Chicken Enchiladas

Taco Tuesday getting dull? Spice things up with these super simple Enchiladas.

What You Need: 2 large chicken breasts diced and cooked,
1 cup shredded Mexican Blend Cheese,
1 cup picante sauce,
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
10 flour tortillas
1 small tomato, chopped
1 green onion, chopped



What To Do: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and picante sauce. Divide the mixture, combining 1 cup with the chicken and most of the cheese, saving some to sprinkle on top. Warm a tortilla, and fill with chicken mixture. Roll and place flap-down in a baking dish. Do the same for the remaining tortillas. (Don't be shy, let those enchiladas get cozy!) Pour the remaining Soup/Picante mix on top of all the enchiladas. Cover and bake for 35 minutes- sprinkle remaining cheese and onions. return to oven for 5-10 more minutes until dish is bubbling and cheese has melted. Top with tomatoes and serve.

Shrimp Alfredo

What You Need:
2 tablespoons butter/margarine
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 cups heavy cream
3/4 cups of grated Parmesan cheese
Shrimp peeled & deveined
Pasta of your choice

What To Do:
Melt the butter in a large pan on medium high heat. Sweat (gently cook) the garlic for a minute. You want to smell garlic but you don't want it to turn brown, or burn. Stir in heavy cream and 1/4 cups of parmesan cheese. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Let simmer and stir frequently.

Meanwhile, cook pasta and drain.


Add shrimp and the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese to the sauce and stir. Let simmer until shrimp is fully cooked about 5 minutes.

Toss with pasta and serve.



VARIATIONS: Feel free to pre cook the shrimp and flavor with your favorite seasonings. In the picture, the shrimp was sauteed in a pan with butter, 1 tsp Sazon seasoning, 1 tsp rosemary, 1 tsp minced garlic and 1 tsp sugar.

Foil Wrapped Pineapple Chicken

This quick lunch or dinner is great for parties and bar-b-ques  or anything else where time is not on your side. Plus kids will love the individual pouches.  Easy to make fun for kids!

It's also another way to utilize the Hoisin sauce from the Chinese Chicken recipe.

What You Need:
Chicken Breast cut into chunks
Pineapple chunks
Minced garlic 1 tsp
Soy Sauce 2 tbsp
Hoisin Sauce 4 tbsp
Onion Powder
Ground Ginger
Black Pepper
Chives 1/2 tsp
Corn Starch 1 tsp
Honey
aluminum foil

What To Do: In a bowl mix Soy Sauce, Hoisin Sauce, minced garlic, cornstarch and chives. Sprinkle Onion powder, ginger, pepper, and a few squirts of honey into the mix. Mix well. Add chicken and pineapple chunks. Mix well and let marinate in the refrigerator at least 20 minutes -(the longer the better) Cut aluminum foil into squares so that when a pouch is formed it will sit in your palm.

Spoon chicken mixture into the center of the foil square and join the edges to make a pouch. Make sure to get some sauce in there, this will help keep chicken moist.

Place the pouches in a pan and cook for 40 mins in a 350 degree over.  Or Place them on a hot grill for 30 minutes.  Try not to over cook or the chicken will dry out.


Let cool and serve.

15 Minute Shrimp Scampi

Fifteen Minutes and 8 simple ingredients and have a delicious dinner!

What You Need:
Shrimp (peeled and deveined)
Chopped Broccoli
Instant Rice
2 Tbsp chopped garlic
Tbsp parsley
5 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup of Stock (seafood, chicken, or vegetable)
oil

What To Do:
Saute shrimp in oil in a large skillet until pink. Remove shrimp from pan, reduce heat and add the garlic to pan.           While garlic is sauteing, cook instant rice according to directions.  Add stock to pan and allow to reduce by almost half. Melt the butter into the sauce and replace shrimp into pan. Rinse broccoli and add to pan while still damp. Sprinkle parsley and stir well.  Cover and heat through.

Serve over rice.

Variations: Use 1/4 cup white wine and 1/4 stock for a more "grown up" taste. Or toss with Angel hair pasta instead of rice.

Rocket-ship Fruit Skewers

A summery fun way to get kids to eat (and play with) their fruit!

What You Need: Fruit any kind: Strawberries, Bananas, Watermelons, Cantaloupe, Honeydew, Peaches, Plums, Cherries, Pineapples.... really any kind; Skewers or Chopsticks if you have small children

What To Do: layout the fruit and let the children build a rocket ship, using a Banana or Strawberry tip as the nose of the rocket. 

