Stuffed Portabellas

These are excellent!!!

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Serves 6-8

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Vegetarian Stuffing:

• 6 cups, diced high fiber bread
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery,chopped
• 2 large carrots, grated
• 1/4 teaspoon rosemary
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon sage
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 3 tablespoons raisins
• 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 2 teaspoons Wylers Chicken no sodium instant Bullion
• 1 small apple with peel, diced
• black pepper to taste
• portabella mushrooms, cleaned stem removed-can use large or medium mushrooms

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place diced bread on baking sheet. Bake in oven for about 15 minutes. Turn off oven and leave sit. stirring periodically.
3. Saute onions, celery, and carrots in sprayed pan until translucent.
4. In large bowl add bread cubes, saute mixture, herbs, raisins, apple, nuts and pepper.
5. Mix well.
6. Add chicken bullion to hot stock. Mix well.
7. Gradually pour hot stock over bread mixture. Do only a little at a time so you don't over saturate bread mixture.
8. Toss gently.
9. Stuff mushrooms.
10. Bake 350 degrees, uncovered 25-30 minutes.
11. -I took left over stuffing and put in a sprayed glass pan and bake with the portabella's.

I got a version of this recipe -VegWeb.com

Chef Emily's Black Bean and Corn Stew

A friend brought me this soup last week when I wasn't feeling well. Thank God for friends.

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This is so very good, quick and easy. All the things we busy people like.

Give it a try, I think you will like it.

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Serves 6-8

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Ingredients:

4 tsp oil

1 medium onion -chopped

4 clove garlic -minced

2 teaspoons cumin

1 4 1/2 ounce can green chilies

2 15 oz. cans black beans, drain and rinsed

2 14 oz. cans or 4 cups diced tomatoes

2 cups water

10 oz. frozen corn

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Directions:

• In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, cook until softened, 5-6 minutes.
• Add garlic and cumin, continue cooking until fragrant about 2 minutes.
• To the pan, add the rest of the ingredients, (not the corn)
• Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, until slightly thickened. About 15 minutes.
• In a blender or food processor, puree 2 cups of the stew. Return puree to pan.
• Add frozen corn.
• Simmer about 5 minutes more.

Comments from Verna's Test Kitchen:

1. I did not use the oil. I used a spray.
2. I added a can of kidney beans, that I rinsed and drained.
3. I forgot to puree the 2 cups. It was just fine.
4. After toasting some high fiber bread. I sprayed with butter spray and sprinkled with garlic powder.
5. After putting toast under the broiler, I cut the toast into strips. Yum, yum.
6. Great for dunking into soup.

- Remember soup is always better the next day.

Enjoy!!!

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Have a super day!!!.

Merry Christmas

Just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.
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May you be surrounded with lots of loved ones on this Glorious Day!!!!!!
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The presents are wonderful, but it is really the people that matter!!! Enjoy your loved ones.
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Rember the Reason for the Season!

Strawberry Date Appetizers

These are really good.

Ingredients:
1 lb strawberries, wash, hulled and chopped fine
20-25 dates-chopped fine
1/4 cup water
chocolate chips or carob chips
Wasa Crackers-Multi Grain or crackers of choice

Directions:

• In small kettle, bring strawberries, dates and water to slow boil, stirring constantly
• Cook for about 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat, let filling cool down.
• Spread filling on Crackers
• Put crackers on a baking sheet.
• Cover with chocolate chips of choice.
• Bake in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes until chips are melted.
• Remove from oven.
• Spread melted chips over the top with a knife.

Comments from Verna's Test Kitchen:

The original recipe used lightly salted rice cakes. I did that with some of the filling. After chips where melted and I spread out the chocolate, I cut the rice cakes in quarters for easier eating.

Enjoy!!!

Please leave comments and be a follower..

I have been doing this blog for almost a year.
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The purpose of this blog was to help you during the difficult times and share healthy, fun, recipes with you. Also to share my life and struggles with you, so that you don't feel alone during the hard times.
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I would so appreciate it if you would leave comments and be a follower. Positive suggestions are always appreciated.
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Is this blog of help to you, or would you hope for something different?
I need to know that you are out their and what you would like for me to accomplish . I want to be there for you in any way I can.

Thank you for your input.
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-Have a super great day.

Potato Appetizers

I had some Yukon potatoes that needed to get use up.This is what I decided to do with them. They turned out really well.

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When doing this it reminded me of the days before CHIP. I use to make lots of home made candies for Christmas. this is a far cry from those days. but very healthy and tasty.

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Ingredients:

2 lb. Yukon potato's, peeled and cooked until soft.

