chicken salad sandwiches...

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

This is when you know it's time for picnics and bbqs; summer!

Ingredients:

- 6-8 plain croissants

- 3 cups cubed chicken

- 2 cups diced grapes.

- 1/2 diced onion

- 1 tablespoon basil

- 1 cup mayo or miracle whip

- 3/4 cup cashews. roughly chopped

- 2 teaspoons lemon juice

- 1 tablespoon mustard

- salt and pepper to taste

- lettuce to dress the sandwhich

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients together in a large bowl & serve with croissants.

turkey burgers...

Turkey Burgers

We have been trying new recipes in our house this week, and none have seemed to fail yet! We had these the other night, I think I may have changed my husband's mind about turkey burgers...at least for one night.

Yeild: 8 burgers [we had plenty of extra]

Ingredients:

- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided

- 1/3 finely chopped red onion

- 4 cloves garlic. minced.

- 2 lbs ground turkey

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 tsp black pepper

- 1/4 chopped parsley

- 1 tbsp rosemary

- 1 tbsp sage

- 2 tsp thyme leaves

Directions:

1. Heat the coals of a grill to medium high. Meanwhile, in a medium sized skillet, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Add the red onion and saute fora bout 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes longer, until the onion in tender. Remove from heat and transfer into a large cooking bowl. Set aside and let cool.

2. Once the onion mixture has cooled, add the ground turkey, salt, pepper, and herbs to the bowl. Mix well so everything is evenly blended. Mix in the remaining tbsp of olive oil. For the mixture into 8 equal sized patties.

3. When you are ready to grill, oil the grates of the grill with additional olive or vegetable oil. Cook until evenly browned and cooked through, bout 4-6 minutes each side.

4.Serve with desired condiments and roasted buns!

lemon spaghetti.

Lemon Spaghetti

Ingredients:

- 4 oz dry spaghetti

- 1/4 cup grated parmesan

- 2 tsp olive oil

- 1 clove garlic

- 1/2 lemon

- 2 tbsp pine nut

- 5-6 basil leaves

Directions:

1. In a small skillet, pour in olive oil and chopped up garlic. Let it cook over low heat, until the garlic starts to brown on the edges. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Next, cook your spaghetti as directed on back of box.

3. In a large bowl add your cheese, pine nuts and garlic oil (chunks and all). Sqeeze in your lemon juice.

4. Throw in your cooked spaghetti and toss until well combined.

Parmesan Roasted Potatoes...

Parmesan Roasted Potatoes

chichoskitchen.com

Ingredients:

- 4 medium red potatoes

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese

- 1 tsp garlic powder

- 1 tsp paprika

- salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut potatoes into wedges.

2. In a small bowl, combine parmesan, garlic powder, and paprika; set aside. Next, toss the potatoes and oil together in a mixing bowl and add the cheese & seasoning mixture and stir to coat.

3. Arrange them on a baking sheet in a single layer.

4. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, then remove from oven and flip all the potatoes. Bake for another few minutes until crispy and golden.

5. Yum!

mozzarella grilled cheese...

Mozzarella Grilled Cheese

original recipe found here

This is a must try! I promise.

Ingredients:

- 8 slices rye bread 

- 4 slices of fresh mozzarella

- 3 tomatoes, cut in thick slices

- 1 cup fresh basil pesto

- freshly ground black pepper

- extra virgin olive oil

Directions: 

1. Assemble the sandwhich anyway you would like and enjoy.

[side note: I also grill my sandwhich in a panini press, but over the stove will work too, ust enough to melt the cheese.]

picture from anediblesymphony.com

crock-pot baked apples.

Crock Pot Baked Apples.

yummy recipe fromskinnychef.com



a healthier little dessert for you...

Ingredients:

- 1/4 cup brown sugar

- 1/4 cup walnuts. chopped.

- 2 tablespoons trans-fat free margarine

- 1 teaspoon cinnamon

- 6 Gala apples. cored.

- 1/2 cup apple juice or cider

Directions:

1. Preheat a large crockpot on high heat and preset for 3 hours.

2. In a large bowl combine brown sugar, walnuts, margarine, and cinnamon.

3. Fill the apples with the filling, place them in the crockpot, and pour the apple juice or cider over the apples.

4.cover and cook for 3 hours, or until the apples become tender and start to collapse.

5. ENJOY!

Creamy Barley Salad with Apples.

