Main Dishes

Bacon and Corn Griddle Cakes

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Ingredients:

8 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/3 c. finely chopped sweet onion
1 c. flour
2 T. chopped fresh chives
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. cayenne pepper
2/3 c. milk
1 large egg, beaten
1 c. fresh, frozen or canned corn
1 T. oil
1/2 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
warm maple syrup, for serving

Directions:

1.  In a medium skillet, cook the bacon pieces until they begin to brown.  Add the onion and continue to cook until the bacon is crisp and the onion is softened.  Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of the bacon mixture for topping the griddle cakes upon serving and set it aside.

2.  While the bacon is cooking, combine the flour, chives, baking powder, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.  Stir in the milk, egg and oil, just until moistened.  Stir in the bacon mixture, corn and cheese.  The mixture will be thick.  If you’d like the griddle cakes to be slightly thinner, add a little more milk to thin out the batter.

3.  Heat and grease a griddle or large skillet.  Pour a heaping 1/4 c. of the batter onto the griddle and cook until it is golden brown, 3-4 minutes per side.  Repeat with the remaining batter.

4.  Serve stacks of griddle cakes topped with a sprinkle of the reserved bacon/onion and a good dose of warm maple syrup.

Source:  RecipeGirl.com

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

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I was thinking of giving you a recipe for a diet soup that I love, but then I thought that everyone should know how to make a delicious homemade pot pie for those days that you need a little comfort food! The diet soup can wait for another day!

I make these in batches of 4 and freeze them, and then I have something quick to pull out of the oven for dinner on a busy day. My kids LOVE these! People ask me how many one will feed, and here is my answer: It will feed me 7-8 servings, but it will feed my son Curtis, who is 16, only 2 servings. It would definitely feed 4 really hungry normal people who are not teenage boys.  (smile).

Homemade Chicken Pot Pies

Ingredients:

4 frozen pie shells (or you can make homemade crust)
4 cups cooked, diced chicken
1 large can cream of chicken soup (or 2 small cans – about 20 oz)
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups baby carrots cut into slices
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup (or more) diced onions
4 cups potatoes, diced 
1 can of corn (or some frozen corn)
2 chicken bouillon cubes (or 1 if you like less salt)
2 boxes of roll out top crust (This will give you 4 top crusts) I recommend Pillsbury brand – or you can make homemade
1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp of Poultry Seasoning (or  a little Thyme, Oregano and Sage)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Put the diced potatoes, carrots and onions in a pot. Cover with water. Add the bouillon cube and some salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are done…but not mushy and falling apart.

2. In a small bowl, add 1/2 cup flour to 1/2 cup of water and mix with a fork until smooth. Pour this slowly into boiling pot of vegetables while stirring briskly. This will thicken the water that the vegetables are cooking in. Turn off heat and let it cool down a bit.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth with a hand mixer. Add in the cream of chicken soup and poultry seasoning. Mix until well blended. Add the chicken, corn, peas, and the cooked potato/carrot/onion mixture. Mix all ingredients together until well blended.

4. Add this delicious mixture to the pie shells, dividing mixture evenly between the 4 pie shells.

5. Roll out your crust onto the counter. (Cut a heart in the center for a vent hole if you would like – it’s so cute!) Place the crust on top of the pie. Fold under the extra crust as neatly as possible around the edges. Then pinch the edge of the crust to seal. If you have no idea how to to that, look up a tutorial. It is so hard to explain in words. But it is easy to do, and everyone has their own way of making their crust edge pretty. 

6. If you did not cut a heart into the center of the crust, cut a few vent holes into the top crust. Just take a knife and make a few small cuts.

7. At this point, I put a square of wax paper on top of the pie, then cover with foil and put in the freezer. I suppose you could skip the wax paper if you don’t have any.

8. If you want to bake one right away, bake it at 375 degrees for 30 – 45 minutes, depending on how dark you like your crust.

9. When baking from frozen, bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THESE CHICKEN POT PIES!

Notes: 
1. Kids love to help make these! And they love eating them too!

2. These are perfect to have on hand when you need to take someone a dinner, or when you forgot to plan dinner for your own family.

3. We made these for a fund raiser at church to help earn money for girls camp. We sold LOTS of them and people liked them very much!

Source: Adapted from my friend Becky Robinson, Rock Hill, SC.



3 Ingredient White Bean Chicken Chili

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I love a quick, yummy meal, and this is definitely one of them!

One day I watched my friend dump some things in a pot, stir a bit, and then call her kids down for dinner. I was truly impressed because it took 5 minutes from start to finish, and it looked so delicious and healthy too!

3 Ingredient White Bean Chicken Chili

Ingredients:
A few cans of white beans, drained
1 can of chicken 
A cup or two of your favorite salsa

I am not going to give an exact recipe, well, because there isn’t one and I have made it differently every time depending on how many I needed to feed and what I had on hand. But basically you just dump those ingredients into a pot, in whatever quantities you want, add a little water if needed, and maybe some black pepper. If you want to get fancy, you can add a can of corn! Let it simmer for a few minutes. Serve with your favorite shredded cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips!

