Back to School!

Friday - kids in Burley, Bam Bam's for John, Alton, and me
Saturday - cornbread waffles and chili, toppings, fruit
Sunday - chicken tortilla soup, quesadillas fruit
Monday - The Dip, fruit
Tuesday - grilled flank steak, potato salad, corn on the cob, fruit
Wednesday - skillet mac and cheese, fruit, veggie
Thursday - sloppy lasagna
Friday - Maxwell's Birthday!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 1/2 pounds chicken, cooked and shredded
15 oz can whole tomatoes
10 oz can enchilada sauce
1 md onion, chopped
4 oz can green chilies
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups water
14 1/2 oz chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
10 oz package frozen corn
1 T cilantro
6 corn tortillas, or tortilla chips
2 T vegetable oil
grated Parmesan cheese

In slow cooker, combine shredded chicken, whole tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chilies, and garlic. Add water, chicken broth, cumin, chili powder, salt, black pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover and cook on Low 6 to 8 hours, or on High 3 to 4 hours. Remove and discard bay leaf.

Preheat oven to 400. Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with vegetable oil. Cut tortillas into small strips. Spread strips on baking sheet. Bake, turning occasionally until crisp, 5 - 10 minutes. Sprinkle tortilla strips and Parmesan cheese over soup. Serve.

Makes 6 -8 servings.

June to July

Thursday - french bread hoagies
Friday - egg salad sandwiches
Saturday - Elder's Quorum BBQ
Sunday - steak and/or Hawaiian chicken kebabs, grilled pineapple, corn on the cob, salad, lemonade
Monday - black bean taco salad, fruit
Tuesday - fettuccine alfredo, fruit, veggies
Wednesday - The Dip, chips, fruit
Thursday - egg salad sandwiches or July 4th BBQ

Hawaiian Chicken Kebabs
 1 1/2 lbs chicken, cut into 1 inch cubes
 1 (15 1/4 oz) can unsweetened pineapple chunks
 1/2 cup soy sauce
 1/4 vegetable oil
 1 T brown sugar
 1 t garlic powder
 2 t ground ginger
 1 t dry mustard
 1/4 t fresh ground pepper
 1 large green pepper, 1 inch pieces
 12 medium mushrooms
 18 cherry tomatoes

1. Put chicken in large shallow dish
2. Drain pineapple, keep 1/2 cup juice.
3. Set pineapple aside.
4. Mix juice with soy sauce, vegetable oil, brown sugar, garlic powder, ground ginger, and ground pepper
5. Bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Cool.
8. Poor over chicken, cover and chill for 1 hour.
9. Remove chicken from marinade.
10. Alternate chicken, pineapple, green pepper, mushrooms, and tomatoes on skewers.
11. Grill kebabs over hot coals 20 minutes or until chicken is done.

Tortellini Bake

A couple of weeks ago we ate Our Best Bites Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce for dinner. I made it without the bacon or the bacon grease (I used butter instead) and it was pretty good. A few days ago I made Chicken Piccata from Second Sister Suaviloquy. We had leftover chicken, so I made Laura's Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza. Tonight we are finishing off the chicken and the bacon with a variation of the Tortellini Spinach Bake.

I used butter for the white sauce, and added the chicken, but it is otherwise mostly the same.

Here's my variation:

12 oz bag Barilla Cheese & Spinach Tortelini (find them in the dry pasta aisle)

4 oz bacon, cooked and broken into small pieces (about 4 strips bacon)

1 cup chicken breast, cooked and diced or shredded

3 cloves garlic, pressed in garlic press or finely minced

3 Tbs flour
3 C milk
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp dry basil
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (1/2 tsp or more if you like spicy)
1 medium lemon
2 C broccoli, roughly chopped
¾ C grated mozzarella cheese, divided
¾ C grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions. About half way through cooking time, add the broccoli.

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic to pan and cook until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute. Add flour to pan and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute. Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, basil, and red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.

