I'm-not-sure-what-to-call-this Chicken & Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Andy and Christy were over tonight for dinner. I'm not doing dinner rotation anymore, so instead we do a swap each week with the Fosses. This week was our turn. I made some chicken that I tried a couple years ago, but haven't made recently. The recipe is from Kraftfoods and it's called, "Simply Saucy Chicken." I don't really like that name. If you (does anyone actually read this blog?) have a suggestion for a catchy name for it, please comment. AGAIN, PLEASE COMMENT! I had a picture, but it didn't turn out very well, so I deleted it. Sorry.

....Chicken

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup Cesear dressing (I used Kraft)
Italian seasoning (a shake or two)
cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half (amount up to you)
pre-cooked and crumbled bacon (I use my old stand-by, see post below)

Directions:

Heat olive oil in large skillet. Cook chicken on medium-high heat, on each side until browned. (4-5 minutes each side.) Mix broth, dressing, and seasoning and then add to chicken. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until chicken reaches internal temperature of 165 F. (I got a great little digital thermometer at Target for around $10.) Then add tomatoes and bacon. Turn to low a continue to cook for 2 more minutes.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes or yams
2-4 TBSP butter (more or less to taste)
salt and pepper

Directions:

Peel and cube sweet potatoes. Steam them until tender. In mixing bowl add cooking sweet potatoes and butter. Mix with hand blender until desired texture. Salt and pepper to taste.

The adults and Jacob seemed to enjoy the chicken. I think the other kids would have too, minus the tomatoes, but I was being lazy and served them chicken nuggets. Summer didn't like the sweet potatoes, but Brook and Jake had seconds. I think I prefer mashed sweet potatoes to regular mashed potatoes.

Red Velvet for Valentine's Day!

My daughter is in Kindergarten and getting better at reading and writing. She wanted to make a Valentine, and this is how it turned out. Anyway, Valentine's Day is not my favorite. It all seems so forced. If you really love someone you shouldn't be made to express your love on one particular day in the year. That being said, I do appreciate the interruption in mid-winter. As my brother, Andy, said so eloquently last week, "They just created this holiday so that fewer people would want to kill themselves in the middle of February."
So, I made two New Year's Resolutions for this year. #1 No sugar. #2 Have the dishes done before I go to bed, so that I can wake up to a clean kitchen and clean dishes. Both have been going well. Historically, Valentine's Day really screws with any kind of diet I'm attempting to stick to, because as we all know, it's a candy holiday. Like Halloween. So, I, of course, wanted to make something that was red like all the cute and delicious candy I've been seeing. I've been wanting to try my hand at red velvet cake. I figured if I made cupcakes I could give some away which would help with goal #1. Point being, I haven't tried them. My kids chowed down on them, and I think they look pretty cute. They weren't that hard, so maybe give them a try and let me know how they taste. Thanks!

Some to give away!

Red Velvet Cake (Or Cupcakes)

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups cake flour
4 TBSP cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 TBSP butter, room temperature
1-2/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs, and 1 egg yolk
1 cup buttermilk, plus 2 TBSP.
1 oz red food coloring (yes, the whole bottle)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 TBSP white vinegar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers. If using foil liners, spray with cooking spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. (If possible, repeat a few times.) In a large bowl gently beat together the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Slowly mix in buttermilk. Then add remaining food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. Be sure to scrape sides thoroughly. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake for about 20 to 22 minutes. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
8 oz of cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup of butter at room temperature (1 stick)
2 tsp. vanilla
4-1/2 cups powdered sugar
food coloring, optional

Directions:
Cream together cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and mix in well. Add powdered sugar 2 cups at a time, mixing on low until sugar is incorporated. Add food coloring if you want. Once all the sugar is mixed in, give it a good mixing on a higher speed for about 30 seconds. Use immediately. Refrigerate left overs. For these cupcakes, I spooned the frosting into a Ziploc bag and cut a corner off, then used it as a piping bag to apply the frosting. My kids were pretty impressed. They thought I bought them at the store. Whatever happened to homemade being better?

These would also be cute on the 4th of July with white frosting and blue sprinkles.

8 Minute Lasagna

I'm not kidding, it really only takes 8 minutes to make this. It takes an hour to bake, but only 8 to make. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

6 oven-ready lasagna noodles (I use Great Value brand from Walmart)
12-16 oz. Italian sausage (You can also use ground beef, but it doesn't have as much flavor.)
1 can of garlic and herb spaghetti sauce (I use Hunt's)
1 egg
16 oz. cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 TBSP. dried parsley flakes
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 F. Brown sausage in pan and crumble into small pieces. Mix with spaghetti sauce. (There is no need to heat spaghetti sauce.) In separate bowl combine beaten egg, cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, and parsley. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Place 3 dried, oven-ready lasagna noodles in bottom of pan. Center as much as possible. Top with half the cottage cheese mixture, then half the sauce mixture. Repeat with remaining noodles, cheese mixture, and sauce mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Fax isn't a fan of lasagna, but the rest of us like it. Plus, I like that you can make it in the morning, stick it in the frig, and bake it when you're ready. I usually serve it with some bread and a salad.

