Baked Chicken with Green Beans & Potatoes

I’m posting this recipe because I’m making this recipe this week – it’s part of my meal plan.  I haven’t made it before – but have had a few people that I trust make it and say it’s delicious, so I figure it’s worth a try!

This recipe came from one of those recipe postings on Facebook, I’m sure if you have a Facebook account you’ve seen the recipes.  Some look so good it’s hard not to want to make them immediately and gobble them up.  Anyway, here is the recipe and a picture I procured from the posting on FB.

Baked Chicken with Green Beans & Potatoes

4-6 raw chicken breasts

New potatoes

Green beans (fresh or canned)

Italian Dressing Mix

1 stick melted butter

Arrange chicken, green beans and potatoes in a 9x13 baking dish, sprinkle with the package of Italian dressing mix and cover with the stick of melted butter.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.  Take the foil off and bake an additional 10 minutes.

This will be a make ahead dinner, stowing it in the fridge then coming home and throwing it in the oven to bake while we do other things until dinner time.  I cannot wait for tomorrow night to try it!

Mint Chocolate Cake

I love to bake. It's one of my favorite hobbies. I especially love cake baking. So for everyone important in my life, I bake them a cake for their birthday. Yesterday just happened to be my best girlfriend's birthday. I actually call her my sister from another Mister (and Missus) because she is just like the sister I never had. I love her like family and her mom and pop are my second parents.

So, back to the cake.... Erica loves mint chocolate. So when I asked her what kind of cake she'd like, I wasn't too surprised she asked for this kind of cake. I searched the web, and found a few recipes. Usually, once I find a few that are pretty similar, I take the one that sounds the best to me and go with it as long as the comments/reviews are good. The recipe I used for this cake came from Bird on a Cake. Hers looks much better than mine, but hey, I gave it a shot. See below for recipe and then head to her site to see a prettier version!!

Andes Mint Chocolate Cake

• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (OR 1 c. milk mixed with 1 T. vinegar)
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chopped Andes Mints

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of three 8 inch cake pans with wax or parchment paper and spray the sides of the pan with cooking spray. Bring some water to a boil and keep it simmering while you mix the other ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Beat with mixer until combined.

Add 1 cup of the boiling water and carefully stir until it is mixed in. Beat for 1 1/2 minutes with mixer. Shake the chopped Andes Mints in a ziploc bag with a tablespoon of flour, until they are lightly coated. Fold the mints into the batter and pour into prepared pans. Bake for 25-35 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean).

Mint Buttercream Frosting

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• green food coloring
• 1/2 cup milk (may use less - I should have used 1/3 cup maybe, my frosting got pretty thin with a 1/2 cup)

Mix butter, sugar, vanilla, peppermint and food coloring on low speed in large mixing bowl. Gradually add milk until you reach the desired consistency. Keep covered.

Ganache (cut this in half I didn't and will be sure to next time, I had a lot leftover)

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the chocolate chips in a metal bowl. Heat cream over medium heat. Watch it closely and immediately remove from heat when it starts to boil. Pour over chocolate chips. Let stand for 1 or 2 minutes. Then slowly stir the mixture until all the chips have completely melted. Stir in the vanilla.

Enjoy! I cannot wait to dig into it tonight!

Posted with Blogsy

Recipe: Yeast Rolls & Cinnamon Rolls

Recipe today for the yeast rolls and delicious cinnamon rolls that I posted yesterday! J  I know most of you that read this blog aren’t inhaling carbs like I am while pregnant, so please excuse me as I tempt you!!

First, it should be known, that to make the cinnamon rolls, I simply use the yeast roll recipe and go from there…..  So for the roll recipe here it is.

