Chicken Feta Bake

(This one's from Tyler too)

Chicken Feta Bake

- Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to a glass pan
- Place your boneless, skinless chicken breasts the pan
- Salt and pepper the chicken breasts, then sprinkle lemon juice over the tops of them to your liking
- Top with "Athenos" dried tomato and basil(?) feta cheese - it comes in a round container and is reddish in color
- Place in the oven at 375 degrees and bake for 30-40 minutes (until the chicken is done)
- Top with diced red pepper and parsley
- Serve with couscous and a Cesar salad or hummus and pita chips in keeping with the Mediterranean theme

Chicken Taco Soup

(Tyler emailed this to me, so this is actually his recipe, not mine)

Chicken Taco Soup

- 1 can black beans
- 1 can of corn
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 1 can of green chilies
- 1 can of chicken
- 1 envelope of taco seasoning

Combine all ingredients and heat them up! It's that simple. (When I made it for dinner group, I just doubled everything to make more so that gives you an idea of how many it serves)
- Add cilantro, shredded cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips to your liking

perfect macaroni and cheese...

...according to the title on Martha Stewart's website.

Serves 12
6 slices good-quality white bread, crusts removed, torn into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for dish
5 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 1/2 cups (about 18 ounces) grated sharp white cheddar
2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated Gruyere or 1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) grated pecorino Romano
1 pound elbow macaroni

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish; set aside. Place bread pieces in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Pour butter into the bowl with bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, heat milk. Melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When butter bubbles, add flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

2. Slowly pour hot milk into flour-butter mixture while whisking. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick.
3. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 cups cheddar, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyere or 1 cup pecorino Romano. Set cheese sauce aside.

4. Fill a large saucepan with water. Bring to a boil. Add macaroni; cook 2 to 3 fewer minutes than manufacturer's directions, until outside of pasta is cooked and inside is underdone. (Different brands of macaroni cook at different rates; be sure to read the instructions.) Transfer the macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Stir macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar and 1/2 cup Gruyere or 1/4 cup pecorino Romano; scatter breadcrumbs over the top. Bake until browned on top, about 30 minutes. Transfer dish to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes; serve.

Katie's comments:

A lot of the comments on the recipe said the dish was too greasy with the breadcrumbs, so I left those out. A lot people suggested adding bacon as well, which hello, would be delicious because everything is better with bacon. Also, if you can't find any gruyere cheese (I know at least Smith's doesn't carry it), you can substitute swiss for a slightly milder flavor.

Portuguese Fruit Salad

The "Portuguese" is really just to impress people.

• Chop your favorite fruits up and put them in a bowl. I used bananas, pears, apples, kiwis, oranges, and grapes, and I should have added strawberries.
• Pour a few tablespoons of sugar over the chopped fruit. (Not too much, lets still keep this healthful!)
• Pour some kind of fruit drink in just below the top of the fruit. I used V8 Splash "Fruit Medley," but I think any of them would have been good. (p.s. V8 Splash is WAY cheaper than V8 Fusion, but feel free to go wild with what juice you put in.)
• Stir up the concoction carefully, so as to avoid mashing the fruit.
  
• Cover and store in the fridge for about 2 hours. I didn't have time to do this, but it probably would have been a little better if I had.

Yay!

Southwest Chicken Salad

It was really just a made-up thing, so I couldn't really tell you proportions, but here's the "recipe" anyway and you can figure out how you like it best.

Salad

• Cook breaded chicken strips in the oven as directed on the bag. (Kroger brand "Crispy chicken breast strips: fritter style" are better than Tyson brand). Cut into bite-sized pieces.
  
• Chop Romaine lettuce (or whatever kind you prefer, although iceberg would probably not be a good choice) and place in a bowl.
• Drain (and I rinsed, but I don't know if that made it better or worse) black beans. I also heated them up afterward. (You know, now that I think of it, it would have worked better to heat the beans with all the juice from the can, then just scoop out the beans when adding them to the salad. That's probably what you should do...). Add beans to lettuce.
  
