Lemon Sesame Chicken

This was a fabulous light supper that took no time to throw together... I didn't even forget the sauce this time and it gave it that over the top yumminess! Definitely a redo for the whole family!



Lemon Sesame Chicken
(recipe found at www.bettycrocker.com)

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup fat free egg product or 1 egg
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup bisquick
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil

Sauce:
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
2 medium green onions, sliced

Between pieces of plastic wrap or wax paper; place chicken breast smooth side down and pound with flat mallet until 1/4 inch thick. In small bowl, beat egg product and lemon juice, with fork or wire whisk. Mix together bisquick, paprika and sesame seed in large ziplock. Dip chicken into egg mixture and place in ziplock. Shake until coated. In nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook 6-8 minutes, turning once, until chicken is no longer pink in center. Meanwhile in saucepan, heat all sauce ingredients except green onions over medium heat, stirring occasionally until thickened. Spoon sauce over chicken and sprinkle with green onions.

Chinese Cabbage Salad

I guess this is a popular recipe that I have never had before! :) When I started talking about this fabulous salad that I had everyone knew all about it... So, a quick search of pinterest and this recipe popped right up. It was as fabulous as I had remembered it and super easy to throw together.

Chinese Cabbage Salad
(recipe found on pinterest via jamiecooksitup.net)

2 1/2 pounds napa cabbage
5 green onions
3 packages ramen noodles
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup sesame seeds

Dressing:
3/4 cup peanut oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Cut off end of cabbage and throw away. Thinly slice remaining head of cabbage and place in large bowl. Slice green onions and add to bowl with cabbage. Unwrap ramen noodles and place in ziplock bag. Crush into small pieces with a mallet or rolling pin. Melt butter in skillet and add almonds, sesame seeds and ramen noodles. Cook mixture stirring frequently until noodles are browned. Set aside until cooled. In saucepan, add sugar, peanut oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar. Bring mixture to rolling boil over medium high heat. Allow to boil hard for one minute and then set aside to cool. When ready to serve, add ramen mixture and peanut sauce and gently toss to coat.

Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookie Cake

This was round number 2 of my cake making for my daughter's birthday party. I'm not one to make the same thing twice that often, so when I saw this recipe on pinterest it was yet another one that I wanted to try out! It was definitely worth making and might even be one that someone requests again... It was super yummy - especially the cream cheese filling! Wow! I doubled this to serve at the party and only had about half of the second one left when we were done. That was on top of the 2 lemon pies that we also had! :)



Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookie Cake
(recipe found on pinterest via www.kraftrecipes.com)

1 package devil's food cake mix
4 squares semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup butter
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups thawed whipped topping
12 oreo cookies, coarsely crushed

Heat oven to 350. Prepare cake batter and bake in 2 (9inch) round pans as directed on package. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes. Invert onto wire racks; gently remove pans. Cool cakes completely. Microwave chocolate and butter in small microwaveable bowl on high 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Cool 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gently stir in whipped topping and crushed cookies. Place 1 cake layer on plate, spread with cream cheese mixture. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread top with chocolate glaze; let stand for 10 minutes or until firm. Keep refrigerated.

Polka Dot Cake!

My daughter shares a birthday month with 2 of her cousins... This means that instead of trying to find three separate times that we can drag the entire clan together in one month, we combine the fun! Usually we do a meal, open presents, play some games - fun stuff like that! The cake usually gets delegated to me (meaning that I usually shout out - I'll make the cake, I'll make the cake before anyone says anything about the cake). No one fights me too much on it either - possibly because they are thinking inside "Thank God I don't have to come up with something!" :)

This year I knew just what I wanted to make - this cute polka dot cake that I had seen on pinterest was calling my name! So, I decided to give it a whirl... 3 layers? That should just about be enough for everyone! It turned out so cute! We all oohed and aahed over it! It was fabulous... Too bad we got over a foot of snow that day and the whole family couldn't turn out for the party! :( So, the siblings got together and we postponed the party for a bit until we could get the rest of the family together. Can't let a perfectly good cake go to waste though - don't worry, we played cards, ate up most of the 6 pounds of sloppy joes that my sister in law made and dove into the cake! It was a lot of fun, even if we were missing half the crew!

The original recipe called for using a cake pop mold and preparing the first cake mix using those directions and adding the coloring to that mix. I don't own a cake pop mold, shockingly enough, so I decided to try my luck just using my mini muffin tins. It worked out pretty well - they weren't completely round shaped, but the effect was still there!



Polka Dot Cake
(Recipe found on pinterest via once-upon-a-pedestal.blogspot.com)

3 white cake mixes
food coloring
2 cans of frosting, you can go homemade but I was looking for quick this time
skittles for garnish!

Mix up 1 box of cake mix, according to directions. Divide half of the batter into 6 small bowls and tint with whatever colors you choose. The original recipe calls for this fun neon food coloring but anywhere I could get to only had the "normal" colors. Pour batter into greased mini muffin tins.



