Hearty Potato Sausage Soup

Prep time: 40 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Serves: 8

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 Tbsp olive oil or butter
  
• 8 medium potatoes; peeled and cut into about 1/4 in cubes
  
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 can chicken broth (or 2 Tbsp chicken bouillon stock base)
• 2 C. water
  
• 1/2 pkg Jimmy Dean regular sausage, browned and drained
  
• salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning (optional)
• 1 T. butter
  

Cook sausage in heavy stock pot, drain and set aside, discard drippings. Prep veggies. Then heat oil or butter in pot, saute onion and celery with a pinch of salt until translucent. Add carrots and and potatoes, let them get a little soft. Add milk, broth, water, pepper, sausage, and Italian seasoning; simmer until potatoes are cooked through and soup has reached desired thickness. Taste for flavor, season with additional salt if necessary. Stir in 1 T. butter at the end before serving (to give soup extra creaminess).

I made up this recipe myself yesterday because I had half a package of sausage left over from another meal. I would have also added some uncooked spinach at the end if I had it. This tastes similar to Olive Garden's "Zupa Tuscana". It was perfect for a cold dreary day. I would serve it with a crusty Italian bread, cut up and broiled with some grated cheese on top.

Easy Asian Slaw

Prep time: 10 minutes
Servings: 6

• 4 cups bagged coleslaw (or you can shred your own cabbage if you'd like)
• 1 can (11 oz) mandarin oranges, drained
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 C Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame dressing

Combine all ingredients. Chill and serve.

Very cool, refreshing, and super easy. I also like to add some toasted almond slivers and change the Asian dressing to poppyseed dressing and add 1/4 C Mayo to give it a sweet "American" flair.

Satay Chicken Pasta Salad

Prep time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6

• 8 oz (half a box) bow tie pasta, cooked
• 1 cup (about half a bottle) Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame dressing
• 2 Tbs peanut butter
• 1 Tbs sesame oil (optional - but it makes it yummier)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1/2 of a jalapeno, de-veined, seeded, very finely diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled, julienned
• 1 medium red bell pepper, julienned
• 1 C sugar snap peas or snow peas
• 1/2 C dry-roasted peanuts
• 1 C fresh basil, shredded or 1/2 C fresh cilantro
• 3 C cooked, chopped chicken breast

Cook pasta per package instructions; drain.

For dressing, whisk together: salad dressing, peanut butter, oil, garlic, and jalapeno.

Cut carrots and bell pepper Julienne style, chop peanuts, cut peas in half, shred herbs, and chop chicken. Add together with pasta and toss in dressing.

Serve warm or chilled.

I love love love this dish! I have used a variation of this for years and the family devours it. But last night we had this one at my cousin's Pampered Chef party and I think its a much less expensive version of our old favorite. I have added a few of my favorite ingredients to improve on the Pampered Chef recipe slightly. Yum-o!

The BEST Caramel Corn in the universe

Prep time: 15 minutes

Bake time: 1 hour

Serves: 5 people (or just 2 if you're like my family!)

• 10 cups of popped popcorn -(don't use microwave kind) get seeds out, put in a very LARGE pan
• 2 C brown sugar
• 1 C Karo syrup
• 1 stick butter

Melt sugar, syrup, and butter in a LARGE sauce pan until forms a "soft ball".
Take off heat and quickly add:

• 1 tsp baking soda (it will bubble way up)
• 1 tsp salt

Stir vigorously! Then pour over the popcorn, stir until coated well. Bake at 350 for 1 hour - stirring every 15 minutes. (Don't even think of taking it out of the oven early -- if you do it won't be crunchy.)

This is pretty much the yummiest snack of all time! We always make a double or triple batch because it goes so quickly. I got this from both my mom and grandma and it's been in our family forever. We especially love to make it in the fall and around the holidays. Nothing beats the anticipation of smelling it bake. Ooh, mouth-watering, wonderful caramel corn!

Maple Chicken

Servings: 4

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4 tablespoons Pure Maple Syrup (none of that Aunt Jemima - gotta be the good stuff)
• 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce (try to use the light version)
• 1 clove garlic, minced up
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Dash of pepper

Trim all skin and fat off chicken. Whisk remaining ingredients together in a small bowl. Add the chicken to the bowl and make sure everything is coated. Put it in the fridge for a couple hours.

Cook chicken in skillet in small amount of oil. Place leftover sauce and put it in a small sauce pan; reduce this down until thickened. While the chicken is cooking, baste it a little with the sauce. When the chicken is done, pour the rest of the sauce over the chicken.

I totally stole this from another recipe blog. But I doubt she'll mind if I enjoy and share it too. :)