Creamy Chicken Tacos

5 frozen chicken breasts
1 1/2 c Salsa
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 1/2 T Taco seasoning
1 T Maple Syrup
1 t lime juice
1 T butter
1/2 c sour cream

Spray the inside of your crock pot with non stick cooking spray anbd place chicken inside.
In a small mixing bowl, stir together all other ingredients but the butter and sour cream.
Pour sauce over th echicken. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6.
Take the chicken out of the crockpot, shread and throw it back in.
Add the pat of butter and the sour cream, stir it all around.
Cook for one more hour on high or 2 on low.

Serve in a bowl over rice or over tortilla chips, like nachos. Top with tomatoes, onions, cheese, lettuce, cilantro, avacado....whatever you like!!!

Strwberry and Cream Cheese French Toast

Strawberry and Cream Cheese French Toast
This is a great one that you can prepare ahead of time and throw in the oven in the morning.
1 loaf french bread, cut into 1 inch slices.
Whipped cream cheese

Spread cream cheese between two slices of bread, place sandwiched slices in a glass pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Mix together:
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Pour over bread and let sit for five minutes, turn bread over and cover pan with saran wrap. Refrigerate overnight. Drizzle melted butter over the top and bake at 400 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Whipped Topping:
1 pt whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. almond or amaretto flavoring

Top with strawberries mixed with sugar and the whipped topping.

Potato Salad

Making this for dinner tonight....

This is for a LARGE batch.. if you have a crowd of less than 8 people you might want to half this recipe:

10 medium potatoes
Dozen eggs, hard boiled
salt & pepper to taste
1 c. Mayo (or Miracle Whip)
1 c. sour cream
4 Tbsp. sugar
mustard, to taste (2+ Tbsp)
1/2 c. sweet pickle relish

Boil potatoes (do not peel) for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Peel and dice potatoes AND eggs. Add salt and pepper and toss. Mix remaining ingredients separately and fold into potato mixture. Refrigerate overnight (or at least 6-8 hours).

Glass Block Jello

Thought this looked fun....and it has been WAY too long since someone posted something new!! :-)

Glass Block Holiday Jello

4 3-oz. packages assorted Jello (in coordinating colors)
2 packets unflavored gelatin
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Spray 4 small food storage containers (like Tupperware/Gladware/Rubbermaid) with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Bring 5+ cups of water to a boil. Combine 1 c. boiling water with 1 package of Jello, stirring until dissolved. Place the dissolved Jello in one of the prepared containers. Repeat with the remaining packages of Jello. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferable overnight.

When the Jello has set, bring another 1 1/2 c. of water to a boil. While the water is heating, sprinkle 2 packets of unflavored gelatin over 1/2 c. of cold water. Allow to stand for about 4 minutes. When the water is boiling, pour 1 1/2 c. boiling water over the dissolved gelatin and stir to combine. Add the sweetened condensed milk and mix well. Allow to come to room temperature.

Lightly spray a 9×13″ pan with non-stick cooking spray. Carefully cut the colored Jello into cubes and gently toss to combine in the 9×13″ pan. Pour the cooled milk mixture over the colored Jello and, if necessary, rearrange some of the colored Jello to make sure it is evenly distributed and not sticking out of the white mixture too far.

Place the 9×13″ pan in the refrigerator and chill overnight. Cut into squares, rectangles, or various shapes with cookie cutters and serve.

Browned butter breadcrumbs and broccoli

I love this recipe and I think it came from a Weight Watchers cookbook I had. Before I lose the paper with it again, I thought I had better record it for posterity sake!

12 ounces of fresh broccoli florets
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 and 1/2 Tablespoons of butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Steam the broccoli. While it is cooking, put the Panko breadcrumbs in a large skillet; cook over medium heat about 3 minutes or until lightly browned - stir frequently. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the butter to the pan. Cook 1 - 2 minutes or until butter is lightly browned, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Drain the broccoli of any excess water. Add the broccoli, salt, pepper to pan and toss to coat with the browned butter. Place in a serving bowl and top with the panko breadcrumbs. Serve immediately. Sometimes I am just in a hurry so I put the panko on while its all in the pan, and stir it all up to mix.

Candy Bar Cake

Candy Bar Cake

1 C packed light brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 C flour
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
1 C buttermilk
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
5 full sized Milky Way bars, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the sugars, flour and butter. Crumble these ingredients together with a pastry blender, until the mixture is crumbly and coarse. Set aside 1/2 cup of the crumbs to a small bowl.

In another bowl combine the remaining crumbs, the buttermilk, egg, vanilla, baking soda and salt. Mix well.


Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it to the edges. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the reserved crumbs and chopped Milky Way bars. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the center is no longer gooey but a toothpick inserted comes out with moist crumbs.

The cake may fall slightly in the center leaving the edges raised. No worries. It still is amazing!

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

1 pkg. Home style Egg Noodles
5-10 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
4 chicken bouillon cubes
4 10.75oz. cans cream of chicken soup
2 i6 oz containers sour cream
1 large chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite sized pieces
Salt to taste

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain well and set aside.Place potatoes and carrots in a large pot and add enough water to just cover. Add chicken bouillon and cook vegetables until just tender. Don't drain the water!! Add the cream of chicken, sour cream, cooked chicken and noodles. Heat through. Salt to taste.

Makes 12-15 servings!

Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings

Slow Cooker Chicken And Dumplings



4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 tablespoons butter

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of celery soup

1 onion, finely diced

1 package frozen mixed veggies, to taste

1 (10 oz) package refrigerator. Biscuit dough, quartered





Place chicken, butter, coup, onion and veggies in the slow cooker and fill with enough milk to cover. Cover with lid and cook 5-6 hours on high. About 30 minutes before serving, place the quartered biscuit dough in the slow cooker on top and cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center. Enjoy!!

Crock Pot - Taco Soup

1 pound ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 (16oz) can chili beans, with liquid

1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, with liquid

1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, with liquid

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

2 cups water

2 (14.5 oz) cans, peeled and diced tomatoes

1 (4 oz) can diced green chili peppers

1 package taco seasoning mix



In a medium skillet brown ground beef, then drain and add to slow cooker. Add all remaining ingredients to slow cooker and mix to blend. Cook on low setting for 8 hours!!

Crock pot Chicken w/ Black Beans and Cream Cheese

4-5 boneless chicken breasts

1 (15 1/2 ounce) can black beans

1 (15 ounce) can corn

1 (15 ounce) jar salsa, any kind

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1. Take 4-5 frozen, yes, frozen, boneless chicken breasts put into crock pot.
2. add 1 can of black beans, drained, 1 jar of salsa, 1 can of corn drained.
3. Keep in crock pot on high for about 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked.
4. Add 1 package of cream cheese (just throw it on top!) and let sit for about 1/2 hour.
5. All done and enjoy!

Crock Pot Tortilla Casserole

2 lbs of chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can of green chillis
1 can diced tomatoes (can be flavoured)
put all ingredients in crock pot cook all day on low or 4 hours on high.
30 minutes before serving use a fork and shred chicken
add 1 can sliced olives, 6 corn tortillas ripped up, 1 cup grated cheese.
cook 30 more minutes serve with chips.

Creamy Italian Chicken

You will need:
3-4 chicken breasts
1/4 Cup of water (or more if you like)
1 packet of dry Italian dressing mix (or ranch)
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 (regular size, not family size) cream of chicken or mushroom.
Rice or noodles prepared to package directions

Here is what you do:
Put the chicken in the bottom of the crock pot.
Mix the water with the dressing mix and pour over chicken.
Cook on low for 3-4 hours
Mix cream cheese with cream soup, and add to the chicken mixture.
Cook an additional 2-3 hours on low.
Serve over rice or noodles!

Lemonade Cookies

Got this from a cookbook done by our Med/Surg department at work. These sound YUM!

3 cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
1-6oz can frozen lemonade

Cream the eggs, butter and sugar with 1/2 of the lemonade in mixer. Add other ingredients, leaving 1/4 of the lemonade out. Drop onto baking sheet and bake 8 minutes at 400 degrees. Brush cookies with remaining lemonade and sprinkle with sugar (wonder if maybe it's powered sugar?)

If you try it, let me know what you think!

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

I found this recipe on the web, and did a little mod to it so it's like our family likes :) If you want the original recipe, check out www.allrecipes.com under Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Green Chile Sauce.

Before you begin, read all the instrutions. And have all the sour cream, chicken broth, chile drained etc. Once you begin cooking the sauce, it goes fast and you don't have time to measure it all out once its on the stove. I know this might sound funny, but it's such a help to have it all measured out and at your fingertips.

Ingredients:

12 flour tortillas, or about 6 of the Bountiful Basket xl wrap sized ones

3 cooked boneless chicken breast, cut or shredded

10 oz (or more) Montery Jack cheese, the preshred blend with Colby works well too.

3/4 cup minced onion, or about 1/4 cup dehydrated minced.

*If you are using the dried minced onion, I put it in with the chicken and gave it a good shake to distribute.*

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour, all purpose

2 cups Chicken broth (or a 14.5 oz can with about 1.5oz water to make 16oz - cause I hate leftover chicken broth sitting in the frigde looking to spill)

1 cup sour cream (reduced fat works well too)

4oz can chopped green chilies, drained

Green onion and chopped fresh cilantro if desired.

Steps:

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2.To help make your tortilla more pliable, I nuked them inbetween moist paper towels for about 20-30 seconds. Just enough to warm them, not cook em dry.

3.Divide chicken, 10 ounces of Monterey Jack cheese, and onion among the 12 tortillas. Roll up each tortilla and place seam side down in a greased baking pan (a spray of non stick spray works fine too, or if you us PC cookware that has been seasoned you won't need anything). If you are using the BB tortilla, then you will only need 6 of the xl ones. I rolled them up with the cheese and chicken/onion mixture and laid them lengthwise in the pan. Then when I served them, I just made a cut down the middle so it made 12 smaller servings.

4.Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until mixture begins to boil. Slowly add the broth, stirring with a whisk until thickened. Honestly, I did not whisk this all the time once the broth was added. Just kept an eye on it and stirred it occasionally. It cooks up pretty quickly. Mix in the sour cream and chiles, heat thoroughly but do not boil, I just needed to stir it all up fairly well and it was hot. Pour mixture over the enchiladas.

5.Bake in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until heated through. Top with remaining Monterey Jack cheese and bake for 5 more minutes. Garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro if you like.

We love this recipe, and it makes cooking satisfying for me since you make the sauce and aren't just tossing in preprepared cream of something soup. You can control what goes in, a little or a lot, and how much flavor you like.

Enjoy!

Water Punch

Water Punch
• 5 quarts of chilled water
• 3 cups of sugar
• 1 Tbsp. lemon extract
• 1 Tbsp. citric acid (I have only been able to find this at Orson Gygi's)
• fresh lemon, lime, or orange slices (optional)

In a punch bowl or large container combine water, sugar, lemon extract, and citric acid. Stir until sugar is all dissolved. Then add citrus slices to float in the punch and make it look pretty.