Broccoli Apple Salad

• 4 cups fresh broccoli florets, (about 2 medium heads)
• ½ cup shredded carrots
• ¼ cup diced red onion
• 2 large apples, finely chopped (I used gala apples)
• ½ cup pecans, coarsely chopped
• ½ cup dried cranberries

Creamy dressing ingredients:

• ½ cup lite mayonnaise
• ½ cup low fat greek yogurt
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon pepper

Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl set aside, prepare and combine salad ingredients and put in bowl, toss with dressing and keep refrigerated.

Salmon with Parmesan herb Crust

This oven baked salmon is a favorite of our families.

2 salmon filets
4 heaping tsp. of minced garlic
3 tsp. parsley
about 3/4 c. parmesan cheese
1/2 cup butter, divided

Preheat oven to 425*.  line a 9*13 pan with foil.  Place salmon deboned skin side down.  Slice butter into patties and place about 1/4 cup onto each filet.  Combine the garlic, parsley and parmesan.  Top with mixture.  Bake for about 20 minutes or til flaky.

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

1 C. unsalted butter, softened
1 C. creamy peanut butter
1 C. sugar
3/4 C. packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 C. + 2 Tbls flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 C. sugar for rolling

Using a stand mixer combine butters and both sugars on medium until smooth.  Add in eggs and vanilla tip blended.  Scrape down sides and while off add remaining ingredients, mix on low tip combined.  Refrigerate dough 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 350*, using silpat mats, place balls 1 Tbls size balls of dough onto pans and flatten with a fork in a criss cross.  Bake for about 10 minutes, remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for a minute, transfer to cooling racks,  The cookies will continue to set on the cooling racks.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Roll-Ups

This is like a serious breakfast hack, we serve them for sunday brunch, or christmas.

1 Loaf white bread CRUSTS REMOVED
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 C. Confections sugar
1 C. Sugar
1 1/2 Tbls cinnamon
3/4 C. butter, Melted

Flatten bread with a rolling pin.  Combine cream cheese and confectioners sugar. In another bowl combine sugar and cinnamon.  Spread about 1 Tbls. of cheese mixture onto rolled bread slices, and roll up bread jelly roll style.  Dip quickly into butter and than roll in cinnamon sugar.  Place onto ungreased cookie sheet and bak for 20 minutes at 350*.  Makes about 18 rolls up.  We sometimes put nutella inside instead of the cream cheese as well.

Lasagna Soup

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 lb lean ground beef
1 large yellow onion, diced (2 cups)
3 - 5 garlic cloves, to taste, minced
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
1 (14.5 oz) can crushed tomatoes
2 1/2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 3/4 tsp dried basil
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 lasagna noodles, broken into bite size pieces (6.5 oz)
1 1/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (5 oz)
1/2 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese (2 oz)
8 oz ricotta cheese

Directions

Heat one tablespoon olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Once hot, crumble beef into pot, season with salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring occasionally until browned. Drain majority of fat from beef and set aside.  Heat remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil in pot, add chopped onion and saute until it begins to soften. Add in garlic and saute 30 seconds longer. Add in chicken broth, diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, rosemary, fennel seeds, thyme, sugar, parsley, the cooked ground beef and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring just to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 20 minutes.Meanwhile, prepare lasagna noodles according to directions listed on package, reserving 1 cup pasta water before draining pasta.Add cooked pasta to soup along with 1/2 cup - 1 cup pasta water as desired. In a mixing bowl, using a fork, stir together mozzarella, parmesan and ricotta.Ladle soup into bowls, dollop with a large scoop of the cheese mixture and sprinkle with chopped parsley (you can help the cheese melt better by cooking in the microwave after dolloping over soup for a bit or you could put the soup in oven safe bowl, top with cheese mixture and set under broiler to melt well. Or just stir into very hot soup and it should melt well).

Exact Recipe Source: Cooking Classyhttp://www.cookingclassy.com/2013/12/lasagna-soup/