Almond Chicken

Almond Chicken

½ onion, chopped

1 small pkg sliced almonds

2 T. butter

2 T. flour

2 c. chicken broth

3 c. cooked chicken

½ head cabbage, chopped

1 can water chestnuts

Sauté onions and almonds in butter; stir in flour, then whisk in broth. Season with salt & pepper or as desired. Stir in chicken and cabbage; simmer ‘til cabbage is tender. Just before serving, stir in water chestnuts. Serve over chow mein noodles.

Taco Seasoning

• 1 heaping Tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp pepper

Mix it all together.  Use it to season ground beef, chicken or any other meat you use for tacos.

Makes about 2 1/2 Tablespoons

Marshmallow popcorn

1 Cube of Butter
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Corn Syrup
1 tsp Vanilla
2 bags microwave Popcorn
3 Cups mini Marshmallows

Combine butter, sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, Boil for 3 minutes stirring occasionally, remove from heat and add 1 tsp vanilla.
Combine pop corn and marshmallow in large bowl and drizzle sugar mixture over top.
Spread onto a lightly greased foil lined pan to cool.

This recipe came from my friend Kristy. She brought it to a YW activity.

Chicken Vegetable Stir Fry over brown rice

Ingredients:
Canola oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped or pressed
2-3 chicken breasts, chopped
9 cups TOTAL of the following vegetables. Or whatever you like.
carrots, broccoli, green onions, crookneck squash, mushrooms, zucchini, snap peas and cabbage
6 TB chicken or vegetable broth
5 TB soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons corn starch
Cooked brown rice. About 4 cups when cooked.


Start with the sauce:  Mix together the chicken broth, soy sauce and corn starch.  Set aside for later.
Then get your rice cooking.  I add the rest of the can of broth to my rice in place of some of the cooking water.

Pour a couple tablespoons oil into a heated wok.  Cook and stir your chopped chicken along with the garlic.  When chicken is no longer pink inside, take it out of the wok and keep warm.

Add a little more oil to the wok and stir fry the veggies for about 3 minutes. You can add little water or chicken broth if they start to stick.  Then pour on your sauce and stir it in.  Cover and cook at medium heat until veggies are as tender as you like.  Add the chicken back in and heat through.

Serve over brown rice.

Serves 6
You can adjust this recipe to fit your family by using less (or more) vegetables and rice.
Most of your time is spent in cooking the rice and chopping the vegetables. I'll chop them earlier in the day so I can cook this up pretty quickly at dinner time.

Easy Alfredo Sauce

I have seen a couple versions of this recipe but I found this one on http://www.ourbestbites.com/ and I had all the ingredient so I tried it. It was so good.

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/08/guiltless-alfredo-sauce.html

2 C low-fat milk
1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
2 T flour
1 t salt
1 T butter
3 garlic cloves
1 C grated Parmesan cheesePut milk, cream cheese flour and salt in the blender. Blend until smooth. In a pan over medium-high heat melt the butter and saute the garlic. Then pour the blended milk mixture into the pan, stir until it comes to a simmer and is thickened. Remove from heat add the Parmesan cheese, stir again and then cover. Let sit for 10 minutes to thicken some more then serve.  Makes 8 Servings


pardon my camera phone picture:

   
We had it with penne pasta (multi grain, I might add) and broccoli. and it took about 15 minutes total to make dinner.















Nutrition Info:
Serving Size 59 g


Calories 128

Calories from Fat 84

Total Fat 9.4g

Saturated Fat 5.8g

Cholesterol 29mg

Sodium 536mg

Total Carbs 4.1g

Sugars 1.7g

Protein 6.9g

Baked Oatmeal

This recipe is pretty tasty.  The texture is different from regular oatmeal, which is why I like it.

2 cups uncooked old fashioned oats
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup raisins
2 T dried cranberries
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the milk, applesauce, butter, egg, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Add milk mixture to oat mixture; stir well.
3. Pour oat mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray.
4. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.


This keeps in the fridge for few days. I always chop up an apple, scoop the oatmeal on top and microwave to reheat it.  
This recipe came from www.twopeasandtheirpod.com

Easy Pancakes from scratch and vanilla syrup

Ingredients

1 C flour
2 T sugar

2 T baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

1 C milk

2 T vegetable oil

Directions

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in milk, egg and oil. Mix until smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

This is our favorite recipe for pancakes.
The syrup recipe below is our favorite too. I don't like maple flavoring so instead we use vanilla. This is runnier than store bought syrup but in my opinion it's so much better.