Bake only until batter is cooked enough to be removed from the muffin tins. I baked mine for about 12 minutes. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes and then remove to baking rack to cool the rest of the way.

Mix up remaining 2 boxes of cake mix according to directions. Pour enough batter into 3 round cake pans to cover bottom of cake pan. Place cooled colored balls into the bottom of the cake pan and pour remaining cake batter over top to cover.

(This is what it looks like when your 2 year old grabs a stool, carries it over to the cooling rack and grabs a handful of your cooling cake while you are out of the room for a couple of minutes... Guess that will be the middle layer!)


Bake according to package directions or until cake springs back slightly when touched and cake starts to pull away from the sides. Allow to cook completely. Stack, frost and decorate as desired!

Key Lime Enchiladas

This was a fun twist on enchiladas that was different and delicious... I love that adding something as simple as a container of yogurt gave it a new flavor! I'm not a huge fan of corn tortillas so instead of using those I just used four flour tortillas. Enjoy!

Key Lime Enchiladas
(recipe found at www.pillsbury.com)

1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (4.5 ounces) chopped green chilies
2 1/2 cups shredded chicken
1 container (6 ounces) key lime yogurt
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 medium lime
1 can (10 ounces) enchilada sauce
12 corn tortillas
1/2 cup shredded reduced fat mexican cheese blend

Heat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 glass baking dish with cooking spray. In a 10" nonstick skillet, cook onion,k chilies and chicken over medium high heat for about 3 minutes or until chicken is warm and onion is starting to turn translucent. Remove from heat; stir in yogurt, 1/4 cup of cilantro and lime juiced. Stir in 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce. Fill each tortilla with 1/4 cup chicken mixture. Roll up; place seam side down in baking dish. Spread remaining enchilada sauce over tortillas; sprinkle with cheese. Bake about 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Sprinkle remaining cilantro over enchiladas; serve warm.

Cheesy Bacon and Bean Quesadilla

These were a fabulous quick and easy week night meal. I was able to have everything ready before hand and threw it on the skillet and then on to the table in under 10 minutes. I served it up with a salad for a filling supper for my kids and I!

Cheesy Bacon and Bean Quesadilla
(recipe found at www.bettycrocker.com)

8 (8" each) flour tortillas
1 cup refried beans
2 cups shredded mexican cheese blend
1/2 pound bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled
2 scallions, chopped
butter, melted
1 cup sour cream
1 cup salsa

Top half of each tortilla with beans, cheese, bacon and scallions. Fold tortilla over filling; press down to seal. Lightly brush melted butter on both sides of each filled tortilla. Heat 12" nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook 2 filled tortillas at a time, 3-4 minutes, turning once, until golden brown and heat through. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

Pickle Dip

I seem to have a really hard time getting pictures of the food that I take to parties... I think that it is usually because I am trying to do way to many things at one time, right before a party. I mean, get dressed, finish my creation that I am bringing, pick up the babysitter, usually try to get something in the kiddos bellies before I leave and the list goes on and on! :) I definitely need to find a way to be better organized with this part of partying it up, but if all I am missing is a picture of the food that I am bringing - dang it, I'm doing pretty well!

So, I love pickles!! Dill pickle chips? Right up my alley... Dill pickle sunflower seeds? Love 'em! When I found this dip I couldn't wait to try it. It was super yummy, if you like pickles! Easy to throw together, with not a lot of ingredients... it was great!

Pickle Dip
(recipe found on pinterest via homemadebyharper.wordpress.com)

2 (8 ounces) packages cream cheese
16 ounces sour cream
32 ounces jar of jalapeno babies, finely chopped
1/4 to 1/2 cup pickle juice
garlic salt to taste

Mix sour cream and cream cheese together. Add pickles and pickle juice to mixture. Add garlic salt to taste. Enjoy with your favorite potato chips!

Slutty Brownies

These are a little something that caught my eye on pinterest... The name was a little crazy and the recipe - even wilder! :) Pile all that goodness into a treat on a plate? That was definitely right up my alley! Took these to a party that I went to (I couldn't trust myself with them at home) and they went super fast. Definitely one that everyone enjoyed!

Slutty Brownies
(recipe found on pinterest via whatsgabycooking.com)

Brownie Layer:
10 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3/4 up cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
1/2 cup flour

Oreo Layer:
1 package oreos

Cookie Dough Layer
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips

In brownie layer begin with a medium sauce pan, melting butter over medium high heat. Add sugar and cocoa powder once butter is melted. Whisk to combine and remove from heat. Add salt, vanilla and eggs and whisk continuously until the eggs are combined. Add flour and continue to mix until combined. Set batter aside.

In cookie dough layer cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, scraping bowl often. Add flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and mix on low until everything is combined. Fold in chocolate chips and set dough aside.

Preheat oven to 350 and line bottom of a 9x9 pan with tin foil and spray tin foil with baking spray. Begin with cookie dough. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Layer oreos on top of cookie dough in a single layer, pressing into cookie dough as you go. Pour brownie mix over top of oreo layer and spread to evenly top. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Test for doneness with a knife in center of brownies. When knife comes out clean let brownies rest before serving.