Then Eat!

Stuffed Peppers

A yummy dish that uses few ingredients and doesn't take too much time to create. And who doesn't love a dish where you can eat the bowl too!

What You Need:
Green Peppers
ground meat
white rice
mozzarella cheese
spaghetti sauce
garlic, thyme, basil, rosemary


What To Do: Cut tops off peppers and remove all seeds. Arrange peppers in a baking dish. and set aside. Cook white rice according to directions. In a bowl sprinkle ground meat with a tsp. each of garlic, thyme, basil, & rosemary and mix well. In a skillet cook meat through until brown. Once cooked put on paper towel to drain. Combine meat and rice in a large sauce pan and mix well add spaghetti sauce a little at a time until consistency meets your taste.  Fill peppers with the meat/rice filling and top with cheese.  Place in oven and bake until cheese melts.

Chunky Chinese Chicken

This is a recipe that my Dad has been making for years and years. I loved it as a kid and now my kid loves it! It's really easy and only needs a few ingredients.

What You Need:

4 Chicken breast or boneless thighs- cut into large chunks

eggs - beaten

flour

Hoisin sauce

three tsp (or packets) of soy sauce

powdered sugar

oil

What To Do:

Bread the chicken by dipping in the egg and then dredging in the flour. In a large saute pan heat the oil and then cook the chicken until golden brown and cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and let drain. when the oil has cooled a bit you want to discard it and wipe the pan quickly with a paper towel. Over a low heat, add the soy sauce to the pan. Then add one heaping tablespoon of Hoisin Sauce and stir. Once combined, add a tablespoon of powdered sugar and mix well. Add the chicken back into the pan and stir until well coated. It won't look like enough sauce but keep mixing.

Serve with white rice and vegetables - broccoli, carrots or snow-pea pods work best.

Note: Hoisin sauce can be found near the Soy Sauce in most Supermarkets. And you can easily adjust the amount of each ingredient to suit your families taste!

Virtual Vacation: Destination Australia - Recipes

• Breakfast - Toads in the Hole
• 
  
• What You Need:
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Thick beef or pork sausages
• 3/4 cup Plain Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon rosemary

What to Do:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook sausages by roasting or sauteing until cook through and golden brown. Sift flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the middle. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, milk and rosemary together. Add to flour mixture and mix until batter is smooth. Place the sausages in roasting pan and carefully pour batter over them. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until puffed up and golden.
• 
  

For a more kid-friendly version use two tablespoons of mashed plums instead of or in combination with the rosemary.

Lunch- Zuchinni Fritata

What You Need:

• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 green onion- chopped
• bacon
• 1 small zucchini - sliced thinly
• 2 tablespoons self-raising flour
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Salt and black pepper
• 1/3 cup grated cheese
• 8 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 
  

What To Do:

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a baking pan with non-stick spray. Place the eggs in a large bowl and add the green onion, bacon strips, zucchini slices, flour, milk, salt, pepper and half the cheese. Stir well.Pour into the baking pan. Arrange tomato halves on top and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until set and golden brown on top. Enjoy hot or cold.

Dinner - Lamb Chops with Mash Potatoes & peas

What You Need:

1- rack of lamb

thyme

rosemary

garlic

olive oil

potatoes

peas

butter

milk

What To Do:

Cut the rack into lamb chops. Mix thyme, rosemary, and garlic in a few tablespoons of oil, rub over lamb and let marinate for at least fifteen minutes. Grill the chops or sauté them in a pan with a tablespoon of oil.

cut the potatoes in to chunks. boil potatoes and peas in a pot of water until the potatoes are soft. Drain, then add a splash of milk and a tablespoon of butter mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drink - Cranberry Crush

What You Need:

Cranberry Juice

Lemonade

your favorite berries (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry,etc.)

Ice

What To Do:

Blend ingredients together and serve.

Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings

The ultimate comfort food! Chicken & Dumplings that is so simple and so easy but so rich and flavorful it'll taste like you slaved away all day, when all you did was drop some ingredients in the Slow Cooker!

