Buffalo (Spicy) Chicken Dip

Since it's fall and football time, I thought I'd share this recipe I got from a good friend of mine. I can't take credit for it, but it's so good I have to share it.

Here is what you will need to do:

Boil 3-4 chicken breasts, then either cube or shred them

Place said chicken in a crock pot and combine the following:

Frank's Original Hot Sauce 23oz
2 packages cream cheese
1 cup ranch dressing or bleu cheese dressing

Stir every so often and allow to cook for about an hour to an hour and a half.

Grate sharp cheddar cheese over top and stir in just before serving.

Serve with your favorite tortilla chips.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ok, this recipe is super, super easy!

1 - Spice Cake Mix* (Duncan Hines is the best one I've found)
1- 15 oz Can of Pumpkin Puree
2 - Large Eggs
1/3 ish cup of water
half bag of mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Beat your eggs together seperate for about 30 -45 seconds, add in the water and beat another 30 - 45 seconds. Then add the cake mix and mix until smooth. Once your batter is smooth, add in pumpkin puree. Mix until evenly distributed. Hand mix in the chocolate chips. At that point, spoon into muffin tin, cupcake liners or mini-cupcakes for lunch time snacks.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

I then frost mine with premade cream cheese frosting. It's super delish. We eat the big ones for breakfast. I made mini ones this time around for Libbi to take in her school lunch.

**If all you have is pumpkin pie mix, change your cake mix to either a yellow or white cake mix. That way you don't double up on the spices!**

Lemonade Pork Chops

Totally stolen from Chelsea Price, cut and pasted from Facebook, but sounds awesome. I can't wait to try it!!

Super easy... this recipe works for about 4-5 chops.Take your pork chops... defrost them a bit if they're frozen. Place them in a baking dish (I use a glass Pyrex one).Then, take some vinegar and pour about 1/2 a cup or so over the pork chops. Massage that into the meat a bit and let it sit for a few minutes. I've read that this helps to tenderize the chops a bit.Then, take 6 oz. of mostly thawed frozen lemonade concentrate (about half a can of the frozen kind) and pour that in the dish. Add about 1/2 cup of soy sauce and a tablespoon or so each of garlic & onion powders. Then... mix this all up with the vinegary chops, massaging it into the meat. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes... the longer the better. I marinated it for about 3 hours today and they turned out awesome.Then, bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Take it out, let it cool down for a few minutes... and enjoy! :)

Cheesy Chicken Soup

2-3 Carrots, diced
2-3 Stalks Celery, diced
1 Onion, Diced
2 cups cooked Chicken, cubed
10 chicken bullion cubes
1 15 oz bottle of cheese whiz
3 cubes butter
1 1/2 c flour

Boil Veggies, drain and retain water. Add enough water to make 3 qts, add bullion cubes. When they are dissolved, add cheese whiz and blend. Melt butter and stir in flour in separate pan. Slowly add butter and flour mixture, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Add chicken and veggies.

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

I found the original recipe here, but I listened to a few of the recommendations and tweaked it just a little. The recipe below is the one I used. It was super good.



2-3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast, cubed
1- 15 oz can of Italian Seasoned Diced Tomatoes
1/4 cup water
1 TBLS minced garlic (I just used powder)
1- 6 oz Box of Chicken Flavor Dry Bread Stuffing Mix
3 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 TBLS Italian Seasoning
Balsamic Vinegar
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Dash of Red Pepper Flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 400 Degrees. Spray a 9x13-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Toss Cubed chicken with Balsamic vinegar, black pepper and garlic powder until coated. Place the chicken in a layer on the bottom of the glass backing dish.
3. In a Large bowl, combine the tomatoes, 2 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, dash of red pepper flakes, garlic and the stuffing mix. Add water if needed. Set aside to soften.
4. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top of chicken. Then sprinkle with Italian seasoning.
5. Spread the softened stuffing mixture on the top of cheese.
6. Baked uncovered until the chicken cubes have turned white and are no longer pink in the center. About 30 minutes.

***I was trying to make plenty for my family and used two boxes of stuffing. I would not recommend it. The stuffing under the top layer was soggy. Stick to one box.***

Broccoli and Cauliflower Casserole

I made this recipe for Thanksgiving and it was a hit! It was more complicated than I originally thought it would be, so I'll include my tips:

1/2 c plain bread crumbs
1/4 c plus 2 T grated parmesan cheese
2 T butter, melted
1 1/2 t Italian Seasoning, divided
16 oz broccoli pieces (I used fresh cuz it was on sale, but the recipe calls for frozen)
16 oz cauliflower pieces (same as broccoli)
2 T butter
1 large onion, chopped (I used a handful of chopped onion from Costco)
2 T flour
1 t Garlic salt
1/4 t pepper
1 1/4 c milk
4 oz cream cheese, cubed

Preheat oven to 350. Mix bread crumbs, 2 T parmesan cheese, 2 T melted butter, and 1/2 t Italian seasoning in a bowl and set aside. Cut up any large pieces of broccoli or cauliflower into smaller bite-size chunks.

Melt 2 T of butter in a skillet on medium heat. Add onion, cook and stir about 5 minutes until tender. (This is a lie, if you use the chopped onion it gets done in about 30 seconds. This was the tricky part for me, I had to start over.) Stir in flour, remaining 1 t Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and pepper. (I assembled all of these into a little bowl and had all of the other ingredients ready to go before starting the onion. That way when it was done before I was ready I didn't burn it trying to get everything else assembled.) Add milk, stir and cook until thickened and bubbly. Add cream cheese and remaining 1/4 c parmesan cheese. Cook and stir until cream cheese is melted. Add veggies, toss to coat. Spoon into two quart baking dish, sprinkle evenly with bread crumb mixture.

At this point I put it in the fridge and took it to Monroe the next day. It was kind of watery, I don't think it would have been if I'd have immediately baked it. Bake 40 minutes or until heated through and top is lightly browned.

Beef Stew

Ok, I borrowed this recipe from Jamie that I work with. I tweaked it a little, but for the most part, I used this method.

• 5 to 7 lb chuck roast, I used about 3 lbs of stew meat that I purchased
• 6 to 8 oz of corn, I used a frozen bag
• 6 to 8 oz of peas, I used a frozen bag
• 12 to 16 oz of carrots, baby carrots work, but I like to cut mine up, it's good for the soul to chop
• 6 to 8 oz of fresh cut green beans, drained
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with basil, oregano and garlic flavor. (My family doesn't really eat tomatoes, so I omitted these and just added the spices to the stew.)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 4-6 potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
• 1 beef stew seasoning packet, I took Jamie's advice and used McCormick's brand seasoning.
• 2 to 3 beef bullion cubes
• Garlic Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 4-6 cups of water

I did this the easy way, I put the meat, the water, the bullion cubes, basil, oregano and garlic powder, carrots, onion and corn in the crock pot and set it to low for about 6 hours. I'm kind of picky about the consistency of my potatoes, so I boiled the potatoes for about 7 minutes and added them about 2 hours before dinner with the peas and beans. That way when it was ready, the potatoes were perfect and not over cooked. I also added one cup of cold water mixed with some flour when I added the potatoes to thicken up the soup. Thanks to my mom for that idea. (This required that I remove about a cup of soup from the crock pot.)

It was excellent stew for a cold day and it made a ton, so there will be lots of leftovers. You will need a large crock-pot to fit everything in, or you will need to reduce the water and meat portions. You can never have too many veggies!

Easy Minestrone

I made this for a work lunch we had...it's tasty!

1 pound Sausage
1 pint green beans
1 can kidney beans ( I double these because I omit the garbanzo beans)
1 can garbanzo beans (I omit these because I don't care for them)
carrots, celery and onion, diced as many as you feel necessary, I add lots.
1 tablespoon parsley
1 can tomato paste
1 quart tomatoes
1 quart water
1 can beef consume
2-3 cups noodles (I used th garden colored rotoni)
1/2 teaspon basil
1 clove garlic


Brown meant, saute' vegetables. Add water, spices and beans. Simmer.
Add tomatoes and consume.

