Ideas. . .

I don't know how many people look at this blog {for all I know, no one may look at it}, but if you do and you want to contribute some of your own recipes or ideas, leave a comment and I would be happy to add you. We are always looking for some suggestions!

Yogurt Chicken

I made this one tonight for dinner and I thought it was delish! As weird as it sounds, the yogurt was really good, and even better it is SUPER easy.

4 chicken breast sliced into tenders
8 oz of plain yogurt
2 packages of Ritz crackers- crushed
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs olive oil

Combine Ritz, Parmesan and garlic powder. Dip the tenders in the yogurt and coat well. Roll in the cracker mix and place in a Pyrex. Melt butter and add olive oil, then drizzle over the chicken in the pan. Cook uncovered at 350 for 30-40 minutes or whenever it is done.

Oriental Chicken Salad

This is another one of Maren's gems. Just don't try to burn your house down while toasting the peanuts, sunflower seeds and raman noodles. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
3 boiled chicken breasts (cubed)
1 head shredded Green Cabbage, or you can do one package of coleslaw cabbage
½ cup almond slivers (I used peanuts)
¼ cup sunflower seeds
2 packages Oriental Flavored Raman Noodles
1 bunch chopped green onions
Dressing:
2 Tbs cider vinegar (or you can use rice vinegar)
1/3 c sugar
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 packages of Raman Flavoring
3/4 cup olive oil
Break the packages of Raman noodles, put on cookie sheet with sunflower seeds and almonds toast for 15 minutes. Mix together with shredded cabbage, green onions, and cubed chicken. Mix together dressing and combine. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour and serve cool. Again makes a lot so you can halve.
*it seriously makes a ton, we will have leftovers for the next week.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Maren gave me this recipe a couple years ago and it is definitely one of our favorites. Plus it is seriously quick and easy, the hardest part is waiting 20 minutes for it to simmer.
Ingredients:
-1/2 onion chopped
-1 green bell pepper chopped
-4 cups chicken broth
-2 cans cream of chicken soup
-3 cooked chicken breasts shredded
-1/2 cup medium picante sauce
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/2 tsp. pepper
-1/2 tsp. chili powder or chili pepper
Directions:
Put a little butter in the bottom of your sauce pan and sauté the onion and pepper until soft. Then add everything else and simmer 20 minutes.
Crush tortilla chips in the bottom of a bowl. Pour soup over the chips and grated cheese (sour cream is optional). Makes 4-6 bowls of soup

Honey Lime Enchiladas

Long time no posts! These are DELICIOUS! Thanks Amber and Leticia for the recipe, I was a HUGE fan! They are sweet with a little kick to it. This makes a lot, so you can half the recipe

3/4 cup honey
Lime juice (1-2 limes)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded (or chicken breast/tender)
8-10 flour tortillas
1 pound monterey jack cheese, shredded
16 ounces green enchilada sauce
1 cup heavy cream

Mix the first five ingredients and toss with shredded chicken. Let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour. Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and leftover marinade. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until brown and crispy on top

Amber added:
**Here is my addition: I didn't have any left over marinade, so I just added a bit of each of the marinade ingredients to the enchilada sauce and it worked!

My new addition:
I also added a can of cream of chicken soup to the meat mixture to make it a little more creamy (as if you needed the extra calories!) but it just helped so the meat didn't taste too dry. You could probably even get away with 1/2 a can and use the healthy version!

Bacon & Baked Potato Soup

This is super yummy and super easy!

Ingredients:

1Tbsp. Butter or Margarine

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped celery

1 can reduced sodium chicken broth

1-1/4 cups milk

2 baking potatoes, baked, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

8 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled and divided

3/4 cheddar cheese

2 Tbsp. green onion sliced, divided

1/4 cup sour cream



Melt Butter in heavy saucepan or dutch oven. Add onions and celery; cook and stir 5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add broth, milk, potatoes, salt and pepper; bring just to boil, stirring constantly. Slightly crush potatoes with back of spoon (I put them in the blender with the juices to make a puree). Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Reserve 2 Tbsp. each of the bacon and cheese and 1 Tbsp. of the green onions for toppings; set aside. Add remaining bacon, cheese and green onions to soup just before serving; cook until cheese is melted, stirring constantly.

Serve topped with reserved bacon, cheese, green onions and sour cream.

Fruit Triffle

Elizabeth made this for a baby shower, and I had been dying to make it ever since. And when I finally did, it was just as good as I remembered, so everyone needs to try this one it is delicious, light, and actually can be made pretty low fat!

