What's For Dinner: Swiss Chicken Bake

This is a recipe that someone put on my friend's Facebook wall when she said that she had boneless chicken breasts and needed some ideas what to do with them. We tried it and now it's in our rotation.

Swiss Chicken Bake

Ingredients

3-4 boneless chicken breasts
1 can cream of celery soup (you could also use cream of chicken)
1/2 cup milk
2 slices of Swiss cheese per chicken breast
1 stick of butter (I always feel like this is a lot of butter, but it does make it yummy)
1 package of stuffing (like stove top or pepperidge farm stuffing cubes)

Directions

Preheat oven 350.

Take chicken and pound with tenderizer then season with salt and pepper.

Spray 13 x 9 pan with non stick cooking spray. Place chicken in pan.

Cover chicken with Swiss cheese slices.

In a separate bowl combine soup and milk into a sauce. Pour sauce over chicken and cheese.

Melt butter in microwave.

Pour stuffing cubes over the chicken. Top with the butter.

Cook in over for about 45 minutes.


Enjoy!

If you have any ideas about how to cut out the butter but get a similar flavor, please share, I'd love to know!

What's For Breakfast: Simple Sausage Casserole

This is a simple sausage breakfast casserole that is a favorite at my MOPS group. I made it for the first time today. It must have been good, my hubby gobbled several pieces up! One thing that I can't promise is that it's easy on the waistline. However, you could modify the recipe to use all the lower fat versions of the ingredients.

Simple Sausage Casserole

Ingredients

1 lb Breakfast Sausage (I used a tube of Jimmy Dean which my supermarket has in the frozen section)

2 rolls of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

1 bar (8 oz.) cream cheese


Directions

Preheat oven to 325

Roll out crescent rolls in one piece in the bottom of a 13x9 pan.

Brown sausage, drain, rinse and crumble.

Return to low to medium heat.

Add in cream cheese and heat until evenly melted and mixed with sausage. (I cut the cream cheese up into about 6 pieces and blended it that way, it seemed to make it easier).

Spread out sausage and cream cheese mixture onto flattened crescent.

Unroll remaining can of crescent rolls over the top. Pinch edges like a pie.

Cook in oven until crescent rolls are golden brown. In my oven this took about 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas: Christmas Funfetti

This Christmas I am so excited to celebrate. For the first time Joshua actually understands the real meaning of Christmas. While it's fun for him to know who Santa is, it warms my heart even more than I can explain to hear him singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus."

Though we all seem to be a little under the weather this year, it's been a joy to have Dan home starting on the 23rd so we can start to spend time as a family celebrating. I can't wait to see the look on Joshua's face Christmas morning when we reveal what his big present is, I think he'll be thrilled!

Tomorrow as part of our celebration we'll be having our favorite, funfetti (either a cake or cupcakes) to celebrate the birthday of our King. Extra fun is that the funfetti is red and green, so it's especially "Christmasy."

I hope you have a joyful Christmas and get to experience some of the most special times of your life over the next few days.

I'll leave you with some of my favorite Bible verses ever:

Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7

2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.

Merry Christmas!

What's For Dinner: Harvest Chicken and Potatoes Slow Cooker

This is another one from January 2011's Family Circle Magazine. It smells delicious! Check back for the verdict later! It's very much like a beef stew recipe only it's chicken based.

Harvest Chicken & Potatoes

Makes: 6 servings
Prep: 20 minutes
Slow Cook: 5 hours on HIGH or 7 hours on LOW

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

12 ounces small new potatoes, scrubbed and halved

2 cups baby carrots, cut into thirds

2 celery stalks, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 large onion, chopped

1 can (4 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained

2 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried sage

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened


Directions
1. In a medium-size bowl, stir together chicken, 2 tablespoons of the flour, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper; add to slow cooker. Stir in potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of the thyme, the sage and broth. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or on LOW for 6 hours.

2. In a small bowl, stir together remaining 1 tablespoon flour and the butter until a paste forms. Push the chicken and veggies to one side and whisk paste, remaining 1/4 teaspoon each salt and thyme into slow cooker bowl. Cook 1
more hour or until thickened.

The verdict

This was delicious! It took a bit to prep but it was worth it. I added extra garlic and used fresh mushrooms instead of canned. I would definitely recommend it! I served it with some fresh French bread. Enjoy!!


