Chicken Enchiladas

I FINALLY GOT 5 STARS! I made this up on the spot, since our groceries were low and I had a few random things lying around and it turned out to be great.

Ingredients
3-5 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can of cream of mushroom soup (cream of chicken or cream of celery would probably work too)
1 1/2 C sour cream
1/2 t Chili powder
1 T butter
1 small onion
1 4oz. can small, chopped green chilies, drained
1 pkg. mild taco seasoning
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1 C water
Juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 t onion powder
1 1/2 t garlic powder
5 (12" round) flour tortillas
3 C shredded cheddar cheese
1 can (10oz) enchilada sauce


1. Place the chicken in a large pot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the chicken pieces are no longer pink. 10 minutes if thawed, 20 if still frozen. Shred the chicken.
2. Combine the cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, and chili powder in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stir occasionally, then turn off the heat and cover to keep warm.
2. Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the shredded chicken, chopped green chilies, taco seasoning, half of the bunch of chopped green onion, and water. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Then stir in the lime juice, onion powder, and garlic powder; simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Preheat an oven to 350. Stir 1 cup of the soup mixture into the skillet with the chicken mixture. Spread the remaining soup mixture on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. Fill each tortilla with chicken mixture. Sprinkle Cheddar cheese over the chicken filling before folding the tortillas, reserving half of the shredded cheese for topping the enchiladas. Fold tortillas over the filling and place seam-side down in the prepared pan.
5. Pour enchilada sauce evenly over the enchiladas. Cover with the remaining 1 1/2 cups of Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle the reserved chopped green onions. Bake for 25 minutes.

Tyler gave these a grand total of ****and* stars.

Teriyaki and Pineapple Chicken

- allrecipes.com

Fantastic teriyaki dish. Could be done without chicken as well.

- 2 tbs. cooking oil
- 1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into cubes (2 breasts should be plenty)
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced thin
- 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thin (didn't have any- still good)
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
- 1 1/4 cups sliced mushrooms (didn't use these- still good)
- 1 onion, chopped (used a red onion, for aesthetic purposes)
- 1 cup teriyaki sauce
- 1 (8 oz) can pineapple chunks, undrained
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper (didn't have any- still good)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 cup flour (I substituted cornstarch instead)

Cook chicken chunks in oil in a wok (or large pot- whatever you use to make stir fry) until chicken is cooked through.
Add to wok all other ingredients (EXCEPT for flour) at medium heat. When it starts to simmer, add flour (or cornstarch) and continue to stir and simmer until it thickens up to your desired consistency.
Serve over rice. Eat it all up and wish you had made more. It's so dang good.

I actually halfed this recipe, and it still fed us four portions... next time I'll make more. :)

(Too busy eating this to take a photo of my own creation- this one is from the recipe I pulled at allrecipes.com. It looks better in real life... man, it's good.)

HUBBY SCORE: * * * * 1/2
(wow. Only pie gets a full 5 stars around here... I gave it 5 stars myself...)

Apricot Chicken

Sorry... I don't have a picture of this one yet, but I was wondering if I can go back a attach pictures to my other posts?? Someone let me know if that is a possibility.

Ingredients
1 jar apricot jam
1/2 bottle Russian salad dressing
1 package onion soup mix
6 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken breasts

mix all the ingredients together and 1/2 of the mixture together in either a crock pot bowl or the bottom of a casserole dish. put the chicken in and then pour the rest of the sauce on top of the chicken.

If cooking in a crock pot, cook it on low for 4 hours. If cooking in a casserole dish, cook at 350 for an hour.

Tyler rates this ****, and he doesn't like apricot chicken very much so hopefully you enjoy this as much as we do!

Shepards Pie

Again, from my Mama's recipe book. We had this on Wednesday and Hubby DEVOURED it!

Shepherd’s Pie
Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped (not needed if you use Beefy Onion soup mix)
3 tablespoons four or cornstarch
1 enveloped beefy mushroom or beefy onion soup mix
2-3 cups water
1 teaspoon salt or beef bouillon granules to taste
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cans green beans
5-6 cups mashed potatoes
2 cups grated cheese

Method
►Brown beef and chopped onion together until onion is transparent and beef is well browned (browning helps create the flavor and color of the dish).
►Add salt or beef bouillon granules to taste.
►Remove from heat and stir in flour or cornstarch and dry soup mix.
►Add 2 cups water.
►Return to heat, bring to a boil; boil 2-3 minutes.
►Add additional water, as needed to create desired consistency of gravy

►Place gravy mix in bottom of 9x13 casserole or baking pan.
►Drain green beans and scatter over top of gravy.
►Spoon mashed potatoes over top and gently spread to form a crust.
►Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake at 350⁰ for 30-45 minutes or until hot, bubbly and cheese is melted.


NOTE: I personally prefer fresh mashed potatoes, but instant mashed works fine. If making fresh, use approximately 6-8 medium to small potatoes or about 6 cups diced potatoes.

Hubby Score * * * * *

Rice Pudding

Although Mr. Picky Two won't eat rice pudding (he can't even tell me why he doesn't like it, its not the taste nor consistency) I'm posting this recipe anyway. Its also via my mother although its called Grandma Rose’s Rice Pudding.

Ingredients
2 quarts whole milk
¼ tsp. lemon zest
¾ cup converted long grain rice
½ cup sugar
1 tsp butter
Pinch of salt
3 large eggs (medium eggs would work OK)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon

Method
►In a large saucepan, bring the milk, lemon zest, rice, sugar, butter and salt to a simmer.
►Cook for 30 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally, making sure the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
►Taste the rice after 30 minutes. It should be tender.
►In a large bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla extract until frothy.
►Slowly stur 2/3 of the hot rice into the egg mixture.
►Return the rice and eggs to the saucepan with remaining rice and on low heat
►Stir the rice constantly for 5-8 minutes until creamy.
►Pour into a 2 quart shallow dish, sprinkle with cinnamon and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves 8-10 (It makes a lot!)


My Sibling's Score * * * *
Hubby Score ?

Funeral Potatoes

This recipe is from my Mom and not healthy but sure yummy!


Funeral Potatoes

Ingredients
24 oz grated frozen potatoes
1 cube butter softened (My Mom uses ½ cube)
16 oz. sour cream (My mom sometimes use non-fat, but she dosen't like the consistency as well)
1-3 cups grated cheese
2 cans mushroom soup

Method
►Mix softened butter, sour cream, mushroom soup and cheese together.
►Mix potatoes into mixture.
►Press into a large casserole dish.
Bake at 350⁰ for 45 minutes or until bubbly throughout.


My sibling score * * * * *

Hubby score * * * *

Russian Chicken with Feta Cheese

-Allrecipes.com

I'm a sucker for a good sauce recipe. I took some adjusting liberties with the directions on this one. It's supposed to serve 8 but if you consume sauce like I do (or save the remaining to top upon other things), it may be much less.

- cooked chicken breasts (diced, sliced, or in halves- any way seems to be fine. 1-2 pieces works great, but the original recipe called for 8 breasts- yikes.)

- 2 tbs. butter
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbs. flour
- 1/4 cup vodka (white grape juice or water can substitute)
- 1 tbs. tomato paste
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp. dried parsley
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Place cooked chicken pieces into a 9x13 baking dish- set aside.
Melt butter in a wide frying pan, stir in garlic and onion and cook until onion begins to soften. Stir in flour (cook about 5 min.) then add vodka/grape juice and simmer & stir on med-high heat constantly until heated through. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Reduce heat and simmer 20 min (they say 20- I say until it's heated through.)
Pour sauce on top of chicken and put in oven preheated to 350F. Cook for 20 min. or until browned on top.

This is great with mashed potatoes, but pasta or rice would be great as well.

HUBBY SCORE: * * * *

Tomato Gravy

-Southern Living, Feb 2005

This sauce came with a dependable meatloaf recipe, but I love this sauce so dang much, I put it on lots of things now. Super easy too.

- 2 tbs. butter
- 2. tbs. flour
-1 can diced tomatoes w/ green chiles (I NEVER do the green chiles)
-1/2 cup ketchup
-1/2 cup water

Melt butter in a saucepan, then stir in flour. When pasty add tomatoes, ketchup and water. Stir til all combined and heated through (it will get thicker).

HUBBY SCORE: * * * 1/2

Bran Muffins

- From my Mom

These may be an acquired taste for some, but when served warm and slathered in butter and honey, they're awesome. I could probably eat 6 of these in one sitting.
These are quite healthy too- a molasses sweetener instead of sugar- rock on. The worst part for me is shredding the carrots- I need to get a food processor someday.

1 egg
2 carrots, shredded
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup flour 1 cup bran (crunched Bran Flakes work well)
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup tomato juice (or one small can)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Combine ingredients and pour into muffin tin. Bake for 18 minutes at 400 F.
Yields 12 muffins.

At home I used to dump the ingredients in willy nilly, but I recently experimented with mixing the dries separately and adding to the rest of the ingredients already combined. The batter turned out more even- I think I'll proceed that way again in the future.


HUBBY SCORE: * * * 1/2

Manicotti

This is one that Mr. Picky Two likes but my brothers LOVE.


Ingredients

15 oz ricotta cheese
8 oz mozzarella cheese
1/2 c parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 jar of spaghetti sauce*
manicotti noodles

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the manicotti noodles according to directions. While those are boiling, mix together ricotta, mozzarella, permasean, parsely, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Pour 1/2 cup of sauce on bottom of a greased 9x13 baking dish. Scoop cheese mixture into manicotti noodles and place in baking dish. Pour remaining sauce on top. Cover and cook 40 minutes. Remove cover and cook an additional 10 minutes.



Hubby Score * * * *


* I'm looking for a good spaghetti sauce recipe, if you have one please post!

Mashed Potato Quesadilla

- AllRecipes.com (plus improvisation)

Probably not very good for you, but very good.

- 2-4 medium potatoes, mashed
- 6 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
- 1/2 onion, sauteed
- frozen corn, cooked
- flour tortillas
- shredded Cheddar cheese
- soft butter
- sour cream
- salsa

Stir up the mashed potatoes, bacon, corn, onions, and a fistful or two of cheese. Butter one side of tortillas lightly, and sandwich the potato spread between sides not buttered. Grill in pan like a grilled cheese sandwich. Dice up with pizza cutter, dollop with sour cream and salsa, and serve.

This quantity makes at least 4 decent sized quesadillas, but 1 is enough to feed two people- don't let your eyes get bigger than your stomach. With the potatoes in there they're quite filling.

HUBBY SCORE: * * * *

Chicken Costa Brava

-Allrecipes.com

I adjusted this based on how it worked for us last night. I'm sure you COULD put 10 chicken breasts in there, but as there's only two of us, we added one BIG one diced up. This also would taste awesome without the chicken for the vegetarian at heart. :)
This is also a good way to use up leftovers, as it's got all sorts of random stuff you might find in your fridge.

• 1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks
• 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast (diced in chunks or strips)
  
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion, quartered (or in strips)
  
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes (I used a leftover tomato half)
  
• 2 cups black olives (or one can- I cut them in half too)
  
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• salt to taste

1. Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Sprinkle with salt.
2. In a large frying pan, brown chicken in oil. Combine cumin and cinnamon, and sprinkle over chicken. Add garlic and onion; cook until onion is soft. Add reserved pineapple juice, tomatoes, olives, and salsa. Cover, and simmer 25 minutes. (Yeah right- I didn't simmer for 25 min! 5-10 min. was just fine...)
   
3. Mix cornstarch with water; stir into pan juices. Add bell pepper, and simmer until sauce boils and thickens. Stir in pineapple chunks, and heat through.
4. Serve over rice.
   

I LOVED the diverse mix of flavors, and Picky #1 who's not such a fan of mixing his food, actually loved it too. (YAY!) It tasted kinda like a Hawaiian haystack offshoot, but with more veggies. We'll be making this again soon.

HUBBY SCORE: * * * *

Strawberry & Feta Cheese Salad

- From... ?

Spinach leaves
Strawberries, diced (about 2-3 per plate)
Feta cheese
Crumbled walnuts (1 fistful per plate)
Craisins (1 fistful per plate)
Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette dressing

Assemble salad. Portions listed work great as a dinner salad, and seem to work best prepared on individual plates as in a humongous bowl all the good stuff seems to sink to the bottom.

This can also be called, "Best Frickin' Awesome Salad in the Whole Wide World". We eat this on a regular basis and can't ever imagine getting tired of it. Love it to pieces. Also tastes great with a mix of diced pears.


HUBBY SCORE: * * * * *

Black Bean Burritos

First off, someone is going to have to teach me the ways of the blogging world... I've never been officially initiated and I don't really know how it works.

Second, can I please just say how amazing the captions are below the faces of the brothers. I laughed for five minutes when I read Ty's cause... oh wait! True story. Ever since that day I have always tried to put everything away before Tyler gets home so he can't figure out what ingredients I cook with.