Ingredients:

1 cup lukewarm water
2 pkg yeast

1 stick melted margarine or butter
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs-  room temp. Beaten

6 cups flour( may use a little more or less)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:

Mix together and let sit until frothy:
1 cup lukewarm water
2 pkg yeast

Mix together:
Yeast mixture
1 stick melted margarine or butter
1 cup milk (it’s best if room temp also, but doesn’t have to be)
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs-  room temp. Beaten  (tip on making eggs room temperature fast:  place in a bowl with warm (not hot) water for about 5 minutes, then they’ll pretty much be room temp)

Add:
6 cups flour( may use a little more or less, you want them to be sticky and not too dry, I used about 6.5 cups each time, but I was mixing with Kitchenaid stand mixer & dough hook)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Place in covered greased bowl to raise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours.   You should get something that looks like this when that step is finished.…

Roll Out and shape into A) Cinnamon Rolls or B) yeast rolls and let raise another 45 minutes. 

A)     FOR CINNAMON ROLLS - I combined about 1 cup packed brown sugar with 2 tablespoons cinnamon then added ½ cup of white sugar to the mix. (Feel free to change this mixture if you need more or less of something)    Then once the rolls are rolled out flat – take 1 entire stick of softened butter and spread along the rolled out dough.  Then sprinkle (quite heavily) the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Roll into a long jelly roll, slice and place in baking dish.  (I made mine really big this time…..)  Let raise according to directions above if you want to bake immediately.  If preparing at night, place dish in refridgerator overnight, in the morning place the baking dish in cold oven – let rolls warm up while oven preheats – and then bake.  Bake @ 350° for 30-50 minutes (depends on the size of the rolls – mine took FOREVER)  For glaze, combine powdered sugar with milk until smooth (still runny) and pour overtop while still warm.

B)      FOR YEAST ROLLS – roll out flat, use biscuit cutter to get circled portions and jelly roll each piece.  Place in baking dishes and let raise according to directions above.  Bake @ 350° for 8-10 minutes until light brown.

End Result should resemble the below….. One note…. I have NEVER gotten THREE 9x13 pans of rolls until this time, I have no idea what happened – I guess my yeast was super fresh!

I hope you enjoy – both versions of this recipe are simply delicious!!! J

Freezer French Toast Stix

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, please forgive me, as you’ve seen or heard of this from me before. 

I’m writing today to tell you about this little time saving task that my husband and I embark upon once every couple of months.  It saves us time 2-4 days per week in the mornings.  We make French Toast Stix for the freezer. 

Cooper eats a variety of things for breakfasts and these French Toast Stix work well many mornings.  He will eat eggs, yogurt, cereal, pancakes and toast, but he LOVES these things.  So, when I posted a picture of me during mass production to Instagram, Shelly asked me to blog about it.  So here we are.  Below is the ingredient lineup…..

When we make these things, we usually make two loaves of the Texas toast, so I’m going to give you the measurements that I use for two loaves.  Feel free to cut in half or modify at your own discretion.

Eggs – 14 of these bad boys. 

Milk – 1-1.5 cups You may want less or more depending on your tastes  (We use whole milk since that’s what Cooper drinks and that’s who is eating them)

Vanilla – 1.5 tablespoons (I don’t measure very often, I like vanilla a lot, so I use a lot)

Cinnamon –2-3 teaspoons???  - I do not measure this at all.  Since cinnamon doesn’t actually ever dissolve into the mixture, when it looks like it’s all gone from the bowl, I add more. 

Granulated Sugar – 1/3 cup  (I forgot to include in the picture, please forgive me.)

Wisk your eggies and then add the milk and vanilla and wisk them in and finally add cinnamon.  Dunk your bread and cook on hot griddle until you get the texture you want.  Below is my griddle with 8 lovely pieces of the stuff, you can also see how the cinnamon is floating at the top, silly stuff..  We cook until it’s almost dry, because it is easier to flash freeze. (more on that in a minute)

Once we have them cooked, we cut each slice into thirds, and put on a cookie sheet to flash freeze in our deep freezer.  After they are frozen enough that they won’t stick together, we put them into gallon sized ziplock bags and throw them into the freezer so that we can grab as many as Coop wants to eat. 

We simply warm them in the microwave on each side for 15 seconds at half power.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar or serve with syrup, or both!  Yummy and very fast for morning breakfasts.  Really, this entire process only takes us about a half an hour to get them all cooked and put into the freezer, we let them sit for 30-60 minutes and then bag them and freeze them again.  Easy Peasy!

