Crispy Yogurt Chicken

So I regularly read a food blog called Pioneer Woman Cooks. You really need to check her blog out. It is amazing. But anyway... I have seen this recipe floating around for a long time and it originated from here. It has gotten rave reviews on a cooking board I frequent so I decided it was time to try it. Overall, it was good. I used chicken legs which was the downfall for us. I try and I try to broaden our food horizon... but John and I are just creatures of habit. We don't like meat on bones, we don't like dark meat, etc. So WHY I though we would like chicken legs, I don't know. Well... we loved the breading and the recipe in general. It was just the darn dark meat that didn't mesh well with us. I think most people would love it with the legs though because it has a fried chicken taste and appeal to it, and I always think of chicken legs when I think of fried chicken! I will try this recipe again using chicken breasts though because the breading was delicious.

Ingredients:
Chicken legs
2 cups plain, unflavored yogurt
2-3 cloves of garlic
The juice of one lemon (omitted by accident- it would be great in there!)
Parsley (I used 1 tbsp of dried but fresh would be better)
Butter
2 cups panko bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350.

In one bowl, combine the minced garlic, parsley, yogurt, and lemon juice. In a separate bowl, pour in the panko. Season the panko with salt.

Using tongs, dip the chicken in the yogurt mixture, then the panko. Place in a greased baking dish. Repeat until all chicken is done.

Next, place a small slab of butter over each chicken leg. This helps to hold in the moisture so don't skip this step!

Bake covered for 1-1 1/4 hours at 350. For the last 15 minutes uncover the chicken to brown the top.

Tortellini Primavera

So have you noticed the abnormal amount of pasta recipes in my blog lately? Yea... sorry about that! I don't know what happened... I am so anal about my meal planning and varying up what I make but somehow I have made a lot of pasta lately. John and I love pasta so it's not a huge loss... and you can make pasta so many different ways that it never gets boring! I promise my next blog entry will not be pasta... although maybe I shouldn't make any promises haha!

This meal was so good. Let me start off by saying how filling this is. John and I normally have no problem finishing a bag of frozen tortellini between the two of us. I don't think we ate much more then 1/2 of this recipe. I guess the spinach really bulked it up! It was a very heavy sauce (in my opinion but I don't eat many cream sauces) but we loved it! I think we will definitely have this again which is huge because most meals I only make once unless they really wow us. I also liked how colorful this was. It looked so pretty on the plate!

This recipe originated from this blog. I highly suggest it if you are looking for something delicious, rich, and filling.

Ingredients:
1 cup mushrooms, chopped (Omitted... John has a phobia haha)
½ cup chopped onion (I used a few shakes of onion powder)
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp. margarine
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
8 oz. cream cheese
1 tomato, chopped
¼ cup milk
¼ cup parmesan cheese
1 t. Italian seasoning
salt and pepper, to taste
family size cheese-filled tortellini, cooked and drained (I wasn't sure what "family size" meant. I used the standard size bag of frozen tortellini)

Directions:
Heat margarine in a skillet. Add mushrooms, onion and garlic and sautee. Add all remaining ingredients except tortellini. Heat until all have melted together and are well blended. Cook until the mixture just begins to boil, stirring occasionally. Stir in tortellini.

Spicy Shrimp Scampi

I have had this recipe bookmarked on my computer forever. For some reason it kept getting pushed back and pushed back. I finally put it on our menu for this week and I'm glad I did. I did make several changes to the original because I couldn't stomach the idea of 6 tablespoons of olive oil AND 6 tablespoons of butter. I will say that even with the reduced oil and butter it still was yummy and I did have a lot of extra sauce. What I have below is the way I actually made it. If I was going to make it again I would thicken the sauce before tossing in the pasta. Other then that it was great and really easy to make.

