Category Archives: Easy

October 11, 2010 · 9:49 pm

Chicken Parmesan

My family loves pasta and anything covered in pasta sauce, so I had a pretty good feeling they would like this.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup fine dry Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 large eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 (9-ounce) package pasta
1 jar pasta sauce
4 fresh basil sprigs (optional)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375°F.

Lightly grease baking dish that is big enough for all of the chicken breasts.

Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in shallow dish.

Dip chicken in eggs, then cover with bread crumb mixture.

Arrange chicken is prepared baking dish. Drizzle with oil.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink in center.

Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake for an additional 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Prepare pasta according to package directions; drain. Toss pasta with sauce; divide among plates.

Top with chicken. Garnish with basil.

What did the family think? Four thumbs up! 🙂

from cooksrecipes.com

Leave a Comment

Filed under Chicken, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Italian

October 10, 2010 · 9:37 pm

Apple Coleslaw

There was an apple fest at our grocery store today and this was one of the samples.

Ingredients:
12 oz. cole slaw mix
2 tart apples, cored and finely sliced
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper, finely diced
1/3 cup sunflower or vegetable oil
3 T lemon juice
3 T honey
1 1/2 tsp celery seeds
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, honey and celery seed.

Add the cole slaw mix, apple, celery and green pepper; toss to coat.

Season with salt and pepper

Chill until serving.

We had this as a side with salmon and a baguette.

Did I change anything? I used broccoli slaw instead of traditional cole slaw mix and I didn’t add the celery seeds because I didn’t have any.

What did the family think? Hubby and I liked it. The kids picked out the apples and the carrots. I ended up breaking up my salmon and mixing it in with the apple slaw. It was really good like that. The salmon goes really well with the sweetness/tartness of the apples. It would make a really good summer salad with salmon like we did or maybe with chicken.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Easy, Side Dish, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

October 7, 2010 · 11:20 am

Crock Pot Pork with Chutney

For the record, I am not a huge pork fan. I do have a couple of pork crock pot recipes though that we really like, so I thought I would give this one a try.

Ingredients:
3-5 lb. pork (may use smoked pork shoulder)
1 large onion, sliced
2 apples, peel & cut up in pieces
2 Tablespoons chutney or 1 cup dried fruit (mixed)
1 cup apple cider or apple juice
1/2 cup water
1 or 2 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

Cook all ingredients together in crock pot 4 or 5 hours on high temperature.

Remove bay leaf. Slice meat and serve.

We had this with a salad, corn on the cob and a apple and banana fruit salad.

Did I change anything? I used a chutney called Farmhouse Chutney from Stonewall Kitchen instead of the dried fruit. This worked out nicely because we used the leftover chutney as a condiment and it was great. Also, the recipe called for pork shoulder which I used but it was VERY fatty. I don’t know if that’s normal, but I think next time I would choose a much leaner cut.

What did the family think? My husband, me and our oldest liked it with the chutney. Our youngest got out old faithful…the ketchup. 🙂

from momswhothink.com

Leave a Comment

Filed under Easy, Pork, Super Easy to Make

October 3, 2010 · 9:29 pm

Candy’s Cozi Classic Chicken

My good friend, Candy, entered this recipe in a recipe contest a year or so ago and won a sizable chunk of change, so it has got to be good. Right? Right!

Ingredients:
3 – 4 lb chicken parts (8 pieces)
Olive oil
Salt
Ground black pepper

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Briefly run chicken pieces under water to rinse and pat dry with paper towels.

Drizzle olive oil on bottom of a roasting pan. Thoroughly rub chicken pieces with olive oil to coat.

Sprinkle both sides of chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Place chicken pieces with skin side up in the pan.

Cook for 30 minutes at 400°F. Lower oven temp to 350°F and cook for 15-30 minutes more or until juices run clear (not pink) when poked with a sharp knife or the internal temperature of the chicken breasts is 170°F.

Optional: To brown chicken pieces, place under broiler for 7-10 minutes of cooking.
When chicken is done, remove from oven and tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving

What did the family think? We all LOVED it. Yes, even our youngest who can’t stand chicken said it was good. That’s a huge compliment.

2 Comments

Filed under Chicken, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make

October 2, 2010 · 8:11 am

Brownies Not From a Box

I got this recipe from my good friend, Janelle. They are as good as she said they were and they are easy. You don’t have to get a bunch of dishes dirty to make them and you probably already have everything you need to make these…I love it when that happens.

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter
3/4 c. cocoa powder
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large microwave safe bowl, melt butter in the microwave for about 1 minute. Add cocoa powder, stir and continue to microwave until butter is melted. Add both sugars to the butter/cocoa mixture. Stir. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir. Lastly add flour. Stir. Put in a greased “one size smaller than a 9×13″ pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Try not to eat them all at once.

What did the family think? My oldest had a friend over after school and both of them gave these brownies two thumbs up. Then my hubby had some and while he was walking around the kitchen eating them, he was singing about how good they are.