Creamy Barley Salad with Apples

realsimple.com

I'm all about a good salad in the summertime!

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup pearl barley

- 1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt

- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin oil

- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard

- 1 apple, thinley sliced

- 1/4 cup fresh mint (optional)

- 2 bunches arugula, stems removed.

-salt & pepper

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the barley, 1 1/2 cups water, 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. reduce the heat to a medium low, cover, and simmer until the barley is tender and the water is absorbed- about 25 minutes. Drain and place on a cookie sheet to cool.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, oil, lemon juice, mustard, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper. Add the apple, mint and barley and toss to combine.

3. Divide the arugula amongst the bowls and top with barley mixture!

4. Enjoy & feel good about it!

pineapple chicken pitas...

where have I been?! Well being a mom yes, but that is no excuse not to eat right?! I'm going to start with something simple and work my way up again so here is one, very simple, yummy lunch or dinner idea!

Pineapple Chicken Pitas

adapted from myrecipes.com

Ingredients:

-2.5 cups of chopped chicken, cooked.

- 1/4 cup light mayo

- 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions

- 1/3 cup plain yogurt

-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

-1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1 (8oz) can crushed pineapple, drained.

-1/4 teaspoon black pepper

- Whole wheat pitas

-Romain Lettuce

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well.

2. Line each pita half with lettuce

3. Fill pita with chicken mixture and enjoy!

Pasta Carbonara.

We have been slacking! SORRY! I'm back in the game though with this amazing recipe!

Pasta Carbonara

laurenslatest.com

Ingredients:

- 1/2 lb of smoked bacon. sliced.

- 1 cup chopped onion

- 2 cloves garlic, minced.

- 2 tablespoons flour

- 1 cup whole milk

- 3/4 lb spaghetti or fettucini

- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

- 1 whole egg

- 1 egg yolk

- fresh ground pepper and salt, to taste.

- 1/4 cup butter

Directions:

1. Cook pasta as directed on box.

2. In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet and drain on paper towels. Pour off any excess bacon grease leaving about 2 tablespoons. Saute onions and garlic until tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle flour over onions and garlic and stir to create a paste. Slowly pour milk and whisk to remove all clumps. Turn off heat. Stir in half the bacon into sauce. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, stir parmesan cheese, egg, and egg yolk together. Cut butter into small pats.

4. Drain pasta and immediatley pour hot pasta into egg mixture. using tongs, start to toss pasta. Pour in onion "paste" and continue to toss.

5. Stir in pats of butter and toss with pepper and salt. Continue tossing until butter has melted.

6. Serve with remaining cooked bacon and some extra parmesan cheese.

Apple Snicker Salad...

Apple Snicker Salad...

We went to a BBQ this weekend and had this, I couldn't resist getting the recipe and sharing it with you!

to.die.for!

Ingredients:

- 6-8 granny smith apples, diced.

- 4-6 snicker bars. crushed

- I tub of Jet puff marshmellow (BIG tub)

- 1 package of plain cream cheese. whipped

Directions:

1. Cut apples into small pieces

2. Cut and crush snickers bars into small pieces

3. Whip together Marshmellow tub and cream cheese

4. Add apples and snickers and mix together right before serving!

lemon chicken and noodles...

Lemon Chicken and Noodles!

Ingredients:

- 4 chicken breasts.

- 1/3 cup flour

- 6 tablespoons butter. divided.

- 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

- 1 cup chicken broth

- 3 tablesppon fresh lemon juice

- 1 package egg noodles

Directions:

1. Slice chicken length wise and lightly coat with flour.

2. Saute chicken and 3 tablespoons butter, over medium-high heat, until cooked through, stirring constantly.

3. Remove and keep warm. Cook egg noodles as directed on back of box, drain, and lightly butter

4. Add onion and cook until soft; 1-2 minutes.

5. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add lemon juice and bring to a boil until mixture is reduced to about 1/3 cups ( about 4-5minutes)

6. Remove from heat and add remaining 3 tablespoons of butter.

7. Return chicken to pan and heat through. Serve with egg noodles. Makes 4 servings.

angel food cake...

angel food cake

allrecipes.com

Honestly, I just don't like the store bought angel food cake, it kinda tastes and feels like styrofoam! So I needed an easy and delicious recipe, and I found it.

