Baked Crispy Ranch Chicken

Well, Hurricane Sandy didn't stop dinner tonight.  We still have power and are still thanking God and praying it will continue.  I tried something easy just in case the power did go out mid-preperation.  I found this on Pinterest the other day, only 4 ingredients.  

Ingredients:

• 5-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I only made 3 for my family)
• 1 cup Ranch dressing
• 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 cups lightly crushed corn flakes

I only made 3 chicken breasts and used less Ranch, bread crumbs and corn flakes for my family of three.

Instructions:

• Combine the bread crumbs and corn flakes in a flat bowl.
• Pour Ranch dressing in a separate flat bowl.
• Coat the chicken breasts in the dressing and then the bread crumb/corn flake mixture.
• Place in a greased baking dish (I used a square one or you could use a 9 X 13 for more chicken).
• Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.  

We thought this was good.  The chicken stayed moist and was a little crunchy.  I think I might add a little parmesan cheese to the bread crumb mixture next time.  

Potato Soup

Hurricane Sandy is coming, we have spent the day just waiting for the storm to hit tomorrow. So, it just felt like a crock pot day.  I found a few variations of this potato soup recipe and have wanted to try it.  

It was pretty good, especially for a very easy recipe.  I had all ingredients on hand.

Ingredients: 

• 30 oz bag of frozen square hash brown potatoes
• 2 (14 oz) cans of chicken broth
• 1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (I don't eat onion so I omitted this and used some Tastefully Simple Onion Onion)
• 1/3 tsp. black pepper
• 1 (8 oz.) brick of cream cheese (softened) 

Garnish:  cheddar cheese and bacon (or what ever you like!)

In slow cooker, mix all ingredients (except cream cheese).  Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.  

Stir in cream cheese, cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until combined.  Garnish with your choice of toppings!

I added some shredded cheddar cheese to the soup with the cream cheese.  Then I garnished with fresh bacon and shredded cheese.  

Beef Taco Bake

As I was reading my weekly magazines (People, US weekly), I kept seeing ads with yummy looking food.  The ad was for the Campbell's website.  What a great site with some good looking recipes.  
I found a taco bake that looked easy for a quick dinner for when we have evening practice.  I made it tonight and it received RAVE reviews from the family (we even had an extra nine year old that loved it)!  

Beef Taco Bake 
Need: 
1 pound ground meat
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 cup Picante sauce  (I used Rotel mild diced tomatoes and green chilies)
1/2 cup milk
6 flour tortillas (8-inch), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (I used a Mexican mix of cheese, and prob. a bit more)

1.  Cook the beef over medium-high heat until well browned.  Pour off any fat.
2.  Stir the soup, picante sauce, milk, tortillas and half of the cheese in the skillet.  
3.  Spoon mixture into a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Cover.
4.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until the beef mixture is hot and bubbling. 
5.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake uncovered for 5 minutes or until melted.  

We added a little dollop of  sour cream and I served with tortilla chips for a crunch.  This recipe is a keeper!

Recipe from: http://www.campbellskitchen.com/

Chicken Fried Rice and Crab Rangoon

This week I am again looking for new recipes to make for dinner.  Yesterday was my birthday and my little man was sick.  So we didn't go out to dinner, instead we got KFC grilled chicken for dinner.  Have you tried the grilled chicken?  Yum!  We had lots of extra chicken to use so I searched for a new idea.  

I decided on chicken fried rice.  Then as I was looking through my recipes, I found one for crab Rangoon.  

Chicken Fried Rice

Serves 5-6

4 cups rice, prepared
1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked
1 cup peas & carrots, frozen
1 small white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce

Prepare rice according to package instructions to yield 4 cups cooked rice. Heat sesame oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add onion, garlic, peas, and carrots.

Stir fry until tender. Crack eggs into pan and scramble, mixing throughout vegetables.

Add rice, chicken, and soy sauce to pan.

Mix soy sauce throughout and remove from heat.

Crab Rangoon

Ingredients

Ingredients:
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp Worcestershire sauce
14 won ton wrappers
1 small green onion
4 oz surimi imitation crab
3 oz cream cheese

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, garlic salt and Worcestershire sauce until smooth.
Stir in crab and onion.
Place 2 teaspoonfuls in the center of each wonton wrapper.
Moisten edges with water; bring corners to center over filling and press edges together to seal.
Place on a baking sheet coated with non-stick cooking spray.
Lightly spray wontons with nonstick cooking spray.
Bake at 425 °F (210 °C) for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

This is a recipe bookmark. Please visit the original recipe for accurate ingredients & directions.

Bookmarked From:  www.wwrecipes.net 

Next time I would add bean sprouts to the chicken fried rice.  
The crab Rangoon was good, but I think real crab meat would be much tastier.  A little would go a long way.  

Mini-Tacos

I had so many left over wonton wrappers from the mini-lasagnas...so I decided to try mini-tacos this week.  They were even better than the lasagnas.  We love tacos at my house, my nine year old would eat only cheese tacos if I let him.  This was a nice change to regular taco night.  

Need:

• ground meat browned and seasoned with taco seasoning
• wonton wrappers
• shredded taco cheese
• favorite taco toppings (we used shredded lettuce, sour cream, taco sauce)

After cooking and seasoning the the meat.  Line a greased cupcake tin with the wonton wrappers.  Fill each wrapper with meat and cheese.  Bake a 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Top with favorite taco toppings.