A delicious and quick meal! I hope you enjoy! 

PS – You could also make this in a crock pot.

Source: My amazing friend Kim Jones

Chicken & Wild Rice

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My family really liked this. Its a recipe I found in my 4 ingredient cookbook.  I changed it up a bit,
and voila! It was SUPER simple and cooked itself! The mandarin oranges add just a bit of sweetness to this dish that really makes it great! By-the -way, this is pretty healthy.
 
 
Ingredients:
1 bag of chicken, boneless & skinless
1 box of Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice, original flavor
1 box of Uncle Ben’sWild Rice, Herb Roasted Chicken Flavor
1 big can of Mandarin Oranges   
salt
pepper
2 1/2 cups of water, according to rice directions
 
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Using a roasting pan, layer the bottom with both boxes of rice.  Then sprinkle one of the seasoning packets over the rice.  Cut all the fatty parts off of the chicken and cut each breast into thirds. Layer the chicken over the rice. Sprinkle the second seasoning packet over the chicken and the rice. Lightly sprinkle salt and over the entire dish.  Pour the can of mandarin oranges over the chicken. Spread them out a bit so all of the sweetness goes everywhere instead of on  just one spot of the dish. Add the water carefully. Cover your roasting pan with tinfoil if you don’t have a lid. Then bake for 2 hours.  So, put this on just before you go to get the kiddos from school and it will be ready for dinner!
 
original recipe from 4 Ingredient Cookbook.

Chopstick Tuna Casserole

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In case you don’t know this, I love retro.  I went back to the 60s for this recipe that my Mom used to make for us.  I don’t know how often we had it but when I was looking through some of her old recipes one day, I saw it and added it to my collection.  When we were compiling a family recipe book I included this one in it.  I don’t make it very often because M doesn’t like the word casserole and it has celery in it, which is actually one of my favorite parts, along with the cashews.  Well, there just isn’t any ingredient that isn’t good in this dish.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and guess what?  It’s low fat and healthy.  You can use the healthier version of Cream of Mushroom soup and it is still yummy.

Ingredients:
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
2 cups chow mein noodles
1 can tuna, drained and flaked
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup toasted cashews
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup water
Dash of pepper

1.  Combine soup and water in a medium bowl.
2.  Add 1 cup chow mein noodles, dash of pepper and remaining ingredients.  Toss lightly; turn into square baking dish.
3.  Sprinkle with remaining noodles.  Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.  Enjoy the aroma coming from your oven as this bakes.  Seriously.  Mouth watering.

Source:  Patricia D. Brew

Chicken Enchiladas

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One of my favorite recipes from College Days came from my roommate Robin Parks. She was from southern California and provided several yummy recipes.  There is another one for hamburgers with fried eggs and cranberry sauce on it.  Seriously good, no kidding!  These enchiladas are a little time-consuming and really end up looking like a casserole, but they are so-o-o good. These are a family favorite.

Ingredients:
1 chopped onion
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for frying tortillas
1 crushed garlic clove
2 cups stewed tomatoes
2 -3 whole chopped green chilies, or 2 small cans
1 doz. corn tortillas
2 cups cooked, chopped chicken
6 bouillon  cubes, or 6 teaspoons granules
3 cups hot 1/2 & 1/2
1/2 lb. Monterrey Jack cheese, grated

1.  Saute onion in oil til soft .  Add garlic, tomatoes, chilies and chicken.  Season with salt and simmer 10 minutes.

2.  Fry tortillas in 1″ of hot oil.  Do not let them crisp.  Place on paper towels to drain excess oil.

3.  Dissolve bouillon cubes in hot 1/2 & 1/2.  Dip each tortilla in this, fill with about 1/4 cup chicken filling and roll up.

4.  Arrange rolls in a 9 x 13 baking dish.  Pour remaining 1/2 & 1/2 mixture over them.  Top with grated  Jack cheese.

5.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Source:  Robin Parks, Fullerton CA

Puff Pastry Chicken

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I made this for the first time tonight, and my family LOVED it! It was such an easy recipe too! I will definitely be making this again! YUM!

I’ve never cooked with puff pastry before, and I really liked it! So flaky and delicious!

Puff Pastry Chicken

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed (I bought 1 box of Philo dough, and it was enough) 
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3-4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
fresh parsley, a few sprigs, chopped
1 green onion, chopped (can use dried onions instead)
1 egg, put in bowl and whisked
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Mix together cream cheese, bacon, parsley, and onion. This is your filling.

2. Cut a deep slit into each chicken breast, and add the filling. 

*Once I got the chicken breasts slit and stuffed with the filling, I felt they were way too large, and I cut them each in half. Then I wrapped them with the dough. I am so glad I did this! They were the perfect serving size for us. A whole breast would have been way too big!


