Tarragon Chicken

This is a quick easy meal that is super tasty!

Ingredients:
-1 c flour
-1/2 tsp pepper
-4 chicken breasts
-3 tbsp olive oil
-1 1/2 c chicken broth
-1 tbsp chopped tarragon or 1 tsp dried tarragon
-1 c sliced mushrooms
-2 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Combine flour and pepper in a ziplock bag.

2. Coat chicken in flour. Reserve flour mixture for later.

3. Heat oil in skillet- high heat.

4. Add chicken. Cook until browned on all sides.

5. Stir 2 tbsp of flour mixture into pan drippings.

6. Add broth gradually to pan stirring continually.

7. Stir in tarragon. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered for 10 min.

8. Add mushrooms, simmer until chicken is cooked through- about 10 min.

9. Stir in lemon juice.

10. Serve immediately.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

This is a new pumpkin muffin recipe that I found online. I opted to use fresh pumpkin instead of canned pumpkin.

Ingredients:
Filling:
-1 8oz pkg of cream cheese
-1 egg
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-3 tbsp brown sugar

Steusel topping:
-4 1/2 tbsp flour
-5 tbsp sugar
-3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
-3 tbsp butter
-3 tbsp chopped pecans

Muffins:
-2 1/2 cups of flour
-2 cups of sugar
-2 tsp baking powder
-2 tsp ground cinnamon
-2 eggs
-1 1/3 cups of olive oil
-2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Filling:

• Beat cream cheese until soft
• Add egg, vanilla, and brown sugar
• Beat until smooth
• Set aside

3. Streusel topping:

• Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, and pecans
• Add butter
• Cut with a for until crumbly
• Set aside

4. Muffins:

• Sift together flour, sugar, cinnamon, and baking powder
• Make a well in the center of the mixture
• Add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil, and vanilla
• Beat well until smooth

5. Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups

6. Add 1 tbsp of the cream cheese filling

7. Sprinkle on streusel topping

8. Bake at 375 for 20-25 min

I'll add pics when blogger decides to cooperate with uploading pics...

Mama Krohn's World Famous Cheesy Ranch Potatoes

I'm sorry I haven't been here in forever. Starting a new job and getting sick will kill any attempt to do anything. So, to make up for my absence, I am going to share one of my faves, my mom's cheesy ranch potatoes.

And a word of caution, if you double this recipe, you will have tons and tons of potatoes left over. And they are that good that you might be tempted to double it the next time you make it.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
-8 large red potatoes
-1 cup of ranch salad dressing
-1 cup of sour cream
-1 cup of cheddar cheese, divided
-1/4 cup of crumbled, cooked bacon (bacon bits work well here)
-1 tsp of salt (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Cut potatoes into quarters. Place in a large saucepan and cover with water. Cook until tender (about 8-10 min). Drain.

3. Meanwhile, combine salad dressing, sour cream, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and bacon in a large bowl; mix well.

4. Add cooked potatoes to salad dressing mixture; mix well.

5. Spoon mixture into a greased baking dish. Top with remaining cheese.

6. Bake until bubbly- about 20 min.

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

Well, it’s been a while since we have updated this bad boy. Sorry about that--it's been pretty busy with the holidays. I hope you had a great Christmas, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or Hanukkah, and may 2012 be your best year so far! I have to say, my cabinet and spice rack are continuously growing with all these new ideas for dishes to make. It’s been an adventure! This next recipe is really good. I borrowed it from a friend, Smashley, who has a blog as well that you should also check out! Gotta give her some major props. She not only cooks, but also does wonderfully crafty things. It is: http://kissmysmash.blogspot.com/

Prep time: 15 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-1/2 cup of milk
-2 eggs
-2 sleeves of Ritz crackers
-3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
-1/4 tsp pepper
-1 can of cream of chicken soup
-2 tablespoons of sour cream
-2 tablespoons of butter

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.2. Place the Ritz crackers into a large Ziploc bag. Seal the bag, and crush the crackers into small pieces (think breadcrumbs).

3. Add pepper to the crackers. Yes, I know--in the picture that is salt. LOL, I omitted it out of the recipe because of the salt on the Ritz crackers already.

4. Line up 3 bowls. Fill the first one with the milk (and mix in the eggs), the second with the shredded cheese, and the third with the crackers. 

5. Rinse the chicken breasts in cold water.

6. Using your newly created assembly line, dip each chicken breast into the milk, then into the cheese, and finally, into the breadcrumbs. What I took away from Smashley's blog is that she had trouble getting the cheese and cracker bits to stick to the chicken. So, I decided to try and mix milk and eggs to help form a stickier consistency. (Also, I wonder if the order of things matters--like cracker bits before cheese? I will try that next time). You really have to kind of mash both the cheese and cracker bits onto the chicken.

Here was the result. Notice that I sprinkled extra cheese over all the chicken just for good measure.

7. Place the chicken in a pan, and cover with tin foil. Bake for 35 minutes. 

8. While the chicken is baking in the oven, heat up the can of cream of chicken soup, and combine with the sour cream and butter.  

9. Stir over medium high heat until well combined and hot.

10. Remove the chicken from the oven, remove the tin foil, and place back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden brown and crispy.

