Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

4 chicken breast halves

1 box Long Grain and Wild Rice Mix (Near East brand is best, but Uncle Ben's is easier to find.)

1 quart chicken stock or broth

1 quart milk or evaporated milk

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 Tbs. cornstarch

1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

2 carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

salt and pepper

• Sprinkle the chicken with 1/2 of the poultry seasoning and salt. Cook it in a tiny bit of olive oil over medium heat. Cover to avoid drying out.
• At the same time, cook the rice according to the directions on the box.
• In a large pot, melt butter. Add chopped carrots and celery and pepper to taste, and saute for about 10 minutes until tender. Add flour, cornstarch and the rest of the poultry seasoning, and whisk together quickly.
• Add stock and milk, whisking quickly as you pour. Cook over medium-low heat stirring often.
• When the chicken and rice are finished, cut chicken into bite-size pieces and add both to the soup.

Crock Pot Cake

1 package chocolate cake mix
1 container of sour cream (8 oz)
1 cup chocolate morsels
1 cup water
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 package instant chocolate pudding mix

spray crock pot with nonstick cooking spray.
mix cake mix, sour cream, chocolate morsels, water, egss, oil
and pudding mix in a bowl by hand.
pour into crock pot.
cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours

Courtesy of Courtney Kendrick

Peanut Butter Chip Bars

1 yellow cake mix

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cup peanut butter chips or chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350. Mix together cake mix, oil and eggs. Mix in peanut butter. Stir in chips. Lightly spray 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray. Spread mixture into the pan. Bake appx. 24 min, or until golden brown on edges. Let cool 30 min before serving.

Courtesy of Kim Dodds

Taco Soup

Serves 6

1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
1 small onion, chopped and cooked with hamburger
2 cans corn (with liquid)
3 cans beans (with liquid) choose your favorite three
2 cans petite cut tomatoes (with liquid)
1 pkg taco seasoning

Mix and heat through. Add water if more liquid is desired. Serve over tortilla chips and garnish with shredded cheese and sour cream.

Courtesy of Joy Henshaw.

Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins

(makes 12, but I double it)

Dry mix:
2 C flour
3/4 C sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt

Wet mix:
1 C canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 C sweetened dried cranberries (although I used frozen ones and they come out moist and a little more tart)
1/2 C chopped pecans (if desired)

1. Heat oven to 400.
2. In large bowl, mix the dry mix. Stir in wet mix just until moistened. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Sprinkle coarse sugar over batter on each cup. (I didn't have coarse sugar; regular sugar did fine and made a nice crusty glaze).
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins and cool on rack. Serve warm.

Lentil Soup

• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 stocks of celery, sliced
• 1 large carrot, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 to 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 2 teaspoon olive oil
• 8 ounces light sausage, cut into slices
• 1 bag (16-ounce) dried lentils (presoaked as instructed on bag), rinsed
• 7 cups (approximately) chicken broth

1. In a large saucepan, sauté onion, celery, carrots, garlic and mushrooms in olive oil until onions are tender.

2. Transfer everything to a large pot. Add the sausage and lentils and cover with chicken broth (about 7 cups).

3. Simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours until all of the liquid has been absorbed.

Sautéed Chicken Breast

6-8 servings

Chicken breasts
Lemon juice
Salt and Pepper
1 Egg
4 c Bread crumbs
1/4 Margarine
1/4 c veg oil
Sour cream

1. Cut chicken into two pieces and flatten between two sheets of wax paper or plastic.
2. Sprinkle each half with lemon juice and salt and pepper.
3. Dip lightly into flour and shake off excess. Dip into beaten egg and then into bread crumbs.
4. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until needed.
5. To cook, melt some margarine in pan together with oil. Sauté chicken on both sides over hot heat until golden (about 15 minutes).
6. To create sauce, add sour cream to drippings and heat until warm. Don’t boil.