Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken

I use my slow cooker all year round. I love it in the summer because it doesn't heat up my kitchen while cooking and I love it the rest of the year because it is such a time saver. My friend has 9 children with one on the way and she doesn't have a slow cooker. I cannot even grasp that concept. How does she survive without one?! 

Crazy, is what it is. 

Make this Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken today. It only takes 3-4 hours so you can start it later in the afternoon and be ready for dinner. Sometimes I forget to start a meal in my slow cooker in the morning and then it's too late because a lot of meals take longer to cook. Not this one. Winner, winner chicken dinner. I had to say it.

Printable Version

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast or 12 chicken tenders

1/4 C. flour

1/4 C. butter

1 packet Italian Dressing mix, dry

1/2 C. fresh lemon juice or 1/4 C. concentrated lemon juice

1/2 C. chicken broth or 1/2 C. water plus 1 chicken bouillon cube

Directions

• If using chicken breasts, cut into thirds lengthwise; coat chicken in flour.
• Heat 2 Tbsp. butter in a large skillet; cook half of the chicken on each side 3 minutes to brown. Don't cook through as they will cook in the slow cooker.
• Remove chicken and place in the slow cooker; cook other half of the chicken in the remaining 2 Tbsp. butter.
• Place chicken in slow cooker.
• Sprinkle chicken with Italian Dressing mix, lemon juice and chicken broth. 
• Cover with lid and cook on low 3-4 hours.
• Serve over rice with juices.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Yesterday I was able to take Preston and Emma's school group picture. Now if you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that the school is very small. Like 12 kids total. It has kindergarten through 3rd grade. We live in the very rural middle of nowhere part of Southeast Idaho. They get homemade lunches and I love it. It was a cold day for pictures, though. The poor kids. It is hard enough getting all the kids to look good and at me at one time. If you were there you would have heard me saying, "Ok everyone look at me. Look at the camera. Put your arms back in your sleeves. Stand up straight. Give your toy car to your teacher. Ok smile! Don't look at your neighbor."  We got it done in about 30 seconds which was awesome. When I got home, I was craving this Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. It hit the spot. I love to dip my soups with homemade bread or rolls. Stick around for a giveaway after the recipe!

Printable Version

Ingredients

3 (14 oz each) cans chicken broth, divided

1 C. carrots, peeled and sliced

1/2 C. sliced celery

1/2 C. onion, chopped

2 C. sliced mushrooms (I only did 1 C. and it was plenty)

1/2 C. wild rice, uncooked

2 Tbsp. butter

1/2 C. all-purpose flour

4 tsp. salt (I only used 1 tsp. and it was plenty)

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 C. heavy cream

2 C. cooked chicken, diced

Optional: sour cream, chives

Directions

• In a pot over medium heat, combine 2 cans broth, carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms and rice. 
• Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low.
• Cover and simmer 40 minutes or until rice is tender.
• In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.
• Stir in flour, salt and pepper; add remaining broth. 
• Cook and stir until thickened; stir in cream.
• Add to rice mixture.
• Add chicken; heat through.
• Garnish with sour cream and chives if desired.

This recipe comes from Gooseberry Patch's Hometown Harvest. It is one of my favorite cookbooks of theirs.

You will find recipes like Hot Buttered Cider, Ginger Spice Muffins, Perfectly Pumpkin Pancakes, Fresh Apple Pound Cake, Cranberry Pork Roast, and so much more. There is also a section called Over the River and Through the Woods that is filled with Autumn memories from people around the country. I loved this part!

You can win a copy of your very own. Simply use the rafflecopter below to enter. Sign in with your email or facebook account. The more entries you do, the better your chances of winning!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Chile Relleno Casserole & Sour Cream Rice

I hope you guys have been enjoying my guest bloggers. I know I have! It's been so nice to just spend time with my new little guy and our family. It is such an adjustment having a newborn again. Isaac does really well at night which is such a great thing for me. He only gets up twice to eat at night and the rest of the time he is so good. But lately he wants to be held. Alot. Which I am fine with. Except it makes it hard to do anything else like shower or eat. Lance was home for 2 1/2 weeks and had to leave this past Sunday back to Wyoming. It was so nice and I am sure missing him and his help. 

I have another giveaway with Gooseberry Patch. I will have many more the rest of the year, so keep your eyes open for those. 

This cookbook is Weeknight Dinners.

It has over 250 recipes with daily themes. There is Meatless Monday, Tuesday Tex-Mex Night, Wednesday Italian Night, Comfort Food Thursday, and Just for Fun Friday.

I chose to make Chile Relleno Casserole and Sour Cream Rice.

