Italian Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing (we love Newman's Own Italian Dressing)
1 tsp. Italian seasoning (or mix basil, oregano, crushed red pepper and garlic powder)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
4 potatoes, peeled and cut in wedges
baby carrots (as many as you like)
1 onion, cut in chunks

Place chicken in bottom of crock pot. Sprinkle with half of the Italian dressing, spices, and the grated cheese. Put the potatoes, onions and baby carrots on top and around the chicken. Sprinkle with the rest of the dressing, spices and cheese. Cook on Low for about 6-8 hours, or until the chicken and potatoes are tender. We love the dressing so much that sometimes we pour extra on as we eat.

This is an easy meal to prepare and always a hit with my kids and guests. That makes it a winner in my book! Hope you're hungry!

German Pancakes...Like you've never had them!!!

Seriously, these are yummy without anything on them! I tried them for breakfast on New Year's Day, YUM! Sorry, I didn't take a picture, but they look like your typical GPs but thicker and browned a little more from the butter. So, here it goes...
1/2 cup butter
3 cups milk
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 400°F. Put butter in a glass cake pan. Place in oven for 5 minutes, until butter is melted and bubbles. While butter is melting, put milk, flour, sugar, eggs and salt into blender. Blend on medium speed until smooth. Remove pan from oven and adjust heat to 450°F. Immediately pour mixture into pan and return pan to oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and bake 8 to 10 minutes more until edges are puffed and browned. Serve with strawberries, powdered sugar, syrup, or any of your favorite toppings.

Toffee

I have always been intimidated when it comes to making toffee, but this recipe is really simple and it turned out the first time I tried it...

Layer a 9x13 pan with 2 layers a foil and 1 layer of silvered almonds.

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp real vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Combine above ingredients and cook in a heavy pan, on almost high heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon. When the mixture is the color of a brown paper bag, pour into prepared pan. Let cool.
Cover with dipping chocolate and chopped walnuts. ***You can also turn the toffee over & put chocolate & nuts on the other side.
Break into pieces and enjoy!

Crepes

1 1/2 cup flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 dash salt
2 eggs beaten well
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp melted butter

Beat all ingredients on high until smooth. It will seem a little runny but it's right...

Pour into a shallow skillet and kind of swirl the batter around until thinned out in pan. Bake on each side until done and serve with either cinnamon & sugar with butter or with fruit and cream. Delicious!!!

Chicken Tortellini Toss

This is a super quick dish that I make and my family loves.I got it from Better Homes and Gardens and have adapted it for my family's tastes. Feel free to do the same! I find that Emily likes the tortellini, I like the broccoli and Scott likes the aspect of "chunks".

*1 bag cheese tortellini
* 1-2 large chicken breast
* 1/2- 3/4 jar of Classico roasted tomato pesto sauce
* Fresh broccoli (give or take 2 cups. I like more, so I add more!)
* 1 can diced tomatoes
* Fresh grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

- Cook chicken, cut, and set aside. (I've pan seared it, and sliced it, chunked it, or boiled it and chopped it. Do it however you like.) Meanwhile, boil tortellini according directions on package. Add the broccoli to the water at the last three minutes or so. Drain water. Add the can of diced tomatoes and pesto to the tortellini and broccoli. Then add the chicken. Serve with Parmesan cheese on top. (Feel free to add any other Italian seasonings you might like. I think that the pesto sauce is pretty flavorful, so I like to just add more pesto.)

As you can tell, this recipe is easily adaptable. Other substitutions can include doing half broccoli with half califlower.

Happy Eatting!

Ice Cream n' Meringue

This is my new favorite dessert. And its really not too bad for your health AND it works for those with wheat allergies so hey! :)

Preheat oven to 275. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Separate 3 large eggs and let the whites stand at room temperature for 1/2 hour. Add 1/4 tsp cream of tartar to egg whites and beat them until they're light and foamy. Add 3/4 cup sugar a tablespoon at a time. Continue beating on high until stiff peaks form and the mixture is thick and glossy (don't underbeat--very important!). Plop spoonfuls onto the parchment paper, as big or small as you want, and smooth out into pretty mounds. Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours. Turn the oven off and let them sit in there for another hour. Finish cooling at room temperature and store in an air-tight container.