1 can sweetened condensed milk (You can by the fat free stuff and it still tastes fine)
1 1/2 cup cold milk- combine and mix the two together in a bowl until smooth then add
1 large box of vanilla instant pudding mix (sugar free good)- mix well, it will set up like pudding.
Fold in 8oz of cool whip
Cake cut into squares (I use angel food, but you can do yellow, white, whatever)
Variety of fruit, strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, bananas, raspberries, etc

Start with a layer of cake on the bottom, then add a layer of the pudding mix and some berries. Repeat layers until you are at the top of the bowl. Then remember presentation is everything so save a little pudding and berries to make a pretty design on top (totally kidding about presentation everything, it is only about 85%)!

Lemon Pasta

I am not usually a huge lemon flavored fan, it is usually a little too much for me. That being said, this is so wonderful. It is light (in flavor not calories!) and you can't stop eating it!

1 box Pasta (I either use bowtie or Rotini)
2-3 boiled chicken breasts
Couple leaves of fresh basil chopped
Grape tomatoes
sliced and cooked zucchini


Sauce:
1 clove of garlic minced ( or 1 tsp of the prechopped stuff)
1 Tbs olive oil
1 small thing of heavy whipping cream
1 Tbs butter
Juice from 1 lemon
1/4 c. shredded Parmesan
Lemon zest if wanted

So you cook all of the above ingredients and combine in a bowl. To cook the sauce, saute the garlic in the olive oil for a couple of minutes then add the heavy whipping cream, turn the heat to low because you don't want the whipping cream boiling (makes it sour). Add butter and Parmesan and lemon zest and let it get warm. You want the cheese and butter melted, but again don't let it boil. Then pour over the Pasta and other ingredients, then add a little more shredded Parmesan and salt and pepper to taste. Yummy!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

OK, it is a really busy time for Pork Roast recipes - I told Laura I would post this recipe for Pulled Pork Sandwiches.

Pork Roast (Boston Butt or shoulder pork roast are best) - 6 or 7 pounds

Dry rub:

3 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper

5 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons coarse salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (you can leave this out if you don't want it spicy)

for a 7 lb roast, I cut it into 3 big pieces, then rubbed the rub on all the sides of it, then threw into the crock pot, poured a little bit of Worcestershire Sauce on low for 9 hours (overnight or all day), then put two forks into the crockpot and pulled all the roast into little shreds. When it is all pulled apart, pour a whole bottle of barbecue sauce over the whole thing and warm that up for about 30 minutes or as long as you want. Serve on buns/rolls.

This makes a lot - probably enough for 15-20 sandwiches (at least). I made this for a ward activity and it was a pretty big hit (I liked it anyway). I would say 3-4 people for each pound of meat - depending on how much they are planning on eating anyway.

Our version of Cafe Rio Pork

Well I know everyone has their version of Cafe Rio Pork, but this is pretty darn good and it is really easy so I told Michelle I would post it. . .

1 pork butt roast
Season with salt, pepper and a little Lawrys Seasoning. Add a cup or 2 of chicken broth and cook on low in a crock pot until it is literally falling apart as you try and get it out of the crock pot.

In a blender combine
1 1/2 cans of Coke
1 Cup sugar
the sauce from one can of Chipotle Pepper in Adobo sauce (the sauce is what you want, not the peppers, too spicy!)
1 tsp Cumin seed
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp minced garlic

Blend until it is all 1 consistency and mixed well.

Take pork out of the crock pot and shred. Get rid or the cooked juices and fat. Put the shredded pork back in the crock pot, add the sauce mixture and cook on low for another hour or two. Then you are done! easy and really good.

For a tip, it is hard to get the Adobo sauce out of the can, so I dunked the peppers in the coke to clean off the sauce and then threw away the peppers as I was done!

Salmon Burgers with Dill Mustard

1 ½ lbs. Skinless salmon filet cut into chunks (I use canned salmon)
2 Tbsp capers chopped
Grated peel of ½ lemon
1/3 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tsp seafood seasoning (or just seasoning salt)
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
¼ seedless cucumber, chopped or sliced thin
2 plum tomatoes chopped or sliced thin
½ small red onion, chopped or sliced thin
½ cup Dijon or Honey Mustard
3 Tablespoons fresh dill chopped
4 kaiser rolls
4 red-leaf lettuce leaves

Using a food processor, coarsely chop the salmon, transfer to a bowl. Mix in the capers, lemon peel, parsley and seafood seasoning and season with salt and pepper. Form into 4 patties
Preheat the broiler. In a nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the patties and cook for 4 minutes on each side.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the cucumber, tomatoes and red onion (if chopped). In another small bowl, mix the mustard with the dill.
Toast the rolls under the broiler and slather each side with the mustard-dill sauce. Squeeze the lemon half over the cooked burgers. Set a lettuce leaf and burger on each roll bottom and top with the tomatoes, cucumbers and onions.

Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Roll-Ups

2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 ½ cups ricotta cheese
1 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
8 chicken breast cutlets (or tenderized filets)
½ lb. deli-sliced provolone cheese
extra virgin olive oil (I use Pam olive oil spray)

Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil and grease the foil.
Place the beaten eggs and bread crumbs into separate shallow bowls. In another bowl, mix the ricotta and sun dried tomatoes. Dip the chicken cutlets into the egg, then coat with the bread crumbs and place on a work surface. Place a slice of provolone and a heaping tablespoon of ricotta mixture on each cutlet. Roll up and secure with toothpicks.
Place the chicken roll-ups side by side on the prepared baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil or spray with Pam. Bake until the chicken is golden and the cheese is bubbling, about 20 minutes.

Black Bean Soup.

Delicious. Fast. Easy.

Black Bean Soup

1 cup salsa (fresca is best, but any type will do) plus more for garnish
2 15 oz. cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups chicken broth

sour cream, for garnish
lime, for garnish

Heat salsa in large saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes. Stir in beans and broth; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Cool slightly and spoon half of soup into blender or food processor to puree.

Serve with sour cream and salsa. Also good with shredded chicken, tortilla strips, avocado, tomatoes, and cheese.

Crockpot chicken Tortilla Soup

4-6 chicken breasts (I usually just put them in the crock pot frozen)
2 cans black beans
1 can of corn
1 can chicken broth (water and chicken boullion cubes also works)
1 packet taco seasoning mix1 cup salsa (any kind, sometimes I'll just add the whole jar)
Top with grated cheese, sour cream, and chips before eating.

This recipe is great because you can throw it in the crock pot in the morning, cook it on low, and it's perfect by dinner time. The chicken usually shreds on it's own, but you may want to shred it yourself before serving it.

Fiesta Casserole

Ok, so I know casseroles are not included, but we may have to make an exception for this one. This recipe is in a new cookbook my dad gave Maren and I for Christmas. I made it a little different but let me start by giving you the recipe as the book says:

3 cups chicken broth
2 cups instant rice
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 (15.5 oz) can of black beans, rinsed
1 1/2 cups salsa
1 Tbsp tabasco
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 cups shredded cheese
6 oz Fritos, crushed to course crumbs
lime wedges for serving

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 450. Combine broth, rice, corn, beans, salsa and tabasco. Pour into 9 x 13 baking dish and bake for 15 minutes. Then stir in chicken and sprinkle cheese evenly over the top, then sprinkle Fritos evenly over the top. Bake until edges are bubbling and crumbs are toasted, about 8 to 12 mintues longer. Serve with lime wedges.

Ok, so that is the original, let me give you Shannon's version. So, I really don't like rice with my Mexican food so I left out the rice and only added about a cup or so of the chicken broth for the beginning bake. I also am weak and therefore left out the tabasco but instead I added a Tbsp or so of chopped cilantro (which I love!!!). From there the rest of the bake is the same but we washed up a bunch of leafy greens to place our servings of the casserole on. I am telling you it was delicious and the Fritos crushed on top were awesome! Heads up though, this does not serve as well for left overs because the fritos aren't crunchy.

Stuffed Green Peppers

I made these last night and they were SO good (and I think it is pretty good for you). I tweaked this recipe from one I got online and I loved it! This makes enough to serve 6.

6 Green Bell Peppers
1/2 c. uncooked brown rice
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1/2 jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 bag mixed frozen veggies
1 c. frozen corn
dried chopped onion (if you use fresh I'm sure it would be even better)
Shredded cheese (mozzarella or Mexican mix)

Make rice, as directed on bag. Brown turkey, pour off grease. Add spaghetti sauce (i used Prego Mushroom and Garlic) rice, frozen veggies/corn and chopped onion. Mix and warm in pan.

In separate pan, boil water and put peppers in for about 3 minutes. Remove peppers and put into cold water (apparently, this is called blanching). Put peppers in your baking dish and fill with filling prepared above. Cover and bake on 350 for 45 minutes. Take cover off and put cheese on top. Bake uncovered for another 5 minutes. Enjoy!