I never thought I would have enough recipe posts to warrant creating a page just to keep track of them, but I have been a bit busy in the kitchen lately. So, I'm going to try and remember to add my recipes and links to the original posts here to make it a bit easier to find them.
Chicken Bacon Ranch Macaroni and Cheese
8 ounces, weight Uncooked Elbow Macaroni (I used a penne pasta and probably used 10 oz.)
4 slices Applewood Smoked Bacon (I cooked my bacon in the microwave - less mess, so I skipped the second paragraph below and the onion & garlic powders too.)
8 ounces, weight Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast, Cut Into 1/2-inch Pieces (I had some breaded chicken breasts in the freezer so I just heated those up instead.)
½ teaspoons Onion Powder
½ teaspoons Garlic Powder
½ teaspoons Salt
1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Tablespoon Flour
1-½ cup Fat Free Milk
½ cans Condensed Cream Of Chicken Soup, 10 Ounce Can
¼ cups BOTTLED RANCH DRESSING (I might have added just a bit more dressing - definitely a great addition.)
¾ cups Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese, Shredded (I used regular Colby Jack instead.)
½ cups French Fried Onions (I didn't have these, probably would have been good though.)
½ cups Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese, Shredded
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.
Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving drippings in pan. Finely chop bacon; set aside. Increase heat to medium-high. Season chicken with onion powder, garlic powder and salt. Add chicken to drippings in pan; sauté 6 minutes or until done.] I didn't do this step as noted above...I just cooked my bacon in the microwave (such an easy way to do it) and heated up some pre-cooked breaded chicken breasts.
Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat; sprinkle flour evenly into pan. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Combine milk and soup, stirring with a whisk; then gradually add milk mixture to saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thick. Add ranch dressing and 3/4 cups of cheese, stirring until cheese melts. Stir in pasta and chicken.
Preheat broiler.
Spoon pasta mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with reserved bacon, fried onions and 1/2 cup of cheese. Broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts.
White Chocolate-Coated Mix
6 c. Crispix cereal (or Golden Grahams)
3 c. Cheerios
2 c. stick pretzels
2 c. peanuts
1 lb. M&Ms candies (holiday M&Ms if you have them)
1 tray almond bark
Mix cereal, M&Ms, pretzels and nuts together. Melt the almond bark (I do this in the microwave) and pour over dry mix. Stir to coat. Spread on foil or wax paper to set.
Sweet and Saltines
Serves 20 (more if you cut them in smaller pieces)
40 saltine crackers
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup light brown sugar
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (I used a 12-oz. bag. I've seen recipes that call for 2 bags of chips too.)
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a large jellyroll pan with alumi¬num foil and the saltine crackers.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour over the crackers, covering them evenly. Put the jellyroll pan into the oven and watch closely. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes, or until just bubbly. Remove from the oven and pour the chocolate chips over the crackers. When the chips melt a bit, spread them over the crackers with a knife. Transfer the pan to the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until completely cold. They will form one big sheet. Break up into pieces. Store in an airtight container.
Substitute graham crackers for the saltines for a sweeter snack. Use 1 stick of butter instead of 2 for a crunchier, saltier cracker.
Use anywhere from 35 to 45 saltine crackers, depending on the size of your pan.
Simple Pretzel Kiss Candies
Small twist or waffle-shaped pretzels
Hershey's Kisses
Holiday M&Ms
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Spread pretzels on a cookie sheet. Place Hershey's Kiss on top of each pretzel. Put in oven for 2-3 minutes. Press M&M in center of Kiss and if M&M sinks to the middle, they are ready. If not, put back into oven for another minute. Once the M&M goes smoothly into the Kiss, pull the cookie sheet from oven and push M&M into the center of each candy. Let cool.
Walking Tacos
Just check out the post by clicking on the line above. No real recipe with this one!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
8 oz. canned pumpkin
3/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil until smooth. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-line muffin cips 3/4 full. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until muffins test done. Serves: 1-1/2 dozen.
Quick & East Black Bottom Cupcakes
Chocolate cake mix
Cream cheese filling:
8 oz. package cream cheese (softened)
1 egg
1/2 c. sugar
1/8 t. salt
Chocolate chips (as many as you want!)
Make cake mix as directed on the box.
In separate bowl, beat cream cheese filling ingredients (except for choc. chips) together. Stir in chocolate chips.
Fill the cupcake liners about 1/3 (or a bit more) with cake mix and add a tablespoon of the filling. Bake according to the instructions on cake mix box.
Club Chicken
1 c. crushed crackers (half sleeve of Ritz crackers or some Club Cracker or whatever's on hand)
1 package Italian dressing mix
Chicken Breasts (I prefer chicken tenderloins)
3 T. melted margarine (I use BUTTER)
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix crackers and dressing mix in a plastic bag. Shake chicken in cracker mix and put in dish (I spray mine with some cooking spray). Pour melted butter on chicken. Bake for 45 minutes.