SYRUP:
1/2C sugar
1/2C brown sugar
3/4C water
2tsp vanilla

Combine sugars and water and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 3 minutes stirring often. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Apple Cranberry Slaw

Ingredients:
One 12-oz. bag (4 cups) dry broccoli cole slaw
1 large Fuji apple, cored and chopped
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries, chopped
1/4 cup All Natural Almond Accents Honey Roasted Flavored Sliced Almonds
1/4 cup jellied cranberry sauce
2 tbsp. fat-free mayonnaise
2 tsp. honey mustard
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
Dash salt, or more to taste
Dash black pepper, or more to taste

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine slaw, apple, dried cranberries, and almonds. Toss to mix and set aside.

To make the dressing, combine cranberry sauce, mayo, and honey mustard in a small bowl. Stir until smooth. Add vinegar, salt, pepper, and 2 tbsp. water. Mix well.

Add dressing to the large bowl and mix thoroughly. Chill or serve immediately. If you like, season to taste with additional salt and pepper. Enjoy!

MAKES 5 SERVINGS

PER SERVING (1/5th of recipe, about 1 cup): 151 calories, 3g fat, 118mg sodium, 30.5g carbs, 5.25g fiber, 21g sugars, 2.5g protein

Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

Ingredients:

8 whole wheat tortillas

2-3 sweet potatoes (actually yams, the orange ones)

3 TB freeze dried (or fresh) cilantro, divided

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup water

2 Tb chili powder

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

2 Tb soy sauce, reduced sodium

baby spinach leaves

1 handful of cheddar cheese

For sauce:

3 TB chili powder

2 TB shortening

8oz can tomato sauce

1 cup water

3 1/2 TB sugar

dash garlic salt

1/2 tsp salt

Stab yams with a fork and cook in microwave. (I use the baked potato button).  Peel and mash. Add 1 1/2 TB cilantro. Set aside.

I start making the sauce while the yams are cooking. (sauce instructions below)

Sauce:

Melt shortening and add chili powder. Let bubble for only 45 seconds, stirring constantly. CAREFUL not to burn it. If you do, you'll definitely smell it and have to start over.  Remove from heat and stir in tomato sauce, water, sugar, garlic salt and salt. Let simmer for 10 minutes or so while you're making the enchiladas. Keep warm.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium sized pan, spray nonstick cooking spray.  Saute onions on medium high heat until they are translucent.  Add garlic, stir for 1 minute.  Add beans, water, 1 1/2 TB chili powder, cumin, and soy sauce.  Cook and stir until most of the water has been evaporated.  Then mix in the remaining 1 1/2 TB of the cilantro and remove from heat.

In a tortilla, put a scoop of yam mixture, then 2 spoonfuls of bean mixture and a few spinach leaves.  Roll up and place in a lightly sprayed 13x9 pan.  Repeat for the rest of the enchiladas.

Sprinkle cheese over top.  Pour sauce over top of enchiladas- try to cover all of them so they don't dry out in oven.

Cover w/ foil and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted.

Notes:
*This sauce  is HFCS free.  If you don't mind corn syrup, the original recipe from my mom called for a can of Campbells tomato soup and 1 1/2 cans of water instead of tomato sauce and 1 cup water. Reduce sugar to 2 1/2 TB if using soup. I'm wondering how this would taste using coconut oil instead of shortening.


* Spray your foil with cooking spray before covering to avoid them sticking to it.

* This recipe calls for the yam variety of sweet potato, which are the orangeish ones. It can be a little confusing at the grocery store.  Actual sweet potatoes are lighter colored and aren't as sweet as yams. 
 *  Thank you Trainer Momma for introducing me to Sweet Potato Enchiladas. I will love you forever.

Yam








Sweet Potato

Easy Cheesy Potato Soup

-7-8 lbs potatoes, peeled and cubed
-1 lb baby carrots, sliced
-1/2 lb mushroom, sliced
-4 C. celery, sliced
Boil in water for about 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Take half of the veggies and 2 1/2 C of the water and blend until smooth.
In a large sauce pan combine:
-6 T butter
-1 sm. Onion, chopped
-3 cloves of garlic
-1 Packet Chicken Bullion
-Salt and Pepper
-1 T fresh parsley
Cook until onions are tender. Then add
-4T Flour Mix until bubbly. Slowly add
-3 C Milk and stir until slightly thickened.
Pour pureed vegetable into white sauce, then add left over drained vegetables.
Stir to heat through. Serve with
-Shredded Cheddar Cheese and more Salt