3. Generously salt and pepper the chicken.

4. If you get two large sheets of puff pastry like I did, you will need to cut them into pieces the right size to wrap around each piece of chicken. This is slightly tricky, but I made it work. 

5. Place the chicken onto the dough, filling side down. Brush some egg around the edge of the dough –  this is used to help seal the dough together. Fold the dough around the chicken and place on greased baking sheet, with the ends of the dough down.

6. Brush top with egg.

7. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until the chicken is done. 


These were truly delicious! I hope you enjoy them like we did!

Source: adapted from kayotickitchen



Lasagna Cupcakes

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I can never seem to get lasagna noodles to cook correctly.  These lasagna cupcakes are made with wonton wrappers instead of traditional lasagna noodles.  They are a great alternative and work well for individual servings and kid portions.  This recipe is quick and easy, but I think it tastes better than traditional lasagna.
Ingredients:
Olive oil
One onion and a few cloves of garlic 
1-1.5 pounds of ground turkey or beef
26-ounce jar of your favorite pasta sauce
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Shredded parmesan cheese
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Cut up the onion and garlic cloves and cook in olive oil until translucent.
Add the ground turkey and cook until no longer pink.  
Add a jar of your favorite pasta sauce.

While the meat is cooking, grease the cupcakes pans with olive oil and press the wonton wrappers into the bottom on the pan.  You can use square or circle wonton wrappers.
Add a layer of the meat and sauce.

Then add a layer of the cheeses.  I simply sprinkle a little of each.
You could also add ricotta to the cheese mix.  If you do this, mix the three cheeses in a bowl and spoon the mixture in for the cheese layer.
Add another layer of the meat sauce and a layer of the cheese. 
Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until sauce and cheese are bubbly.
Notes:
Makes 24-30 cupcakes.  
Let them cool for at least five minutes before removing them for the pan or they will not hold their shape.
Any part of the wonton wrapper that is not covered by the lasagna mix will be crunchy so make sure they are completely covered or pushed into the mix.
You can substitute the meat for veggies sautéd in olive oil and pasta sauce.

Source:  Adapted from a recipe on tablespoon.com

Our Favorites from 2012

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Last year around this time we posted the most popular recipes of 2011.  This year we thought we’d do something different…..this time we are sharing OUR favorites!  Each of the Mavens has chosen their favorite personal recipe of 2012.  We hope you’ll give them a try if you haven’t already!

from Emily…..Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin
 
from Anna…..Mexican Street Corn
 
from Melissa…..Amazing Crockpot Grits
 
from Audrey…..Mom’s Rolls
from Niki…..Cheesy Vegetable Chowder
from Julie……Cottage Ranch Dip
 
 
from Amy…..Cobbler Custard Cups
from Kara…..Spinach Dip
 
Care to share what some of your favorite Maven recipes have been?  We’d love to hear from you!
 
image source: Microsoft Office Clipart (manipulated through Picmonkey)
 

Albondigas Soup

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Wow.  I get to post on Thanksgiving Day.  So in case you anticipate running out of creative ways to recycle your turkey leftovers, I am sharing a recipe from Pinterest that I have been wanting to try for a while and it contains no turkey…really.  It came together very easily and tasted really good.

Ingredients:  (please note that some of the ingredients for the soup are also used in the meatballs, so plan accordingly.)

SOUP:
1 T. vegetable oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. dried Mexican oregano
1/4 t. ground cumin 
6 cups beef stock
2 cups crushed tomatoes
1 canned chipotle chile plus 1-2 t. adobo sauce
2 carrots, grated
1 t. salt
1/2 cup grated zucchini
1/4 cup uncooked rice

ALBONDIGAS (meatballs):
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/4 lb. bulk chorizo
1/4 cup grated zucchini
1 egg
1 clove garlic, minced
1 stale small corn tortilla, processed to crumbs 
1 T. fresh cilantro, minced
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. dried Mexican oregano

1.  Heat the vegetable oil in a large stock pot (or dutch oven) over medium heat and saute the onion, garlic, oregano and cumin until onions are soft.  Add the beef stock, tomatoes, chipotle, carrots and salt.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes.

2.  Make the albondigas by combining all of the meatball ingredients in a bowl and mixing well.  (One tip, the original recipe calls for a small, stale corn tortilla processed to crumbs but mine would never get small enough.  Next time I will use crushed tortilla chips.)  Pinch off about a tablespoon of meatball mixture and roll it into a ball about 3/4-inch in diameter.  Continue with the rest of the mixture.

3. Bring 2-3 inches of water to a boil in a medium to large saucepan.  Add the meatballs and boil for 3-4 minutes to reduce some of the grease.  Drain the meatballs and discard the water.

4.  Add the meatballs, zucchini, and rice to the soup and simmer for another 30 minutes.  Serve hot.  Garnish as desired.

Source:  Pinterest, originally  from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison