Crunchy Chicken Casserole

Last week I offered to bring a girlfriend and her family dinner.  She has an amazing story of God's blessing and provisions.  Her and her husband have 3 children and they are in the process of moving to a beautiful, new house.  I wanted to do something to bless her and her family, because she is always so thoughtful and helps me out with taking Bubbie to school.

When I asked what she wanted, she mentioned that her family loves poppyseed chicken without the poppyseeds.  Her family calls this "Crunchy Chicken".  I had a recipe on my E-Mealz menu from a few weeks ago that I had never made, so I decided to test the recipe out on her family.  That could have been a disaster, huh?!  

Thankfully the recipe turned out really good!  

Crunchy Chicken Casserole

Take 3-4 breasts of cooked and shredded chicken and spread in a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Then combine 8oz of sour cream and 2 cans of cream of chicken.  Let me just stop you here and let you know that this meal has no "redeeming" qualities.  Nothing in it is healthy, low fat or low sodium.  It is absolutely WONDERFUL, but not healthy AT ALL.  Then pour the mixture over the chicken (I actually used a tad bit less than what this made- I just eyeballed it.) Crumble a sleeve of Ritz crackers over the casserole dish.  Pour a stick of butter over the top. Bake on 350 degrees until hot and bubbly.

I split this casserole between her family and mine because I knew they were moving the next day and didn't need any leftovers, so you could easily get two meals out of this dish.

I paired the casserole with some white rice, green beans or broccoli and then a loaf of my husband's homemade bread.

Congrats to my sweet friend on the new home!  

Praying many years of the warmest memories in your new home. 

Biscuits

I have been making a biscuit recipe in an old cook book for a while.  I decided to make these tonight and they were very yummy!

A Good Staple Meal

I love this meal because its made from our typical cabinet staples and its cheap too!

Sante Fe Wraps


1lb of ground beef
can of diced tomatoes
1 tbspoon of taco seasoning
1 can corn
1 pkg of cream cheese- cut up
6 8 in tortillas

Brown meat.  Drain and add tomatoes and taco seasoning.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.  Stir in corn and cheese; stir until cheese melts.  Spoon into tortilla and roll up or fold.  Serve with lettuce, cheese, salsa, guacamole and/or chips!


Found it on the Del Monte website and made into my own!

A Christmas Eve Tradition

I'm not sure when the tradition started, but I am assuming sometime once we moved to Georgia.  After Christmas Eve service, at a different local church each year, we would come home, eat home made pizza and Christmas cookies and watch a Christmas movie.  It is a tradition that I hold close to my heart.  What memories and the fun we had!  It was a very precious family tradition and probably one of the reasons why I try to make our own Christmas Eve's extra special!


Kim asked me for my Mom's pizza recipe, so here it is!  It is very yummy!  A definite winner!  One day when I don't have 3 little boys, I will return to making this recipe.  For now, I'll continue to make this one.

Crust 
2 tsp. active dry yeast
3.5 cups flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1.5 cups warm water
1/2  cup whole wheat bread flour
1 tsp salt

Stir the yeast into 1/4 cup of water.  Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.  Meanwhile. mix the flours together in a bowl, mixer with bread hook or food processor.

To mix the dough by hand, make a well in the flour.  Stir the yeasty water into the well, then gradually add the remaining water while incorporating the flour.  Add the olive oil and salt.  Stir the dough vigorously to incorporate as much flour as possible, then turn the dough onto a board.  Gather and knead it, adding a little more flour if necessary, for 5 minutes or until it is smooth and lively.

If using the mixer, stir the flour in the mixing bowl.  Turn the mixer to the lowest setting and gradually add the yeasty water.  With the mixer running, add the remaining water, olive oil and salt.  After 2 minutes, the dough will be clinging together in a rough mass.  Stop the mixer and fit it with the dough hook.  Knead the dough at the lowest setting for 5-7 minutes.  All the flour should be incorporated and the dough should be smooth and lively.

At this stage, I always turn the dough out on a floured board and knead it by hand for at least 30 seconds to feel how responsive it is.  The texture, strength and resiliency of your dough affect the time needed for rising, punching down, resting and baking.  If it is sticky, I knead in more flour, a tablespoon at a time.

Cover the dough and let rise until doubled in bulk,, preferably over night in the refrigerator.  In the morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator and punch it down.  Return it to the bowl, cover again, and let it stand in a cool place for as little as 3 hours or as long as all day.  About a hour before you are ready to serve the pizza, punch the dough down and divide it into portions and roll out and place on a well oiled pizza pan.  Cover with your favorite toppings and cook for about 20 mins, depending on the thickness of the dough.  One recipe makes 1 large thick crust pizza or 2 medium thin crust pizzas.