Ingredients:

24 jumbo Shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 Tbsp Lemon Juice
4 Tbsp White Wine
3 Tbsp minced Garlic
2 1/2 Tbsp unsalted Butter
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Heat oil in a medium-sized skillet. Over medium heat, add the shrimp. Cook about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic, pepper flakes, lemon juice, wine and salt. Cover and cook 3 minutes. Uncover and stir in the butter. Remove from heat. Serve over pasta. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Mom's Pot Roast

Let me first say pot roast is not pretty... these pictures are not beautiful but the food is good! This recipe reminds me of my mom and dinners growing up. She made it semi regularly and it was always good. The best part of this, in my opinion, is the gravy. I am not a huge fan of red meat and rarely cook it. This was an experiment... and it went pretty well. I will say since I don't normally cook red meat I didn't realize how much the meat would reduce down in the cooking process. This led to my meat being a little overcooked. The recipe below is the one that my mom gave me, the way it should be made. I cut the size of the meat in half because we aren't good with leftovers, but in the future I would make it the way it is and freeze half. I made this in the crockpot, but my mom always makes it in the oven, so you can do it either way. I really love the potatoes and carrots in the gravy, so I felt the need to include a picture of just them:


Ingredients:
2-3LB roast
2 cans of round potatoes
1/2 bag of baby carrots
3-4 stalks of celery, chopped up (I LOATHE celery...so I omitted that)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope of onion soup mix

Directions:
Place the roast and the carrots in the crockpot. Cover with the onion soup mix and the can of cream of mushroom soup. Set the crockpot on low for 6-8 hours. After about 2 hours of cooking, add the potatoes and celery. Stir, and allow to finish cooking.

Otis Spunkmeyer Blueberry Muffins

I made these a couple of months ago for one of John's work breakfasts and they were a huge hit. My school's fall breakfast is tomorrow so I decided to make this recipe again. They are so simple to make and are so delicious. I got the recipe from RecipeZaar after searching through many blueberry muffins recipes and thought this one sounded like a winner. I like how they have a cake like taste...yum- try them!


Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) can blueberries, in liquid rinsed and drained or 1 cup fresh blueberries
1 (18 ounce) package white cake mix
1 (3 1/2 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding (4-serving size)
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1- Rinse blueberries lightly and drain well.
2- In mixing bowl, beat eggs until light. Add the cake mix, pudding, vegetable oil, vanilla, and milk.
3- Beat until smooth, but do not over beat (about 2 1/2 minutes). Batter will be thick.
4- Carefully fold in blueberries with spoon. Try not to break the berries--fill muffin cups 3/4 full and place into preheated 350F degree oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on muffin cup size.

Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina

I haven't updated this in almost a week! I can honestly say I haven't even cooked since my last entry. We have been so busy BUYING A HOUSE! But... now that the house is in attorney review and we can relax a little it is back to cooking. So I saw this recipe floating around on various websites for awhile now. I love Giada and love many of her recipes. This one was so good! I kept the recipe almost exactly as the original, but I did make one change and I think it was great! I decided to cook the pastina in chicken broth and let it absorb the broth. I thought this would add more flavor then just boiling it in water and draining it. John and I both loved this so much!

Ingredients:
1 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 can of garlic flavored chicken broth (or really any chicken broth)


1- Put the chicken broth and pastina in a pot, bring to a simmer. Cook until all of the liquid is absorbed.
2- Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until done.
3- Put the chicken into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
4-Place the mixture in a buttered 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish. In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Easy Baked Ziti

One of the first things I learned to cook was baked ziti. It is by far my favorite food. Whenever I go out for Italian I order it and I strongly judge restaurants by their ability to make it! Now, there are countless baked ziti recipes floating around out there. Some call for cottage cheese, some call for eggs, some call for yogurt, etc. This recipe is 4 ingredients and it is delicious. Is it fancy? No... but when you work all day this is the perfect end to the busy day!

This recipe made about 4 or so servings. It was great for dinner and I can't wait to eat the leftovers tomorrow at work! Now onto my long list of 4 ingredients... (I should mention I didn't measure, this is really just estimates. I think it is pretty close though!)

