Miss Nicole's Chicken Quesadilla's

As I think I mentioned last week, my friends Nicole and Kristina are doing a feature on Nicole's blog showcasing what their menu's look like each week.  I've already gotten a lot of ideas from these posts so make sure and check them out if you're on the lookout for a new recipe to cook!

Last week I made Nicole's Chicken Quesadilla's and they were so good and easy that I know this will be a recipe that we come back to again and again!  Thanks Nicole for sharing!  

Miss Nicole's Chicken Quesadilla's

1 lb uncooked chicken tenders or breasts

Lawry's Mesquite Marinade

Flour Tortillas

Shredded Cheese

Sour Cream

Hot sauce (we didn't use)

1. Cut chicken into small strips like for fajitas.  Mine were between 1 and 2 inches long and were pretty skinny but just chop them into smaller pieces, size doesn't really matter.

2. Put cut up chicken into bowl and let it marinate for 30 minutes or longer until you're ready to cook.

3. Throw chicken and marinade into skillet and saute chicken until cooked through (takes maybe 5 or 10 minutes).

4. In the meantime, warm your tortilla's up and get everything out to make the quesadilla's.

5. When chicken is cooked make quesadilla's up however you like and enjoy!

*Note: This made enough for us to give Charlotte chicken to eat and make four large quesadilla's.  If you are serving more than just a small family, you should increase the amount of chicken that you use.

Salmon and Citrus Rice Bowl

Now that I'm out of the first trimester I can stand going to Publix again and smelling the seafood department. I can also stand eating fish again (on some occasions). Because of this I really wanted to cook a salmon dish because it's so healthy and I hadn't eaten it for a while. This Martha Stewart recipe had been sitting in my recipe drawer for a whlie so I thought I'd try it since I figured Charlotte loves rice and oranges so she'd at least eat some of it. The dish was good if a little bland. I'll probably add some soy sauce to the rice and maybe some salt and pepper to the peas next time. But it was a very good recipe that I'll definitely make again!

Salmon and Citrus Rice Bowl
Serves 4

4 navel oranges
1/4 ounce (1 inch piece) fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced, plus 1 teaspoon finely grated
1 dried bay leaf
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
1 tablespoon brown-rice vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 pound skinless salmon fillets
1 cup uncooked brown rice
5 ounces (1 1/2 cupes) sugar snap peas, cut into 1/2 inch slices

1. Cut away peel and pith from 2 oranges. Cut between orange membranes, and let fruit and juice fall into a bowl. Squeeze juice into bowl and discard membranes. Cut segments into small pieces, and place in a separate bowl. Juice remaining 2 oranges and add juice to bowl (for a total of 1 cup).
2. Bring orange juice, sliced ginger, bay leaf, and coriander to a boil in a small saucepan. Cook until mixture is reduced to 2/3 cup, about 6 minutes. Let cool completely. Straing, and whisk in vinegar, soy sauce, honey, and oil.
3. Combine 3 tablespoons juice mixture and salmon in a resealable plastic bag, turning to coat. Refrigerate salmon and remaining juice mixture for at least 1 1/2 hours (or up to 3 hours).
4. Cook rice according to package instructions.
5. Preheat broiler. Remove salmon from marinade, and pat dry with paper towels. Discard marinade. Place fillets on a baking sheet, and broil until cooked to desired doneness, about 5 minutes for medium. Transfer to a dish. Let salmon cool slightly, and flake into bite sized pieces.
6. Divide rice among four bowls. Top with salmon, peas, and orange segments. Drizzle each serving with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the reserved juice mixture.

Oven Fried Pork chops

This weekend we had some pork chops and were looking for a new way to cook them so I put Jason in charge. He stepped in and found an oven fried recipe that sounded good, was easy, and that we could make all from ingredients that we had in our pantry -- the perfect trifecta! The pork chops were pretty good although ours were thick so took about twice as long to cook as the recipe said. But we will definitely be making these again!
Oven Fried Pork Chops

* 4 pork chops, trimmed
* 2 tablespoons butter, melted
* 1 egg, beaten
* 2 tablespoons milk
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* (We added 1/4 teaspoon of salt)
* 1 cup herb-seasoned dry bread stuffing mix (we used half panko bread crumbs (plain) and half italian seasoned bread crumbs)
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Pour butter into a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. Stir together egg, milk and pepper. Dip pork chops in egg mixture, coat with stuffing mix and place in pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Turn chops and bake for another 10 minutes, or until no pink remains in the meat and juices run clear.

Miss Kelly's Baked Beans

When we first moved to town we found a great Sunday School class. We made some friends that I hope we'll continue to be friends with our entire lives. And we often go together potluck style with everyone bringing a dish. Kelly often brought baked beans which we loved but I always forgot to ask for the recipe. Last Saturday we had Kelly and Tripp's going away party and we served bbq and asked people to bring sides and desserts. I decided that I would make Kelly's baked beans! They were a hit and everyone asked me to post the recipe for Recipe Wednesday. So, without further ado, Miss Kelly's Baked Beans!


Miss Kelly's Baked Beans
Makes 1 9x13 dish

1lb ground chuck, cooked & drained
3 1 lb cans of pork & beans (add last)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup ketchup
3tbsp mustard
2tbsp worstechire sauce
1 med onion, chopped & microwaved until tender (I just used a good amount of onion powder since Jason doesn't like onion pieces)

Mix all together. Cover & bake at 375 for 1 hour.

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

I got this recipe from Mrs. Smith at The Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I was intrigued by her name for it "World's Easiest Chicken Casserole" and thought that I would make it for our dear friends Leigh and Justin who had just had a baby. I doubled the recipe because Mrs. Smith showed one recipe of it in a square pan and two recipes filled two square pans to the brim -- I probably could have put a decent portion in three different pans instead of filling two pans so high. This recipe is really easy and it is also REALLY good! Try it next time you want something quick and filling!


Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole
1 lb chicken breasts or tenders
2 microwavable packages of Uncle Ben's Wild Rice
2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
1/2 can Chicken Broth

1. Cook chicken for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Cut into bite size pieces. (I salted and peppered my chicken before baking.)
2. Cook rice per instructions.
3. Mix together chicien, rice, soup, and chicken broth.
4. Pour into a square baking dish.
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Tortellini Alfredo

This recipe is totally stolen from others but it is way too good not to pass on! I saw the recipe on Kristen's blog Raising Acorns and she said that she got the recipe from Amanda's blog Kevin & Amanda. So, I give them credit, because this recipe is great and super easy! Also, I went with Kristen's version that included peas and it made it fantastic! It was good the night I made it, but honestly, even better reheated the next two days for lunch!
Tortellini Alfredo
1 (8 oz) pkg cheese tortellini
1 cup ham, diced
(8 oz) cream cheese
1 pkg dry Italian dressing
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 stick butter
1 cup frozen peas

Add tortellini to a large pot of boiling salted water and let cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a skillet to medium heat. Add the cream cheese, butter, cream of chicken soup, Italian dressing, and milk and stir until smooth. Once smooth, add in ham and peas and stir to coat. After the tortellini finishes boiling, drain, then add to cream sauce. Stir to evenly coat and serve warm.

Low Maintenance Lasagna

It's been forever since I has a Recipe Wednesday post but I'll just have to say that life got in the way and I reverted back to tried-and-true recipes to save time rather than making something new. But with all this snow I tried a few recipes that I had pulled from magazines and this one turned out to be a hit!


I've only made real lasagna a couple times (one being the Pioneer Woman's which was wonderful but took a sweet forever) and so when I saw this crock-pot version I figured I'd try it because there's nothing that Jason likes better than lasagna. This recipe was really easy and quick and turned out great. I'll probably add beef next time but the beauty of it is that you could add anything -- spinach, meat, different cheeses -- and it would still be really easy and good! The recipe does call for carrots which I liked and I cut them up really small to try and sneak them past Charlotte. She ate everything for a little while but by the end of the meal she was putting bites into her mouth, eating everything but the carrot pieces, and then spitting the carrot pieces out. You can definitely feel the texture of the carrots -- they don't go completely limp in the crock pot -- so if that's something that weirds you out you might want to try it without it. You could also double the recipe to make it taller if you need to feed more people, that way a serving could be smaller but have the same amount of food.

Low Maintenance Lasagna
From Jan 2011 issue of Parents magazine
Nonstick cooking spray
1 26 oz jar pasta sauce
3/4 cup water
1 15 oz carton part skim Ricotta Cheese
1/2 c Shredded Carrot
6 regular lasagna noodles
1 1/2 cups part-skim Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1. Coat a slow cooker with cooking spray. In a large microwave-safe bowl, stir together the pasta sauce and water. Cover with wax paper and microwave on high for about 3 minutes. In the meantime, in a medium bowl, stir together ricotta cheese and carrots; set aside.
2. Spook 1/2 cup of the sauce mixture into the bottom of the slow cooker. Break half of the noodles and arrange over the sauce. Spoon half of the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Continue layering in the following order: 1/2 c mozzarella, half of the remaining sauce, remaining noodles (breaking them to fit), the remaining ricotta mixture, 1/2 c mozzarella, the rest of the sauce, and the rest of the mozzarella.
3. Cover; cook on low heat for about 3 hours, until the noodles are tender. Remove slow cooker from liner; let stand, covered, for about 20 minutes so lasagna is easier to slice.