Chili Lime Taquitos

I found this recipe on my friend, Michele's, food blog the other day.  I gave it a try, and my family loved it!  In fact, we made it again a few days later because they liked it so much.  And it is so quick and easy if you prepare the chicken in advance, shred it and freeze it in one cup amounts, like I did.  Doing it that way, it probably only took 5-10 minutes to prepare.  Love an easy meal!

Chili Lime Taquitos
by: sweetluvininthekitchen.blogspot.com

2 c. cooked, shredded chicken
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 1/2 Tbsp. lime juice (or the juice of one lime)
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
1 c. shredded monterey jack cheese
6-8 tortillas

In a skillet, stir together the shredded chicken, chili powder and lime juice.  Add the cilantro and cheese and stir it all together.  Remove it from the heat, and put 3-4 tablespoons of the mixture on one end of a tortilla.  Roll it tightly, starting from that end, and then place it seam side down on a baking sheet.  Repeat with all of the tortillas and chicken mixture.  Leave a little space between each taquito on the baking sheet, so that they will cook all around.  Using a pastry brush, lightly brush a little oil over the top and sides of each taquito.  Bake at 425 degrees, for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Serve with sour cream, salsa and guacamole.

Peanut Butter Pie

This was Avery's choice for pie this year.  It sounded so rich and sweet that I thought it would be too rich, and too sweet.  But, I was wrong!  It was just enough.  So delicious!  It was the favorite pie of all that we made.

Peanut Butter Pie
adapted from: allrecipes.com

4 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. container of Cool Whip
24 crushed Nutter Butter cookies
4 Tbsp. melted butter
chocolate fudge ice cream topping

In a small bowl, stir together the Nutter Butter crumbs and melted butter and press into the bottom and sides of a pie plate.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until it begins to look golden brown.  Set it aside and let it cool down.  In a large bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and powdered sugar and beat it with an electric mixer until it is smooth and creamy.  Add the peanut butter and vanilla and do the same.  Stir in the cool whip until it is well combined (also, smooth and creamy) and spread the whole mixture over the cooled Nutter Butter crust.  Squirt a little of the chocolate fudge ice cream topping over the top of the pie and refrigerate until you are ready to eat it.

Creamy Ranch Chicken Bake

The other day I needed something new that I could prepare and bake while I worked on other things.  I thought that something creamy and ranchy and chicken-y sounded good, so I googled those three words and found all sorts of recipes titled "Creamy Ranch Chicken".  I guess there are many other people that also thought that sounded good.  I looked at a couple of the recipes, and they were all about the same as what was going on in my head, except for being cooked in a crockpot instead of baked.  So, my guess is that in the future, if I want to make this same recipe in the crockpot, it would work out just fine.

Creamy Ranch Chicken Bake
by: Carolyn

1/2 c. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 ranch packet
bacon bits
salt and pepper
chicken breasts

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Spray a 9X13 dish with cooking spray.  In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, cream of chicken soup, ranch packet and bacon bits.  Lightly sprinkle salt and pepper on your chicken breasts and place them in the pan (the ranch and bacon make this a salty recipe already, so you could omit this if you wanted).  Spread the creamy mixture over the top of your chicken.  Cover it with tinfoil and bake it for 20 minutes.  Remove the tinfoil and bake it another 5 minutes, or until it is no longer pink in the center.  I served it with baked potatoes and steamed carrots.

Easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Now that we are in the full swing of Fall, I am really loving things like soup, for dinner.  I have made this recipe a couple of times now, and we loved it both times.  I use the egg noodles from Costco, and cook it in my slow cooker, so that makes it especially easy.  One of the times I made it I got ambitious and also made my easy rolls to go with it.  It was a super delicious, cozy Fall meal!

Easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
by: Carolyn

2 tsp. minced garlic
1 onion, sliced
4 c. chicken broth
4 c. water
1 c. chopped celery
1 c. chopped carrots
3 potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 chicken breast
3-4 handfuls of uncooked, wide egg noodles (or as many as you want-just be aware that they will swell as they soak up the water, and if it doesn't seem like you have enough in there, you probably really do)

In your slow cooker, combine all of the ingredients, except the egg noodles.  Cook it on high for 4-6 hours, or on low for 8 hours.  Remove the chicken breast, shred it, and put it back in the crock pot.  Add the egg noodles, recover the crock pot, and cook for 15-20 minutes more, or until the noodles are tender.  

Fish Tacos with Lime Cilantro Crema

Ahh, fish tacos.  This is a new food choice for me, and I really love them!  I have made this recipe a couple of times, and both times I was so happy with how they turned out.  The fish is delicious, but the lime crema adds so much to them!  The only thing I wish I had been able to add was some cabbage to the taco.  We didn't have any, so lettuce had to do.  