For those of you with kiddos, give this a try, it makes our lives easy, and we know they are better for Coop than the ones you can buy at the store.  We tried those once and they were son darned greasy I vowed to never again buy them!!!

Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole

I know, I know, I haven't posted a recipe in a LONG time.  I apologize.  I just haven't tried too many things that I've been dying to tell you about.  I hate when that happens...  But this one, ladies, let me tell you, it's wonderful!

Just look at it.  Ooey, gooey deliciousness.  If you follow me on Pinterest, you'll know that I pin a lot of recipes for breakfast foods.  It's because I always want to come up with something delicious to make for Christmas morning or Easter morning, or any other special morning around our house.

This past weekend, Tim's sister and two of her kids came to stay with us on Friday night.  We made a big breakfast on Saturday morning which included this goodness.  I got the recipe from a Pinterest pin, but then found out it came right from Pillsbury!  Imagine that.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 cans cinnamon rolls with icing (the suggestion was the 8 count rolls, but Tim bought me the Cinnabon 5 count rolls and they worked fine, great even!)
• 6 eggs (I only used 5)
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup of pecans
• 1 cup maple syrup (I used 3/4 cup)

Topping Ingredients:

• Icing from cinnamon rolls
• powdered sugar (I did not use)
• Maple Syrup (I also did not use)

Method:

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Pour melted butter into ungreased 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish. Separate both cans of dough into 16 rolls; set icing aside. Cut each roll into 8 pieces; place pieces over butter in dish. I didn't really make sure I cut each roll into 8 pieces, I just cut small pieces and it worked fine.
2. In medium bowl, beat eggs. Beat in cream, cinnamon and vanilla until well blended; gently pour over roll pieces. Sprinkle with pecans; drizzle with 1 cup syrup (or 3/4 cup as I did).
3. Bake 20 to 28 minutes or until golden brown.  I ended up having to bake for quite a big longer, as mine was very gooey in the middle until 35-40 min. Cool 15 minutes. Meanwhile, remove covers from icing; microwave on Medium (50%) 10 to 15 seconds or until thin enough to drizzle. I also didn't microwave frosting, after sitting out for the entire time the casserole baked, it was easy to drizzel and it spread wonderfully once it was on. 
4. Drizzle icing over top; sprinkle with powdered sugar. If desired, spoon syrup from dish over individual servings. Serve with the additional 1/2 cup maple syrup. Again, I opted to not add more calories with powdered sugar and syrup.  I had them on the side if anyone needed to add, but it was pretty sweet as it was.

I highly recommend this for a Christmas/Easter or other special morning event.  It was quite a bit for my family, especially since we had lots of other foods to eat that morning, I will probably divide it in half for our Christmas breakfast this year. 

Enjoy! :)

Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Shells

Source: onceamonthmom.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

Ok, so I took OAMM’s recipe and I changed it a tad bid.  Click above to see her recipe.  I don’t like the flavor of Buffalo, so I did some without Buffalo for me.

• 12 oz. box jumbo shell pasta (I made the entire box, but even after making mine, and several for Tim, I did not use the entire box)
• 1.5 cups marinara sauce
• 0.5 cup + 3 Tablespoons Frank’s buffalo wing sauce
• 12 oz can of chicken breast
• 16 oz. nonfat cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1-2 cups shredded part-skim Mozzarella cheese
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning

Boil the noodles and get them all ready then, first thing I did was put the cottage cheese in the food processor.  We didn’t want chunky filling, but I wanted to keep with the original recipe, so I made the cottage cheese nice and creamy.  I learned this trick from Katie @ Dashing Dish. 

Put about a half cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Then I mixed in the chicken, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese and stuffed enough shells for me. (I baked these in a different dish, so just covered them with more red sauce and mozzarella cheese)  The rest were to become Buffalo.  I just added the 3 tablespoons of buffalo sauce into the cottage cheese mixture.  I stuffed as many shells as I could with the leftover mixture (about 1-2 tbsps per shell). 

