These are delicious and freeze really well so double that recipe!  The kids love these and it is a hit with the rest of the family too!

Saucy Mozzarella Patties

2 jars of your favorite tomato sauce
1 lb ground turkey)
1 cup breadcrumbs
2 cups breadcrumbs
1 egg
salt & pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
butter or margarine
olive or veggie oil
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

Yield: Four Servings 

Serve these on top of a bed of angel hair or thin spaghetti pasta.

Ranch Chicken

6 chicken breasts
½ cup ranch dressing
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
½ cup grated parmesan cheese (freshly or packaged shredded)
1 t. sage
salt and pepper to taste

Marinade chicken in ranch overnight. Preheat oven to 450. Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, sage, salt, and pepper. Coat breasts in breading and place in 9×13 pan. Cook the chicken at 400 for 20 minutes and check for doneness.

Yield: Six Servings 

Serve with mashed potatoes & a garden salad.

Flipping a whole chicken is awkward, but worth the effort. You can also substitute the whole chicken with chicken parts, if you prefer.

 Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken

1 (3#) broiler-fryer chicken
1 tsp dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup chicken broth (or sherry wine if it is in your pantry)
¼ cup lemon juice
salt & pepper

Wash chicken; pat dry; season chicken generously with salt and pepper; sprinkle half of oregano, rosemary and garlic inside cavity of chicken; melt butter in frying pan and brown chicken; transfer to slow cooker or crockpot; sprinkle with remaining oregano, rosemary and garlic; add sherry to frying pan and stir to loosen brown bits; pour into slow cooker. Cover, cook on LOW (200 degrees) for 7 hours; add lemon juice and cook 1 more hour (total of 8); transfer chicken to cutting board; skim fat from juices and serve over chicken.

Yield: Four servings

Serve with rice & baby peas.

Crock Hot Dogs

8 hot dogs (about one pound)

Put the hot dogs in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH until hot & slightly browned around edges, 1.5-2 hours. Remove with metal tongs and serve hot, in buns, with the fixings.

Serve with chips or pretzels.

This is a HUGE hit in our house. I guarantee once you try this recipe, you will never want tilapia any other way. My son calls this, “Fish With Sprinkles.” I just call it delicious! Enjoy!

Herb Baked Tilapia (or “Fish with Sprinkles”)

4 (4 to 6 ounce) tilapia fillets
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs (I prefer the Italian breadcrumbs & I skip the dried seasonings)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place tilapia on nonstick foil. In a small bowl, combine cheese and mayonnaise. Spread evenly over fish. In another bowl, combine bread crumbs, basil, oregano, salt and pepper.Sprinkle over fish. Coat fish lightly with cooking spray. Bake 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork.

Serve with steamed broccoli and rice.

Roasted Chicken (Serves 4)

1 whole chicken – approximately three pounds

Wash chicken inside & out (removing anything inside). Sprinkle seasoning of your choice on the chicken (Lawry’s, Mrs. Dash, salt, or pepper). Next put three balls of aluminum foil in the bottom of the slow cooker (this creates a rack so the chicken doesn’t soak in its own juices). Place the chicken in, breast side down, and cook on low for six to eight hours.

Pair this dinner with a side of mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Amy’s Notes: Adjust the cooking time according to your slow cooker. I do not put this chicken in until 1:00 and it is ready by 5:00 on low. The newer slow cookers seem to cook quicker so adjust your times accordingly.

This dish is for ziti noodles, but you can substitute with any short noodle. Macaroni is always available at Aldi and penne is available as a special purchase some weeks. Whatever pasta you do end up using, make sure to undercook the noodles so that it doesn’t become mushy when it is baked.

Classic Baked Ziti (Serves Eight)

1 pound short pasta (ziti, penne, or elbow macaroni)

1 jar of plain spaghetti sauce

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 pound ground turkey

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Brown the ground turkey in a skillet. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasonings. Drain fat from turkey. Dump in the jar of spaghetti sauce and 1 cup of chicken broth. Allow this to simmer while you cook the noodles. Cook noodles until al dente (make sure there is still a good bite to the noodle). Stir one cup of sauce into the drained noodles. Add 1/2 cup of sauce to the bottom of a 9×13″ dish and then pour in 1/2 of the noodles. Top these noodles with half the cheese. Repeat these steps with the remainder of the ingredients. Bake for twenty minutes covered and then remove foil and bake another ten minutes.

Serve with Texas Toast.

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