Tara’s Kitchen

Thanksgiving day treats you family will love! Beyond ordinary, try these cookies made with extraordinary dried cherries!

Cherry Chewbilees

•1 cup margarine, softened
•3/4 cup granulated sugar
•3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
•2 eggs
•1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
•1 teaspoon baking soda
•1-2/3 cups coarsely chopped white chocolate or vanilla milk chips
•1-1/2 cups dried tart cherries
•1 cup cashews, coarsely chopped

1.Combine granulated sugar, margarine, brown sugar, vanilla and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until thoroughly mixed. Combine flour and baking soda; gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture. Stir in white chocolate, dried cherries and cashews. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto un-greased baking sheets.
2.Bake in a preheated 350° F oven 10 to 12 minutes, or until light golden brown. Do not overbake. Let cool on wire racks; store in a tightly covered container. These cookies freeze well.
Makes 4-1/2 dozen cookies.

Courtesy of the Cherry Marketing Institute

Corn Chowder

•1 tablespoon vegetable oil
•1 small onion, coarsely chopped
•2 packages (16 oz. each) loose-pack frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed, divided
•2 cups water
•3 chicken bouillon cubes
•1 can (12 oz.) Carnation Evaporated Milk
•1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
•1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
•1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil, (optional)

1.Heat oil in large saucepan. Add onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender. Add 4 cups corn; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender. Add water and bouillon; cook, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes or until corn is very soft.
2.Place corn mixture in blender or food processor; blend until smooth. Return to saucepan. Stir in remaining corn, evaporated milk, bell pepper and rosemary. Cook, stirring frequently, until chowder is thick and bell peppers are tender. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with basil.
NOTE: For a Southwestern-style twist to this recipe, add 1 can (4 oz.) Ortega Diced Green Chiles with the bell pepper. Eliminate the rosemary; stir 1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro(more to taste). Garnish with cilantro leaves instead of basil.

Makes 4 serving’s

Pumpkin & Gorgonzola Soup

•1 can (15 oz) Libby’s 100% pure pumpkin
•1-1/2 cups water
•2 teaspoons instant chicken bouillon
•1 teaspoon ground sage
•1 can (12-oz.) Carnation evaporated milk
•3/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
•1 large green onion, finely chopped

1. Cook pumpkin, water, bouillon and sage in large saucepan, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil.
2.Stir in evaporated milk and cheese. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring frequently, until most of cheese is melted. Sprinkle with green onion before serving. Season with pepper

Cherry Mallow Cake

Delicious, easy and fast. The marshmallows melt and rise to the top – a great recipe for kids.

•4 cups miniature marshmallows (about 3/4 of a 10-1/2-ounce package)
•1 (18-1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
•1 (21-ounce) can cherry pie filling

1.Spray a 13×9x2-inch baking pan with vegetable cooking spray. Put marshmallows evenly in the bottom of the pan.
2.Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Pour batter over marshmallows.
3.Spoon cherry filling evenly over cake batter.
4.Bake in a preheated 350° F oven 45 to 50 minutes. The top of the cake will be bubbly and the marshmallows will be sticky on top of the cake. Let cool in the pan, then cut into squares.

Makes about 15 servings

Prep Time: 10 min
Start to Finish: 20 min
makes: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 cup chopped cooked chicken breast
1/3 cup chopped cored apple or finely chopped celery
1 hard-cooked egg, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons Yoplait® plain fat-free yogurt
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise or salad dressing
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
8 slices whole wheat bread
4 leaf lettuce or romaine leaves
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1/2 of a small cucumber, thinly sliced (about 3/4 cup)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, stir together chicken, apple, and egg. Add yogurt, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper; stir to combine.*

2. Top half of the bread slices with lettuce leaves. Add tomato slices, cucumber slices, and some of the chicken mixture to each sandwich. Top with remaining bread slices. Cut each sandwich in half to serve.

3. *Make-Ahead Directions: If desired, cover and chill the chicken mixture for up to 4 hours before assembling sandwiches.

Nutritional Information

1 sandwich: Calories 230 (Calories from Fat 65); Total Fat 7g (Saturated Fat 1g, Trans Fat 0g); Cholesterol 85mg; Sodium 480mg; Total Carbohydrate 26g (Dietary Fiber 4g, Sugars 6g); Protein 19g

Hi Ladies,

I absolutely love chicken salad but like many of you I don’t like the calories from it so I wanted to provide you with a refreshingly delicious version that you and your family will love. I like to use Lettuce or cabbage leaves but you can also use bread or a wrap if you prefer it.

Here’s the yummy recipe below

Enjoy!

Chicken Salad Cabbage Cups

4 Cabbage leaves
½ grilled chicken breast,
Cubed (left overs are fine)
1 large apple, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/3 cup blackberries
2 tbsp. chopped walnuts (optional)
¼ cup Greek- style yogurt
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
Sprinkle marjoram
Sprinkle
Celery salt
Pepper, to taste

1. Steam cabbage leaves until pliable. Allow to cool.
2. Toss remaining ingredients to combine.
3. Use two cabbage leaves to form a small cup;
Repeat with the other cabbage leaves. Divide the chicken salad between the two cups.

Serving 2
288 Calories
27 grams of protein,
26.5g carbohydrates 9g fat (3 saturated fat0 6g fiber, 437 mg sodium;

Hi Ladies,

This is a special recipe from a very wonderful women in my life. Your kids will LOVE these I made them and they were so delicious and they are healthy I substituted the milk for Vanilla Almond milk and it was PERECT! But try it whatever way you want.
Enjoy!

Jammy’s love muffins!

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
½ cup canola oil
1/3 cup organic honey; 1/3 cup agave – I actually did a ¼ cup honey and the balance with agave
2/3 cup vanilla soy milk – you can use rice milk or almond milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups blueberries
2 very ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 325degrees. Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray.

In medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add the oil, agave/honey, milk, and vanilla to dry ingredients and stir until batter is smooth. Mash bananas and mix in batter. Gently fold in blueberries until they are distributed throughout batter.

Fill muffin tins 1/3 to ½ full. For small muffins bake approx. 20 – 25 min. Check after 18 minutes by inserting toothpick, if it comes out clean, muffins are done. For large muffins, cook for approx. 30-35 min.

Let cool. Muffins can be stored in airtight container at room temp. for up to 3 days. (They won’t last that long!)

These are amazing! Your man will LOVE them.
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