try 43 new recipes

This one is a keeper, simple but hearty and tasty. The ingredients are chicken, noodles, mushrooms, cream of chicken soup, sour cream and grated Swiss cheese. The complete recipe can be seen at on Recipes4Living.

Packaged casserole seasonings have come a long way. McCormick One Dish Meals recently created this tasty Salsa Chicken & Rice mix. Just add corn, diced tomatoes, chicken breast and rice. It’s an instant “south-of-the-border” dinner that’s worth trying again and again.

This is a delicious lasagna recipe, containing fresh spinach, eggs, and three cheeses. We made it with Alfredo sauce and served it meatless, without the recommended chicken or shrimp topping. A very hearty meal, and lots of leftovers that freeze well.

I make kabobs frequently in summer – lamb, beef, chicken and especially shrimp. It’s always nice to try a new recipe, and this one turned out very well.

Soak large, peeled and deveined shrimp in Lawry’s Mexican Chile & Lime Marinade for 30 minutes. Thread them on bamboo skewers with alternating chunks of bell pepper, red onion and pineapple. Grill. Eat. Wash down with beer. Ah… the BBQ season has begun again.

This “poultry classic” comes from a recipe card in Grandma’s Kitchen – Treasured Family Recipes. The ingredients are onion, butter, chopped cooked chicken, cream of chicken soup, milk, sour cream, chopped pimiento, shredded cheddar and six thawed frozen biscuits. It is baked at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, until the biscuits are golden and the sauce bubbles. Simple. Filling. Tasty. It turned out well. We substituted garlic cream of mushroom as the soup and added chopped fresh mushrooms in place of pimientos.

Here is another winner from the American Heart Association’s 43 Healthy Soul Food Recipes. I always enjoy discovering a new taste from an old staple. In this case, red potatoes get a make-over with the addition of low-fat buttermilk, chopped green onions, shredded Parmesan cheese, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Boil and mash the potatoes with the skins on. Blend in the other ingredients. Done.

What gives it pizazz is the green onions, which are mixed in raw. The cheese melts in. The buttermilk adds distinction. Delicious. I’m sorry I do not have a photo of the finished dish, but it was so tasty, there was nothing left to shoot.

This recipe was based on the American Heart Association’s 43 Healthy Soul Food Recipes, which called for collard greens, but we substituted a mix of turnip greens and fresh spinach. It’s so easy: just brown 4oz of cubed low-fat smoked turkey sausage and one chopped onion, stir in a can of fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add 16oz of greens and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Add some salt and sugar (which takes bitterness out of collard greens or spinach without making it sweet). Let stand for 10 minutes. Serve with biscuits. Delicious!

Not every new recipe we try is a winner. This one from Campbell’s Kitchen was filling, but pretty bland. Freshly ground garlic, pepper and sea salt helped it a bit, but still not a keeper.

The sauce is what makes this recipe a keeper… pesto mixed with cream cheese served over chicken breasts and pasta. Courtesy of Kraft Foods.

“Real” Texas chili has no beans. The primary ingredients are meat and chili peppers (not tomatoes), diced, chopped, powdered, or liquified.

This recipe sans beans and peppers is credited to Better Homes and Gardens. It combines boneless beef chuck browned in cooking oil with cayenne pepper, chili powder, chopped onions, oregano, cumin, minced garlic, cornmeal, brown sugar, salt and pepper, then simmered up to two hours in beef broth and water. Topped with sour cream and shredded cheese, it goes well with corn bread. Rib-sticking good, if not entirely authentic.