Nutrition Facts

Servings Per Recipe 6 servings
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amount Per Serving
Calories 194
Total Fat (g) 3
Saturated Fat (g) 1
Cholesterol (mg) 50
Sodium (mg) 455
Carbohydrate (g) 21
Fiber (g) 3
Protein (g) 21

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

What's for Snack: Reindeer Feed (for people :) )

I saw this recipe on "The Talk" a new talk show on CBS and had to try it! It was super easy and fast and is a good recipe to do with kids.

I made it then wrapped it in pretty clear bags, it will be a little Christmas treat for my neighbors. This would also be good for co-workers.


Reindeer Feed

Prep Time: 10
Minutes Start to Finish: 30 Minutes
Makes: 20 servings (1/2 cup each)

6 cups Rice Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal

1 bag (12 oz) white vanilla baking chips (2 cups)

1/3 cup coarsely crushed peppermint candy canes (14 miniature,
unwrapped)I put mine in the food processor for a quick second

Directions
1. Line cookie sheet with foil or waxed paper. Place cereal in large bowl.

2. In microwavable bowl, microwave white vanilla baking chips uncovered on High about 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until chips can be stirred smooth. Stir in half the crushed peppermint candy.

3. Pour over cereal; toss to evenly coat. Spread mixture in single layer on cookie sheet. Immediately sprinkle with remaining candy. Let stand until set, about 20 minutes. Gently break up coated cereal. Store in airtight container.

What's For Dinner: Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

From January 2011's Family Circle Magazine

Slow Cook: 4 1/2 hours on HIGH or 6 1/2 hours on LOW

1 1/2 pounds beef chuck steak, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 package (14 ounces) white mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
2 onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup low-sodium beef broth
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6 cups cooked egg noodles (optional)
3 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)

Directions

1. Combine beef, mushrooms, onions, tomato paste, broth, wine and 3 tablespoons of the soy sauce in slow cooker bowl. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or on LOW for 6 hours or until beef is tender.

2. In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce, cornstarch and black pepper; whisk into slow cooker bowl and cook an additional 30 minutes or until sauce has thickened. Serve over egg noodles and sprinkle with parsley, if desired.

The Verdict

We really enjoyed this! I will definitely make it again! I did it for 4.5 hours on high and it came out very good! I wish the sauce was thicker, but I think that could be accomplished by adding a little more corn starch. However, I think that the sauce being thinner made the calories less, so it's a trade off that's worth it. The mushrooms in this recipe were awesome, and if you're a mushroom lover I would recommend it. Also, to save time (and tears) I used frozen chopped onion which worked out well and made it that much easier to assemble.


Nutrition Facts

Servings Per Recipe 6 servings


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amount Per Serving
Calories 246
Total Fat (g) 8
Saturated Fat (g) 8
Cholesterol (mg) 78
Sodium (mg) 373
Carbohydrate (g) 13
Fiber (g) 8
Protein (g) 26

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

What's For Dinner: Easy Teriyaki Chicken and Brown Rice Dinner

Tonight we're trying something that I found on the back of the Minute Brown Rice Box. I'm a sucker for any recipe that has the word "EASY" right in it's title. People, that's my speed and my cooking ability level! I'll report back after we eat it about whether or not it's a keeper!


Easy Teriyaki Chicken and Brown Rice Dinner

Makes 4 Servings

Ingredients

1 Tbsp oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup lite teriyaki sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups Minute® Brown Rice, uncooked
2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1/2 cup salted peanuts (optional) I skipped this part


Directions

HEAT oil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir 5 to 7 minutes or until cooked through.

ADD water, teriyaki sauce and garlic powder; stir. Bring to boil.

STIR in rice, broccoli and peanuts, if desired; cover. Cook on low heat 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with fork.

For added color and texture, add diced red peppers and carrots with the broccoli.

Easy Appetizer: Kielbasa in the Crock Pot

Merry Christmas from my personal Cookie Monster!



This weekend we celebrated Joshua's birthday! It was lots of exhausting fun! For the party we served chicken wings, meatball sandwiches, and kielbasa in the crock pot. The kielbasa recipe is something that I was first served at my girlfriend Stacy's house and it's very yummy and very very easy! Since I don't have an official name for it, I'll name this recipe after Stacy!

Stacy's Yummy Kielbasa

Ingredients

3 Polska Kielbasas (3 lbs)
1 can jellied cranberry sauce
1 lb light brown sugar

Cut up the kielbasa and put it in the crock pot. Add cranberry sauce (slice it up first) and sugar. Mix up and put in the crockpot for about 3 hours on high. Stir occasionally while cooking.

This recipe is always good and always easy! Do you have an easy recipe that you want to pass on to share for the holidays? I'd love to take a look and try it!

What's For Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie

Tonight I'm digging into the archives and taking out a recipe that we haven't had for about a year... Chicken Pot Pie! I remember it being a hit before and I'm hoping for an encore of rave reviews. We'll see! I love recipes like this because I can assemble it during Joshua's naptime then pop it in the oven when he's awake and I don't have to do any work on it. This is also a good dish to send to someone who might need a meal. All they need to do is pop it in the oven and wait!

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

2 chicken breasts, cubed
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 can of peas and carrots (I don't like peas so we just do carrots and sometimes corn)
2 cans of cream of chicken soup (I use the 98% fat free Campbell's)
1/2 cup milk
1 box Pillsbury pie crusts
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

Saute chicken and onions in a skillet with oil or butter until chicken is no longer pink inside (Last night we had a chicken dish and so I cooked extra breasts in the oven to hopefully skip this step, though I will still sautee the onions). Prepare one pie crust in a 9" pie pan (you want this to be a deep pie pan)

Add Chicken and can of vegetables.

Sprinkle cheese on top. Mix soup and milk and pour on top. Top with second pie crust, seal and cut a slit in the top to release steam.

Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown (you really have to watch it, sometimes it takes longer. I also make sure to put a cookie sheet under mine so that if it bubbles over a little that it doesn't drip to the bottom of the oven).

Let stand 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

I'd love to see some of your recipes too! Please feel free to share them in the comments section. If I make them, I'll post them for everyone else to see!

Yummy Funfetti Cookies

One of the more recent cookie recipes that my family likes is for Funfetti cookies. We have loved the funfetti cake for years, but the cookie recipe makes for very festive sugar cookies! It's made from a mix and super easy!

Here's the recipe taken from the Pillsbury website!

INGREDIENTS

1(18.9-oz.) pkg. Pillsbury® Moist Supreme® Funfetti® Cake Mix

1/3cup oil

2eggs

1/2(15.6-oz.) can Pillsbury® Creamy Supreme® Funfetti® Vanilla Frosting

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs; stir with spoon until thoroughly moistened. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. With bottom of glass dipped in flour, flatten to 1/4-inch thickness.

Bake at 375°F. for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.

(This part is optional for us, we like the cookies without frosting too!)
Spread frosting over warm cookies. Immediately sprinkle each with candy bits from frosting. Let frosting set before storing. Store in tightly covered container.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm so excited for Christmas!

Blessings to you and yours!

Santa 2010

I know it's a little early to see Santa, I mean, it's not even Thanksgiving yet! But did you really expect the woman who doesn't like to go to restaurants that don't have a call ahead list to wait in a line to see Santa, when we could just go a week earlier and walk right up to him?




Joshua did great. My very friendly (24/7) boy walked right up to him and said, "Hi, SANTA!!" Then he got up onto his lap and took some pictures. The one that we purchased was better than this one but there weren't any with great big smiles. I think he was thinking, "um, who exactly is this Santa guy, and why do we take pictures? He's cool and I'm not freaked but I am a little confused."

How did we ever find the holidays fun before we had kids? They're like a million times more exciting now that I can see all the little priceless reactions on his face!

Because Visiting Santa Makes Me Feel Like Baking

These are my very favorite cookies that my Nana makes and after a trip to see Santa with Joshua today, I was in a baking mood. They're very easy to whip together and I made them because I had all the ingredients in the house.

Oatmeal Lace Cookies

Ingredients

1/4 lb butter (1 stick)
1 1/2 cups regular oatmeal
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon flour
Stop right there... you must also have parchment paper. If you don't, you must abort the attempt to make these cookies!!

