Foil-Pack Chicken and Broccoli

Saw this on a friend's blog today and it looked yummy, so I thought I'd share. Might make this one night this week!

Source: TheBigOven



Ingredients
1 packageStuffing mix; chicken flavor
1 1/4 cupWater
24 ounceBoneless skinless chicken breast; 6oz each
4 cupsBroccoli Florets
1 cupShredded chedar cheese
4 slicesCooked bacon; crumbled
4 tablespoons Ranch dressing

How to Prepare Foil-Pack Chicken and Broccoli Dinner
Oven to 400Top stuffing with a 6oz. chicken breast half.
Combine stuffing mix and water.
Spray 4 large sheets of heavy-duty foil with oil.
Top chicken with 1 c. broccoli.
Sprinkle with 1/4 of the cheese and 1 slice of bacon, crumbled.
Drizzle with 1 T. ranch dressing
Bring up foil sides and fold to seal, leaving room for heat circulation inside
Place packets on a cookie sheet and bake 25-30 mins
Remove packets and let stand 5 mins
Cut sits in foil for steam before opening.
Spoon 1/4 of the stuffing mixture onto the center of each foil sheet.

Enjoy! 

Homemade Frozen Yogurt

this is a complete accident recipe because I bought a big tub of PLAIN yogurt instead of the vanilla I usually buy.
Took the big tub of plain yogurt, dumped it in the blender with one small jar of strawberry jam (homemade from my mother in law, but you could use smuckers haha). Added in one banana, and blended. Poured it back in the original container, stuck it in the freezer, and froze overnight or until almost solid. Yum!

You could do this with any flavor of jam or jelly OR use fresh fruit, but you need a lot more. Peach, cherry, blueberry, or you can add chocolate flavoring to make it more like chocolate ice cream.

Enjoy!

Homemade Granola- a healthy on-the-go snack!

I made some of this this morning and it turned out delicious! Great on top of yogurt!

What you need:
2 cups of rolled oats
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 honey
1 tablespoon vanilla
cinnamon
brown sugar
pumpkin spice (if you like it, great this time of year)

Optional add ins:
any type of nuts
shredded coconut
*THESE add ins go in with the mixutre PRIOR to baking

any dried fruits or berries
chocolate chips
*THESE add ins go in the mixture after it has baked and been broken up


Preheat oven to 400.
Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick spray (Pam).

Put your oats in a large mixing bowl.
In a small saucepan, melt butter and honey. Add in spices and vanilla and simmer until almost boiling.
Pour butter mixture over oats and toss until well coated. Add in any optional nuts or coconut.

Spread the oats onto the lined cookie sheet and spread with a spatula until you have a thin layer.

Bake at 400 for about 20-25 minutes or until top is golden brown.
Let cool and then use the foil to remove the granola from the pan and break up into pieces.

At this point you can add in more nuts, chocolate chips, berries, dried fruit, etc.
Store in a airtight container and serve with fresh yogurt, fruit or berries. OR you can eat it like cereal, which is what I did. :)

Banana Pumpkin Spice Bread (or muffins)

• 4 beyond ripe bananas, smashed
• NOTE- I store bananas that have turned brown/black in the freezer until ready to use, then thaw them out and drain off the excess water that comes from them having been frozen. 
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup but why would you want to do that?)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons Pumpkin Spice 
• 
  
• For crumble topping: 
• 1/2 cup of butter NOT melted
• 1/2 cup of sugar (I used brown sugar for this)
• 1/2 cup of flour
• Place ingredients into a bowl, then cut together with a pastry cutter until crumble mix is crumbly. Set aside
• 
  
• You do NOT need a Kitchen Aid mixer for this, it is easily mixed with a wooden spoon. 
• Mash bananas completely, and add in melted butter, sugar, vanilla, and baking soda. 
• Stir in flour a little at a time. 
• I ended up adding an extra 1/4 cup of flour because of the extra liquid from my bananas being frozen. Rule of thumb- you don't want the mixture to be runny. Add about 2 tablespoons more flour at a time until it is thickened enough to stick to a spoon. 
• Add in spices. I went a little extra on the pumpkin spice because I LOVE pumpkin flavor. If you love pumpkin and have some on hand, you can add in some pureed pumpkin along with the bananas. 
• Mix together and pour into greased/buttered loaf man or muffin pans. Fill about 3/4 full. This recipe should make one loaf or 12 muffins ( I doubled it to get rid of bananas and made both haha). 
• Once in the pans, sprinkle the crumb mixture on top and place in the oven at 350 for 1 hour. 
• Muffins only take about 30 minutes, the loaf will take closer to an hour. Wait until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and top and edges are a deep brown. 
• Remove from pan to cool on a wire rack and serve with butter. 
• Enjoy! 
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Honey Butter Pork Tenderloin

Honey Butter Pork Tenderloin - food.com

4 tbs butter

2 tbs honey

1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed

1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In an ovenproof pot, heat butter and honey over medium heat until melted.  Sprinkle  pork tenderloin with Cajun seasoning and black pepper.  Brown each side for 5 minutes.  

Place pan in oven and roast for 7 - 10 minutes.  Transfer the pork to a plate covered with foil to rest. Add water to pan and stir over medium heat.  Simmer until sauce is reduced to about 1/2 cup.  Slice pork on the diagonal and drizzle sauce over top to serve.

Stuffed Shells!

12 oz.	jumbo shell pasta
15 oz.	part skim ricotta
4 oz. (1 cup)	shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup	basil pesto
1 large	egg
2 cups	fresh spinach (optional)
1 Tbsp	cooking oil
3 cups (1 jar)	pasta sauce

STEP 1: In a bowl, mix together the ricotta, mozzarella, pesto and the egg (the egg keeps the filling from getting too runny when cooked). Roughly chop the spinach and stir it into the cheese mixture. Refrigerate the filling until you are ready to use it.

STEP 2: Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box (boil for 12 min.). I added 1 Tbsp of cooking oil to the boiling water to keep the shells from sticking to each and the pot. You will still need to gently stir a few times during cooking. Be careful not to over cook the pasta or else it will rip easily and be too mushy after cooking with the filling and sauce. Drain the pasta and rinse with cool water to stop the cooking process. Let the pasta drain.

STEP 3: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. The shells roll up tight (see photo below) when they are cooked so use the fingers on one hand to hold them open as you spoon about 3 Tbsp of pesto cheese mix into the center of each. There should be enough pesto cheese mix to fill the shell so that it stays open just slightly (the edges should be about 1/2 inch apart). Fill as many shells as you can with the cheese mix.

STEP 4: Spread one cup of pasta sauce in the bottom of a glass baking dish. I used a 9.5x14 inch dish because that was all that I had available at the time but it was too big for 22 shells. You want to pack them in tightly in a single layer. If you space them too far apart, they will dry out during the cooking process. Place all of the shells in the baking dish as close together as possible and pour the remaining 2 cups of sauce over top. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees or until the sauce is bubbling up around the edges.

Homeade Pizza Crust!!

The Perfect Pizza Curst
Source: Annies Eats (great blog!) orginally from Baking Illustrated
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)

• 1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast
• 1 1/4 cups water, at room temp
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plug more for dusting
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• Cornmeal
• olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing bowl

Directions:

1.      Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes.Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.

2. Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed. Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms. Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook.Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.
3. To bake, place a pizza stone in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 500° for at least 30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Form both pieces of dough into smooth, round balls and cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.
4. Working with one piece of dough and keeping the other covered, shape the dough and transfer to a pizza peel or round of parchment dusted with semolina or cornmeal. Top as desired. Slide the dough onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust edges brown and cheese is golden brown in spots, about 8 to 12 minutes. Repeat with remaining ball of dough or freeze for later use.

Recipe: Roasted Garlic Chicken Pesto Pizza Adapted from Annies EatsIngredients:

• 1 perfect pizza crust (recipe above)
• 1/2 cup prepared pesto (store bough or homemade)
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked
• Mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. To roast the garlic: Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic. Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed. Remove garlic gloves and smash with a fork.

Spread roasted garlic over pizza dough. Do this to taste. I used almost the whole (small) bulb, but I LOVE roasted garlic. Spread the pesto on the pizza. Add the sliced, cooked chicken. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Top with fresh grated parmesan. Bake on preheated pizza stone for 8 - 12 minutes