Melt in Your Mouth Chicken

Although this was pretty good, it's not one of my favorites.  Mostly because it didn't look like the picture. Not even a little.  The original photo showed CRISPY.

Mine looked like this:

Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoning salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:
1. Mix mayonnaise, cheese and seasonings.
2. Spread mixture over chicken breast and place in baking dish.
3. Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.

The Real Scoop

by Andrew

I don't know why she keeps making us eat asparagus. 

As for the chicken, it was ok, but still needed to be dipped in ranch dressing.

Enchilada Ravioli

This is so easy, and it was an absolute hit!

What's needed:
1 bag beef ravioli, thawed (from the freezer aisle)
1 can red enchilada sauce
1 small jar of salsa
3/4 bag frozen corn
3/4 can black beans

What to do:
Place ravioli in the bottom of a baking dish.

Pour enchilada sauce, corn, black beans and salsa into the dish, and stir so the sauce covers all of the ingredients.

Bake at 375 degrees until bubbly.

Top with cheddar or Mexican blend cheese and return to the over till cheese melts.

Serve with nacho chips.

The Real Scoop
By Andrew
"Mom, you can make this any time you want to."

High praise, that is.

Apple-Cranberry Chutney

Ingredients: 
6 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
114 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
2 medium baking apples, peeled, chopped

Directions:
Cook over low heat till apples are tender.

OR

Directions for pork chops:
4 center-cut bone-in pork loin chops, 1 inch thick (about 2 Ib), trimmed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. Spray 3- to 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper; place in
cooker.
2. In small bowl, mix brown sugar, vinegar, ginger, cinnamon, red pepper and cranberries. Spoon over
pork in cooker; top with apples.
3. Cover; cook on low heat setting 4 hours to 4 hours 30 minutes.

This can be canned immediately or refrigerated and used within the week.

We put it over our Thanksgiving turkey.  YUM!

Slow Cooker Candied Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
6-7 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into slices
1/2 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups mini marshmallows

Directions:
Spray slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray.  Spread chopped sweet potatoes in the bottom of the slow cooker.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine orange juice, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and brown sugar.  Pour over the top of the sweet potatoes and place lid on the slow cooker.

Cook on low for 4-6 hours or high for 2-3.

Once cooked, pour all the contents from your slow cooker into a baking dish.  Top with marshmallows and broil in oven until marshmallows are golden brown.

We had this for Thanksgiving 2013.  I used two large cans of yams, not fresh, so cooking time was cut in half.   Will definitely make this again next year.

Mexican Casserole

1 large can tamales (drained)
1 prepared package of Spanish rice
1/2 bag frozen corn
1 small can hot chili beans
Small bag of cheddar cheese
Nachos, to be served on the side.

Mix together prepared rice, corn and chili beans.
Place tamales along the bottom of a  baking dish and top with rice mixture.

Cover with foil and bake at 425 degrees until bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Uncover and top with cheese.  Bake until cheese is melted.

Easy Chicken Ranch Pasta Salad

I'm sure you've seen the Suddenly Salad boxes in the grocery.  My friend Wanda made the bacon ranch one then added some shredded chicken and green onion.  That's it.  She served it with warm croissants and cherry tomatoes.  Brilliant, quick and DELISH!

King Ranch Chicken

This one caught my attention because it had RANCH in the title, and I LOVE ranch.

Well, before you get your hopes up, there is no ranch.  Apparently King Ranch is a PLACE.

Silly me.

1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter

Saute onions and peppers in butter till tender.

Add to skillet:
2 cups cooked chicken

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup picante
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 cup cubed Velveeta
Shredded sharp cheddar cheese

In med. casserole dish, layer corn tortillas, all of the Velveeta, then the salsa mixture.  Repeat layers using the cheddar cheese.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and top with more cheese.  Bake until melted.

The REAL SCOOP
by Andrew
If anyone makes this, please call me.
This is good stuff.

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, softened
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup White Sugar
1 small pkg Instant Vanilla Pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 pkg ( 12 oz) Milk Chocolate Chips

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat the butter, both sugars, pudding mix, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat until creamy and fluffy. Then slowly mix in flour and baking soda. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop by tablespoon, onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for ONLY 9-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool about 10 minutes before eating.

Ultimate Grilled Cheese

What You'll Need:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
10 slices sourdough bread 
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, softened 

What To Do:

1. In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, beat mayonnaise and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Stir in Cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, and garlic powder; mix well.
    
2. Spread each of five bread slices evenly with cheese mixture. Top with remaining bread slices. Spread butter on both sides of the sandwiches.
    
3. In a skillet over medium heat, cook in batches until golden on both sides and the cheese is melted.

The  Real Scoop
by Andrew
I liked it better than regular grilled cheese.  It was cheesier.  You can add anything you want.  I added turkey to mine, Cliff added ham, and Mom added feta cheese.

Loaded Potato and Buffalo Chicken Casserole

2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, cubed (1")
8-10 medium potatoes, cut in 1/2" cubes
1/3 cup olive oil
1&1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
6 Tbsp. hot sauce


Topping:
2 cups fiesta blend cheese
1 cup crumbled bacon
1 cup diced green onion

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Spray a 9X13 baking dish with cooking spray.

In a large bowl mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder and hot sauce. Add the cubed potatoes and stir to coat. Carefully scoop the potatoes into the prepared baking dish, leaving behind as much of the olive oil/hot sauce mixture as possible. Bake the potatoes for 45-50 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes, until cooked through and crispy and browned on the outside.

While the potatoes are cooking, add the cubed chicken to the bowl with the left over olive oil/hot sauce mixture and stir to coat.

Once the potatoes are fully cooked, remove from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Top the cooked potatoes with the raw marinated chicken.

In a bowl ix together the cheese, bacon and green onion and top the raw chicken with the cheese mixture.

Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and the topping is bubbly delicious.

Serve with extra hot sauce and/or ranch dressing.

If I were to make this again, I would make it more like my usual Buffalo Chicken Dip and add the potatoes.  This tasted a little bland.

Southwest Pasta

This is VERY similar to the chicken pasta a few posts ago, but I added to it and wanted to share the yumminess.

Ingredients

3 cups whole wheat farfalle (bow-tie pasta), uncooked

1 lb.  boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces (or 1 lg. can of chicken)

3 slices  OSCAR MAYER Bacon, cooked, crumbled (or use Hormel pieces)

1 can  (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained

3/4 can black beans

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

4 oz.  (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) cream cheese, cubed

1/2 cup  water

1/4 tsp.  pepper

3 Tbsp.  KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

COOK pasta as directed on package, omitting salt.
MEANWHILE, cook chicken in large skillet on medium heat 5 to 6 min. or until done, stirring occasionally. Add rest of ingredients; mix well. Cook 3 min. or until cream cheese is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently.
DRAIN pasta; place in large bowl. Add sauce; mix lightly. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Andrew didn't even get a chance to taste this one...Cliff and I had it for lunch on one of his rare days off of work.  It was gone before Andrew made it home from school. 

Chicken Chili

"That sounds GROSS," said Andrew.

Turns out, it's quite possibly going to be the winner of the upcoming chili cook-off that we're participating in next week.

Ingredients:2-13 oz. cans chicken
1 can white beans
1 can white beans with jalapenos
1 can kidney beans
15 oz. salsa
2-12 oz. cans chicken broth
1 tablespoon ground red pepper OR cumin

Mix together and heat.
Serve with tortilla chips.

The Real Scoop
by Andrew
You can use tortilla chips as a scoop for the chili, or you can crush them on top.  If you do that, they get mushy fast, though.  Just use them as a scoop.  Trust me.  This is very good chili even without the chips.

Applesauce Recipe

The sugar amounts are just guidelines, depending your taste, and on the sweetness of your apples, use less or more. If you use less sugar, you'll likely want to use less lemon juice. The lemon juice brightens the flavor of the apples and balances the sweetness.

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (Make sure you use a good cooking apple like Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonathan, Mcintosh, or Gravenstein.)
• Juice of one lemon, about 3-4 Tbsp
• 2 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
• up to 1/4 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Preparation

1. Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
2. Remove from heat.  Mash with potato masher.
Ready to serve, either hot or refrigerated. Delicious with vanilla ice cream or cottage cheese.
Freezes easily, lasts up to one year.

Yield: Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.