Chicken Parmesan

This is a simple and quick Chicken Parmesan recipe my mom and dad cooked for us when we were visiting them this week. My kids liked it and I thought it tasted good, so I wanted to blog the basics of the recipe so that I won't forget to add it to my crock pot file. My mom said she got the recipe from my Aunt Jayne so I am going to have to do some calling for the exact recipe.

Here is what mom and dad did for the one we had:

Put Chicken Breast in crock pot and cover with one jar of your favorite spaghetti or marinara sauce. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4. About 30 minutes before finished add another jar of sauce and heat through. (This helps your sauce be thicker and not watery.)

Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese when ready to serve.

Dad actually made the recipe today and he put both jars over the chicken then cooked it. It turned out pretty saucy, so he added a can of cream of mushroom soup to it hoping to thicken it a little bit.

We served it with angel hair pasta and a salad.

I love that it is a quick hands-off recipe! Nice for a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake

We made this recipe at my mom's house for Valentines Day. I didn't have my camera so no picture. This is rich and delicious cheesecake.

Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake

2 cup crushed vanilla wafers (about 5 wafer)

6 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 (14-oz) package vanilla caramel (about 48 Caramels)

1 (5-oz) can evaporated milk

1 cup chopped pecan, toasted

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate piece, melted and slightly cooled

Whipped cream (optional)

Melted semi-sweet chocolate (optional)

Caramel ice cream topping (optional)

For crust, combine crushed vanilla wagers and melted butter. Press mixture onto the bottom and 2 inches up the side of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Cool and set aside.

In medium saucepan, combine caramels and evaporated milk. Cook and stir over low heat, stirring frequently , until smooth. Pour over prepared crust, Sprinkle with the 1 cup pecans. Chill in refrigerator while preparing filling.

For filing, in a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed until combined. Add egg, beating on low speed until combined mixer on medium speed until combined (do not overbeat); stir in melted chocolate. Pour over caramel-nut layer in pan.

Bake in a 350 degree oven about 40 minutes or until center appears nearly set when shaken. Cool cheesecake in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Loosen from sides of pan cool completely on wire rack. Cover and chill at least 4 hours. Let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving. Garnish each serving with whipped cream, chopped nuts, and /or melted chocolate, if desired. Makes 12 servings.

Nutrition facts:

436 Calories, 25 g Fat, 37 mg Chol, 320 mg sodium, 49 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 4 g protien

Mexican Lasagna

I got this recipe from my sister-in-law, via foodnetwork. The kids enjoyed it, so that's a plus. Cameron thought it was a spicy hot even though I cut the cayenne back to 1/8 teaspoon. Next time I might have to alter the Chili powder a little too. Every one else thought the spiciness was just fine. Another modification that my sister-in-law makes is to use flour tortillas because her kids don't like corn tortilla. We have had it both ways and both are great.

Mexican Lasagna (Food Network Robin Miller)

Ingredients

Cooking spray

12 ounces cooked chicken, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 3 cups)

1 cup sour cream (regular or low-fat)

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (regular or low-fat), divided

1 cup shredded Cheddar (regular or low-fat), divided

1/2 cup mild, medium or hot salsa

1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 teaspoon ground chili powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

8 (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut into 6 wedges

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Coat an 11 by 7-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine chicken, sour cream, 3/4 cup of the Monterey Jack cheese, 3/4 cup of the Cheddar, salsa, chiles, cilantro, chili powder, and cayenne pepper. Mix well and set aside.

Arrange half of the tortilla pieces in the bottom of prepared pan, overlapping pieces slightly to cover the surface. Top with half of the chicken mixture and smooth over with the back of a spoon to even the top. Layer remaining tortillas over top, and spoon over remaining chicken mixture. Top with remaining 1/4 cup each of Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses.

Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 more minutes, until top is golden and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

To reheat, bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 15 minutes.

Banana-Oat Muffins

I got this recipe from the Cheerios website. Hugh, my 2 year old, helped mommy by opening a second and unneeded box of Cheerios. Fearing that they would go stale and not necessarily wanting to make "treats" with them I opted for trying this recipe instead. They turned out good and the kids loved having warm muffins for breakfast for a change. I loved that it was quick to mix and toss in the oven.

Banana-Oat Muffins

2 cups Cheerios cereal (where they say you get the "oats"-okay its a stretch don't you think?)

1 1/4 cup All-purpose flour

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup mashed very ripe banana's (2 t0 3 medium)

2/3 cups milk

3 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1 egg white

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 12 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray, or greased bottoms only of muffin cups.

Crush cereal. In large bowl, stir together cereal, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in remaining ingredients just until moistened Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown.

Sprinkle muffin with powdered sugar just before serving.

**My kids preferred butter or honey.

For High Altitude (3500-6500 ft.) Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Tuscan-Roasted Veggies with Pork Bake

This tasty little recipe we tried to night comes via kraftfoods.com. It called for pork tenderloin pieces, but I just bought simple boneless loin chops and cut them in half and it worked just fine. My kids of course loved the roasted veggies, they were the first to disappear off their plates. It was simple to toss together and the parchment paper made for a snappy clean up. We would eat this one again. I will more than likely add more veggies then called for because the kids love them.

