Chicken Enchiladas

Meat from 1 chicken or 1-1/2 lbs chicken breasts, cooked
16 oz sour cream
4 oz can diced green chiles
1 lb grated cheese
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
chopped green onions
1 can mild green enchilada sauce
12 soft flour tortillas
sweet rice (recipe follows)

Put meat, sour cream, chiles, one can soup, and onions in mixer.  Mix until chicken is shredded and everything is mixed.  If you don't want to use your mixer, you can shred chicken yourself and mix in a bowl, I just like to take the easy way.

On tortilla, layer sweet rice, chicken mixture and cheese.  Roll tortilla and place seam side down in greased 9x13 pan.  After pan is filled, pour enchilada sauce over all, cover with second can of soup, and top with cheese.  Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

Sweet Rice

One can chicken broth
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups instant rice

Bring all to a boil, cook over low until liquid is absorbed.

Everyone loves this, even picky pants dd will eat it!

6/17/20014
To make this more diet friendly, sub fat free sour cream, fat free cheese and healthy request cream of mushroom soup.  I also use La Tortilla Factory Low Carb Whole Wheat tortillas. 

Nutrition info for one enchilada without rice
253 cal
6.6 g fat
31.7 g carb
12.8 g fiber
29 g protein

I would count this as your dinner entrée for NS

Weight Watchers Points = 7

The sweetened condensed milk makes the rice add about 200 calories, so I would just skip that, but it depends on your allowance for the day I suppose.  I haven't looked for low fat sweetened condensed milk to even see if it existed.  This is super good even without the rice though

Creamy, Vanilla Buttermilk Syrup

Tonight was breakfast for dinner.  Pancakes and eggs, but the highlight is the syrup.  I do not claim that this is Magelbey's syrup recipe, but it sure tastes like it.  My family won't use any other syrup any more, this is so rich and creamy.

1 stick butter
1 c sugar
1 c buttermilk
1/4 c corn syrup

Mix in a medium size sauce pan, mixture will expand to fill the pan.  Bring to a full boil, let boil 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat, add 1/2 t baking soda, 1 T vanilla, stir well.  Let cool slightly, serve over pancakes, French toast, wherever you like your syrup.  Enjoy!

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

This is the best chocolate cake I have ever had, and I am admittedly a chocolate snob.  It is rich, but not so rich you can't eat it.  It is moist and flavorful.  I could honestly eat the whole cake, it's that good!  I kind of fool myself into thinking it's sort of healthy because there's no oil, but it is still cake!

1 package devils food cake mix
1 large package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 c sour cream
1/2 c water
1 c chocolate chips
1/2 c applesauce
4 eggs

Combine all ingredients, pour into greased bundt pan.  Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Spider Chicken Sandwiches

We call these Spider Sandwiches, because we eat them around Halloween, and also because the shredded chicken looks like spider legs.

1/2 onion
1/2 bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 cup ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
2 dashes worchestershire sauce
1 cup water

Mix all in blender until liquefied.  Great way to disguise the green stuff!  Pour into large sauce pan, add shredded meat from one chicken, I use a rotisserie chicken.  At 4.99 from Costco, they are a staple at our house.  Mix and let simmer until sauce thickens (2-3 hrs, or thicken with ultra gel if you are impatient like me!), adding water if necessary.  Serve on hard rolls.

Southwest Chicken Chowder

This soup has been a family favorite for years.  With the exception of my 17 yo ds, and 8 yo dd, who won't even try it, everyone else loves it.  Credit goes to my dear friend, Jenny Budd.  At our house, it's called Jenny's chicken soup.

3 c frozen corn
1/2 t garlic
1-1/2 c chicken broth
1-1/2 c cream
2-4 oz cans diced green chiles
32 oz velveeta, cubed
meat from one chicken

Mix everything together over medium heat. Stir frequently to melt cheese and prevent scorching.  Serve with crumbled tortilla chips.

Baked Fried Chicken

This was a hit!!  Even Miss Picky Pants liked it!  Almost right on the KFC similarity.  I made a few changes, they are in blue.

Saw this on facebook, might have to try this one!  I love fried chicken but hate the mess.  I think I'll try buttermilk instead of plain though.  I do like the skin, but I only have breasts to try tonight, and I've tried other KFC "secret recipes" before that haven't measured up.  Maybe this one will, I'll let you know and post pics after dinner! 

{Baked Fried Chicken}
I am pretty sure someone has discovered the KFC secret recipe! It is DEAD ON! It is also baked...not fried and there isn't any skin! So you get to enjoy the taste of the seasoning, instead of pulling it off because of the slimy skin!

This is super easy and you are TOTALLY going to love it!

