Month: April 2010

Breads · Meats · Salads

Luncheon Layered Sandwiches

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Buy one loaf of uncut bread and have them slice it in the bakery horizontally into 4 layers.

1 (5 oz) jar of Kraft Pineapple Cheese spread

1 cup of chicken salad (either homemade or bought)

1 cup of egg salad

1 cup of tuna salad

1 (8 oz) container whipped cream cheese with chives

Between each slice of the bread, spread the above salad mixtures. Place the top on the bread. Use the whipped cream cheese spread to cover the entire outside of the sandwich loaf. Decorate with green olives and pimentos and parsley. Slice into 1 inch slices. This makes a beautiful sandwich loaf and can be served with a spinach salad and fruit salad for a wonderful luncheon. For dessert an assortment of cupcakes, lemon bars/brownies.

Meats

Pork Tacos

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2 teas oil

1 lb pork tenderloin, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 teas ground cumin

2 cloves of garlic, minced or 1 teas garlic powder

1 cup salsa verde (green salsa)

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

8 corn tortillas (heated according to package directions)

1 cup shredded lettuce

Garnish: diced tomatoes and avocado

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add pork and cumin; cook until golden brown on all sides, about 5 mins. add garlic and cook for another minute.

*Stir salsa into skillet; cook 1 minute or until heated through. Stir in cilantro. Using two forks, pierce and shred cubes of pork.* (ok, I admit it, I took the easy, lazy way out! I put the pork tenderloin in a crock pot with some picante sauce and the garlic and cumin and 1/2 cup water and left it on low all day) Then when I got home, I took it out and after cooling for a few mintues, I shredded it. Proceed at this point with the next step.

Fill warmed tortillas with pork mixture, then ad lettuce. Serve with diced tomato and avocado.

Daily Thoughts

14 Years of Adventure

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This week, we will celebrate 14 years of marriage. I began to wonder what I could do to let Randy know just what an adventure life had been these past 14 years and so I asked the Lord to show me what to do. The photo albums were full of pictures that conjured up memories each time I would glance through them, so……..I choose 14 of the most memorable places which we had visited and am posting each one on a single page with the thoughts of what come to mind with each photo. Am going to make this into a booklet and present it to him Sunday night when we head out to one of our favorite restaurants. Am so excited to see his face light up as we look at each one and pause to remember the “adventure” of each town or place we have visited. There is Chicago, Santa Fe, Rome, Albequrque, San Francisco, Disney World (yes, I love that place) Colorado, Hot Springs, Greece, New Orleans, Key West, our first convention as man and wife in OK City, Washington DC and Boston, which are just a few, but some of my favorites. So say a prayer for me that maybe, in some small way, I can convey to this precious husband, some of my heart, as we walk down memory lane and think of how wonderful and blessed we have been to have had each other to share these most awesome memories together. Thanks be to God, for His abundant blessings!

Meats · Salads

Chicken Salad

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2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup seedless grapes, cut in half

1/2 cup chopped almonds, toasted

1 11 oz can drained mandarin oranges

1/2 cup mayo

1 teas grated onion

1/4 teas salt

Lettuce leaves

Combine chicken, celery, and next 3 ingredients in a bowl.

Combine mayo, onio and if desired, salt; add to chicken mixture, stirring gently. Spoon onto lettuce leaves. Yields 4 cups

A pretty way to serve this is to take oranges and cut them in half. Scoop out the insides, leaving the shells. Save the oranges for a jello salad or orange chicken and use the shell to serve the chicken salad. You will need to cup off the bottom of the shell, allowing it to sit up correctly.. place shell on lettuce giving the plate plenty of color.

Casseroles · Chicken · Meats

Two New Chicken Recipes that are easy and delish!!!!thank you Karen for sharing!

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Cheesy Chicken Cresents
 
1 3/4 cup cubed cooked chicken (or canned chicken)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 can cresent rolls
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
 
in a bowl, combine chicken and 3 TBSP cheese.  seperate crescent rolls into 8 triangles.  Place about 3 TBSP of chicken mix on roll at wide end, roll up.  In a bowl, mix soup, milk, and remaining cheese.  Heat in microwave until it is smooth.  Pour into a 9X13 pan, place chicken rolls on top of soup mixture.  Bake at 375 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
 
Poppy Seed Chicken
 
2 sleeves ritz crackers, smooshed
1 stick butter, melted
3 TBSP poppy seeds
6 chicken breasts cooked and chopped (can use 8 chicken breasts if you want more meat)
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz sour cream
1/2 cup chicken broth
 
mix melted butter and crackers together, set aside.  mix chopped chicken, soup, sour cream, broth and poppy seeds together.  pour into a greased (Pam) 9X13 pan.  Top with cracker mixture.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Breads · Daily Thoughts

