Chicken Roll-Ups redone

I grew up eating Chicken Roll-Ups. They were quick, they were easy, and they were good. However, I found myself comparing the sauce (cream of chicken soup) to the memory of when I had cream of chicken soup minus the chicken at the hospital when I had my appendix out, and so I revamped it a little bit so as to give it a little better flavor. But I didn't stop there and just kept adding things until I got this. Beware that I usually just add in a bunch of seasonings and flavors until it tastes good, so these are rough estimates. Enjoy!

Chicken Roll-Ups redone:

1 1/2- 2 c. cooked chicken (I use less chicken if I add more spinach)

8 oz. cream cheese

frozen or fresh spinach (I used about as much spinach as chicken... 1 1/2 c. ish)

lemon juice (I either cook the chicken in lemon juice or add it in when I mix the ingredients, probably 2-4 tbsp.)

italian seasoning

oregano

3+ tbsp. melted butter

2 cans crescent rolls or biscuits

For sauce:

2 cans cream of chicken soup

sour cream (about 1/2 c. or a little more)

milk (1- 1 1/2 c., or until desired thinness)

italian seasoning

oregano

For topping: (I used the leftover topping I had from making this ziti and it was awesome. You can also use italian breadcrumbs)

1 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 c. Italian breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon romano cheese, grated
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix topping ingredients and set aside. Soften cream cheese. Mix chicken, cream cheese, spinach, lemon juice, and seasonings (to taste) in a medium sized bowl. (I used frozen spinach and mixed it in without thawing it and it came out great.) Press crescent rolls flat and put even amounts of cream cheese filling onto rolls. Fold dough over and seal the edges to make mini looking calzones. Dip each roll into melted butter, then into ziti topping (or Italian breadcrumbs) and arrange side by side in 9X13 pan (I use round cake pans). Top with any remaining topping and bake uncovered for 20 min. or until dough has cooked through.

For sauce:

Mix cans of cream of chicken soup, sour cream, milk, and seasonings (to taste) over medium-high heat stirring occasionally.

Serve sauce over rolls and enjoy.

(The picture shown does not have ziti topping.)

Sunshine Pancakes

This recipe for pancakes is from my mother-in-law, Kathy, and has been handed down and around and through and now has been passed on to me. It takes a little longer than the recipe I use for my every day breakfast making (because you cut in the margarine), so I like to use it for dinner pancakes (which happens more than it should at our house).

Sunshine Pancakes

1 1/4 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. soda

1 Tbsp. powdered sugar

1/4 c. margarine

1 egg

1 c. milk

Combine flour, baking powder, soda and powdered sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the margarine. Add the egg and milk (I ended up adding about 1/4 c. more milk) and stir together. Your batter will be lumpy from the little butter chunks,

but when you bake it up the butter melts and mmmm, it is like eating a buttery piece of sunshine!

Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream

I thought it would be funny to put this recipe in right now, with all the other coconut food I have been adding recently. I actually used my leftover coconut milk after making the Thai Coconut Rice. I loved the hint of coconut that the ice cream had. It would be especially yummy with some sliced almonds on top (kind of like an Almond Joy). I used the recipe for chocolate ice cream that came with my Cuisinart ice cream maker and tweaked it just a bit.

Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream

1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

2/3 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. whole milk

3 1/4 c. heavy cream

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1/2 - 3/4 c. coconut milk

Stir together the cocoa powder and sugars. Add the whole milk and mix with a hand mixer on low speed until the cocoa and sugars dissolve, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla, then stir in the coconut milk. If not freezing immediately, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Pour into your ice cream maker and mix until the ice cream has a soft creamy texture.

Sticky Coconut Chicken

If you don't like coconut, you probably haven't been too pleased with the recent recipes I have been adding. Apparently I am loving all things coconut right now. This recipe actually is supposed to have the chicken grilled, but my little grill wouldn't support the amount of chicken we were making. Instead, I fried the chicken on the stove and served it with rice. It got rave reviews this way, but I am sure it would be excellent grilled, too.

Sticky Coconut Chicken

Adapted from: http://www.sweetluvininthekitchen.blogspot.com/

4 boneless chicken breasts

1 c. canned coconut milk

1/2 Tbsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. fresh ground pepper

1 tsp. chili powder

Glaze

3/4 c. rice vinegar

1/2 c. sugar

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. chili powder

Marinate chicken in coconut milk, ginger, pepper and red pepper flakes for at least an hour. I did mine all day, and the chicken was very tender and flavorful. Put a small amount of oil in your frying pan and fry the chicken until no pink remains. While mine was cooking, I had some of the marinade in with the chicken, but before I glazed it (see next step) I poured most of the marinade out.