 11. Remove the chicken from the oven, pour sauce over each piece, and serve. Yum!

BTDubs, did you happen to notice that in this last picture, there is a piece of chicken missing? Yeah, it didn't escape. Actually, since Josh was my guinea pig, when I told him about what was in the sauce (sour cream) he got a little scared. So here's a note, don't tell your guinea pigs what you are making, just have them eat it. He did end up taking a little bit of sauce in the end.

Cranberry Apple Pie

This is a great holiday pie recipe, and it's unique! My aunt introduced this recipe to us one year at Thanksgiving, and I have been in love ever since. For those of you who are not too keen on cranberries, the bitterness of them is actually balanced well by the sweetness of the apples. I must warn you though, cooking apples that you slice up yourself are always best. If you use the apple pie filling in a can, your pie will be a little bit, shall we say, liquidatious. I know this from lots of experience! 

Prep time: 20 minutes
Serves: 8

Ingredients:
*Pie filling:
-9 inch pie crust
-1 egg
-3/4 cup packed brown sugar
-1/4 cup sugar
-1/3 cup flour (or more to thicken if liquidy, if you are using canned apples instead)
-1 tsp cinnamon
-2 tablespoons butter (softened, not melted)
-4 cups peeled and sliced cooking apples (Cortland and McIntosh are good ones) or 1 can of apple pie filling
-2 cups fresh cranberries
*Pie topping:
-1/2 cup quick cooking oats
-1/2 cup packed brown sugar
-1/4 cup softened butter

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Separate egg yolk from egg white. Throw the egg white away and keep the yolk.

3. Place pie crust in a pie tin. "Paint" the inside of the pie crust with the egg yolk, using a cooking brush.
Make sure to coat the entire pie crust to prevent cracking.

4. Place pie crust in oven and bake for 5 mins to seal egg yolk. Remove pie crust from oven and set aside.

5. Wash, peel, and slice apples into small chunks (I would say for me that translates to half the size of a golf ball) and put in large bowl, along with washed cranberries. Set aside.

6. Mix all ingredients (minus the fruit) well in a large mixing bowl. Butter may not mix as well if it is not softened, so break it up with a fork into small pieces.

7.Once mixed well, add in the apples and the cranberries slowly, and gently mix until all fruit is completely covered.

8. Put all ingredients into the pie crust and set aside. Now prepare pie topping.

9. Mix pie topping ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Again, butter may not mix well, so break up with fork into small pieces.

10. Once mixed well, sprinkle topping over entire pie until covered well. Bake for 40 minutes at 425 degrees.

Russian Tea

If you are looking for a warm drink for those cold winter nights, here is one of my favorite recipes. It has vitamin C also, to help fight against all those cold and flu germs! I have heard this called many things, but Desert Tea and Russian tea have been the most common names. It smells very yummy, and also makes a great gift idea.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Serves: 12

Ingredients:
-20 oz Tang
-1 pack sugarless lemonade (Kool-aid packet)
-1/2 cup sugar
-2/3 cup unsweetened instant tea mix with lemon
-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-1 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Combine all ingredients into a large bowl and mix well.

2. Add 2 tablespoons (or more to taste) to a cup of hot water and enjoy!!

Pork Chops

This next recipe is a classic, easy recipe for tender, juicy pork chops. 

Prep time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
-1 green pepper
-1 onion (I usually use a yellow one)
-6-8 pork chops (I usually get 4 big ones and cut them in halves, so I end up with 8)
-1 cup Italian bread crumbs (or plain, but I like to jazz it up for flavor with Italian)
-¼ cup milk
 -1 cup flour
-1 tsp paprika
-¼ tsp garlic powder
-¼ tsp pepper
-2 eggs
-Vegetable or olive oil

1. Combine flour, paprika, garlic powder, and pepper in a large Ziploc bag. Note: You can experiment with other spices, but these are just some basic ones). Set aside.

2. Mix eggs and milk in a bowl. Set aside.

3. Pour breadcrumbs in a bowl. Set aside. Line up the mixtures as follows in this order: spices, milk, bread crumbs. You now have an assembly line for your pork chops!

4. Take each pork chop and place it in the Ziploc bag of flour. Seal and shake the bag until the entire pork chop is coated. 

5. Dip each pork chop into milk and egg mixture until entire pork chop is coated. 

6. Dip each pork chop into bread crumbs, using a fork to press the bread crumbs onto the top, bottom, and sides. 

7. Cut up the green pepper and onion into long, thin pieces. 

8. Grease a pan with vegetable or olive oil and set on the stove on medium heat. Place all pork chops into the pan, along with the onion and green pepper pieces for flavor, and place a lid over the pan. Cook for 10 minutes.

9. Flip pork chops over onto other side, move onions and peppers around in the pan, and cook for 10 minutes.

10. Take a shot glass full of water (or less—just don’t add too much or you will get soggy pork chops!) and pour it into the pan. Turn down the heat to low, place lid over the pan, and let simmer for 10 minutes. 

Serve and enjoy!

Here's a fun tip...that left over green pepper you have? Don't throw it away! Chop it up into little pieces, put it in an empty container (I used a clean water bottle), and freeze it for next time.