New Recipes

I've tried a couple of good recipes from Pinterest and wanted to share. Especially because they are super easy!

Cheesy Crockpot Chicken and Rice

This is SO easy and SO yummy! I prepped everything in the morning, turned the crockpot on and dinner was done. I already crave it again.

Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 large onion, chopped
1 -8 ounce box Zatarain's Yellow Rice Mix, cooked according to directions
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 - 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup (regular or fat free)
1 -15 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained

Instructions
Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker. Scatter chopped onion over top. Spoon cream soup over top of that. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. A few minutes before serving, add in cooked rice, corn, and cheese. Stir to combine. Serve hot.

Here's a link for pictures and more detailed instructions.

http://www.southernplate.com/2010/09/slow-cooker-cheesy-chicken-and-rice-the-downside-of-being-a-swan-princess.html

Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta

This recipe comes so highly recommended that I wonder if my expectations might have been to high. It is yummy and easy to make but I felt like it was missing something. A freshness to it if you may. Like a squeeze of lemon juice and some zest? I don't know. The flavor was good. It just felt like something was missing to complete the flavors. Maybe fresh basil? I don't know. If you try it and figure it out let me know. I substituted fresh tomatoes at the end instead of cooking them. I also used fresh garlic. The recipe serves two so you may need to double to feed a family.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

4 ounces fettuccine, cooked

2 teaspoons cajun seasoning

2 tablespoons butter

1-2 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes

1 green onion thinly sliced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder (I used fresh minced garlic)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Place chicken and Cajun seasoning in a bowl and toss to coat. In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté chicken in butter or margarine until chicken is tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Reduce heat add green onion, heavy cream, tomatoes, basil, salt, garlic powder, black pepper and heat through. Pour over hot pasta and toss with Parmesan cheese.

Easy Lasagna Cups

1 pkg wonton wrappers
1 jar spaghetti sauce (add your meat of choice if you like it in lasagna)
2+ cups of cheese (any kind you like in lasagna: italian mix, mozarella mixed with ricotta, etc.)

Spray muffin tins with a little cooking spray, put down one wonton wrapper at the bottom of each muffin spot, then layer sauce, cheese, another wonton wrapper cut in a circle about the size of the muffin tin by a cookie cutter or a rounded edge glass, then keep layering in that order until it is to the top of the muffin tin and you end with cheese.

Bake at 375 for 15-20 min.  So easy, not a huge mess, the kids prefer these to regular lasagna.  You could also mix it up and use chicken and alfredo sauce.  The possibilities are endless.  I made 18 with about 2 1/2 cups of cheese.

I have a picture but blogger won't let me put it on.  So I will do it as soon as it will let me.

Taco Soup

Here is the soup I made for our Fabulous Friday. This is Tammy Thompson's recipe, but I have tweaked it a little bit.

1 lb ground beef
chopped onion
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans undrained
1 can corn undrained
1 cup salsa (I use Pace Chunky Salsa, Medium)
1 packet taco seasoning

Brown ground beef with onion. Drain. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Ladle into bowl. Top with cheddar cheese and sour cream. Serve with tortilla chips.

I put mine in a crockpot and cooked on high for about 2 hours.

Melted Reuben Sandwich

Roll out your favorite bread dough into a rectangle (it doesn't have to be perfect).

Layer in the middle turkey pastrami and swiss cheese.

I usually do 3 layers but today I only had enough stuff for two.
Cut slits in the side of the dough.
Fold up the flaps that you created to completely enclose the meat and cheese.

Make sure all holes are crimped together so it doesn't leak out.

Bake according to your bread directions. This was 350 for 15-20 min.
This is the yummy, gooey inside. So good. We have to now make two of these every time because the kids love it.

You could do any meat cheese combo (roast beef and provolone, ham and swiss, but our favorite is the turkey pastrami and swiss).

To make this a real Reuben you're supposed to put sauerkraut on top of the meat and drizzle with Italian dressing before you seal it up. I don't do sauerkraut and I forgot the Italian dressing.

I made this for lunch today so I took pictures. Many of you already have the recipe from the soup/sandwich swap.

Sticky Chicken and Spinach Salad

I was watching Good Things Utah and they had this recipe on. It looked so yummy and so easy so I thought I would try it.

Sticky Chicken

3-4 chicken breasts
1 cup apricot jam
1 cup BBQ sauce
1 packet onion soup mix

Cut chicken breasts into strips. Pour a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and begin browning the chicken. Mix together the remaining ingredients and then pour over the chicken. Let simmer until chicken is fully cooked and sauce is thick and bubbly. Serve over rice.

The chicken was so yummy! A nice sweet and sour twist to the classic chicken and rice. I paired it with my favorite spinach salad. No real recipe just ingredients.

Spinach Salad

Fresh spinach
hard boiled eggs
bacon
cucumbers
Good Seasonings Italian Dressing mixed according to package directions.

Sorry no pictures because my camera is MIA. I'll make it again soon at the request of my family and post pictures then.

Yummy Snack

This time of year we have an abundance of apples. I get kind of sick of just eating plain apples or in slices so with the cold weather we have been eating a lot of cooked apples.

Peel and slice the apples.

Put in a microwave bowl, add a little water, sprinkle on cinnamon/sugar and cook at 5 min. After they get out, sprinkle a tad of brown sugar on top. Plus, it makes your house smell delectable.
SO EASY!

Take it one step further and if you want applesauce pour the whole cooked bowlful into the blender and blend up until you have the texture you want.

Chicken Fried Rice

Before I got married I lived in an apartment with a couple roommates. One of my roommates would make this fried rice a lot and it always tasted so good. It's a simple recipe and very fast to make.

It all starts with this packet. I know it seems like I use these packets a lot but I really don't. :) Once again you just follow the directions on the back. You can use any kind of meat you want but we're partial to the chicken. You will also need oil, soy sauce, 3 green onions, 2 eggs, cooked rice and 1 cup frozen peas.

Heidi Cole's Bacon Tomato Tarts

Bacon Tomato Tarts




8 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled

2-3 med. tomatoes diced

1 1/2 cups of grated mozarella cheese

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp garlic salt



12 refrigerator biscuits (2 small 6 pack cans)



Spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Flatten out and place a biscuit in the bottom of each muffin slot.

Mix all the rest of the ingredients and spoon on top of the biscuits. Bake according to the biscuit directions.

Beef Stroganoff

I've been eating this for as long as I can remember. My mom would frequently make it when my dad was out of town because it was quick and easy and we all liked it. I made it for our Recipe Exchange for the 30 minutes or less category.

The Ingredients

It's really simple. You need the McCormick Beef Stroganoff Sauce Mix Packet, water, thin cut steaks, egg noodles and sour cream. Just follow the directions on the back of the packet and serve over wide egg noodles. I add a vegetable with it and it's one of our family's favorite meals.

It's not so great in the visually appealing part as it's bland in colors, but it's oh so good and super quick! 20 minutes from start to finish at the most.