Creamy Ranch Chicken

Creamy Ranch Chicken
adapted from Better Homes and Garden's Quick and Easy Recipes
start to finish: 20 minutes
serves about 4

6 slices bacon
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons ranch dry salad dressing mix
1 1/4 cups milk
3 cups dried medium noodles(I used bowtie noodles)
1 tablespoon finely shredded Parmesan cheese

**Also, I added mozzerella to the top and let it melt.

Directions:
1. Start your water for your pasta. Cook noodles according to package directions.
2. Cut bacon into narrow strips. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels; discard all but 2 tablespoons drippings.
3. In the same skillet, cook chicken in reserved drippings until no longer pink, turning to brown evenly. Sprinkle flour and salad dressing mix over chicken; stir well to coat the chicken. Stir in milk. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more. Stir in bacon.
4. Serve the chicken over the noodles. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

The Results:

This was quick and easy. It was good but the mozzerella on top made it even better. I served this with a side of steamed broccoli. I got the recipe from www.stephanieskitchen.com.

Beer Can Chicken

After
Before

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (4-5 pounds)
1 12 ounce can beer (room temperature)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon

For Rub:
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Preparation:

Combine all rub ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
Remove giblets and the neck from chicken. Sprinkle all over with rub, including cavity. Open can of beer and discard half of it. Place, minced garlic, rosemary, thyme, lemon juice, and pepper flakes in it. Make sure to pierce two more holes on the top of beer can. Place chicken on top of can.

Preheat grill. Place birds grill balanced by the beer cans. Grill over indirect medium heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until internal temperature of thigh is 180 degrees. Remove chicken when finished cooking and let sit (with beer can still intact), for 10 minutes before carving.

** Put potatoes, carrots or any other vegetable in the bottom of the pan with the chicken. Those were the best carrots I've ever had. I wish I would have put potatoes in with it.

The Results:

Awesome chicken. I put my chicken on the grill and covered it for about 1 1/2 hours. Depends really on how big your chicken is. Mine was 5lbs. I did use beer but you could also use Coke or Dr. Pepper. The chicken was super moist and the carrots I put on the bottom of the pan were so good. I put my chicken on a throw away foil pan. I also wadded up some foil and put it in the neck of the chicken to keep all the steam in. It was so moist and tender. It went perfect with my green beans and leftover roasted garlic mashed potatoes. I got the recipe from http://bbq.about.com/od/chickenrecipes/r/bl50727a.htm

Green Beans

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
6 bacon strips, diced
1 large onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Place beans in a saucepan and cover with water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
Meanwhile, in a skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon and set aside. Saute onion in drippings until tender; remove with a slotted spoon. Drain beans; return to pan. Add onion, 1 tablespoon drippings, salt and pepper; heat through. Crumble the bacon. Add to the beans and toss. Serve immediately.

The Results:

These were so yummy! My mom makes these beans. She usually adds almonds or some other nut to them. I don't care for the almonds in them so I left them out. These were good the next day too. Good side dish.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Yummy!

ROASTED GARLIC

Ingredients:

2 heads of garlic

Drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

1 Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2 Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.
3 Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.
4 Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

The Results:

This was good right out of the head of garlic. You can roast your own garlic and put it in a dip or on french bread or whatever. I got the method of how to do it off of http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001712roasted_garlic.php. It was so simple and easy. Went perfect with my roasted garlic mashed potatoes

INGREDIENTS:
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup olive oil
7 baking potatoes, peeled and cubed ( I used red potatoes)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

*Added 1/4 cup of green onions (chopped)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Place garlic cloves in a small baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, cover, and bake 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add potatoes, and cook until tender but firm. Drain, and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
Place roasted garlic, milk, Parmesan cheese, and butter into the bowl with the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Beat to desired consistency with an electric mixer.

The Results: These are so good. They were so good with the whole dinner. I got the recipe from allrecipes. My husband thought this whole dinner was awesome.

Corn on the Cob

Ingredients:
4 ears of corn
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 garlic salt
sprinkle of salt
butter
Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Once it is at a boil set the corn in for about 10-15 minutes. When it is done turn it off and cover the corn once you are ready to eat. When you are ready to eat pull the corn out and butter them. Sprinkle with chili powder, garlic salt and salt.

The Results:
I love corn on the cob. It always brings me back to when I was a little girl. I really just added what I wanted to the corn but usually it is salt and butter. The chili powder and garlic salt made it taste really good though.

Grilled Marinated Ribeye

Ingredients:

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup A-1 Sauce

1 teaspoon Johnny's Seasoning Salt (I used just lawry's seasoning salt)

4 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped

*(reserve 1/4 cup of this marinade to brush on the ribeyes as they cook)

Directions:

Marinate the ribeyes in this mixture at least 4 hours, and preferably overnight in the fridge. A couple hours before grilling, remove the steaks from the refrigerator and let them warm up to room temperature.

The Results:

Perfect ribeye. My husbands ribeye was medium rare and mine was a little more done. I let him enjoy the perfect ribeye. It was my Father's Day meal for him since he wasn't home on Father's Day. I got the recipe from http://www.smoker-cooking.com/marinated-ribeye-steaks.html.

Buttery Cooked Carrots

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound baby carrots
1/4 cup margarine
1/3 cup brown sugar

DIRECTIONS:
Cook carrots in a large pot of boiling water until tender. Drain off most of the liquid, leaving bottom of pan covered with water. Set the carrots aside.
Stir margarine and brown sugar into the water. Simmer and stir until the margarine melts. Return carrots to the pot, and toss to coat. Cover, and let sit for a few minutes to allow flavors to mingle.

The Results:

I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. I've never really liked carrots cooked. For some reason today they tasted really good. I enjoyed the sweet kick to them. I topped the carrots with parsley. I will definitely be snacking on these tomorrow.

CHOCOLATE MAYONNAISE CAKE and HERSHEY'S PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE FROSTING

CHOCOLATE MAYONNAISE CAKE

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1-1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

3 eggs

1-2/3 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise

1-1/3 cups water

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and lightly flour two 9-inch round cake pans*; set aside.

2. In medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder; set aside.

3. In large bowl, with electric mixer at high speed, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise at low speed until blended. Alternately beat in flour mixture with water, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Pour into prepared pans.

4. Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. On wire racks, cool 10 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely. Frost, if desired, or sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

*Or, prepare cake mix as above in 13 x 9-inch baking pan and bake 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine

2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

The Results:

The best chocolate cake. The mayo made the chocolate cake nice and moist and the frosting went perfectly with it. I put the frosting in the middle of the cake and some chopped up strawberries. On top of the cake after I frosted it I put toasted coconut. I just barely toasted it and stuff it on around the cake. You can really put whatever you want on the cake. It would have been good with just the frosting. I don't think you could really go wrong with this cake. YUMMY!

Green Chili Casserole

Ingredients:
12 corn tortillas
1 lbs ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 can of Cream of Mushroom
1 can of Cream of Chicken
1 small can green chilies (4 oz)
1/2 can corn
Cheddar cheese, grated
Directions:
In a large skillet cook ground beef and onions. Mix the rest of ingredients together and add to cooked ground beef and onions. Heat mixture through. In a 2 quart pan lay down the corn tortillas,the meat mixture, cheese, tortillas, meat mixture and 4 more tortillas. Top with cheese. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
The Results:
This may look like a mess but it was good. It was kinda like the white enchiladas that I had made except this was made with corn tortillas and it is a casserole. I thought this was a really good and quick meal.