Balsamic Poppyseed Vinaigrette

Stephanie is a master salad maker in my opinion. She's always got great recipes and ingredients to put together to make tasty and beautiful salads. This dressing comes from her. Feel free to modify the actual salad ingredients to fit your tastes and desires.

Dressing:
1/3 cup Balsamic vinegar or fresh lime juice
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
3/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup Dijon mustard

Mix together all ingredients, cover and refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to fully develop

Salad:
1/8 red onion, finely sliced
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3 tablespoons sugar
1 bunch spinach
1 bunch romaine or red leaf
1/2 cup Swiss cheese
1/2 pound bacon

Cook bacon until crispy; let cool and cut into small pieces. Place almonds and sugar in a small non-stick skillet over medium heat and cook until caramelized; set aside. In a large bowl place spinach and romaine; toss. Top with onion, almonds, swiss, and bacon. Drizzle the salad with dressing just before serving

**Notes from Em**
On caramelizing the almonds - I had no idea what I was doing the first time I tried this, and it really freaked me out to just throw dry sugar and nuts into a pan. As the nuts warm up though they release their oils and the sugar clings to the oils.

I like to add Craisins to my salad.

Chicken Enchilada

Chicken Enchilada

From Eating for Life

Serves 2

4 portions chicken breast
4 green onions, sliced
2 T fresh cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
3 cans (10 oz each) green enchilada sauce
8 corn tortillas
1 C reduced-fat cheddar cheese, shredded
2 C lettuce, shredded
1/2 C salsa
1/2 C light sour cream
1 tomato, diced
1 can (2 oz) ripe olives, sliced

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly coat a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray

Place chicken breasts in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until no longer pink in the center, about 15 minutes. Drain and let cool slightly. Shred cooked chicken by pulling apart with two forks; set aside.

Lightly coat a large skillet with cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add green onion, cilantro and jalapeno; saute for 2 minutes. Add shredded chicken and 1 can of enchilada sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Pour the remaining 2 cans of enchilada sauce in a medium bowl and microwave until warm, about 2 minutes. Dip each tortilla in the heated sauce and fill with about 1/8 of the chicken mixture. Roll up an place, seam-side down, in the prepared baking dish.

Pour remaining heated sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until enchiladas are heated through and cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.

Divide lettuce onto four plates and place a portion of enchiladas on top. Top with a spoonful of salsa, a dollop of sour cream, tomatoes and olives. Serve and enjoy!

Caramel Corn

Caramel Corn

From Susan I.

Serves 12

1/2 C butter
3 T half'n'half
1 C light corn syrup
2 C brown sugar
6-8 quarts air-popped corn

In a large sauce pan over medium-high heat combine butter, half'n'half, corn syrup and brown sugar. Stirring constantly bring mixture to a boil; boil for 3 minutes. This will make a soft caramel that won't go hard. Pour over air-popped corn and mix well until fully coated. The caramel will thicken as it cools. If you want the caramel corn to be crispy bake it for one hour at 250, stirring often.

**Notes from Em**
Don't make the tragic mistake (like I have once or twice) of using a small pan to make the sauce. It expands a LOT when it's boiling, and few things are as hard to clean off a stove as spilled over caramel sauce straight on the burner.

Creamy Dill Chicken and Rice

Creamy Dill Chicken and Rice

Serves 8

4 - 6 Chicken breasts
2 Cans cream of chicken soup
1 C plan yogurt (or sour cream)
1 packet dry Italian dressing mix
1/2 T dill

Combine all ingredients and place in a crock pot on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over a bed of cooked rice.

**Notes from Em**
The original recipe called for twice as much of the ingredients for the sauce, but I found it made WAY too much sauce. I had literally half a crock pot of sauce left and no more chicken. But if you're a sauce person, feel free to take it back to its original doubled amount.

I've also decided it would be really good to throw some baby carrots and/or frozen peas in there

Clam Chowder

Clam Chowder

Serves 6-8

2 C water
1/2 C finely chopped onion
1 C finely diced celery
2 C finely diced potatoes
1 medium carrot, grated
3 (6.5 oz) cans minced clams with juices
1/2-3/4 C butter
1/2-3/4 C flour
1 quart half-n-half
1 1/2 t salt
1 t ground black pepper
1 t garlic powder
2 T red wine vinegar

Place water, vegetables, and clams with juice in saucepan. Cover and simmer over medium heat until barely tender.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and blend; cook, stirring constantly to form roux. Slowly add cream stirring constantly with a whisk until smooth and thick. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder. Keep stirring until heated throughout or until it boils. Add un-drained cooked vegetables and red wine vinegar. Season with additional salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. Turn heat to low and continue heating and stirring until heated throughout.

Turkey Caesar Wraps

This is one of the few recipes that I can genuinely claim as my own, thus it's not an exact science, but you'll get the idea.

Turkey Caesar Wraps

Raw tortillas
Sliced mushrooms
Sliced Swiss cheese
Sliced oven roasted turkey
Mixed greens
Caesar dressing

Saute the mushrooms until they release their liquids and get nice and brown and wilty. Heat a large skillet or griddle to medium heat. Put the tortilla on the pan, put a few slices of cheese running down the middle of the tortilla, and a few slices of turkey on top of that. Let it heat up until the tortilla is golden brown on the bottom side and the cheese is starting to melt. Remove from heat. Add mushrooms, mixed greens, and drizzle with Caesar dressing. Wrap it up and enjoy!

Chicken Milano

Here is it folks, the dish that I credit with helping me to understand that cooking can be loads of fun. I don't know where the recipe originally came from. All I know is that I made it for my brother and his girlfriend (now wife) for a Valentines Day dinner (he found the recipe and taught it to me), and I've been making it for friends and family ever since. This is one of those recipes that EVERYONE loves, and generally asks me for the recipe.

Chicken Milano

Serves 4

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 C flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 C Italian bread crumbs
4 T butter
3 C marinara sauce
1 C heavy cream (milk works too)
1/4 C fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 C fresh mozzarella cheese
1/4 C Swiss Cheese

Put the flour and Italian bread crumbs each on a separate plate. Dip each chicken breast first in the flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. In a large skillet melt the butter over medium-high heat. Place the breaded chicken breasts in the heated pan just until the bread crumbs turn golden brown, approximately 2 minutes each side. Transfer the chicken to a baking dish. Combine the marinara sauce and cream, pour over chicken breasts. Sprinkle each of the cheeses evenly over the chicken breasts. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

**Notes from Em**
Make sure to check the dish during the last 10 minutes of cooking. If the cheese is starting to brown, put a sheet of tinfoil over the top. Just be warned if the cheese touches the tinfoil it'll stick to it.

My personal favorite way to serve this recipe is with sauteed vegetables, such as carrots, zucchini or yellow squash, pea pods etc. Simply slice the vegetables fairly thin, put them in a skillet on medium-high heat, throw in 1 T or so of butter, some salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion, and saute it all until the veggies are just starting to soften. It's also fun to put the chicken on top of a bed of angel hair pasta, or serve some yummy crusty bread on the side.