Chicken Parmigiana

Cook Time: 45 Minutes  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 4 whole (up To 6) Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Trimmed And Pounded Flat
• ½ cups All-purpose Flour
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• ½ cups Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Chopped
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• ¾ cups Wine (white Or Red Is Fine)
• 3 cans (14.5 Oz.) Crushed Tomatoes
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• ¼ cubes Chopped Fresh Parsley
• 1 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 pound Thin Linguine

Preparation Instructions

Mix flour, salt, and pepper together on a large plate.
Dredge flattened chicken breasts in flour mixture. Set aside.
At this time, you can start a pot of water for your pasta. Cook linguine until al dente.
Heat olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium heat. When butter is melted and oil/butter mixture is hot, fry chicken breasts until nice and golden brown on each side, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Remove chicken breasts from the skillet and keep warm.
Without cleaning skillet, add onions and garlic and gently stir for 2 minutes. Pour in wine and scrape the bottom of the pan, getting all the flavorful bits off the bottom. Allow wine to cook down until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.
Pour in crushed tomatoes and stir to combine. Add sugar and more salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cook for 30 minutes. Toward the end of cooking time, add chopped parsley and give sauce a final stir.
Carefully lay chicken breasts on top of the sauce and completely cover them in grated Parmesan. Place lid on skillet and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer until cheese is melted and chicken is thoroughly heated. Add more cheese to taste.
Place cooked noodles on a plate and cover with sauce. Place chicken breast on top and sprinkle with more parsley. Serve immediately.

Okay so the pioneer woman is my new favorite cooking website. Click on the label and it will take you to her website with details and pictures. Who would of thought that adding butter to olive oil will help the chicken brown and not burn?

Tres Leches Cake

Prep Time: 45 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 1 Hour  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 5 whole Eggs
• 1 cup Sugar, Divided
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• ⅓ cups Milk
• 1 can Evaporated Milk
• 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
• ¼ cups Heavy Cream
• _____
• FOR THE ICING:
• 1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, (or not) pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture onto the cake—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

This cake is just pure goodness. Very moist and will keep you coming back for more. This is one of Rachel's favorite cakes.

Beef with Snow Peas

Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Cook Time: 15 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 8
Ingredients

* 1-½ pound Flank Steak, Trimmed Of Fat And Sliced Very Thin Against The Grain
* ½ cups Low Sodium Soy Sauce
* 3 Tablespoons Sherry Or Cooking Sherry
* 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
* 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
* 1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Ginger
* 8 ounces, weight Fresh Snow Peas, Ends Trimmed
* 5 whole Scallions, Cut Into Half-inch Pieces On The Diagonal
* Salt As Needed (use Sparingly)
* 3 Tablespoons Peanut Or Olive Oil
* Crushed Red Pepper, For Sprinkling
* Jasmine Or Long Grain Rice, Cooked According To Package

Preparation Instructions

In a bowl, mix together soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Add sliced meat to bowl and toss with hands. Set aside.

Heat oil in a heavy skillet (iron is best) or wok over high heat. Add snow peas and stir for 45 seconds. Remove to a separate plate. Set aside.

Allow pan to get very hot again. With tongs, add half the meat mixture, leaving most of the marinade still in the bowl. Add half the scallions. Spread out meat as you add it to pan, but do not stir for a good minute. (You want the meat to get as brown as possible in as short amount a time as possible.) Turn meat to the other side and cook for another 30 seconds. Remove to a clean plate.

Repeat with other half of meat, allowing pan to get very hot again first. After turning it, add the first plateful of meat, the rest of the marinade, and the snow peas. Stir over high heat for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Check seasonings and add salt only if it needs it. (Trust me it doesn't need more salt). Mixture will thicken as it sits.

Serve immediately over rice. Sprinkle crushed red pepper over the top to give it some spice.

This recipe is very yummy and restaurant quality! I would add water chestnuts and maybe some mushrooms next time. Click on the title and it will take you to pioneer woman with step by step photo directions.

Freezer meals night...

