Save Yourself From...

canned cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving!  Unless you love the lines around the texture-less cranberry sauce that makes that oh-so-appetizing sound as it slides out of the can, please try my treasured family recipe for cranberries this Thanksgiving.  It's not too late and they don't take long--I promise you will not regret the decision!

My Great-Grandma's Thanksgiving Cranberries 

Ingredients:
-2 large (or 4 small) packages cherry Jell-O
-1 to 1.5 cups sugar (my grandma used just over 1 cup)
-2 cups boiling water
-3 cups cold water
-1 lb cranberries
-2 oranges (including rind-no seeds)
-2 small (tuna-sized) cans of crushed pineapple
-1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. Add 2 cups boiling water to sugar and jello and stir until dissolved.
2.  Add remaining water
3.  Grind cranberries in a food processor
4. Add orange (including rind), and Walnuts (unless you bought them already chopped fine) in a food processor.
5.  Add cranberry mixture and pineapple to Jell-O.
6.  Chill in the refrigerator overnight.

I already got my batch done for tomorrow!  Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving blog readers!

One of Our Favorite Dinners

As a stay-at-home mom, I often feel like I spend 90% of my day prepping, cleaning, or planning for our next meal/snack.  So, it seems only fitting that I'd occasionally blog about recipes that are big hits.  Here's one that I haven't made in a while, but made for tonight and remembered how much we love it!  For added nutrition, I threw in mushrooms and it was a great addition.  I'm thinking some artichoke hearts in here would work great too.

Chicken and Sun-dried tomato Pasta

Ingredients:

-9 oz jar sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil

-1 lb boneless & skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips (we once made a vegetarian version of this and substituted portobello mushrooms--worked great)

-3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed

-3/4 cup cream (I probably do closer to a full cup)

-2 tablespoons shredded fresh basil

-1 lb penne pasta

-2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

Directions:

1.  Drain the sun-dried tomatoes, reserving the oil.  Thinly slice the sun-dried tomatoes.

2.  Fill a pot with salted water and get your noodles cooking.

3.  Heat a saute pan until very hot, add 1 tablespoon of the reserved oil and swirl it to coat the side of the pan.  Stir-fry the chicken in batches, adding more oil when necessary.  

4.  Return all the chicken to the pan and add the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and cream.  Simmer gently for 4-5 minutes.

5.  Add the chicken mixture to the noodles, add the basil, and stir until mixed well.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve topped with the toasted pine nuts and freshly grated parmesan.

It's a super easy dinner to make and has great flavors!  Steps 1-4 can also be done a day ahead and then all you have to do is cook the noodles and mix it all together at dinner time.