Parmesan Ranch Chicken

This is a fabulous recipe from Lion House Classics. Tory made this for my birthday three years ago and it is definitely one of my favorites. I will admit that I have never made it myself, Tory does just too good of a job! (See those masculine hands preparing this delicious dish, I just love it when he cooks.)

1/2 cup cornflake crumbs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 ounces dry ranch dressing mix

6 boneless chicken breasts (we use boneless/skinless, it is all we buy)

3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (there is a difference between grated and shredded I guess)

26 ounces marinara or spaghetti sauce

In a shallow bowl, combine cornflake crumbs, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and ranch mix. Coat both sides of chicken with mix. Place in 9x13 inch pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray (Tory prefers the the butter flavored style, use whatever floats your boat.) Spray tops of chicken with nonstick cooking spray to keep moist. Bake at 35o degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Just prior to serving sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Heat Marinara sauce and serve over cooked pasta and chicken. Serves 6

Now what does this picture have to do with anything, well nothing. I just love cheese so I thought I would take a picture of it. Plus this makes for a great place for me to discuss our secret ingredient we tried last night that impressed our guests. I must first explain out predicament. Tory saw of our favorite friends at church and invited them over for dinner. Which I was very excited for, but I planned on just doing simple breakfast for dinner (classic Sunday afternoon dinner). So we are brainstorming on what we should fix and it came to us, this fabulous chicken dinner. The only problem, no corn flakes. We looked in our pantry and tried to brainstorm some more and came up with taking the flakes out of our box of Honey Bunches of Oats. The end product, so much better. It gave the breading a hint of sweetness and cinnamon that was such a great contrast to the ranch and cheese. Needless to say we will probably do it again and again.

Low Fat, Chewy Fruit and Oatmeal Bars

These are part cookie, part breakfast-bar from a recipe on the Quaker Oatmeal container. They are still chewy and delish even though they are low fat. I don't believe they are low calorie though because I want to keep eating and eating them. I used 1/2 whole wheat flour this time and may try going to all whole wheat. My next step is to try using splenda to lower the calories, but the kids may start complaining at that point. They didn't notice the 1/2 whole wheat flour.

LOW FAT CHEWY FRUIT AND OATMEAL BARS

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

8 ounces of plain or vanilla low-fat yogurt

2 egg-whites, lightly beaten

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 Tbsp. fat free milk

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 3/4 wheat 3/4 all purpose)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

3 cups Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked) (I used old-fashioned)

1 cup diced dried mixed fruit, raisins, or craisins (I mixed raisins and craisins)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine sugars, yogurt, egg whites, oil, milk and vanilla, mix well. In medum bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add to yogurt mixture; mix well. Stir in oats and fruit.

2. Spread dough evenly onto bottom of ungreased 13x9 inch baking pan.

3. Bake 28 to 32 minutes (I love that odd exactness; not 27-31 minutes or 29-33, but I'm just weird.) or until golden brown. Cool completely on wire rack. Cut into bars. Store tightly covered.

That's it!

A Little Bit of Peanut Butter and a Little Bit of Chocolate

I have no idea what the name for these cookies is, but they are really simple and very yummy (thus it is of course not good for you.) And mostly I just wanted to post the picture. I think it turned out awesome.

Ritz Crackers

Smooth Peanut Butter

Dipping Chocolate (we used almond bark and it turned out awesome too)

Melt the chocolate. Spread the peanut butter between two Ritz crackers. Then dip the sandwich cookie in the chocolate. Let it set, and voila, a cookie. Just keep spreading sandwiches until you use up your chocolate, at least that is what we did.

Okay, so I had to put another picture on because I like my camera so much.

Brown Sugar Tip

So here is a tip most all of you already know. But I have always wondered how the heck are you supposed to store brown sugar after the bag has been opened? It always goes rock hard within the week in the bag not matter how tight you tie that twisty tie.

Tupperware. That is the solution. Keep it in tupperware! It stays soft and fresh that way. I tried the whole apples in with it thing. That made it kind of liquidy and then hard again. So then I pulled almost all the apples out. And of course ate them, because they were candied now. Today I opened the tuppperware when I was making Elizabeth's meatloaf and what did I find, but wonderfully fresh brown sugar! So I recommend buy a tupperware specifically for brown sugar (if you don't already do this). It makes it much easier to work with.

Fettucine Alfredo

I did not take photos of this one as I went. Mostly because I was stirring two different pots with both hands at the same time for most of it. Talk about being ambidextrous...I'm not really that good, but I'd like to think I am.

I am a Fettucine Alfredo addict and the bottled sauce just isn't good enough for me. Mom's Woman's Day magazine has a "better than bottled" recipe for alfredo sauce, so she tried it. I love it!!! But I was leery about how easy it would actually be for a simple person such as myself to cook. So I tried it. I stand before you today as an accomplished alfredo sauce maker.

ALFREDO SAUCE

2 tsp butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 Tbsp flour

2 cups fat-free half-and-half

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp nutmeg (the bottle we had was almost empty and looked like it had maybe just over 1/4 tsp nutmeg. I just dumped it in, and it was great. So if you go heavy on nutmeg that's okay)

Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add the garlic; cook over low heat 1 minute or until fragant (since Mom can't smell she sticks to the minute, I just waited until I could smell it.) Whisk in the flour, then whisk in the half-and-half until well combined. Finally, whisk in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes or until thickened.Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup grated Parmesan. Serve with 1 lb cooked fettucine.

For the fettucine, follow the instructions for the Al Dente option for this meal.

Now compare the nutrition of bottled sauce versus this recipe's sauce and you'll be shocked!

seasoned rice side dish

This is a SUPER EASY dinner and I think the whole thing cost about five bucks. This is what we had for dinner last night. It is this rice recipe along with the slow cooker pork chops I just posted. This was my plate and I realized halfway through that the photo of the meat would have looked even more tasty with extra sauce drizzled over it, but it was my plate so I didn't have any extra anything on it. Trust me, its tasty.

Even the kids ate it.

After they picked out the green peppers.

And held their noses for the vegetables.

Seasoned Rice

(from Recipezaar)

Serves 8

1 1/2 cups uncooked long-grain rice

1 1/2 cups water

10 ounces beef or chicken broth

2 tablespoons chopped green peppers (I added 3/4 cup, why not?)

2 tblsp. butter

1 tsp. worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. soy sauce

1/8 teaspoon onion powder (I didn't have any, and it was still good.)

Step1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.

That's it!

another slow cooker pork chops

This recipe is a little more simple than the one I posted before, and also very yummy

PORK CHOPS FOR THE SLOW COOKER

Serves 6

6 boneless pork chops
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
2 garlic cloves, crushed
salt and pepper

1. Place pork chops in slow cooker. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over pork chops.
2. Cook on low setting for 6 hours, until internal temperature of pork has reached 160 degrees F.