S'mores Brownies

1 box brownie mix and ingredients called for on the box

3 c. miniature marshmallows

4 graham crackers, crushed

2 chocolate candy bars, broken into small pieces

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Greese the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan. Make brownies and cook as directed on the box. When brownies are done, set oven to broil. immediatley sprinkle marshmallows and graham crackers over the warm brownies. Broil about 30-60 seconds or until golden brown. (watch carefully! They will brown fast!) Sprinkle chocolate pieces. Serve!

Mexican Chicken Casserole in the Crockpot

5-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 (15oz) cans corn, drained

1 c. chunky salsa

1 c. shredded cheese

Place uncooked chicken in the Crockpot. In a large bowl, combine beans, corn and salsa. Mix well and pour over chicken. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours. Sprinkle cheese over the mixture, cover and cook for 10 more minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.

* You can also serve this over rice or with Tortilla Chips

Make-Ahead Breakfast Casserole

Prepare this simple and quick breakfast casserole the night before and you will have a delicious hearty meal waiting for you in the morning. This casserole has all your favorite breakfast standbys ham, eggs, cheese, toast and veggies.

Serves: 10

Ingredients
6 slices bread, cut in cubes
2 cups mild cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup cooked, cubed ham
1/4 cup green pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
6 eggs
3 cups milk

Instructions
1.Mix bread, cheese, ham, bell pepper, and onion; spread in a 13x9x2-inch baking dish, treated with nonstick spray.

2.Whisk eggs and milk, and pour over top.

3.Cover dish with foil and freeze. (or make in the evening, refrigerate overnight and bake in the morning.)

4.To prepare for serving, thaw dish, and bake uncovered in a preheated 375 degree oven until eggs are set.

Quick Chicken Piccata

This chicken recipe is perfect for those who want quick dinner recipes for kids. In under 20 minutes, you have a delicious dinner ready to go with this inexpensive and quick recipe.

Serves: 4

Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, split
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine or vermouth, or chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
Instructions
1.Place each chicken breast half between two sheets of plastic wrap. Flatten to a uniform thickness of slightly less than 1/2 inch. Season with salt and pepper.

2.Melt half of butter or margarine in a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breasts and brown on both sides; remove from skillet and set aside.

3.Melt remaining butter in same pan. Add mushrooms. Cook over high heat until they begin to brown, 2 minutes. Sprinkle with garlic and cook 30 seconds.

4.Add wine and chicken breasts. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 7 minutes.

5.Just before they are cooked, add lemon juice, parsley and additional salt and pepper.

Cheesy Chicken Noodle Casserole

Ingredients
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
1/2 can cream of chicken soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 pound Velveeta cheese, cut into cubes
1/2 a bag egg noodles
1 can corn
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
1/2 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
1.Cook egg noodles in boiling water till chewy.

2.Cook chicken in olive oil, and salt till chicken is not pink in middle, then drain oil.

3.Combine cream of chicken soup, egg noodles, and chicken till boiling.

4.Reduce heat, and add Velveeta cheese, corn, and pepper. Cook until all of Velveeta is melted. Remove from heat and sprinkle with parsley flakes.

Serves: 4

Cooking Time: 30 min

Potato Bacon Chowder

I thought I would post this soup recipe because Kristi was asking me if I had any good soup recipes yesterday. This is the one I was talking about. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 cups peeled, cubed potatoes
1 cup water
8 bacon strips
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 3/4 cups milk
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

Directions:
In a covered 3-qt. saucepan, cook potatoes in water until tender. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a skillet until crisp; remove to paper towels to drain. In the same skillet, saute onion and celery in drippings until tender; drain. Add to undrained potatoes. Stir in soup, milk, sour cream, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes or until heated through (do not boil). Crumble bacon; set aside 1/4 cup. Add remaining bacon to soup along with parsley. Sprinkle with reserved bacon.

Note: I usually just put all the bacon into the soup. And I never buy fresh parsley, so I just add some of the dry kind to the soup.

Oatmeal Waffles

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

DIRECTIONS
In large mixing bowl, stir together flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir in eggs, milk, butter and brown sugar until blended. Pour batter on to preheated, lightly greased waffle iron. Close lid quickly; do not open during baking. Use fork to remove baked waffle. Top with fresh fruit and yogurt, maple syrup, or peanut butter.

