Cheater Chicken Mozzarella

Over the years this recipe has evolved from breading the chicken by hand to buying the frozen chicken strips.  Either way tasted fantastic.  It's fast and the kids gobble it up without complaint.

You'll need:

Enough breaded chicken strips to feed your family - you can go cheap or spend lots of money

a jar of your favorite pasta sauce - we're partial to Ragu Mama's Special Garden Sauce

enough cooked spaghetti noodles for your family - we like Barilla Plus and use 1/2 a box

mozzarella cheese

Cook the chicken however the box tells you to.  Boil those noodles.   When the chicken is nice and crispy spoon some pasta sauce over each piece and top with mozzarella cheese.  Add the remaining sauce to the pasta (drain it first!).  Put the chicken back in the oven for a few minutes so the cheese can melt.  To serve, scoop some pasta onto the plate and top with a chicken strip or two.  Sprinkle with Parmesan if desired.  Helpful hint - I like to get the chicken started first because it usually takes longer than the pasta.  When the chicken is about halfway done I start the pasta.  Oh, you can bread your own chicken if you want.  Just dip in milk then a mixture of bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese and bake until juices run clear then top with pasta sauce and cheese.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Tonight I decided I would reorganize my recipe box (since it gets totally rearranged by me and my kids) and I came across my favorite cheesecake recipe. I think I will have to dig out those spring form pans! It has a smooth chocolate layer on top with the chocolate chip filling below and a chocolatey crust. The recipe came from a 2003 Taste of Home magazine, although I have altered it a little.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

2 C vanilla wafer crumbs

1/2 C finely chopped walnuts

1/4 C sugar

3 T baking cocoa

1/3 C butter, melted

Filling:

4 pkgs. (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 C sugar

4 t cornstarch

4 eggs

1/3 C whipping cream

3 t vanilla extract

1 1/2 C miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Topping:

3 squares (1 oz each) semisweet chocolate, melted

1 T butter, melted

1 C powdered sugar

1/4 C whipping cream

In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 10 inch springform pan. Refrigerate for 15 minutes,

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Combine sugar and cornstarch; beat on low speed just until combined. Add the cream, vanilla and chocolate chips,. Pour into prepared crust.

Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes or until center is nearly set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosed; cool 1 hour longer. (Cheescake top may crack but topping will cover.)

For topping, combine chocolate, butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Slowly beat in cream until mixture achieves spreading consistency. Spread over cheesecake. Refrigerate overnight.

Remove sides of pan. Refrigerate leftovers.

Teriyaki Chicken

Seriously, this is a good recipe AND it takes me fifteen minutes tops to cook up and serve.

2 large chicken breasts

1 tablespoon oil

1/4 cup soy sauce (I like Kikkoman)

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons mirin (sweet cooking rice seasoning, see note below)

1 garlic glove

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch (more if needed)

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 scallions, sliced thin

Cut up chicken into strips. Cook in oil until barely done. While the chicken is cooking mix soy sauce, water, sugar, mirin, garlic, cornstarch and red pepper flakes together in a bowl. When the chicken is done, stir in soy sauce mixture. Simmer until sauce is thick and glossy. If it's not thickening up, add more cornstarch. Serve over rice and sprinkle the scallions on top.

NOTES: First don't be intimidated by mirin if you've never heard of it before. You can find it in ANY asian market and just recently, I noticed my WalMart had it in stock. It really does add a nice flavor.

Second, I omitted ginger in this recipe because I don't like ginger but feel free to add it AND lastly, you can use beef in place of Chicken.

Moroccan Hummus Cups

1 container (7 oz) plain hummus spread
1 T Moroccan Rub (from Pampered Chef, but any rub might work??)
1 plum tomato
1 1-in piece seedless cucumber
1/4 c pitted kalamata olives (I hate olives and don't use them)
2 T packed fresh parsley leaves (or cilantro)
24 tortilla chip cups (ie Tostitos)
1/3 c plain yogurt

Combine hummus and rub. Mix and set aside.

Slice tomato in half lengthwise and remove seeds and dice.

Slice cucumber into circles, then into strips and dice.

Chop olives and parsley.

Combine vegetables together and mix well.

Put hummus into tortilla chip cups. Spoon a dollop of yogurt over hummus. Divide veggie mixture evenly among cups.

I could not put them down!!

Apple dumplings

2 tubes (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent rolls
2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter melted
¾ c Mountain Dew soda
Ground cinnamon
Vanilla ice cream

Unroll rolls and separate into 16 triangles. Cut each apple into 8 wedges. Wrap a roll around each apple wedge. Place in a greased 13x9x2 pan.

In a bowl, combine sugar and butter; sprinkle over rolls. Slowly pour the soda around the rolls, but do not mix. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.
Makes 16 dumplings

NOTES: This is the exact recipe, but I have never made it like this. I love this recipe because it is so easy to have the stuff on hand without worrying about spoilage. I don't drench it in butter. I just melt a couple table spoons and brush it over the top. And then I just spinkle cinnamon and sugar over the top. This recipe seems like it has too much sugar for my taste, but I thought I'd show the original version first. Also, I’ve never used Mountain Dew. It tastes just fine without any soda at all.

