Cheesy Chicken & Salsa Skillet

In honor of it being more than a year since any of us last posted, I thought I'd do a post. Also because I just got all my recipes typed up and saved onto my computer. And that makes it a whole lot easier to make a recipe blog. :) It has been forever since I even thought about making a post on here though. Does anyone even look at this blog anymore, I wonder? Ok, here ya go -- it is a recipe I got from my Kraft Foods magazine and it's actually so good. We love it. Fast, simple & still tasty. Hope you enjoy it.

CHEESY CHICKEN & SALSA SKILLET
Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 30 minutes

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
2 c. multigrain penne pasta, uncooked
1 1/4c. thick & chunky salsa
1 lg. green pepper, cut into short, thin strips
1 c. frozen corn, thawed
1 c. shredded cheese of choice

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir 2 minutes. Stir in salsa, corn and peppers. Bring to boil. Simmer on medium-low heat 10minutes or until chicken is cooked through, stirring occasionally.
Drain pasta. Add to chicken mixture; mix lightly. Sprinkle with cheese. Remove from heat; cover. Let stand 1 minute or until cheese has melted.

* Can garnish each serving with 1 T. chopped cilantro or 1 chopped green onion.

15 Minute Nacho Supreme

I LOVE this chip topping (you can top like nachos or just dip and eat). At college my husband's (then boyfriend/fiance) roommates used to always ask me to make this stuff. Or if they knew I had made some recently, they'd come over to my apartment for lunch and eat my leftovers of it. This stuff is awesome as a left over -- still moist and yummy! And it's way easy and fast (hence, the literal "15 Minutes" in the title). It's an appetizer, but often we just have it as our entire meal because we like eating a LOT of it! :) You should all definitely try it.

15 Minute Nacho Supreme

1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 can tomato soup
1 1/2 c. water
1 1/2 c. uncooked Minute rice

Cook beef, add taco seasoning. Pour off fat. Add soup, water, and rice. Heat to boiling. Cover and cook on low heat for 5 minutes or until done. Serve with tortilla chips and cheese. Can also serve with salsa if desired.

Hope you all enjoy it!

Mandarin Orange Salad

I found this recipe on the Internet today and I must say, I was pretty pleased with the results. I varied a few things from the original recipe, but here it is:

INGREDIENTS

1/2 c vegetable oil (Next time I'll try 1/4 c instead...that is what some of the reviewers recommended)

1/4 c cider vinegar (I just used plain white vinegar since that is what I had)

1/4 c white sugar

2 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp salt

1 pinch ground black pepper

1/2 c sliced almonds

1/4 c white sugar

1 head red leaf lettuce - rinsed, dried, and torn (I just used various salad greens that I had on hand...I think any will work.)

1 red onion, chopped (I used a white onion instead, since that is what I had. I soaked it in water first and then drained the water. That way the onion flavor wasn't as overpowering)

1 c chopped celery (I didn't have any on hand, so I left this out)

2 (11 oz) cans mandarin orange segments, drained

DIRECTIONS

1. In a container with a tight fitting lid, combine the oil, vinegar, sugar, parsley, salt, and pepper. Cover and shake well. Refrigerate until use.

2. In a medium saucepan over medium low heat, cook and stir the almonds and sugar until the sugar is melted and the almonds are coated. Remove from heat, cool, and break apart. Store at room temperature until ready to serve salad. (One of the reviewers suggested put 1-2 tsp of the juice from the oranges in when you cook the almonds . It seemed to work really well.)

3. In a large bowl, toss together the lettuce, celery, oranges, onion, almonds, and dressing until evenly coated.

By the way, I HIGHLY recommend checking out allrecipes.com The recipes are rated by users and everything I have tried I have been very pleased with.

CHICKEN PILLOWS

So I failed in my goal to post one recipe a month. Whoops. I'll have to try harder for next month. But here's October's recipe.

CHICKEN PILLOWS

4 chicken breast cooked and shredded by hand
1 (8oz) container of chive and onion cream cheese
2 containers of crescent rolls
Bread crumbs (seasoned or unseasoned)
1 Cup butter or margarine

Combine chicken, cream cheese, 1/2 cup of butter and mix together very well. Lay out crescent rolls, with two triangles together to make a rectangle shape. Cut this in half to make two smaller pillows or leave them together to make one very large pillow. Scoop desired amount of chicken mixture on dough. Fold together edges neatly as possible and roll in 1/2 cup of melted butter or brush butter on with a pastry brush, then roll in bread crumbs. Place on cookie sheet and cook according to directions on crescent roll package or until golden brown around the edges (usually the larger pillows take longer than the package indicates).

GRAVY:
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 c. of chicken broth
1 beef or chicken bullion cube

Whisk together all ingredients in a saucepan on the stove. Warm until desired temp. Pour over top of chicken pillows, eat and enjoy! Makes 8 large or 16 small pillows.

Low-fat alternative: leave out butter entirely. Use low fat cream cheese and low fat crescent rolls.

(Just a note: In our family it's me, my hubby & my 2 year old, so this recipe made a LOT. We ate the left over pillows for a the next couple of days for lunches. And they were fine as leftovers, but would be better to just use half the chicken/cream cheese mixture and half the crescent roll package the first night and then another night use the rest of it and make the dinner again.)

Upside Down Pizza

I haven't posted any recipes for SO long (of course, no one really has, right? haha! Until today, that is...) so I've decided that I'm going to make it a goal to post at least 1 recipe every month. We'll see how that goal goes, but hopefully I'll remember and make the time to do it. And hopefully, more of you will start posting some more because I am in desperate need of some new and yummy recipes!! :) Tonight I'm going to a Relief Society cooking class for quick meal ideas, so hopefully I'll find some stuff to bring back to you guys. Anyway, on to my recipe for today...

UPSIDE DOWN PIZZA

3/4 lb. ground beef
3/4 lb. ground sausage
1 c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp oregano
dash salt
1/2 c. water
15 oz. can tomato sauce
6-8 oz. mozzarella or monterey jack cheese, shredded

Brown hamburger and sausage, drain. Stir in onion, garlic, oregano, salt, water & tomato sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.

In a bowl combine to make a batter:
1 c. milk
2 T. oil
2 eggs -- beat 1 min. at medium speed. Add: 1 c. flour & 1/2 tsp salt. Pour meat into an ungreased 9x13 pan. Top with cheese. Pour batter over cheese to cover.

Note: Can also add olives, mushrooms, etc. to meat.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!!!

Little piece of Heaven on Earth.

Honey bun cake.

My friend Diane makes it.

So does Arrin's mom, Ms. Margaret.

I woke up at 3:30 am this morning with Honey Bun cake on the brain.

Here is a temporary recipe until I can get Diane's or Ms. Margaret's.

YUM-O!

Pancuchen (German version of crepes)

Pronounced "pan-coo-kin" (German pancakes)

My sister made these for me while she was visisting and they are very quick and tasty! As you can see, the measurements are somewhat open to interpretation, but that is how she makes it!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs per person

Per egg:

• 2 heaping TBSP flour
• 2 heaping TBSP sugar (my sister says sometimes she puts in extra - like one extra scoup for each 4 put in)
• Vanilla to make it smell good
• A couple of dashes of salt

Stir all ingredients together and then mix in milk until the batter is the consistency of think cream. Cook over medium heat (my sister just uses a regular frying pan). Turn over as soon as the edges start looking firm and are still a little bubbly.

Top with your choice of applesauce, strawberries, bananas, jam, whip cream, powdered sugar, peanut butter, nuttela, or anything you want!

I really liked these with bannanas, strawberries, and some powdered sugar. They even taste good just by themselves!