Spinach Artichoke Pasta

I saw this on Studio 5 a long time ago. The girl that was on has a blog - http://www.mindikamoments.com/. She said she bought the ingredients to make Spinach Artichoke Dip during the holidays but never got around to it. So she turned it into a dinner instead. It is REALLY good. Tony and I both love it. FYI - I make some changes to it based on our family, so I'm not sure how this exact recipe tastes! ;)

SPINACH ARTICHOKE PASTA
(Mindi Original)

6 to 8 oz. pasta, cooked according to package directions

2 small chicken breasts, cubed

2 t. olive oil

1/2 c. onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper

1 can artichokes, chopped

1 c. chopped spinach, packed (if using frozen, defrost, drain and squeeze out the water)

1 can diced Mexican style tomatoes

1/2 c. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sour cream

1/2 c. chicken stock

1/2 c. half and half

7 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated (reserve 1 oz.)

2 T. hot sauce (**as a side note - I think 2 T. hot sauce is WAAAAY too much. Even with just 1 T. it still has a big kick to it. Just add according to your tastes, but be warned that 2 T. is A LOT!)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook pasta, drain and set aside.

2. In a large skillet, heat oil over med high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook for a couple of minutes or until onion starts to become translucent.

3. Add chicken, season with salt and pepper, and cook until chicken is done and juices run clear.

4. Stir in cream cheese and sour cream. Cook until they are melted and incorporated into the mixture.

5. Add the artichokes, spinach and tomatoes. Stir to incorporate.

6. Add the chicken stock, half and half, Parmesan cheese and hot sauce. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until heated through. Salt and pepper to taste.

7. Add the pasta and pour the mixture into a large casserole dish, top with remaining Parmesan cheese and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until bubbly around the edges.

Sister Beck's Key Lime Cheese Ball

KEY LIME CHEESE BALL:

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup graham crackers (coarsely crushed, cinnamon flavor)
2 T. key lime juice (she uses 2-3 real limes)
2 T. key lime zest (grated) (she uses the same limes she got the juice from)

Combine all ingredients (except for the graham cracker crumbs) in a mixing bowl until well combined. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 2 hours until ball is solid. Remove cheese ball from the fridge and roll in the graham cracker crumbs. Serve with extra cinnamon graham crackers, baked croissants and pound cake.

**Instead of forming it into a cheese ball, Sister Beck just put it in a bowl, sprinkled the graham cracker crumbs on top and served with cinnamon graham crackers. It is softer this way, but still delicious!

Sister Beck's Fruit Salsa w/ Cinnamon Chips

SALSA:

2 kiwis, peeled and diced

2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced

8 ozs. raspberries

1 lb. strawberries

2 T. white sugar

1 T. brown sugar

3 T. fruit preserves, any flavor (jam)

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.

**Side note - Sister Beck said that to save time, she put all of this in a food processor - so it is more mashed up. She said it would look prettier if you individually cut up each fruit. Either way - it was FANTASTIC!

CINNAMON CHIPS:

10 (10 inch) flour tortillas

butter flavored cooking spray

2 cups cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray. Bake in the preheated oven 8-10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approx 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

Sister Beck's Crockpot Chili Dip

Put 3 cans of chili in a crockpot. Smash the beans a little bit. Add 2 packages of cream cheese. Dump in part of a bottle of salsa and a bunch of grated cheese. Turn the crockpot to warm with the lid on. Stir often! Don't let burn!

Serve with chips!

(We didn't get a pic of this, but it was VERY good also!)

Sister Beck's Jalapeno Salsa

This was REALLY good - and there are two ways to make it. From scratch... or from a bottle. Sister Beck did the "bottle" recipe that night and it was still fantastic. (And don't let the title fool you. It wasn't very spicy. Just enough to make it delicious!)

BOTTLE:

1 jar Jalapeno Salsa (from Harmon's)

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 can white corn (drained)

1/4 bottle zesty Italian dressing.

Stir and chill. Serve with chips!

SCRATCH:
1 yellow bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

1 orange bell pepper

5 roma tomatoes

cilantro

4-5 green onions

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 can white corn (drained)

zesty italian dressing

Chop and dice all vegetables. Stir with remaining ingredients and chill. Serve with chips!