Mix the 0.5 cup of buffalo sauce with the rest of the spaghetti sauce and pour that stuff on top of the buffalo chicken shells and top with mozz cheese and bake @ 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Here are my pictures, good luck telling that there are shells in there, it was all covered with sauce and cheese!  Tim said this stuff was awesome, I hope you enjoy it!

Have a happy Friday and great Labor Day weekend!

MIlestones

Or not.  I’m not sure, but we’ve done some firsts this past week, and I want to document them.

Last Friday night, we took Cooper to his first movie.  Ice Age 4.  It was his treat for being a big boy and #2ing on the potty.  Hooray!  He’s only done this once more since last Wednesday night, accidents otherwise, but we had to treat him for doing his first big boy potty.

I made banana “ice cream.” You know, the frozen banana whip? That’s right, I made it, and it was delicious. I took 3 bananas and broke them up into little pieces, then put them in the freezer, then into the food processor and whipped those suckers until they were a delicious “ice cream.” These deliciousness was supposed to help me not eat ice cream right? Well, Hubby had the great idea of putting that whip ON TOP of our ice cream and boy oh boy did he have a great idea with that. IT was UH-MAZE-ING. I cannot even tell you. I bought lots more very ripe bananas at the store on Sunday, and I have a big bowl of those bad boys in the freezer awaiting another ice cream craving. I think I’ll add some cocoa in with them next time, I’ve heard this is a good way to try them too. And, this time, I’ll eat them by themselves, and not on top of ice cream!

Source: userealbutter.com via Emily on Pinterest

Speaking of ice cream, we took Cooper to get his first ice cream cone last night.  We’ve always made him eat out of a bowl because of the mess, but for some reason, Tim decided he should try it out of a cone.  That’s fine with me.  Tim sat next to him, so I didn’t have the mess to deal with, I only got to spy on this kid and honestly?  He did quite well!  I was surprised. 

Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest.  Why do you suck me in?  I’ve tried a couple three of new recipes from there this week too.  Simple things really, but still new to me.

Source: onceamonthmom.com via Emily on Pinterest

Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Shells – I’m too lazy to dig out the camera to get the pictures right now, but I’ll say, Tim loved this recipe.  I changed it up a bit, so I’ll do a post soon to let you know how I changed it and I’ll make sure to show a picture.

Source: au.lifestyle.yahoo.com via Emily on Pinterest

Peanut Butter/Greek Yogurt Dip – I changed this too, it’s a simple recipe, but I couldn’t remember it off the top of my head, so I winged it.   I really liked this.  Something different and fairly healthy.  I used it for dessert one night and then for a snack with another apple the next day.

• 5 oz vanilla greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (recipe called for 1/8 teaspoon, I think)

Here are my pictures, mine doesn’t look as peanut buttery…..

Overnight Oats – (I could have sworn I found this on Pinterest, but I cannot find it now, so the link is there for you) I did the banana peanut butter version of these.  I had all of the ingredients on hand and it was a simple mixture.  But, I don’t think I’ll be making these again.  At least not this version.  It was way too creamy to me.  I think of bananas as a “creamy” fruit and I think this needed a juicy fruit.  So, if I try again, I’ll try a juicer fruit, perhaps strawberries or blueberries.  I will say, it was very filling.


I think that’s all the “firsts” from our house today!  Have a great Thursday!

Cake Mix Cookes - 2.5 WW+ Points

Last night, I wanted cookies.  I wanted cookies really bad.  All I knew was that

cookies = bad news. 

But I still wanted them.  You know the feeling?  So I did some “googling” and found a simple recipe for cake mix cookies.  They were using eggs and oil and a cake mix, but I figured, what the heck, how about I try them with Greek yogurt just like the cupcakes?

I pulled out the cake mix, the yogurt, the mini chocolate chips and the mixing bowl.  In no time, I was baking these “cookies.” Here’s the result.

I’ve gotta say, they are pretty good!  They definitely aren’t the buttery goodness of my regular chocolate chip cookies – but they satisfied my desire for cookies in a pinch.  So here’s the recipe.

• 1 cup plain (or vanilla Greek yogurt) with the liquid poured off
• 1 box cake mix
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips

Mix these up and scoop onto a cookie sheet – bake for 7-10 minutes @ 350 degrees. 

