Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

Forget the ham or the mac and cheese or the mashed potatoes. This Christmas, all anyone cared about was this amazing dip. It's savory and refreshing and delicious. Both my mom and mother-in-law insisted on taking some home and my husband made me go out and buy some more crackers so he could finish off our leftovers. If only cranberries were available year round, I would make this dip throughout the year.

Recipe from here.

Ingredients:
1 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries, rinsed and dried
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons lemon juice
dash of salt
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened (I used low fat)

Crackers for serving. We used butter crackers, but my mother-in-law also ate the dip with tortilla chips.

Directions:
Finely dice cranberries. You can do this in your food processor (which is what I did) or dice them by hand. In a large bowl, combine diced cranberries, green onion, cilantro, pepper, sugar, cumin, lemon juice, and salt. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours (and let mine sit over night). This allows the sugar to dissolve and be absorbed by the cranberries.

Before serving, spread the cream cheese evenly on your serving plate. Pour on cranberry mixture over the cream cheese. Serve with crackers.

Cream Cheese

Cranberry dip, molasses chews, cinnamon sugar chips, ginger truffles

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Appetizer Recipes:
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Jalapeno Popper Wontons 
Homemade Pizza Rolls
Spinach Balls with a Spicy Tomato Dipping Sauce  
Parmesan Veggie Crisps 
Cheese Puffs for Cheese Lovers!
Cheesy Twisty Straws

Chickpea Salad

Lunch is my hardest meal of the day. Breakfast is usually tea with oatmeal or cereal or fruit. As I make my grocery list and go shopping, I plan my dinners. But lunches? Easy if there are leftovers in the fridge. Not so easy if there's no leftovers. I tend to eat a lot of egg salad or tuna salad just because I can't think of anything else and it's easy. But that gets boring. In order to chance it up a bit, I decided to make chickpea salad. Oh my god, so so so good. I have a new favorite, easy, heathly lunch!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can of chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans), drained, rinsed, and dried
1 celery stick, chopped
2 tablespoons onion, minced
1-2 tablespoons mayo (I tend to go super light on mayo. It's all personal preference)
1 tablespoon lemon juice, optional (sometimes I add it, sometimes I don't)
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
salt and pepper, to taste
a dash of garlic powder, optional

Directions:
Coarsely mash the chickpeas (you can use a fork, potato masher, I use a meat mallet) in a bowl. Stir in the rest of the ingredients.

Serve on bread, with crackers or veggies, or eat as is.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Chickpea Recipes:
Chickpea Veggie Burgers 
Hummus without Tahini
Cinnamon-Sugar Roasted Chickpeas 
Roasted Pumpkin Chickpeas
Sweet and Salty Chickpeas
Skinny Chocolate Chip Cookies (Made with Chickpeas)

Hummus without Tahini

I'm going to state this right out of the gate: hummus without tahini is never going to be as amazing as hummus made with tahini. So why would you even bother making hummus without tahini? I can think of a number of reasons. Tahini is expensive. You've run out and don't want to go to the store. You don't even know what tahini is. And because hummus without tahini can still be damn good.

Recipe adapted from here.
 

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans)
1 cloves, (also try with roasted garlic)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon lemon juice, optional (sometimes I add it, sometimes I don't)

Directions:
Drain and rinse the chickpeas and place them in a food processor along with garlic. Process until chickpeas turn to paste. Add sesame oil and lemon juice (if desired) and process until incorporated. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with crackers or veggies.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Snack Recipes:
Apple Pie Salsa with Cinnamon-Sugar Chips 
Bacon and Cheese Deviled Eggs 
Buffalo Chicken Dip 
Cucumber Chips
Fried Dill Pickles 
Fries with Garlic Cheese Sauce
Potato Chips in the Microwave
Roasted Garlic White Bean Hummus 

Apple Pie Salsa with Cinnamon-Sugar Chips

Have a hankering for homemade apple pie, but don't feel like going through the work of making one? Then this apple pie salsa is for you. The salsa is just apple pie filling made on the stovetop. And instead of making pie crust by hand, transform tortillas into cinnamon-sugar chips in just 10 minutes.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
Apple Pie Salsa
2 cups finely diced apple, peeled and cored (I used 1 very large Mutsu apple)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cornstarch disolved in 1 teaspoon water

Cinnamon-Sugar Chips
5 6-inch tortillas (store bought or homemade)
cooking spray (or 2 tablespoon butter, melted)
1/4 cup cinnamon-sugar

Directions:
Cinnamon-Sugar Chips
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Cut tortillas into wedges. Spray both sides of the chips with cooking spray (or brush with butter. I used cooking spray to make them slightly healthier). Coat both sides of the chips with cinnamon-sugar. Arrange of the baking sheet in a single layer.

Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, flipping the chips halfway through the baking.

Place on a wire rack and allow to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Apple Pie Salsa
Combine the diced apple, lemon juice, brown sugar, and cinnamon together in a saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat until the extracted juice from the apples begins to boil. Add cornstarch water and stir. Continue to boil until liquid has thickened.

Serve with cinnamon-sugar chips.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Apple Recipes:
Baked Apple Chips
Savory Apples Stuffed with Sage and Sausage
Apple Cider Cookies with Spiced Rum Glaze
Apple Cider Cupcakes with Caramel Filling and Spiced Rum Frosting
Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frosting
Delicious Apple Pie 
Cheese Tortellini in a Pumpkin Sauce
Cinnamon-Sugar Pastry with Pumpkin Dip
Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes
Pumpkin-Black Bean Stew with Spicy Sausage  

Crockpot: Lemon Pepper Chicken

Lemon Pepper seasoning has become one of my favorite seasonings over the last year. Try it on corn; just trust me, it's delicious. I even have Eric hooked on it. I already have a hobo meal lemon pepper chicken; it was inevitable that I'd come up with a Crockpot lemon pepper chicken. So moist, so full of flavor. I actually wish I had made more so I had leftovers to eat.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thawed or frozen)
3 tablespoons lemon pepper seasoning
1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions:
Spray Crockpot with cooking spray (this simply makes cleaning it easier). Add chicken breasts. Pour lemon juice over them then sprinkle with seasoning.

Set Crockpot to Low and cook 6 to 8 hours or set to High and cook 5 to 7 hours.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Chicken Recipes:
Parmesan-Seared Chicken
Parmesan Chicken Casserole
Pesto Chicken Lasagna with Artichokes and Fire-Roasted Tomatoes
Pizza Inspired Chicken 
Potless Chicken Pot Pies
Provincial Chicken
Southwest Chicken Panini Sandwich
Spicy Bacon-Wrapped Chicken
Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Chicken

Soy Wax Beans with Sesame Seeds

I don't think I had a wax bean until my mother-in-law handed me a big bag of beans (we also walked away with garden fresh kale, cabbage, and cucumbers). I now had to figure out what to do with them. After looking through a dozen recipes, I finally just chose one, nearly at random. It must have been fate because Eric and I devoured our entire supply of wax beans and immediately wanted more so we can make these again.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 pound wax beans, trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 pinch ground ginger
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar, packed
1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Toss the wax beans with olive oil on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until beans are tender and browned in spots. Toss beans halfway through.

Mix together soy sauce, ginger, lemon, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add roasted beans and toss. Garnish with sesame seeds.

Soy wax beans with Melt-your-mouth chicken

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Veggie Recipes:
Parmesan Veggie Crisps
A Basic Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce
Baked Potato Soup
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
Cheesy Tomato Zucchini Bake 
Baked Parmesan Tomatoes
Alfredo Green Bean Casserole  

Captain Morgan Chicken with Ginger Rice

I might have to start a compilation of boozy entrees because I feel like I've been cooking with alcohol a lot lately. Whether it's in a main dish or a dessert I just love the extra kick liquor gives to a recipe. I've especially fallen in love with spiced rum, which is the inspiration behind this dish. The ginger rice--made from instant rice--is the perfect side for this chicken.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
Chicken
3 tablespoons lemon juice
4 ounces Captain Morgan's spiced rum
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Rice
4 cups water
2 tablespoons butter
4 cups instant white rice
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground ginger
salt, to taste
 
Directions:
Chicken
Grease an 8x8-inch dish with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, mix together cayenne pepper, clove, cinnamon, ginger, pepper, salt, and thyme. Brush chicken breasts with olive oil then rub both sides of the breasts with the spices. Place chicken breasts in prepared pan, cover, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours (overnight is even better).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, rum, and brown sugar.

Uncover the chicken and pour the lemon mixture over the chicken breasts. Bake for approximately 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through, basting with juices every 10 to 15 minutes.

Rice
Bring the water and butter to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat, add rice, and cover. Let the rice sit for 5 minutes. Stir in ginger (for me, a little ginger goes a long way) and salt until you get the desired flavor.

Serve chicken over the ginger rice.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Chicken Recipes:
Lemon Pepper Chicken with Garlic Potatoes
Jalapeno Popper Chicken
Lime Mustard Chicken 
Margarita Chicken and Steak Fajitas 
Pizza Inspired Chicken 
Orange Chicken with Fried Rice 

Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Last month I made chickpea veggie burgers, this months it's the same recipe made with black beans.

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained, rinsed, and dried
1 cup herbed stuffing mix (I used Stouffers)
2 tablespoons minced onion
2 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice (or water)
salt and pepper, to taste.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Coarsely mash the beans with a potato masher so you have a paste with some bean chunks in it. Stir in stuffing mix and onions. Add lemon juice a tablespoon at a time until the mixture holds together. Salt and pepper to taste. Shape into patties (I made five).

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, flip burgers, and bake for another 10 to 12 minutes.

Dress your veggie burger up however you'd like--cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, bun (I had mine with cheese and caramelized onions).

 

 

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Burger Recipe:
Chicken Patties
Spicy Cheese-Stuffed Turkey Burgers
Tuna Burgers
Turkey Burger with Avocado Sauce

Chickpea Veggie Burgers

I've made quite a few veggie burgers over the years, searching for that one I'd want to eat over and  over again. Well, I think I've finally found it. And it's incredibly simple: chickpeas, stuffing mix, onion, and lemon juice.

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and dried
1 cup herbed stuffing mix (I used Stouffers)
2 tablespoons minced onion
2 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper, to taste.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Coarsely mash the chickpeas with a potato masher so you have a paste with some chickpea chunks in it. Stir in stuffing mix and onions. Add lemon juice a tablespoon at a time until the mixture holds together. Salt and pepper to taste. Shape into patties (I made five).

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, flip burgers, (add cheddar cheese if you want--I did and it's delicious), and bake for another 10 to 12 minutes.

Dress your veggie burger up however you'd like--cheese, tomatoes, lettuce bun.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Healthy Recipes:
Yogurt-Covered Blueberries
Zucchini Chips 2.0
Baked Apple Chips
Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies
Black Bean Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Skinny Peanut Butter Brownies 

Roasted Garlic White Bean Hummus

I was making pita bread and decided I needed something to go with it so I decided to make a dip. I had a head of garlic and a can of Great Northern beans in the pantry. Did a little googling, found a recipe, then changed it up to suit what I had in the house, and I couldn't be happier with the outcome. The best part--I get it all to myself. In general, Eric doesn't like any type of white beans (I think I have one recipe he'll eat them in) but I love them. He wasn't thrilled with the dip which mean I get it all!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 head of garlic, roasted (recipe below)
1 15.8-ounce can of Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Directions:
Roasted Garlic
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel away the outer layers of the garlic head skin, however, don't peel the skins of the individual cloves. With a knife, cut off the top of the cloves--about1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top--so you can see the inside of the individual cloves.

Drizzle the top with olive oil then wrap the garlic head in tin foil. On a cookie sheet, bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the cloves feel soft.

Allow the garlic to cool. Separate the individual cloves from the head then pinch the end of the cloves so the garlic inside shoots out.

Hummus
Place the beans, roasted garlic, lemon juice, and cumin in a food processor. Process until smooth. Pour in olive oil and process. Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Appetizer Recipes:
Bacon and Cheese Deviled Eggs
Cheese Puffs for Cheese Lovers!
Homemade Bread Sticks
Homemade Pita Chips 
Homemade Pizza Rolls
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Jalapeno Popper Wontons

Crockpot Brown Sugar and Garlic Chicken

Slow cookers, Crockpots, whatever you call them, they are fabulous for when you feel lazy. Throw in your ingredients, turn on the machine, and forget about it until dinner time. I'm so happy to add this chicken recipe to my list of Crockpot recipes.  Eric couldn't stop commenting on how amazing it smelled and then he couldn't stop telling me how amazing it tasted. I was a little worried about it being too sweet, but I'm happy to report that it was the perfect balance of sweet and savory.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons water

Directions:
Grease your slow cooker with cooking spray and place the chicken (frozen, thawed, or fresh--I used frozen) inside. In a bowl, mix together the brown sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, soy sauce and pepper. Pour mixture over the chicken. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

Remove the chicken from the slow cooker (I shredded mine) and pour the remaining sauce into a saucepan. In a small bowl or glass, stir together the corn starch and water, and then pour it into the saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat and allow to boil for 2 to 3 minutes or until the suace thickens. Remove pan from heat and allow to sit for a 1 to 2 minutes so the sauce can continue to thicken.

Pour over chicken and serve.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Crockpot Recipes
 Alfredo Green Bean Casserole
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Orange Chicken
Pumpkin Butter 
Tomato and Artichoke Chicken