Parmesan Chicken

I made this to originally go in my cream of broccoli soup, but didn't know how the breading would handle being in the soup, so we ate it on the side. This is a great recipe that's really easy to whip up and cook in the oven while you're doing other things. The chicken comes out super moist and it's really tasty. It's also easy to play with if you want to add other seasonings to the breading.

Ingredients

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tbsp margarine, melted
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup dry bread crumbs
2 tbsp flax seed
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp parsley
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

Heat oven to 400. Spray 15x10x1” pan with Pam. Dip chicken in margarine, coat with combined remaining ingredients. Place in prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until tender. Chicken tenders may be substituted.

Using chicken tenders or cutting up the chicken breast into smaller pieces makes them very child friendly. Joseph really likes this. I've cut them up into strips. You still cook them the same. Oh yeah, flax seed wasn't in the original recipe. That was me :) You can add less flax seed if you like, as well. I just pick an amount that seems good.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Yesterday wound up being a cold and dreary day, so it was lucky I had already planned to have Cream of Broccoli Soup! It's not too difficult and I just love a creamy soup.

Ingredients

2 cups water
4 tsp chicken bouillon granules
20 oz frozen chopped broccoli
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
2 cups evaporated milk
2 cups sour cream (16 oz)
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
¼ tsp pepper


In a large saucepan, combine the water and bouillon. Add broccoli and onion. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer for 10 minutes or until broccoli is crisp-tender. Combine soup, milk, sour cream, parsley and pepper; add to broccoli mixture. Cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until heated through.

I really enjoy this recipe and as long as the broccoli pieces aren't too big, Joseph is able to eat it (and enjoy it) too.

Cilantro tip

I bought some cilantro yesterday for the fish tacos. I learned a while back that buying fresh cilantro can be hard. You can only buy it in bundles, and it's hard to use that much cilantro. But we really enjoy it and do use it sort of often. So a while back I googled ways to keep cilantro longer. Anyone who's bought it fresh knows it doesn't always last too long. The best tip I found is this: Put it in a glass container or cup filled with water and cover it with a plastic bag. When the water turns yellow, empty and put in fresh water. Store it in the fridge. This keeps the cilantro much longer. I also try to plan meals that use fresh cilantro within a few weeks of buying it, so I can really utilize the cilantro bunch. Luckily for us, our recipes using fresh cilantro are varied and different, so we don't have to have many similar meals close together just to use our cilantro. However, if you find it hard to use it fresh, I have found it freeze dried. It's not as potent, obviously, but offers some of the flavor.

Fish Tacos

This is a recipe I've cooked many times. My mom sent it to me. It's called Baja Fish Tacos. It's really quite easy, and if you do any chopping and mixing before hand, the only thing you have to do is cook the fish and heat up your tortillas (if they're soft). It's pretty sweet!

Ingredients
¼ cup sour cream
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pound cod filet or other white fish cut into 1 inch pieces
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 pkg taco shells  (We used wheat tortillas)

Toppings: shredded cabbage, chopped tomato, lime juice, taco sauce

Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, cilantro, and 2 T seasoning mix in small bowl. Combine cod, oil, lemon
 juice, and remaining seasoning in medium bowl; pour into large skillet. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until fish flakes easily. Fill taco shells with fish mixture. Top with desired toppings.

Pizza #2

So we did pizza again last night. It came out awesome! When I made the crust last time, I made 2. I precooked the second one and then froze it. (Like the directions say, without adding the toppings for the second bake) It worked out great. I also made sure to add some flax seed to my sauce for added fiber! The sauce was also leftover from last time. The recipe I shared makes 2 pizza's worth.  On this pizza we had pepperoni, mozzarella, sauteed green pepper, onion and garlic. We also had a few chicken tenders in BBQ sauce that we put in the pan too. I thought it might be weird having pizza sauce with BBQ chicken, but it was great. Oh yeah, we also had a few strips of bacon chopped up as well. Add some canned olives and mushrooms, and we had a monster pizza! It was really good!

Homemade Lemonade

Yesterday I was inspired at the grocery store and bought some fresh lemons.  So with our dinner last night we had some homemade lemonade. It was super easy and I must say, pretty darn good!

It may not be much to look at, but it was good lemonade. All I did was this:

juice 3 lemons

Add to pitcher with 1 cup sugar. Stir lots to help the sugar dissolve.

