Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

  My husband likes to find new recipes.  He found this one at myrecipes.com and it quickly   became one of my favorites!

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quick-cooking wild rice

Cooking spray

1 cup chopped onion (I use less)

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1 ½ cups cubed peeled baking potato

3 cups 2% reduced-fat milk (I use skim)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

10 ounce light processed cheese, cubed (such as Velveeta Light)

2 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 2 breasts)

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)

1. Cook rice according to package direction, omitting salt and fat.
2. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Coat pan with cooking spray.  Add onion and garlic; sauté for 3 minutes. 
3. Add broth and potato; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
4. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until potato is tender.  (Make sure potato is all the way cooked, it will not cook any more, so if it is not cooked enough now, it will not be cooked enough when you eat the soup!)
5. Combine milk and flour, stirring well with a whisk. 
6. Add the milk mixture to potato mixture; cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring until cheese melts.
7. Stir in rice, chicken, pepper and salt.  Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Granola

Ingredients

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup raisins

Optional Extras:

• 1 cup cashews
• 3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut
• Craisins
• Dried Fruit
• Other nuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar.
In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color.
Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins (or other dried fruit) and mix until evenly distributed.

My Favorite Lemon Bars

I used to love eating other peoples Lemon Bars, but they were never very yummy when I made them.  After loosing my recipe, I found this one at allrecipies.com, (I've tweeked it a bit.)  Now I realize that the problem with my Lemon Bars was the recipe and not the cook!  These are yummy!

Crust

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup white sugar

2 cups flour

Filling

1 ½ cups sugar

¼ cup flour

4 eggs

2 lemons juiced (or about 6 Tablespoons lemon juice)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. In a medium bowl., blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and ½ cup sugar.

3. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until firm and golden.

5. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 ½ cups sugar and ¼ cup flour. 

6. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice.  Pour over crust.

7. Bake for 20 minutes.

The bars will firm up as they cool.

Try using limes instead of lemons.  (Add a drop of green food coloring for color)