Orange Almond Salad

I love this salad and end up making it alot around Christmas because 1. it's pretty cheap. 2. oranges just seem really christmasy to me.

Ingredients:

2 heads red leaf lettuce, cut into bite size pieces

1/2 c. sugared almonds (I'll explain in a minute.)

3 oranges, peeled, sliced, and quartered

Sugared Almonds:

Put almonds along with 1 T. sugar into a frying pan. Heat on medium stirring quite often until the sugar melts and begins to stick to almonds. Once almonds are brown and sugar is mostly melted and sticking to almonds, spread out the almonds on a plate to cool.

Dressing:
1/2 t. orange peel (zest the oranges your using in your salad before you cut them up)
1/3 c. orange juice concentrate (regular OJ works ok too if you absolutely have to)
2 T. vinegar
1/2 c. oil
2 T. sugar
1 T. Italian Dry Dressing Mix (one packet has about 2 T. in it.)
Mix all ingredients together with a whisk. Put into a tupperware to store until ready to serve salad.

Put lettuce into a big bowl. If you are serving within a few hours you can just put everything on top of it the except the dressing, which you'll put on right before serving. If you're making a day or two a head of time, put your almonds and oranges into a plastic bag or tupperware so it doesn't make the lettuce wilt. Add all ingredients and dressing right before serving, mix together and enjoy!

DID YOU KNOW...

Did you know that there is a cream of mushroom soup made by Campbell's that has roasted garlic in it.  I just discovered it for a chicken soup recipe that I just made.  It is delicious and a great addition to all the casserole's that call for boring old cream of mushroom.

WONTONS (Beef and Cream Cheese)

Every year I try to figure out what to take as "finger foods" to parties we are invited to.  This year I was reminded about my mom's famous wontons.  They are always a hit and really easy to make.  My only thing I would recommend is making them before you get ready.  Unless you want to smell like a greasy piece of fried dough at your party, then by all means get ready and then cook them.  

 Beef Wonton Ingredients:

1 lb of hamburger

1 packet of onion soup mix

Wonton wrappers

Mix the hamburger with the onion soup mix and stuff the wonton wrappers.  You can look online for different types of folds, but we have always just gone with the envelope which is all four corners tightly secured in the middle.  

I use shortening to fry in, but feel free to use vegetable oil.  I like the flavor of the shortening better.  Melt it down until clear.  I test it by putting in a small piece of wonton wrapper.  If it sizzles and pops it is ready to go.  You want it fairly hot because if the oil is too cool it will be absorbed a lot easier into the wonton and you will have an even greasier product.  

I fry 10-20 at the same time and then pull them out and put them in a baking dish that is lined with paper towels.  I leave them in an oven set to 225 degrees until I need them.  They freeze and refrigerate well.  Just reheat in the oven not the microwave for crispy wrappers.

Note:  I couldn't find the normal square wonton wrappers (always found by the weird organic vegetables in the grocery store...by the tofu) so I took the egg roll wrappers and quartered them.  I actually thought it was a better deal on the pocketbook.

Cream Cheese Wonton Ingredients:

Wonton wrappers

1 - 8oz package of plain cream cheese

  

I always put the cream cheese in the freezer for about an hour before preparation.  It makes it easier to cut.

I always fold these different than the beef wontons so people can tell the difference between the two.  I fold corner to corner then the other corners into the middle to form a "coin purse" type of look.  They look beautiful when fried.

 

 Follow the same instructions as above to fry, store and reheat.

Super Easy & Delicious Dinner with many variations!

As I was struggling the other day trying to think of something to make for dinner my friend recommended I try this and after trying I am now a HUGE fan! It is delicious and super simple. Not to mention you can make many different variations of it.
Sorry no pictures..I'm always a slacker on that one. Next time I make this if I remember I will take a picture and post it.

Chicken with Scalloped Potatoes Casserole

Wash and peel your potatoes (I used 4)
Slice your potatoes as thin as you can (the thinner they are the quicker they cook)
Place them in your pyrex baking dish (grease the dish first, of course!)
I then cut up 2 whole chicken breasts into smaller pieces (we like it bite-size rather than a big chunk of breast)
Place on top of the potatoes then season with salt and pepper.
In a separate dish mix whatever cream of soups you like/want. I used 1 can cream of mushroom and 1 can cream of chicken.
Add a cup of milk and mix well then pour over top of the chicken and potatoes in the baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for approx 1 hour.

Hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did!

The variations you can make are the types of soup you use or instead of chicken you can use pork chops or instead of potatoes you can use rice! I have to admit this is my new favorite home cooked meal!