Boil noodles seperate and add about 5-10 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Mint Brownies

I got this recipe from my friend Ashley's mom when we were in high school. It's super tasty!

Brownie:

(I cheated, I used a brownie mix and made it to a cake like consistency)
2 cups Vegetable Oil

4 cups White Sugar
1 1/3 cups Coco

2 cups Chopped Walnuts (I always omit these because I don't like them.)

8 Eggs

2 teaspoons Salt

4 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

3 cups Flour

Mix together and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Mint Frosting:

6 cups (or less) Powdered/Confectioners Sugar

6 Tablespoons of butter or margarine

6 Tablespoons condensed milk (I use sweetened condensed milk)

2 teaspoons Peppermint Extract

Green Food Coloring to liking

Combine butter and milk until smooth, add powder sugar until you have a smooth frosting like consistency. Mix in peppermint extract and food coloring until it is a nice mint green color. Spread over slightly cooled brownies.

Let this sit until frosting is hard to the touch. You can even pop it in the freezer for about an hour.

Chocolate Topping:

10 Tablespoons Butter

12 oz Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

(I cheated again and used a can of chocolate frosting that I whipped and stuck in the microwave for a few seconds.)

Melt butter and chocolate chips together and stir until smooth. Spread over mint layer while still warm.

Let brownies sit over night or freeze for another day.

Brownie without Chocolate topping:

Brownie with Chocolate Topping:

Easy Breadsticks

By request, here is the recipe for Quick Bread Sticks. They are yummy!

1 Cube Butter
1 TBS Yeast
1 1/2 cups Warm Water
2 TBS Sugar
3+ Cups Flour
3/4 tsp Salt

Melt butter on cookie sheet in a warm oven, once melted, set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine yeast, warm water, and sugar. Stir in salt and flour until the mixture looks like sticky bread dough. Once you have a ball of bread dough, place on the cookie sheet with melted butter. Smooth out dough to corners of pan and cover evenly with butter. (Your hands should be covered in the butter by the end!) Once you have spread the dough, cut into strips with a pizza cutter. Top with a mixture of parmesan cheese, garlic based season all salt and parsley flakes. Let rise on warm oven for 30 minutes to an hour. Bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes or until golden brown on the edges and top.

I promise to post pictures of these the next time I make them!

Yummy Rolls

I borrowed this recipe from my mom, who got it from somebody else, who apparently also got it from somebody else. So I'm not sure where exactly it orginated. But here you go, they are pretty yummy rolls.

2 Yeast Cakes or 4 Teaspoons Yeast
2 Cups Luke Warm Water
1 Cup Butter or Margarine
1 Cup Sugar
6 Beaten Eggs
1 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
8 Cups Flour

Mix yeast with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 cups of luke warm water. Add melted butter, remaining sugar and beaten eggs. Mix well. Sift in flour and salt. Mix well. let rise at least 2 hours. Stir down and put in fridge overnight.

Separate dough into 4 equal parts. Roll each ball of dough into a large circle. Brush with butter and cut like a pie into 16 pieces. Roll up starting with wide end. Place on buttered cookie sheet, making sure the tail end is next to the pan. let rise 4-5 hours and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Here is what mine looked like on the pans. I did rolls because of what we were using them for.





This is what they looked like after I baked them all.






I ran out of pans because I didn't think I was going to need all the dough and then we did. Enjoy. They are pretty tasty!

Frozen Potatoes

I don't have any pictures, but I've been experimenting with an idea for awhile. I absolutely DETEST throwing potatoes away because I am always using them and I always seem to be throwing them away just to need them the next day. I also hate, almost as badly, paying $1.99 for a 5 lb bag of potatoes when the 10 lb bags are on sale for $1.99. So, I decided that I could peel, dice, and freeze potatoes to be used later. My first experiment turned out okay, but the potatoes started browning before they completely froze and tasted a little funny. The shredded potatoes were nearly a disaster because they had all browned before the freezer got to them. I googled for a solution, and came up with this. I peeled them, diced them or put them through the Salad Shooter, then dunked them in a bowl of cool water mixed with a spoonful of cream of tarter. It worked like a charm! The potatoes are not brown at all, and taste like I just diced them. The shredded ones look pretty too, but we haven't eaten any of those yet. So now I buy the biggest bag of potatoes that are on sale, quart sized bags from Costco, then spend an hour or so freezing potatoes and don't have to worry about it for a few weeks. We have a lot of roasts, so I left some of the potatoes in bigger chunks and just drop a frozen bag in with a frozen roast and dinner is done by the time I get home. Ta-da!