Directions

Preheat oven to 325

Melt butter and pour over oatmeal. Let stand while you combine other ingredients in separate bowl.

Beat 1 egg, add sugar, baking powder, and flour. Mix well.

Combine both mixtures and mix well together.

Drop very small clumps onto parchment paper (this is key, you must use parchment paper). The clumps should be about the size of a finger tip, I use a 1/4 teaspoon scoop to do it.

Cook for 10-12 minutes.

This makes dozens of tiny, crunchy oatmeal sugar cookies. They take a LONG TIME to scoop, but I think they are worth it. Today I also made bigger cookies with the same mix, I just let them cook longer (I think about 15 minutes). They were good, but there's something about the bite sized crunchy goodness of the little ones.

Enjoy! Leave a comment if you want to share any other yummy goodness, if you made these and like them, or if you just want to say hi!

What's For Dinner: Baked Ziti

This is a recipe that is a favorite of ours! I often make this to deliver to people who might need a meal. Most times we can get two nights out of it. :)

Baked Ziti

0.5 (8 ounce) box ziti pasta I use a whole box of ziti
3/4 lb ground beef (optional) or 3/4 lb sausage (optional) I like the sausage or a mixture of both
3 cups marinara sauce (I use a large jar of Prego Three Cheese)
1 3/4 cups ricotta cheese (1 15 oz tub)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (I always wind up using closer to 3 cups)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Prep Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 50 mins

Heat oven to 350°F.

Cook pasta.

In large skillet brown meat (if using) and drain. Add marinara and simmer for 10 minutes.

In a small bowl stir together ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella and seasonings.

Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce and add half of it to a 9x13 baking dish. Then spread the cheese mixture over the pasta.

Add the remaining pasta and top with mozzarella and parmesan.

Cover loosely with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes until hot and bubbly and cheese is golden brown

I serve this with a garden salad and sometimes with some garlic bread.

What's For Dinner

We really need to go grocery shopping, so today I posted the following on Facebook: Michelle Smith is looking for something good for dinner that I can make with boneless chicken breasts and whatever I already have in the house. Ideas?

I got a lot of great responses, one of the first being that I should try oven fried chicken. Debbie gave me an idea of how to make it, but I googled it and here is a recipe that came up on cooks.com

Currently, it's baking in the oven... we'll see how it comes out!


OVEN FRIED CHICKEN

8 boneless skinless thighs (I used 2 large breasts that I cut in half so they would be smaller and possibly bake at the same time as thighs would)
2 tbs paprika
2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup butter or marg.

Combine all ingredients except chicken and butter. Put butter in 9x13 inch oven baking dish and melt.
Coat chicken with dry mixture and place in pan with melted butter. (I put the pan into the oven, melted the butter, then pulled the pan out and put the chicken in)
Cook at 425 for 20 min. Remove from oven and turn chicken over.

Cook for an additional 20 min at 425.

I'll update later as to whether this was worth printing out and adding to my recipe binder.

The Verdict

So this was ok, but I wouldn't say that it was excellent or worth repeating, especially because Shake and Bake Chicken mix is better and much easier/faster to make! However, this is a great alternative if you're out of the Shake and Bake and want to use things in the house.

It didn't help that the microwave burned the rice pilaf... strange! I put it in for the minimum time and it burned. Let's hope the microwave isn't about to clunk out on me!

I served this dish with chicken flavored couscous and carrots. :)

What's For Dinner

Tonight I'm going to try a recipe from the website "A Year of Slow Cooking." I just put together a Chicken and Dumpling Soup recipe in the crockpot. It was super easy to throw together. It only took 5 minutes to assemble all the stuff. Here's the recipe:



Here's what the website shares. My favorite part is reading her "verdicts."

Chicken and dumplings! Finally! I don't know why it took me so long to make this----it was terribly easy, and very tasty. Thank you so much for all of the recipes that were sent in. This is a compilation of recipes from Tamara, Kimberley, Danette, and Renee. Thank you!

The Ingredients.

--3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken (I used frozen thighs)
--1 yellow onion, chopped
--1 cup mushrooms, chopped (I used baby portabellas)
--16 ounces frozen vegetables

--2 cans cream-of-something soup, or combine in a saucepan:
4 T butter
6 T flour (I used Pamela's baking mix)
1 cup milk (I used soy)
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp poultry seasoning

--1 can refrigerated biscuits, or one batch drop biscuits (I used Pamela's Baking Mix, and used the drop-biscuit recipe listed on the back of the bag)

The Directions.

