Company Chicken

Whew... I've gotten behind on my blogging! Last week I made the Company Chicken. It was sooo yummy, I can't wait to make it again. It's a very simple casserole style dish :) This would be the perfect dish to make for a new family on the block...Well, that's what the cook book says....Who does that anyways? haha That brings up a question...If a neighbor you haven't met yet brought you a home cooked dish as a "Welcome to the Neighborhood" thing would you eat it?

Anyways, back to the dish... It has wild rice, broccoli, chicken, mushrooms, cheese, and cream of celery. All layered in a large dish and baked in the oven for a while... SOO tasty and hearty! And of course, we were starving so I didn't have time to take a picture before we dug in! haha If you'd like the full recipe let me know :)

Shrimp Scampi with Linguine

I have made this dish several times and we LOVE it! It's super easy and it will definitely impress your guests! It has alot of flavor and goes great with french bread :) The first time I had this I didn't even like shrimp and I thought it was delicious! You can make this with fresh or frozen shrimp, which makes it so easy!

I don't have a picture of the dish but I'll share the recipe :)

Shrimp Scampi with Linguine
16 oz. linguine
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
8 oz. med. shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cut lengthwise into halves (I've never cut them...)
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried basil, or 1/4 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley (This is ALOT of parsley, so I don't use quite that much)
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

Cook the pasta. Drain and rinse with hot water. Cover to keep warm. Saute the garlic in the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the shrimp. Stir-fry until the shrimp turn pink. Drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with salt, pepper, basil, parsley, and red pepper flakes.
Spoon the shrimp mixture over the pasta on a serving platter. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, if desired. Serve immediately. Serves 4-6 (This dish does not reheat very well, so if you are making it for two you might want to half the recipe.)
Enjoy!

It's Shake-n-Bake and I helped!

No, not really Shake-n-Bake, but I did make it all by myself! On Thursday night, while my husband watched the opening night college football games, I completed my first recipes out of the cookbook my two very talented friends have been using for weeks.

I made Chicken Romano and paired it with The Love House Rice. YUM-MY.

This dish was very easy to make. The Chicken Romano was SO juicy and tender and cheesy and crunchy and light.

All you need is:

1. a sleeve of Ritz crackers (or any other butter crackers) crushed


2. 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese


3. 1 teaspoon garlic powder


4. 12 to 14 boneless chicken pieces (I used 4 large boneless chicken breasts)


5. salt to taste


6. 1/2 (1 stick) margarine, melted

You mix the cracker crumbs, cheese, and garlic powder in a shallow dish. Coat the chicken breasts in the the melted butter and coat with the crumb mixture. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

The Love House Rice was a perfect side dish for this yummy chicken. This recipe can be found on page 95 of Home Again, Home Again. It was light and enough to fill you up.

My only complaint is that it took 1 hour to bake. The smell drifting from the oven made our taste buds angry and it was hard to wait! After devouring the entire meal, my dear, sweet, husband says: "We'll have to make this again." We?? The only thing he did to help was reach the shallow dish for me. ::sigh::

Add some buttery Cresent rolls and you'll have yourselves a really good chicken and rice dish!

Raspberries Galore!

Well, needless to say James and I have had a weekend full of raspberries :) haha I made the raspberry jam on Saturday along with a very delicious homemade raspberry cobbler :) And today I made the Raspberry Muffins out of Home Again, Home Again. They tastes like a gourmet muffin from Starbucks or something. I think my favorite part about them was the little crumbly stuff on top :) These muffins were pretty easy to make and could be made with blueberries or strawberries. They were sooo yummy I'm going to include the recipe at the end of this post. My only tip on this recipe would be to make sure you let them cool for 5-10 minutes after they get out of the oven. James insisted that we eat them after about 3 minutes and the first one kind of fell apart a little because the raspberries were still all gooey. But, after we ate one, the second one had sat long enough to firm up a little and it was delicious!

Raspberry (Strawberry or Blueberry) Muffins

Topping:

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tbsp butter, softened

Muffins:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups frozen/fresh raspberries

Combine topping ingredients in bowl and mix until crumbly, set aside.

Mix flour, sugar, and baking powder in bowl. Add the milk, butter, and egg and stir until just moistened. Fold in raspberries. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle with the pecan mixture and pat lightly. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins test done. Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Remove to a wire rack. Freeze for future use, if desired. Makes one dozen muffins :) ENJOY!

Chocolate Pie

This pie has great flavor! The only problem I ran into was that after refrigerating the pie for a couple of hours after it baked, the middle of the pie didn't completely set. It was more like chocolate pudding. I think I didn't cook the chocolate mixture long enough before I poured it into the pie shell. After being in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days, it finally was the right consistency for chocolate pie. I will definitely try this recipe again, and hopefully it will turn out a little better next time! :)

Mexican Corn Dip

I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago for Brad's fantasy football draft. The picture was taken before it was baked, so it looked even better when it was a little brown on top and bubbly. There was a little left over for me to try, and I really liked it. The recipe calls for green onions (which I left out) and a jalapeno chile. To make the recipe even easier, I used a small can of diced jalapenos, so it took a little of the work out of the recipe. The dip was as simple as mixing everything together, pouring it into a baking dish, and baking for 30 minutes. This would be a great recipe for anyone looking for something a little different for any kind of get-together.

Raspberry Jam...and more to come!

Last night James and I did something fun... We went raspberry picking :) James had been before but it was a new experience for me! It was like a treasure hunt... they were everywhere! We of course ended up with WAYYYY more raspberries than we could ever eat so today I tried something new.... Making jam! The recipe wasn't in the Home Again, Home Again cookbook, but they did have one for a strawberry jam if your interested! I used a recipe that came in the Sure-Gel box. It was SOOOO easy to make, and we cant wait to try it! All you need is LOTS of sugar, LOTS of raspberries, Sure-Gel, water, and canning jars! Super easy, and fun to make! I made 8 jars of jam and I have enough raspberries to make 10 more! haha Monday morning I'm planning on making the Raspberry muffins (in Home Again, Home Again) so check back for that post!!! If you have never made jam you really should... It's so easy :)