Oatmeal Cookies

This is my favorite Oatmeal Cookie recipe I have come across and since we made them last night, I thought I would share! I got it years ago from a piano teacher and have been enjoying them ever since. They are great plain or you can add raisins or chocolate chips (my personal favorite). The recipe is also calculated in case you want to make 1 1/2 batches and those numbers are in parentheses.

Oatmeal Cookies

Mix: 1 C shortening (1 1/2 C)
3/4 C brown sugar (1 1/8 C)
3/4 C white sugar (1 1/8 C)
1 t vanilla ( 1 1/2 t)
1 t water (1 1/2 t)
Add: 2 eggs (3)
1 t baking soda (1 1/2 t)
1 t salt (1 1/2 t)
Add: 2 1/4 C flour (3 3/8 C)
2 1/2 C old fashioned oats (3 1/2 C)

Bake at 335 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

White Chili

I thought all white chili tasted gross. I was wrong. I found this recipe from the Year of CrockPotting blog. (Seriously, check out her amazing recipes.) This is so easy to make and so delicious. The chili is fairly sweet so we don't like to add cheese.

16-oz. bag of frozen white corn (yellow works too)
2 cans of white beans (any kind will do - DON'T DRAIN)
1 4-oz. can of green chilies
1 small to medium onion, chopped (I like to use sweet onions)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vegetable broth (you can use bouillon and water)
juice from one lemon (or a shot or two of lemon juice from a jar)
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Dump everything into the crockpot. You don't need to drain and rinse the beans or the chilies. Cook on low for 8-9 hours, or high for 4-6.

Chicken Salsa and Rice

This is made in the crockpot. I told you I loved my crockpot! If you don't have one it's pretty easy to adapt to the stove. My family snarfs this up and we rarely have leftovers.

2 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained (or the equivalent homemade)
1 1/2 c. salsa
2 cloves garlic, minced or 2 tsp. minced garlic from a jar
1 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz. cream cheese, cut into cubes - low fat works fine, but I like the regular one better
hot cooked rice - white or brown, whatever your kids will eat

Toss all the ingredients into the crock pot except for the cream cheese. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. About 30 minutes before you want to eat, stir in cubed cream cheese and turn off heat. Let it sit while you make the rice and yell at the kids to set the table. Stir it right before serving.

For my family I use two chicken breasts because a) I'm trying to use less meat and b) it's cheaper. You can cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces before you put it in the crockpot or you can throw it in completely frozen and shred it before serving. You could add another can of corn or beans to make it a little thicker and/or make up for less chicken. I also think this would work well without chicken entirely. Hmm...that will be my next experiment. This works really well on pasta too, or over chips or in a tortilla like a burrito/enchilada thing.

Breakfast pizza

I've never actually made this before so we'll see how it turns out. We tried it at the Scout pizza pack meeting and we all liked it.

2 pkgs. crescent rolls or the equivalent homemade (I'm going to try it with whole wheat)
1 pkg. white country gravy dressing or the equivalent homemade
1/2 to 1 lb. sausage, cooked
6 eggs
enough milk and butter to make scrambled eggs with the above eggs
1/2 lb. bacon, cooked
a handful or two of mushrooms, sliced
shredded cheese - whatever kind you want

Spread the crescent rolls (or homemade dough) onto a pizza stone or large cookie sheet with sides. Cook according to directions until lightly browned. While the dough is cooking mix up the gravy packet (or make your own) and brown the sausage and and bacon. Scramble the eggs - I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how to do that. When the crust is done top with gravy, then sausage, bacon, eggs and mushrooms. Sprinkle with cheese and stick it back in the oven until cheese is melted.

For the gravy I'll be doing this:
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
a dash or two of pepper
2 c. milk

Melt the butter then whisk in the flour, salt and pepper. Let it cook for a few minutes, whisking now and then. Slowly stir in the milk and keep stirring until it thickens. You may need to add a tbsp. or so more flour or milk to get it the thickness you want.

My menu for this week

In case anyone is interested this is my menu for the week. I'll post the recipes now and update with pictures as I make them.

Sunday - Bean tostadas, fruit
Monday - Breakfast pizza, cottage cheese, fruit
Tuesday - Baked potatoes, veggies and dip, fruit
Wednesday - Chicken salsa and rice, kale, fruit
Thursday - White chili, cornbread, fruit
Friday - new recipe - this week I'm trying a spicy black bean chili
Saturday - Lasagna, salad, fruit

I don't think I'll post a recipe for the tostadas because they're pretty easy - smear refried beans on a tostada and top with whatever you want.

And I think you can figure out the baked potatoes, too.

My lasagna recipe is one I just throw together without quantities so I can't really pass that on. Use your favorite recipe. If you don't have one let me know and I'll try to talk you through mine.