I used a 6.5 quart crockpot. Anything 4 quarts and up will work. Put the chicken and vegetables into the bottom of the crockpot. Add the cream-of soups, or your homemade substitute. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5. I cooked ours on high for 4 hours, and on low for another two. An hour before serving, shred chicken with two large forks, and drop in the biscuit dough.

Cover and cook on high for another hour. The bisquits are done when you can insert a knife and it comes out clean. They will be spongey and will brown a bit on the sides and top.

Serve in bowls, with a biscuit or two per person.

The Verdict.

Delicious. I've never had chicken and dumplings before, and really enjoyed this a lot. Adam and I each had two bowls. Dinner wasn't ready until almost 7, so the kids ended up eating leftovers. My four-year-old thought it looked weird, so fingers are crossed she's feeling adventurous for lunch.


We'll see what my family's verdict is in 8ish hours :)

So dinner was great! For such a small job it was quite a big meal!! The recipe makes enough for about 6 portions so I froze half of it and we will be able to enjoy it some other evening. Perfect for a freezing cold day. I used one can of cream of chicken and one can of cream of celery. Oh my yum!!

Father's Day 2010 Pictures

It's amazing how much he grew in a year. Even though it's been months since Father's Day, I thought I'd post the 2010 edition of D A D that was photographed for my hubby. Maybe next year we'll be able to convince him to sit still... maybe not...

What's For Dinner

Recently I've been trying to "switch it up" with what we've been having for dinner. Last night, on the recommendation of my sister, we tried pulled pork in the crock pot. It was good... a little spicy (I think we're used to less spice, more sweet), but very delicious. Per my sister's advice I cooked it in the crockpot for 8 hours on low. She said that it comes out tough if you cook it on high for less time.

For the recipe I used a McCormick flavor packet and the recipe below (which is also on the back of the packet).




Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH
Makes 10 servings.

You Will Need
3 lbs. boneless pork shoulder roast, well-trimmed
1 pkg. McCormick® Slow Cookers BBQ Pulled Pork Seasoning
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup cider vinegar


PLACE pork in slow cooker.

MIX Seasoning, ketchup, brown sugar, and vinegar until blended. Pour over pork. Cover.

COOK 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH. Remove pork from slow cooker.

SHRED pork, using 2 forks. Return pork to slow cooker; mix and heat with sauce before serving.

Products I Can't Live Without

When I found out I was pregnant with my first, one of the hardest things was trying to figure out what the heck I would register for. What products would I need? What was just a gimmick and would I really find useless. Here are some of the things (past and present) that I could not live without!

Munchie Mug

http://www.munchiemug.com/

You can not beat this product! It keeps the snacks CONTAINED. My boy has easy access to his snacks on the go, the top has a spandex top that stretches to go around my kiddo's hand and unlike other products, I have never had the goldfish (or other contents) spill. It is STURDY and even after a year of daily use, it is still in tip top shape. It is worth every single penny.



Mabel's Labels

http://www.mabel.ca

Even though the boy is not in daycare, there are plenty of situations where we have to leave him with other kids and he needs his belongings labeled. This has been a particular challenge with his food containers (his Munchie Mug, sippy cups, etc.) and no matter how many times I use a Sharpie, it doesn't seem to work very well. Mabel's Labels sells a variety of different labels that you can use to keep track of your kiddo's things. Recently we purchased the labels below, they are dishwasher and microwave proof and will be marking his things for months to come!



Exergen Temporal Thermometer




Nothing about taking a child's temperature is easy, until this product. When I was registering I thought that getting a thermometer like this was unnecessary... then I had a screaming child who was burning up and was impossible to measure. Enter, stage left, the exergen temporal thermometer. Hallelujah! One pass over the forehead and behind the ear and we had an accurate reading. No rectal thermometer reading or holding down the arm. If you get one of these DON'T get it at a baby store. They are GROSSLY overpriced. Walmart and Costco have the same product in different packaging.

I'll post more at another time. In the meantime, what products have been lifesavers for you?