• 2 Lg. Chicken Breasts
• 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (or 2 cups of your families favorite veggies)
• 1 Box Cornbread stuffing mix
• 8 slices American cheese
• 3 slices bacon-chopped into small pieces
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 1 tsp. garlic
• 2 Tb butter
• 3 Tb. Flour
• 1 1/2 cups Chicken Broth
• 1 1/2 cups milk or half and half
• 2tsp. salt and 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp. dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp. each oregano, basil, cumin, and paprika

Boil chicken in 3 qt. saucepan,  meanwhile start the gravy, in a large skillet or 2 qt saucepan cook chopped bacon until almost crisp, do not drain, add butter, onion, and garlic saute for about 1 minute on medium heat.  Whisk flour into mixture, let cook for about 1 minute.  Slowly pour in chicken broth while whisking, add milk or half and half and continue whisking.  Add remaining ingredients and whisk occasionally until thickened.  While waiting for gravy to thicken place vegetables in a 9×13 glass dish, in a medium bowl place stuffing and the ingredients called for on the box, you do not need to cook it, just mix it together.  Once gravy is thick turn burner off and chop up the chicken into bite size pieces.  Put chicken in pan on top of vegetables, pour gravy evenly over the top, place the cheese on top and spread the cornbread over the cheese.  Bake in a  preheated 375° F oven bake for about 25 minutes or until the cornbread is starting to brown and get crispy.  Enjoy!

Delicious with a salad and bread and butter.

In this house we love berries of all kinds, unfortunately they get expensive in the winter.  So I decided to stock up in the summer.  It is so easy too.  All berries can be frozen with the right kind of prep.  Simply wash them well, then for strawberries you can either cut or leave whole, but do cut the stem off.  Then take a rimmed baking sheet and cover with either parchment paper or waxed paper.  After all the berries are dry lay them on the sheet and put in the freeze for a few hours, when they are frozen you can then place them in a ziplock freezer bag and back into the freezer for future use.

I like to use them for baking-muffins, breads, pancakes, and more.  They work really grreat for smoothies and you don’t need as much ice either since the fruit is like an ice cube.  There are many more uses for frozen berries, be on the lookout for when they go on sale and stock up!

• Chocolate graham cracker or oreo pie crust
• 1 8oz. block of cream cheese (I prefer the 1/3 less fat kind)-softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup natural peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups cool whip extra creamy
• 1/3 cup hot fudge topping
• 1 reese’s peanut butter cup-chopped

With an electric mixer beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla on low speed until powdered sugar is mostly mixed in-about 30 seconds.  Beat at medium speed until well blended.  Fold in cool whip until combined.  Spoon into pie crust and smooth out.  Microwave hot fudge for about 15 seconds, if its too hot let cool, drizzle over the top of the pie. Take a knife and swirl gently.  Sprinkle the reeses cup over the top.  Refrigerate for at least 3 hours until firm.  ENJOY!

SOOO Good!

• 1 can vegetarian refried beans
• 8 oz. container of light or fat free sour cream
• 1 cup shredded light sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375F.  Spread out the refried beans into an 8″ square pan.  On top of the beans spread out the sour cream evenly and top with the cheese.  Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the edges are bubbly.  Serve with tortilla chips, also really good inside tacos!

• 2 ripe avacados*
• 1/4 red onion diced small
• 1/2 jalapeno diced small
• 1 Tb. lemon juice or lime
• 1 tsp. salt or more to taste
• dash of black or white pepper

Cut avocado’s in half and remove pit, scoop out the avocado and mash with a fork or using a hand mixer beat until smooth, add remaining ingredients and stir well.  Serve with tortilla chips or as a topping for taco’s, a dip for quesadilla’s, and so much more.  Even my 3 year old likes this!

*to check for ripeness, gently push the fruit with your thumb if it gives slightly then it is ripe, the more it gives the riper it is.