Spinach and Artichoke Stuffing

This was soooooo good! My notes for it, I think I would take out a can of artichokes, there was a ton. Or maybe just chop them up a bit. This would also be an awesome casserole, add some leftover turkey or chicken, yum!!

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2004

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 1/2 pounds spinach, washed (3 cups cooked and roughly chopped)
2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 tablespoon roughly chopped garlic
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Emeril's Italian Essence, or other Italian seasoning blend
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 (8 1/2-ounce) cans quartered artichoke hearts, any tough outer leaves removed
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons lemon juice
12 to 14 cups cubed (1-inch) day-old French bread (1 loaf)
1 pound Brie, rind removed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil.


Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add the spinach and cook until just wilted, about 30 seconds. Drain and rinse with cold water. Once cool, squeeze as much water from spinach as possible, then roughly chop, and reserve.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until golden brown and tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, 2 teaspoons of Italian Essence, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the artichokes and cook, stirring, another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and reserve.

Combine the eggs, cream, chicken stock, lemon juice, remaining 1 tablespoon Italian Essence, remaining 2 teaspoons salt, and remaining 1 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the bread, spinach, artichoke mixture, brie, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and parsley and stir to combine. If bread does not absorb all of liquid immediately then let rest until this happens, about 20 minutes.

Pour the bread pudding mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan over the top and drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil.(I didn't add extra olive oil) Bake until firm in the center and golden brown, about 1 hour. Serve warm.

Couscous Stuffed Peppers

Ok, so this is just from the top of my head what I did. I looked at a couple different recipes and then just did my own thing off of them. But they turned out super good!

4 bell peppers(red, orange, yellow)
1 box of couscous, cooked (I used one with pinenuts in it)
1- 15 oz can chick peas, drained and rinsed
about 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
A couple tablespoons of parmesan cheese
Oregano
Pepper
Olive oil
1 15oz can stewed tomatoes(you can probably sub fresh and roast them with the other veggies, I used canned because that is what I had on hand, and I also wanted the extra juice so the mixture didn't turn out too dry) Smash the stewed tomatoes with a fork so they aren't such big pieces and so they let out more juice.
2 zucchinis, quartered
any other veggies you would like to add, onions or yellow squash would be good in this as well

-cut tops off pepper and discard the insides and stem. Cut the tops off into smaller pieces and set aside to add to other veggies.
-cut up remaining veggies and put on a cookie sheet. Lightly coat veggies with olive oil and pepper and roast in hot oven (I turned my oven as high as it would go and just kept checking on them until they started to look a little black around the edges, and were tender)
-Put whole peppers into a pot with about an inch of water, cover and boil about 10-12 min, until a fork easily goes through them. Drain upside down.
-When veggies are done roasting put in a bowl and add all other remaining ingredients and mix.
-Put peppers in baking dish and fill with couscous mixture. Put any leftover mix around the peppers. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
-You can also put some shredded cooked chicken in it as well, I forgot to add that earlier!

Creamy Lemon Chicken Soup

3 Tbs oil
2 tsp garlic
1 large onion or green onions
2 cups of shedded carrots

12 cups of chicken broth or 3 packets of chicken noodle soup
4 cups cooked shredded chicken
1-2 cups of any rice

3 eggs
1 cup of lemon juice or more to taste
2 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

In a large pot saute the onions, garlic and carrots in the olive oil. Pour in the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add the chicken and rice and spices, reduce heat and cover and simmer for 15 minutes until rice is tender (I use minute rice so it is done in 7 min).

Whisk together the eggs and lemon juice. Quickly stir into boiling soup making sure there are no clumps and serve immediately. YUMMY!

AMAZING POTATO SOUP

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds of diced potatoes or a bag of frozen hash browns

1/3 cup finely chopped onion or some green onions

2 shredded carrots

2 tablespoons of garlic

1 tsp cumin

8 cups of water

2 packets of chicken noodle soup

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste

8 tablespoons butter
8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups milk

1 cup of chedder cheese

DIRECTIONS
Combine the potatoes, onion, carrots and water in a pot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken noodle, salt and pepper garlic and cumin.
In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Add the cup of cheese. Serve immediately.

I would love to add frozen peas or corn or diced ham...but everyone complains that it is perfect the way it is! My favorite is to dip sweet bread in it. A good dipping bread is a MUST with this soup!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar (take out 2 1/2 Tbsp. for cinnamon-sugar)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2/3 cup shortening
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2-3 bananas)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Sift dry ingredients into bowl. Cut in shortening. Add bananas, eggs and vanilla and blend together well. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes. Makes 2-3 dozen.

These are soooooo good. Sorry there is no picture, Steve and I ate them too fast! Don't forget to sprinkle the cinnamon sugar before baking, I forgot on one tray and it made ALL the difference!

Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast

3-4 eggs
1/2 cup milk (or half and half)
1/4 cup orange juice
3 TBS vanilla
pinch of salt
cinnamon

creamy peanut butter
day old wheat bread
a couple ripe bananas

syrup and powdered sugar for topping

Put peanut butter on two pieces of bread, thinly slice banana and make a layer over one side of peanut-buttered bread, put together and dip both sides in egg mixture. Cook over medium high heat.

I saw this on The Food Network, tried it and loooove it! It turned out awesome! The original recipe had rum in it, but I just omitted that.

Chocolate caramel brownies

INGREDIENTS
14 ounces caramels
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 (18.25 ounce) package German chocolate cake mix
1/3 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup chopped pecans
2 cups milk chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Peel caramels and place in a microwave-safe bowl. Stir in 1/2 cup evaporated milk. Heat and stir until all caramels are melted.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together cake mix, 1/3 cup evaporated milk, melted butter, and chopped pecans. Place 1/2 of the batter in prepared baking pan.
Bake for 8 minutes.
Place the remaining batter into the fridge. Remove brownies from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Drizzle caramel sauce over chocolate chips. Remove brownie mix from refrigerator. Using a teaspoon, make small balls with the batter and smash flat. Very carefully, place on top of the Carmel sauce until the top is completely covered.
Bake for an additional 20 minutes. Remove and let cool.

AWESOME!!