• Heat up corn.
• Add the chicken, corn, and beans at the end just before serving.

Winger's-like Sauce

• Heat up 1 part Frank's Red Hot Sauce
• Add 3 parts golden or dark brown sugar
• Stir until sugar is dissolved

A few extra notes:

This sauce is amazing, albeit on the spicy side (more so than the real Winger's sauce). However, a few cautions about the sauce:

• Do not sniff it directly, as it will burn your nose. (It won't damage you, but it sure is strong and stings a bit.)
• DO NOT use any white cooking materials (spoons, bowls, etc.) when preparing or storing this sauce, unless you've always wished those white cooking materials were orange.
  

I would HIGHLY recommend using this sauce on the crispy chicken strips by themselves (without cutting them into bite-sized pieces). The best way to coat them in the sauce is to put the cooked chicken in a bowl with a lid, pour the sauce (warm) liberally over the chicken, cover, and shake. Looks beautiful at the end! Have some Kleenex ready, because your nose will run.

Ranch seemed to work pretty well for those with more sensitive taste buds. Ranch mixed with the sauce was even better.

And I'm done.

White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

1 lb. Great Northern white beans (3 normal-sized cans)
2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast (the frozen chicken breasts are fine)
Olive oil
2 large onions
Garlic, minced
1 4-oz can chopped green chilies (chopped/diced jalapenos work too)
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp chili powder
Optional: cilantro leaves, sour cream


Directions:

Beans

• If using canned beans:
• Drain beans and place in a pot.
• If using real beans
• Rise beans well, pour into a bowl, cover them with water and soak overnight
• Drain and rinse beans
• Place beans in a pot and cover with water.
• Add 2 Tbs olive oil and 4 whole garlic cloves. Salt and pepper to taste.
• Cook until tender (about 1 hour).
• Remove garlic, drain beans, and place in a pot.

Chicken

• Put chicken breasts in a pot and fill water to the top of the chicken
• Boil chicken breasts for 15 minutes (until cooked through), remove from pan and cool.
• Save 6 cups of the water you boiled it in for broth. Add 1 or 2 chicken bouillon cubes to the broth while still hot. 
• Make sure to take out all the gross chicken floaties. Add this to the beans in the pot
  
• Cut off any extra fat or other gross parts from the chicken. Tear the chicken into bite-sized pieces and set aside.

Onions and spices

• Chop onions. Mince 4 large garlic cloves (or just use minced garlic - I'm not sure how much, just make it up.
• Heat 4-6 Tbs olive oil in pan and add onions. Sauté for 10 minutes
• Stir in garlic, chilis, cumin, oregano, cayenne and chili powder and cook two minutes
• Add to beans and chicken in the pot.

Bring the chili to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until beans are tender. Sprinkle cilantro leaves and add sour cream on top of each serving as desired.

A few notes:

• It's hard to put in too much cumin, so don't worry about adding a little extra if you want to.
• I doubled the recipe when we ate it for dinner group and there was still probably half left after everyone finished. The chili freezes really well, too.
• If you use the frozen chicken breasts it may take a little longer to boil (I'm not sure).
• Club crackers are delicious.
  

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

4 to 5 medium russet potatoes (about 2 lbs.)
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
a few grinds of fresh pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder (optional)
2 1/2 cups milk
1 to 1 1/2 cups diced ham or 1 (6 ounce) can
1 tablespoon additional butter

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour, salt , pepper and onion powder and blend well into a smooth paste. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly about 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and bring slowly to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for one minute. Remove from heat.

Pare and slice the potatoes very thinly, about 1/8-inch thick. Butter a casserole dish and place half the potato slices over the bottom. Scatter the diced ham evenly over the potatoes and then cover with half the white sauce. Layer the remaining potatoes over the ham and pour the rest of the sauce over the top, smoothing with a rubber scraper to make sure all the potatoes are covered. Dot the top with 1 tablespoon butter.

