Lentil Stew with Smoked Sausage

Ingredients

·         1 1/2  tablespoons  olive oil

·         1  cup  chopped onion

·         3  garlic cloves, minced

·         5  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

·         1  cup  dried lentils

·         1/2  cup  chopped carrot

·         2  bay leaves

·         1 1/2  cups  chopped baking potato

·         14 oz. turkey smoked sausage, cut into quarters

·         1  (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

·         1  teaspoon  dried basil

·         1/2  teaspoon  dried thyme

·         1/2  teaspoon  black pepper

·         3  tablespoons  chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Add broth, lentils, carrot, and bay leaves; bring to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. Add potato and sausage; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 15 minutes or until potato is tender. Stir in tomatoes, basil, thyme, and pepper; simmer 10 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Sprinkle with parsley.

Pork Medallions with Port Wine-Dried Cherry Pan Sauce

Some cooks are intimidated by long recipe titles.  Don't let this one stop you from trying it.  It came from Cooking Light and it's a winner!  Try serving it over couscous (the pasta so nice, they named it twice).

1 c. ruby port or other sweet red wine

1/3 c. dried sweet cherries

4 t. seedless raspberry jam

1 t. Dijon mustard

1 T. vegetable oil

1 ½ lbs. pork tenderloin, trimmed

½ t. salt

¼ t. black pepper

1 T. butter

1.    Combine first 4 ingredients

2.    Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over low heat for 2 minutes.  Cut the pork crosswise into 16 pieces.  Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper.

3.    Place pork in pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Remove pork from pan.  Stir in wine mixture, scraping to loosen browned bits.  Increase heat to high; bring to a boil.  Cook until reduced to ½ cup (about 3 minutes).  Remove from heat.  Stir in butter with a whisk.  Serve sauce over pork.

Family Favorite Beef Roast

This didn't come from my family, but another family of good cooks.  Thanks to my friend Stephanie Taylor for passing this one on.

3 – 4 lb. beef chuck or blade roast

Large onion

Carrots (as many as you want)

Sauce:

2 T. flour

4 T. brown sugar

2 T. Dijon mustard

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 C. ketchup

Mix sauce together and set aside.  Slice onion and cut carrots on the diagonal into large chunks (about 1 ½” in length).  Put thick aluminum foil in pan (may need two to overlap).  Put beef on foil.  Put onion and carrots on top.  Pour sauce over everything.  Seal foil.  Cook for 4 hrs at 350 degrees.  You can also do this in a crock pot on medium for 3 – 4 hours.  Potatoes can be added in the last hour.

Apricot Pork Chops

This tasty dish came from Cooking Light

4 – 4 oz. boneless loin pork chops

¼ c. chopped onion

¼ c. apricot preserves (peach preserves or orange marmalade can be substituted)

1 T. low-sodium soy sauce

2 t. minced garlic

¼ t. salt

¼ c. sliced green onions

1.    Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Coat pan with cooking spray.  Add pork to pan; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done.  Remove from pan; keep warm.

2.    Add chopped onion to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until lightly browned.  Stir in preserves, soy sauce, garlic and salt, cook 3 minutes or until thickened.  Sprinkle with green onions.

Moroccan Chicken and Butternut Squash Soup

From Cooking Light – Jan/Feb 2012

photo courtesy of Cooking Light

Ingredients

·         1 tablespoon olive oil

·         1 cup chopped onion

·         3 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces

·         1 teaspoon ground cumin

·         1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

·         3 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash

·         2 tablespoons no-salt-added tomato paste

·         4 cups Chicken Stock or fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth

·         1/3 cup uncooked couscous

·         3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

·         1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced into 3/4-inch pieces

·         1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil

·         2 teaspoons grated orange rind

Preparation

1. Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion, and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken; cook for 4 minutes, browning on all sides. Add cumin, cinnamon, and pepper to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add butternut squash and tomato paste; cook 1 minute. Stir in Chicken Stock, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes. Stir in couscous, salt, and zucchini; cook 5 minutes or until squash is tender. Remove pan from heat. Stir in chopped basil and orange rind.

Pumpkin Bars

When pumpkin and cream cheese come together, something magical happens...  this recipe.

3 eggs
1 2/3 c. white sugar
1 c. vegetable oil (or 1/2 c. oil and 1/2 c. applesauce)
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. salt

FROSTING:

4 1/2 oz. softened cream cheese (or 1/3 less fat variety)
3/4 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 t. vanilla
3 c. powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Stir into the pumpkin mixture until thoroughly combined.
3. Spread the batter evenly in to a greased 10x15" jellyroll pan.  Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.  Cool before frosting.
4. To make the frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter.  Stir in vanilla.  Add powdered sugar, a little at a time, beating until mixture is smooth.  Add more powdered sugar to reach desired consistency.  Spread evenly on top of the cooled bars.  Cut into squares.

Cranberry Sauce

If you've never made fresh cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, this is the year to start.  If your idea of "cranberry sauce" involves opening can & dumping a gelatanous cranberry pile on a plate, then it's time to step it up.  This one came from Rachael Ray and is really good as a spread over leftover turkey on a sandwich!

1 c. sugar

1 cinnamon stick

2 t. finely chopped fresh ginger

2 t. grated orange peel

¼ t. salt

1/8 t. ground cloves

One 12 oz package fresh cranberries

1.    In a medium saucepan, combine 1 c. water with the sugar, cinnamon stick, fresh ginger, orange peel, salt and cloves.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved.  Stir in the cranberries and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, stirring, until slightly thickened, about 8 minutes.

2.    Transfer the mixture to a bowl and remove the cinnamon stick.  Let cool.