Easy Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

Great when you want to prepare a fancy-looking dish quickly. Easy and delicious! Substitute low-fat soup and skim milk for the soup and sour cream to reduce the calories; you'll barely notice.

• 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 package Stove Top Stuffing

Mix studding with water and seasonings according to package directions. Place chicken in greased casserole dish. Mix soup and sour cream, pour over chicken. Top with stuffing. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Black Bean Corn Quinoa Salad

A combination of a Cooking Light recipe and a quinoa salad recipe my mom clipped from the paper. If you've never tried quinoa (a wonderful and healthful South American grain), this is a great place to start. I initially tried the recipe because of its low-calorie nature, but have stuck with it for the taste. When I brought it to a church supper, several non-dieters asked for the recipe. With or without the quinoa, it's a high protein and great for a vegetarian meal. It's a flexible recipe; good with shredded chicken and tomatoes added.

• 1 pound dried black beans.
• 2 cans corn, drained
• 2 sweet peppers (red, yellow or green)
• 1 large vidalia onion
• 1-2 cups cooked quinoa, optional

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 tbsp green salsa
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro

Soak black beans overnight, then cook according to package directions. Drain and cool.
Chop onion and peppers, add to beans along with canned corn and quinoa.
Mix lime juice, olive oil and salsa with spices in jar, cover and shake until blended. Pour over salad and chill in refrigerator several hours or overnight.
Serve as a salad, stuffed into tomatoes or peppers, wrapped in tortillas or as a dip with chips.

Mexican Turkey Bake

Anyone remember the "Flaming Turkey Wings" Pizza Hut commercial from the late 1980's? It came out at holiday time, and showed a man sitting at the dinner table. Plates were placed in front of him as a version of "Twelve Days of Christmas" blares in the background:

On the first day after Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Leftover tur-ur-ur-key!
On the second day after Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Turkey casserole made from leftover tur-ur-ur-key!

Cut then to the announcer reminding the folks how good something different would taste, and suggesting they come immediately to Pizza Hut, where there would be no leftover turkey. Cut back to the increasingly-sick-looking guy contemplating another platter, containing (instead of Five Golden Rings)

Flaming Turkey Wings!

All this is a roundabout way of introducing this recipe, which is a great use for leftover turkey, but whose taste is sufficiently different you don't feel like you're eating another round of leftovers.

• 1 box Uncle Ben's Long Grain Rice


• 1 can enchilada sauce


• 1 can corn with sweet peppers


• 1 small can diced chiles


• 3 cups diced turkey


• Shredded cheddar cheese (optional)


• Sour cream (optional)

Prepare rice according to directions. mix rice, corn, sauce, chiles, and turkey together, spoon into large greased casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 3o-45 minutes or until hot. If desired, sprinkle with cheese for last 5 minutes. Serve with sour cream.
Sorry if this cuts into your post-holiday business, Pizza Hut. Once we had a friend visit for Thanksgiving; he made omelets out of the leftover casserole that were also delicious. Ah, the joys of recycling!

Pickle Medallions

An incredibly easy but unusual appetizer that impresses the heck out of people for very little effort. I have served these at everything from church picnics to wedding receptions and people always love them. The secret is to use a crisp, refrigerated brand of pickles (like Claussen) and to chill the wrapped pickles overnight before cutting.

• 1 jar whole pickles
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 2 packages thin sliced sandwich beef

Dry pickles with paper towel. With knife, spread a thin layer of cream cheese down one side of pickle. Cover with a single slice of beef. Continue until whole pickle is covered in cream cheese and wrapped in beef like a pig in a blanket. If the beef slice doesn't go all the way around, use a second one. It's fine if beef slices overlap as long as it's "glued" on with the cream cheese. Continue coating and wrapping pickles until all are done. Put on plate, cover with plastic and chill several hours or overnight.
To serve, cut the ends off the pickles and discard (or eat!). Slice the remaining pickles in crosswise sections, about 1/4 inch thick. They should look like bullseyes, with pickle in the center, a circle of cream cheese, then an outer rim of beef. Place on serving plate and serve with toothpicks. Don't worry about leftovers; there won't be any!

Pizza Chicken Italiano

One of my most frequently prepared dishes. I classify this in the Really Useful and Great for Kids categories. I making this frequently when I take meals to families at a time of death, illness, birth of a baby, etc. Kids who dislike the usual casserole-type dishes often love this! It's easy, and, if you're like me and get the big bag of frozen chicken breasts from Sam's, you usually have all the ingredients on hand.

• 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1/2 onion, minced (or 1 tablespoon dried)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 teaspoon dried)
• 1.5 teaspoons oregano
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4-6 slices mozzarella cheese

Place chicken in lightly greased casserole dish. Combine sauce with all ingredients except cheese, pour over chicken. Top with cheese slices. Bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes.