Smothered Chicken (Outback style)

Mmmmmm......yummy. This one has so many flavors going on, and they're all totally delicious together. I found it on a blog called "or so she says". Check it out. It's full of recipes and crafty things and, basically, all the things I love. I must give credit for this photo, I took it from their blog so that you could have a peek at how yummy it looks:

Smothered Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Garlic powder and seasoned salt to taste

1 T. vegetable oil

8 oz. button mushrooms, cut in half or quarters

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese blend

½ c. chopped green onions

½ c. real bacon bits (real bacon works best and tastes the best)

½ c. tomatoes

1 bottle BBQ sauce

Flatten chicken breasts to ¼ in. thick (or just cut chicken breasts in half horizontally). Sprinkle with seasonings. In a skillet, brown chicken in oil for 4 min., or until mostly cooked through (you could also grill them if that is easier) In a separate pan saute cut up bacon until crispy. Drain the excess grease. Add mushrooms to the bacon and cook until mushrooms are soft. Place chicken breasts on a cookie sheet or in a 9x13 pan. Squeeze a generous amount of bbq sauce on top of each chicken breast. Top the chicken with the mushroom and bacon mixture. Sprinkle the cheese all over the tops of the chicken breasts. Cover and cook until chicken is done and cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. When chicken is finished, top the chicken breasts with the fresh tomatoes and green onions. Serve with garlic mashed potatoes and honey mustard sauce.

Honey Mustard Sauce

1 c. mayo (can use fat free or low fat)

3/4 c. Dijon mustard

¼-1/2 c. honey

1/8 tsp. Cayenne pepper (I left that out, for the kiddos)

2 T. Lime juice

1 tsp. Ginger powder

Mix. Add extra honey or lime for desired flavor

Posted by Tamara

Chicken and Broccoli Braid

Last night I made the yummiest dinner braid! And the kids asked for seconds! Hubby ate about 1/3 (the leftovers after the 5 kids & I ate).

I made my own Buttery Soft Crescent Rolls found on recipezaar.com, then followed the recipe for the Chicken and Broccoli Braid from one of the Pampered Chef (R) Season's Best Recipe Books (but the recipe is not on their website, so for copyright purposes I did not post it. Oh, I do have to say I used 3 chicken breasts as it says in the recipe. The recipe also calls for 1 cup of broccoli and some red pepper and their Dill spice. I used a whole bag of broccoli stir-fry vegetables and then some other spice, I think it was Jamaican rub, or something like that! You have to be creative sometimes!

Anyway, it's a big braid, fills a whole cookie sheet, but it is so yummy! It would be great for serving company!

County Fair Cookies (best ever sugar cookie)

I had so many requests for this on Facebook so I decided to post it here, too.

County Fair Cookies

2 c sugar

1 c shortening (butter but NOT margarine)

2 eggs

1/2 c sour cream (or buttermilk - and I've been known to use sour milk, but milk doesn't go bad in my house, so that's usually not an option!)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp nutmeg

5 c flour

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, beating well after each. Add sour cream and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Starting with 4 1/2 cups of flour, continue to add flour until dough no longer sticks to the bowl but is still malleable.

Roll to desired thickness. Cut out shapes. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Make that 8-10 minutes! I copied the recipe exactly as my mother had emailed it to me and well, they don't turn out if they're not baked long enough!

Decorate as desired.

Merry Christmas!

Maple Pumpkin Pie recipe

Maple Pumpkin Pie recipe

I haven't tried this yet, but I think this is the recipe I'm going to use! I'll let you know how it turns out!

Chicken Pot Pie Pockets

I decided to try something new (and I didn't think about taking pictures, sorry). I was in the mood for homemade bread and chicken pot pie. So I decided to marry the two!

The shell:

My favorite homemade wheat bread dough.

The filling:

1 26-oz. can cream of chicken soup

1/2 package of frozen mixed vegetables

Easy, huh?

I make bread dough one loaf at a time (because that's how big my food processor is, yes, I use my food processor). Divide the dough into 8 equal parts. Roll each ball out thin and cut in half, you may have semi-circles or triangles, we ended up with both because my kids were helping me.

Place approximately 1/2 cup of filling in each and fold dough over and pinch shut to prevent too much spillage.

We ended up with 16 "pockets" on two cookie sheets.

Cover and let rise for about 25 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes (check the bottoms of the pockets to make sure the dough is cooked. I was following my bread recipe which said to bake for 25 minutes and I had to put the pockets back in for another 10-15 minutes to bake the bottoms.

These were a huge hit with my kids, my brother AND my husband!

I hope you like them, too!

Hawaiian Haystacks

These are so good that although I just posted it on my blog, I'm coming to post it on this one too. YUM!!

These come from a ward cookbook that I have. I chose them this week because I was flipping though the cookbook and had yum written on the page. I did remember it being tasty. It didn't disappoint today. The other great thing about it was that it was super easy. I put my rice in the rice cooker, put me precooked chicken in the microwave, heated my gravy, chopped my bell pepper and celery together in the food processor and luckily had tomatoes left over from yesterday's tacos. It took very little effort today. Never a bad thing in my book.
Not sure it is the prettiest food to look at, but it sure is tasty.



Ingredients

• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup chicken broth
  
• 1 can (9 1/2 oz.) chow mein noodles
• 2 c. chicken, cooked and cubed
  
• 1 (20 oz.) can pineapple chunks, drained
• 4 cups cooked rice
• 1 c. celery, chopped
• 1/2 c. green onion, chopped
• 1/2 c. green pepper, chopped
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
  
• 1/2 c. almonds, slivered (optional)
• 1 c. cheddar cheese, grated
• 1/2 c. coconut (optional)
• 1 bottle sweet and sour sauce
  

Directions:

Mix soup and broth to make gravy. Heat and keep warm. Layer on individual plates in the following order: Rice, chowmein noodles, chicken, gravy, veggies, fruit, cheese, almonds, coconut, and sweet and sour sauce. Serves 6 to 8.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

I found this recipe at http://www.goodlifeeats.com/. Yum. I like it.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

1 cup old fashioned oats, not quick cook
1 Tbs whole flax seeds, optional
2 1/2 Tbs brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp butter, softened
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup milk

Topping:
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
2 tsp butter, softened
1 Tbs brown sugar

(I skipped the topping to cut down on sugar and fat content)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the oats through salt in a medium sized bowl. Stir well. In a separate bowl, combine the vanilla, butter, pumpkin, and milk. Whisk thoroughly. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the oats. Stir until combined. Pour into small square baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes.