Chicken Scampi

CHICKEN SCAMPI

Finely chop 10-12 garlic cloves and handful of fresh basil. Sauté with 1 stick of butter for 15 minutes. Add 1 cup of white cooking wine, juice from 1 lemon (without the seeds ), and 3/4 can of chicken broth (add the chicken broth a little at a time because you might not need it all). Simmer for ½ hour.

Cook 1 lb. of penne. It usually takes about 10 minutes to cook.

Cut chicken breasts (1 per person) into bites. Cut grape tomatoes in ½ (if you want, depends on how you like them). Sauté chicken bits in a little oil until they’re almost done (a little pink). Add chicken and tomatoes to sauce. Cook for 1 minute. SHUT OFF.

** you only want to cook the chick/toms real quick in the sauce. You should throw them in when you're almost ready to serve – the chicken should be almost cooked when you throw it in **

Let it cool for about 10 minutes. Add penne and 1 heaping serving spoon of sour cream (or 1 sm. container) (sour cream is optional. I made it both ways and you liked it both – you probably didn’t even notice the difference!!)

Sprinkle a handful of parmesan cheese in the scampi and mix. Then sprinkle more on top when it’s served.

*I don't know how one of the most popular recipes from our group didn't make it on this site. Sorry it has taken me so so so long to add it!

Creamy Italian Chicken

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
1 pkt Italian salad dressing mix
1/2 cup water
Put in crockpot for 3 hours

Mix 1 pkg. softened cream cheese with 1 can cream of chicken soup
Add to chicken in the crockpot( I always take my chicken out and then mix my soup mixture with the juices in the crockpot with my hand mixer.), cook 1 more hour. Serve over rice or egg noodles.

Cranberry Bog Burgers served with Corn on the cob with Chive Butter

Ingredients

Bog Burgers:

• 1 1/3 pounds (the average weight of one package from meat case) ground turkey breast
• 1 small McIntosh apple, finely chopped
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 1 rib celery from heart of the stalk, finely chopped
• 1 rounded teaspoon poultry seasoning
• Salt and pepper
• Vegetable oil, for drizzling
• 4 sandwich size sourdough English muffins
• 1 cup prepared whole berry cranberry sauce
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise or reduced fat mayonnaise
• 8 leaves Bibb lettuce, cleaned

Corn:

• 4 ears corn, shucked
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 20 blades fresh chives, finely chopped

Directions

Combine turkey, apple, onion, celery, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper in a bowl and form into 4 large patties. Preheat a large skillet or a grill pan to medium high heat. Drizzle skillet or brush grill with vegetable oil and cook patties 5 to 6 minutes on each side. Toast split English muffins. Mix together cranberry sauce and mayonnaise. Spread muffin halves with cran-mayonnaise and pile in burgers and Bibb lettuce. Serve burgers with corn on the cob and berry desserts.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and corn and cook for 5 to 6 minute. Drain ears and spread with butter. Sprinkle ears with a generous coating of chopped chives.

Huevos Rancheros Tostadas

You can make your own tostada shells by frying 5-inch corn tortillas until crisp with just a little corn oil or canola oil.

4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 small jalapeño chile, seeded, deveined,
finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro, divided
4 (5-inch) tostada shells
6 tablespoons shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup refrigerated salsa
1 small avocado, diced

1. Heat broiler. Whisk eggs, milk, chile, salt and pepper in small bowl. Melt butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Cook eggs 2 minutes or until softly scrambled, stirring frequently. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the cilantro.

2. Place tostada shells on small baking sheet. Divide scrambled eggs among shells; top with cheese. Broil 30 to 60 seconds or just until cheese is melted and bubbly.

3. Sprinkle tostadas with remaining 1 tablespoon cilantro; serve with salsa and avocado.

Taco Soup

1 can black beans- drained

1 can Kidney beans

1 can navy beans

1 can corn

1 can green chilies

1 32oz can diced tomatoes

1 pkg taco seasoning

1 pkg ranch dressing

1 lb ground beef- brown and drain

Only drain the black beans. Just dump everything in, heat and enjoy! It tastes best if you let it simmer for 40-ish minutes and let the beans break down a bit. If you want to make it even healthier and easier, use veggie/soy "ground meat" instead of the ground beef. Then you can just dump it in . . . no need to brown it first. Your kiddos definitely wouldn't notice the difference, but DH might a little (just the texture).

Sometimes I cook some whole grain macaroni noodles and serve it over that . . . it seems to go down easier for my kids.

It's absolutely best topped with freshly grated colby-jack cheese. Other good toppings are sour cream and chopped avocado.

Potato-Ham Bake

1 lb potatoes, sliced

1 8oz tub light cream cheese with chives and onion

¾ cup milk

¼ cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

1 Tbsp snipped fresh tarragon or ½ tsp dried tarragon, crushed

8 oz cooked boneless ham, cut in bit-size slices *

1 lb fresh asparagus spears, trimmed, cut in 2 to 3 inch pieces

1. Preheat oven to 400. Cook potatoes, covered, in small amount of salted boiling water for 5-7 min, just until tender. Drain and set aside.
2. For sauce, combine cream cheese, milk, 2 Tbsp Parmesan, and ¼ tsp black pepper. Heat and whisk until smooth and cheese is melted. Remove from heat and stir in tarragon.
3. Layer potatoes, ham, asparagus, and sauce in 1 ½ qt baking dish. Bake, covered, 20 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Bake 10-12 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Tope with black pepper and, if desired, fresh tarragon.

*I think the recipe could use more than this! I buy a small ham and just keep cutting it up until it looks like enough. We usually eat it with a salad. Enjoy!

Chicken Salad:

3 cups cooked, diced chicken (I buy a rotisserie and cut it up, lazy but yum!) 3 cups cooked white rice (we DO NOT add this, yuk LOL) 2 avocados, peeled, diced, and tossed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice 3/4 cup chopped onion (I use red) 1 cup mayonnaise (I use less because of omitting the rice, just eyeball it) 1 to 2 teaspoons pepper 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves (I dont use) I'll call this OPTIONAL: Avocado Dressing : (OK, we did this the first time, and it was good but overkill so we dont anymore) 1 large avocado, peeled and mashed with 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1/3 cup chopped onion 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon salt Dash cayenne pepper Thick, crusty bread, multi-grain or sourdough Salad: Mix all ingredients and chill. Pass with avocado dressing. Dressing: Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Chill and serve alongside chicken salad. (again, I dont bother with this)

This is seriously the best chicken salad in our opinion! I just tweak it to taste with salt and pepper and mayo but we love it!!