Ingredients:

- 1 1/4 cup cake flour

- 1 3/4 cup white sugar

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1 1/2 cup egg whites

- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

1. Beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks, and then add cream of tartar, vanilla, and almond extract.

2. Sift together floud, sugar and salt. repeat 5 times.

3. Gently combine the egg whites with the dry ingredients and pour into a 10inch ungreased tube pan ( one with a removable bottom is so much easier)

4. IMPORTANT: place cake pan in a COOL oven. turn the oven on and set to 325degrees.Cook for about an hour or until top is golden brown.

5. Invert cake and allow it to cool in pan. When cooled all the way, remove from pan.

6. Top with favorite fruit topping and cool whip! ENJOY!

blueberry lemon rolls...

Blueberry Lemon Rolls!

These are pretty amazing I must say. I got this recipe from a friend that had them at a general conference college breakfast! YUM!

Ingredients:

- 8 frozen rolls, thawed ( I use Rhodes rolls)

- 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted

- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened

- 1/3 cup sugar

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- zest and juice of one lemon

- 1/4 cup blueberries ( I used frozen and it turned out great)

- 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. For the filling: whip cream cheese, sugar, salt, vanilla, and lemon zest together until fluffy (2-3 minutes)

2. Thaw out the rolls as directed on back on bag. When rolls are completely thawed roll into one large ball. Roll out on lightly floured surface into a large rectangle. Brush dough with melted butter.Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the buttered dough. Lightly press your blueberries into the dough.

3. Roll dough to form a 12inch log of dough.

4.Using a serrated knife ( I use some thread) cut 8 even rolls. Place into your greased pie pan.

5. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

6. To make the icing, stir together the powdered sugar and juice from the lemon (my lemon didn't give enough juice so I added milk to create the consistancy I wanted)

7. ENJOY!

picture from littlebrickranch.com

Fiesta Chicken Pasta Salad...

Fiesta Chicken Pasta Salad

bettycrocker.com

made this for a gathering the other night and it was delicious!

Ingredients:
-1 package Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad "Classic" Pasta Salad Mix
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 cup cherry tomato halves
- 1/2 cup green pepper. sliced
- 2 green onions. chopped
- 1 cup cubed chicken
- 1/2 cup chedder cheese. shredded.
Optional:
- Tortilla Chips
- Salsa

Directions:
1. Cook pasta mix as directed on back of box.
2. Stir together the seasoning mix, sour cream, water & chili powder in large bowl. Stir in pasta, tomatoes, green pepper, onions, and chicken.
3. Serve with tortillas chips!

Strawberry Spinach Salad...

Strawberry Spinach Salad

We had this at our wedding reception and it was a huge hit! there are so many different versions of this salad, so don't be scared to experiment with different fruits and or ingredients!

Ingredients:

-  Bag of Spinach Salad

- 2-3 cups fresh strawberries, cut and diced ( I also use mandarin oranges)

- Briannes Home Style Poppyseed Salad Dressing - to taste. HINT: a little goes a LONG way.

Directions:

1. In a medium size bowl, mix salad dressing and fruit together.

2. Add spinach to dressing, stir and serve!

Seriously SO good!

Breaded Ranch Chicken...

Breaded Ranch Chicken

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm a chicken girl, hence my recipes mostly involve chicken, and this one is no exception!

Ingredients:

- 3/4 crushed corn flakes

- 3/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese

- 1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix

- 6-8 boneless skinless chicken breasts

-1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

Directions:

1. In a shallow bowl, combine the corn flakes, parmesan cheese and salad dressing mix.

2. Dip chicken in butter, then roll in corn flake mixture to coat.

3. Place in greased 13x9 baking dish.

4. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until chicken juices run clear.

Framed Crafts

This is a great inexpensive way to decorate your house for the whole year. You just switch out the inserts each time. I bought 4 inexpensive 5x7 frames from Wal Mart and then just replace the inserts every month or so.

HOW TO:
The backgrounds are all scrapbook paper cut to the 5x7 dimensions. I did the letters in a number of different ways. I've used my Cricut to cut out letters. I've bought little cardboard letters already cut out and then painted them. (You could decoupage scrapbook paper on them too.) I've also gone to dafont.com and downloaded a font. Once I got the font I used InDesign (but Microsoft WordArt works too) to make the letters as big as I wanted them (usually leave an inch on both sides) and printed them out. Then I use them as a template on glitter sticker paper, NOEL for example is that glitter paper that I traced and cut out.

Add a little something to them for some extra fun. For example, BOO has some spiderwebs draped across it which adds a little extra to it! There are plenty of other words that you could use. For the months that you don't have an idea you could use HOME with the colors of your decor- if you wanted something up year round. Just have fun with it! :)

Stenciled Pillows

I was making some throw pillows for our guest room the other day and couldn't quite find the fabric that I was looking for- so I decided to make my own. I decided to stencil a design onto the pillow fabric just to add a little bit more to it.

You'll need:

- stencil

- fabric paint

- foam brush

I used my Circut to create the stencil that I wanted.

Then I made sure that the stencil would lay flat and

 held it firmly in place while I painted the stencil.

 And voila and cute patterned pillow. I chose to go with the 

gray flowers because I didn't want anything too drastic I 

just wanted a soft pattern against the bigger bolder pattern of the larger pillows.

*For the pillow I just measured out the dimensions I wanted and sewed the fabric right sides together leaving a small hole that I could use to turn the pillow inside out and stuff it.

Molasses Cookies

These cookies are addicting! :)

Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 1 egg
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon*
- 1/2 tsp cloves*
- 1/2 ginger*
- Raisins

*These ingredients can substituted with 2 tsp of allspice

Mix the shortening, egg, sugar and molasses until smooth. In a different bowl mix flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Then add raisins and stir in by hand. (I like a lot of raisins but its up to you how much you put in.

Roll dough into balls and then roll around in sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. 

Lemon-Berry Shortcake...

Lemon-Berry Shortcake!

tasteofhome.com

"Summertime classic."

Ingredients:

- 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

- 1/2 cup sugar

- 2 teaspoons baking powder

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1 egg

- 2/3 cup buttermilk

- 1/4 cup butter,melted

- 1 tablespoon lemon juice

- 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1-2 cups sliced strawberries

Topping:

- 1 1/2 cup strawberries, sliced. ( raspberries and blueberries work well too)

- 1 tablespoon lemon juice

- 1 teaspoon sugar

- 2 cups whipping cream

Directions:

1. In a large bowl; combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine the egg, buttermilk, butter, lemon juice, lemon peel, and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in strawberries. Pour into a greased and floured 9inch round baking pan.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 min or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10minutes before removing from pan. Finish cooling on wire rack.

3. For topping; in a large bowl, combine the strawberries, lemon juice and sugar. Cover and refridgerate until ready to serve. Spread whipping cream over cake. Drain strawberry mixture and arrange over top of cake.

Cranberry Chicken...

Cranberry Chicken!

Ingredients:

- 6-8 thawed chicken breasts

- 1 can whole cranberries

- 1 (8oz) bottle Catalina Dressing

- 1/3 cup water

- 1 pkg lipton onion soup mix

Directions:

1. Mix together all ingredients and pour over chicken.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30minutes.

3. Serve over rice or pasta.

Easy Raspberry Lemonade!

Easy Raspberry Lemonade!

just simply refreshing!

FYI: double or triple this recipe for enough to serve at a gathering or party.

Ingredients:

-1 can frozen raspberry lemonade concentrate

- 3 cups water

- 3/4 teaspoon lime juice

- 1 (12fluid oz) can or bottle of lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage

- 1 cup crushed ice

- 1.5 cups fresh raspberries

Directions:

1. In a large punch bowl, combine raspberry lemonade concentrate, water and lime juice. Stir in lemon-lime soda and crushed ice. Add raspberries on top for garnish and more flavor.

Artichoke Spinach Dip...

Artichoke Spinach Dip

tastofhome.com

I'm always up for a good dip! Applebee's has an amazing spinach dip and I needed to have it, or somewhat close to it, without actually going out!

Ingredients:

- 3 jars artichoke hearts, drained and chopped.

- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese

- 3/4 cup mayonnaise

- 3 green onions, sliced

- 1 can chopped green chilies, drained

- 1 package (10oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squezed dry.

- 1 cup (4oz) shredded swiss cheese

- 1 round loaf bread ( any kind works, I've used rye or white)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Cut a thin slice off the top of the bread. Hollow out the bottom half, leaving a 1/2in shell. Cut removed bread into 1inch cubes.

2. Place cubes on a ungreased baking sheet. Broil 6inch from the heat for 2-3minutes or until golden brown.

3. Place bread shell on an ungreased baking sheet. Spoon dip into bread bowl. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 20-25minutes or until heated through.

4. Serve with bread cubes and enjoy! ( we also use and eat with tortilla chips)