Chipped Beef Dip

This is SO yummy... a recipe from David's family that is used at all family gatherings. It sounds weird (especially since it is served warm), but seriously, we fight over it!!!

16 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
1/4 c milk (cream can be used if you are ambitious)
6 oz dried beef (in canned meat section, in glass jar usually), tear into small-ish pieces
1/4 c green bell pepper, chopped
2 T chopped onion
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp horseradish
1/2 tsp pepper
pecans (for topping)

Mix all above ingredients well, except for nuts, and place in 1 or 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Cover top with chopped pecans. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes (or you can heat and serve in crock pot). Serve with Fritos Scoops chips. Oh so good. :)

Garlic Lime Chicken

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 Teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme
6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 Cup chicken broth
4 tablespoons lime juice


Directions:
In a bowl, mix together first 7 ingredients. Sprinkle mixture on both sides of chicken breasts.
In a skillet, heat butter and olive oil together over medium high heat. Sauté chicken until golden brown on each side, about 5 minutes on either side or until no longer pink in the center. Remove chicken and add lime juice and chicken broth to the pan, whisking up the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Keep cooking until sauce has reduced slightly. Add chicken back to the pan to thoroughly coat and serve.

Serves 6

I've cooked this a few times, and we really like it. I thought it would be too spicy for Roselyn, but she liked it (dipped in ranch). You could cut back on some of the cayenne and paprika if you wanted it less spicy. This is good served with rice.

Oriental Chicken w/ rice

1 cup of Soy Sauce
1/3 cup of rice vinegar
1 tsp of sesame oil (or vegetable if you prefer a less oriental flavor)
garlic powder to taste

3 lbs of chicken breast (if you use more chicken you will need to increase the sauce)

Mix the first ingredients together and pour over raw chicken. Let marinade a few hours (or all day for even more flavor.) Grill on your outside grill. Eat over white, brown or fried rice. This is SO simple and SO flavorful and good!

Italian Pot Roast

This is a simple, yummy recipe that serves 8.

2 1/2 lb roast
1 medium onion, sliced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 pkg Italian Dressing Mix
2 (8oz) cans of No Salt Added tomato sauce (I could not find them so I just left the 1/4 tsp salt out of mine and used the regular tomato sauce)

Cut the roast in half (so that is cooks evenly) and place it in the bottom of your slow cooker. Slice the onions and add those and the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker. Put the lid on and cook on high for 5 hours (or until done.) You can also cook on high for 1 hour and then on low for 7 hours if you need to.

Super Easy Taco Bake

I was scanning the dinner kits in the Mexican food section at Walmart the other day, looking for something quick and easy for dinner that night. They had a boxed "Taco Bake" that looked good, so I read the back of the box and decided to try it from scratch instead of paying for their overpriced pre-packaged thing. Luke and I both really liked it, so I thought I'd share.

Put a little salsa or taco sauce in a 9x13 baking dish, just to "grease" it.
Layer the following:
1. Flour tortillas, torn into pieces
2. Hamburger, cooked with taco seasoning according to package directions
3. Shredded cheese

Repeat layers.

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Top each serving with lettuce, tomato, and sour cream.

Darn Good Pasta

No... I'm not bragging on my cooking. That is really the name of this recipe out of the Taste of Home magazine. I did change it up a little because I couldn't find all the ingredients I needed. I will tell you the real recipe and my substitutes. Everyone at my house ate several servings (including the kids). I had Rachel and Roselyn over for dinner and Roselyn actually ate 6 (kid-size) helpings so I did not have any leftovers! (I won't say how many helpings Rachel had - haha!)

8 ounces uncooked penne pasta
2 shallots, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup white wine (I substituted apple juice but you could use white-grape juice, chicken broth or water)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 jar (about 10 ounces) alfredo sauce
3/4 cup sliced sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained (I substituted a 16 ounce jar of sun-dried tomato alfredo sauce or you could use vodka sauce)
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, cook shallots and garlic in olive oil for about 30 seconds. Add chicken and cook for 3 minutes until no longer pink. Add wine, basil and parsley; cook for 1 minute.
In a large bowl, combine cooked pasta, chicken mixture, alfredo sauce, tomatoes, milk, 1/4 cup cheese and pepper. Spoon into a shallow 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 4 (huge) servings.

Golden coconut pecan cake, no icing needed!

Last week for Shad's birthday, I wanted to make him a really good cake, and had asked a lady on the baking aisle at Super 1 for her opinion of a cake brainstorm I'd had. Turns out she had a better one. She informed me that everyone who eats hers has loved it, and since I normally can't say the same for my cakes, that sounded like a good one for us to try. Here you go--just get a yellow cake mix and prepare it like the box says, but mix into the batter one container of coconut pecan frosting. I poured mine into a 9x13 pan and it took about 45 minutes in my oven. It doesn't need any icing of any kind but tastes even more wonderful with fresh whipped cream or ice cream. Happy cooking!

Pesto Ravioli

For Rach and all the other pesto lovers out there. I got this out of a magazine and tweaked it just a little bit. I never seem to follow recipes the way they say! Anyways, I'll put what the recipe said vs what I actually did.

2 Tbs olive oil
2-3 zucchini thinly sliced(recipe called for 1 yellow bell pepper, but that didn't sound that great to me)
1/2 cup baby carrots thinly sliced (6-7 carrots)
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth
1 package refrigerated cheese-filled ravioli
1/2 cup pesto (recipe said 1/4, but it didn't seem like enough, so I think I ended up with 1/2)
grated parmesan cheese

-in large skillet, heat oil over medium heat for about 1 minute. Add veggies and saute 5-1o minutes until tender. Remove vegetables from the skillet and set aside.
-Pour broth into skillet. Add ravioli and bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 5 minutes or until ravioli are cooked. Using a large spoon, remove about 1/2 cup of broth and discard or it gets too soupy. Return veggies to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes. Stir in pesto sauce and evenly coat ravioli and veggies. Sprinkle with grated parmesan if desired.

