Pecan Tassies

Crust:

1 3-oz pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup flour

Blend together; chill 1 hour.  Shape into 2 dozen 1-in. balls.  Place in ungreased 1-and-¾-in. mini muffin pan.  Press dough evenly against bottom and sides of muffin cups (using a Tart Tamper).

Filling:

1 egg

¾ cup brown sugar

1 T. melted butter

1 tsp. vanilla

Dash of salt

2/3 cup broken pecans

Beat together all ingredients except the pecans.  Place ½ of the pecans in the pastry-lined pans.  Pour in filling.  Top with remaining pecans.  Bake at 325 for 25 min or until filling is set.  Cool before removing from pans.  (They freeze well.)

Mary Lou's Almond Roca

3 c sugar
1 lb butter minus 2 tbsp
1 cup raw almonds cut in thirds
6 Hershey bars
finely chopped almonds

Cook butter and sugar over med high (#8 on my stove) until they are melted together, stirring constantly..  As the mixture cooks adjust the heat so that it boils constantly but doesn't burn.  Stir in the cup of almond thirds after a few minutes and keep stirring.  When the bottom of the pan begins to smoke cook for about 1 minute more.  Quickly pour onto a heavy cookie sheet (12"x18") and smooth out.  Cool and melt the Hershey bars and spread on both sides and sprinkle with finely chopped almonds!  Cool and Voila! Almond Roca!

Mexican Chicken and Rice Soup

I found this recipe on the Rachael Ray website. I made it last night and it was so yummy! It is a new favorite!

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/soup-recipes/mexican-chicken-and-rice-soup

I made small changes to the recipe:

1. I made my own rice.
2. The tomato based salsa that I bought is called Herdez (mild).
3. Instead of serving with monterey jack cheese, I used Cacique ranchero queso fresco. Buy this at Walmart or Maceys.
4. I did not add the sour cream. The queso fresco was all I needed!
5. If you boil the chicken with onion and garlic, you can use the strained chicken broth for this soup (or buy a fryer chicken and Swanson's broth for a time saver).

The avocados and the queso fresco on top were the best part of the soup!!! Don't leave them out! Oh, and this is the quickest meal ever. I had it completed by the time my rice was cooked.

"Souper" Macaroni & Cheese

3 cups cooked noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I use cream of chicken soup)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon mustard
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
generous dash of pepper
french fried onions


Combine all ingredients and put in a casserole dish a bake at 350 for 45 minutes {put the french fried onions for the last five minutes}

Quick Fix: combine all ingredients in a large microwave safe bowl. Nuke for 2 minutes, stir, nuke for 2 minutes, stir, continue until it's all uniform, hot and melted.

It tastes better the next day as leftovers!

Spinach salad and award winning dressing

SPINACH SALAD (Served at the high priest dinner November 4, 2011).

Marinade for spinach salad:

1 ½ tsp. poppy seeds

¾ cup apple cider vinegar

¾ cup vegetable oil

½ cup sugar

1 ½ tsp finely chopped red onion

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp cottage cheese

Mix together; it has to be stirred constantly while putting on the salad because it separates very fast.  This makes 1 pint of dressing (up to 34 tbsp).  I put two tbsp on the salad at the dinner, but 1 tbsp goes pretty far.  I love this dressing on most of my salads, it is 56 calories per tbsp.

We garnished the spinach with:

Craisins

Real bacon bits

Sliced almonds

Sliced red onion

Mandarin oranges

Shredded Mozzarella cheese

(You can use any yummy thing you have in your pantry).

Kathy Perrins (adapted from Linda Bergeson)

Lemon-Feta Chicken

LEMON – FETA CHICKEN
Recipe by Donna Hay (Australia's Martha Stewart)
From the kitchen of: Michelle Quinn
NOTE: recipe can easily be expanded to meet the needs of whatever crowd you are feeding.
2 chicken breast fillets, trimmed
1 package of firm feta cheese (aka not crumbled) cut into cheese sticks
1 lemon (1 tablespoon of lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice)
5 sprigs of any fresh woody herb (i.e. oregano, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, etc…)
Olive oil (for drizzling)
Cracked black pepper
1 pkg baby spinach
Preheat oven to 350o F.
Place chicken in pan, zest lemon over everything, then cut lemon and squeeze juice over (be careful not to get seeds in the pan). Note: If you like lots of lemon, then use 2 instead of 1. Place the feta sticks on and around the chicken. Drizzle olive oil over everything, especially the feta sticks, as it will crisp the outside and leave the inside melty. Place fresh herbs on (I usually pull the leaves off and do not place the “stick” part of the herb on). Sprinkle with pepper.
The idea is that the olive oil with cook down with the juices of the chicken and lemon to create a pan sauce which will be served over the chicken. Bake until chicken is done (20-40 min depending on size of pan and amount of food in it).
TO SERVE: Make a bed of fresh baby spinach on a plate. Place a piece of chicken and some of the cooked feta on the spinach. Take some of the pan sauce and drizzle it over the chicken and on the spinach. Delicious!
Note: leftovers are great on salad and sandwiches (either hot or cold).

Chicken Parmesan

We had last minute company on Sunday and this is what I came up with:
Simple, quick, easy, spur of the moment Chicken Parmesan:
6  frozen chicken breast in a 9x13 baking dish
! bottle Prego
Bake until the chicken is tender on 325 (about 1 hour)
When the Chicken is cooked top with::
2 TBSP grated Mozzarella cheese
2 TSP grated Parmesan cheese
And melt the cheese
 Serve over Rice
We also had mixed vegetables (corn, peas and carrots, and chopped broccoli) 

Chicken Pot Pie

1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup potatoes diced to squares 2x as big as your sliced carrots
½ cup sliced onion (or ¼ cup dehydrated onion)
¼ cup sliced celery
¼ cup butter
2 cups cooked chicken, (toss with 1 Tbsp flour for thickening)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
1 cup canned green beans
1 box Pillsbury pie crust (you need 2 layers, bottom and top)

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook carrots, onions, potatoes, and celery in butter and broth till tender. Stir in chicken, soup, and greens. Spray pie pan and put in a double pie crust. Bake at 350^o for 45 min.

I like to take a square of foil, fold into quarters and cut a corner off so there’s a hole in the center, then put over the pie so the crust doesn’t burn!!

But You Haven't Had MY Meat Loaf

2 eggs, beaten

¾ cup milk

2/3 cup bread crumbs

¼ cup finely chopped onion

2 Tbsp parsley

1 tsp salt

Pinch of oregano, basil, and/or sage

Pinch of pepper

2 lbs ground beef

Glaze: 1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp mustard

Combine ingredients together(I used my hands to mush it all ) Then put in a bread loaf pan and bake @ 350^o for 1 to 1¼ hour. Take out and put mixed glaze on top then bake for 10 more minutes. Let Stand for 10 minutes before eating

MeatBalls

1 egg
3/4 c. bread crumbs
1/4 c. finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp salt
a dash of pepper
a dash of oregano
1 lb. ground beef

Shape into 24 meatballs and bake on cookie sheet for 15 -20 minutes at 350.

I make a double batch, put 20 in a Ziploc bag and freeze! Goes great with a bottle of Prego over Spaghetti or with Mr. Yoshida's over Rice!