Food outlooks for this new year seem to be on the emphasis of using organically-grown produce. There will be more focusing on personal wellness and including “super” foods in our diets, such as blueberries, oatmeal, spinach and beans. There will be a huge growth of Mexican and other Latin cuisine. Quality breakfasts will return and the polls seem to think there will be more legislation in areas such as trans-fat use and restaurant smoking bans. There will be changes in some of our restaurants and their offerings, such as McDonald’s using premium coffee and Starbucks will be adding breakfast to their menu. These experts that enjoy looking at our food futures also believe that the acai palm, from the Amazonian rainforest, and now very popular in South American juices, smoothies or frozen pulp, will hit our shores. I enjoy reading the predictions of how food and our dietary plans will go for the year and what will be new on the market shelves. In fact, a new store has opened here in town that carries organic foods, “A Natural Thing” on 2800 Logan Ave. SW. I believe you will be pleased when you drop by to see Rita Caldron and Debra Martin.

A few musings before doing our wonderful new recipes for the day: Have you ever wondered where the salesman go that sell the Ove Glove, the Chia Pet heads, the Clapper, and the pasta cooker go after Christmas? Do they retire or do they just work part time? Lately I have thought why I didn’t encourage my children into being football coaches? The salaries of coaches and movie stars just blow my mind.

Here is one of my family’s favorite casseroles:

Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

8-oz. box of angel hair pasta

1 small onion, chopped

1 c. sliced mushrooms

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. plain flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. poultry seasoning

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 c. chicken broth

1/2 c. whipping cream

3 1/2 c. cooked chopped turkey or chicken

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350º. Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse and drain. Sauté onions and mushrooms in butter. Add the flour, salt, poultry seasoning and pepper. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in broth and cook until thick. Stir in whipping cream and chicken. In a buttered casserole dish, layer pasta with chicken mixture, ending with chicken mixture on top. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the cheese and bake until cheese melts.

Cook’s note: When making the sauce, you may want to add some sherry, about four tablespoons. It gives a lovely taste to the dish.

Baked Brown Rice

1 1/2 c. brown rice, medium or short grain

2 1/2 c. water

1 T. butter

1 tsp. Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 375º. Place rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish. Bring water, butter and salt just to a boil in kettle or covered saucepan. Once water boils, pour it over rice, stir to combine and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on middle rack of oven for 1 hour. After baking is done, remove from oven and remove cover. Fluff rice with fork and serve.

Cook’s note: Rice is good refrigerated or you may freeze it after cooking.

Here is a great way to get sweet potatoes in your diet. They are very tasty and very good for you. After cooking, these potatoes will keep in a zip-top bag in the refrigerator for a week or more. Rinse and dry sweet potatoes and place them in a four-quart or larger slow cooker (exactly how many depends on the size of the crock). Cover and cook on low until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, about 8 to 10 hours. To serve hot, cut a slit in top of each potato and drizzle or sprinkle on the toppings of your choice: Butter, maple syrup, orange marmalade, miniature marshmallows, chopped pecans or walnuts.

Icebox Cheese Wafers

2 c. shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 lb. softened butter

1/2 tsp. salt

Few grains of cayenne pepper

1 1/2 c. flour

Pecan halves

Place cheese, butter, salt and cayenne in the mixing bowl and mix well, gradually stirring in flour. When all of the flour is moistened, turn dough out onto a sheet of wax paper and shape into a roll about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap in wax paper and chill for several hours. Heat oven to 325º. Slice roll into thin wafers and place about 1 inch apart on a greased cookie sheet. Place a pecan half on each wafer. Bake wafers for 15 minutes or until lightly browned at the edges. Remove wafers to a wire cake rack to cool. Dough may be kept in refrigerator up to 1 month. Slice and bake as needed.