Summer Vegetable Medley with Chicken

1 large sweet onion (quartered and sliced thin)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 green zucchini (thinly sliced)
2 yellow "Goldie" zucchini (thinly sliced)
3 cups sliced mushrooms (thinly sliced)
2 1/2 cups shredded carrots 
1 (15oz) jar roasted red peppers (drained and cut up)
1 cube pesto
2 1/2 - 3 cups tomato basil sauce
1/2 t. black pepper
1/2 t. salt
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 cups cooked chicken breast (diced up in chunks)
1 T. olive oil
Cooking spray

Spray a large non-stick frying pan with cooking spray.  Place sliced onion in frying pan and begin cooking on medium heat and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add 1 T olive oil and minced garlic and stir..  Cook about a minute and add all sliced zucchini.  Stir turning zucchini into mixture.  Cover with lid and continue to cook about 25 - 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

 While vegetables are cooking, place 6 - 8 cups of water and shredded carrots in a large pot. Cover and cook on high until tender. (About 15 minutes)  Drain water out of pot and add sauce to cooked carrots along with sliced roasted red peppers, salt, black pepper, pesto and Parmesan cheese.

Add sliced mushrooms to frying pan with vegetables and cook until tender (covered, about 5 minutes).  When mushrooms are cooked, remove vegetables, discard liquid, and place vegetables in the large pot with the carrots /sauce mixture.  Add diced chicken breast and stir to blend. 

Serve hot by itself or with a cup of your favorite pasta.

Garnet Custard Pie

 5 eggs, 2 cups milk, 3/4 cup of sugar or Splenda, 3 T. melted butter, 1 cup mashed cooked and cooled garnet yams, 1/2 t. salt, 1/2 cup flour, 2 T. vanilla extract. Nutmeg for topping. Preheat oven 350 degrees. Grease a 9" deep dish pie plate with butter, place pie dish on a cookie sheet and set aside.
Place eggs and milk in blender and whip on low for 15 seconds. Add mashed cup of yams, butter, vanilla extract and whip for another 30 seconds. Add sugar, salt, and flour and continue blending for another minute to combine. Pour into prepared pie dish and sprinkle nutmeg on top. Carefully slip cookie sheet with filled pie dish into preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove and set on counter to cool about an hour. Once cooled place in refrigerator and chill at least 3 hours or overnight. To cool quickly, after being out on counter for an hour, place in an ice bath with about 1" of water with crushed ice for about an hour. Once chilled pie is ready to serve.

Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Casserole

French Toast: 12 slices bread, any kind, 2 pkgs cream cheese, room temperature, 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen, 12 large eggs, 2 cups milk, 1/3 cup maple syrup.

Blueberry Sauce: 1 cup sugar, 2 T. cornstarch, 1 cup water, 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen, 1 T. butter (Make this the night before and refrigerate, warm up before serving). Stir together sugar and cornstarch in a medium sauce pan. Add water and stir until smooth. Stir well so cornstarch won't be clumpy. Heat to boiling and stir 2-3 minutes until thickened. Add 1 cup blueberries, simmer 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until blueberries start to burst. Don't let them all burst. Turn heat off the blueberry sauce and stir in 1 T. butter. Store in a plastic or glass container and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with Pam. Cut or tear bread into cubes and arrange in the bottom of pan. Cut up cream cheese into 1 inch cubes. Drop cream cheese cubes over top of the bread. Sprinkle 1 cup blueberries over the top. In a mixing bowl combine 12 large eggs, 2 cups milk, 1/3 cup maple syrup. Pour this mixture over the bread, cream cheese and blueberries. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take casserole out of frig. Place covered casserole in oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then uncover and bake for another 25 - 30 minutes more or until top is golden brown and the center is set.

While the casserole is baking, you can heat up the blueberry sauce on top of the oven or microwave until warm. Serve over top of casserole.

The credit for this recipe goes to "justapinch" which has some really great recipes.

Crustless Cranberry Pie

Pie filling: 1 cup flour, 1 cup Splenda, 1/2 cup sugar , 1/4 t. salt, 3 cups fresh cranberries (sliced in half), 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, 2 eggs, 1 cup applesauce, 1 cup sliced & diced rhubarb 2 T. melted butter, 1/2 t. almond extract, 3/4 t. vanilla extract.

Topping: 2 T. melted butter, 1/4 cup Splenda (or sugar), 1/4 t. cinnamon, 1 t. vanilla extract, 3/4 cup quick oatmeal, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional).

Grease a 9" pie dish. Set aside. Slice cranberries in half and set aside in a bowl.
In a large mixing bowl mix flour, Splenda, sugar and salt together. In a small bowl beat eggs; mix in applesauce, and extracts. Pour mixture into bowl with flour mixture and stir to combine. Add sliced cranberries, rhubarb and walnuts and stir folding to combine. Empty evenly into the prepared pie dish.

In a small bowl mix melted butter with Splenda and cinnamon. Stir in oatmeal. Add chopped walnuts and stir until crumbly. Sprinkle over top of pie filling evenly. Place in preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 1 hour. Let rest on stove top about 30 minutes or more before serving. Serve warm. Refrigerate once cooled. Can serve chilled hours later or next day. Serve with Vanilla ice cream or Whipped cream.

Cottage Cheese Roast Meatless Loaf

"A Vegetarian Meatless Loaf" (I found this recipe recently and made some simple but good changes to it to the way I like.)

1 (16oz) package cottage cheese, 4 eggs, 2T. oil, 1 (10oz) envelope dry onion soup mix, 1 cup finely chopped walnuts, 2 cups Special K original cereal (or your favorite flakes cereal like Cornflakes).

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with Pam and set aside.
In a large bowl beat eggs, add cottage cheese, dry onion soup mix, oil and blend together. Add chopped walnuts and Special K cereal. Combine together and stir blending thoroughly so all the cereal is wet and coated. Empty into prepared loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let rest on stove top at least 15 minutes in the pan. Use a spatula to be sure loaf is loose and all sides and bottom are not sticking to pan before inverting onto a serving platter.

Loaf looks like a paler style meatloaf and tastes great! It is a wonderful choice in place of a meat dish. Makes a great cold meatloaf sandwich the next day. Enjoy!

Apple Raisin Pie

1 pastry for 9" pie, 2 apples (peeled and thinly sliced), 1 T. plus 1/2 cup sugar divided, 1 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, 1/4 cup raisins, 1/4 cup butter melted, 2 T. beaten egg.

Place pastry in pie dish. In a large bowl combine sliced apples, 1 T. sugar and cinnamon; place in crust. In a small bowl combine flour, walnuts, raisins, butter, egg and remaining sugar. Spoon over top of apples. Bake 350 degrees 50 - 55 minutes until golden brown. May need to cover edge with foil to avoid over baking.

Optional - lattice topping with pasty before baking.

Delicious Butter Chicken

2 eggs beaten, 1 cup buttery round cracker crumbs, 1/2 t. garlic salt, ground black pepper to taste, 4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves, 1/2 cup butter cut up into pieces.

Preheat oven 375 degrees. Place eggs and cracker crumbs into 2 separate shallow bowls. Mix cracker crumbs with garlic salt & pepper. Dip chicken into the eggs, then dredge in the crumbs mixture to coat. Arrange coated chicken in a 9" x 13" baking dish. Place pieces of butter around the chicken. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.