Ingredients:
3/4 box ziti or penne
1 cup of ricotta cheese
2 1/2 cups of marinara sauce (I use my homemade recipe that I will post at a later date, but jarred or any sauce would work)
1 cup of mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1- Cook pasta until done, strain and set aside. In a baking dish combine pasta, 2 cups of sauce, ricotta, and 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. Mix well. Once mixed, top with remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese.
2- Bake at 350 covered for about 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5-10 minutes to crisp the top.
3- Pour remaining sauce over ziti, let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

John's Oatmeal Cookies

Let me start off by saying that I will probably be making a lot of oatmeal recipes because I bought a huge jug of it to make baked oatmeal and we don't really eat regular oatmeal. So clearly I need to find stuff to do with this huge container!

I got this recipe at my bridal shower from my mother-in-law. These are called John's Oatmeal Cookies because clearly, John loves them! He was so excited when I said I was going to make these today. They came out great! Not as good as Ronnie's though... hers are always so identical in size and round. Mine were a little bit more all over the place. Actually... a lot more all over the place! I will have to talk to my mother-in-law and get some pointers because mine kept breaking apart in the oven. Oh well- they are SO delicious! I am going to take all of the broken up pieces and use them as granola in my yogurt so it is not a total loss- it's actually a delicious mistake!

Now onto the cookies. This is a very simple recipe and it took little to no time to make them. After burning dinner (ooops...) and needing to go get subs last minutes I decided to redeem myself and make John's favorite cookies! Enjoy them!

Ingredients:
10 tablespoons softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg lightly beaten
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract (I used vanilla)
3 cups oatmeal

Directions:
Lightly butter a cookie sheet and preheat over to 325.
Beat together butter, sugar, egg, and extract.
Mix oatmeal into the butter mixture until the dough holds together.
Form into balls and press with fork (I failed at this step... this is where the cookies all fell apart!)
Bake until golden brown (about 15 minutes or so)

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Tonight I made a very simple and easy dinner. What I love about this recipe is that you can use it to put on top of salad, cover it with a pan sauce, or serve it as is. It is very versatile. It also reminds me of growing up! My mom always made breaded chicken with mac and cheese (now I am wishing I made it with mac and cheese haha!) The breading is the best part of this chicken. It has a very light texture and doesn't have that fried bread crumbs taste of typical breaded chicken. I served this with stuffing and a big salad and it was a very yummy meal!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup freshly shaved parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of Panko bread crumbs (these are Japanese bread crumbs and they are amazing!)
1 egg
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
crushed black pepper
1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400.

Spray a small baking dish with EVOO (or similar) cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine panko, parmesan cheese, and seasonings. In a separate bowl whisk the egg.

Dip the chicken in the egg, then in the breading. Place in baking dish. Press additional breading into chicken to completely cover the chicken.

Bake at 400 until chicken is cooked through.

Baked Potato Soup

A few months ago I discovered baked potato soup and I have been obsessed with it ever since! I often get it when I am out to eat and I always really enjoy it. I decided to try out my *new* Crock Pot and was trying to find a recipe to make in it. I decided to try my hand at baked potato soup. This recipe was very very good. It was creamy but not too thick. Sometimes baked potato soup has the consistency of condensed soup and that is definitely not what I was going for. I modified this recipe from this recipe. I did make a lot of changes to that recipe. What you find below is what I actually used/made. If you want to see the original just click on the link. Also, the delicious bread bowls are from Panera... I wish I could take credit for those but sadly I can not!

Ingredients:
4 potatoes, washed and cubed (I left the skin on but you could peel them)
32 oz. container of chicken stock
1 tablespoon of butter
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste (a few serious shakes)
1 heaping teaspoon of parsley
1 (12 oz.) can of evaporated milk
2 slices of bacon
cheddar cheese (for topping)

Directions:
1- Cook bacon. Cut into small pieces, set aside.
2- In your Crock Pot place the cut up potatoes. Combine the stock, seasonings, and butter.
3- Cook on low for 6 hours.
4- 30 minutes before serving pour in the can of evaporated milk. Cook for 30 minutes.
5- Ladle soup into a blender. Blend until thick and smooth. Return to slow cooker. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese on top.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Now let me preface this entry by saying I never bake unless it is for an event, occasion, etc. I love baked goods and having them around the house is far too tempting for me. Plus I truly prefer cooking over baking. But, when I saw this recipe the other day I decided to break my own rules and bake just because. This recipe was so easy to make and I had all of the ingredients on hand so I figured why not!

