Chicken Cordon Blue

There is only one word I can think of to describe this entree, WOW!!! I found this recipe on Cooking Light this week and I will admit it is amazing and isn't that hard to make as you might initially think.

Ingredients:  

1/4 cup chicken broth  
5 teaspoons butter, melted  
2 large garlic cloves, minced  
1/2 - 1 cup panko bread crumbs 
1 -2 T grated Parmesan Cheese 
1 teaspoon paprika 
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning  
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves  
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano 
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper  
Baby spinach leaves (optional) 
4 thin slices Rosemary Ham from Deli (I used Boar's Head Sundried Tomato and Rosemary Ham - it's really good)  
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese  

Directions:   
Preheat oven to 350°.

Place broth in a small microwave-safe bowl; microwave at high 15 seconds or until warm. Stir in butter and garlic. Combine Panko breadcrumbs, Parmesan, Italian Seasoning and paprika in a medium shallow bowl; set aside.

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap, and pound each to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt, oregano, and pepper. Top each breast half with spinach leaves, 1 slice of ham and 1-2 tablespoon mozzarella. Roll up each breast half jelly-roll fashion. Dip each roll in chicken broth mixture; dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place rolls, seam side down, in an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pour remaining broth mixture over chicken. Bake at 350° for 28 minutes or until juices run clear and tops are golden.

I served this chicken entree with baked sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Rolo Cake Mix Bars

I recently took these delicious cake bars to a friend of mine who had just had surgery, they were very simple to make with few ingredients.  I found them on Pinterest and the blog they came from can be found here.  Kids love Rolo candy so this is a great treat to have them help with.  Enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 oz) yellow, vanilla, or white cake mix (I used Duncan Hines), dry
• 5 oz evaporated milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 40 Rolo candies, unwrapped and cut in half

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees  and spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

With your mixer, beat cake mix, evaporated milk and butter until combined.  Mixture will be thick and sticky.

Divide batter in half and press half of the batter onto the bottom of the 9x13 pan.

Bake until set, approximately 8-9 minutes.

Remove base from oven and place Rolo candies, caramel-side down on top.

Drop remaining batter on top of Rolos in teaspoon sized amounts.

Bake 20-24 minutes longer until top begins to golden.

Cool completely before cutting into them.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

 
I have had this recipe for a very long time and every time I make it the dish is gone!  This is a nice recipe for Spinach Artichoke Dip because it's not greasy like the versions you usually get at restaurants.  Serve with blue corn tortilla chips (my personal favorite) or wheat thins.  If I ever have leftovers it's excellent the next day in an omelet!

Ingredients:

1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

10 oz pkg chopped spinach - thawed and excess water squeezed out

3 cloves minced garlic

1/2 cup mayonnaise 

8 oz cream cheese softened (can be low fat)

1 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese

2 T lemon juice

Directions:

Combine all ingredients well and bake 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve hot as an appetizer!

DeSha's Cornbread

We have a restaurant in Lexington called DeSha's and they make THE BEST cornbread!  When I was a kid and went there for the first time they served the cornbread complimentary with honey butter, seriously good!  Now I think you have to order the cornbread and pay for it individually but it's still worth doing.  There's a reason why this is a great recipe, lots of oil, butter and sour cream but I promise if you try it you won't be disappointed!  This makes a great side dish for chili, soup or just about anything.  Serving with honey butter is optional, but of course it makes it that much better.

Recipe:  

3 cups self rising cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups sour cream
2 cans cream corn

Directions: 

Combine all ingredients in order listed; mix well. Pour into a greased 9-inch-x-13-inch pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes. This cornbread bakes up very thick and makes a lot because you want to cut it into small squares.  I often half the recipe and only use an 8x8 pan.  I hope you haven't had a heart attack after seeing the ingredients - I told you there was a reason why it's delicious!

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

The Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes were a HIT!  

This is a quick and easy recipe you must try.

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 box Chocolate Devils Food Cake Mix

1 pkg York Peppermint Patties

Peppermint Butter cream Icing: 

2 sticks butter

Powdered Sugar

Peppermint Extract

Milk

Directions:

Make cake mix according to instructions on the box.  Fill cupcake liners about half full and then top with a York Peppermint Patty.  Now add remainder of batter on top of the Peppermint Patties. 

Bake according to cake mix instructions.  Remove from oven and let cook completely.

To make butter cream frosting combine softened butter and powdered sugar.  I start with one small box and then blend with hand mixer until it reaches desired consistency.  You can add a little milk to thin the icing if necessary or a little more powdered sugar to thicken it up more.  When you have the icing the way you want add a few drops of Peppermint extract.  Mix icing and taste, adding more extract if you want.  The icing should be minty but not overpowering.  Put icing in a large plastic zip-lock bag and cut off one corner.  Now you can easily pipe the icing onto your cooled cupcakes.  Garnish with crushed peppermint candy or maybe Andes Mints.  I also think I small candy cake placed in the top would be cute.  Make these soon - your holiday guests will surely be amazed and of course the kids (and spouse) will too!

Decorating for Christmas

This year for Christmas we decided to do clear lights on our tree - I love the way it looks, the photo from my phone does not do it justice.

I saw something similar to this for decorating a mantle on Pinterest so I decided to give it a try. I really LOVE the way it turned out...the red glitter ornaments and the apple green ornaments look great.

Lastly I wanted to share with you something I have done two years in a row now...an ADVENT Calendar.  I used metal tins and got magnets to put them on this black board I found at Michaels.  It is by far one of my daughter's favorite things about Christmas.  Inside each tin is a little Christmas themed gift or a paper for a special thing we will do that day.  These have included things such as Christmas earrings to a piece of paper saying we were going to make and decorate Christmas cookies.  A few of the best events from last year's Advent Calendar was watching A Christmas Story while eating popcorn and Christmas M&M's with the family and going to look at Christmas lights around town with a run to Starbucks.  Consider doing something like this for your children and making Christmas last the whole season.

 

I hope all of you are enjoying your Christmas season so far! 

Cinnamon Roll Pull Apart Bread

Once again I found another GREAT recipe on Pinterest!
This one is from the blog: Plain Chicken.

It got RAVE reviews from all the family! And better yet it was EASY! Really EASY! 

Ingredients:
1 unsliced round loaf sourdough bread

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp milk

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make Vanilla Honey Butter: Whip butter and 1/4 cup powdered sugar together until smooth; stir in honey and vanilla.  Set aside. (You can use regular butter if desired)

Cut the bread lengthwise into 1/2" slices, without cutting through the bottom crust. Spread vanilla honey butter in between slices.  Rotate the bread 90 degrees and slice the bread again into 1/2" pieces, without cutting through the bottom crust. Spread more vanilla honey butter in between new cuts. This doesn't need to be perfect - just make sure there is lots of butter in between all the cuts. Combine sugar and cinnamon. Generously sprinkle in between all cuts.

Wrap in foil; place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until bread is warm.  Unwrap cinnamon bread and place on serving platter.  Combine powdered sugar and milk - adding milk until you get the consistency desired.  Drizzle icing over bread and serve immediately.

We had some company Saturday morning when I made this and put it on the coffee table to eat he said, "that looks like a blooming onion!"  That is certainly what it will remind you of...fun to eat too...The only problem is it's so easy to keep plucking off little, yummy bites of the bread!  Try this and you will not be disappointed!