I did a freezer meal group with a few friends last week in preparation for the last few weeks of pregnancy when I HATE to cook. Here is a list of the recipes we used and the hyperlink for where you can find them...

Navajo Tacos


Cafe Rio Pork Style Burritos

Chicken and Beef Fajitas

Breaded Ranch Chicken

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos


Meatballs/Meatloaves


Salisbury Steaks


Chicken Puffs

We got together beforehand and 'rated' the 8 recipes we wanted to do, each of us taking 2 meals to prepare beforehand and bringing them ready to assemble. We got together 1 night so we had no kids to take care of and worry about and started around 7:30. It was our first time so we didn't go as fast as we probably could, but we finished up around 11:15.

I will get about 13 meals from what we did that night and couldn't be more thrilled. We all brought our receipts, added up the prices, divided them by 4 and made sure we all payed the same amount.

I cannot wait to use them and do it again before baby comes!!

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

1/3 C (3 ounces) cream cheese
3/4 C green salsa
1 TBL free lime juice (half a lime)
1/2 teas cumin
1 teas chili powder
1/2 onion powder
1/4 teas granulated garlic
3 TBL chopped cilantro
2 TBL chopped green onions
2 C cooked, cubed chicken
1 C grated cheese
6-inch corn or flour tortillas (as fresh as possible)

Combine ingredients, put on tortillas and wrap up. Place unbaked taquitoes in a single layer of a baking sheet and place in the freezer for 2 hours or until frozen enough to hold their shape. Pack in freezer safe container for up to 3 months. To bake, 25-30 minutes or until crisp at 350*

Recipe from Our Best Bites

Meatball/Meatloaf Mixture

4 lbs ground beef
3 C Bread crumbs
6 eggs, beaten
1 large onion, hopped
3 cloves garlic
2 TBL dried parsley
1 TBL dried basil
1 teas kosher salt

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Don't mix too much, just enough to distribute ingredients throughout mixture.

Form into meatballs or divide into four parts and form four meatloaves. These are not very salty meatballs since you will them with sauce or gravy.

For meatballs, bake in 350* oven for 15 minutes or until cooked through for meatballs. Cool, label and freeze.

For meatloaves, wrap, label and freeze. When ready to serve, thaw and bake 45-60 minutes or until cooked through.

***I just flashed froze my meatballs and will cook them when we want to eat them. This is A LOT of meat. I wouldn't put as much onion in it the next time either.

Easy Bistro Chicken

• 2 tsp oil
• 3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 can (15 oz) stewed tomatoes, undrained
• 1/4 Italian Dressing
• 3 Tbsp tomato paste
• 4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb)
• 1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 2 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and onions; cook 5 min, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes, dressing and tomato paste. Add chicken; cover. Simmer on medium-low heat 12 min or until chicken is done. Top with cheese and bacon; simmer, uncovered 5 min or until cheese is melted.

The recipe is from Kraft. I doubled the bacon and next time I make it will add just a tiny bit more cheese. It was SO good.

Mahogany Roasted Chicken

• 1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 Tbsp ketchup
• 1/2 tsp hot sauce
• 6 large skinless chicken thighs (about 2 1/4 lbs)

1. Heat oven to 450. Coat roasting pan with nonstick cooking spray
2. In medium bowl, whisk soy sauce, honey, Orange juice, ketchup and hot sauce. Set aside half for basting, half for serving.
3. Place chicken, skinned-side up, in a pan. Brush generously with soy mixture for basting. Roast @ 450 for 40 minutes, brushing every 10 min with sauce. Remove from oven when internal temp registers 160 on instant read thermometer.

This one came from Family Circle.

Catalina Chicken

• 2 tsp oil
• 6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 lbs)
• 1/2 cup Catalina dressing
• 1/2 cup apricot jam
• 3 Tbsp (1/2 of 1 oz pkt) onion soup mix

Heat oven to 350. Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 4 min. on each side or until browned on both sides. Transfer chicken to 3-qt casserole dish. Mix dressing, jam and soup mix; pour over chicken. Bake 35-40 min or until chicken is done.

I got the recipe from Kraft.