Breakfast on the Run Idea

Libbi has decided that breakfast at school is not what she wants. Usually she compromises for cereal. Occasionally she can talk her dad into breakfast at McDonalds. Well, since it's becoming more frequent, as well as expensive, I decided it couldn't be that hard to make. So yesterday we went on an adventure to make our own fruit and yogurt parfaits.

This is what we came home with:



All Natural Vanilla yogurt, fresh strawberries, oat and honey granola cereal, frozen raspberries, frozen blackberries and disposable cups with lids. I also got some snack size plastic baggies for granola and berries. This morning we took the lids off of our yogurt cups and the frozen berries had defrosted and we had runny pink yogurt juice. So tonight when we put our yogurt in our cups, we put a small amount of berries in another baggie that we can add in the morning. The thing I liked about this is that Libbi doesn't usually eat all of her yogurt, so this way I can give her exactly what she's going to eat without wasting a whole cup of yogurt. Try it...maybe it will work for you.

Chicken Taco Rice

1 cut up chicken breast or some chicken fillets
1 small can tomato sauce
1/2 to 1 package taco seasoning
1 can chicken broth
1 medium green pepper diced
1 can corn-drained
1 cup minute rice

Sour cream
grated cheese
frito or tortilla chips

Makes 4 adult servings

Cut chicken up and cook in a little oil til browned. Add taco seasoning, tomato sauce and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add pepper and corn. Return to a full boil for about 2 minutes. Add rice and remove from heat, let sit 5-10 minutes then fluff with fork.
Add as much cheese and sour cream as you like and eat with chips.

We love this dish without sour cream and only 1/2 package of seasoning but if you like it spicier use more seasoning.

Chili Cheese Casserole

A bag of Tortilla Chips, crushed
2 cans of your favorite Chili
2 cups of grated Cheese
1 can of sliced olives (optional)

Start by putting a layer of crushed chips on the bottom of your casserole dish (We save the crumbs and small chips from previous bags). Then, a few spoonfuls of chili topped with cheese and olives. Continue layering with rest of ingredients. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until chili is bubbling and cheese is melted.

My kids favorite! Super easy and great for using up those small corn chips in the bottom of the bag no one will eat cause they can't hold the salsa! Also, a great way to dress up chili.

Steak Stir Fry

I'm always looking for things to make cubed steak into. I don't particularly like cubed steak, I think it's tough and there's not a lot of things to do with it. Since we have Daddy's cows we have a lot of it though, so I've been experimenting. Here's one that turned out really well:

Cubed Steak (ours comes in packages of four)
Olive Oil
Assorted vegetables (I bought some "stir fry" veggies at Costco and don't particularly like them, fresh is better but the frozen are okay) I usually use a red pepper, pea pods, onion, broccoli, carrots, and water chesnuts
Season All for the steak
Kikkoman Stir Fry sauce (I used to make my own, this is better and easier)
Rice

Pour a little olive oil into the bottom of a wok and heat on medium. Cut the steak into thin strips and add to the oil. Let it cook while you cut up the veggies, stirring every once in awhile so it doesn't burn. Cook steak until it's no longer pink, you can drain some of the juice off of it if you want. I did and I probably drained more than I should have. Add the vegetables and continue cooking, stirring occasionally. When you think it's done add the sauce and let it simmer for a little while. The sauce is really strong, I thought it was too strong but Nancy and Dennis liked it. Probably wouldn't have been as strong if I hadn't drained off all the juice from the meat. Serve over rice. I forgot to make the rice when we had it, so we just ate the meat and veggies, but it turned out okay.

Asian Grilled Chicken Salad

I know, this is going to sound like the dumbest thing....it's not really a recipe, but it was the perfect light summer dinner!

