French Dip Sandwiches

1 beef roast (i will sometimes use lunchmeat)
2 packages au jus mix
1 can beef consomme soup
1 cup water
1 dozen, large, soft rolls or 1 loaf French bread

Cook roast. Save drippings. Cut roast into thin slices and return to the pan with drippings. Prepare au jus mixes according to directions. Add consomme and water. Stir and heat. Pour au just mixture over meat and drippings. Fill buns with meat just before serving. Pour au jus into individual cups for dipping.

Tomato - Basil Chicken

8 Boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 cups yogurt
1 10-oz. box Tomato-Basil Wheat Thins
1/2 Cup Parmesn cheese, grated
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. parsley flakes

Chicken Sauce:
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk

Rinse chicken breast halves and pat dry. Pour yogurt into small dish. Crush crackers into fine crumbs. In a separate dish, blend cracker crumbs with Parmesan cheese and seasonings. Dip chicken breast halves into yogurt, coating both sides. Roll in crumbs until well covered. Place in greased baking pan. Repeat with remaining breast halves. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until chicken is done. For sauce, combine soup and milk in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until hot and bubbly. Serve over chicken.

Very delicous and easy. I didn't have any plain yogurt so I just used a mixture of milk and a beaten egg. I don't know, I just thought that maybe that would help the breading stick to the chicken since I thought that that was one of the reasons for the yogurt. ??
Goes very well with mashed potatoes and you can put some extra little sauce over the potates. Enjoy!

- Janae

Crockpot Green Chili Chicken and Rice with Blue Corn Chip Crumbles

Yet another delicious dinner from Picky Palate.

3-4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed
2 cans 98% fat free Cream of Chicken soup
4 0z can chopped green chilies
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1/4 teaspoon Lawry's garlic salt with parsley

6 Cups steamed rice of choice
Blue Corn Tortilla Chips, crumbled for garnish

1. Place chicken, soup, cumin, salt, pepper and garlic salt into crockpot on low. Let cook for 6-8 hours or until chicken is fork tender and falls apart easily. With 2 forks, shred chicken in the sauce and season with additional seasonings if desired. Spoon over bowls of rice then garnish with crumbled tortilla chips.

4 servings

Dad's Skillet Potatoes

Ingredients:

A few potatoes
1 Onion
Some garlic
Salt - Kosher of course
Pepper
Chives
Secret Ingredient

Dice onion and mince garlic then add to hot frying pan with olive oil - cook until translucent.
Cut potatoes into quarters lengthwise then slice to bite size then add to frying pan.
Season with salt, pepper and add chives.
Cook until potatoes are almost cooked through.
Next, and don't tell anyone...pour in some maple syrup, pure is best but expensive so regular will do. Stir and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve and enjoy - tell everyone that the sweetness must come from the onion.
- Dad
(Dad asked me to post this for him because he wasn't sure how to.)

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Brad helped me with dinner last night and I asked him to make the sauce of this sweet and sour chicken recipe while I fried the chicken. Well, Brad can never just follow a recipe, he always has to alter it and try to make it better. He did a pretty good job, we both agreed that it was the best home-made chinese food we have had. When we were cleaning up, Brad asked if I was going to put his new recipe on the family blog. I didn't even think he really knew about this, I guess he is pretty proud of his sweet and sour sauce, so here it is:

2 whole chicken breats - boned, skinned, and cut into 1 inch cubes

BATTER:
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup cold water

SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp. ketchup
2 tbsp. vinegar (rice vinegar is best)
2 tbsp. cornstarch
3/4 cup cold water

and Brad added:
2 tbps. frozen orange juice concentrate
1/2 tsp. lemon juice

Heat oil in electric skillet or frying pan to 375. Put chicken into batter and place in oil. Turn once and cook until golden brown - approcimately 1 minute. Drain grease and place in shallow casserole dish.

Sweet and Sour Sauce: Heat sugar, vinegar, ketchup, orange juice concentrate, and lemon juice until sugar is dissolved. Add conrstarch and water. Cook 5-10 minutes on medium heat. After cooking sauce pour it over chicken and garnish with pineapple chunks and green onions and sesame seeds. Serve over rice.

(we didn't add the pineapple or green onions) ENJOY!

-Janae

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

I made this bread during my first bread making experience a couple of weeks ago and I thought that it turned out very good! It was very moist yet also light and fluffy.

Ingredients:

• 3-1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 pkg. active dry yeast
• 1-1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 Tbsp. melted butter
• 1 egg

  Preparation:

  In large bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, yeast, and salt and mix well.

  In saucepan, heat milk, water, honey, and butter until warm. Add to flour mixture with egg and stir. Beat this batter for 3 minutes. Then, gradually stir in rest of whole wheat flour and enough remaining all-purpose flour for a firm dough.

  Knead dough on floured work surface, adding more flour if necessary, for 5-8 minutes until smooth. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, until doubled.

  Punch down dough and divide in half. On lightly floured surface, press each piece of dough to a 14x7" rectangle. Starting with shorter side, roll up tightly. Pinch edges to seal and place dough, seam-side down, into greased 9x5" bread pans, making sure short ends of bread are snugly fitted against the sides of the pans. Cover and let rise in warm place until the dough fills the corners of the pans and is double in bulk, 30-40 minutes.

  Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, until bread is golden brown. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. I like to brush the bread with butter when it's still hot from the oven for a softer crust.

Costa Vida Sweet Pork Salad

SWEET PORK

2 pounds pork
3 cans Coke (NOT diet)
1/4 c. brown sugar
dash garlic salt
1/4 c. water
1 can sliced green chilies
3/4 can enchilada sauce
1 c. brown sugar

Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade.
Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c.
of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.

Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water,
and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4
hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it
get TOO dry). Remove pork from crock pot and drain
any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.

In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can
Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown
sugar.  If it looks too thick, add more Coke little
by little.

Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook
on lowfor 2 hours.!


CILANTRO-LIME RICE

1 c. uncooked rice
1 tsp. butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp. sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic,
1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water.  Bring
to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes,
until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a
small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro.
Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.


BLACK BEANS

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/3 c. tomato juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro

In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in
olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it.
Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir
until heated through. Just before serving stir in
the cilantro.

CILANTRO RANCH

1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix(not BUTTERMILK)
1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. buttermilk
2 tomatillos, remove husk, diced
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno

Mix all ingredients together in the blender.

First of all, you can buy the aluminum deep-dish pans
(they had these at the grocery store...they look JUST
like the Cafe Rio tins).  Lay a tortilla in the bottom
of the pan, sprinkle cheese on it, and put in the oven
at 375 for about 5 min or until the cheese is melted.
Remove from oven, add beans, rice, pork, then lettuce
(leafy green lettuce, NOT ICE-BURG) and a little scoop of
diced tomato and onions (pico de gallo). We made up some
guacamole and put some of that on the salad
(HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) We also added a little spoonful of
sour cream. Add some crushed tortilla chips, a shake of
Parmesan cheese,and top with a few cilantro leaves.
Serve with the cilantro ranch dressing.


We had this at a friends house a while ago and it was SO
good. Ever since then I have been cooking it a lot. It
tastes VERY similar to Costa Vida's sweet pork salad.
A MUST try! It takes a little bit of work, but
is SOOOO worth it.

Melanie

I hope you don't mind

I hope you don't mind, but I sent an invite to my regular gmail account. This way I can be an author, but can just do it through my regular blog. I was wondering if maybe more people would post if we sent everyone invites so that way they can just add it to their list of blogs. Make sense? Anyways, just wanted to let you know. You can delete this post because it does NOT belong in a cookbook!

Melanie

Ranchero Mexi-Chicken Crostada

I took some advice from Jolene and checked out Picky Palate. I've tried a few of her recipes, but this one has been my favorite.

Ranchero Mexi-Chicken Crostada

1 roll Pillsbury Pie crust, thawed

1 can chunk chicken (from Costco), or about 1 ½ Cups cooked shredded chicken

1 drained can Mild Rotel diced tomatoes with chilies

½ Cup fresh chopped cilantro leaves

1 Teaspoon Ranch dressing seasoning, from packet that makes the dip

1 teaspoon cumin

Pinch of salt and pepper

½ Cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon Lawry’s garlic salt with parsley

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Unroll pie crust and place onto a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with non stick cooking spray.

2. Place chicken, tomatoes, cilantro, ranch seasoning, cumin, salt and pepper into a large bowl. With a fork, stir and cut up chicken pieces until well combined. Pour chicken mixture into the center of pie crust and top with cheddar cheese, leaving about 1 ½ inch border around edges. Fold crust up over chicken forming little pleats every 2 inches or so pressing gently. Brush edges with olive oil and sprinkle crust with garlic salt.

3. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until crust is golden brown on edges. Let cool for 5 minutes then cut into wedges to serve.

4 Servings

TRY IT! You will LOVE it! It is fairly easy to make, but looks fancy, Kenneth was impressed when he saw me putting it together.

Melanie

CHICKEN PARMESAN

Prep: 15 min; Cook: 20 min - Easily Serves 4 - 6

2 large whole boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 - 1 1/2 pounds total)
2 cups dry bread crumbs (can be seasoned with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired) - you can also use plain flour
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, or cooking oil of your choice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups Italian tomato sauce like plain tomato sauce, or tomato sauce with oregano (or use your favorite prepared sauce)
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced or grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

TRIM and carefully slice the chicken breasts in half.

PREHEAT oven to 400 degrees F.

SET the tomato sauce on low heat to warm (it will spread more easily).

THOROUGHLY coat cutlets with bread crumbs (press down firmly while coating with bread crumbs).ON medium-high heat, melt the butter with the olive oil. Saute the breaded cutlets until they are deep golden brown on both sides. Remove to paper towel spread over old newspaper to drain.

PLACE 1/2 cup of the warm tomato sauce in the bottom of a baking dish large enough to hold the cutlets in one layer. Add the cooked cutlets to the baking dish; cover with the rest of the tomato sauce of the warm tomato sauce and the sliced/grated mozzarella.

COOK the chicken Parmesan in the oven for ten minutes. If the cheese has not melted/browned you can slip it under the broiler for a minute or so - keep an eye on it so the cheese does not burn.

VARIATION: For a thicker 'crust' bread the cutlets by dipping them first in flour, then in a beaten, raw egg before the breadcrumbs and sauteing, which gives a thicker crust. You will want to move each one to the hot skillet when breaded so they don't get soggy.SERVE with grated Parmesan cheese. Goes great with a side of pasta and a green salad and or French/Italian bread, or garlic bread.

We eat this directly on top of fettuccine noodles.

Enjoy, Janae

Chicken Enchiladas

I had these enchiladas at Brad's Grandma's house and I asked how she made it but she just told me the ingredients and not the porportions or amounts. So I just had to guess, so it might need some altering, but I made it last night and it turned out very tasty!

Chicken, cook and shredded

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1 pint of Sour Cream

1 enchilada seasoning packet

Tortillas and Cheese

Mix and heat cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and seasoning packet into a pot on the stove. Put some of this sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 pan. Fill tortillas with some of the sauce, chicken, and cheese (whatever amounts you want). Place filled and rolled tortillas into the pan side-by-side and then cover with remaining sauce and cheese. Cook at 350 degrees for as long as needed (?) Maybe twenty minutes or so.

It is very tasty, Enjoy

Janae