Dutch Baby

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If you are like Randy and I, we simply love to treat ourselves every once in a while and go to Original Pancake House and order the Dutch Baby. It does take a little while for them to make it, but the wait is oh so worth it. We order it with the sliced strawberries and bananas and we are stuffed all day……the first time we had it was in Chicago when we were there over New Years Eve and had waited in line for a table on that first day of Jan, 2004 with some friends. Every so often a waitress would pass by us with this gorgeous bubble looking pancake with fruit piled in the middle. So we decided then and there to ask what it was and our adventurous side took over our common sense and we ordered the infamous “dutch baby”. Now, you have to realize that when you do this, you cannot eat for about 12 hours prior to ordering, because you have to have a completely empty stomach to hold this giant “breakfast food”. Do not, I repeat, “do not” attempt to eat this a week or so before having your cholestrol checked. If you do, they will immediately send you straight to the emergency room where you will be put on a lettuce and water diet for a month. So, when we came back from Chicago, I couldn’t wait to head back to OPH for another. In the meantime, I thought that I would hit the internet to see if I could find a recipe for the DB. Sure enough, there it was, in black and white…..was I in heaven or what? I could now make this anytime we felt like it. So here it is…..you do not have to wait until you are in the mood to stand in line for an hour to get a table at OPH and then another 30 minutes for them to cook your DB..you can make it in your own little space and eat, allowing the syrup to cover your chin and the butter to run down the sides of the Dutch baby…..(no this is not another name for Randy)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you have an iron skillet, it works best. But if not, spray a 9″ heavy skillet with Pam. Mix together the following:

1/2 cup flour

2 tables sugar

1/2 teas salt

2 eggs

1 teas oil

1/2 cup milk

1/4 teas cinnamon

1/8 teas nutmeg

1 teas vanilla

2 teas butter

Mix dry ingredients. Set aside. Wisk remaining ingredients. Gradually beat dry ingredients into egg mixture until smooth. Melt butter in skillet. Pour batter into skillet and bake 20 minutes. Reduce to 350 degres and bake for an additional 3-5 min or untilo puffed and brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and add sliced strawberries and bananas if desired.. Serve hot with fruit and syrup…….

Daily Thoughts

Pepperidge Farm Pastry Shells

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Do not let the recipe I just posted scare you if you saw the word “crepe”. You do not have to make them. This recipe is just as good using the Pepperidge Farm Pastry shells you buy in the frozen food section of your grocery store. Just follow the directions on the back of the package and fill as needed with the chicken mushroom recipe I wrote under “meats”…….it is just such a great and easy way to entertain..

Meats

Chicken Crepes

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1 10 3/4 oz can cream of mushroom soup (undiluter)

1 cup sour cream

2 cups cooked and cubed chicken

1 cup frozen green beans/or green peas

1 lb fresh and washed sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup butter

t teas seasoning salt

1 teas garlic powder

Combine: soup, sour cream in sauce pan. Stir in chicken beans/peas and then heat but do not boil. Saute mushrooms at the same time in butter sprinkled with the seasoning salt and garlic.

Fill crepes with hot mixture fold over spoon mushrooms over filled crepes

Serve immedieately

Yield about 8 t0 10 crepes that are well filled.

When I make this for luncheons, instead of the crepes that need to be cooked at the last minute. I buy the Pepperidge Farm Large Pastry shells and bake them. (they come 6 or 8 to a package, I forgot which). After you bake the shells, cut the perforated tops out.  I usually then combine the mushroom mixture to the soup mixture and then just fill each shell with the chicken-mushroom mixture and place the pastry top over the top for looks. You can sprinkle on a little dried parsley before serving. This makes a wonderful dinner for company as you could add 1 cup of milk to the mixture and cook over the afternoon in a crockpot or the night before and then heat up when ready to serve in the shells…..It keeps beautifully and makes a great presentation. Serve with a spinach salad and rice pilaf which is on the blog under starces and you have an easy entertaining meal.

OF course you will want to make something yummy for dessert…….check out desserts on the ole blog for prenty of suggestions…now go out there and enjoy this most glorious sunshine today…….Blessings to all of you sweet friends!

Beverages

Almond Punch

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A friend called today and requested a recipe for a punch to make for a shower. I suggested the almond punch as it is so different from the usual lime punch and I put a little spin on this recipe by adding 3 mashed bananas at the time of adding the ginger ale………it is so refreshing and so different.

 

Almond Punch

1 small box lemon Jell-O,
    dissolved in 2 cups boiling water
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
5 cups cool water
1 large can pineapple juice
8 ounces lemon juice
1 ounce almond extract
2 liters ginger ale

Mix Jell-O and sugar, and stir to dissolve. Add cool water, pineapple juice, lemon juice and almond extract. Freeze in gallon zip-type bags.

Thaw for 2-4 hours before serving.

Add 2 liters of ginger ale at serving time.

Salads

Spinach Salad

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OK, an updated version of the ole classic! Took this to a luncheon today and have already had requests for the recipe, so am posting it.

2 sacks of washed and ready to serve spinach

1 bag of roasted sliced almonds

1 cup of dried fruit (cherries, dates, blueberries, cranberries)(not of each, there is a bag that has all of the fruit combined)

1 large can (16 oz) of mandarin oranges, drainned

2 green apples, sliced and chopped

dressing to taste (I used Raspberry-Walnut)

Combine all ingredients when ready to serve and then add dressing. The mixed fruit gave it such a different flavor instead of just the usual cranberries. Lay grilled chicken over the top for a full meal deal.