Made a good one dish meal. Add a salad and you've got twice the veggies!

Oh, and my package of ravioli was "family size", but it really wasn't that big. Enough for me, David, and Reagan who doesn't eat much. So if serving big, double this.

Willie Mae's Scrambled Eggs/Dual Action Cleanse

• 1 Gallon of Vegetable Oil
• 50 Eggs
• 1 lb of salt
• 1 large frying pan
• quick access to a bathroom

Crack 50 Eggs in Frying Pan, add the Oil. Make sure the eggs are not fully cooked. Take it off the heat. These eggs are ready to eat.

Dinner Last Night: Fish, Green Beans, etc

Ok, dinner last night was a hit, so I thought I would share. Reagan even loved it! If you don't have the time to do Rachel's yummy fried tilapia, this one is much less work and mess. Plus, it isn't too bad for you! I kinda made it up, so I will write what I did and you can improvise as you wish. I've also been looking for a way to make fresh green beans yummy, and this worked!

Parmesean Tilapia:
5 tilapia filets (thawed)
1/2 c. italian bread crumbs
1 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp garlic salt
1 tsp pepper
grated parmesean
olive oil

Grease baking pan. Combine bread crumbs, paprika, garlic salt, pepper on a plate... kinda flattened out. Brush both sides of fish filets with olive oil, then lay down on bread crumb mixture, turn over coating both sides but not too heavily. Place filets in single layer in baking dish. Sprinkle tops with parmesean. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes or until flaky with a fork.

Green Beans:
bunch of fresh green beans (washed and ends snapped 0ff)
5-6 cloves fresh garlic
3-4 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper generously

Chop or press the garlic cloves. Place garlic and olive oil in large skillet. Sautee garlic for a few minutes on medium heat until just starting to turn brown. Add green beans, salt and pepper. Stir and sautee the green beans in the oil on medium heat until tender. This takes WAY longer than you think it should, but go with it! Don't have to stir constantly, but just turn it over every few minutes while doing other stuff in kitchen (I got my dishwasher unloaded and fish prepared!). We like ours really tender, but they can be crispy if you desire. The garlic turns nearly black the way I did it.

I cooked some brown minute rice to go with... and had a really healthy easy meal! Enjoy!

Cheddar Ranch Chicken

***For those of you who know me you know I don't cook (especially not new recipes that I'm leary about) BUT, I made this last night and we all loved it.

1/2 cup Ranch dressing
1 tablespoon flour
4 chicken breasts
1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

Combine Ranch and flour and coat all over chicken. Place in 9 x 13 baking dish. Combine both cheeses and sprinkle all over chicken. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or so....till it's not pink in the middle and juices run clear....all that good stuff. This chicken is so yummy....enjoy!

Great Spicy Chicken Spaghetti (weight watchers recipe)

Ingredients:
8oz uncooked spaghetti, broken in half
cooking spray (5 seconds)
1/4 cup reduced calorie margarine
1/2 large onion (diced)
8oz low fat 2% Velveeta (cubed)
1 can Rotel
8oz chicken breast (I used the bag of pre-cooked fajita grilled chicken)
1 can fat free cream of mushroom soup

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 13x9 baking dish. Cook spaghetti and drain well. Melt butter in a large skillet and saute onion until it is tender. Add chicken, cheese, and Rotel. Stir until cheese melts. Add soup and blend well. Pour cooked spaghetti into mixture and stir well. Pour into baking dish and heat until bubbly (about 20 minutes.)

Servings:
It makes 6 large servings (could make it 8 servings if you want them smaller, you would have to re-calculate the points)
8pts per serving (if you count points for Weight Watchers)

Roasted Rosemary Chicken

1 whole chicken (4-5 lbs I think)
1 lemon
1 whole garlic bulb
1 stick butter
fresh rosemary sprigs
veggies (red potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, etc)
salt and pepper

This is about the same cost as buying a cooked chicken at the store, but it is much yummier I think, and makes pretty food for company. :)

Rinse chicken thoroughly with skin on. Take out any inner junk they put in there (those CDR types will find this easy!). Slice lemon in half. Stuff the chicken's rear end with both lemon halves, the entire garlic bulb (I broke it up a bit), and the rosemary sprigs. (you can use dried, but it is not as good.) Place whole thing in a 13x9 pan, breast side up. Melt butter and pour over. Rub down with salt and pepper. Cook in HOT oven at 450 for 1 hr and 15 minutes.

The veggies can be placed around the chicken and cooked simultaneously, but I found that they get overdone and dry. I brushed a little olive oil on them and put them in around the chicken with about 45-50 minutes left... and perfecto.

I put this in the CDR cookbook!! :)

Cheesy Chicken Soup

This is so easy and so yummy!

1 family size can of Chicken and Rice soup
1 regular can Rotel
1 regular can Corn
1 regular can Ranch Style Beans (rinsed and drained)
1 large can of chicken
1 big thing of Velveeta

Dump all of the cans into a pot and let them get warm. You can drain the juice from the corn if you want the soup a little thicker. Put in as much cheese as you want and let it melt. I usually use half of the thing of Velveeta. It makes enough to feed four and I can't even tell you how yummy it is. I eat it with cornbread! Enjoy!