Thanks to my Mom for including this in a recipe book my Aunt made me as a wedding gift!  

Warm Chicken Pasta

Today we began a new menu style and method for our family.  Its just a trial.  I will write more about it on Monday when I post my Menu Plan Monday, over at my main blog, Hyperactive Lu.  Our first new meal was this Warm Chicken Pasta.  It was good and filling.  This pasta was very easy to make while the boys ran around the house during the "bewitching hour".  Since Hubbie didn't get home 'til late that night, I was glad that it was so easy!  I hate doing new recipes without anyone helping with the boys.  

 Warm Chicken Pasta over Romaine Lettuce

Purchase 1 box of Kraft pasta salad(1.29), 1 chicken breast(1.00), 1 bag of Romaine lettuce1/2 bag-1.50)and crescent rolls(1.20).  

Make the box of pasta salad according to the package.  Boil chicken breast until done.  Once chicken is done, cube and mix into the pasta salad.  Wash and drain the lettuce and separate onto plates.  Scoop pasta salad over the lettuce.  Serve with apple slices and a crescent roll.    

The downsides to this meal for our family is that we did not have any leftovers and I probably spent around $5.  I can usually make a casserole/pasta dish for our family for less than $5 and feed our family a few times on it, so this is definitely not a "cheap" meal.    

Crunchy Onion Chicken Tenders

My children attend a Christian preschool/MDO program at a nearby church.  We love the teachers, director and the whole program!  No complaints!  Its a large church and they usually have free magazines in the foyer!  Since the boys started attending the school back in the summer, I've been grabbing the free magazine Parent Life.  I love this magazine!  I read through it pretty quickly!  I think its put together by the people at Life Way Christian BookStores!  I didn't even know they had a magazine.  If and when I can no longer get this magazine for free, I will definitely need to get a magazine subscription for this!

Last week, I was flipping through the latest issue of Parent Life magazine and noticed some recipes that I thought my family would love!  We tried this one tonight!

So yummy- displayed on my beautiful, everyday dishes given to me by my Granny

Crunchy Onion Chicken Tenders

• 2 cups French's Original Fried Onions
• 2 tblspoon flour
• 1 lb chicken tenders
• 1 large egg, beaten

Crush fried onions with flour in a plastic bag.  Dig chicken tenders into egg; coat in onion crumbs.  Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees.  

The recipe was easy, quick and so yummy!  Very little clean up.  I found Tyson chicken tenders on sale about a month ago at Kroger- about 8 or 9 strips for around $2 (during their 69 cent per lb chicken sale).  So, I thought this would be a wonderful time to use those!    Our whole family gobbled the strips up!  This will definitely become a regular item on our menu!  I added steak fries and Hubbie's homemade honey mustard.  

I think I figured I spent around $5-5.50 for our family to eat this meal.  I could have done it cheaper if I had made homemade oven fries, but we were already late getting dinner together that night!  

Soup and a Great Investment

Hearty Homemade Beef and Vegetable Soup 

1 lb ground beef

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 large onion

1 clove garlic (minced)

1 can kidney beans or pinto beans

2 cans (14 oz each) chicken broth - about 4 cups

1 can chopped italian tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 dried italian seasoning

Heat oil in a 4 1/2 quart Dutch oven or soup pot over Medium Heat.  Peel and coarsely chop the onion, adding it to the pot.  Add raw beef and brown.  Drain any fat.  

Add garlic.  Drain beans and add them with the broth, tomatoes (with the juice), tomato paste and 2 cups of water.  Raise the heat to HIGH and stir.  

Add corn, peas and seasoning.  Cover and cook until boiling.  Reduce heat, simmer 5 to7 minutes.  

Serve with warm cornbread or grilled cheese sandwiches!

Lu's take on this soup?  Its yummy!  I got this recipe out of my favorite cook book Cheap.  Fast.  Good!  By Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross..  This has got to be the best cookbook that I have ever seen!  So many good and cheap recipes!  Go here for another recipe from this book!

This soup is good, quick, easy and cheap!  All of my favorite words!  I do not use a garlic clove- just because I didn't have any the days I made this.  I never use a whole onion- I'm THAT cheap-and it was fine.  I also just use a bag of frozen mixed veggies instead of the individual bags of each type of veggie.  I love the fact that this recipe includes kidney beans!  Such a wonderful addition to this soup!  It adds more to the soup than just the typical veggies!  

Enjoy!  And go buy this book!!!!  :)