They were really yummy! If I were to make them again I wouldn't use the light butter- I feel it did compromise the taste a little bit. Unfortunately it was all I had in the house so I used it. But they were still very good!

Now when I made these I had a little bit too much dough for 12 muffins. I had just bought silicon baking mats the night before so I thought this was a great excuse to try them out! I ended up with 12 muffins and 5 cookies/scones. Let me just say, if you don't have silicone baking mats they are great!! You put it on top of your baking sheet and you no longer need parchment paper, cooking spray, etc. I'm so glad I bought them last night! Here is a picture of the cookie/scone that I made with the extra dough:


Ingredients:
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled (I used light butter because it was all I had in the house)
½ cup peanut butter
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
¾ cup chocolate chips (I used the mini chips because once again, it was all I had in the house)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Add in the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Divide batter evenly between prepared muffin tins, filling each to the top.

Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Spinach Dip

I first discovered this recipe from my friend Maria. She is obsessed with spinach dip and has tried it at most restaurants, so when she claims a spinach dip recipe is good- I believe her! This is a simple recipe from Knorr's. You can even find it on the back of the vegetable soup mix. Now normally when I make this I serve it in a bread bowl... that is definitely the best way to serve this stuff. BUT, I am taking it to a family gathering tonight for Yom Kippur and there isn't going to be a lot of people there, so I am keeping it simple. I will serve it with tortilla chips, but in the past I have served it with thick bread, tortilla chips, carrot and celery sticks, and even crackers and pita chips. This stuff is really great and fattening... so forgive me!

Ingredients:
1 16oz container of sour cream
1/2 cup of mayo
1 10 oz package of chopped spinach (defrosted)
1 envelope of Liptons vegetable soup mix (not the spring vegetable one)

Directions:
1- Mix sour cream, mayo, and soup mix.
2- Squeeze liquid out of spinach, toss into sour cream mix.
3- Stir well.
4- Refrigerate several hours before serving.

Baked Oatmeal

As I mentioned in my last post this is the second recipe I made for John's breakfast meeting. One of my fellow teachers made this recipe for a breakfast last fall and it was quite the hit. I don't eat oatmeal so I didn't try it but I saw a lot of people really enjoyed it. This recipe came from here. I did try it and felt it was pretty good! I'm not a fan of oatmeal so it's hard to say, but it looked good and smelt really good.

Ingredients:
3 cups oatmeal
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup melted margarine
2 eggs
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (omitted)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (I added this to the original recipe)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.
Mix all ingredients together and pour into 13 x 9 inch buttered pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. ( I really disagree with this cook time. I took it out of the oven after 25 minutes, let it cool, and sliced it. It was not cooked. The bottom was mushy. I looked online at similar recipes and they all called for 40 minutes. So, I put the slices on a cookie tray and put them back in the oven for another 15 minutes. MUCH better... so if you make this, definitely keep it in the oven for at least 35 minutes or until it reaches your desired consistency)

Monkey Munch

So every Thursday John has a breakfast meeting at work. This Thursday is John's turn to "cook" for the meeting (aka- I cook for the meeting). I decided to make baked oatmeal and monkey munch. I discovered monkey munch while watching John and Kate Plus 8. After that episode I was obsessed and really wanted to try it. After reading the recipe I knew I couldn't make that for John and I because I would eat it all. So this was the perfect chance for me to make it, try it, and send it out the door. It is GOOOOOOD and I am so glad it is leaving the house tomorrow morning haha! I know it's not very breakfasty but I don't think the guys he works with will care! It's so good! Also, I should mention that this was so messy to make. Luckily John helped me to mix and shake the powdered sugar... but our kitchen definitely looked like a bomb went off after baking the oatmeal and making this stuff.

Ingredients:
9 cups of Chex cereal (I used the combo box of rice and corn Chex)
1 cup of chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
1- Put cereal in large bowl. In a separate bowl melt chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter.
2- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
3- Pour over Chex cereal, stir with a spatula to evenly coat. (This didn't work so well... I had to put the whole thing back in the microwave to re-melt the mixture a little)
4- Put into a large plastic bag with powdered sugar and shake well to coat.
4- Spread mixture evenly on wax paper and allow to cool.

