white lightning chicken chili

I found this one in my Southern Living magazine that just arrived the other day, tried it tonight, and by golly if it wasn't easy and delish!
YIELD: Makes 11 1/2 cups
HANDS-ON:30 Minutes
TOTAL:30 Minutes
*I made a little over half of the recipe, basically my rotisserie chicken yielded just shy of 3 cups of cooked chicken so I adjusted (somewhat) accordingly. I still used 1 large onion and 2 garlic cloves, but used about 20 oz of chicken broth, 1.5 cans of green chilies and 3/4 of the packet of seasoning and 1.5 cans of Navy Beans - it was the perfect amount for a family of four

Ingredients
1 large sweet onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 (14 1/2-oz.) cans chicken broth
2 (4.5-oz.) cans chopped green chiles
1 (1.25-oz.) package white chicken chili seasoning mix
3 (16-oz.) cans navy beans

Sauté onion and garlic in hot oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in chicken, next 3 ingredients, and 2 cans navy beans. Coarsely mash remaining can navy beans, and stir into chicken mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring often; cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Serve with desired toppings.

Toppings:
Avocado-Mango Salsa
1 large avocado, cubed
1 cup diced fresh mango (I didn't have a mango so I omitted it, but the salsa was great anyway!)
1/3 cup diced red onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Preparation: Stir together avocado, mango, red onion, chopped fresh cilantro, and fresh lime juice.

Optional toppings: Sour cream, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, fresh cilantro leaves
I also served mine with some cheese bread, because heaven knows that if all else fails, you still have cheese bread.

cream cheese & jalapeno poppers

I'm making the name up because I'm not really sure what they are called besides possibly 'the best appetizer ever'.  But thanks to a friend of Barb's in Cleve-town for turning us onto this beauty.
And at only four ingredients, it couldn't be easier.

1 tube of Crescent rolls
cream cheese
jalapeno slices
bacon

Fry up a couple of pieces of bacon, cool and crumble into bit sized pieces.  Roll out your tube of crescent rolls and cut each pre-dotted crescent roll into two (basically so it looks like a won-ton), scoop about a teaspoon or so of cream cheese into the middle of each triangle, top with one tiny slice of jalapeno (more or less depending on your hotness meter) and some bacon, fold up like a little present and pop in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
Dare yourself not to eat the entire plate.  Double the recipe if taking to a fiesta as these poppers go fast.
Like anything you do in life, make sure you enlist the help of a super handsome assistant
Before my sister gets hate mail for feeding her 7 month old jalapenos, please note no babies were hurt during this cooking experience. Any and all images were purely for the cause.

roasted cherry tomatoes

My favorite snack, lunch and/or dinner and so simple it should be illegal.  If you like tomatoes, you are sure to be a fan.  If you're like Grant or my children, you are sure to turn up your nose.  Like a choose your own adventure book, pick your course now.....

Glad you stuck with me.  I always have cherry tomatoes on hand and I take a handful, put them in a square 8x8 baking dish, drizzle with probably a tablespoon or two of olive oil (extra virgin works too), season with salt and pepper and then throw in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

Heaven.

easy skillet cordon bleu

This is another Stiff favorite and easy to make:  either buy chicken strips or simply cut your chicken breasts into strips.  If you use regular bacon, I actually fry that up separately (4 or 5 pieces, not 8) until it's pretty much done and then sprinkle over my chicken and top with cheese and then put in the broiler.  I found that the bacon wasn't cooking fast enough if I used it raw and hoped that two minutes under the broiler would do the trick; instead it seemed pretty questionable to eat.  Like a 50/50 chance you'd have a date with the bathroom later b/c you ate raw bacon.  You get the drift.  Don't do that to your family.  Perhaps it'd be a different story if I used Canadian bacon but I always have regular ole bacon on hand. Remember to use an ovenproof skillet as you'll need to put your skillet in the oven to finish it off under the broiler.  Goes well with green beans or brocolli.   Enjoy!

Prep: 10 min., Cook: 8 min., Broil: 2 min. YIELD: Makes 4 to 6 servings COOK TIME:10 Minutes PREP TIME:10 Minutes COURSE: Main Dishes Ingredients 1/2 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs 1 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon salt 8 chicken tenders (about 1 lb.) 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon olive oil 8 Canadian bacon slices, cut into thin strips 4 Swiss cheese slices, halved Preparation 1. Combine breadcrumbs, pepper, and salt in a large zip-top plastic freezer bag. Rinse chicken tenders, and add to freezer bag. Seal bag, and shake to coat. 2. Melt butter with oil in an ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken 3 1/2 to 4 minutes on each side or until done. Arrange Canadian bacon strips over chicken in skillet, and top each with 1 cheese slice. Broil 5 1/2 inches from heat 2 minutes or until cheese is melted. recipe and picture from Southern Living

hamburger casserole

submitted by those peeps in Cleveland
While this bad boy might not be the most photogenic dish, it certainly will taste delish. And it is so easy, even a monkey could do it. In fact, Bo made it last week! It's a great choice for the kids- and makes fantastic leftovers.
Ingredients :
1 lb ground beef
2 cans tomato soup (Campbell's)
1 onion (medium)
1 box elbow macaroni
salt and pepper to taste
Dice onion, in a pan brown meat with onion. At the same time cook noodles. Preheat oven to 350. Drain fat from meat. In casserole dish put half of noodles down then half of browned meat, and 1 can of tomato soup. Add some salt and pepper. Next add rest of macaroni, meat and other can of tomato soup. Add salt and pepper. Rinse tomato soup cans out with water and add 2 cans of water to casserole dish. Mix well, put into oven for 25 min or until the top of the casserole is starting to crisp. Serve with ketchup to taste. Makes 8 adult servings (aka 4 Leslie servings**).
Best when served with a cold glass of milk. Or wine. I'll drink for the kids.
**editor's note: while I respect the writer's word, I do not condone the 'heavy' jokes at my expense. Just because I like Rolos and Twinkies doesn't make it right to poke fun
***editor's note x 2: this is a very budget friendly meal, cheaper than a pizza or fast food; kudos to the O'Neill clan for appreciating the value of a dollar and sharing with the family - I also imagine you could make this bad boy ahead of time and keep in the fridge until you're ready to pop it in the oven - bonus points! 