While sauce is heating, use a microplane grater or a fine-holed cheese grater to zest lemon. Then cut lemon in half and remove juice. Add 2 teaspoons zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to sauce (I just added all the juice this time and really liked it that way). Continue to stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Drain tortellini and place back in stock pot. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooked bacon and add the rest to the pasta mixture. Add spinach, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Add sauce and gently stir to combine. Place pasta mixture in an 8 x 11 baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup mozarella and 1/4 cup parmesan and also crumbled bacon.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese on top is melted and pasta is bubbly throughout. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Chicken Piccata

20 or so Chicken Tenders (I bought the Foster Farms tenderloins and used 3 of the prepacked bags - located in the fresh meat section)

I used a 9 X 13 pan, and a pie pan and it fit 3 packages of chicken just fine.

2-3 eggs (beaten)

Bread Crumbs:
1 cup Italian Bread crumbs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Parsley flakes (finely chopped)
Garlic Salt (sprinkle a little)
Flour (I didn't use this, so try just a little)
salt and pepper (sprinkle a little)

Sauce:
1 cup half and half
1 stick of butter
Juice of 2 REAL lemons (not the juice from the store)

Optional: capers, mix a half of jar into the sauce after you have blended the 3 above ingredients

Dip tenders in egg, then in the crumbs. Brown in hot pan with melted butter. Do not cook through. Just enough for each side to be a little crispy. Place in baking dish and put in oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Pour sauce over chicken and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Be careful to not overcook.
My suggestions: I made this recipe last night and the family loved it! It was very tender and moist! Try mixing the sauce in a blender to get a better consistency (I didn't do this, and I think it will make the sauce smoother). Also, I did 1 cup of butter for the sauce (the first time) and it was a little too much, because when it came out of the oven, you could see a layer of butter in the pan. So, using 1 stick of butter worked better instead of two sticks. Another thought: really coat the chicken with the bread crumbs. The ones that were coated were the better ones. :)

From Second Sister Suaviloquy

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

I like Chicken Broccoli Casserole, but I don't like using canned "cream of" soups. Today I found a couple of recipes online, and tweaked them a little for our dinner. Most of the kids liked this. Bentley said it was "better than he thought it would be." Milo ate 2 helpings.

Ingredients:

2 cooked and shredded boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 16 oz package frozen broccoli

3 TBSP butter

3 TBSP flour

3/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups milk

1/4 - 1/2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mayo

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1/4 cup butter

1 cup crushed Townhouse Crackers

Method:

Melt the 3 TBSP butter in a medium saucepan. Add the flour, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and cook for another minute or two. Wisc in the milk and continue to stir until mixture thickens and boils. Add sour cream and mayo. Stir in the shredded cheese until melted. Add broccoli and shredded chicken. Pour into greased casserole dish (I used a 9 or 10 inch round glass dish). Melt 1/4 cup butter and stir in crackers. Sprinkle over casserole. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve over cooked rice or egg noodles.

Pocket Burritoes

Ingredients:
5 flour tortillas
1 can black beans
1/2 - 1 cup shredded cooked chicken
1/2 - 1 cup frozen sweet corn
1/2 cup sliced olives
2 1/2 cups shredded cheese
onion powder
salt
garlic powder
dried cilantro
cumin
1 TBSP canola oil

Method:
Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add black beans, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, and cilantro. (I didn't measure, just sprinkled them in.) Cook beans over medium high heat about 5 minutes, then add chicken, corn, and olives and warm through.

Sprinkle about 1/3 cup cheese over one half of one tortilla. Spoon bean mixture over cheese, and cover with another layer of cheese. Fold empty side of tortilla over filling. Repeat with remaining tortillas, cheese, and filling. Brown both sides of tortilla on a griddle or in a frying pan over medium high heat. Press down on tortilla. When cheese is melted and tortilla is golden brown, remove from heat.