2-3 Tablespoons Earth Balance

1/2 cup green onions, finely chopped.

garlic powder

Braggs Sprinkles

1/2 cup Wheat Germ

1/2 cup Panko Crumbs

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Directions:

• Turn oven to 375 degrees
• Mash cooked potato's
• Add Earth Balance
• Add Seasonings
• Shape Mixture into 1" balls
• ( I used the little scooper shown off to the side of the picture).
• Combine Wheat Germ and Panko Crumbs
• Roll balls in above mixture. (I put crumbs in a pie plate)
• Put on sprayed baking sheet.
• Spray the potato balls, lightly with butter spray.
• Bake at 375 degrees, about 15-20 minutes.
• Turn potato balls, spray with butter spray, continue baking 15 min or so.
• Serve warm with tooth pick inserted.

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Comments from Verna's Test Kitchen:

1. Use any ingredients you like.
2. Nutritional Yeast would be great in these.
3. When adding spices, I would recommend adding lots of flavor.
4. Wouldn't these be great dipped in a white sauce-something with a tofu sour cream base.

Verna's Salsa with Chips

This would be so very pretty for Christmas or during the Holidays! Ingredients:
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup +Agave Nectar
1/3 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cumin
Bring to a boil and let cool
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Drain and Rinse:
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
15 oz. frozen (small ) corn
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Chop:
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 sweet onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
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Mix all ingredients together.
I added a touch of Cayenne pepper to salsa after it was mixed.
Refrigerate to marinate.
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For the chips I used Fat Flush Tortilla shells:

• I cut the tortillas in quarters.
• Put tortilla shells on a sprayed baking sheet.
• Sprayed tops of shells lightly.
• Baked at 375 degrees 10-15 minutes or until crisp.

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Store left over chips in air tight container.

Been Sick

Sorry, I was going to post a recipe every day before Christmas. Been sick with the flu, sore throat etc.

Will post a recipe tomorrow hopefully!!

Endive Appetizers

This is so quick and easy.

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Ingredients:

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• Endive- cut off end, opened to see individual strips of endive.
• Wild Garden Hummus Dip-Fire Roasted Red Pepper flavor.
• Fresh Basil-chopped
• Chopped Black Olives

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Directions:

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1. Mix hummus dip with fresh basil.
2. Put humus on end of endive.
3. Top with chopped black olives.

Comments from Verna's Test Kitchen:

• Endive has a tendency to be bitter.
• Next time I will try a small head of Bok Choy as it is a lot sweeter.
• Any flavor of hummus can be used.
• Some grated Vegan Cheese would be good on top of hummus.
• Add chopped black olives.

-Enjoy!!

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-Have a wonderful day!!

Mrs Santa and Elves

Every year my granddaughters and I go into Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Homes. While their the girls play Christmas Songs on the piano while everyone sings along.
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Afterwards we pass out Christmas Cookies to everyone, plus everyone gets a small gift.

-The people seemed to really like us coming, but for us it is such a blessing to see the smiles and participation from the people that live their.
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Let's make someone happy today.
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Have a super day.

Nutty Grapes

These are just so very good.

Last week when I was at a craft show in West Bend they had something like this. I came home and tried to duplicate it.

• 1 pkg cream cheese-I used Weight Watchers as it was a lot lower in sodium.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Just a touch of Stevia.-go really easy, as it is very strong if you use too much , I probably used 1 pinch of it.-optional.
• Large red grapes, washed and dried.
• Almonds very finely chopped

Directions:

• Mix cream cheese, vanilla and Stevia, together with a mixer to get nice and creamy.
• Roll the grapes in the cream cheese mixture. Hands work really well for this.
• Roll in finely chopped nuts.
• Push "sticks" into the rolled grape. I used Cookie sticks from Hobby Lobby.
• I took a glass container, filled with dried lentils and put finished Nutty grapes into the container.
• Arrange like a flower arrangement.

I doubled the above recipe.

I had friends in tonight for Christmas Get Together, and they where a huge hit.

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I had planned on making these for the next CHIP Pot Luck, but if we have a large turn out like the last one, I would be rolling a lot of grapes.

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Give them a try, I think you will really enjoy them.

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-Have a super day!

Potato Appetizers

I found these really cute, small potatoes at the grocery store yesterday and decided they would be great appetizer's for Christmas and New Year entertaining. They are only about 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches across.

• Scrub and clean potato's.
• Bake at 375 degree's for about 25 minutes.
• Scoop out most of the potato and mash.
• I added Roasted Red Pepper Hummus to the mashed potato's.
• Add freshly ground black pepper to mixture.
• A touch of cayenne pepper to taste.
• Stuff potato's
• Serve warm.

