Chopped Chicken Salad

This is an awesome recipe that is THM (Trim Healthy Mama or, in Drew's case, Man;) approved... this is a diet that Drew and I have been doing off and on for the last little while but we are now ready to get back on it:) And this is delicious!!! A perfect meal for co-op days:)

Chopped Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
• 2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (I use a rotisserie chicken)
• 3/4 cup raw cashews, roughly chopped
• 1/4 Granny Smith apple, diced
• 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded or diced in small cubes
• 4 ribs celery, diced
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced
• 5 drops Tabasco sauce, or more to taste
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Dill weed and basil, fresh or dried to taste
• 1/4-1/3cup mayonnaise (or to taste)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, save mayo for last - use just enough to moisten. Can eat immediately or chill first, stays good in fridge about 2 days. Tastes great as is with a fork, no need for bread, wrap or crackers.

Brooklyn Blackout Cake

This is a super yummy chocolate cake recipe that came from Taste of Home. I think this might be a go to recipe when we want a chocolate cake. It is really rich, so cut it in small pieces! :)

 

Tip: Make your pudding and frosting first, so that those can be cooling in your fridge while your cake is baking and cooling. Also, you will not need all of this frosting for your cake. It is too much, so don't just start to put the whole thing on there. The frosting is kind of a runny ganache, but will firm up when you cool it. I put the whole thing out in the garage (It's winter time, right now) to set up.

 

Ingredients

PUDDING:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 cups whole milk
• 3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

CAKE:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
• 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup strong brewed coffee
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

FROSTING:

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

In a small heavy saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in

milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.

Reduce heat to low; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Stir in

chocolate until melted. Transfer to a bowl; stir in vanilla. Cool

slightly, stirring occasionally. Press plastic wrap onto surface of

pudding. Refrigerate, covered, 2 hours or until cold.

 

Preheat oven to 325°. Line bottoms of two greased 8-in. round

baking pans with parchment paper; grease paper. In a small bowl,

whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large

saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add cocoa; cook and stir

until blended. Stir in sugars. Remove from heat; stir in buttermilk,

coffee and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until blended.

Stir in flour mixture just until combined.

 

Transfer batter to prepared pans. Bake 35-40 minutes or until

toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10

minutes before removing to wire racks; remove paper. Cool

completely.

 

For frosting, in the top of a double boiler or a metal bowl over hot

water, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Remove from

heat. Whisk in hot water, all at once. Whisk in corn syrup and

vanilla. Refrigerate 25-30 minutes or just until spreadable.

 

Using a long serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half.

Place a cake layer on a serving plate. Spread with half of the

pudding. Repeat layers. Top with a third cake layer. Spread frosting

over top and sides of cake.

 

Crumble remaining cake layer; sprinkle over top and sides of cake,

pressing lightly to adhere. Refrigerate leftovers.

Ham Poppyseed sliders

I have made these twice now with wonderful compliments. A great addition to a party. :)

This recipe makes 24 mini sandwiches.

1 24 pack of the King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
1 lb of thinly sliced ham (or more or less, depending how much ham you like)
1 lb of thinly sliced Swiss cheese (again to preference)
2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
1/2 cup butter
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
mayonnaise
poppy seeds

First, slice your rolls through the middle into sandwiches. Spread mayo liberally on the inside of the bottom piece. Arrange your ham and Swiss on this. Spread mayo on the inside of your top piece and form the sandwich. Arrange in your 13x9.

After you have made your sandwiches, you will make your sauce. In a small saucepan, add the butter, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Heat over medium heat until melted and whisk together.   Pour this over your prepared sandwiches. Then, sprinkle the poppy seeds over the top of the sandwiches. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until lightly browned and the cheese has melted. Enjoy!!

Scotcheroos

These are those yummy peanut butter rise krispy treats with chocolate tops. So good! This recipe was shared with me by Maggie Liechty Christmas 2010.

1 c. peanut butter
1 c. light corn syrup
1 c. sugar
6-8 c. Rice Krispies
1 pkg chocolate chips
1 pkg peanut butter chips

Mix together peanut butter, corn syrup, and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until melted. Then add Rice Krispies and evenly coat. Spread in the bottom of a 9x11 pan. Pack down with a greased spoon. Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter chips in microwave. Pour over Rice Krispies. Let chocolate/peanut butter cool until hard before serving. (You can put it in the freezer for a bit if you don't have time to wait very long.) Cut with a serrated knife.