Serve warm as is, or with desired toppings (sour cream, tomatoes, salsa, etc.)

(This was a last minute dinner tonight because I ran out of time. It's really just a dressed up quesadilla, but I asked John to come up with a good name. I'd been thinking about trying this recipe, and used similar ingredients. You could leave out the chicken for a vegetarian meal.)

Chicken Pot Pie

Crust:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
cold water

Put butter, flour, and salt in a medium size bowl. Cut flour into the butter with a pastry blender or two forks. Add cold water, a little at a time until you are able to make the dough into a ball. Handle the dough as little as possible and don't get it too wet. Wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge until you're ready to assemble the pie. I like to make the crust a few hours ahead of time to cut down on prep right at dinner. (This is for a single crust pie. Double it if you want a bottom crust.)

Sauce:
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried sage, marjoram, or thyme, crushed
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup milk

In a saucepan cook onion in butter till tender. Stir in flour, salt, sage, marjoram, or thyme; and pepper. Add chicken broth and milk all at once. Cook and stir till thick and bubbly. (Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.)

Filling:
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded or cubed
1 potato, parboiled and cubed
1 carrot, diced
1/3 cup corn
1/2 cup green beans or 1/3 cup peas (or both)
(or 1 cup of frozen mixed vegetables)

Method:
Add filling to sauce and spoon into pie plate.
Roll out crust on floured surface. Place on top of pie filling and seal edges. Using a fork, make several holes in the crust for steam to vent. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Teriyaki Chicken Salad Sandwiches

We had this for dinner after the baby's blessing on Sunday. Not vegetarian, but good. :)
It's from Our Best Bites.

Teriyaki Chicken Salad Sandwiches

2 chicken breasts
Kikkoman Teriyaki Baste and Glaze
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped (the white ends only)
1/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted
1 small can of Mandarin oranges, drained
1 small can pineapple tidbits OR roughly-chopped chunks
1/3-1/2 c. mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste
Croissants or pitas
Lettuce leaves

Marinate chicken for at least 4 hours. Grill. While chicken is grilling, combine celery and green onions in a small mixing bowl or a plastic storage container with a lid. When chicken is done, allow to stand for about 10 minutes and then cut into bite-sized pieces. Toss with celery and onions and then add mayonnaise and mix thoroughly. Start with 1/3 c. and go from there. Add 2-3 (or more) tablespoons of Teriyaki sauce to taste.

Refrigerate for several hours.Right before serving, add oranges, pineapple, and nuts. Season with salt and pepper to taste. You may need to add more mayo and/or Teriyaki. Serve on a lettuce leaf in a croissant or a pita.

I used 8-10 split chicken breasts and that fed about 20 people. I'm guessing that the recipe as written would feed about 4 people.

Recommended Recipes

I thought I'd list a few of the recipes that I've tried from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.
She does such a great job of writing them down (and illustrating them with photos), it would be silly for me to try to improve them. Here are the links, instead.

Delicious Creamy Mashed Potatoes -We had these with our Thanksgiving dinner. Sooo good, and just in case you have some cream cheese haters in your home, the cream cheese flavor didn't really come through. The potatoes were just GOOD.

Egg-in-a-hole - John and I sometimes have these for a snack before bed. Yum.

Farfalle with Zucchini - This is a great recipe for summer zucchini. We haven't had it for a few months, so I'm not sure whether it was a hit with the kids, or not. I'll have to update after I make it again.

Chicken Rice Soup - This was really good. A nice, creamy soup. I even added the yellow food coloring. :)

Ranch Chicken - We had this for dinner last night. I was skeptical because I'm not a big Dijon Mustard fan, but the flavor was really good. John really liked it (although he admits that not having eaten all day might have pushed this recipe from just "good" to "really good").

Crash Hot Potatoes - I know that we had these potatoes last summer. I don't think that the kids liked them, and John wasn't impressed, but I thought they were good.