Place thawed chicken breast tenderloin strips in a bowl of milk. Let soak for 20-30 min.  I used 3 lbs boneless, skinless breasts, cut into strips, and soaked in buttermilk

Mix in a Gallon Size Ziploc or Large Bowl: 
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 T Season All  I didn't have Season All, so I omitted the salt and used 2T Season Salt
3/4 tsp Pepper  I left out the pepper, not a big fan
1 c. Flour  I used 2 cups, and it was just right
2 tsp. Paprika  Because I increased everything else, I used 2 Tbs.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut 1/2 stick of butter into a few pieces and place in a 9x13 pan. Melt butter in pre-heated oven.  I used a full stick of butter, it really helps with the 'fried' chicken taste

Spread melted butter around the bottom of the pan. Lightly spray the pan, if needed, to make sure that there are no dry spots.

Shake excess milk off of chicken and completely coat each piece with the seasoning mix. You can either shake the chicken in the bag, until coated, or dip each piece in the bowl until coated.
Place each piece of chicken in the pan.

Cook for 20 min. Turn each piece of chicken and continue cooking for 20 more minutes, or until cooked through.
 It came out crispy, juicy and tender.  Just right!

Beth's Chicken Pasta Salad

     We had a luncheon at work today, and I made a pasta salad.  I had a few people who wanted the recipe, so here it is.  Quick and easy, just throw everything together and adjust for taste.

1 lb deli chicken salad
1 lb any pasta, cooked according to directions
1 bottle Hidden Valley Coleslaw Dressing
2 c grated cheese
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 can pineapple tidbits, drained
1-2 c mayo or miracle whip, to bring to desired consistency
Green onions, chopped if the chicken salad doesn't already have some.

Refrigerate until well chilled to let the flavors mix.

In all honesty, this is a grown-up dish.  My picky eaters won't touch it, but I've found most adults love it.  Enjoy!

Creamy Coconut Shrimp

     This is one of my picky eater's favorites, even dd, there are never any leftovers of this dish!  It's quick and easy to put together in a hurry.

2 pounds shrimp (you can use any kind, my tribe prefers it crunchy, so I use popcorn shrimp, baked according to the package directions)

1 can coconut milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1 t. coconut extract
1 t. vanilla extract
1/4 t. almond extract

Add milk, cream and sugar to pan, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer (stirring occasionally) until the sauce is reduced by half (about 10 minutes).  Add extracts and shrimp, stir until well coated.  If using cold shrimp, let simmer for another 2 minutes to warm through.  Serve over herbed angel hair pasta.  Serves 8

Tucano's Brazilian Cheese Bread

One of our favorite restaurants is Tucano's, a Brazilian Churrasco.  Although the meat is the main draw, one of our favorite things are these yummy cheese bread balls.  I had never seen anything like them before, and just had to learn how to make them myself.  Turns out they are pretty simple, and oh, so delicious!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Ingredients:
1 egg
1/3 c oil
2/3 c milk
1-1/2 c tapioca flour (try the gluten free aisle)
1/2 c grated cheese (any kind will do, my favorite is queso fresco, but cheddar and mozzarella are good too)
1 t salt

Mix everything in your blender until smooth.  Pour into a mini muffin pan.  One batch makes 24, perfect for one muffin pan.  Bake 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden.

Tri-Tip Easy and Delicious!!



I have seen Tri-Tip before, but I have never cooked it.  Quite frankly it is too expensive, and when you are feeding 8-10 people for dinner, it's just too much.  It was on sale at Costco this week for $2.99, so I decided to try it.  This package was pre-seasoned and marinated, but you could always add seasonings or your favorite marinade if you got one that wasn't already seasoned.

 

 

 

The first thing to do, is take the meat out of the refrigerator about two hours before cooking, and allow it to reach room temperature.  If you don't do this, the outside will cook too fast, and the middle will remain cold.  Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, you want it nice and hot.  Place meat in a roasting pan on a rack.  Reduce heat to 350 and put pan in the oven.  Let it cook for 30 minutes, turn and cook another 10-15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.  This allows the meat to soak up all of it's delicious juices.  Cut across the grain for maximum tenderness and serve.  We loved it!

Welcome!!

Welcome to my new blog!  I wanted a place to put all the yummy new recipes I find but don't want to print.  I will share new recipes I see, family favorites and reviews of new things I try.  I will also share some funny stories of the very picky eaters in my house, and their reactions to the new foods we try.

Tonight I made Teriyaki Salmon, which we've had many times before and all love.  My 8 year old DD was excited for me to put some on her plate.  Please note: she is the pickiest of the picky.  After taking a few bites, she says "This chicken tastes different than normal.  Wait, is this fish??"  We tell her no (parents are allowed to bend the truth in my house), and ask if she wants more sauce.  After downing the entire piece, she gets to the bottom where the skin is hiding and screams, "There's scales on this!!  It is fish!!  I ate fish?!?"  We are all trying not to laugh as we tell her it's chicken of the sea, and remind her that she liked it.  Fun times at the Stone house!