What you will need:

3-4 Large Chicken Breast or 6-7 Frozen Chicken Tenders
1 Cup Soy Sauce
1 Cup Coke or Sprite, but I like Coke better.
1 teaspoon of Lime Juice, but this is optional.

Let Chicken marinate in the soy sauce and coke at least over night. The longer the better. Before putting the chicken breast on the grill, cut into strips so they cook a little faster. Once they are finished cooking, cut into bite size pieces.

We bought an Asian Salad Mix that had crunchy noodles, sliced almonds and dried pineapple chunks. I also bought a bottle of the Asian Salad dressing from Kraft and a can of mandarian oranges.

Mix it all together and there you have an Asian Chicken Salad. I know it sounds so simple and it is, but this blog is about dinner ideas as much as sharing recipes and that one was perfect for the hot weather we had been having. Since Kyle isn't a chicken guy, he opted for steak...I don't know why?!

The good thing about this recipe for chicken is that it's good for warm chicken or cold chicken leftovers. We have also paired this type of chicken with rice and that works also. We have tried to "grill" this chicken on our George Foreman grill and it works, but it's not as tasty as if you grill it on an actual grill.

Chicken and Rice

This recipe is super easy and super good! It can make a little or a lot.

Ingredients:

Any chicken pieces with skin still on- I like to use legs and thighs

*1 or 2 cups uncooked rice

*1 or 2 cans cream chicken soup

*1 or 2 cans water

1 package onion soup mix

*For smaller amounts use 1 or each for more use 2 or each, just make sure to use even amounts, don't use 1 can water but 2 cups rice.

Mix soup, water, and soup mix in a deep baking pan. Add rice and then add chicken. Cover with Foil and bake as little or long as you want.

At 350 bake 1-2 hrs

At 325 bake 1 1/2 to 2 hrs

At 300 bake 2-3 hrs

At 250 bake 3-4 hrs

Sweet and Sour Chicken

A long time ago, I was reading my cousin Melissa's blog and she had posted a recipe for sweet and sour chicken. So I tried it and it's yummy. We made it for dinner last night.


So Here's the Recipe:
3-4 Chicken Breasts, I like to cut mine while they are still frozen into chunks and let them soak in 1 cup of soy sauce and 1 cup of coke for a couple of hours.
1 Green Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1 Red Onion
1 can of Pineapple Chunks
Chopped up Carrots....as many as your family likes
Snow Peas.....as many as your family likes

I like to cook my chicken seperately from the veggies, because veggies cook more quickly. I always drain the excess fluid off the chicken and then cook veggies in the same pan.

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

Pineapple Juice
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/2 cup White Vinegar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
3 TB Cornstarch
2 TB Soy Sauce

Drain Pineapple juice into pan, add ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce and cornstarch. Stir sauce with a wire whisk until it is smooth and clear when you pull the whisk up.

Once your sauce is clear and think and smooth, add sauce in small amounts to the veggies, pineapple chunks and chicken, until everything is evenly coated with sauce. You can serve over rice or oriental noodles.

Chicken Enchilada's

This recipe is borrowed from my roommate Ashley. I hope she doesn't mind that I'm sharing it but its very easy and a favorite at our house. One day I will make them and put the picture up. Until then, just trust me these are yummy!

3-4 Chicken Breasts, cooked. We like ours in the crock pot for a couple of hours with about a cup of water and some southwest fajita seasoning. Shred or cube cooked chicken.
12 Flour Tortilla's

In a Large Sauce Pan combine:

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can of Milk as directed by chicken soup directions
1 Regular 8 oz container of Sour Cream
1 can Green Chilies
1 cup+ Cheese, I love a mix of sharp and mild chedder and lots of it.
Cubed or Shredded Chicken

In a Cassorole Baking Dish:

Place a small amount of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish so the enchilada's don't stick to the bottom. In a tortilla, place about 2 Large Tablespoons of sauce evenly and roll up. Repeat until the dish is full. Poor sauce over the top of the rolled tortillas and top with lots of cheese. I can usually get two baking pans out of one pan of sauce.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.