Crock pot Chicken and Green Beans

4 Frozen Chicken Breasts or 8 Chicken Tenders
1 Jar Trader Joe's Green Olive Tapenade
1/2 bag Trader Joe's Frozen Green Beans
2 slices Swiss cheese

Place chicken in bottom of crock pot. Layer with Swiss cheese, 1/2 jar of tapenade, green beans, and remaining tapenade. Cook on low for 6 to 10 hours. Serve with rice.

Alternate Directions: Place ingredients in a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 40 min.

Cajun Chicken Caesar Salad

INGREDIENTS

• 3 chicken tenders
• Cajun spice (to taste)
• Hot sauce (to taste)
• 1 cups romaine lettuce
• 1 tablespoons reduced fat Caesar salad dressing (Newman's Own Lighten Up)
• 1 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Sprinkle spice and hot sauce on chicken breast, catering to your own taste, and grill chicken on skillet or grill (chicken is done when light pink has disappeared from center).
2. Toss lettuce, dressing, and chicken to evenly distribute throughout salad.
3. Add Parmesan cheese to taste, and serve.

Serves 1. Calories per serving: 277

Chicken Primavera

4 chicken breasts
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tsp dried tarragon (or 1 tbsp fresh)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp chopped shallots
1 tbsp olive oil
Whole wheat egg noodles
Fresh Green Beans
Carrots (match stick)
Zucchini (match stick)

Cook chicken in frying pan and set aside. While chicken is cooking, start boiling water for the egg noodles. Saute shallots in oil until they start looking clear. Add lemon juice and cook until almost evaporated (about 1 min). Add cream, chicken broth, and tarragon. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until sauce thickens slightly.

While sauce is thickening, steam veggies and add noodles to the boiling water. Once sauce has thickened, add chicken breast. Serve over egg noodles.

Serves 4

Chicken Roll-Ups

Rollups/Pillows/Puffs/Bundles:

2 cups cubed chicken (boiled)
1 8 oz package light cream cheese
4 mushrooms (finely chopped)
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 pkg Pillsbury crescent rolls
1/2 stick butter (melted)
1 cup chicken flavor stovetop stuffing (finely crushed)

Gravy:

1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water

Mix chicken, cream cheese, mushrooms and poultry seasoning in bowl. Split mixture into 8ths. Stretch dough and place 1/8 mixture into crescent roll. Seal all edges of the roll. Coat roll in butter and then bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes.

Combine ingredients for gravy and heat to simmering (medium).

Freezer directions: Freeze the chicken pillows immediately after you have rolled them in bread crumbs. Then bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. They don't puff up as well after they've been frozen, but they still taste great.

Salmon Fried Rice

Ingredients:
1 trader Joe's salmon patty (thawed)
1/2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup white wine
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup cold cooked brown basmati rice
1/3 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1-2 green onions
Spray Butter
Spray Bragg's Amino Acid (or soy sauce)

Place butter, wine, and salmon in frying pan. Once the salmon starts to cook, cut salmon in pan into bite-sized pieces. Add green onions, pepper, and lemon juice. Cook until all liquid is gone and salmon starts to brown slightly. While salmon is cooking, microwave peas, carrots, rice, spray butter, and bragg's for 3 minutes. Stir microwave mixture into the frying pan. Cook an additional 3 minutes.

I use the term fried rice loosely here, because I know you are technically supposed to have eggs in fried rice, but since I don't like eggs, I left them out. If you want to use eggs, scramble the eggs first and then set them aside. Add the eggs with the microwave mixture. I didn't have carrots or green onions when I made this recipe and it was still delicious.

A few tips about this meal - Frozen brown rice is my favorite, but Trader Joe's is always out of it. So I started making my own. I freeze the rice in individual portions. It really helps when I'm exhausted at the end of the day and don't want to cook.

Without eggs this meal has about 440 calories.

Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 box spice cake mix
1 can of Libby's pumpkin (small 15 oz can)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet are healthier)
nutmeg (optional)

Mix cake mix, pumpkin, and chocolate chips in bowl until blended. Spoon** dough onto greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle nutmeg on top of cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 - 12 min depending on size of cookies.

Makes 27 cookies. Each cookie has 98 calories with chocolate chips or 80 calories without.

**Mackenzi, I used a "big spoon" - you know- the one's we don't like to use to eat cold cereal.

Kidney Beans and Rice

I got this recipe from Laura Padro (the next door neighbor I used to babysit for) when I was 11. It's one of my favorite meals. It works really well for vegetarians as a full meal. Whenever I eat it I'm filled up, but you can also use it as a side dish with Chicken or Beef.

Cooked Brown Rice
1 large can kidney beans (drained)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 large pepper finely chopped (green, red, yellow, or orange)
1/2 onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 tbsp fresh cilantro finely chopped
1/2 tsp cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste (1/4 tsp of each to start with - that's for you Mackenzi)


Prepare Brown Rice. Saute onions, peppers, and garlic in oil until onions start looking transparent. Add tomato sauce, cilantro, cumin, salt, and pepper. Bring to slight boil. Add kidney beans. Heat thoroughly (about 5 min on medium). Serve over brown rice.

Tips:

Brown Rice - I love Trader Joe's Frozen Brown Rice, but they are usually out of it when I go pick it up, so I make my own. I double the rice I usually make in the rice cooker and then measure out 1/2 cup servings of rice in baggies and freeze them.

Peppers - Yellow and orange peppers are sweeter than red and green ones. I prefer them in this recipe. When I feel like it needs more spice, I add tapatio hot sauce

Frozen - This one works really well for frozen dinners/lunches. I measure out 1 cup of the kidney beans and put it in a Ziploc container and keep the frozen rice on hand for a quick lunch/dinner.

Frozen Yogurt

Top 5 frozen Yogurt places.

1. BeachBerries (only in Huntington Beach, CA)
2. Red Mango
3. Yogurtland
5. Pinkberry
4. Great American Yogurt
5. Golden Spoon

Frozen Yogurt is one of my favorite treats. I have recently tried these yogurts and have based my results on flavor, ambiance, and presentation.

BeachBerries (or beach berries) won perfect scores on all accounts. The flavor is my favorite because it is creamy, sweet, and smooth. The store is located on PCH and Main Street in Huntington Beach. So, after a hot summer day at the beach, it's the perfect place to go get something refreshing. They offer the yogurt parfait style so when you get three toppings, they layer it with the yogurt. It's delicious and pretty.

Red Mango was really good. I can't really judge the ambiance of a red mango store because my boss actually picked it up for me, but they're yogurt tastes very similar to BeachBerries'. Their containers are your run-of-the-mill cups with lids.

I liked the different flavors that Yogurtland & Great American Yogurt offered and that I could get as much or as little as I wanted (you pay by weight rather than cup size). Their Plain yogurt was a little too tart for me and not creamy enough. Sometimes it felt a little grainy.

Pinkberry has a good flavor if you prefer a more tart yogurt. It is still smooth, but not very creamy either.

At Golden Spoon, I got their vanilla flavored frozen yogurt and it was too sweet.

I'll keep adding more, as I try different places and flavors.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup soft butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

1 Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.

2 With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.

3 Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.

4 Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.

5 Drizzle glaze over cake.

Glaze: Mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Cut in thin slices to serve. Makes 10-12 servings.

Lindsay's Cake Cookies

1 box cake mix*
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil

Mix cake mix and baking powder in bowl. Mix in eggs and oil. Beat until smooth. Drop 1 spoonful onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes.

* I really like using spice cake for the mix and then before putting the cookies in the oven, I sprinkle a little nutmeg on top.

Chicken Marinade

3/4 cup Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette
3 leaves chopped fresh mint
3 leaves chopped fresh basil
1 tsp. chopped fresh chives
1/2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1/4 cup water
6 chicken breasts

Put chicken in a gallon ziplock. Add remaining ingredients and coat chicken. Marinate for 1 hour to 24 hours.

Notes: I have just discovered the wonders of fresh herbs (from a garden, not the store). So none of the herbs here are required, the Newman's own is good enough by itself.

Grilled Asparagus

1 bunch asparagus
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Mix oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in small bowl. Coat asparagus with mixture and grill.

Tomato Mozzarella Salad

I decided I wanted to make a tomato mozzarella salad and went straight to Epicurious.com to see what they had.

• 1 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 lb mixed heirloom tomatoes, quartered if small or cut into 1/4-inch-wide wedges if larger
• 1/2 lb very small mozzarella balls (1/4 inch; sometimes called perlini) or 1/2 lb lightly salted mozzarella, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 3 Tablespoons packed small basil leaves or torn large leaves

Serves 4

Preparation:

Whisk together vinegar, mustard, salt, sugar, and pepper in a large bowl. Add oil in a slow stream, whisking constantly until dressing is emulsified. Add tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil and toss well. Season with salt and pepper.

Notes:

• Salad, without vinaigrette, can be assembled 2 hours ahead and kept at room temperature. Salad can be dressed 1 hour ahead and kept at room temperature, covered.
• Vinaigrette keeps, covered and chilled, 1 week.
• Heirloom tomatoes were expensive, so I just went for the best looking tomatoes on the vine
  

Red Velvet Cupcakes with White Chocolate Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting

• Red Velvet Cake Mix
• eggs
• oil
• water
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• 6 White Chocolate squares
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

The important part of this recipe is the frosting. You can also make this with chocolate cupcakes, but red velvet is oh so good! I have two different recipes for the frosting, but I'm posting the easier of the two.

Make Red Velvet cupcakes and cool for at least 20 minutes. Melt white chocolate squares in microwave for 45 seconds and stir until melted. Place cream cheese frosting in mixing bowl. Pour chocolate into bowl. Add peppermint extract. Mix until smooth. Frost cupcakes.

The frosting will actually frost about 40 cupcakes, so you can save some frosting for later.

I made these for the Newbold's while I was staying there. Her girls were great little helpers.

Blueberry & Custard-Filled Star Puffs

• 1 sheet (from a 17-ounce package) frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 package (3-3/8 ounces) instant vanilla pudding and pie filling
• 1 cup milk
• 1 container (8 ounces) sour cream
• 1 pint (about 2 cups) fresh blueberries
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
• Confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 400F. On a work surface carefully unfold puff pastry; with a rolling pin roll pastry out 1/2 inch wider than its original dimension. Using a 3-inch star-shaped cookie cutter*, cut out 12 stars. With a spatula transfer stars to an ungreased baking sheet 1 inch apart. Bake until puffed and golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer stars to a wire rack; cool slightly. Using a sharp knife cut stars in halves horizontally; cool completely.

To prepare sauce: In a medium bowl place pudding mix and milk. Using an electric mixer, beat until mixture is smooth, about 2 minutes. Fold in sour cream; refrigerate covered, until thickened, about 15 minutes. In another medium bowl combine blueberries, sugar, mint and orange peel; refrigerate covered, until ready to serve. Using a small strainer sprinkle tops of stars with confectioners sugar; set aside. To serve: On each dessert plate place 2 star bottoms; spoon on 1/3 cup sauce and 1/3 cup blueberries; top with 2 reserved star tops.

YIELD: 6 servings

*If star shaped cutter is unavailable, cut a star from heavy cardboard; lightly place on pastry; with tip of a knife, cut out stars.

Easy Peach Cobbler

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk
2 large cans sliced peaches
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

Melt butter in a 9x13 casserole dish in 375 degree oven while combining flour, sugar, and baking powder. Add milk to the dry ingredients and stir until blended.

(Method 1): Pour the batter into the melted butter; dribble peach juice into the mixture and add peaches. Sprinkle top with cinnamon and sugar. Bake 30 to 40 min at 375 degrees

(Method 2): Arrange peaches and juice in melted butter. Stir cinnamon into pan. Drizzle batter back and forth over fruit. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake 30 to 45 minutes or until golden brown

I used method 2 and it turned out wonderfully.

Three-Cheese Pasta Salad with Olives

16 ounces medium-size Farfalle (bowtie) pasta (about 2 3/4 cups)
1 cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives
1 cup chopped red bell pepper (I used red, yellow, and orange peppers to add color)
1 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 4 ounces)
1/2 cup diced sharp white cheddar cheese ( about 2 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup grated Gouda cheese (about 2 1/2 ounces)
6 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup basil vinegar or red wine vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
Pinch of sugar

Cook pasta in pot of boiling water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Rinse with cold water and drain well.

Mix pasta, olives, bell pepper, all cheeses and basil in large bowl to combine. Pour vinegar into small bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Add sugar; season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Toss salad with enough dressing to coat ( I didn't use all the dressing). Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 2 hours. (Can be prepared 24 hours ahead; keep refrigerated.)

Spinach Salad

This recipe is easy and delicious. I made this for my sister's wedding. It's more of a treat than a salad.

1 bag baby spinach
1 cup craisins
2 small cans mandarin oranges
1 bag chopped pecans (sugared)
Wishbone Bountifuls Berry Delight

Place bag of chopped pecans in frying pan. Add 1 cup of sugar and heat on medium. When the pecans start feeling warm, add 1 tablespoon of water so the sugar will stick. Add more sugar if necessary.

Put spinach in bowl, mix craisins, oranges, and pecans together. I serve the dressing on the side so the spinach leaves don't wilt.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

I made this recipe while Vi cooked and amazing meal using the fresh herbs from his garden. If you ever get the opportunity to try his food, DO IT!








3 pkg cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream (whipped to soft peak)
1 pkg strawberry glaze*
1 16oz pkg strawberries sliced**
2 pie crusts (cooked)

Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. Spread cream cheese mixture into pie shells. Mix strawberry glaze and strawberries in separate bowl. Place mixture on top of cream cheese. Chill 4-24 hours. Best made the day before. Serve with whipped cream.

