This has been in our digital codex for a very long time. We made it a lot when the kids were little, but did not make it as often in the past decade. We got out and brushed off the recipe. It was still well-liked, a good one to have in the list for my omnivore family.
Ingredients:
1 pkg (16 oz) frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of potato soup
1 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup French fried onions
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 tube (8 oz) crescent rolls
Directions:
- Cook chicken as desired. Cube into small pieces.
- In a bowl, mix veggies, chicken, soup, milk, cheese, onions, and salt.
- Transfer to a greased large baking dish.
- Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
While it bakes, separate crescent dough into 2 rectangles.
- While it bakes, separate crescent dough into 2 rectangles.
- Seal perforations; cut each rectangle lengthwise into 4 strips. Weave strips
- over warm filling, forming a lattice crust.
- Bake 15 min longer or until crust is golden brown.
Notes:
- Serves 6-8, according to the recipe, and if you have small children. It's closer to 4-6
In one of my trips to visit my parents, my mother asked around for vegan recipes. Apparently she'd had this at my sister's house, so she got the recipe. My sister had gotten it from refugees she volunteers with. I added carrots, just to fill out the dish a little more just because it was about the only item I ate during that trip.
Ingredients:
1 cup small brown or green lentils
4 cups water, divided
1/4 cup safflower or canola oil
2 large onions, diced
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup course bulgur (#3 or #4 grade)
black pepper
Directions:
Boil lentils with 2 cups water, reduce to simmer (about 5-10 minutes).
In a large skillet or saute pan with lid, heat oil. Add onionss and cook until a dark golden brown, stirring frequently. Sprinkle onions with salt as they cook.
Carefully pour remaining 2 cups water into saute pan. Bring to a boil.
Add bulgur and lentils with liquid.
Cover and bring back to a boil.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook until lentils and bulgur are consistency you like (al dente). (About 10-15 minutes.) You may need to add water as it cooks.
This was way better than it has any right to be. Leeks make everything taste so buttery. The squirt of lemon takes it over-the-top.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 leek, prepared via Note below
2-3 celery ribs, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
¼ cup fresh dill, chopped
1 can (15-oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1-2 lemons, cut in half
½ cup orzo
1 quart vegetable broth
1 bag (5-oz) baby spinach
crackers
Directions:
- Line a large skillet with oil.
- Add leek, celery, and carrots, and sauté until
vegetables are just tender.
- Stir in orzo.
- Add broth plus 2 cups water.
- Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and
simmer until orzo is fully cooked, 10 minutes.
- Stir in chickpeas and dill, plus salt and pepper if desired.
- Add spinach just before serving, stirring a few
times so it softens in.
- Squeeze lemon juice into soup before eating.
- Serve with crackers.
Notes:
- Use only the white and light green parts of the leek.
Halve lengthwise then slice.
- Per serving: 284 calories, 3.3g fat, 48.9g carbs, 7.5g fiber,
4.8g sugars, 14.5g protein (Crackers not included in this analysis.)
I've been loving chili. Last fall, I made chili in the crockpot every weekend. This is one of them. You can make it stovetop or in the crockpot. The only problem with pasta in the crockpot is that you slip over the done line to over-done quiet quickly. You need to watch it carefully.
Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 bell peppers seed, diced
1 can kidney beans drain, rinsed
1 quart veg broth
1-2 tbsp chili powder
1-2 tbsp dried oregano
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup dry orzo
Directions:
- Line a large pot with ¼-cup broth.
- Add onions, garlic, and bell peppers and sauté until onions are translucent.
- Stir in chili powder and oregano to coat.
- Add 2 cups broth, tomatoes (with juices), and orzo or rice.
- Stir together, cover, and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer until orzo or rice is cooked, 10-40 minutes.
- Stir frequently.
- Check both periodically to see if additional broth is needed.
- Once cooked, stir in beans plus additional broth to thin chili as desired.
- Warm over low heat, if needed.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Ladle chili equally among 4 bowls and serve.
Notes:
- Slow Cooker option: Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on high 3-4 hours.
- Per serving: 383 calories, 2.3g fat, 79.4g carbs, 14.7g fiber, 19.5g sugars, 16.3g protein.
Years and years ago, probably close to two decades in fact, I needed a zucchini bread recipe because someone had grown zucchini and gifted me with more than any person should have. I found this recipe, probably via Allrecipes.com because many of our recipes from that stage of our life did. This one was called "Zucchini Bread IV." I probably found some other recipes, too. This one is fairly easy to make with usually baking items in a well-stocked kitchen. You will note there are walnuts. Below, I show two loaves - a taller one without walnuts (because my Longaberger bread pan makes that shape) and a shorter one with walnuts (because my Bolesławiec bread pan, care of the "Babe collection," makes that shape). My children do not like nuts in their bread, so I made them one loaf without nuts. Conveniently, this recipe makes two loaves, so I simply stirred walnuts into the batter after pouring both pans.
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 325o.
- Grease and flour two 8x4” loaf pans.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy.
- Mix in oil and sugar.
- Stir in zucchini and vanilla.
- Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts in a large bowl; then stir into the egg mixture.
- Divide batter into prepared pans.
- Bake for 60 to 70 min, or until done.
Notes:
- Serves 24.
- 231 Calories per slice.
It's been nearly a year since I posted. My last post was mid-September of last year. I lost the fall of 2018, for reasons. I'm not sure where the entire second half of 2018 went, but it was gone. The first quarter of this year was filled with family stuff, and the second quarter we decided to buy a home and then bought a home and then moved at the beginning of the third quarter of this year. Now we are settling into our new home, with a lovely kitchen, and I have recovered some energy for baking and cooking. Recipes that I drafted and never posted will get posted, and recipes that I never finished making will get made and posted. I have over a year of planning of new recipes. Hopefully it will be a productive time with lots of good food.
If you want to find the food I have been making, and some of it will appear here and some of it won't, visit and follow my Instagram @fiainros.