Fill up with water to 2 quarts (my pitcher marks 2 quarts, so it was easy.)

Stir and add some ice to get it cold. Enjoy!

Pancakes with Homemade Syrup

Well, I wanted to do something simple, and it came out great! We made some Krusteaze pancakes (equivalent to Bisquick) with a few modifications. The first was flax seed! Oh yeah. I made a recipe using 2 cups of Krusteaze. For that amount, I added 2 tbsp of flax seed (This is always ground flax seed, remember. Otherwise it's not doing much for you.) I also added some butterscotch chips. I thought about adding some blueberries (which yes, is the obvious healthy choice) but the butterscotch chips are almost gone, so I thought I'd try and get rid of them. However, I ended up using way more that I thought. So, to quote my husband "You made them healthy just to make them bad for you." They were still great. The flax seed didn't change the taste whatsoever. The butterscotch chips did.

I also made some homemade syrup! Woohoo!

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1 cup water
2 tsp mapleine

Boil sugar and water until sugar dissolves. Add mapleine and heat through.
 
I like to make this occasionally and store it in a store syrup container. I rarely buy syrup. It's awesome. You just can't wait too long to use it or the syrup will crystalize and be really hard to get out of your container.

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Butter your bread, sprinkle with garlic salt and Italian Seasoning. Sprinkle with grated mozzarella or sliced string cheese. Put under the broiler for 3-5 minutes.

For last minute creations, these came out pretty darn good!

Goulash

We were out and about yesterday and so I made dinner in a bit of a rush. We ended up having goulash and some yummy seasoned cheese bread. I didn't think I would want noodles or anything, but in the end it was a great dinner. Here are my last minute creations.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
approx. 15 oz. tomato sauce
approx. 3 oz. tomato paste
1 - 1/2 tsp basil, oregano, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder

This recipe is adjusted because I used half a can of tomato sauce and half a can of tomato paste in an other recipe. Just use the can size that is closest to those amounts. Boil the noodles and drain. Add the tomato sauce ingredients and heat thoroughly. Combine sauce with noodles and serve warm.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can add 1/4 cup of flax seed to this for added fiber.

White and Black Bean Chicken Chili

So Sunday was a day of misfires in the kitchen. Thankfully last night we had a wonderful success, thanks to a recipe from Jared and Anita. I just call it White Chicken Chili. It's actually like a soup. But whatever you call it, it's good!

Ingredients:

* 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts halves, cut into 1 inch pieces
* 1 med yellow onion, chopped
* 4 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 tbs olive oil
* 2 (14.5oz) cans cannellini beans, (reserve liquid from one can) drained and rinsed
* 1 (15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
* 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
* 1 can of kernel corn
* 1 (4oz) cans diced green chiles
* 1 tbs ground cumin
* 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
* 3/4 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp black pepper
* 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or chili peppers of your choice, dried flakes, or diced. I like Serrano diced or dried red peppers. 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes will be medium spice, 1/2 tsp will be medium hot spicy. Typically, 1 Serrano pepper diced will make it medium hot spicy. Start less, you can always add more!!!
* 1/2 cup heavy cream or 3/4 cup milk

Saute the onion, garlic, chili peppers of your choice, cumin, and oregano in a large pot with medium hot oil for 2-3 minutes. Push to side of the pot and add chicken. Cook the chicken until it's no longer pink on the outside. Add all remaining ingredients, including reserved white bean liquid, except the cream or milk. Increase heat to med-high; bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low; simmer 10 mins or until heated through. After it's heated. Remove from heat and add cream or milk. Serve with cheese, fresh cilantro, and sour cream. Can also be made in a crockpot. After cooking the chicken, onions and garlic, put all the ingredients, except the cream or milk, into a crockpot and let cook for the day. Add cream or milk before serving.

This stuff is killer good. We ended up adding more seasoning than it calls for (well, Aaron did) so ours had some real kick to it, but I think it would've been perfect just the way the recipe is. We used milk and cayenne pepper. We also ended up not using the liquid from the can of beans (because I put cutting board remnants in the can on accident.) Definitely a keeper still!

 

The only cheese we had was cheddar, but I think it would've been better with a white cheese. Swiss, maybe Monterrey or Colby. Cilantro definitely would've been an awesome addition. We just didn't have any at the time.

