitchen for dinner, or you don’t have much time to cook.  Sometimes I like to add more lemon juice over the fish after it is served. You can substitute any other mild tasting fish with this glaze.  I have even tried it on salmon in the past and it still tastes great.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 4 tilapia fillets
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon-pepper

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a small bowl, mix honey, mustard, and lemon juice. Season fillets with lemon-pepper and arrange in a medium baking dish.
3. Spread the mixture over the fillets, making sure to coat evenly. Bake for 15 minutes or until fish easily flakes with a fork.

Side dish suggestions:
This dish goes great with some rice pilaf and some fresh steamed veggies.

Submitted by: Sheri Evans

This is a great stir fry dish with a lovely fragrant rice accompanyment. It looks like a lot of work because of all the ingredients but is not as hard to make as it seems. This asian chicken stir fry dish is actually pretty easy once all the prep work is done and is well worth any effort put forth! It is absolutely delish!

Ingredients:

• 3 3/4 cups water
• 2 oranges, zested
• 2 cups jasmine rice, rinsed
• 2 tablespoons canola or safflower oil, 2 turns of the pan
• 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds chicken breast tenders, 2 packages, sliced on an angle into bite-size pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 medium yellow skinned onion, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded, quartered and sliced
• 1 cup shredded carrots, store bought, or 2 medium carrots cut into matchsticks
• 6 scallions, cut on an angle into 2 inch pieces
• 1 cup snow peas, a couple of handfuls
• Satay sauce:
• 4 rounded tablespoonfuls chunky peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons dark soy, Tamari
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1-inch ginger root, peeled and minced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 orange, juiced

Garnish:

• 2 ounces (1/4 cup) chopped peanuts or nut topping, available on the baking aisle
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves or flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

1. Heat water with orange zest to boiling. Add rice, return to boil, stir. Cover pot and reduce heat to simmer. Cook rice until tender, 18 minutes. Fluff with fork.
2. For stir-fry, heat a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add chicken, garlic and onion, stir-fry 3 minutes. Add remaining veggies and stir-fry 5 minutes more. Heat all ingredients for sauce together in a small pot over low heat, stirring the sauce until all ingredients are combined.
3. Transfer stir-fry to a large platter and pour sauce evenly over the chicken and vegetables. Sprinkle the platter with chopped nuts, cilantro, and basil. Serve jasmine rice in a separate dish with an ice cream scoop to serve the rice with — it makes perfect, pretty, round portions of rice on the dinner plates.