Cream Cheese Chicken

Cream Cheese Chicken

1/2 c butter
1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix 
2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (if you cut the chicken into strips while it's slightly frozen it is a lot easier!)
1 10.75 oz. can cream of chicken soup (or any cream soup)
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

Turn crock pot on high. Place butter in bottom of crock pot. When the butter has melted, add the Italian dressing mix; stir into butter until well mixed. Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch strips. Place in crock pot and stir to coat chicken with butter and dressing mix. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, until chicken is cooked. Remove chicken to plate to cool. Add soup and cream cheese. Stir to melt, and mix well until smooth and creamy. Stir in chicken and serve over mashed potatoes, rice, or hot buttered noodles. Note: This recipe freezes well-just place cooled chicken and sauce in a freezer bag and freeze. To serve, thaw and heat until piping hot and bubbly. 

Thanks to my sister, Angie, for introducing me to this recipe!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Wow, these are so good. It's like a mix between a banana pancake and a chocolate chip cookie. Delish


Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
2/3 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 1/2 c. flour (I also added an extra 1/2 c. for the high altitude)
1/4 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
1 c. chocolate chips
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. vanilla

Combine all the wet ingredients, then add the dry ingredients. Mix well with mixer. Spoon cookie dough onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes 2 dozen.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

This soup was a hit! I made this for a family dinner this weekend and everyone loved it! And it was pretty easy to make too. I saw this on Studio 5 and have been anxious to try it ever since. Hope you like this one!

The only comments I have on this soup is that I don't really think it's necessary to blend it up. The corn tortillas kind of dissolved on their own and it would have been good, too, with tomato chunks. There is also a little too much Velveeta for my liking so I would half that. And also, regular canned tomatoes worked fine. Roetel tomatoes aren't really a must. So, here's my version.

 

Ingredients:

• 3 carrots chopped
• 2 ribs celery chopped
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 T. oil
• 8 c. chicken broth
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 pkg. taco seasoning
• 10 small corn tortillas ripped a bit
• 2 T. corn starch stirred into 1 c. cold water
• 1 c. cream or half and half
• 1/2 lb. Velveeta Cheese (has to be the name brand. The other stuff doesn't melt well.)
• 3 c. chopped chicken ( I love using a rotisserie chicken)
• 1 can black beans rinsed (optional)
• 1 can corn rinsed (optional)

Directions:

Saute veggies in oil until transparent. Add the chicken broth, tomatoes, seasoning and tortillas. Bring to a boil and boil gently for 20 mins. Use a wand blender if you have one and if not use your regular blender to puree all the ingredients together.

Add the corn starch/water combination and bring to a boil. Then add the cream and cheese. **It helps to melt the Velveeta in the microwave for a couple of minutes before adding to the soup. Don't boil the soup again once you add the cream and cheese. It will curdle. Add your mix ins.

Top with tortilla strips, fresh salsa or tomatoes, sour cream, avocado, and chopped cilantro!

Yule Log

There were surprisingly not many recipes to be found on this. And most of them have coffee in it and I think that is what is so different about the Yule Log. But here is the original I found. Mine definitely wasn't as pretty as the one in the picture but it was pretty good. And it did take some time to make.
A quick definition of the Yule Log:
A Yule log is a large wooden log which is burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Yule or Christmas celebrations in several European cultures. It can be a part of the Winter Solstice festival or the Twelve Days of Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or Twelfth Night.
The expression "Yule log" has also come to refer to log-shaped Christmas cakes, also known as "chocolate logs."

So anyway. I had to alter the mocha butter cream frosting part. There is a lot of butter and without the coffee I think it would have been okay to omit some of the butter.  So here's my version of the recipe.

Yule Log
5 eggs, room temperature, separated
2/3 cup sugar
2T flour
3T unsweetened cocoa
FILLING:
2 1/2T flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 t vanilla extract
BUTTER CREAM FROSTING:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1T unsweeted cocoa

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks at high speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until mixture is thick and light-colored. Add flour and cocoa, beating on low speed. 
2. In another bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form; fold into batter. mix until no streaks of white remaining. 
3. Grease a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. pan; line with waxed paper(a MUST!), and grease and flour paper (LOTS!). Spread batter evenly in pan. 
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly. Cool completely on wire rack. 
5. Remove paper; roll cake onto an 18-in. long piece of waxed paper (or damp towel) dusted with confectioners' sugar. Trim edges from all four sides of cake.
FILLING: Combine flour and milk in a saucepan. Cook over low heat; stirring until thick. Cool. In a mixing bowl, cream sugar, butter and vanilla. Add flour mixture; bet until fluffy. Fold in walnuts if desired. Spread on cake; roll up, jelly-roll style, starting from one short end.
FROSTING: Beat butter until fluffy in a small bowl. Beat in sugar and cocoa. Spread over cake, using a fork to create a bark-like effect. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and nuts if desired.

Banana Cream Pie

Tonight was Pie Night at my in-laws since not everyone will be together for Thanksgiving this week. I'm not much of a pie person but I wanted to make a banana cream pie. Yummy. Original recipe can be found here. After reading some reviews and finding out how my mom makes it this is my version. It must have turned out great because there was only 1 piece left.

Banana Cream Pie
3/4 c. white sugar
2T + 1/2 t. cornstarch
1/4 t. salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 T butter
1 1/4 t. vanilla
1 nine-inch pie crust, baked
3 bananas, sliced

1. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add milk in gradually while stirring gently. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is bubbly. Cook and stir for about 2 more minutes, and then remove from the burner.
2. Stir a small quantity of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolks, and immediately add egg yolk mixture to the rest of the hot mixture (this keeps the eggs from scrambling). Cook for 2 more minutes; remember to keep stirring. Remove the mixture from the stove, and add butter and vanilla. Stir until smooth.
3. Slice 2 bananas into the cooled baked pastry shell. Top with pudding mixture.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and chill over night. Top with more bananas just before serving. 

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

I know this wasn't on the schedule but I was craving this last night so I made it. This was a family favorite growing up. I never make mac and cheese from the box. This is just too good to ever go back to that.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
2 cups macaroni (shells, elbow,etc.), cooked and drained
3 T flour
3 T butter
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Over medium heat melt the butter and blend in the flour. Slowly whisk in milk. Cook and stir until think. Add 1/2 tsp. salt and dash of pepper. Stir in cheese until melted. Add noodles. Serve.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pie

I should call this Choco-butter pie for short :) This is one of Sean's favorites and his request for his birthday today. I got this recipe from my MIL, LaNiece, and I hope it tasted as good as when she makes it.

Choco-butter Pie
Mix in pan:
1 1/4 C. milk
1/3 c sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
Cook until thick. Remove from heat then add 1/4 c peanut butter. Cool -- it helps to cover with saran wrap and cool in refrigerator while making chocolate part. When cool, add 1/2 tsp softened butter (a little less than you would spread on a piece of toast) and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Pour into baked, cooled pie shell.
For the chocolate part, you can use any halved chocolate pie recipe or 1 package chocolate pudding. (I used pudding. Too scared of melting chocolate). Pour chocolate on top and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Enjoy!