**Justin and I love eating the meringue shells plain for dessert. If you've done 'em right, their outside are crisp and melt in your mouth and the insides are slightly chewy and sweet like cotton candy.

Get your favorite ice cream and toppings (I like plain vanilla with frozen raspberries) and mash them together Coldstone-style. Put a meringue shell in the bottom of a dish and cover it with your ice cream mixture. Serve immediately or put in the freezer to serve later. We made it for Canadian Thanksgiving last weekend and it was a hit. Here's a picture (we didn't do the ice cream Cold-stone style this time and decided we definitely prefer Coldstone-style to this):

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got this recipe from a guy that I used to work with. It is super easy can works well for those with food allergies. The cake mix makes them soooo moist. Plus, this is one of those recipes that get me into the Fall season!

Ingredients:
1 box Spice cake mix
1 can pumpkin pie filling (I used small, but you can always add more I guess!)
Chocolate chips (I like semi-sweet)

Mix together and bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes. **NOTE** These cookies do not rise or expand very much from their original shape. So I find it helpful to use a cookie scooper to make sure the dough balls are perfectly round. ALSO- watch the time on these cookies. You want them to be done but not hard.

Variations: add white chocolate chips with minced pecans

Zucchini Bisque

Zucchini Bisque

2 tablespoons butter
2 cups zucchini/2 medium zucs sliced 1/8"
1 cup mushrooms chopped
1/2 cup onion/1 medium union chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley or 1.5 Tbsp dried parsley

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
10 3/4 oz. can chicken broth
1/4 cup whipping cream (I use skim milk and, though it isn't AS creamy, it tastes just as good)
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a 2 quart saucepan, add zucchini, onions, mushrooms and parsley cooking until vegetables are tender. Add half of the chicken broth to vegetables and blend it together in the blender until everything is smooth and creamy. Meanwhile, in another 2 quart saucepan melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat; stir in flour until smooth, add remaining chicken broth and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until rue thickens. Stir in rue cream, pepper and blended zucchini mixture. Continue cooking until heated through about 5 - 6 minutes. It's delicious!

Enjoy!

Red Beans and Rice

So I attempted to recreate the tasty red beans and rice dish that my sister in-law Aimee made at our family reunion a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, my local grocery store doesn't carry the Blue Runner brand of red beans. So I was already fighting against the odds. I didn't give up, and I think that I found success! The only thing is that I did a lot of seasoning to taste . . . so I'm not sure how much spice I put in . . . but, here is the recipe I concocted:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1 Diced Onion
1 stalk of celery, diced (optional)
1 Diced Bell Pepper (small to medium size)
2 tsp minced garlic
1⁄4 Stick of Butter

2 Cans of Red beans (I used two cans that advertised that they were Louisiana style and they tasted like plain old red beans to me . . . . hmmmmmm)
1# Sliced Smoked Sausage or Andouille
1 c water
4 large dashes of red pepper (I could have gone for five . . . maybe next time! Or throw in a diced jalapeno!)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp taco seasoning
1 tsp chicken bouillion powder

garlic powder to taste
Salt and pepper (season to taste)

Directions:
Sauté the onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic and butter in bottom of pot until vegetables are soft.
Add the two cans of Red Beans, water, pepper or jalapeno, cumin, taco seasoning, bouillion and sausage to the pot and stir with a reduced heat. (Do not over heat as beans will scorch and burn on bottom). Use a potato masher to make the sauce more creamy. Mash up some beans, but not all of them. Maybe 1/2. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve over rice. Serves 5-6 complete dinners.

GREG BAIRD’S MANGO SALSA

4 green mangos, diced

4 cloves diced garlic (use one more clove if you are going to eat it immediately. The flavor gets stronger over time.)

2 paper thin slices of onion finely chopped

Cilantro to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

*Mix all ingredients together and serve with tortilla chips. *Optional: add pureed habanero pepper (a few drops) for a light sing or more for a fiery salsa.**Note: The longer this salsa sits, the tastier it becomes. So, you might want to go easy on the garlic if making this in advance.