1 Comment

Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

October 1, 2010 · 12:43 pm

Sweet Potato Fries

You can either buy whole sweet potatoes for this, or cheat and save yourself some prep time and use
pre-cut sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:
12 oz. of Pre-cut sweet potatoes or 3-4 sweet potatoes
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Instructions:
If you are using whole potatoes, peel and cut them into 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick sticks. If any of the “sticks” are pointy at the end, chop the pointy part off as it will cook too quickly and burn. You want them all to be uniform in thickness. If you are using pre-cut potatoes, skip this step and move on to the next step.

Next, evenly coat the sweet potatoes with olive oil by placing potatoes in a bowl and drizzling olive oil over them. Toss to coat.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss again.

Spread them out evenly on a baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes. Turn potatoes over and cook for another 10 minutes or until crispy and browned. Enjoy!

What did the family think? Hubby and I could have eaten about six more servings of these. My kids don’t know a good thing when they taste it. They ate them, but they certainly didn’t like them. Weirdos. 🙂

adapted from Trader Joe’s recipe

Leave a Comment

Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Side Dish, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

September 30, 2010 · 2:06 pm

Taco Slaw

I would have never of thought of putting cabbage in Mexican food like this, but it totally works and it’s a great way to get some more veggies.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey, hamburger or chicken
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 package taco seasoning
2 1/2 cups diced canned tomatoes
5 cups cabbage, shredded (I bought the pre-packaged kind that is already shredded w/carrots in it.)
5 oz. cheddar cheese, grated
5 T sour cream
10 flour tortillas

Instructions:
Brown the ground beef, onion and garlic over medium heat.

Stir in taco seasoning and diced tomatoes with their juice. Simmer 5 minutes.

Add the shredded cabbage and cook 5-8 minutes, until cabbage is tender. Stir as needed.

Serve with cheese, sour cream and tortillas.

We had this with tortillas, but you could also serve it over rice instead. Also, this recipe makes a lot of food. We probably have enough leftovers for a second dinner.

What did the family think? I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I REALLY liked it. Hubby kind of liked it and the kids were not impressed at all.

from food.com

Leave a Comment

Filed under Easy, Mexican, Super Easy to Make

September 26, 2010 · 10:26 am

Crock Pot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese

This is heavenly! Really, it has cream cheese so it has to be good. 🙂

Ingredients:
4-5 boneless, skinless FROZEN chicken breasts
15 1/2 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz. jar of your favorite salsa
8 oz package cream cheese

Instructions:
Place chicken in the crock pot.

Add black beans and salsa.

Cook on high for 4-5 hours until chicken is cooked through.

When crock pot is done, put cream cheese on top of everything and let sit for 1/2 half hour.

We had this with tortillas. I shredded the chicken after it was done cooking and we used the chicken mixture as the filling and just rolled it up. You could also serve this over rice.

Did I change anything? The original recipe called for a can of corn.

What did the family think? It was a huge hit. My kids love cream cheese, so I knew they would like it.

from food.com

Leave a Comment

Filed under Chicken, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Mexican, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make

· 9:49 am

Banana Peanut Butter and Honey Panini

Our oldest gets the Food Network magazine form the mail and I find it in his room; I haven’t even had a chance to look at it yet. After reading it cover to cover, this is what he asked me to make for him.

Ingredients:
2 slices cinnamon swirl bread
Peanut butter
Honey
1 Banana

Instructions:
Spread peanut butter on one slice of bread. Spread a thin layer of honey on the other slice of bread. Place banana slices on top of peanut butter. Put the piece of bread with honey on top of the bananas to make a sandwich. If you have a panini maker, use it. If not, heat a skillet over medium low heat and spray with cooking spray. Place sandwich in skillet and put a heavy skillet on top of it for a few minutes. Flip the sandwich over, place the skillet on top of it again and cook for a few minutes on that side.

What did the family think? Our oldest loved it. Our youngest liked it, but after tasting it, he had me take the bananas off. He’s not a big banana fan to begin with.

1 Comment

Filed under After School Snacks, Easy, Sandwich, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

September 23, 2010 · 10:52 pm

Mexican Rice

I love it when I realize that I need a side dish in the middle of making the main dish, scramble to figure out what that might be and then am able to throw something together out of what’s already in the pantry.

Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup Minute Rice
7 oz salsa verde
8 oz tomato sauce

Instructions:
Heat medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and onions. When onions begin to soften, add garlic. After a few minutes add rice, salsa verde and tomato sauce. Stir to combine, cover and simmer for about five minutes, you may want to add more rice to make the mixture thicker. Remove from heat and let sit for about five minutes.

What did the family think? I don’t think they boys ate it, but Sean and I both liked it. I was impressed that I had everything in the pantry to throw this together.

1 Comment

Filed under Easy, Mexican, Side Dish, Six Ingredients or Less, Spicy, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian