German Pancakes

This is a dish that Scott had growing up and I had never heard of until we were married. It's easy and really good. It works for breakfast or dinner and Scott and I can eat a whole pan in one sitting. It is just that good. Also it goes great along with some buttermilk syrup, found here.

German Pancakes
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 TBS butter or margarine

Heat oven to 400 and place butter in 9x13 pan. Put pan in the oven and let the butter melt. Once melted take out of the oven and tilt pan to coat the entire bottom of the pan with the melted butter. Mix eggs, flour, milk, and salt in a bowl with an electric mixer or mix ingredients in a blender until smooth. Place egg mixture in pan over melted butter and cook for 20 minutes. It will come out nice and puffed up but will relax within a couple minutes.

Zesty Shredded Chicken

This is a copy-cat recipe I found for Cafe Rio shredded chicken. Honestly I have never had Cafe Rio shredded chicken (because if you don't get the sweet pork you are crazy), so I can't say it's comparable but I really like it, and it's so easy. We will make burritos, soft tacos or quesadillas with the meat.

Zesty Shredded Chicken
3 chicken breasts
4 oz. zesty Italian dressing
1/2 TBS minced garlic
1 pkg. ranch dressing
1/2 cup water
1/2 TBS chili powder
1/2 TBS cumin

Place all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8 hours. Shred chicken and let simmer in juice another 30 minutes. Makes 8-10 servings. 3 WW SP/8 servings

A Favorite Meal

This is not really a recipe but an idea. We love grilled chicken and in the form of chicken tenders is the best. They are a lot healthier than legs, thighs and wings and if you marinate them right, they are oh so good. And they take less time to cook than a chicken breast.  We love the Lawry's Balsamic Herb marinade. We have tried all flavors and that is our favorite, with sun dried tomato being a close runner-up. We will usually marinate the chicken all day.

One of our favorite meals is grilled chicken tenders, some pasta-roni and grilled asparagus , It is simple and so good. We usually have this a couple times a month.

Ranch Chicken

Well, it's getting hot here in Arizona and I'm trying really hard not to use my oven anymore. Although it's hot outside, I still like a nice warm meal once in a while. This is one of our favorites.

Ranch Chicken
5-6 chicken breasts
3 cans cream of chicken soup
4 T melted butter
2 packets dry ranch mix

Spray slow cooker and place chicken inside. In small bowl combine soup, butter and ranch. Mix up and place over chicken. Cook on high for 7-8 hours. Serve with mashed potatoes, or in our home, we do garlic smashed potatoes with red potatoes. So yummy!

Chicken tater tot casserole

This is an easy, tasty recipe given to me by my sister-in-law. It makes a lot and it's great as leftovers.

Ingredients:
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. salt
32 oz. package of frozen tater tots
16 oz. package of frozen mixed vegetables
1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine soups, water and salt, mix well. In a greased 9x13 pan, layer a third of the soup mixture, half of the tater tots, half the veggies and half of the chicken. Repeat layers. Top with remaining soup mixture and sprinkle with cheese.

Cover with foil and bake 60-70 minutes. Uncover and bake 5-10 minutes until golden brown.

Chicken Pot Pie

This is one of our favorite meals. We started a tradition that the Saturday before Thanksgiving we invite close friends over for "Pie Night" which is a chance to enjoy the best part of Thanksgiving before the actual day. We eat pie and well... pie. We invite a small group to dinner before the grand event and we service this very chicken pot pie. Then everyone else comes and we eat lots of different dessert pies. Seriously it's the best.

So here is the recipe that we use. I got it from my cousin Trish, but I tweaked it a tiny bit to suit us.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast cooked and shredded
2 carrots, sliced
3 ribs of celery, sliced
1 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp celery seed
Thyme
1/3 cup butter
1 3/4 cup chicken broth (1 can)
1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup milk
2- 9 inch unbaked pie crusts

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Melt butter in a large saucepan and saute celery, carrots, onions and green peas until the veggies are soft and the onion is translucent. Add flour to coat vegetables. Add broth and milk a little at a time. Add salt, pepper, celery seed and thyme. Stir and simmer over low heat until thickened. 

 In a deep dish pie pan, lay out one pie crust, add chicken.

Pour the mixture over chicken.

 Place second pie crust over the pie and seal. Cut slits in the crust to vent.

 Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden. Mine got a little done but it still tasted amazing!

If you don't want to burn your mouth, be sure to let it cool for a few minutes. :)

Sticky chinese chicken

I'm a blogging failure. But I have a good excuse. First trimester= no cooking and very little eating. I'm feeling much better and am so glad to be eating homeade food again. Here is a recipe I found here. I made this 2 weeks in a row, which is big deal at our house. We usually don't eat the same meal twice in the same month, but this was that good, and that easy!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pound frozen popcorn chicken
6 TBS honey
4 TBS ketchup
4 TBS sugar
2 TBS white vinegar
2 TBS soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Sesame seeds 

Cook the popcorcon chicken according to directions. Combine honey, ketchup, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, salt and pepper in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Stir and let simmer until sauce thickens. Coat chicken with sauce and serve over white rice. You can add some sesame seeds to the sauce or sprinkle afterwards. It's even good without the sesame seeds. And it's just as good as leftovers. 

Teriyaki Chicken

This recipe is AWE-some and super easy. I love slow cooker meals, I mean seriously, you put food in and you get to let it do it's thang and then eat it. Seriously so good. BTW, I got this recipe from THIS cooking website which is one of my favorites to get recipes from, she's knows her stuff.

Teriyaki Chicken
5 chicken breasts
1 and 1/2 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp granulated garlic (I use garlic powder)
1 tsp sesame oil (totally worth buying, found by the Asian section in the store)
3 TBS cornstarch + 4 TBS cold water

Spray the inside of your slow cooker and place the chicken in it. Combine water, brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic powder and sesame oil, stir, and pour over the chicken. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7 hours. When the chicken is cooked through, remove and break into smaller chunks. I don't completely shred the chicken. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and cold water, stir until dissolved and pour into liquid in the slow cooker and stir together. Return the chicken to the slow cooker and mix with the sauce. Allow to cook for another 30-60 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Serve over rice with some roasted veggies on the side. 7 servings= 10 WW SP

Hawaiian Haystacks

A great meal to make when you're in a hurry. I always have the ingredients on hand just in case I don't have a dinner plan. It's cheap and tasty.

Hawaiian Haystacks
4-5 cups cooked rice
2 cans cream of chicken soup + 3/4 can water

Possible Toppings
Shredded cheddar cheese
Green onions
Sliced olives
Pineapple chunks
Sliced almonds
Crunchy chow mein noodles

Mix soup and water and warm over low heat. Add spices for flavor. We add celery seed, savory, marjoram, garlic salt, onion salt, dill weed, & rosemary. Layer rice, sauce and toppings of your choice and chow down.

Chicken and Spinach Pasta Bake

This is one of our favorite recipes. The only downside is that it takes quite a while to prepare. But it's totally worth it, and to be honest, it's even better as a leftover.

Chicken and Spinach Pasta Bake
8 oz. uncooked rigatoni
1 TBS olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 (10 oz) pack frozen spinach, thawed
3 cups cubed, cooked chicken breasts
1 (14 oz) can Italian style diced tomatoes, drained
(I usually add half a can diced tomatoes as well and use the other half in spaghetti sauce later in the week. One can of tomatoes just doesn't seem enough)
1 (8 oz) container Philadelphia chive and onion cream cheese (softened)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Prepare rigatoni according to package directions. Saute onions in olive oil until tender. Drain chopped spinach well, pressing between paper towels. Stir rigatoni, spinach, chicken and next 4 ingredients together with onions. Spoon mixture into dish and sprinkle evenly with shredded cheese. Bake covered at 375 for 30 minutes, uncover and bake 15 more minutes or until bubbly.

Zucchini Casserole

I got this recipe from a girl that I used to work with. It frequents our table when people keep giving us their overabundance of zucchini from their garden. But it's so good that I've bought zucchini from the grocery store to make it. Super easy and seriously delish!

Zucchini Casserole
2 lbs. zucchini (I've used yellow squash too)
1 chicken breast cooked and shredded
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded carrots
1 pkg seasoned stuffing mix
1/2 cup butter
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Slice zucchini and cook in boiling, slightly salted water for about three minutes. Drain and put in mixing bowl. Mix cream of chicken soup and sour cream. Add zucchini along with onion, carrots and chicken. In separate bowl mix stuffing mix and melted butter. Spread half of the stuffing mix in the bottom of the baking dish. Add zucchini mixture then top with remaining stuffing mix. Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake an additional 5 minutes. 8 servings= 14.5 WW SP

Enjoy with a side of rice pilaf and a veggie (we prefer asparagus).