Chicken With Cilantro Cream Sauce

This is a flavorful dish, great with rice or pasta, or serve it with boiled new or fingerling potatoes. Feel free to replace the wine with more chicken broth.


Ingredients:
4 chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, divided
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
4 to 6 green onions, with a few inches of green, sliced
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes
Preparation:


Wash chicken; pat dry. Put chicken breasts between sheets of plastic wrap and flatten to an even thickness of about 1/4-inch. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and about half of the Cajun seasoning.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is very hot, add the chicken. Cook, turning, until juices run clear when chicken is pricked with a fork and both sides are browned. Remove chicken to a plate; set aside.

Add green onions and red bell pepper to the drippings. Cook, stirring, until vegetables are tender, about 1 minute. Add chicken broth and wine; bring to a boil. Simmer until juices have reduced to about 1/2 cup. Add the cream and continue simmering to reduce slightly. Stir in tomatoes and cilantro, along with remaining Cajun seasoning. Taste and add salt and pepper, if necessary. Cook for 1 minute. Add chicken, cover, and heat through.
Serves 4.

Ham and Cheese Rolls

My kids love these! They are quick and easy on a night when we are on the go.

slices of ham (we like honey ham)
slices of cheese - any kind you like
crescent refrigerator rolls - as many as you want to make

You need one slice of ham and one slice of cheese per roll.

Simply put one slice of ham and one slice of cheese on a crescent roll. Roll it up and make sure the dough sticks together at the end so that it won't unroll during baking. It will look like a crescent roll normally would, except with ham and cheese in the middle.

The cheese and the ham will be visible at the sides, and during baking, some of the cheese does spill out onto the pan.

Bake in a 350 degree oven until the rolls are light to medium brown.

This quick dinner is good with a relish tray of veggies, or apple slices and pork and beans.

Serve and enjoy!

Yellow Squash Puree Macaroni and Cheese

This is not my recipe. (My notes are in italics). It is from Everyday Food Storage blog. She has some amazing recipes and tutorials on there. Check her blog out! This is the only mac and cheese I make now. We all love it at our house. Plus, I use whole wheat pasta too. Healthy dinner! I copied this right from her blog. Here is the original post on the mac and cheese recipe. She has a video tutorial on making the Magic Mix if you want to watch it. (Magic Mix is a mix you make and keep in the fridge for several months and use it for many different recipes).

2 C. Elbow Macaroni (or any type of pasta)
1/3 C. Magic Mix
1/2 C. Water
1 C. Yellow Squash Puree
1-1/2 C. Cheddar Cheese, grated
4 oz. Cream Cheese (I use non-fat)
1/2 t. Salt

1/8 t. Paprika
1/2 t. Pepper

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the macaroni and cook according to package directions until al dente. Drain in a colander.

2. While the macaroni is cooking, combine Magic Mix and water in a saucepan. Stir rapidly (I use a wire wisk) over medium heat until it starts to bubble and thicken.

3. Add the squash puree, Cheddar, cream cheese, and seasonings, and stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth.

4. Stir in the macaroni and serve warm. (Personally, I chop up a tomato and stir it in. I really like the taste of tomatoes and cheese but that is optional. I also garnish with a little paprika and grated cheese.Try it! Your kids will love it...which means you will too!

Beefy Italian Casserole

I made this last week for dinner and it was really good! However, next time I will use a 9X13 pan instead of a 2-quart baking dish because then meat mixture is more equal in amount to the crust on top. The crescent rolls make a very delicious crust on top!

1 lb lean ground beef
1 T onion powder
1 T garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 sm onion, chopped (I like to use minced onion)
2 c Marinara Sauce, any brand
1 c shredded Italian blend cheese
1/2 c part-skim ricotta cheese
1 or 2 cans (8 oz) reduced-fat refrigerated crescent dinner roll dough
1/3 c Parmesan cheese (grated)
1/4 tsp. dried oregano

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Brown ground beef and onion in skillet; remove from heat; drain any fat.

Add onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and marinara sauce. Stir well.

In a medium bowl mix together the ricotta cheese and Italian blend cheese.

Spoon beef mixture into a 2-quart baking dish (9X13 pan better!). Spread cheese mixture on top.

Unroll dough and place on top of cheese mixture to create a crust. Make a few slits in the top of the crust with a knife.
The crust can be placed on top, anyway you like, since these are individual crescent rolls, stuck together. I unrolled the
first four and they fit in the very center; then I separated the other four and laid them out, fitting them for the ends of
the pan. You may need to use two cans of crescent rolls with a 9X13 pan.

Sprinkle the crust with the parmesan cheese and oregano.

Bake for 20-25 min, until crust is golden brown.

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken:
1 (2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon House Seasoning, recipe follows
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of celery or cream of chicken soup
Dumplings:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
Ice water


To start the chicken: Place the chicken, celery, onion, bay leaves, bouillon, and House Seasoning in a large pot. Add 4 quarts of water and in water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer the chicken until it is tender and the thigh juices run clear, about 40 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and, when it is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and separate the meat from the bones. Return the chicken meat to the pot. Keep warm over low heat.
To prepare the dumplings: Mix the flour with the salt and mound together in a mixing bowl. Beginning at the center of the mound, drizzle a small amount of ice water over the flour. Using your fingers, and moving from the center to the sides of the bowl, gradually incorporate about 3/4 cup of ice water. Knead the dough and form it into ball.

Dust a good amount of flour onto a clean work surface. Roll out the dough (it will be firm), working from center to 1/8-inch thick. Let the dough relax for several minutes.

Add the cream of celery soup to the pot with the chicken and simmer gently over medium-low heat.

Cut the dough into 1-inch pieces. Pull a piece in half and drop the halves into the simmering soup. Repeat. Do not stir the chicken once the dumplings have been added. Gently move the pot in a circular motion so the dumplings become submerged and cook evenly. Cook until the dumplings float and are no longer doughy, 3 to 4 minutes.

To serve, ladle chicken, gravy, and dumplings into warm bowls.

If the chicken stew is too thin it can be thickened before the dumplings are added. Simply mix together 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water then whisk this mixture into the stew.


House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder

Black Bean and Corn Dip

We ate this dip while watching the BSU game on Saturday. YUM! We want more already. We didn't have avocado so I left it out and it still tasted fabulous. I found this recipe in some magazine.

2 c. frozen sweet corn (or one can corn, drained)
1/2 c. canned black beans, rinsed thoroughly
1 c. salsa
1 bunch green onions, diced
1/2 avocado, sliced
juice of half a lime
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped

Combine all ingredients and toss well. Let sit for an hour before serving to meld flavors. Serve with chips or with Tostitos Scoops chips.

Wheat (or white) Waffles

Here is a recipe I got a few years ago and tweaked to how I like it. I usually used mostly wheat flour, and I added the flax meal for more nutrition. This is one of my favorite homemade waffle recipes.

2 c. wheat or white flour (or use 1/2 and 1/2)
1/2 c. flax seed meal
1 T. baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 T. sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. oil

Mix together well, allow to thicken a little before cooking. May need to thin with more milk.