Parmesan Orzo

This is my all time favorite side dish. I love it so much that I often end up skipping out on the main dish and mostly eating this. I think it might be one of my favorite things that I make! This is a recipe that I have adapted from a Cooking Light recipe for "Creamy Parmesan Orzo." I really can't say enough about this... just make it.

BUT, what I will say is that this works best with freshly shaved parmesan cheese. I wouldn't use grated cheese (you know... the white powdery stuff), I don't really think it would achieve the right consistency. You need fresh cheese so that it melts...yummmm. I buy the Kraft Grate it Fresh. It is sold in the refrigerated case with other cheeses. It is a green rectangular plastic case with a block of parmesan cheese inside it. On the bottom is a grater, so you just have to twist the cap and you get freshly grated cheese. It's one of my favorite products and I would never go back to the white, powdery, grated cheese again.

Ingredients:
1 TBSP light butter (or real)
1 cup orzo
1 can of chicken broth (I use the garlic flavored chicken broth... it makes this dish so yummy)
A few shakes of parsley
A few shakes of garlic powder
1/2 cup of freshly shredded parmesan cheese (I NEVER measure this... I have no idea how much I use, I just put some in and stir. Once it is creamy I consider it to be enough)

Directions:
1- Heat butter and dry orzo over medium/high heat until pasta is toasted and golden (not all of the pasta, just some)
2- Pour in the can of broth and seasonings. Cook on medium heat. The orzo will absorb the broth. Once most of the broth is absorbed, remove from the heat.
3- Mix in the parmesan cheese and stir until smooth and creamy.
4- Sprinkle with additional cheese when serving if you like.

Pan Seared Shrimp in a Lemon Garlic Sauce

This recipe is so simple. It takes 10 minutes from start to finish and it is tasty (and healthy!) When I am short on ideas or time I always turn to shrimp. There is so much you can do with them. Tonight I made pan seared shrimp in a lemon garlic sauce. That's a lot of words for a very simple recipe! I liked it a lot, John loved it... over all a success and I will definitely make this again. Now the recipe is one that I made up as I went a long, so you can really modify this with more/less of any ingredient.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. peeled and deviened large shrimp
1 tablespoon of light butter (or real if you prefer)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove of garlic, minced
Parsley (a few shakes of the spice container)
Crushed black pepper to taste
A pinch of red pepper flakes (omit if you don't like spicy food)

Directions:
1- In sauce pan, combine butter, garlic, lemon juice, and seasonings.
2- Heat until butter melts and begins to form a sauce with the lemon juice.
3- Sprinkle black pepper on shrimp, toss in sauce mix.
4- Cook until pink on both sides.

Buffalo Chicken Cheese Steak

Let me start off by saying don't be discouraged by the picture. The lighting was off, the cheese was getting cold, and I was hungry... I tried to take a good picture and it didn't happen... please forgive!

This is a meal that I often make when I am short on time. When I used to work at the mall during high school there used to be a place that made these cute 4 inch chicken cheese steaks and I loved them. I started recreating them at home when John and I first moved in together. John would always add hot sauce to his, so I decided to try them out tonight with buffalo wing sauce. It was good! I think this will be my normal way of making these. These take little to no time to make and you can seriously do anything you want with them. If you're normal (unlike my husband and I) you would probably like these with sauteed onions and peppers. We tend to be purists and like things kind of plain... so feel free to adapt this to your liking!

Ingredients:
Frozen chicken steaks (sold right next to the frozen red meat steak sheets) - I use 2 per person... they are paper thin...Also if you can't find the chicken steaks you can use thin chicken breasts. That's how I always made them until ShopRite started carrying the chicken steaks.
Cracked black pepper to taste
Dash of salt
Frank's buffalo wing sauce (I used a few splashes... use more if you want it hotter... I made these mild)
White American cheese (or any cheese you like!)
2 round hard rolls

Directions:
1- On a griddle, place frozen chicken steaks over medium/high heat. Season with salt and pepper.
2- continually move the chicken around with a spatula as it defrosts to break the chicken into small pieces.
3- Once the chicken is cooked, pour hot sauce on top, stir.
4- Place cheese slices on top of chicken and allow to melt.
5- Lift onto toasted rolls.