Cover with a lid or aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid or foil, turn the oven down to 375 degrees and bake another 30 to 40 minutes until potatoes are tender and the top is golden brown.

Serves 4 - 5*

*I doubled the recipe when I made it Tuesday.

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

as per request by Bob...he can testify to its deliciousness.

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
assorted fresh fruit

In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, brown sugar and vanilla; mix well. Serve with fresh fruit for dipping. Refrigerate leftovers.

Laura and I used this as dessert pizza "sauce" on a sugar cookie dough crust, and topped it with fresh fruit. It was awesome. I would highly recommend this use of it.

Chicken Salad Veronique

This is directly from the Dassler-Coalwell Family Recipe Book with my notes in {}:

3 cups chicken, cooked and cubed {I used canned chicken, 2 large cans}
1 cup grapes, seedless, halved (red or green)
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted {I omitted these}
1/2 cup celery, chopped {ditto}
3 T. onion, chopped or 1 tsp. onion powder {I used onion powder}
1/2 tsp. celery salt or Beau Monde
1/3 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1/3 cup lemon yogurt
1/2 tsp. prepared mustard (I use Dijon) {so do I}

In a medium bowl, mix chicken, grapes, almonds, celery, onion or powder, and celery salt. In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, yogurt and mustard. Fold mayonnaise mixture into chicken mixture and refrigerate. Serve on lettuce or croissant. {I served these on pitas}

Serves 6.

Cheddar Chicken Chowder

from the one and only Pendulum Court...shhhhh....

1 lb chicken breasts
5 slices of bacon
3/4 lb red potatoes
1 c red peppers
1 tbsp margarine
1 clove garlic
1 cup chopped onion
2 1/2 tsp soup base, chicken paste (like chicken bouillon cubes)
6 c water
1 c flour
2 1/2 c 1% milk
3 c frozen corn
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Cook chicken, then chop into 2 inch cubes. Cook bacon until crisp (oven at 350 degrees for 10-12 min). Place potatoes in large pot and cover with water one inch above the potatoes. Boil for approx. 15 min or until tender. Wash and dice peppers. In large pot, saute margarine, garlic, onions and peppers over medium heat. Add chicken paste, water, and chopped chicken to pot. Stir well then bring to a boil. In a bowl, combine flour and milk. Whisk until all lumps are removed. Add slowly to soup. Cook on medium heat for 20 minutes until thick, stirring frequently. Cut up boiled potatoes. Add potatoes, frozen corn, salt, and pepper to soup. Reduce heat to low. Add cheese to soup. Further reduce heat to simmer and stir until cheese is melted.

*the Pendulum Court forgot to mention when to put in the bacon. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be sprinkled on top just before serving or what, but I threw it in at the end before I put the cheese in.

Pumpkin Roll

So, I got a few requests for this recipe and one stolen recipe page so i thought just maybe I'd put it up on the blog :)

Pumpkin Roll

13 x 18 x 1 jelly roll pan- greased and floured

3 eggs- beat 5 minutes on high
1 cup sugar- add gradually to beating egg

2/3 cup pumpkin + 1 tsp. lemon juice } use wire whip to add to above

Cake... 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Frosting... 1 cup powdered sugar
8 oz. cream cheese
4 T. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix dry cake ingredients into liquid. Spoon evenly into pan, nuts opt. Bake 12-15 minutes at 375 degrees. Turn out onto dish towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Roll up with towel until cool. When cool, frost and reroll without towel. Refrigerate over night.

Enjoy :)
Natalie

Sour Cream and Chive Potato Dinner Rolls

The recipe for this is my mom's and she has it posted on her blog, as well. I made about 20 rolls and a loaf of bread.

Sour Cream & Chive Potato Bread

Stir together in a large bowl:
3 cups unbleached bread flour or all-purpose flour (you will need an additional 3-4 cups of flour)
½ cup powdered milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
3 teaspoons instant yeast (also sold as Bread Machine Yeast or Quick-Rise Yeast)
1/4 cup minced fresh chives (½ to 3/4 oz)

In a medium bowl combine:
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup mashed potatoes*
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup sour cream
1 cup water** (I use the potato water left from boiling the potatoes)

*Note: If using leftover mashed potatoes that have added salt, you may want to decrease the salt measure slightly

**Note: If the potatoes are cold (leftovers), you will want to use very warm water. If you are boiling potatoes fresh for this recipe, you will need to let the mashed potatoes and potato water cool to room temperature.

Stir the wet mixture into the flour mixture with a large, sturdy spoon. Stir well until thoroughly combined. Gradually stir in the remaining 3-4 cups of flour, one cup at a time, to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a well-floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, adding enough flour to keep dough from sticking to the board and your hands. Kneading by hand will take 8 to 12 minutes. (You could also knead in a heavy-duty mixer. This will take 6-8 minutes.) You want to knead the dough until you can pull a small piece into a transparent sheet without it tearing. This is called the membrane or window-pane test and tells you the gluten is fully-developed.

Place dough in an lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn out onto a floured board. Fold the top down, bottom up and sides in overlapping each other. Replace in bowl, smooth side up, cover and let rise until doubled again, about 30-45 minutes.

Divide into 3 loaves. (You could also make 2 round loaves and a dozen dinner rolls!) Shape into rounds, pinching bottom to seal. Place in well-floured cloth-lined baskets (a floured cloth napkin in a bowl works well too), seam side up, cover lightly and let rise until doubled, about 30-40 minutes. (At this point, you may spray the tops lightly with cooking spray, cover tightly and refrigerate several hours or overnight. They will proof in the refrigerator. Take them out of the frig when you begin preheating the oven the next day and let rest at room temperature until you are ready to bake.)

Meanwhile, preheat a baking stone in the oven to 425 degrees for at least 30 minutes. When the loaves have doubled, uncover and turn them out onto a peel (or cookie sheet) that has been sprinkled with cornmeal or semolina. Slash the tops and slide them onto the hot stone. Bake 20 to 25 minutes for loaves, 12 to 15 for rolls (a bit longer if dough has been refrigerated) until nicely browned and hollow-sounding when thumped on the bottom. The internal temperature should reach at least 180 degrees. This bread will not have a crispy crust because of all the dairy products in the dough.

note: The bread in the picture is mom's. Mine tasted great, but isn't quite as pretty.

Soooo good black bean soup

Black Bean Soup

This recipe makes about 8 bowls of soup. I used this exact recipe and it filled my crock pot, it can be double for a really large crock pot. It can also be cooked over the stove.

3 cans black beans with juice (don't drain)

2-3 cans chicken broth (low sodium is fine, the other ingredients are salty enough) Use 2 cans at first, then add the other at the end if it seems thicker than you prefer. I used 2 cans last night.

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup grated carrots (or chopped finely)

1 cup grated potato (red or russet)

1 bay leaf

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 cup diced, cooked ham (a great way to use leftover Christmas ham. However, brown sugar or honey cured hams lend a strange flavor to the soup. Also, bacon doesn't really taste very good either. I just buy a little package of diced ham from the grocery store and put that it).

olive oil, oil of choice, or butter--for saute

3 Tablespoons lemon juice (juice from 2 lemons is about right) (bottled also works)

Put beans and bean juice, broth, oregano, ham and bay leaf in crock pot. Meanwhile, saute celery, carrots, potato, onion, and garlic in olive oil on stove until softened, but not browned. My mom said that she's also done it without sauteing and it still worked, but I haven't tried it that way. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Add this mixture to the crock pot. Stir well and cook with lid on for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. When ready to serve, add lemon juice. Usually there is no need for salt and pepper (and I didn't add any last night).

Garnish with salsa, fresh lime juice, fresh tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole or avocado, cilantro, green onion, shredded cheese, etc.

Just refrigerate any leftovers...it saves really well and makes for delicious lunches.