Comments from Verna's test Kitchen:

Next time I would cut off the ends of the potato's so that they would sit flat.

You can put in any type of filling you like. Making a tiny twice baked potato would be really cool. Spinach would be great in the filling.

Roasted Red Pepper Garlic Hummus:

15 oz. can Garbanzo Beans-rinsed

2 cups Roasted Red Peppers -I used roasted red peppers that I had in my freezer.

1 head garlic roasted

1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 Tablespoon cumin

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 Degrees

• Cut about 1/2 " off top of garlic
• Wrap garlic in parchment paper then in tin foil.
• Bake about 35-45 minutes until cloves are tender.
• Squeeze about 6 cloves into food processor with all remaining ingredients.
• Puree until smooth about 2-3 minutes.
• Season hummus with cayenne pepper to taste.

The white on the picture is duw to my camera.

Have a super wonderful day!

Stay warm if you are in Wisconsin or other parts of the country where it is cold.

Enjoy the weather if you are where the weather is mild.

We have lots of snow in Wisconin with temperatures in the teens. Baby it is cold outside!!!!

Wedding Flowers

With the 8"-10" inches of snow, an blizzard conditions predicted for today,
I did the flowers for a really big wedding today. I was never so glad to get home as I was tonight.

The bride was happy with everything, but how I hate being out in that kind of weather.

I hope your all home in a nice cozy warm home, enjoying your loved ones.
Have a great night.

Stay safe!!!!

Christmas is 15 days from now!

Do you know that Christmas will be here in 15 days!!!!

I refuse to have a weight gain over the Holidays. So how am I going to prevent this from happening?

This is my goal; hopefully it will help you also.

Find a buddy that has the same goal as you, an be accountable to one another.
The problem is not in the mouth, but the head, make a commitment that you can and will
do the following:

1. Keep track of everything you put in your mouth.
2. Eat lots of fresh vegetables and canned/dry beans.
3. Stay away from the breads and pasta.
4. Drink lots of water. Many times when we think we are hungry, a big drink of water will satisfy.
5. Commit to exercise every day!! If possible, do it right away in the morning. By evening it is to easy to have an excuse of why you can't do it.
6. Don't have food in the house that you shouldn't be eating. If it is their, you will eat it until it is gone. I know I do it.
7. Don't be making food that you shouldn't eat, especially if it is something you like. Making Christmas candy and cookies would cause me a lot of trouble, so I don't do it.
8. If healthy food is available in the refrigerator an freezer, it will make it so much easier
   for you to be successful. When cooking healthy food make a double batch, and freeze
9. Take just one day at a time. Have a long term, short term goals. But take one day at a time, sometimes an hour at a time.
10. Call on your buddy for encouragement.
11. Last but not least is, call out to God for help. He cares about you and wants to help you.

Remember we all fail from time to time. Your a winner as long as you pick yourself back up and continue on.

My goal is to be 10 lbs lighter, when Jan 2 comes around. We can all do it with some prayer, planning and commitment to your goal. You will be thrilled that you did, when we come into 2011. Plus you will feel so much better. Doesn't that sound great!!!!!!

Go and have a great day and be a winner!!! You can do it!!!!!!

Go Spread Some Kindness

I had to return something at Macy's today!!!!

OMG!!!!! I could not believe the hard time two different woman were giving the clerk-yes and at the same time. I felt so bad for the clerk. She is a very nice lady and was trying her best to do a good job. But it is hard sometime when everyone is getting upset with you.

Go out and spread some kindness to the clerks and that not so nice person you run into.

This is a very difficult time of the year for many. We go around putting on our happy faces, when inside we are dying from emotional pain. Christmas is promoted with Jesus, family, love, happiness. Which indeed it should be, but for many that is not where they are at. You never know who is going through a difficult time so spread Christmas Kindness to everyone you come in contact with!!!

By doing so you may make a great difference in someone's life this Christmas!

Have a super wonderful day!!!

Bean Salad-Dennis Favorite

Ingredients:

1 can black beans-rinsed

2 cans black eyed peas-rinsed

1 can She peg or yellow corn

4 green onions- chopped

1/2 cup parsley-chopped

2 clove garlic-minced

8 oz.Marzetti's Sweet Italian Dressing

Marinate and serve.

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This recipe is Dennis Dobberstein's favorite. Doesn't it look yummy!!!

He brought it to the potluck Dec. 1

Thanks Dennis!

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I forgot to add the corn to above recipe. I put it on a bed of dark greens.

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Comments from Verna's kitchen:

1. I took Dennis's recipe, which is excellent, and made a few changes, just because I have to watch my sodium and I need to eat more raw veggies.
2. I used only 1 can of Black Eyed Peas as I found they were high in sodium.
3. I did fine a brand Shurfine Black eye Peas with 250 mg. Most brands were way higher than that. In place of the can of Black Eyed Peas, I substituted Kuners Pinto Beans with no salt added.
4. Also because I like crunchy, I added red pepper, celery, and broccoli to the above recipe.
5. I did cut way back on the dressing, because for me it had too much sugar. (it sure is good though), Again, I used some of the dressing, and added dry Italian Seasoning and some black pepper as I like a bite to my food.

Just a thought, this recipe is such a great recipe and so very versatile, you could add to it as much as you like. Or keep it just like Dennis gave to us!!! Thanks again Dennis.

Enjoy!!!

Have a super day!!

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

Wynn brought these to the Pot Luck the other evening.

Directions:

1. Clean small portabella mushrooms, put stems in broth bag.
2. Dry off mushrooms with paper towel.
3. Stuff with Hummus of choice. I believe Wynn, used Wild Garden Hummus Dip. Two different kinds.
4. Top with black olive ring. We put a toothpick in each one before serving.

They were so attractive, and went very quickly. Another great appetizer for the Holidays.

Thanks Wynn for a great treat!!!!! If I forgot some of the instructions, Wynn, please leave a comment.

Baked Potato Skins

These are really good!!!

I didn't really have a recipe for this, made it up as I went. Actually I made something like this in our First Cooking Class. They would be a really nice appetizer with the Holidays coming up.

Directions:

1. I baked a bunch of potatoes, scrubbed, rubbed with oil, and baked until tender.
2. When baked, I put them on a cooling rack and cut in half, lengthwise.
3. Let cool, and scooped out most of the potato. into a large bowl, for later use.
4. Spray a baking sheet.
5. Put potato skins on baking sheet, upside down.
6. Spray potato skins with I can't Believe it is Not Butter.
7. Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. Watch so they don't burn.
8. Remove from oven, turn the potato skins over
9. Spray with I Can't Believe it's Not Butter and sprinkle with Bragg's Sprinkle-24 Herbs and spice seasoning. (Found at Woodman's in the Natural Food Aisle 22, way to the end of the aisle, on the left hand side as you go to the back of the store)
10. Bake for 10 more minutes. Remove from oven. Put some cheese of choice on the bottom of the skins. Put back into oven , until cheese it melted.
11. Fill potato cavity, with grated carrots, grated broccoli, black olives etc.
    

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Comments from Verna's Kitchen:

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I will take left over potatoes, mash them with some green onions, garlic, pepper, rice milk. I will probably make into patties, roll them in Panko Breadcrumbs. Fry in a sprayed pan until golden brown. Doesn't that sound good?

Enjoy!!

Have a super day!!

Alumni Pot Luck - December 2010

Wow! What a wonderful Pot Luck!

as always, the food was fabulous.

The best part of the pot luck was you!!! It was so great to see each and everyone of you. Each one of you is so very special to me!!! The pot luck was a huge success because of you being there.

We had 52 people at the pot luck! That is just too cool!!!

If you are not on these pictures I am so sorry, as some of the pictures did not turn out

I took lots of pictures of the food, but wanted to put the best part of the night on first, and that is you!!

Thank you, Cindy for inviting Gordon Cole from Olive Cellar. He did just a really great job. It was very informative.

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Thank you, Jean for all of your help with setting up the table and chairs, food tables and everything else you did. Your wonderful!

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To everyone who put the tables and chairs back in place after the pot luck, thank you so very much. I so appreciate you!

Thank you Carole and Mary for your help with serving the ice cream dessert.
You're pretty special also!!!

January CHIP Class-2011

Come and join Heidi and I for the January CHIP Class. You will be so thrilled you did.

So many including myself have turned their health around, because of this wonderful program. I would not be here if CHIP had not come into my life. Any money I spend to attend the class was returned totally within a few months, as I am off of my 10 meds., oxygen tank and sleep machine (which I hated.)
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Come and join us! Besides turning your health around, and learning a healthy way to eat, you will probably lose weight in the six week period and not go hungry in the process. Does that not sound to good to be true!!!!!!!!

We would love to see you in class. Classes will be, January 10 through February 24, 2011. We will be at AMC Hospital, in the Ironwood Room. Classes start at 6:30.
Alumni, you know you can return for a refresher course, for a greatly reduced price. It would be great to have you back.

Call (920) 830-6877 or (800) 236-2236.

See you in class!