Raspberry Cream Jello

H celebrated her 6th birthday Saturday afternoon with a Pink Hearts party.  All guests were asked to wear pink clothes.  Pink flowers and pink foil wrapped chocolates decorated the table.  The guest of honor wore a pink feather boa.  Her mother made her favorite dinner - Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, and glazed carrots.  I brought a raspberry cream jello mold. Of course, we had cake and ice cream for dessert.

The jello turned out a bit thicker than I would have liked but would have been perfect as the filling for a pie.  I've increased the amount of ice so that the mixture will be less stiff and more fluffy.

Raspberry Cream Jello

2 - 3oz boxes of raspberry jello (I used sugar-free)
2 cups of boiling water
1 and 1/2 cups of ice
1 - 8 ounce box of lite cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup + 4 T of sour cream
1 small container of whipped topping (I used fat free)

Dissolve the jello in two cups of boiling water.  Add 1 cup of ice cubes.  Whip the cream cheese in a separate bowl and add the 4 T of sour cream to loosen it up (I used my stand mixer, but a hand mixer would work, too).  Slowly add the dissolved jello to the cream mixture and mix until smooth.  Fold in the whipped topping and chill to set 4 hours or overnight.

Before serving, top with sour cream, fresh raspberries, and mint leaves.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Monday Recipes . . . Spinach and Cheese Casserole

Our usual vegetable standby for Thanksgiving and Christmas is a broccoli and cheese casserole with lots of Velveeta and butter. For Christmas this year, I wanted to try something new.  After searching through my cookbooks, I came across a spinach casserole that sounded interesting.  I made it with just a few tweaks.  It was good but definitely needed more seasonings.  I revamped the recipe this morning and here is the revised version.   I recommend wringing out the spinach in a clean kitchen towel (dark colored only as the green color will bleed into the towel towel).  

Enjoy! 

Spinach and Cheese Casserole

2 packages of frozen spinach, thawed and drained very well

3 eggs - beaten

4 T butter - cut into cubes

16 oz low fat small curd cottage cheese

3 T flour

6 T parmesan cheese (plus more for the top, if desired)

2 t salt

1 t pepper

3 T garlic powder

3 T onion powder

I like to take the spinach (after squeezing out the water) and cut it into smaller bite size pieces.  It takes an extra minute but makes serving much easier.  Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased 8 inch square casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. If desired, you can sprinkle more parmesan cheese on top during the last 10 minutes of baking. This is one of those "the crust is the best part" sort of dishes.    

  

  

Menu Planning Thursday

This next week will be more challenging to plan with the holidays and a birthday party for my father.  Finally he and my mother will be the same age again (at least for the next six months) and all will be right with the world. 


Here is my menu for next week:
Sunday:  Christmas dinner at my parents
Monday:  Happy Birthday, Dad!
Tuesday:  Crock pot chicken noodle soup
Wednesday:  Spinach and cheese quiche with green salad
Thursday:  Lemon Butter Salmon (hubby) & Orange Chicken (me) in parchment
Friday: Paula Deen's Sesame Chicken Strips, rice, sauteed mushrooms and peapods
Saturday:  special New Year's Eve dinner at home (a surprise for hubby)

Sesame seeds come on a wide variety of colors.  
I think all are wonderful!

I love Paula Deen!  She is entertaining and we share a love of butter - but must admit that I usually reduce the amount of salt in her recipes.  I tried her sesame chicken strip recipe a few months back and we loved it -- hubby even had seconds, which is always a good sign.  If you are at all sensitive to salt, I would suggest not adding it to the marinade.  If needed, you can always salt them after they come out of the oven while they are still hot.  Or perhaps add salt to a dipping sauce.    

Ingredients:
6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/2 lemon, juiced
2 teaspoons celery salt
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup sesame seeds
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted

Directions:

Lightly grease a 15 by 10-inch jelly roll pan. Cut chicken crosswise into 1/2-inch strips. In a large bowl, combine sour cream, lemon juice, celery salt, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and garlic. Mix well. Add chicken to mixture, coat well, and cover. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In medium bowl, combine bread crumbs and sesame seeds. Remove chicken strips from sour cream mixture. Roll in crumb mixture, coating evenly. Arrange in single layer in prepared pan. Spoon butter evenly over chicken. Bake for 18 to 25 minutes or until chicken is tender and golden brown.

Monday Recipes . . .Turkey and Mushroom Potstickers

I have made it my mission to reduce the amount of food we waste.  Sometimes that means finding creative solutions to my "over purchasing"!  This recipe came as a result of my grabbing two bags of enoki mushrooms from the Asian market (they are just so appealing) and wanting to use up some scallions and baby carrots that were starting to turn soft in the fridge. 

Enoki mushrooms - so very cute
and yummy, too!

Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground turkey
1 bunch of enoki mushrooms (1 cup of any other kind julienned)
6 shredded baby carrots (more or less to taste)
6 scallions - sliced thinly (save green parts for the sauce)
1/2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons of garlic powder
2 teaspoons of onion powder
1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 package of won ton wrappers (I used the round ones)

Sauce:
1/4 cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
2 teaspoons of brown sugar
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil
2 teaspoons of sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon chili oil

Mix all sauce ingredients and set aside.
To prepare the pot stickers, mix all ingredients together (except the won ton wrappers). Add a small amount to the center of a wrapper and moisten the edges with a finger dipped in water.  Pinch the wrappers together, removing all the air from inside.  This process is easy but time consuming.  When you've finished, add 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil to a pan and cook 6 -7 at a time over medium high heat until the bottoms are well browned.  Carefully add 1/2 cup of water and cover.  Allows pot stickers to steam for 2 minutes.  Remove cover and continue cooking until water has evaporated.  Serve warm with dipping sauce.