What You Need: Chicken Thighs & Legs, 1 tube of biscuits, frozen carrots, 3 cups chicken stock, thyme, sage, paprika

What to Do: Place chicken in the slow cooker and sprinkle liberally with sage, paprika and thyme, add carrots and chicken stock. Cook on high, stirring occasionally until the chicken is fall off the bone tender. Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred. Replace shredded chicken without bones into the slow cooker. Pull apart biscuits and drop pieces into the slow cooker. Stir gently and let cook for 30 minutes. Stir again and continue to cook if the dumplings aren't cooked through.

Coconut Shrimp

This recipe combines two of my toddlers favorite things, shrimp and food he can eat with his hands! This coconut shrimp is a great kid-friendly dinner and a jaw-dropping appetizer when guest come over. It's quick, easy, and delicious!

What You Need: Shrimp -thawed, shelled & de-veined, flour, flaked coconut, eggs, breadcrumbs, oil for frying.

What To Do: Set up an assembly line with three small bowls. In the first bowl put some flour, in the second two lightly beaten eggs, and in the last combine the coconut and some unseasoned bread crumbs. Going down the assembly line, dredge shrimp in flour, then dip in the eggs and cover with the coconut mixture. Once all the shrimp are done, heat the oil in a frying pan. Add shrimp to pan and cook until golden brown on all sides. It only takes a minute so be mindful.

Serve with an Orange Marmalade as a dipping sauce and enjoy!

Stuffed Bread

I learned this recipe a few summers ago from my friend Dorothy. It's is so easy but seems so complicated. Its a one dish dinner with endless variations!

What You Need: cooked Chicken strips (they sell precooked strips or you can grill a chicken breast and slice it), your favorite shredded cheeses, chopped broccoli and carrots, a tube of crescent rolls or croissants

What to Do: Preheat oven to 350. Roll out the crescent roll dough on to a cookie sheet and press the dough to get rid of the perforations. In a bowl mix the chicken, cheese, broccoli and carrots. Place the mixture on top of the dough and then pull the ends of the dough to meet. press firmly so that it will bake closed.

Bake until the dough is golden brown.

Slice and serve.

Variations: You can stuff your bread with whatever you'd like, the trick is to make sure the meat is cooked before placing it in the dough. Try:

-spaghetti sauce, mozzarella cheese and meatballs.

-strips of steak, mushrooms and onions.

-shrimp and squash seasoned with sage.

This is also a great way to convert leftovers into a new dish. Use leftover roast chicken instead of grilled chicken breast, or chop up leftover meatloaf and mix with softened potatoes and onions and gravy.

Virtual Vacations: Destination Spain - Recipes

Traditionally in Spain lunch is the biggest meal of the day. Many people get off of work and school to go home to have lunch with their families (and to have a Siesta!). But for the purposes of your Virtual Vacation you can stick to a traditional meal schedule and just substitute in these foods. Here are a Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert/Snack, and a drink from Spain!

Breakfast: Traditional Spanish Omelette.

What You Need: (per person) 1 small potato, 2 eggs, olive oil

What to Do: Cut the potato into slices and saute them in a shallow pan until golden brown. Remove form the pan and set aside to drain. Beat the eggs well and then add the potatoes. Add a few more drops of oil into the pan and then slowly pour in the potato and egg mixture while gently shaking the pan to prevent sticking. Once the eggs are cooked, slowly slide the omelet onto a plate and replace in pan to cook on the other side. Once both sides are done, remove from pan cut and eat.

For a variation, you can add just about anything else to this dish: onions, spinach, ham, mushrooms, cheese... it's up to you.

Lunch: Shrimp Fritters (Tortillitas de Camarones)

What You Need:
1/2 pound of shrimp,
1 1/2 cups of flour,
1 tbsp parsley
2 finely chopped scallions
1 tsp Paprika
olive oil of frying.

What to Do:
Cook shrimp in a few cups of water, once water is boiling, remove shrimp and let cool. Reserve 1 cup of the water and discard the rest.

Mix the rest of the ingredients then slowly add in the cup of water until you have batter that is somewhere between thick pancake batter and pudding. Refrigerate for an hour.

Finely chop the shrimp and add tot he batter mixing well. Heat the oil in a frying pan. When oil is hot drop in (a spoonful at a time) the batter, flattening each round with the back of the spoon. Turn once and cook til golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towel.

Dinner: Chicken Paella

The Arroz Con Pollo recipe is a great one to use for dinner, as Paella is the ultimate Spanish dish and it may be a little difficult to get you little one to eat the squid, mussels and clams in it. Chicken Paella is the same as Arroz con Pollo, so this may be the night to try it out.

Drink: Non-Alcoholic Sangria

In a large pitcher mix 4 cups Cranberry-Grape Juice with 1 cup of Orange Juice and 1/4 cup of Lemon Juice. Drop in a few slices of orange and some chopped up apple. Chill and serve. You can add a splash of lemon-lime soda for some extra pizazz!

Pepper Steak

A quick meal for any night of the week that's not chicken.... and minimal dishes!

1 - steak cut into strips
2- bell peppers cut into strips
1- medium onion cut into strips
1/2 can of beef broth
2 tbsps of soy sauce
1 tbsp of cornstarch
garlic powder
ginger-optional


Sprinkle steak strips with garlic powder, cornstarch and ginger and cook in a skillet over medium heat until brown. Add the peppers and onions and cook a few minutes more. Stir in beef broth, and soy sauce. Mix and let cook until sauce thickens.

Serve over white rice.

Date Night? Add a splash of cooking Sherry.

Enjoy!

Arroz Con Pollo in the Slow Cooker

This is a super simple, super quick way to make this classic Latin dish. Flavorful, delicious and kid-friendly.


one chicken thigh per person
1 small onion
2 bell peppers (green & red)
1 packet of Spanish Style yellow rice
1 packet of Sazon seasoning
1 spoonful chopped garlic
2 cans of chicken broth (2-3 cups)
(optional a spoonful each of Sofrito & Recaito you can find them in the Spanish Foods aisle)


Chop the onion, and bell peppers into small pieces. Dump everything but the rice into the slow cooker and cook until the meat is fall off the bone tender. (If you have you have smaller kids you can take out the bones or use boneless thighs.) Pour in the rice and allow it to cook absorbing up all the liquid. Once rice is cooked, stir and serve. And that's it!

Fancy-Schmancy Chicken Cordon Bleu

I've stolen this recipe from my mother. It's a super easy way to make a dish that kids LOVE, but that can be dressed up for grown ups as well.

chicken breast or boneless thighs (one for each person)
a can of cream of chicken soup
slices of ham* (again one for each person)
slices of provolone cheese* (one for each person)
pepper
onion powder
garlic powder
flour for dredging
cooking twine or toothpicks
2 tbsp cooking oil

Pound the chicken until it is thin and tender then season both sides with pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Layer the ham and cheese on the chicken and roll it up securing it with the cooking twine or toothpicks (try to make sure the cheese is tucked in completely). Dredge the rounds in the flour making sure to coat them all the way around. Heat a saute/frying pan with oil. Add chicken and cover to allow chicken to cook on the inside. Turn the chicken as necessary to get golden brown on all sides. Once chicken is cooked through remove from pan. Cut the cooking twine or remove the tooth picks.

While chicken is cooking heat the Cream of Chicken soup in a small pot. Arrange chicken on individual or serving plates and drizzle them with warm soup; Or add the can of soup to the empty saute pan after the chicken is done cooking, heat then replace the chicken and smother it in sauce.

Serve with rice or mashed potatoes and whatever vegetable your kids will eat (Broccoli works well).

Date Night/Dinner Party? Serve with grilled asparagus to take this from kiddie to classic.

*Use Virginia or Honey/Maple Ham for added flavor. Swiss or Mozzarella cheese can be substituted but tend to melt quicker than the chicken can cook. If you're using these, buy a block instead of slices and wrap chicken and ham around small "logs".

Convertable Chicken Cacciatore

I love this recipe because I can make it a variety of different ways depending on who's eating and how much time I have to cook.

Ingredients:
1-can diced tomatoes
6 chicken parts (legs, thighs, or breast or any combination)
1-can chicken broth
1-diced onion
2-chopped bell peppers (green & yellow for color)
1-bay leaf
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1-teaspoon oregano

Throw it all in the Slow Cooker for 6 hours. When the chicken is cooked, turn onto high and uncover to let some of the liquid cook out. Serve over rice or pasta.

No, Slow Cooker? Brown the chicken in two tablespoons of olive oil then remove chicken and set aside. In the same pan, cook onion, peppers, and garlic until the onions soften. Then dump in the tomatoes, chicken broth, bay leaf and oregano and simmer. Add the chicken back into the sauce, bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Let cook for 45-50 minutes or until chicken is tender. Serve over rice or pasta.

Date Night? Add a 1/2 cup of white wine to the recipe.

Enjoy!