While chicken is cooking, combine rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and red pepper flakes in a medium saucepan and stir over medium-high heat, until mixture is reduced and thickened, about 8-10 minutes.

When it really begins to thicken, take it off the heat and immediately glaze it on your cooked chicken (it will firm up pretty fast once it is off the heat).

Enjoy!

*Note: The original recipe calls for red pepper flakes in place of the chili powder. I have never used the red pepper flakes until the last time I made it. It adds A LOT of kick to this dish. If you like a lot of spice and a little sweet, use red pepper flakes. If you like a little spice and a lot of sweet, use chili powder.

Sesame Chicken

Here is one of my favorite recipes for Chinese food, given to me by my friend Beka Madsen. The sweet sauce pairs really well with the broccoli. I absolutely love it, and here is the biggest shocker, my children will eat this! I made it last night and nearly killed over when they all ate it without complaint. Some even asked for seconds! And here is another miracle, I follow this recipe exactly. Actually, I take that back. I reduce the number of chicken breasts to 2 or 3 because we like to have a little more sauce to put on our rice. Sometimes I will also throw in a bag of frozen broccoli instead of using fresh. But I do think that fresh is better.

Sesame Chicken

from Beka Madsen

4 chicken breasts

canola oil

1/2 c. cornstarch

2 Tbsp. oyster sauce

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/4c. sugar

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 1/3 c. water

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 1/2 c. broccoli, cut in chunks

sesame seeds

Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces. Put 1/2 c. cornstarch and chicken chunks in a large plastic bag and toss until well coated. Add enough canola oil into your skillet to generously coat the bottom of the pan. Fry chicken until medium brown.

While frying, prepare the sauce by mixing in a saucepan oyster sauce, 2 Tbsp. cornstarch, sugar, garlic powder, water and soy sauce. Stir the mixture over medium heat until it thickens. Pour it over the cooked chicken and let it simmer for about 3 minutes. Add your broccoli and steam it until it is as tender as you would like. Stir in sesame seeds and serve it over rice.

Garlic-Rosemary Pork Chops

I may have mentioned that I recently have been loving coconut. The other flavor that I now love is Rosemary. I planned on making pork chops for dinner and was wanting something different and I came across this recipe on Our Best Bites. I worried a little after tasting the rub (before putting it on the pork chops) that it was going to be too mustardy, but my fears were unfounded. The mustard must've (he he) absorbed into the pork chops, leaving only yumminess. I served it with garlic mashed potatoes and a green salad and it was excellent. And if you serve it on a Strawberry Shortcake plate with a princess place mat, it tastes that much better (look at Aurora eyeing my yummy pork chops).

Garlic-Rosemary Pork Chops

Adapted from: www.ourbestbites.com

4 pork chops

2 1/2 Tbsp. oil

4 tsp. dried rosemary

2 1/2 Tbsp. honey mustard

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

A few dashes of pepper

Line baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Stir together the oil, rosemary, mustard, garlic, kosher salt and pepper until well combined. Rub into pork chops (all sides). Bake at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.

Favorite Oatmeal Cookies

Of all the oatmeal cookies out there, these are my favorite. The recipe is from my mother-in-law and these are delicious eaten cooked or raw. We generally prefer raw. Are you hyperventilating about the raw eggs? Well, don't. I'm pretty sure that when eggs are mixed into dough and then frozen and then consumed, that it alters their chemical make-up and no salmonella bacteria is able to penetrate the egg cells. Umm, or something like that. Okay, I made that up.

Now here is a little secret of mine for most of my recipes involving chocolate chips: multiple chocolate flavors.

I like to add at least semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips and sometimes, if I'm feeling a little crazy, white chocolate chips, too! The more the better! I also always lessen the sugar that it calls for by at least 1/4 cup, sometimes more. Go ahead and try it. You can't tell! (but do lessen the salt a little, too).

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. shortening

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

3 c. oatmeal (quick is best)

chocolate chips.

Cream together the shortening and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, soda, salt and stir until well combined. Mix in oatmeal and then add chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

To freeze dough (and eat later, straight out of the freezer) roll it in wax paper in a log-like fashion.

When you want to devour some dough, just pull that dough log out of the freezer and cut a slice off. This is a good way to have cookie dough for an ice cream shake, too. Mmm, cookie dough.

P.S. Why would this picture be turned on its side and how do I fix that? Come on, smart computer family members! Solve this for me!