ANYWAY! Onto the food. I tried this recipe yesterday and I thought it was really good. I let Tyler rate it and he gave me 4 stars, but we are newlyweds so take that for what it's worth. Also, be warned that I tend to make up a lot of my own recipes so I'll try to let you know if they are tried and true or some of my own ideas... understandably I think that could sway the decision to try it or not. This one happens to be one that I just kind of made up on my own.

INGREDIENTS

* 4 (10" round) tortillas
* 1 sweet onion, chopped
* 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
*1 (15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
* 2 T minced jalapeno peppers
* 2 T garlic salt ( I added a lot more, but I am notorious for adding ample spice)
* 1 1/2 t chili powder (once again, I added more so I guessed how much would be normal)
* 1 t salt
* 3 T chopped, fresh cilantro
* 1-2 c Spanish rice with tomatoes
** 4 T sour cream OR 4 T cream cheese
Directions

1. Wrap tortillas in foil and bake for 350F for 15 minutes.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place onion, bell pepper and jalapeno in skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Pour beans into skillet and cook for another 3 minutes, while adding garlic salt and chili powder.

3. Stir cilantro and rice into mixture

4. Spread cream cheese or sour cream onto tortilla. Be careful not to get too close to the edges, or it will be hard to fold.

5. Spoon mixture evenly down the center of the tortilla and fold.

Beef Stroganoff

Mama Kris had a bad experience with beef stroganoff so the boys have never really had it. Mr. Picky Two was up for trying it and now it is one of his favorites. Its easy and delicious.

Ingredients:

Round Steak* (or if you want a super fast easy meal, buy the already cut stew meat - its a little more expensive per pound but cuts out the most tedious part of the preparation)

1 can french onion soup

1 can cream of mushroom

Milk

Wide Egg Noodles


Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut steak into strips about 1/4" thick and brown. Once browned, combine french onion soup, cream of mushroom soup, the browned meat*, and one can of milk in a sauce pan. Bring to a low boil (if you want the sauce thicker, add flour or corn starch until the desired consistency). Spray Pam on a casserole dish and pour sauce into dish. Place in oven for 30 minutes. While sauce cooks in the oven, boil a package of wide egg noodles according to the directions on the package. Once sauce and noodles are cooked, spoon sauce over noodles and enjoy!

Serve with: Green beans, and rolls (our pickies love their rolls - at least mine does.)

Hubby Score: * * * * *








*for you vegetarian types, you can leave the meat aside and let your husband add it to his sauce later, or leave it out completely, it will still be yummy.

The picture of "Mama" Kris definitely has to go - we need to find something better or I will post a photo of Julia Child! Thanks Sare for getting this started. Kris

Tamale Pie

-From my Mom (out of a Healthy Heart Cookbook)

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 can beef broth (chicken broth okay too)

Combine cornmeal and 1/2 cup broth in large saucepan. Boil remaining broth and stir into cormeal mixture. Stir over medium heat until thickened. Press into a greased baking dish (line the sides and the bottom). Set aside.

Spaghetti sauce (up to a whole jar)
1/2 lb hamburger meat
1/4 cup onion
2 cups corn (or 1 frozen bag)
black olives (up to a whole can)
1 tbsp. chili power
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes (one can)
1/3 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
1/2 red bell pepper (optional)
grated cheese (cheddar works well)

Combine listed ingredients except for cheese and simmer 5 minutes stirring gently. Spoon mixture into lined baking dish, top with cheese.

Bake 30 min. at 350F. Serves 8.

Oddly enough, no tamales are in this recipe at all. Still quite good, though.

HUBBY SCORE: * * * *

Bratton's Clam Chowder

- "Monsieur Bratton", from my Mom

3/4 lb. minced clams (2 tins)
1 cup onions, chopped fine
1 cup celery, chopped fine
1 quart half & half *
1/2 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup butter (I do 1/2 cup)
1 cup potatoes, diced fine (2-4 potatoes)
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Drain clams from juice and pour over vegetables in pot, add enough water to cover vegetables. Simmer until tender (about 20 min.) Melt butter in large saucepan then add flour. Add cream and cook until smooth and thick (stir often with a wire whisk). Add vegetables and clams (add vegetable water to stretch soup out.) Season with salt, pepper, and sugar. Simmer for a few minutes to heat clams through.
Serves 6 large bowls.

* I've tried with different cream combinations in a pinch (sour cream & milk, etc) All turn out okay. Even straight milk seems to work fine. Just depends on how thick you want it.


HUBBY SCORE: * * * *