Raspberry Peach Smoothie

This was a yummy breakfast treat! The kids have usually eaten by the time I get a chance for my own breakfast, but they had to try a taste of this one when I made it and they thought it was super good too! :)

Raspberry Peach Smoothie
(recipe found on pinterest via www.bluediamond.com)

1 cup almond milk
1 cup frozen, unsweetened peaches, partially thawed
1 packet no calorie sweetener, optional (I used a small amount of sugar)
1 cup frozen, unsweetened raspberries, partially thawed

Blend almond milk, peaches and sweetener until smooth. Pour a little more than half into another container. Blend raspberries with peach smoothie remaining in blender until smooth. Pulse blender and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water, if necessary, to help blend. Pour both flavors into glass at the same time; swirl with a straw. I skipped the swirling step and just added all ingredients into the blender at the same time.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

This was a thick and hearty soup, which is nice on a cold winter day! I paired it with my garlic bread and it made for a perfect supper for us... And it was low calorie, so that was even better!

Chicken Pot Pie Soup
(recipe found on www.skinnytaste.com)

1/4 cup flour
2 cups water
4 cups skim milk
1 large celery stalk, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
8 ounces sliced baby portabella mushrooms
2 chicken boullions
fresh ground pepper
pinch of thyme
10 ounces frozen mixed vegetables
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
16 ounces chicken breast, cubed
salt to taste

Create a slurry combining flour and 1/2 cup cold water. Whisk until well blended and set aside. Pour remaining water and milk into a large pot and slowly bring to a boil. Add celery, onion, mushrooms, boullion, pepper, thyme and frozen vegetables and return to a boil. Partially cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Remove lid and add potatoes. Continue to boil until potatoes are soft, about 5 more minutes. Add chicken and slowly add slurry, stirring well as you add it. Cook another 2-3 minutes or until soup thickens, add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves: 9
Points: 3 per 1 cup

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps

These are so tasty that I have made them a couple of times in the past few weeks. The first time we had them with chicken as the recipe calls for and the next time I used some leftover diced pork that I had. They were fantastic either way and the kids LOVED them... Very easy to throw together and served up with a salad made a fantastic light supper for us.

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps
(recipe found on pinterest via www.melskitchencafe.com)

1 cup cooked rice, warmed or at room temperature
1 cup shredded chicken
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 green or red onion, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 cups shredded cheese
6 flour tortilla shells
sour cream

Mix rice together with chili powder, cumin and garlic salt. Add remaining ingredients to rice mixture, except cheese, tortilla shells and sour cream. Sprinkle cheese over tortilla and arrange chicken and rice mixture in middle of tortilla. Roll stuffed shells, leaving edges open and slightly flatten with hand and spray with cooking spray on both sides. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat for 1 minutes. Place wraps seam side down on griddle and allow to cook 1-2 minutes or until tortillas are browned and crispy. Flip and repeat on remaining side.

Best Ever Brownies and the SRC

Yay! It's Secret Recipe Club time again!! I got assigned the blog teaandscones.wordpress.com and Margaret's blog was very interesting to page through... So many options, with so much variety! Definitely a little something for everyone! :) She is involved in quite a few cooking clubs, which keeps the ideas flowing and makes for something new around every corner...

Once again, as is normal when I get an SRC blog to look through, I found several recipes that I wanted to try... From a couple different types of chicken fingers (my kids would love!) to a fun drink and the brownies that I picked for my post today there were a lot of fun recipes. I'm also going back really soon to try the chocolate blueberry ice cream that she talks about... Um, yum! :)

These brownies were ooey, gooey and delicious... They tasted wonderful paired up with some ice cream! We had them as an afternoon treat this weekend with the kids and they devoured their pieces as well... These are a bit more time consuming then my normal brownie mix, but definitely worth the time! :) Thanks for the fabulous recipe Margaret!

Best Ever Brownies
(recipe found at teaandscones.wordpress.com)

1 1/4 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares, coarsely chopped
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate squares, coarsely chopped (I ended up using semisweet)
2 cups sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour and salt together and set aside. In a saucepan melt together butter and chocolates. Add 1 cup sugar to melted mixture and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add vanilla. At this point she said to pour it into a large bowl. I just left it in the saucepan, off of the heat, and mixed it all up in there... Seemed to work for me and less pans! :) Pour remaining 1 cup sugar into bowl of a mixer and add eggs. Hand whisk just until combined. Pour half of sugar mixture into chocolate mixture, slowly and stirring constantly to avoid eggs setting from the heat. Using mixer with whisk attachment, whisk eggs until doubled in size and pale, about 3 minutes. Slowly stir into chocolate mixer. When eggs are just about incorporated, add flour mixture and fold in until all ingredients are combined. Pour mixture into 9" square baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is dark and cracked and the inside is barely set and gooey. Cool on rack.