This made about 30 cookies using a medium cookie scoop making them 2.5 points plus per cookie. 

If you leave out the chocolate chips that would probably make them around 2 points per cookie. 

I obviously used a chocolate cake mix on these, but I cannot wait to try with a white, butter or yellow mix, maybe they’ll be more like actual chocolate chip cookies? HMMMM……………………….

Enjoy!

Recipes via Pinterest

Folks.  Have you tried many Pinterest Recipes?  Well I have – most recently in the past week I’ve tried several.  Five to be exact.  Wanna know how many I’ll be making again?  Any guesses?  Well, here is the list and links to the recipes:

• Crock Pot Beer Chicken
• Cream Cheese Crock Pot Chicken
• Crock Pot Potato Soup
• Chicken Teriyaki Noodle Bowl
• Cheese Bread

Now, what’s your guess?
TWO.  Yup, that’s right, only two.  We really had a crappy week for new recipes last week.  I was super excited to try all of these, I was excited about crock pot recipes.  I was excited for new recipes in general.  BUT, only two made the passing grade.  Which two you ask?
Crock Pot Potato Soup & Chicken Teriyaki Noodle Bowl
The hubby ate ALL of the soup.  He was in love at first bite :)  I didn’t even get to eat a bowl.  That’s my own fault though, because I put too many onions in it and it was a bit too overwhelming to me.  I cannot wait to make it again and not add as many onions.
The Chicken Teriyaki Noodle Bowls were amazing.  I had never made my own teriyaki sauce and now I don’t think I’ll ever buy it again.  This recipe was seriously good.  We made it with pork cutlets instead of chicken because we had had chicken so much last week that pork sounded better to us. 
I’ve concluded that you never know about a recipe until you try it.  And I am glad that I tried these recipes even if they didn’t turn out like I had hoped.  I also learned that even if you like all of the ingredients to a recipe separately, that doesn’t meant that you’ll like them together.  Weird, right?  I thought so.  So the next time you want to try tons of new yummy recipes in one week.  Be prepared, they may all crash and burn.  Let’s just say I am thankful for a husband, stepson and toddler who don’t mind when I go crazy some weeks and make all new food!
And just because I cannot resist, here’s a picture of my boy the day we were taking Kampbell’s pictures.  He just had to be like his niece.  Ha!

He’s a terrorist, but he’s a cute terrorist, right?

Happy Tuesday!

Candied Pecans via Kevin&Amanda

This recipe is not my own, I found this on Kevin & Amanda's blog, but they were so delicious and I couldn't pass up posting the recipe here.  Fee free to check out Amanda's post and look at all of her beautiful pictures!

 

Candied Pecans

2 egg whites
2 tbsp water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
4 cups (16 oz) pecans
Preheat oven to 225. In a large bowl beat the egg whites and water. Add pecans and stir to coat. Whisk together the sugar, salt and cinnamon, then pour over the pecans, stirring to coat. Spread pecans on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray and bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.


Read More http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/new-recipes/candied-pecans.html#ixzz19v8OWd2m

When I made the recipe, I cut it in half, cause I knew I would eat all of them in one day! :)

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies via Paula Deen

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies via Paula Deen/Food Network

This is the first time I have ever made these cookies, but I'm loving them!  They look similar to the usual Chocolate Crinkles that I make around Christmas time, but they taste completely different, so don't make these to replace those!  These cookies are so soft and scrumptious, gooey as they can be! :)  YUM YUM!

Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Broccoli Beef Pie

 

My family loves this recipe, it has good for you stuff in it (also bad), it's delicious!  We have this at least once per month.  I often-times don't have the hour it takes between getting it ready and baking in an evening so I will make the filling ahead of time and then refrigerate it until I'm ready to assemble and bake the next day.  Only takes a few minutes to assemble and throw in oven vs making filling.  It does not take that long to make the filling either, but between everything else, it just makes it nice to prepare ahead of time.

 

If your family likes ground beef and broccoli, this is definitely a recipe to try! 

 

 

Beef & Broccoli Pie

This recipe came via COOKS.COM, visit to find original recipe.

