Week 17 - Marinated Ranch Chicken plus a bonus appetizer!

This week we are vacationing in New Jersey and I've been able to make a few fun dishes. The first dish is for Marinated Ranch Chicken - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/marinated-ranch-broiled-chicken/

Ingredients: (I doubled the recipe)

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 packets of dry ranch style dressing mix
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

I did this a little different than the recipe stated:

Combine the dressing mix, oil and vinegar in a bowl and mix together. 

Place the chicken on a baking sheet and coat evenly with the mixture.

Refrigerate to marinate for at least 1 hour (overnight if possible). Preheat oven to Broil/Grill.  Broil for 10 to 15 minutes or until cooked through and no longer pink inside.

This chicken had a really nice taste. Next time I will try to marinate it longer so the marinade can really soak into the chicken.

The second dish was a ringer for Ben! It is for Bacon Cheese Puffs - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/bacon-cheese-puffs/

Ingredients:

• 1 pound bacon (I used the already cooked bacon)
• 2.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup mayo
• 2 tablespoons prepared mustard
• 1 pound party rye bread

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

Preheat oven to broil.

In a medium bowl combine the bacon, cheese, mustard and mayonnaise. Stir well.

 Arrange party bread on a cookie sheet. Spoon mixture onto each slice of bread.

Broil for 5 minutes, or until bubbly. ***When I broiled this it actually burned because the oven was too hot. It was better just toasting it in the toaster oven and keeping a close eye on it. This was definitely a tasty hit!

Christmas Addition!!!

Merry Christmas!!! What an exciting Holiday for the Faircloughs - Ellie's 1st!!!  We had a lot of company this weekend and I was very busy cooking. I'm excited to share all of the special dishes I made this holiday.

The first recipe was from Pinterest for a shrimp dish - I used this for an appetizer.

Ingredients:

• bag of shrimp
• 1 lemon
• 1 packet of Italian seasoning
• 1 stick of butter

I'm not sure how to share the link but here is the recipe:

Melt a stick of butter in the pan. Slice one lemon and layer it on top of the butter. Put down fresh shrimp, then sprinkle one pack of dried Italian seasoning. 

Put in the oven and bake at 350 for 15 min. Best Shrimp you will EVER taste:) and it really was!!!

The second dish was for Crack Potatoes - another Pinterest recipe - http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/01/crack-potatoes.html

Ingredients:

• 2 (16oz) containers sour cream
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 (3oz) bags real bacon bits
• 2 packages Ranch Dip mix
• 1 large (28 - 30oz) bag frozen hash brown potatoes - shredded kind (it is easier to do this if the potatoes are thawed out a bit otherwise you can't mix all ingredients together)

Combine first 4 ingredients, mix in hash browns.  Spread into a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 400 for 45-60 minutes.

These were also a very big hit!! And very easy to make as you can see!

The last recipe was our breakfast on Christmas Eve morning. I needed to find something easy to make for 6 people and found a recipe for Crustless Bacon and Cheese Quiche - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Crustless-Bacon-and-Cheese-Quiche/Detail.aspx?prop24=RD_RelatedRecipes

Ingredients: (what I actually used)

• 3 green peppers chopped
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• 12 slices of bacon
• 12 eggs
• 1/3 cup of sour cream
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

Reserve 2 tablespoons each peppers and tomatoes. Cook bacon (mine was already chopped up) in large skillet until crisp. 

Add peppers and tomatoes; mix well.

Beat eggs and sour cream with whisk until well blended. 

Pour into greased 13x9-inch baking dish; top with bacon mixture and cheeses.

Bake 30 minutes or until center is set. Sprinkle with reserved onions and tomatoes. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting to serve.

All of my holiday recipes were a bit hit this year!! I will definitely use these recipes again since they were all so easy to make!

I have one more entry before the end of the year! I will be making spaghetti burgers, so stay tuned until then!

Week 15 - Kelsey's Cheesy Bacon Breasts

Week 15 and almost Christmas!!! I found this recipe awhile ago and knew it was right up Ben's alley! He LOVES bacon and I LOVE easy meals - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Kelseys-Cheesy-Bacon-Breasts/Detail.aspx?ms=1&prop25=92929836&prop26=DailyDish&prop27=2012-09-09&prop28=DailyRecipe&prop29=FullRecipe&me=1 

Ingredients:
**I changed the ingredients a bit, so below is what I used

• 3-4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• bacon bits
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Melt butter or margarine in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken breasts and saute until just cooked; don't brown.

 Place chicken on a lined cookie sheet. Spread a little barbecue sauce evenly on top of each breast. Sprinkle bacon bits on each breast, then cover all with cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.

Serve with your favorite side dish and enjoy!

Week 14 - Stuffed Turkey Burgers!

Sorry for the late post, but I was so busy over the weekend I ended up cooking for Monday Night Football instead of Sunday Funday!

I had thawed out turkey meat and wanted to find something different to make. I found this recipe for Stuffed Turkey Burgers that sounded good, so I used this for the idea of our dinner - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/stuffed-turkey-burgers-recipe2/index.html

Ingredients:

•  1 1/4 pounds lean ground turkey breast
• 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
• BBQ sauce or ketchup  
• hamburger buns       

 Divide the turkey meat into 6-8 patties depending on how much meat you have.

                                                                                                                             

Sprinkle half of the patties with mozzarella cheese (enough cheese to cover the patty).

Then top with the remaining patties working the turkey around the edges to seal the burgers closed.

Grill or broil until cooked through. We used our griddle since it is to cold to grill outside. Serve on a grilled hamburger bun and top with BBQ sauce or ketchup.

These came out really good. The cheese gave the burgers a really nice flavor. I topped my burger with BBQ sauce and it was delicious!

ENJOY!

 

Week 13 - Honey BBQ Wings!

I wanted to try a new wing recipe this weekend, so I went searching online for something simple. I found this recipe http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-wings-in-honey-bbq-sauce-64639 for Chicken Wings in Honey BBQ Sauce and it looked like it would fit the bill!!!

Ingredients:
***I did not have enough soy sauce so I changed the amount of each item added, but the recipe came out awesome! The sauce was just delicious!

• 3 lbs chicken wings (approx. 16-18 wings)
• salt and black pepper
• 2 cups honey
• 1 cup soy sauce (I use reduced sodium)
• 1/2 cup your favorite bottled barbecue sauce
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I just used garlic salt)

I left out the first few steps and started here:
Place wings on broiler pan and broil about 6 inches from heat for 10 minutes on each side OR until brown.

While the wings were in the broiler, I combined the ingredients for the sauce.

Once the wings were done, I transferred them to the Slow Cooker.  I then poured the sauce over the wings. I mixed them around so that all the wings were evenly coated.

Place the Slow Cooker on High for 2 hour or Low for 4 hours.
I cooked the wings on high for 2 hours and they were bubbling once I hit the 1:30 mark, so I decided to lower it for the last half hour. They came out delicious and I used the rest of the sauce for the rice.

I will definitely make these again! and MORE of them next time! We voted that these wings were BETTER than the ones from last season! These would be PERFECT for Super Bowl Sunday!