Chicken Piccata with Artichoke Hearts

Ingredients:

2 pounds Chicken Breast
1 cup flour
Olive oil

For the sauce:

1 large tomato, chopped
2 cloves garlic, mined
1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup capers, rinsed
1/2 jar marinated artichoke hearts
24 oz low sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp margarine or butter
2tbs fresh parsley

3 tbsp flour & enough chicken broth to make slurry
Directions:

Rinse and clean chicken. Pound thin. Season with salt and pepper. Mix flour with salt and pepper on a large dinner plate. Prep sauce ingredients. Coat frying pan with olive oil heat over medium heat. When oil is hot enough to sizzle with a drop of water it's ready. Dip both sides of chicken in flour and shake excess. Add to pan and let cook until golden brown about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove from pan and set on a paper towel to drain oil.

Add 1-2 tbsp of utter to olive oil. Add chopped tomato and garlic. Smash tomatoes with a back of a fork and reduce to a pan sauce. Add lemon juice, capers and artichoke hearts. Stir and cook about 2 minutes. Add chicken broth. Make flour and chicken broth slurry. Whisk briskly with a fork. Let sauce thicken. Add fresh parsley and basil to sauce. Add chicken back to pan and gently reheat.

Serve with rice or pasta or just a loaf of crusty Italian bread to soak up the lovely "gravy"!

Paula's Junior League Salad (avocado & hearts of palm)

Dressing:

Juice of 1 large lemon

1 T. fresh fine herbes (parsley, chives, tarragon, chervil)

1 t. Dijon mustard

1 T. Worchestershire sauce

1 t. salt

½ t. fresh ground pepper

3 cloves garlic minced

1 ¼ c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 T.  Feta cheese

           Toss with:

Romaine, Chopped Leeks, Hearts of Palm & Avocado.

Holly's Cheese Sauce

Sauté sliced onions in margarine/butter

Add:

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 Jar Cheese Whiz

Heat through; serve over steamed broccoli or cauliflower.

Mmmmm...

Bianca's Candied Yams/Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
4 pounds yams/sweet potatoes
1 1/4 cups margarine
1 1/4 cups brown sugar (or to taste)
1 pound miniature marshmallows
ground cinnamon to taste
ground nutmeg to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a deep 9x13
inch baking dish.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and boil until
done. Drain, cool and peel.
3. Chop yams/sweet potatoes into bite size chunks. Mash half of the potatoes.
4. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine margarine, brown
sugar, 2 cups marshmallows (or to taste), cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook,
stirring occasionally, until marshmallows are melted.
4. Stir mashed yams/potatoes and chunks into marshmallow sauce.
Transfer to prepared dish. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.
5. Take out yams/potatoes and top liberally with marshmallows so that
no yams/potatoes are visible.
6. Bake in preheated oven for another 15 minutes or until marshmallows
are golden brown (marshmallows will expand a lot!)

(From Thanksgiving 2011)

BLACK-BOTTOM CUPCAKES

CREAM-CHEESE MIXTURE:

8 ounces cream cheese

1 egg
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
½  teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE MIXTURE:

1 + 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil or 1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon vinegar 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cupcake liners

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Com­bine ingredients for cream-cheese mixture and set aside. For chocolate mixture, combine dry ingredients, then add liquid ingredients and mix well.

Line a muffin pan and fill each liner a third of the way with the chocolate mixture; top with one heaping teaspoon of the cream­cheese mixture. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Makes about 18 cupcakes.