Chicken a la King

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or stick margarine
1 small green bell pepper, chopped (1/2cup) (You could use a red bell pepper too.)
1/2 cup onion, chopped *
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms or (1 can 4 ounces of canned mushrooms)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup frozen peas*
2 cups cut-up chicken or turkey ( you could even use a can of tuna)
1 jar (2 ounces)diced pimientos, drained
3 cups hot cooked rice or 12 triangles of toasted bread
* Added to the recipe

Directions:
1. Melt butter in 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook bell pepper,onion and mushrooms in butter, stirring occasionally, until bell pepper is crisp-tender.
2. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in milk and broth. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in chicken and pimientos; cook until hot. Serve over rice.

The Results:
This turned out good for a fast meal. I got the recipe out of the Betty Crocker cookbook. I didn't have any pimientos on hand so I didn't add them. I'm sure they would have been good with it though. I also added the onion and peas to the ingredients. I thought it needed it. :) This could also make a good chicken pot pie filling. Just buy or make 2 pie crusts. You could serve this over toast, rice or noodles. Whatever floats your boat.

Baked Penne Mozzarella with Sweet Italian Sausage

Ingredients:
1 lbs dry penne pasta
1/2 yellow onion
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1 lbs Sweet Italian Sausage
1/2 package of fresh mushroom or 1 can of mushrooms
season with a little salt and pepper
1 jar Traditional Prego
1 cup cottage cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook pasta according to directions, drain and set aside. Heat up a large pan and add the Italian Sausage , onion and garlic. Add the mushrooms to the pan once the sausage is cooked. Cook the mushroom with the sausage for just a little bit and season with a little salt and pepper. Next add the Prego to the Sausage mixture. Add the cooked penne to the sausage and prego sauce.
Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Add half of the pasta into the pan. Next put the cup of cottage cheese on top and 1 cup of mozzarella. Then top it off with the rest of the pasta and put the remaining mozzarella on top and Parmesan cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling.

The Results:
It turned out so good. I loved it. It is going to make GREAT leftovers for the next couple days. It makes a lot. I wish I could have made some bread sticks with it but I ran out of time. So it was served with a salad and we had some cut up strawberries for dessert. YUMMY!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, peanut butter and melted butter. Press firmly into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Melt chocolate chips over a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring occasionally. Spread melted chocolate over the crumb crust. Chill for about 5 minutes, then cut into bars before the chocolate is completely set, then chill until ready to serve.
The Results:
So yummy and they tasted like Reese's peanut butter cups.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Before it went in the oven
After it came out.
All cut up and looking soooooo good.

Ingredients:

1 prepared pizza crust

1/2 cup bbq sauce, divided ( Any kind is good just pick your favorite bbq sauce. I used Tony Roma's famous bbq sauce.) ( Don't use more then a 1/2 cup or the crust will get soggy.)

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded

1 1/2-2 cup mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

cornmeal

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. If you have a pizza stone (they make the best pizzas), put it in the oven to preheat as well. Toss shredded chicken with 1/4 c bbq sauce. Remove hot pizza stone from oven and sprinkle with corn meal. Roll or toss dough and place on stone. Spread remaining 1/4 c bbq sauce over dough. Arrange onion slices over sauce. Spread chicken over onions then top with cheese. Bake 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden brown. (That time is for a pizza stone - if you are using a cookie sheet, it may be a shorter time) Sprinkle with fresh cilantro and slice into 8 wedges.
In case you don't have a good pizza dough recipe, here is the one I like:

1 cup very warm water

1 tsp sugar

1 Tbs yeast

3 Tbs oil

2 1/2 c flour

1 tsp salt

Dissolve sugar in warm water then sprinkle yeast on top and float for 1 minute. Stir in yeast and proof (let it sit) for 10 minutes- yeast should foam. Stir in oil, salt and flour and knead for 10 minutes. Place dough in oiled bowl and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.

The Results:

Oh soooooo good. I loved this pizza. You can really do whatever pizza you want with this crust but I wanted to try the bbq pizza. I used a pizza stone. I got a pizza stone for my wedding 6 years ago and have NEVER used it till today. It made the BEST pizza. I only cooked mine for about 17 minutes. Make sure to check it. I think 20-25 minutes is way to long. I guess it depends on your oven.
* I got the recipe from one of the recipe blogs I contribute to http://justmade.blogspot.com/search/label/pizza

White Chocolate Coconut Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 cups and 1/2 TSP of flour (sifted)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup coconut

Directions:
Put the sugar and brown sugar together and mix. Then add the shortening and mix that all together good. Then add the eggs and mix really good together. (Builds good muscles) Then sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix, Mix, Mix. Then add the vanilla and mix again. Then add the oatmeal and chocolate chips and mix AGAIN. I swear all this mixing makes these the best. :)Bake at 350 for 7 minutes. Until light golden brown. Let them sit on the rack for about a hour before eating. If you eat one before they will seem like they are not done. Just be patient.

The Results:

This is my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe except for milk chocolate chips I added white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of coconut. They were also very good. I'll add macadamia nuts next time.

Snicker Ravioli's

Cut up Snicker Ravioli

I forgot to take a picture of it cut open so the above picture is the picture Jenn took.

Just like The Macaroni Grill's Snicker Raviolis.

Ingredients:

won tons

cut up snickers

egg wash ( egg white with a couple drops of water)

Directions:

Put the snickers inside and to seal the won ton you put egg wash on the edges and throw it in bubbling hot canola oil and within 30 seconds it's ready! Sprinkle with powered sugar and serve with ice cream.

The Results:
I had some hot fudge left over but I was too impatient to put the hot fudge on. As soon as these bad boys were done we ate them up. I got the recipe from one of the recipe blogs I contribute to Food, Friends and Fun. This was yummy and easy.

Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

10 cups of fat-free chicken broth, low sodium ( I would use just regular chicken broth next time.)

( I used a 48 oz box of broth, low sodium and 1 can of broth)

4 red potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes ( I used 3 red potatoes)

4 cups onions, quartered ( I used one large onion)

1 cup carrots, sliced 1 inch thick ( I used 3 carrots)

3 cups celery, sliced 1 inch thick ( I used 3 celery stalks)

2 cups zucchini, sliced 1 inch thick ( I used 2 zucchinis)

8 ounces tomato sauce, canned ( I used about 3/4 of the can)

2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 3 cloves)

1/4 bunch fresh parsley, chopped ( I used dried parsley)

1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped ( I only used a couple leaves of cilantro)

dash black pepper

dash garlic salt

dash salt

* I added about 8 fresh mushrooms -quartered

Directions:

1. In large stockpot, combine the chicken broth, potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-high, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.

2. Add the zucchini,tomato sauce, garlic, parsley, and cilantro. Reduce hear to medium-low and cook for 10 to 15 minutes more, or until the zucchini is just tender. Season to taste with black pepper and serve.

The Results:

This turned out really good. Topped the soup with parmesan. I served it with grilled cheese because hey I have a 3 year old to feed too. Surprisingly he ate the soup too. Just make sure to season and taste.

* I got this recipe out of our workout cookbook.