This recipe says it serves four, we stretched it to feed 3 kids and 3 adults. Our visitor M.H. was a bachelor for a few nights while his wife and kids were out of town. Told me that I couldn't tell his wife he ate the veggies. He said he didn't think he had ever eaten a sweet potato--shocker! By the end of the night he said, "You can tell my wife. I don't think she will make this recipe though because she is not a fan of pork. I love pork...." So N.H. if you feel up to trying pork one night, M. will eat this ;-) (It will be our little secret!)

We served this with French bread and a side Toss-salad, followed by a P.B. chocolate chip cookie. Love simple dinner nights like this one!

Tuscan-Roasted Vegetable and Pork Tenderloin Bake

4 cups coarsely chopped sweet potatoes, celery, red onions.

(I used 2 sweet potatoes, 3 ribs celery, and a sweet onion)

1/4 cup Tuscan House Italian Dressing and Marinade

(I didn't have this, but I did have a Good Seasons dry mix that I mixed up and then used)

2 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese

(I left this out--I sure find out all the ingredients I forget to put in when I am blogging the recipes lately! Duh. Good thing is we liked them with the items missing so it works great!)

1 Baking apply, coarsely chopped (I used golden delicious)

1 lb Pork tenderloin, cut into 8 pieces (I used 4 loin chops cut in half.)

1 pkt. Shake N' Bake Extra Crispy seasoned coating mix

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss vegetables with dressing and cheese (or forget it like me;-}); spread onto parchment paper-covered baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes.

Stir in apples. Coat meat with coating mix as directed on package; add to baking sheet. Bake 20 more minutes until meat is done (160 degrees) and vegetables are tender.

Chicken Curry-Family Fun Magazine

I got this recipe from familyfun.com; they provide our family with yet another keeper! Their caption stated, "A great way to introduce kids to international food. This simple, fast curry is made rich and creamy by adding canned unsweetened coconut milk (available in the international section of most supermarkets.)"

Our kids already like the flavor of curry so I thought we'd give it a try seeing that I had all the ingredients on hand minus the fresh spinach which I simply substitute another great "green" broccoli which my kids love. It was a SUPER QUICK throw together kind of meal. Jack really liked it and said it is probably his new favorite out of the curry dishes, "because it is lighter" he tells me. I would have to agree with him. The texture is creamy, the meal light, but filling. The kids weren't crazy about it but still ate it well (maybe snacks were to late today or something!?) We will definitely be trying this recipe again soon.

Chicken Curry (from Family Fun Magazine or .com)

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced (I use sweet onions they are my fav!)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 can (12-14 oz) unsweetened coconut milk

1 can (14 ox) diced tomatoes

2 Tablespoons tomato paste (freeze the leftovers in the can for the next time)

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes

3 cups packed fresh baby spinach (we used Broccoli)

In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the onion and the salt. Cook until softened, about 7 minutes, stirring often. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.

Stir in the coconut milk, tomatoes, and tomato paste. Cook for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.

Add the chicken, stir well, and cook 5 to 6 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Stir in the spinach and cook for 3 minutes or until wilted, stirring occasionally. (Broccoli doesn't take that long to become fork tender either). Season to taste with salt. Serve over rice.

Makes 4 servings

**We ate this for at least two meals so the serving sizes must be huge! Or they are adult size servings. We always seem to stretch the meals by adding a side salad. This dish really could be eaten by itself because it has the carbs, protein, and veggies all in one.

Oatmeal Pancakes

We made these pancakes this morning and enjoyed them. (No picture coming! A pancake is a pancake! ;-)) I am excited about the added oatmeal; it is what drew me to the recipe. I have hopes that with the added grains and fiber that they will "stay with" the kids a little longer than regular pancakes. I got this recipe from eatbetteramerica.com. I didn't however have all the exact ingredients so you will find what I used in parenthesis. It only makes 6-8 pancakes with 1/4 cup scoop.

Oatmeal Pancakes

3/4 cup quick-cooking oats

(Regular Oats placed in a blender until it looked like quick-out texture)

3/4 cup Whole Wheat flour (all-purpose white)

1 cup fat-free milk (1%)

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (I forgot to put this in! oops)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

In a medium bowl, beat pancake ingredients with wire whisk until blended.

Spray griddle or skillet with cooking spray. Heat griddle to 375 degrees or skillet over medium heat. Pour 1.4 cup batter onto griddle. Cook pancakes until puffed and dry around the edges. Turn; cook other side until golden brown. Serve with topping.

Serving size is 2 pancakes (310 calories, Fat 7 g--don't know what it is if you forget the oil?! ;-) I thought they were fine without it. I didn't realize I had missed it until I went to post it! They were a little on the dryer side, but if you are using a homemade syrup it will soak it up great.)

We just used maple syrup, but eatbetteramerica had a recipe for a topping that if I had the items on hand I may have tried.

Topping

1 bag (10 oz) Frozen mixed berries, thawed and drained

3/4 cup real maple syrup

In 2-quart saucepan, cook topping ingredients over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture just begins to simmer. Remove from heat; set aside.