Chile Relleno Casserole

Ingredients

16 oz. shredded Monterey Jack cheese

16 oz. shredded Cheddar Cheese

2 (8 oz) cans whole green chiles (You may need more. I halved this recipe and still used 2 cans)

4 eggs, separated

1 Tbsp. flour

2/3 C. evaporated milk

salt and pepper to taste

How You Do It

Sprinkle both cheeses into a lightly greased 9x13 casserole pan. Arrange chiles over cheese; set aside. Beat egg yolks in a bowl; gradually beat in flour and milk. In another bowl, beat egg whites until fluffy; stir into yolk mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle egg mixture over chiles. Bake uncovered at 325 degrees for 50 minutes or until eggs are set. Let stand several minutes before serving. Makes 8 servings.

Mother's Sour Cream Rice

Ingredients

2 to 2 1/2 C. cooked rice

4 oz. can diced green chiles

8 oz. shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

16 oz. sour cream

How You Do It

Combine all ingredients in a bowl; stir well. Spoon mixture into a buttered 2 qt. casserole dish. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Serves 6 to 8.

Printable Version

To enter to win your own copy of Weeknight Dinners, use the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Recipe Re-Do: Zucchini & Chicken Stir Fry

I have been going back through my recipes and re-taking the photos for some of them. 

Like the way early recipes.

Like when I got really close to the food.

Too close. I'm not sure the food appreciated extreme close ups. I don't, myself.

Then Ashton asked if I would like to join in a Recipe Re-Do Blog Hop.

Perfect timing.

So at the end of the post, be sure to check out the other blogs who are giving a recipe or two some make overs. 

I am redoing is a summer favorite around my table. The original post only has one photo, which is fine, but I added more to this post because I wanted to. You can make this out camping in a dutch oven. I love it that way. The flavors are even better. But this time I made it in a skillet on the stove.

Ingredients:

oil

1 onion, chopped

1 or 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into chunks

zucchini, cut into chunks (I used 3 small)

1 can pineapple tidbits, drained

additional veggies like bell peppers, canned baby corn, water chesnuts, etc.

teriyaki sauce

rice

How You Do It:

Heat oil in skillet or dutch oven and add chopped onion. Cook a bit and then add the chicken. Cover and cook part way and add zucchini. 

Cover again and cook till zucchini and chicken are done. Add pineapple, additional veggies and teriyaki sauce. I buy this at Sam's Club. It's the Sweet and Savory Marinade & Cooking Sauce. I just pour some in and then add a little more so that it doesn't dry out in the fridge if you have leftovers.

Drain the pineapple juice and save it. I love this part...drink it up!

See the teriyaki sauce in there? That's how you want it to look. A little extra sauce for the rice.

Heat through. Serve over rice.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Fried Rice

So last week, I shared a fantastic recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken. 

This rice goes perfectly with it.

Like the chicken, this rice tastes just like it came from a Chinese restaurant. The secret is the sesame oil.

I love that I can make this at home. It's so simple, but this is the first homemade fried rice I've tasted that tastes like it came from a restaurant.

You can add ham to it if you want, but I left it out this time.

Ingredients

3 cups cooked white rice (this is a great recipe to use up leftover rice)

3 Tbsp. Sesame Oil

1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)

1 small onion, chopped

2 tsp. minced garlic

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/4 cup soy sauce

How You Do It

  On medium high heat, heat the oil in a large skillet or wok.  Add the peas/carrots mix, onion and garlic. Stir fry until tender. Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour the eggs on the other side of skillet and stir fry until scrambled. Now add the rice and soy sauce and blend all together well. Stir fry until thoroughly heated!  Try using green onions in place of the regular onion. Mighty fine results!

Recipe Source

Printable Version

This may have been linked to these parties.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Orange Chicken For Dummies

 

Lance works in Wyoming during the cold season. 

He's home maybe 2 or 3 days and then he's gone about 2 weeks. Or longer.

Which stinks.

His family is nearby, which helps. Lance's brother and his wife live right behind us and always help out when needed.

Like when my bath tub drain lever breaks off.

Or my pipes under the bathroom sink leak and need fixin'.

Or when my smoke alarm chirps and even though I've removed the batteries and pushed the button and such to  hush it up, it still chirps. I felt like Phoebe in Friends when the same thing happens and she finally destroys it and it still chirps. Even my brother-in-law couldn't quiet it so we stuck it in the SUV till morning and it could be handled better.

So Lance called me and needed some easy meals that he could prepare out there all by his self. {Proud moment here}

Apparently you can only eat so many t.v. dinners when your  fabulous and lovely wife isn't there to cook for you.

Huh. Who knew?

So my sister-in-law suggested this recipe.

I fell in love with it and made it the next day for myself.

Ingredients:

1 envelope (1 oz.) onion soup mix

1 c. apricot preserves

1c. Catalina salad dressing

2-3 lbs Chicken tenders

Place all in a slow cooker and stir to coat the chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4-5 hours.

You can also put it in a 9x13 baking dish and bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.

Serve over rice.

Printable Version

reade more... Résuméabuiyad