Fish Tacos
adapted from: Cooking Light

1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
2 tilapia fillets

Lime Cilantro Crema
1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
3 Tbsp. mayonnaise
3 Tbsp. sour cream
1 tsp. grated lime rind
1 1/2 tsp. lime juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. minced garlic

In a small dish, combine the cumin, smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, salt and garlic powder.  Sprinkle the spices evenly over both sides of the fish.  Bake the fish at 425 degrees for 9 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily.  I think that the second time I made this, I actually fried the fish in a small amount of oil on the stove.  I say, try it either way!  While the fish is cooking, combine all the ingredients for the crema in a small bowl.  Chill it in the fridge until you are ready for it.  When the fish is cooked, break it into small pieces and then serve it on a soft taco shell (we used corn tortillas) with the lime cilantro crema and cabbage.

Massaman Curry

My hubby has been asking me to make Massaman Curry for a while now, and I could never get around to it.  I finally made it happen this week and I'm so glad that I did!  This was a delicious, easy, curry recipe, and it was just enough of a change from our other favorite curry recipes, that it was refreshing.

Massaman Curry
adapted from: allrecipes.com

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 Tbsp. curry paste (mine was red)
1/4-1/2 tsp. ground ginger 
2 chicken breasts, cubed
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 of 1/3 c. of chunky peanut butter (did that make sense?)
2 peeled, cubed potatoes
2 peeled, sliced carrots
1/2  of an onion, sliced
1 can of coconut milk
1 Tbsp. lime juice

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat.  Stir in the curry paste and ginger and cook it for 2 minutes.  Add the chicken breast cubes and cook for about 3 minutes.  Stir in the brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, peanut butter, potatoes, carrots, onions and coconut milk.  Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium low.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the veggies are tender.  Add the lime juice and cook it for 5 more minutes.  Serve it over rice or rice noodles.

Orange Chicken

Tonight we made this orange chicken recipe and it was so delicious that I wanted to hurry and put it on here so that I wouldn't lose the recipe and risk never making it again!  Of course, it was Fast Sunday, and that may contribute to the deliciousness of this Sunday dinner...  

Orange Chicken
adapted from: foodnetwork.com (and this is the Pioneer Woman's recipe)

Chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 c. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. oil

For the sauce:
1 c. orange juice
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar (I used balsamic because I was out of rice vinegar)
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
2 dashes of salt (it calls for a dash of salt and I'm putting the doubled recipe on here)
2 dashes of red pepper flakes
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 dashes of ginger
1 tsp. of cornstarch
1/4 c. water
orange zest

In a sealed, large ziploc bag, shake the chicken chunks and 1/4 c. cornstarch until the chicken is well coated.  Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the coated chicken over medium heat until it is cooked through.  In a sauce pan, whisk together the orange juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, salt, red pepper flakes, garlic and ginger.  Heat it until it begins to boil and continue stirring while it thickens, about 5 minutes.  Stir together the 1 tsp. cornstarch and water and slowly add it to the boiling sauce.  Return it to a boil for another minute, until the sauce thickens.  Add your orange zest to the sauce (I just added a little).  Pour it over your chicken and let it simmer for 5 minutes.  Serve it over rice, with vegetables.

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

The other day our neighbor gave us eight quarts of heavy whipping cream.  Eight.  And when life gives you heavy cream, you make alfredo (and ice cream, and butter, and creamy soups...).  I found this delicious knock off recipe on Top Secret Recipes, and if you happen to have eight quarts of heavy cream that you need to use, this is definitely the recipe for you!

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
from: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes, by Todd Wilbur.

1/2 c. butter
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 c. heavy cream
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
pinch salt
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese

In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the garlic, heavy cream, pepper and salt and let it simmer over a low heat.  Add the cheese and continue simmering for 8 minutes or until it thickens up.  Remove it from the heat and serve it over your favorite pasta.  

Perfectly Cooked Steak

This year, Valentine's Day was on a Sunday, so we didn't go out.  Dustin offered to make dinner, and I wasn't going to argue with that!  He chose steak (big surprise) and baked sweet potatoes.  He found a recipe for a "perfectly cooked steak" and got sucked in.  And, I must say, it was a well cooked steak.  And pretty easy to accomplish.

Perfectly Broiled Steak

by: food.com

Steak

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

olive oil (or canola)

Move the rack in your oven to be 6 inches from the top.  Preheat your oven and your skillet by setting your oven to broil, with the skillet in it, for 15-20 minutes.  Using a paper towel, wipe any excess moisture from your steaks.  Rub your steak with the oil, salt and pepper (and any other seasonings that you want).  Once your skillet is extremely hot, lay the steaks on the skillet and sear them in the oven for three minutes per side.  Make sure that you don't stab them with a fork to turn them.  Use tongs to pick them up.  After you have seared both sides, turn your oven to 500 degrees and cook them according to this chart, turning them once: 

Rare (120-130F)1" 0-1 minute, 1 1/4" 2-3 minutes, 1 3/4" 4-5 minutes
Medium (140-150F) 1" 2-3 minutes, 1 1/4" 4-5 minutes, 1 3/4" 6-7 minutes
Medium Well (150-160F) 1" 4-5 minutes, 1 1/4" 6-7 minutes, 1 3/4" 8-9 minutes


And that should give you a perfectly cooked steak!