* I actually prefer using strawberry Danish Dessert instead of Strawberry Glaze because the store bought glaze has a tendency to taste like plastic, but I had a hard time finding in here in California. It was still a very good dessert.
**You can substitute raspberries and use raspberry Danish Dessert.

Peppermint Pattie Cup Cakes

Cupcakes

1 box Betty Crocker Supermoist triple chocolate fudge cake mix

water, vegetable, oil, and eggs called for in cake mix directions

Filling

1 box (4-serving size) white chocolate instant pudding and pie filling mix

2 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Frosting
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

1 container whipped milk chocolate frosting

3/4 cup coarsely chopped chocolate-covered peppermint patties (8 candies cut in 8ths)

1. Heat oven to 350. Make cupcakes as directed. Cool 15 min. Poke two holes in each cupcake with a wooden spoon.

2. In a medium bowl, beat filling ingredients with wire whisk about 2 minutes. Immediately put one spoonful of filling on each cupcake and spread like frosting. Cover loosely and refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled.

3. Stir 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract into frosting. Spread frosting over top of cupcakes. Sprinkle with peppermint patties. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

Notes:

I converted this recipe from the back of the triple chocolate fudge box, it was originally supposed to be a cake. I'd probably do it as a cake next time because it would have been a lot easier. Also, I chopped the peppermint patties while I was waiting for the cupcakes to bake and then froze the patties so they were easier to place on top of the cake. I also used milk chocolate pudding instead of white chocolate because I forgot how to read. But it still tasted delicious! Sheridan and I ended up eating these for breakfast the next day too.

Crockpot Chicken and Stuffing

This recipe is really easy. Prep time is about 10 minutes. I love making this on Sunday just before church because it makes the house smell divine when I get home.

4 chicken breasts

4 slices swiss cheese

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup milk

4 cups seasoned stuffing mix (I use StoveTop's Chicken Flavor)

1/2 cup melted butter

salt and pepper to taste

Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and place chicken breasts in crockpot. Pour chicken broth over chicken breasts. Put one slice of swiss cheese on each breast. Combine both cans of soup and milk in separate bowl. Cover chicken breasts with soup mixture. Sprinkle stuffing mix over all. Drizzle melted butter on top. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Berry Cream Cupcakes

Cupcakes

1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix (recommended: Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe)

1 1/3 cups water

3 large eggs whites

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 teaspoons almond extract

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling

2 (6-ounce) containers fresh raspberries, cut in half

OR 1 (16-ounce) container fresh strawberries, coarsely chopped

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup powdered sugar, plus additional for dusting

Line 18 muffin cups with muffin papers. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Using an electric mixer, beat the cake mix, water, egg whites, melted butter, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a large bowl for 2 minutes, or until the batter is well blended. Using about 1/3 cup of batter for each cupcake, spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake the cupcakes until they are very pale golden on top, about 15 minutes. Cool the cupcakes completely on a cooling rack.

Using a fork, coarsely mash 1 1/2 containers of raspberries in a medium bowl. Beat the cream, vanilla, and 1/3 cup of powdered sugar in a large bowl until firm peaks form. Fold the mashed raspberries into the whipped cream. Remove the muffin papers from the cupcakes and cut the tops off of each cupcake. Spoon the raspberry whipped cream atop the cupcake bottoms. Place the cupcake tops on the cupcakes. Dust with more powdered sugar and serve with the remaining berries.

Mini-Orange Crumble Top Muffins with Orange Butter

I got this recipe off the food network and tweaked it a bit. I made these delightful little muffins for my friend Cat's wedding shower. They turned out marvelously. Don't skimp on the orange butter. It's totally worth it.

Muffins


1 1/2 cups plus 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (9 tablespoons) melted unsalted butter

1 cup milk

3 tablespoons orange juice concentrate, thawed

3 teaspoons finely grated orange zest

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar



Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 small muffins tins (with 24 (1 3/4-inch) wells), and set aside. In a large bowl, sift together 1 1/2 cups of flour, the sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a bowl, beat together the egg, 8 tablespoons of the butter, the milk, orange juice concentrate, and 2 teaspoons of the zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, combining just until moistened and being careful not to overmix. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin tins, filling each halfway.

To make the crumble topping, in a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour, the chopped pecans, the brown sugar, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter and 1 teaspoon of grated zest. Mix to combine and sprinkle 1 teaspoon on top of the batter for each muffin. Bake until the muffins are set and golden brown and a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, 14 to 16 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes in the tins, then cool on wire racks. Serve with orange-butter on the side.


Orange-Butter:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup sweet orange marmalade

1 teaspoon honey

In a bowl, cream together the ingredients. Transfer to a decorative crock or small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until slightly firm. Serve with the muffins or spread on toast. Yield: about 3/4 cup

*Nikki I took these pictures for you, so you can make them.