Deconstructed Chicken Cordon Bleu

Wow, this was a fabulous meal!! The whole family enjoyed this meal... My only complaint was that it was a little hard to cut up because of the ham slices, but I think that next time I will use chunks of ham instead or cut up the ham and sprinkle it over top. This would make it WAY easier for me when I am cutting up 4 plates!!



Deconstructed Chicken Cordon Bleu
(recipe found at Nourishing Hearts)

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
8 slices swiss cheese
6 ham slices
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 cup milk
2-3 cups pepperidge farm herb seasoned stuffing mix
1/3-1/2 cup melted butter

Place chicken on bottom of baking pan, sprayed with cooking spray. Top with ham and swiss cheese. Mix soup with milk and pour over layers. In a separate bowl, mix melted butter with stuffing crumbs and spread over casserole. Cover with aluminum foil. Freeze.

To prepare: allow to thaw completely. Bake for 50 minutes at 350 or until hot and bubbly all the way through. I left foil on for most of the baking time.

Crock Pot Roast

Tried yet another way to make my roast in the crock pot. A little more detailed then my normal way, but pretty tasty all the same! :) Now if I could just get Beau to eat the potatoes when I make roast supper would be less full of fights!

Crock Pot Roast
(recipe found in A.C.C.C)

1 roast
3 potatoes
4 carrots
1 onion
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 package dry onion soup mix
pepper to taste

Place roast in crock pot. Cut up potatoes, carrots and onion; place on and around roast. In a separate bowl, mix water, ketchup, worcestershire sauce, garlic salt and onion soup mix. Pour over roast. Cook on high 8 hours or low for 16 hours.

Guacamole

Secret Recipe Club time again!! I love the opportunity to check out and talk about new blogs that I have not had the chance to browse before. Once again I found a blog that had so many wonderful recipes that it was hard to choose just one... So, of course I didn't!!

Living in Arizona for a few years turned me into a guacamole fan... It isn't really something that I had ever tried while living in Minnesota and I'm still not completely sold on avocados, but I'm still up for eating them in recipes! I knew guacamole was something that was pretty easy to make but have never taken the time to try it on my own. After looking through the recipes on Katie's blog, I knew that this was the time to try it out. I am so glad that I did - it was as simple as I heard it would be and even more delicious then any guacamole that I have tried from a jar!! This is definitely on the list of things that I will make again...

If you are looking for a great site with healthy recipes, ideas for snacks and much more - http://www.thischickcooks.blogspot.com/ is the place to head to. I got lost in Katie's blog, veering from one place to another - there are so many options to check out!! I have already tried out her peanut butter banana smoothies and her pumpkin pie smoothie - watch for those to come up on my blog soon! :) If you can't wait, just click on the names and you will find the recipes!! The kids definitely liked taste testing those...



Guacamole
(recipe found at http://www.thischickcooks.blogspot.com/)

2 avocados
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 ripe tomato, diced
1 fresh lime, juiced (or about 1-2 tablespoons lime juice)
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1-2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
salt and pepper as desired

Mash avocado with a fork until it reaches a thick, pasty texture with chunks. Stir in remaining ingredients and serve immediately. If making ahead of time, wait and add tomatoes right before serving.

Saucy Chops

Chocolate and pork chops?? Yes, please!! This had the makings of a fancy meal that I could throw together pretty quickly... LOVE IT!! The kids also ate it up, so that is a true bonus. What a great savory meal any day of the week!



Saucy Chops
(recipe found in Taste of Home Healthy Cooking)

4 bone in pork loin chops
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
3/4 cup strong brewed coffee
2 tablespoons steak sauce
1 tablespoon molasses
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 ounce semisweet chocolate, chopped

Sprinkle pork shops with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, cook chops in oil over medium heat for 4-6 minutes on each side or until a thermometer reads 160. Remove and keep warm. Add the coffee, steak sauce, molasses, garlic powder and thyme to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook until liquid is reduced by half. Whisk in chocolate until melted. Return pork chops to pan; heat through.

Serves: 4
Points: 7 points per chop

Baked Tilapia

It makes me so happy that my kids are so willing to try all the things that we make and it makes me even happier that they actually like "different" things that kids might not usually eat... The other night I made fish and they were actually annoyed with me that there wasn't enough from them to have more! I was just excited that they liked it let alone wanted seconds! :)

Baked Tilapia
(recipe found in Taste of Home Healthy Cooking)

4 (5 ounces each) tilapia fillets
3/4 cup soft bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano

In a shallow bowl, combine ingredients. Coat tilapia in crumb mixture. Place on a greased baking sheet. (I used parchment paper.) Bake at 425 for 8-12 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Serves: 4
Points: 3 per fillet

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Recently I discovered that my hubby's favorite kind of soup is chicken wild rice... How did I miss out on that one? He isn't really a soup kind of guy but when he was talking about it I did realize that he does order chicken wild rice if he has soup at all. So, to make up for this total lack of knowing that he loved chicken wild rice, I decided that I needed to make it for him... Here is the version that I tried - he said that it tasted pretty good! :)

Chicken Wild Rice Soup
(recipe found in A.C.C.C.)

1 (4.3 ounces) package long grain and wild rice mix (I used Rice-A-Roni)
1 envelope chicken noodle soup mix
1 celery rib, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 (10 3/4 ounces) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup cubed cooked chicken

In a large saucepan, combine water, rice with contents of seasoning packet and soup mix. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in celery, carrot and onion. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in chicken soup and chicken. Cook 8 minutes longer, or until the rice and vegetables are tender.

Serves: 5

Chocolate Cobbler

We had friends over for games the other night and I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to try out this new recipe that I had found. This cobbler was a little taste of heaven and the hubs and I enjoyed the little bit that was left over the very next day... We didn't even share with the kids! :) Well, I did double the recipe the night before so they got to try some when it was fresh out of the oven, come on I'm not that mean! :)

Chocolate Cobbler
(recipe found at www.becomingbetty.blogspot.com)

1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cocoa + 4 tablespoons cocoa
3/4 cup sugar + 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup melted butter
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, 3 tablespoons cocoa and 3/4 cup sugar until combined. Add milk, butter and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Pour into an ungreased 8x8 baking dish. In a separate bowl, mix together remaining 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar and remaining 4 tablespoons cocoa. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter. Top with 1 1/2 cups hot tap water and DO NOT STIR. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Cobbler will be done on top and wobbly underneath... Serve warm over ice cream.