Parmesan Breadsticks

16-20 Frozen Rolls (wheat or white) 2 per breadstick
1/2-1 cube Butter
1/2 tsp Garlic Salt
1/4 tsp dried Oregano
1/4 tsp dried Basil
Parmesan Cheese

Thaw dough for about 2 hours. Melt butter and garlic salt in a small saucepan over low heat. Roll each peice between palms and stretch until about 10 inches long. Take 2 and pinch the ends together and wrap them around each other (to form a 2 part braid...) Place on a cookie sheet. Spread on the butter mixture and sprinkle with Oregano, Basil and Parmesan Cheese. Let rise about 30 minutes. Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

**When using 2 rolls per breadstick you don't need more than 1 per person. They rise and make really big breadsticks:)

Minestrone Soup

1 pound Smoked Sausage, cubed
2 Cups Water
4 Stalks celery, diced
3 Carrots, diced
1 Medium Onion, diced
1 (14 oz) can Beef Broth
1 (10 oz) can Bean with Bacon Soup
1(28 oz) can Petite Diced Tomatoes
1 tsp Sugar
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced (or 1 tsp garlic salt)
1 Tbs Oregano
1 Tbs Basil
2 tsp Salt (I had to add a little more salt than it calls for)
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 box Bow Tie Pasta

Brown Sausage in frying pan. Add all remaining ingredients (except pasta) into a large crockpot and Stir together. Cook on Low for about 4 hours. High for at least 2 hours. Just before eating cook your pasta and add to soup.

**My Kids LOVED this! :) I served this with Parmesan Breadsticks:)

Chicken Parmesan Bundles

Ingredients:
4 ounces PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained
1 1/4 cups KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese,
divided 6 tablespoons KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
6 small boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/4-inch thickness
1 egg
10 RITZ Crackers, crushed
1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce, heated


Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix cream cheese, spinach, 1 cup mozzarella and 3 Tbsp. Parmesan until well blended; spread onto chicken breasts. Starting at one short end of each breast, roll up chicken tightly. Secure with wooden toothpicks, if desired. Set aside.
2. Beat egg in shallow dish. Mix remaining Parmesan and cracker crumbs in separate shallow dish. Dip chicken bundles in egg, then roll in crumb mixture. Place, seam-sides down, in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.
3. Bake 30 min. or until chicken is done (165 degrees F). Remove and discard toothpicks, if using. Serve topped with spaghetti sauce and remaining mozzarella.

Teriyaki Chicken

Ingredients
1 (4 pound) chicken, cut into pieces
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle orange-flavored carbonated beverage

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Mix the soy sauce and the orange soda in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Add the chicken, turning to coat evenly. Bake, skin side down, for 30 minutes. Turn and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Let cool and serve.

Chicken Lasagna

1 lb Chicken (cooked and shredded)
1 Box Lasagna Noodles (I use the No Boiling required ones)
1 15oz Container Ricotta Cheese
1 Egg
4 Cups Shredded Mozzarella
1/2 C. Grated Parmesan
1 1 1/2 Jars Marinara Sauce (I use Hunts)

Preheat Oven 375 degrees. Spray a 13x9 baking pan with non-stick spray. In medium bowl beat the egg. Stir in Ricotta, 2 cups Mozzarella and Parmesan.

Layers:
1: Spread 1 cup sauce in the bottom of baking dish
2: Layer 4 noodles, 1/3 ricotta mixture, 1/2 of shredded chicken, 1 cup Mozzarella, 1 cup sauce
3:Layer 4 noodles, 1/3 ricotta mixture, and 1 1/2 cup sauce
4:Layer 4 noodles, the remaining ricotta mixture, remaining chicken and 1 cup sauce
5:Layer 4 noodles, the remaining sauce, and remaining cheese.

Bake, covered with foil until bubbly. 50-60 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking until the cheese is melted. (about 5 minutes) Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Quick Braised Chicken with Rosemary and Potatoes

This is a great recipe in so many ways. It is quick, easy, healthy, and delicious. This recipe comes from "The Deen Bros. Take It Easy" (Paula Deen's sons) cookbook. We tried it last Sunday for dinner, and we were not disappointed. You won't be either.

Note: I am not a good photographer. This picture does not do the food justice.

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons salt, plus additional for seasoning
1 teaspoon ground black pepper, plus additional for seasoning
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
3 pounds chicken drumsticks and thighs (or one or the other)
1 pound red potatoes, cut into eighths


Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and rosemary.
3. Place the chicken in a large broiler-proof baking pan (I used a 9x13 glass pan with good results) and season with the additional salt and pepper.
4. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan and transfer to the broiler. Broil, 4 inches from the heat, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the juices run clear when the chicken is pricked with a fork. Serve hot, with the pan juices spooned on top.