Creamy Italian Chicken

¼ cup butter
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 Italian Dressing mix packet
1 (4 ounce) container cream cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup (see alternative below)

Cream of Mushroom Alternative:

¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
2 cups milk
1 (8 ounce) can mushrooms, keep the juice in

For cream mixture: Melt butter. Add flour and stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Slowly add milk while stirring. Add mushrooms. Allow to thicken over medium heat.

In a crockpot melt butter.  Add chicken and sprinkle packet of Italian Dressing mix over the chicken.  Cook on high for 3-5 hours until chicken is done.  Shred with a fork.  Add cream cheese and cream of mushroom soup (or alternative).  Cook on low for 1 more hour.  Serve over rice.

Dijon-Lime Chicken

3 ½ lb. Precut chicken or Split breasts
3 TBSP Dijon mustard
1 TBSP Mayonnaise
1 clove minced garlic
 zest and juice of 1 lime
¾ teaspoon pepper
Salt

Preheat the oven to 400°.  Rinse the chicken and pat dry; place in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, mayonnaise, garlic, lime zest and juice, and pepper.  Season the chicken generously with salt.  Pour the mustard-mayonnaise mixture over the chicken and toss well to coat.  In a large baking pan, arrange the chicken to fit in a single layer.  Bake until it is cooked through; breasts will take about 30 minutes and lets will need 5-10 minutes longer.  Serve the chicken with the pan juices drizzled over the top.  If desired sprinkle a little more lime zest on chicken as a garnish

Chicken Pot Pie

1 Package (10 ounce) frozen Vegetables (Your choice...I like mixed & add extra)
⅓ cup butter or stick margarine
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
⅓ cup onion
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 ¾ cups chicken broth (1 can)
⅔ cup milk
2 ½ to 3 cups cut-up cooked chicken or turkey
Frozen Pie Crust (the roll out kind works great!)

 Rinse frozen peas and carrots in cold water to separate; drain.  Melt butter in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in flour, onion, salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly; remove from heat.  Stir in broth and milk.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir 1 minute.  Stir in chicken and peas and carrots; remove from heat.  Heat oven to 425º.  Make pastry.  Roll two-thirds of the pastry into 13-inch square.  Ease into ungreased square pan, 9 X 9 X 2 inches.  Pour chicken mixture into pastry-lined pan.  Cover top with remaining pastry.  Cut slits in top.  Bake about 35 minutes or until golden brown.

**Good recipe for using up leftover chicken.

Beef Fajitas

Source

1/2 C Canola oil
1/3 C soy sauce
1/4 C balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds flank steak
Combination of peppers – red, yellow, orange, green and onion, sliced.
Olive oil
Salt

Using a medium bowl,combine the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon or lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic, and ground black pepper. Place meat in a large zip loc baggie and pour marinade over the steak. Turning meat to coat thoroughly. Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours or overnight.

Preheat grill for medium-high heat.  Place steaks on the grill, and discard the marinade. Grill meat for 5 minutes per side, or to desired doneness. Slice meat thinly going across the grain.  While meat is grilling, saute onions and peppers in olive oil and salt until tender.

 Serve with meat on a tortilla. Add sour cream, guacamole and or salsa.

**The is the fajita recipe I've been looking for all my life.  Love it!

Lemon Basil Chicken

1 cup Miracle Whip
2 teaspoon honey
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 fryer, cut up (2 ½-3 lbs.)
 
Preheat oven to 375 º.  Mix Miracle Whip, juice, honey, and basil.  Place chicken in 13X9 baking dish (sometimes I place cooked/uncooked rice and a little water under the chicken).  Spread with salad dressing mixture.  Bake 45 minutes or until cooked through and rice is cooked. 

*This recipe is nothing special, but its kid friendly and a good way to use chicken.  I like to use the precut fryer or just the split bone-in chicken breasts, which are less expensive anyways; making this a cheap meal!