 

Filling:

1 lb. ground beef Milk to brush on crust

1/4 c. chopped onion

2 tbsp. flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 c. milk

1 (3 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 egg, beaten

1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen, chopped broccoli, cooked and well drained

 

 

Pastry for 2 crust (9 inch) pies

4 oz. Monterey Jack cheese

Directions:

1. Brown beef and onion; drain fat.
2. Stir in flour and salt.
3. Add milk and cream cheese. Cook and stir until smooth and bubbly.
4. Add beaten egg to a portion of hot mixture, then add to remaining mixture.
5. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes.
6. Stir in cooked broccoli. Set aside.
7. Line a 9 inch pie plate with half the pastry. Fill pastry with hot mixture.
8. Slice cheese (or use shredded) and arrange on top of meat mixture.
9. Seal with top crust and perforate crust. Brush top with milk. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.
10. Let pie stand for 10 minutes before serving.

 

Serves 6

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Cheeseburger Soup

This recipe came from Shannon, but I made it tonight so I'm sharing it with you!

 

 

Cheeseburger Soup

1 lb. Ground beef

¾ cup chopped onion

¾ cup diced carrots

1 tsp. Basil

1 tsp. Parsley

4 Tbsp. Butter

3 cups Chicken Broth

4 cups cubed potatoes

¼ cup flour

2 cups cubed Velveeta

1 ½ cup milk

¼ cup sour cream

 

In a large pot, melt 1 tbsp. Butter over medium heat; cook and stir vegetables and beef, until beef is brown.  Stir in basil and parsely.  Add broth and potatoes.  Bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10 – 12 minutes.  Melt the remainder of butter and stir in flout in a separate dish.  Add the milk, stirring until smooth.  Gradually add the milk mixture to the soup, stirring constantly.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.  Stir in cheese.  When cheese is melted add sour cream and heat through.  It is really good if you add some shredded cheese on top!

Chicken Stroganoff

This recipe is a favorite around the Johnson household.  It's so super easy and a good comfort food.  It's a crock pot meal, so prepare for this to take awhile!  It can be made with minimal fat too!  Just have to substitute a few different ingredients.

 

Chicken Stroganoff

 

4-6 Frozen Chicken Breasts

1-2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (use reduced fat to make lower cal or lower fat)

16 oz sour cream (use fat free or light to reduce cals and fat)

1-2 packets of beefy onion or onion lipton soup mix

1 package of fresh mushrooms, sliced

 

My family likes lots of sauce, so we always use 2 cans of soup and 2 packets of the soup mix.   

 

First in the crockpot combine the soup mix, sour cream and cans of mushroom soup.  Add mushrooms and stir.  Place chicken breasts down in mixture and make sure they are covered with mixture.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  I usually prepare this before work, then set the crockpot on a timer and have it start around 10am and cook until about 5pm - 6pm.  The sauce is soooo tasty.  I love this recipe, I hope you do too!

This recipe is one of my dad's ultimate favorite breafast bread dishes.  We also find ourselves eating this bread for dessert and throughout the day, it's so yummy!  I might have to make this soon, definitely over the holidays!  This just may be what the Johnson's have for breakfast on Christmas morning. 

 

The recipe makes 4 12 inch loaves of this bread, so it's great for making ahead and sharing at pitch-ins or for an office gathering!

 

Cream Cheese Braid

Bread Dough:

8 oz. sour cream
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 pkgs. yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 eggs
4 cups flour

 

Filling:

2 (8 ounce) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsps. vanilla

Combine all ingredients. Mix well. Yield: About 2 cups.

 

Glaze:

2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 tsps. vanilla

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Yield: About 1 cup.

 

Scald sour cream; add sugar, butter, salt. Mix well and let cool until lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large mixing bowl; stir in sour cream mixture and then eggs. Gradually stir in flour (dough will be soft.)
Cover lightly and chill overnight. 

 

Divide dough into four equal portions. Turn each portion out on a heavily floured surface and knead four or five times. Roll each into a 12 x 8" rectangle.