Slow-Cooked Tex-Mex Chicken and Beans

I copied this directly from Martha Stewart's website.*

• Ingredients

  Serves 4

• 1 cup dried pinto beans, rinsed (I would recommend soaking the beans the night before to make sure they get cooked all the way the next day.)
  
• 1 jar (11 ounces) mild or medium salsa (1 1/2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 8)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper (ribs and seeds removed), chopped
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream, for serving
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for serving

Directions

1. In a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, stir together beans, salsa, chiles, flour, and 1 cup water. Season chicken with salt and pepper; arrange on top of bean mixture. Scatter onion and bell pepper on top of chicken.
2. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours. (Do not open lid or stir.)
3. Remove chicken from stew; shred into large pieces and return to stew. Serve topped with sour cream and cilantro.

*Note: I do not actually like Martha Stewart very much, BUT. She does have this one cookbook that I love, love, love and her Dinner Tonight emails are great.
That's all.

Sour Cream Enchiladas

I actually already posted the recipe on my personal blog, but here it is again:

This is from a cookbook my home ward compiled 20 or so years ago.

What you need:

one 16 ounce container of sour cream
two cans of cream of chicken soup
one bunch of green onions...depends on how much you like onions
three cups of grated cheese (I use sharp cheddar, sometimes with part pepper jack)*
one can of diced green chiles OR smoked chipotle peppers*
twelve yellow corn tortillas (the smaller ones)
(The recipe calls for olives but I don't like black olives so I never put them in.)

*I have made this a couple times using both pepper jack and chipotle peppers, but it's PRETTY spicy. I would recommend using one or the other.*

**If you want more chicken, you can add a can of already-cooked chicken (looks like a tuna can)....or if you want more protein and not as much meat...you can use a can of navy beans**

What to do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Soften the tortillas in oil (you basically just put oil in a frying pan and cook the tortillas just enough so they can easily be rolled up), then set them on a plate and set aside.

Mix everything together in a big bowl, but only use half the cheese.

You need a 9 x 13 pan. Put a little bit of the mixture on the bottom of the pan and spread it around. Then put a scoop of the mixture in the center of a tortilla and roll it up, place in the pan.

Do this until all the tortillas are gone but there is still some of the mixture left. Spread it on top of all the rolled up tortillas and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

(These are really good reheated too!)

Spaghetti Sauce

This one comes from my step mom. She doesn't know I'm putting it on here, and would probably make me eat spaghetti until I died if she found out.

(That was a reference to the movie Se7en, which I don't expect any of you to have seen or ever seek it out to see it...)

Mix the following together in a large pot. Clearly you'll want to brown the beef in a separate pan while combining the rest of the ingredients in the pot.

• 1.5-2 lbs. browned ground beef (1.5 lbs for slightly thinner sauce, 2 lbs for thicker sauce)
  
• 1 12-oz. can tomato paste
• 2 14.5-oz. cans diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. onion -OR- 1 small onion diced. (probably more like 1/2 onion, but a full onion works too if you like it)
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsps. oregano
• 1 tsp. Tabasco (or any hot sauce)
• 1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
• 12 oz. ketchup (one small bottle? Or you can use the 12-oz. can from the tomato paste to measure)
• 5 bay leaves
• Pepper to taste

Basically, the longer you let it simmer the better. Three or four hours is ideal, but it will still be delicious after just 30-45 minutes.

By the way, for those who like sloppy Joes, I've found this also makes really good sloppy Joe material. If you may decide to use it for that, I would recommend using the 2 lbs. of ground beef.

p.s. my step mom is not a psycho.

Buttermilk Pancake Syrup

This is Jared's absolutely fabulous recipe that I made for our General Conference breakfast. Warning: you will never want to eat normal syrup again.

1/2 c buttermilk
1 c sugar
1 stick salted butter (NOT margarine)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Mix together buttermilk, sugar, and butter on the stove. Wait for mixture to start boiling. Add baking soda. The mixture will get really foamy and frothy. Stir it quickly until it settles down. Add vanilla. Syrup will thicken upon standing.