Petite Lasagnas

I wish I could say that I creatively came up with the recipe by myself. But alas, I simply followed the directions. Thankfully these were at hit at our June Petites Wine and Dine.

The only variation I made was swapping ground turkey for ground beef and excluding the cheese mixture on a few of the lasagnas for our non-dairy friends. In place of the cheese I added sauteed mushrooms. Otherwise, I tripled this recipe exactly.

Ingredients:

• 12 oz raw ground turkey
• ¼ tsp salt, divided
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes, or tomato sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tsp dried oregano, divided
• ½ tsp dried basil
• 1 ½ cups part skim ricotta cheese
• 24 small square wonton wrappers (the kind near the tofu in the refrigerated section of the produce dept)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the turkey, onions, salt, and pepper. Crumble the meat and saute the mixture for about 10 minutes, or until the turkey is cooked through. Add the garlic and stir constantly for 30 seconds.
2. Add the crushed tomatoes and 2 tsp of oregano. Bring the pan to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, a pinch of salt and pepper, the remaining teaspoon of oregano, and the basil. Stir to mix well. Set aside.
4. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Place 1 wonton wrapper into each of the 12 cups, pressing firmly in the bottom of the cup and up the sides.
5. Using half of the ricotta mixture, divide it among the 12 muffin cups. Next, using half of the turkey tomato sauce, spoon it evenly over each of the ricotta filled cups. Sprinkle with 2 tsp of mozzarella.
6. Gently press another wonton wrapper on top of the mozzarella layer.
7. Repeat the process by distributing the remaining ricotta, then the remaining tomato sauce, and finally the rest of the shredded mozzarella.
8. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
9. Let the cups cool, remove them from the pan, and serve!

Original recipe found here: 
http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/2010/11/04/petite-lasagnas/

Creamy Chicken Alfredo

Some people requested the main dish recipe that was served at the May W&D so here it is - I essentially made this.  I usually make a variation of this (aka the dairy free version) which is that recipe except it is dairy free cream cheese and from scratch cream of mushroom soup which I got the recipe from here...   The following seems a bit lengthy but it's all quite easy.

Step 1 - Cream of Mushroom Soup
Make your own cream of mushroom soup!  My personal opinion is if you don't make your own you should because it's pretty easy, cheaper, and easy to freeze and then pull out of the freezer whenever you need it!  Also you can make it dairy free which is great.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs mushrooms
• 2 cups water
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 4 cups milk (use Lactaid if you're going for dairy free)
• 3 T lemon juice (or juice from 1 lemon)
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t pepper
• 1 T dried minced onion
• 2 T Italian seasoning

Directions

• You have a few different options for the mushrooms you can buy fresh ones from the store, used canned mushrooms, dehydrated mushrooms, etc.  I found a big carton of dehydrated various types of mushrooms at Costco that I use along with a small can of mushrooms.  Using various types of mushrooms adds something nice I think. 
• Add all of the above except the milk to a crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours.
• After 8 hours use an immersible hand blender to blend the soup. 
• You have the option to add the milk at this point or, what I do, is scoop out 1/2 C of the soup and put it into ziplocks to freeze.  You should end up with 8 or so ziplocks. 
• When you unfreeze your ziplock add 1/2 C milk to the bag and squeeze the bag to mix the milk into the soup.  You now have a cup of cream of mushroom soup!  A can of cream of mushroom soup is 10 oz so you can pretty much substitute your own cup of soup in any recipe that calls for a can of cream of mushroom soup.

Step 2 - Creamy Chicken Alfredo Pasta
Easy and delicious way to make chicken alfredo in the crockpot!

Ingredients

• 2-3 chicken breasts (frozen or unfrozen)
• 1 cup of your homemade cream of mushroom soup! (or a can of the store bought stuff if you're not going for homemade or for dairy free)
• 1/2 C Italian dressing
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 6 oz can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 8oz block of cream cheese (use Tofutti's lactose free version if you're doing dairy free)
• 1/2 - 1 bag of frozen peas or broccoli
• 1 lb noodles, like rotelle noodles

Directions

• Put first 5 ingredients in the crockpot and cook for 6-8 hours on low.
• After 6-8 hours shred chicken, add cream cheese, cook on low for another 1/2 hour.  Meanwhile start cooking the pasta.  
• A few minutes before the noodles are done add whichever veggie you've chosen to the boiling water with noodles.  
• Drain veggies and noodles once both are cooked/unfrozen, stir into crockpot alfredo mixture and enjoy!

Hope you like it!

Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Chicken

Ingredients:  

• Chicken breasts
• Raspberry Chipotle Marinade
• McCormick's Chicken Seasoning

1. Place chicken in large casserole dish or baking pan.
2. Season to taste with McCormicks chicken seasoning, black pepper, seasoning salt, and chiptole seasoning.
3. Brush with favorite BBQ-ing sauce and let sit for half hour to an hour.
4. Place on pre-heated grill.  Make sure the heat is as low as possible in order to assure tender and juicy chicken.  Grill until chicken is no longer pink in the middle.

Pair with a spicy Gewurztraminer, or dark Zinfandel

Shared by Bryann Turner

Spicy Lime Drum Sticks

Ingredients:

• 4 Qt water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup salt plus 1Tbs reserve
• 5.5-6 lbs chicken legs with skin and bones
• 1/4 cup lime juice plus 4 limes
• 2 Tbs fish sauce
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 Tbs finely chopped mint
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 1 tsp. dried red peppers
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Instructions:

1. Bring water, sugar, and salt to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 15 minutes.
2. Cool brine completely, then add chicken and soak covered and chilled for 6 hours.
3. Remove chicken and pat dry.
4. Whisk together lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, mint, cilantro, red pepper flakes, and remaining salt in a bowl.
5. Add oil in a stream, whisking until combined.
6. Separately, grill chicken until skin is brown and chicken is cooked through.
7. Transfer chicken to bowl with sauce and turn to coat.  Then transfer to platter to keep warm.
8. Serve with quarter slices of lime.

Shared by Annie Miller