 

Spread 1/4 of filling over each rectangle, leaving a 1/2 inch margin around the edges. Carefully roll up jellyroll-fashion, beginning at long side. Firmly pinch edge and ends to seal. Carefully place rolls, seam
side down, on greased baking sheet. Make six equally spaced X-shapes across the top of each loaf. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees) free from drafts until doubled in bulk (about four hours).

 

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

 

Spread loaves with glaze while warm.

 

Yield: 4 12-inch loaves.



Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

I must admit, I stole this recipe from Jenny @ The Box and the B, and she got it from Southern Living.  Well, where ever it came from, it's yummy!  I am so thrilled with the outcome, I think you should take some of that left over turkey you have and make some yourself!

 

Here is the recipe, Jenny said that she used Uncle Ben's wild rice, and it turned out fine and saved time.  I didn't do this because when I was shopping I didn't remember that she had said this.....  I used real wild rice and it took me an hour to cook it just like the recipe states.  I think next time I'll opt for using Uncle Ben's!

 

Without further adieu, here's the recipe, enjoy!!

 

 

Image courtesy of Jenny @ The Box and the B

 

Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

(via Christmas with Southern Living 2010)

 

2 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. salt, divided

1 cup uncooked wild rice

4 bacon slices

1 medium onion, chopped (2 cups)

3 celery ribs, chopped (1 1/4 cups)

2 large garlic cloves, minced

6 cups chicken broth

1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

3 cups chopped cooked turkey

1 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

 

1. Bring 4 cups water, butter, and 1/2 tsp. salt to a boil in a large saucepan. Stir in rice. Return to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and cook 55 minutes or until rice is tender. Drain if necessary, and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat 6 to 7 minutes or until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving drippins in skillet. Crumble bacon.

3. Saute onion, celery, and garlic in hot drippings until tender. Stir in remaining 1/2 tsp. salt, broth, and next 2 ingredients. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Stir in rice, bacon, and cream. Cook over medium heat 15 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir in Parsley and serve.

3 Soups!

Ladies, let me tell you, I've been a soup making queen lately.  Thanks to Jenny over at Picky Palate for all of her wonderful recipes!

 

Jenny is a WONDERFUL photographer and AWESOME cook and recipe creator!! 

 

If you don't follow her yet, please start, everytime I need a new recipe, or something to make for dinner - I look to Picky Palate!

 

I am going to share THREE recipes with you tonight.....

1. BBQ Chicken Pizza Soup
2. Chicken, Ranch & Rice Soup
3. 15 Minute Warm & Hearty Taco Soup

I mean look at this one:

 

 BBQ Chicken Pizza Soup

 

 

BBQ Chicken Pizza Soup!

 Here are the ingredients, but go on over to Picky Palate to get the entire recipe.

 

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 Tablespoons fresh minced garlic

11 oz can corn with peppers, drained

2 12 oz cans Swanson’s Chicken, drained

1 1/2 Cups Chicken Broth

1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

1/4 teaspoon Lawry’s Garlic Salt

1/2 Cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

 

Number 2.  Again, I'm listing the soup, the picture and the ingredients, click the links to go see the recipe and many pictures!

Chicken, Ranch & Rice Soup

 

Chicken Rance & Rice Soup

 

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and sliced

3 stalks of celery, chopped

3 Tablespoons fresh minced garlic

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 Cup dry rice, steamed….comes out to about 3 Cups cooked

64 oz  chicken broth

1 Tablespoon dry Ranch Dressing seasoning

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

1 teaspoon hot sauce, like Tabasco (optional)

 

And finally, number 3!

 

15 Minute Warm & Harty Taco Soup

 

15 Minute Warm & Hearty Taco Soup



2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 15 oz cans chicken broth
1 oz pkg Lawry’s taco seasoning (or 2Tablespoons of your own taco seasoning mix)
1 oz pkg dry Ranch Dressing Mix
2 10 oz cans rotel mild tomatoes

4 oz can diced green chilies
1lb can or frozen corn, drained
15 oz can black beans, drained
15 oz can red kidney beans, drained
15 oz can white beans, drained

 

These soups were soooooooooo good, I will be making them again and again and again!!!

 

 

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