Bufffalo Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Ranch Sauce

I battled over whether or not to post this recipe. After having put it into my power point cookbook, I have decided I need to. The reason why is because I am going to make it again, and next time I will make it right!

Ingredients
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup refrigerated sour cream ranch dip
2/3 cup chopped green onions
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
¾ cup buffalo wing sauce
12 tortillas
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 350. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray. In medium bowl, mix soup, dip and 1/3 cup of the onions. In large bowl, mix chicken and buffalo wing sauce until coated.
Spoon 2 tbsp soup mixture down center of each tortilla. Reserve ½ cup cheese for garnish. Top each tortilla with about ¼ cup chicken mixture and scant ¼ cup cheese. Fold sides of tortillas over filling; place seam side down in baking dish. Spoon remaining soup mixture over filled tortillas.
Cover dish tightly with foil. Bake 40-45 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
Remove from oven. Sprinkle with reserved ½ cup cheese and remaining 1/3 cup onions. Bake uncovered about 5 minutes long or until cheese is melted.

So when I made this, I didn't have green onions because they were getting too old. I also made a horrible Julie mistake. I read the recipe too fast and didn't really pay attention to the details. In the end, I didn't have enough chicken, I used too much cheese in the enchiladas, and didn't know to pour the remaining soup mixture ontop before it baked. Needless to say, it doesn't look like it was supposed to, and it's not pretty.
 

However, they still weren't half bad. The first few bites I really liked, but the more I ate the more the buffalo sauce was just too much. However, if it had the green onions, and extra soup mixture on top, it really would've balanced out the flavors. So I am determined to make this again (not soon, but in a reasonable amount of time) so I can improve it and show you a better picture of what this should look like! But I would definitely recommend trying it. Just make sure you read the recipe slowly and thoroughly!

Misc.

I realized that I wasn't leaving the directions for cooking some of the past entries. So I went back and added all of the directions, and made a few minor changes here and there.  With time, I'm sure I'll get better at doing it all correctly the first time!

Pizza!

Oh yes. Yesterday was mom's night out, so that also equals pizza night. Last night's pizza ended up being some firsts for us too, which was fun. I used this simple pizza dough recipe:

Ingredients

1 package yeast
2 ¾ cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 ½ tbsp olive oil

Dissolve yeast in water, add oil. Mix flour and salt; add yeast mixture. Mix till well blended. Kneed about 10 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl. Cover and let rise until double in size, about 2 hours. Punch down. Shape crust. Bake at 500 for 12 minutes.

I like to put a layer of shortening on my pizza pan and then sprinkle corn meal on it. This keeps the crust from burning and sticking.

My husband thinks it's totally sketchy and scary that it bakes at 500, but it only takes 12 minutes versus 20-30, and the crust doesn't burn! You just have to watch out for steam when you open the oven door.
 

I like to use part wheat flour, part white flour. I couldn't remember the ratio I used to use because it has been a long time, so I used 1 1/2 cups white flour and 1 1/4 cup wheat flour. It's a little wheaty, but we didn't mind it too much. I also like to pre-bake the dough about 8 minutes, then add the toppings and bake for a remaining 4-5 minutes.

This pizza was pretty plain for our standards. Had I not been rushed, it probably would've been a super supreme pizza with pepperoni, canadian bacon, mushrooms, olives, pineapple, and green or red peppers. Maybe even some onion. But I was rushed, so we got what was already prepared to go on the pizza.

The other surprise with pizza last night was I didn't have any pre-prepared pizza sauce! I was not happy when I realized this. So I went online and looked up homemade pizza sauce, hoping to find something I had ingredients for.  This is the recipe I ended up using:

Ingredients

2 cloves fresh garlic
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar (reduces acidity)
1-16 ounce can of tomato sauce
1/2 of a 6-ounce can of tomato paste
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt to taste

Mince the 2 large cloves of fresh garlic. Saute the garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil (until lightly brown) Add the tomato sauce and paste and all the ingredients. Stir and heat until the sauce comes to a boil and then put a lid on your pot and turn it off. Let your pizza sauce cool and it is ready to use.