Easy Chicken Wrap

⅓ cup mayonnaise

4 whole wheat tortillas
2 cups cooked chicken Breast (I like mine shredded)
¼ cup roasted sweet red peppers
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
¼ cup sliced Basil leaves

Warm tortilla and chicken.  Spread Mayonnaise on tortilla and top with chicken and remaining ingredients.

*With this recipe I like to boil a split chicken breast (the bone-in kind...remove the skin) ahead of time.  Bone-in chicken tends to be cheaper, so its a good way to save money.  Boil the chicken until its done then remove and cool.  When chicken is cool, remove from the bone and set aside.  You can do this a day or so in advance or earlier in the day, which will make this a quick meal when you're ready to eat.  I like to plan this meal around another meal involving boiled chicken, because then I can do it all at once and utilize the chicken in several meals.

Easy Curry Chicken

*I got this recipe from my sister Diane

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (or shredded)

Baby carrots, halved or quartered
Celery, ½ inch pieces
Garlic, minced
1 apple, peeled and cubed
Raisins
Curry powder to taste

Cream Mixture:

¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
1 ¾ cups milk
½ cup chicken broth

Sauté baby carrots, celery, and garlic until crisp-tender (about 5 minutes).  [While this is cooking start cream mixture.]  Mix chicken and raisins into vegetables. 

Cream Mixture: Melt butter in a separate sauce pan.  Add flour to melted butter and mix over medium heat 1 minute.  Mixture should be thick and bubbly.  Slowly add milk and broth while stirring.  Allow to thicken over medium heat.  Add to chicken mixture.

 Add curry powder to taste.  When almost done, peel and cube apple.  Add to chicken mixture.  Serve over white rice.

***This recipe is easy if you're in the mood for curry chicken and don't want to devote a lot of time. The mixture of the curry, sweet, and salty is so yummy!  If you aren't lactose intollerant you can omit the butter, milk and broth and add 1 can of cream of chicken soup and 1/2 a can of water.

Garlic Chicken

**You do have to like garlic for this one, but its very good!

2 teaspoons crushed garlic
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup dry bread crumbs
¼ cup parmesan cheese
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves ( prefer to do 2 boneless skinless breast halves sliced in half lengthwise to make 4...saves money and you get a better proporting of flavors to meat...)

Preheat oven to 425°.  Warm garlic and oil to blend flavors.  In a separate dish combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.  Dip chicken into the oil mixture then dry mixture to coat.  Bake in shallow baking dish for 30-35 minutes or until no longer pink and juices run clear.

Cake Tips

To bake a cake: I bake all my cakes at 325 degrees.  Preheat the oven for at least 40 minutes (i.e. wait 40 minutes after the oven is preheated.  Make the cake according to package directions.  I like Duncan Hines cake mixes.  Grease the pan well...or put parchment paper on the bottom of the cake.  Put batter in the pan you're using & put in the oven.  Don't even open the oven to check the cake until 30 minutes has passed.  Mine usually take 45 minute-ish.  You can check the cake in the oven by turning the light on and kind of jiggling the oven.  If the cake looks like its still battery-ish and not baked, wait.  When it stops jiggling then it's time to start checking.  Don't check too much or it can effect the way it bakes.  When the cake is done, lay a towel down with a long piece of parchment paper on top.  Remove the cake from the oven and immediately turn it upside down on the parchment paper and let it sit at least 4 hours (I prefer overnight).  When you're ready to decorate, jiggle the pan to loosen the sides, or you can turn the cake back over keeping the parchment paper on top and use a knife to loosen the sides.  Remove cake from the pan.  Again, hang on to that parchment paper and cut another piece if needed.  It makes handling the cake easier.  I have a cake leveler that is my best friend.  I level the top part of the cake off (not the bottom...the bottom tends to be nicer and crumb free so it faces up when I make the cake.  From there you can use the leveler to divide the cake in 2 layers or keep as a whole and frost!

The Monkey Cake

The Monkey Cake is made from a large round cake (10 inch) with half a ball cake placed for the nose.  I used 2 mini round cakes cut for the ears.

Then it's basically decorate away!  We did the smooth parts first (the nose, eyes, ears, then filled in with stars.  It took a long time to do all the stars, but looked so cute when done!