Last week at Montessori was the week before the winter break. Naturally, some of the teachers and parents brought in desserts and things to share. The one that stood out the most was this, a recipe from Miss Green's Great Aunt "Neeny" -- whose real name is Phyllis -- called Cranberry Casserole. It is wonderfully easy to make and it is even more delightful to devour! I made it this evening in individual casserole dishes for Boyfriend and myself -- because we would have eaten the full size -- but the recipe provided is family-sized.

INGREDIENTS
3 CUPS OF CHOPPED APPLES -- Honeycrisp are my favorite and you can buy a bag full of small-medium sized apples for about $4 at Kroger. 
2 CUPS OF RAW CRANBERRIES
1 CUP OF SUGAR -- I substituted Stevia in the Raw, 30 packets equals 1 cup of regular sugar but has no calories.
1 1/2 CUPS OF QUICK-COOKING OATMEAL
1/2 CUP OF BROWN SUGAR
1/3 CUP OF FLOUR
1/2 CUP OF MELTED BUTTER -- I used half of suggested amount to conserve calories and it wasn't bad, but I could definitely tell a difference from Miss Green's original batch. However, boyfriend said he "couldn't imagine it tasting better than it does", so that's a good review for less butter!

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a 2-quart casserole dish, combine apples, cranberries and white sugar (or sprinkle Stevia across apples and cranberries). Mix remaining ingredients and spread evenly over the apples, cranberries and sugar. 

Bake for 1 hour.

INGREDIENTS
6-8 OZ. CHICKEN BREAST, CUT IN STRIPS (2-3)
3-6 SLICES OF THICK-CUT BACON
SALT AND PEPPER
GARLIC POWDER
CRUSHED RED PEPPER
3/4 CUP BROWN SUGAR

There are vegetarian-friendly chicken- and bacon-like products created by Morning Star Farms and Gardein are available in the frozen section of Kroger, Meijer, Marsh and Earth Fare stores.

Season chicken strips with salt, pepper, garlic and crushed red pepper. Place chicken in pan and cook throughly -- no pink inside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Next, wrap each chicken strip in bacon -- I usually wrap 2 thick-cut bacon slices per chicken strip, depending on the size of the chicken strip.

Pack brown sugar on top of and around the chicken/bacon and place each strip on a baking sheet. 
I usually place a piece of tin foil on the baking sheet first and the chicken on top of that, it saves a lot of clean-up time and if you fold the edges of the tin foil up to make a cocoon around the chicken, it will help keep the brown sugar from burning -- I didn't do that this time and the brown sugar was completely burned onto the baking sheet. What can I say? I'm still learning how to use my new mini oven!

Bake chicken for about 30 minutes or until the bacon is crispy. 
You can cover the chicken with a piece of tin foil for the first 20 minutes or so to keep the brown sugar from burning, then remove the foil to allow the bacon to get really crispy.


It's great served with asparagus, mashed potatoes, and/or corn!