Delicious Homemade Alfredo Sauce Let me just begin by saying I am glad recipes cannot be copyrighted because I have no idea to whom I should give credit for this one! I have been making it for several years, and I usually use it in my homemade Crockpot Lasagna. 8 oz cream cheese 2 cloves garlic, pressed 1/2 c butter 1 c milk 1 c Parmesan melt cream cheese, butter over low heat and add garlic to pan. Slowly stir in milk; cook til thickened. Add Parmesan and cook til cheese loses its stringiness.

Italian Rigatoni and Spinach Chicken

3 c cooked chicken
1 onion
2 T olive oil
1 can Italian tomatoes
2 c dry pasta (I used elbow macaroni)
9 oz frozen spinach, thawed and pressed) - I only had fresh, so I used that
1 pkg Philly Cooking Creme onion and chive - I only had cream cheese, so I used it
1 t garlic powder and 1 t onion powder - I added this since I used the plain cream cheese
2 t salt, 1/2 t black pepper
2 c shredded mozzarella

The original recipe said to cook the chicken and onion separately, but I combined them, and cooked them in the oven in olive oil til the chicken was done, then cut everything into bite size pieces. Cook the pasta as directed, then drain. In a large bowl, stir together pasta and cream cheese. then add a can of drained tomatoes. If you do not have Italian style, you can add a t of Italian seasoning. Chop and stir in spinach. stir in rest of ingredients, except mozzarella. place in greased casserole, top with cheese. Cook for about 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.

I played with these recipes I found and here are my final versions. One recipe was for 12 servings, and the other was for eight, so I had to change some numbers around. I ended up making half of the original tuna patties recipe, and adapting the stuffing mix to fit that. Not exact, but it tasted great, and worked well. My recipe made 4 LARGE patties. You probably could double the recipe, and make some of the patties smaller to feed everybody. You might have to triple. I just divided the "batter" up into quarters since there are 4 of us, but the kids could have gotten by on a smaller portion.

Homemade Stove Top Stuffing (makes enough for 1 recipe of tuna patties below)
2 c bread (homemade, of course), cubed
1 t parsley flakes
1 t chicken bouillon granules
1 T dried onion flakes
1 T dried celery flakes
1/3 t thyme
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t sage
1/4 t salt
(they say to brown the bread, then cube, but this just makes toast, which has to be softened back up when you mix up the tuna patties. So you can just cube your bread, I think. also saves time and energy)
toss all ingredients together in a bowl (or ziploc if you're not going to use immediately.)
can be frozen

Tuna Patties (Single Recipe)
1 can light tuna in water, drained well
above recipe of stuffing
1/4 c cornmeal (I added this)
1/2 c shredded cheddar (mighy need more - we could not really taste it)
1/2 c water
1 egg ( theirs called for mayo, but we don't keep it)
1 T sweet pickle relish (I omitted this)

beat egg slightly, mix in other ingredients. refrigerate 10 minutes to help it stick together. (I forgot to do this, but it still worked)
heat skillet,medium heat. spray with cooking spray (they used ice cream scoop to put 1/3 c portions onto skillet.) then mash flat with spatula. cook 6 minutes, turning to brown on other side halfway through.
This tastes like the traditional salmon patties, but with alot more flavor. My whole family loved it (which is unusual). Hope yours does too!

Pesto Chicken Salad

Ingredients:Servings:
10 Servings



1/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1/3 cup pesto sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 cups cubed rotisserie- cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup diced celery
walnuts, to your taste
1 (1 lb) focaccia bread, cut in half horizontally, toasted, and cut into 20 slices
1 (12 ounce) bottled roasted red peppers, drained & chopped
10 romaine lettuce leaves

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir in chicken, celery and walnuts.
Spread 1/2 C of salad onto each of 10 bread slices. Top each serving with about 2 tablespoons bell pepper, 1 lettuce leaf, and one bread slice.

never made this, but am looking forward to trying it.

Cinnamon Scones

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1 egg, separated
3 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup buttermilk*
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
* I didn’t have this on hand, but easily made do with 1/3 cup milk and a squeeze of lemon juice for acid.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the butter and mix until crumbly. In another bowl, mix the egg yolk (save the white for later) with honey and buttermilk until blended. Then, add to the dry mixture. Stir until just combined.

Using floured hands, form the dough into a ball on a floured surface, or parchment paper.

Roll or pat it out until it’s roughly a half an inch thick and 8 inches in diameter. Cut pizza style into equally sized pieces.

Put onto a greased baking pan, or again, use the parchment paper. Then, whisk the egg white until frothy and coat the tops of the scones. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle on top.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes.

According to the recipe, these are done. But you can add something special - glaze!
To make the glaze, mix a bunch of powdered sugar (or sucanat with honey ground in your blender to mimic the powdered sugar) with a touch of milk until nice and thick. Then, drizzle. Top with a dash of more cinnamon. Perfection!

Excellent Whole Wheat Biscuits

this recipe was given to me by my friend Betsy Character. For some reason, I did not try making it until today. All I can say is WOW! They were super simple to make, the dough was perfect (not too dry, not too sticky) and they taste fabulous!

3 c soft or hard white whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
3/4 t salt
3/4 t baking soda
1 stick room temp butter
1-1 1/4 c buttermilk ( I used whole milk soured with lemon juice)

mix dry ingredients well. cut in butter to resemble cornmeal. Pour in buttermilk and mix well. Place dough on parchment paper and roll to 1/2-3/4" thickness. cut out biscuits and place on parchment lined cookie sheet or biscuit pan. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes. yum!

Cocoa Peanut Butter Fudge
you have had cocoa fudge, and you may have had peanut butter fudge.  But here is the marriage of these two recipes, for a delightful result!  Similar to a Reese cup, but much easier to make! They used to serve a similar recipe in my grammar school lunchroom, which is what started my search for this recipe.  Not exactly the same, but very similar.

Ingredients:
1 cup chunky peanut butter,
PLUS 3 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
1 cup salted butter, no substitutes
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 tablespoon vanilla
Directions:
In a saucepan, combine peanut butter and butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until blended. Remove from the heat; stir in powdered sugar and vanilla.

Spread into a buttered 8" square pan. Freeze for 30 minutes or just until firm before cutting into squares. Store at room temperature