Baked Potato Soup

Amanda and I met at Chili's for lunch today. It was fun. I had Enchilada Soup, and Amanda had the Baked Potato Soup. It looked quite tasty, but I was too full for anymore soup. So I decided to make some for dinner. This is a recipe that I got from Kraftfoods.com. But after making it for the first time, awhile back, I decided to make some changes. So here it is:

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 cans chicken broth
2 cups half & half
2 cups steamed broccoli
3 medium baked potatoes, baked
1 cup of cooked and crumbled bacon*
1 cup grated cheese
extra grated cheese for garnish, optional
sour cream for garnish, optional

Directions:

Bake potatoes in 375 F oven for 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Allow to cool long enough so you can handle them. Remove and scoop out filling. Then cut into cubes.

In a large pot on the stove top, melt butter. Do this on medium-low heat. Add onions, salt, and pepper and sweat them for 10 minutes. Add broth and half & half and bring to a boil over medium heat. At this point you have two options: 1. Remove some liquid, and puree it in a blender with half the baked potatoes. OR 2. Add half the baked potatoes and use a hand-blender to puree the potatoes. (You can also puree some or all of the broccoli at this point.) Now add puree from blender (if that's the option you chose), broccoli, remaining potatoes, and bacon. Bring to a boil, and boil for a few minutes, stirring often. Add the cheese, and once melted, serve immediately. Garnish with extra cheese and sour cream if you want.

The original recipe called for celery and not broccoli. But my kids didn't like the celery. So I substituted broccoli, which they love, but it does kind of turn the soup green if you puree some of the broccoli.

I think this is enough for 4-5 people, if that's all you're having. All of my kids loved this soup. Brook had seconds, Jake had thirds. And it's quite filling.

*As with a lot of recipes, I used precooked and crumbled bacon. I buy it at Costco in a big bag and store it in my freezer. It doesn't freeze into a hard lump, so I can reach in and grab as much as I need right from the freezer. I love freshly cooked bacon, but when I'm cooking, this is just so much easier! See picture below:

Chinese Chicken Salad

So my big sister gave me this recipe and it's a copy cat from Paradise Bakery. We had it for dinner last night and it was so good. Usually this time of year all I want to make are soups and chilis so it was refreshing to have something light and cool.

1 head of Napa Cabbage - shredded

carrots

celery

edamame

green onions

grilled chicken

dressing:

soy sauce

red wine vinegar

oil

For those who need exact measurements like I do let me know and I can tell you what I did. Very tasty would make a great lunch too!

And for some reason I couldn't take a clear picture. Sorry.

Broccoli / Cauliflower Salad - LOW CARB!!

This is Sarah's recipe but since I tried it at her house last summer I've made it a ton of times. For all you low-carb dieters (is that a word?) this is a great, filling salad. I never quite do the same quantities, I pretty much just toss it all in a bowl.

Broccoli 2 to 3 heads chopped into bite size pieces

Cauliflower 1 head chopped into bite size pieces

3 or so tomatoes seeded and diced

1 bunch green onion chopped

Large handful of crumbled bacon

dressing:

1 cup mayo

2 tablespoons vinegar. I've used apple cider and red wine vinegar so use what you have.

1/4 cup sugar/splenda

Blend together and pour over salad mixing it all together. ENJOY.

Pumpkin Soup

This recipe is from Kraftfoods.com. I made some slight changes, but basically it's the same.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1- 29 oz. can of pumpkin
1- 14 oz. can of chicken broth
2 cups water
1 tsp. curry powder
dash of red pepper flakes
4 oz. cream cheese, cubed
sour cream to garnish

Directions:

Heat olive oil in pot over medium-low heat. Add onion and salt and cook for 8 minutes. Add brown sugar and cook 2 more minutes. Add pumpkin, chicken broth, water, curry, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, and add the cream cheese. Stir with whisk until smooth and creamy. I made this before church because I didn't have time after, so I put it in the crock pot on low while we were gone, and it was fine. We put a dollop of sour cream on the soup, and I think it needed some extra salt and pepper also.

Sorry, no picture this time, but I'm sure you can imagine what pumpkin soup looks like.