Since this recipe is more or less exactly what I do for spaghetti sauce (minus the ground beef of course) I added a few ingredients from another recipe I wanted to use but didn't have all the stuff for. I added Italian seasoning and pepper flakes. The pepper flakes gave it a real kick. We liked it.  And as usual, I added a bit more seasoning than it called for (except for salt. I didn't add any).  I would also recommend adding about 1/4 cup of flax seed to this recipe. It won't change the taste but it will give you a good dose of fiber!

Lentil and Sausage Soup

Tonight's cuisine was courtesy of the Better Homes & Garden Cookbook. This is one I became acquainted with in Missoula and have since come to enjoy very much.  I must say that it was pretty awesome. It's a really easy recipe and tastes pretty great. I must say that growing up I wouldn't have touched this type of thing. But I have since evolved to eat things like beans, vegetables, and yeah, that's what I used to avoid pretty much. But now I really enjoy these things and I feel good because I know they're good for me.

Ingredients
2 14-oz. cans chicken broth
1 ½ cups water
1 cup red lentils (brown are easier to find)
1 cup sliced celery (2 stalks)
1 cup sliced carrots (2 medium)
½ cup chopped onion
1 tsp snipped fresh thyme or ½ tsp dried thyme, crushed
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz. cooked, smoked sausage links
Optional: shredded cheese, saltines or croutons

In a large saucepan combine chicken broth, water, lentils, celery, carrots, onion, dried thyme (if using), red pepper, and garlic. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20-25 minutes or until vegetables and lentils are tender. Stir in fresh thyme, if using, and sausage. Heat through.

I used shredded mozzarella. You could use swiss or monterey or maybe colby jack. I used mozzarella because it's what I had at the time. I prefer croutons to saltines because they can be seasoned and they don't get soggy as fast. I also added a tbsp of flax seed to my soup. One tbsp gives you two grams of fiber and in the soup it was basically tasteless. I'll have more posts about flax seed. It's great to add to different types of things.  I was also liberal with the spices. We prefer our food to be spicy versus bland.  Makes for good soup!

Strawberry Juice

I started making "banana juice" for Joseph a while back. It's just a simple banana, milk, sugar, and vanilla combo. My mom made it when I was a kid and I always liked it. Anyway, I started experimenting and substituting other fruits for the banana. It has made a big variety of "juices" for us, and best of all Joseph loves them! Oh yeah, and they're actually pretty good for you too.

Ingredients
1 cup strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1 cup milk
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Will be bubbly.
You can vary the amount of sugar or vanilla. I've actually started using brown sugar instead of white and it's just as good. (Another one of those: I heard "brown is better than white" things. I haven't verified it yet.) I do like using frozen fruit because it makes the juice really cold. But fresh fruit is just as good. It just won't stay cold as long.

Adore the photo magic ;) I like these milkshakes because they're really foamy. Joseph likes to lick his lips to get his moustache. It's cute.

Fajitas

In the past few weeks, I have been getting back to my kitchen ways and cooking some new and old amazing meals. My recent excitement, which I remembered to take a picture of for my power point cookbook, was fajitas. These ones have steak in them.

Ingredients
½ cup water
½ cup lime juice
1 pkg. fajita or taco seasoning mix
2 tbsp sugar
¼ - 1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts or steak
2 medium green bell peppers, sliced
1 medium red onion, halved and sliced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Optional: refried beans, chopped tomatoes, grated cheese (I like Swiss. Heard it's better for you than Cheddar), sliced olives, chopped mushrooms, diced avocadoes, salsa, guacamole or sour cream

Combine first five ingredients in medium bowl. Cut chicken breasts into 1” cubes and marinate in lime juice mixture for at least 15 minutes. Heat vegetable oil in heavy frying pan over medium high heat. Drain excess marinate from chicken; add chicken to hot pan, stir frying until no longer pink. Add sliced vegetables and stir fry until vegetables are crisp-tender.Serve on warmed flour tortilla shells.

I've added a lot more optional ingredients than I used to use. Really, you can pack it full of whatever you want. I used to hate things like olives, mushrooms, etc. But as I've used them more, I'm liking them more. And in a recipe like this one, you can hardly taste all of those little chops bits. So the more vegetables, the better for you, right? Anyhow, it's a great recipe and it's really versatile. Both of these are from my cooking class I took at BYU.


I know the pictures not anything great to look at, but you can see the variety of things inside. It may look gross (or maybe you think it looks yummy like I do), but I promise it's good stuff!