NO COOK, LAST MINUTE DINNER WINNER

Here's a favorite main dish salad that we've been loving.  Easy to prepare - you can make and serve it immediately!
Springtime Chicken Apple Salad
Below are MY CHANGES.  I've modified it quite a bit from the original, but this recipe is so easy to adapt to whatever you like or want to try. 
           
This is a great all season salad.  It is surprisingly filling and yummy.  Great way to get more fruits and veggies in the diet.

-= Ingredients =-
2 cups cooked boneless ; skinless Chicken Breasts, or Rotissarie Chicken
3 large Tart Apples (Pink Ladies, Grannysmiths, Jazz,... ; cored and chopped
1/2 cup Craisins
1/2 cup Dried Cherries (Costco Kirkland brand) ; optional
3 celery stalks ; chopped
1/2 cup Pecans or walnuts ; chopped
~~ -- Dressing -- ~~
1/2 cup Plain Yogurt ; greek style is great!
3 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Agave Nectar or Honey ; (I use honey)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Salt and pepper
Boston lettuce leaves ; optional (I never use them)

-= Instructions =-
In a large bowl, mix chicken, apples,craisins, cherries, celery, and nuts. Set aside.

In a smaller glass or ceramic bowl, stir together yogurt ,mayonnaise, agave nectar or honey, cinnamon, salt & pepper (I use about 1/2 t. salt & 1/4 t. pepper, but that's just me). Whisk well and TASTE.  You're looking for a sweetish taste.  If anything seems off then change it to what tastes good to you!


Pour over chicken mixture and mix well to coat chicken evenly.   Serve with rolls, homemade bread or french bread.  REALLY GOOD and HEALTHY.

Optional serving idea:  . Line a platter or individual plates with lettuce leaves and mound chicken salad on leaves. Garnish with a pinwheel of thin apple slices. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Recipe By: Bashas' Health Styles  Eat Smart newsletter
Serving Size: 4-6

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Chicken + Salad= Heaven

This Spicy Honey Chicken Salad is so yummy and pretty darn easy. I had never made anything from Our Best Bites before, but this recipe has made me want to try more of their recipes. I'm feeling lazy so I'm just going to link to the recipes on their site.

The Chicken (it's really not spicy)
The Dressing
Put it all together- I usually leave the avocados off because they're really expensive here. The mango is a must have though!

Enjoy!

Mexican Tortilla Soup

But it doesn't taste like other Mexican soups to me.

Vegetable oil for frying

10 corn tortillas cut into thin strips

12 oz boneless/skinless chicken cubed

1 cup chopped onions

3 large potatoes, diced

6 cups chicken broth

1 cup frozen cut corn

1 can chopped mild green chilies

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

lime juice

(I add one can of black beans)

In heavy stock pot, heat 1/2 inch oil until very hot. Working in batches, fry tortillas until crisp. Drain on paper towels and set aside. (Or just use tortilla chips)

Pour off all but 1 Tbs. oil. Saute chicken on high for 5 min until it begins to brown. Add onion and cook another 5 min or until brown. Add potatoes and broth. Bring to a boil and simmer covered 10 min. Add corn, chilies, and cilantro. Return to a boil and simmer an additional 5 to 8 min or until veggies are tender.

Serves 6

Stuffed Chicken

I've been on the look out for quick and easy meals this summer. This one from Elly Says Opa! fits the bill and is really tasty.

Chicken Stuffed with Sundried Tomatoes, Olives, and Mozzarella

2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
6-8 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
3 Tbsp. sundried tomatoes, sliced
2 slices mozzarella or provolone cheese (I like feta)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. thyme
salt and pepper
2 tsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. chicken broth
2 Tbsp. white wine

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cut a pocket into your chicken breasts and fill each one with the sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and a slice of mozzarella cheese.

Mix together the flour with salt and pepper and the thyme.  Lightly dredge the chicken breasts in the flour mixture.

Heat an oven-proof skillet over medium heat and add the oil.  Once smoking, add the chicken breasts and sear, about 2 minutes per side.  Place the pan in the oven until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the skillet and place the pan on the stovetop over medium heat.  Add the chicken broth and wine, scraping up the browned bits and reducing the liquid by half.  Spoon the sauce over the chicken breasts.

*I've made this with chicken breasts and tenders both of which I pounded fairly thin, put the fillings on one half and then folded the chicken over the top. That way the chicken is thin and tender. Mmmm!

Chicken Noodle Soup

This might get a little confusing, so I am sorry ahead of time. I don't really have a recipe for this one, I just add as much of everything as I want. Good Luck!

Boil 3 pieces Chicken in water with boyon. When chicken is fully cooked remove the chicken and add enough water to the broth to boil 1 package egg noodles. Mean while, shred chicken. When noodles are cooked add 1 cube butter, salt, Mrs. Dash, parsley and shredded chicken. Cool for a little bit and add 1 pint sour cream. It might curdle the sour cream if you add it to boiling hot broth.

We serve this with rolls or homemade bread! It is so YUMMY! Hope you enjoy it!

Carrot Cake

Here is the carrot cake recipe that some of you wanted. I made it over the 24th weekend and it was REALLY good! I absolutely love this cake!

2 c. flour 2 tsps salt
2 c. sugar 2 tsps cinnamon
1 1/2 c. oil 2 tsps baking soda
3 cups grated carrots 4 eggs
1/4 c. pecans 1 c. crushed pineapple

Blend sugar, oil, and eggs. Mix dry ingredients and then add to sugar mixture. Add carrots, nuts and pineapple. Blend well. Bake at 375 Degrees for 1 hour.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese 1 box powdered sugar
1 cube butter 2 tsps. vanilla

Mix all ingredients until smooth.
I cut the frosting recipe in half when I mak a 9x13 cake and it is still more then enough.

Little Red Hen

I finally attempted to make bread! I've been putting it off with the excuse that I dont have a big electric mixer of some sort, not to mention that I left my bread pans in storage in AZ. I recently purchased a hand wheat grinder so that I could actually use my wheat. Here's our story of
"The Little Red Hen".

Sunday morning I decided to make bread for my family. Dayson was so excited to use the wheat grinder and I was more than happy to let him help! I had to take a break after about 3 cups, so Dayson dove in. He did pretty good. Between him and James, they ground about 5 cups. My muscles might be a tad bigger next time you see me.

It took about 30 min to get the 12 cups necessary to bake bread. (that wasn't including the breaks I had to take. Not bad, right? I wanted to try the recipe Kristine posted a few months ago, but realized that I didn't have evaporated milk. So I did another recipe that I had made before using someones Bosch. I bought some Vital Wheat Gluten, but forgot to put it in! Oops. The mixing wasn't bad, just sticky. It took more flour than I ground up, good thing I had whole wheat flour from the store on hand. I got it all mixed in, where it actually looked like dough! The yeast even foamed this time! I was feeling pretty Betty Crocker! I got the dough into loaves and into the pans (I checked at Walmart and they were $4 each, the dollar store had them for $1 each, sometimes I can really score there.) I dont know if this is a great idea or not, but I put the pans on the hood of my car outside to rise. When I went to put them in the oven I had to rearrange things to get them all in there. I forget how small the kitchen is until I get into the middle of something. Easter dinner was chaotic, but turned out nicely. Anyway, the bread:

was delicious. We ate almost a whole loaf as soon as it was done. Luckily I had canned some strawberry jam a few weeks back. It went perfectly with it. I now have the confidence to bake bread without a Bosch! Oh, and my family members helped me make it and eat it, unlike the other Little Red Hen!