Chicken and Biscuits- YUM!

Ok, tonight's dinner was GREAT! When I got the Kraft Food and Family Fall 2008 magazine I knew I had to make this recipe for John. His favorite food is chicken pot pie. I had never had it before (I know... I live under a rock) so I wasn't sure if I would like this at all. As the sole cook in our house I don't often make things that I assume I won't like at all... but this was shockingly good. John actually kept saying things like "This is amazing" and "MMMMMM." I have to agree- it was great. Now I did make some changes and I put them in bold. After eating this the one thing I might change in the future is less sour cream in the chicken mix. BUT I don't love sour cream, if you do- keep it there! The best part of this was the biscuits. I make Bisquick drop biscuits often, but the addition of sour cream made them so moist and yummy. So make this recipe, make it soon! It's goooooood and perfect for this Fall weather!



Ingredients:
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used 98% fat free)
3/4 cup sour cream (I used reduced fat)
2 cups cooked chopped chicken (I seasoned my chicken with garlic powder and cracked black pepper and grilled it)
1 pkg (16oz.) frozen mixed vegetables (I used sliced potatoes and sliced carrots)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup baking mix (I used Bisquick)
3 TBSP milk

Directions:
- Heat oven to 375. Mix soup and 1/2 cup sour cream in 8 inch square baking dish. Add chicken, vegetables, and cheese. Mix.
- Place baking mix in medium bowl. Add remaining 1/4 cup sour cream and milk. Stir until stiff dough forms.
- Drop by heaping spoons into 6 mounds over chicken mixture. Bake 35 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. (I cooked it on the bottom rack of the oven. The biscuits would have definitely burnt before the rest of the food cooked on a higher rack.)

Not everything is a success...

So tonight I made a recipe I have had bookmarked in a magazine for awhile. It was a Campbell's recipe called "Quick and Easy Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice." Now.. I like all of those ingredients so I thought for sure I would like this. It wasn't bad. It was just kind of plain. I am actually posting it because I feel that with some sprucing up it could be tasty. Unfortunately I wasn't thrilled with it tonight (I actually didn't even eat it...) but John ate his whole plate...so who knows haha! I think with cheddar cheese and more spices it would actually be better.



Ingredients:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 can Cream of Chicken soup (I used the 98% fat free)
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp crushed black pepper
1 1/2 cups uncooked instant rice
2 cups fresh or frozen broccoli flowerets
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 cup of fresh parmesan cheese (I added these two ingredients at the end when I noticed the flavor was bland )

Directions:
1- Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until well browned on both sides. Remove chicken from skillet.
2- Stir soup, water, seasonings in skillet. Heat to a boil.
3- Stir in rice and broccoli. Reduce heat to low. Return chicken to skillet. Cook until rice is tender.
4- Stir in parmesan cheese until melted.

Scalloped Potatoes

Tonight I made cheesy scalloped potatoes to go with barbecued ham steaks. I have always made scalloped potatoes from a box so this was my first time trying to make them from scratch. I looked through a ton of recipes and couldn't really find what I was looking for, so I kind of took a little of this and a little of that from a bunch of different recipes. The end results were very good. I love cheese and felt some of the cheese sauce dried up during cooking, but it was still very good.

Ingredients:
3 large baking potatoes
1/8 cup flour
1 cup 1% milk (or any milk you like)
1/4 of a block of Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese (You can use about 3/4 of a cup of shredded cheese if you have that)
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of black pepper

Directions:
1- Peel potatoes. Slice into thin slices.
2- Meanwhile in a saucepan, dump flour and seasonings into pan. Slowly add milk and whisk until thick (this took a while) over medium heat.
3- Pour in the cheese and stir until smooth
4- Pour the cheese mixture over the sliced potatoes in a shallow baking dish. Mix so all potatoes are evenly coated.
5- Bake at 375 until potatoes are cooked and cheese sauce is bubbly. Uncover for the last 10 minutes to brown the top. (This took about 45 minutes or so)