chicken noodle soup

Yayyyy Peg for getting in on the fun!  Peg makes the best chicken noodle soup and she has blessed us all with the recipe:

2 chicken breast with bone or not
1/8 cup chopped onion (finely chopped)
1 stalk chopped celery (finely chopped)
8 cups water
9 or 10 chicken bouillon cubes
1 carrot chopped (finely chopped)
1/2 bag noodles

cook chicken, onion, celery,and carrots in water with bouillon cubes added (about 20 minutes) until chicken is cooked..remove chicken, cool, then cut into bite size pieces.  add back into broth.  keep tasting to see if more bouillon is needed.. add noodles, cook until noodles are tender about 10 min.

*just make sure veggies are cooked before adding noodles..
and by golly if she didn't include a photo!

bolognese sauce

Thank you Martha Stewart for some truly tasty Bolognese Sauce....not your jar of Ragu variety.  The sauce really is pretty easy to make, it just calls for quite a bit of simmering time.  So make on a weekend or early afternoon if you can, alot about 3.5 hours.  I halved the original recipe, from Martha Stewart's Cooking School, but will post the recipe in it's entirety and just know that halving it still left us with a huge Tupperware bowl full of leftover sauce (of which I froze).

2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 ounces pancetta (cut into 1/4 inch pieces, about 2/3 cup) - I substituted prosciutto b/c that's what I had but really, bacon would have been a closer substitute
2/3 cup minced yellow onion
2/3 cup minced carrot
2/3 cup minced celery

1 pound ground veal
1 pound ground pork (I didn't have either and since I was halving, I used a little over a pound of ground chuck)
3 tbsp plus 1tspn tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
1 1/4 whole milk
6-7 cups basic chicken stock (of course I cheated and used boxed chicken stock)
1 can (28oz) whole peeled tomatoes (pureed, with the juice, in a blender)
1 dried bay leaf (I didn't have one so skipped)
5 sprigs thyme, tied into a bundle with kitchen twine - (I didn't have so I just threw some dried thyme spice into the mix, not a lot though)
coarse salt and ground pepper

Heat butter and oil in a large pot over medium-high heat until butter starts to sizzle, then reduce heat to medium.  Add pancetta and cook until golden and fat has rendered, about 2.5 minutes.  Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook, stirring often, until just beginning to brown around edges, about 10 minutes.

Add veal and pork (or in my case ground beef) and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently and separating meat with the back of a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes.  Once meat is completely browned, pour off any excess fat.  Add tomato paste and cook 1 minute, stirring to intensify sweetness.

Pour in wine and cook, stirring to scrape up browned bits from the bottom of the pot, until liquid has evaporated, 6 to 7 minutes.  Add 1 cup milk and cook until reduced by half, about 3 minutes.  Add thyme bundle then pour 6 cups stock.  Add tomatoes and bay leaf and season with 1 1/2 tspns salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.

Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce heat to a very low simmer and cook, partially covered, 3 to 3 1/2 hours, skimming the fat from the surface with a ladle periodically.  The finished sauce should have the consistency of loose chili.  Stir in remaining 1/4 cup milk and season with salt and pepper as desired.  If not serving immediately, let cool completely before transferring to airtight containers.  Refrigerate up to three days or freeze up to 3 months; defrosting in the fridge before using.

One last note, my sauce was slightly soupier than I wanted so next time around I will use slightly less chicken stock to hopefully make it thicker.  But even as is, it was delish!!!! 

chicken and black bean green enchilada bake

The inaugural recipe is 100% stolen from another website:  www.picky-palate.com but it's a big hit in the Stiff household and super easy to make.  I love recipes you can make during nap time, leave in the fridge for the afternoon and then pop into the oven at dinnertime.  Such a luxury when you live with Reese:)   Plus, a casserole dish full yields leftovers for days and it freezes wonderfully so make the whole recipe and freeze single portions for a quick bite later on.  Grant even takes the leftovers to work for a better-than-a-turkey-sandwich alternative.  I usually just buy a rotissere chicken at the grocery store, tear it apart and that tends to be just over 2 1/2 cups of cooked chicken.  It's not spicy at all so the girls can eat it too but you could kick up the flavor a bit by adding some jalapenos to the mix.  I've also used whole grain rice to step it up a notch in the health department and tastes the same to me....  


recipe

2 cups white long grain rice

2 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken breast

One 15-ounce can mild green enchilada sauce

One 4-ounce can sliced black olives

One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon McCormick Gourmet Roasted Ground Cumin

One 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Cook rice according to package directions.

3. Place chicken, enchilada sauce, olives, tomatoes, sour cream, salt, pepper and cumin into a large bowl, mixing to combine. Pour cooked rice into prepared baking dish and layer beans on top of rice. Pour chicken mixture over rice and top evenly with cheddar cheese. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until cheese is melted and rice is hot.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Welcome!

Get excited Britt Family!  All that bad food is coming soon to a website near you.....

In addition to the $25 Cooking theme at Christmas, we'll soon have a spot to share recipes so some of our families don't suffer much longer (stop laughing Grant, I'm not that bad).

Start thinking, gathering, typing, taking photos of any yummy meals and recipes you would like to share!