Stuffed Mexican Chicken Shells

These were super yummy and were introduced to me by my sister-in-law, Tamara Greenwood, from the six sisters blog. She made them for us after Thomas was born while we, crazy as we are, decided to move to our new house when he was a month old. Pretty awesome sister-in-law!! Anyway, they were super yummy. We liked them with a scoop of guacamole on top. Freezable!

 

4 cups chicken breast, cooked and diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
6 green onions, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
3 (8 oz.) blocks cream cheese, softened (not melted)
2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes with chiles, undrained (Rotel or store brand)
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups salsa
40 large pasta shells

Cook pasta shells in well salted, boiling water until al dente (still have a little bite to them- if you cook them too long, they will be difficult to stuff). Drain the pasta and set aside while you make the filling.
For the filling, add diced chicken, drained black beans, green onions, diced peppers, and cumin into a  large mixing bowl. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, mix the cream cheese, chicken broth and undrained tomatoes with chiles. When thoroughly combined, pour it over the chicken mixture and mix well (if you have trouble incorporating the cream cheese and tomatoes, you can heat it slightly in the microwave).
You will need either 2 13x9" baking pans OR one large baking sheet. Spread 3/4 cup salsa in the bottom of each 13x9" baking pan.
Using a spoon, fill each of your cooked pasta shells with chicken mixture, setting them into the salsa-covered pan. Continue until all shells are filled and arranged in the pans.
When the pans are full, drizzle the shells with the remaining 1/2 cup of salsa (1/4 cup per pan) and then sprinkle with the shredded cheddar cheese.
Cover the baking pan tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

*I did have about 1 1/2 cups of the chicken mixture leftover- we just wrapped it up in flour tortillas for lunch the next day and it was delicious!
(I put one pan in the oven to bake for dinner and then wrapped the other uncooked pan with foil and threw it in the freezer for another night. When you are ready to eat it, pull it out of the freezer 24 hours in advance and let it thaw in the fridge. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes)

Butterhorns

Seriously amazing. You will never want to make another dinner roll in your life. A very forgiving dough and very versatile. We like to take this dough and fill it with all sorts of things; from ham and swiss to raspberry jam and chocolate. This came from Crystal Paine of Money Saving Mom fame. Another great thing about this recipe, you just half it and it fits perfectly in a breadmaker and then the machine will do all the work for you. Also freezable! :)

(makes 32 rolls)

2 Tablespoons dry yeast, heaping
1/3 cup warm water
9 cups flour, divided (you can use any mixture of white or whole-wheat flour you’d like)
2 cups warm milk
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
6 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
3-4 Tablespoons butter, melted


In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add 4 cups flour, milk, butter, sugar, eggs and salt. Beat 2 minutes or until smooth.
Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto floured board and knead lightly. (Or, knead in mixer until sides of bowl are clean, then knead two more minutes.)
Place in a greased bowl, turning dough once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled (1-3 hours).
Punch dough down and divide into four equal parts. Roll each part into a 12-inch circle and brush with melted butter.
Cut each circle into 8 pie-shaped wedges.
Roll up each wedge for wide edge to tip of dough and pinch to seal. Place rolls, top down, on baking sheets.
Bake at 375 degrees until lightly browned (about 8-10 minutes). Brush with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. Remove and serve immediately or cool on wire racks.

Baked Beans

Making beans today for a Greenwood BBQ and thought I'd make an effort to measure the recipe out since I never have. This recipe comes from the Jackson side of the family. I remember it being at meals at my grandmother's house and then my mother made them. I shared them with my Greenwood peeps after marrying Aaron and someday I hope they'll be at family dinner gathering for my children. These are serious baked beans; super yummy.

Makes a 13x9 pan of beans.

Bake at 300 for 2 1/2 hours.

2 large cans (53oz each) of VanCamps Pork and Beans (You may think this doesn't make a difference, but it does. Do NOT substitute.)
1 heaping cup Ketchup
1/2 heaping cup packed brown sugar
2 medium onions or 1 large, chopped into large pieces
1 lb package of bacon.

Drain your beans. I usually pour the cans into a colander for about 15 minutes and then come back to it. Pour into a bowl and add ketchup, brown sugar and onions. Mix together and then pour into 13x9 pan. Next, lay your bacon across the top of the beans, from side to side, not handle to handle. You shouldn't be able to see the beans through the bacon.

Bake at 300 degrees for 2 1/2 hours. After the first hour, push the bacon down into the beans and push the edges down on the sides. Scrape the sides down and push the bacon in further at the second hour and then stir again after the last 30 minutes and you're good to serve.

Enjoy!