Vietnamese Salad Rolls

1 (8 ounce) package rice
vermicelli
8 ounces cooked, peeled
shrimp, cut in half lengthwise
8 rice wrappers (6.5 inch
diameter)
1 carrot, julienned
1 cup shredded lettuce
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
water as needed

DIRECTIONS:
1.
Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Remove from heat. Place rice vermicelli in boiling water, remove from heat, and let soak 3 to 5 minutes, until soft. Drain, and rinse with cold water.
2.
Fill a large bowl with hot water. Dip one rice wrapper in the hot water for 1 second to soften. Lay wrapper flat, and place desired amounts of noodles, shrimp, carrot, lettuce and basil in the center. Roll the edges of the wrapper slightly inward. Beginning at the bottom edge of wrapper, tightly wrap the ingredients. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
3.
In a small bowl, mix the hoisin sauce with water until desired consistency has been attained. Heat the mixture for a few seconds in the microwave.
4.
Serve the spring rolls with the warm dipping sauce.

These are really very good. I first tried these at craft night. Another crafter brought it and the recipe and served it with a peanut sauce which was nice. I tried this with the hoisin sauce and I liked it. It was sweet though. It's a recipe from Allrecipes.com. I only used canned shrimp and I had no fresh basil on hand and it was still yummy.

Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

1 tbs. butter

1/2 c. chopped onion

2 large carrots

2 stalks celery

1 tbs. dried chives

1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning

1 tsp. Mrs. Dash Italian Seasoning

1/4 c. flour

6 c. chicken broth

1 1/2c. evaporated skim milk

1/2 pre-roasted chicken from the deli

3/4 c. basmati or white rice

2 tbs. beef gravy thickener blended with a small amount of water

the night before....

Microwave butter in a small cup for 5 seconds.

Dice onion, peel and cut carrots and slice celery. Place in the inside pot of slow cooker. Pour the melted butter over top and stir to coat. Stir in spices and flour.

Gradually add chicken brother stirring constantly to avoid lumping. Add canned milk.

Remove meat from 1/2 a roasted chicken. Cut into bite size chunks and add to slow cooker. Stir, cover and stor in fridge overnight.

in the morning...

Return center pot with cover to the outer liner of slow cooker and set on low heat.

when you arrive home...

Toss in rice and stir well. Set timer for 20 minutes.

If the sauce needs a little thickening, combine a small amount of powdered gravy thickener blended with water and stir in.

Serve with buns.

Notes: This recipe is from Cooking for the Rushed The Healthy Family. I made this recipe all in one day for dinner one night. It is a very tasty and filling recipe. I've made this recipe a couple of times and will definitely make it again.

Loaf Potion # 9 from Eat, Shrink & Be Merry

1 ½ c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. oat bran
½ c lightly packed brown sugar
1 tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
2/3 c. chopped dried cranberries
1/3 c. chopped walnuts or chopped pecans
1 c. low fat plain yogurt
3 tbs. vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tbs. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 tsp. grated orange zest
1 c. each grated carrot and grated, unpeeled zucchini

Preheat oven to 350°F, Spray a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, oat bran, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make sure you get all of the lumps out of the brown sugar. Stir in cranberries and nuts.

In a medium bowl, whisk together yogurt, oil, eggs, orange juice concentrate and orange zest. Stir in carrots and zucchini. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake on middle oven rack for 45 to 50 minutes or until loaf is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.

Cool loaf in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan and cool completely on rack. Cover with plastic wrap and store at room temperature or in the refrigerator. To serve, cut loaf into 8 thick slices, then cut each slice in half. (This is easier than trying to cut 16 pieces. )

Notes: I double the recipe and made three smaller loafes and 4 mini loafs from this recipe. It's quite good and again no nuts here. You can go to Eat, Shrink & Be Merry for other recipes on their site. They also have a link to their other cookbook sites and other free recipes.

Harvest Pictures (some)

Salmon Chowder

2 tbs. margarine
1/2 onion, chopped
2 celery stalk, chopped
1 tsp. garlic, minced
5 small potatoes, diced
4 carrots, diced
1/2 of a red pepper, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 c. zucchini
1 can cream of corn
4 c. of water
1 broth mix from a pack of Chicken Noodle soup.
A few pinches of parsley
Melt butter in large saucepan, stir fry onion, celery and garlic until soft. Add water, broth mix, potatoes, carrots, red pepper, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, simmer for 20 minutes. Add cream of corn, zucchini and salmon. Simmer another 20 minutes and serve.


I love making soups and this is just a new experiment that tasted great! My hubby loved it and so did the youngest.

I also used a zucchini from my garden. A round zucchini, no less. It's pretty cool. I never knew that there were round zucchini until my dad gave me some for my garden this year.