1/2 to 3/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 to 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped pecans
2 cups chopped turkey
2 to 4 heaping tablespoons mayo
2 to 4 heaping tablespoons of this Caesar Dressing
(chopped gala apple chunks are optional)

On large tortilla, place lettuce leaves down the center. Place a nice layer of the turkey salad on the lettuce. Add diced tomatoes. Roll tortilla. Eat with a side of soup or potato chips.

Frozen Cranberry Salad

Ingredients:
12 oz bag of fresh cranberries
1 can of crushed pineapple in its own juice (about 20 ounces)
16 oz bag of miniature marshmallows
1 pint whipping cream
½ C sugar

Directions:
Chop cranberries in a food processor or blender. Mix with sugar and put in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix pineapple and marshmallows.

Refrigerate both bowls for an hour.

After the hour is up, whip cream until it’s nice and fluffy. Mix in the contents of both bowls. Pour everything into a 9×13 pan. Freeze.

Remove from freezer about 30 minutes before serving. It is supposed to be served partially frozen.

3/4 cup milk

1 egg

3/4 cup Pioneer Buttermilk Biscuit and Baking Mix

1/4 cup ground oatmeal (put regular oatmeal in a food processor and grind to flour)

Mix everything and then make pancakes as usual.  You can use 1/2 cup Pioneer and 1/2 cup oatmeal if you want to get even healthier.  The oats add a touch of old fashioned character.  Serve with real maple syrup.  Yum!

Of course, if you have suggestions, we’ll take them under consideration.  Probably.

Two beef bones and beef stew cuts (about 1/2 to 3/4 pound of meat) The bones are critical in getting enough flavor in the soup. If you leave them out, make sure you use beef stock in place of any of the water.

4 diced celery stalks with leaves
1 diced potato
1/2 diced large onion
1 can tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup sliced green beans
3/4 cup barley or a mix of wild rice and barley
8 cups of stock/water (I use two cans of store beef stock and three cups of water. At the end, I add one more can of chicken stock to blend all the flavors. The canned stock contains a lot of salt, so no additional salt is required.)
1 cup diced carrots

Cook on high in crockpot, covered for 6 to 8 hours, until the meat falls into tender pieces. Add chicken or beef stock as it cooks if more liquid is needed. The barley/rice will soak up the liquid so check it several times. About two hours before you wish to eat, add 1 tablespoon of minced rosemary leaves (optional.)

At the end, remove the bones. Cut any large pieces of meat. Serve with toasted, buttered fresh bread.

Dice 2 grilled chicken breasts
Dice 4 stalks of celery. Use the inner stalks and dice them very fine.
Mince 2 tablespoons of a sweet onion
chop 1/2 cup of pecans
dice 1/2 of a sweet apple such as gala (apple is optional).

Mix all these ingredients in a medium bowl with enough mayonaise to keep all ingredients together. Mix in two tablespoons Miracle Whip (this will sweeten the mix–you could put in a pinch of sugar if you don’t have miracle whip, but it won’t be *quite* the same.)

Serve on bread with slices of tomato, lettuce and alfalfa sprouts.

Marinate 1 to 2 pounds meat (ribs, brisket, even roast) in the following:

1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tsp sage
2 minced cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons lime juice
1 tsp mesquite liquid smoke
1/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (mine is Rudy’s!)
2 or 3 bay leaves

I marinate the meat overnight. In the morning, grill the meat on an outdoor grill, burning the fat and browning the rest.

Put the leftover marinade in a crockpot and add the grilled meat. Add 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1/4 tsp celery seeds. Cook for 4 to 6 hours on high or 6 to 8 hours on low.

The meat will be very tender and taste as though you smoked it for several hours.

Serve with BBQ beans and potato salad.

All require a nice, simple marinade to keep the chicken juicy and flavorful. Here’s my favorite:

Marinate chicken and ingredients for 3 to 4 hours. I usually start with frozen chicken. Marinate until the chicken is thawed, turning several times.

4 or 5 breasts of chicken
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons olive oil

The olive oil will keep the chicken from sticking during cooking. The soy and honey will carmelize just slightly when grilled, giving a wonderful depth to the chicken. Once the chicken is grilled, top it with sauteed mushrooms, onions and cheese. Or dice the chicken and use in quesadillas or one of the other dishes described above.

Grill or pan broil.

Enjoy!

In pressure cooker:
16 oz red beans sorted, washed and soaked for 2 hours (some restaurants use kidney beans or a combination of beans. I like the small red beans.)
1 large sweet onion, diced
2 large stalks of celery, diced
5 baby carrots, diced
2 jalapenos, diced (with seeds for more heat)
6 oz chopped summer sausage
1 tablespoon crushed thyme leaves
1 tsp sage
2 bay leaves
1 tsp minced fresh parsely

Cook under pressure for 1 hour. After cooling, taste. Sprinkle additional thyme, salt and pepper if needed. Remove bay leaves and serve over white rice or a combination of wild rice mixed with white rice.

If you are cooking in a crockpot, cooking time will be 6 to 8 hours. I would advise searing the sausage, onions and celery in a skillet before adding to the crockpot. Make sure to add the grease from the sausage as this is important in flavoring the beans.

For creamiest potatoes, use cream. If you’re trying to diet (what are you eating scalloped potatoes for???) and want to cut back on fat, you can use 2 percent milk–but put in some half and half or 1/4 cup of butter. The fat helps the potatoes cook properly.

2 large idaho potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 large onion sliced
place in ovenproof casserole bowl that is large enough so that at least an inch remains free at the top–this dish is going to boil and you don’t want it to boil over!

Dissolve 2 tablespoons flour in a cup of milk. (This will help the mix thicken while cooking. You can substitute 1/4 cup mashed potatoes.)

Add the milk/flour and enough additional milk (2 percent is fine) such that the final layer of potatoes are still dry

Top with half and half or cream so that only a few tops of potatoes are sticking above the milk mixture.

If you don’t want to use half and half or cream, add in 2 to 4 tablespoons butter or margarine.

Cook until bubbly at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. A fine, browned layer should form across the top. You can stir the potatoes once after about 1/2 hour; but you don’t want them to cool. Do not cook covered.

You can add cheese to this dish (au gratin usually has cheese and a high content of cream) during cooking or after. Bacon, ham, grilled shrimp or even hamburger are also other nice additions.