Crock pot Sunday Chicken

I recently learned of crock pot liners. Why hasn't anyone told me? I used to loathe my crock pot because it just doesn't clean up very easily. Enter crock pot liners and I am hoping to use that handy appliance daily. Between the crock pot liners and this easy recipe, I should be able to amazing things around here. This is tasty. It reminds me a bit of chicken marsala.

Ingredients:
1 pound of chicken cut into bite size chunks
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can french onion soup
12 oz fresh sliced mushrooms
2 stalks of celery diced

Directions:

Place chicken in the crock pot and cover with the remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 8 hours. Serve over rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes. Serve and enjoy! You can make it your own by adding carrots, peas, or whatever you love.

Greek Chicken Souvlaki

Once upon a time I came upon a Greek restaurant at the food court in a mall. I ordered their Chicken Souvlaki and was blown away. I then went home and had to find a recipe like it. I found this recipe and adapted it to my taste. This will be a repeat again and again.

Tzatziki Sauce
1 cups Greek Yogurt
Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 1 T)
1 garlic clove,
chopped 1/2 medium cucumber, seeded and diced ( I did not seed it)
1 T kosher salt
1 T finely chopped fresh dill
 Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions: Combine all ingredients, blend, or place in food processor.  Chill in fridge for flavors to marry while preparing chicken.

For the chicken:

3-4 breasts of chicken, cut into 1 1/2″ cubes
3 T lemon juice
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. fresh oregano or 1/4 tsp. dried
2 tsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 clove of garlic, minced
Pitas sprayed or spread with olive oil and sprinkled garlic salt

Directions:
Combine the spices with the oil and lemon juice. Cut the chicken into cubes; combine with the marinade and let sit 30 minutes. Assemble the skewers; grill for 5 minutes (or longer depending on temp), turning only once after 3 minutes; when done, the cooking juices from the chicken should be clear.

To serve, I sprayed the pitas with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic salt. I then placed them on the grill for 20 seconds or so on each side. Smear with tzatziki sauce, place chicken, sliced tomatoes, and feta cheese on top for garnish and serve. Opa!

It is delicious my friends, and tastes fresh and healthy (mostly healthy).

THE Strawberry Cake

It is too bad it is such an ugly picture, because it really is a gorgeous cake. What's not to love about white cake with a cream cheesy layer topped with a billion strawberries and then smeared with strawberry glaze? My thoughts exactly! It is pretty easy too! Let me know if you try it. My hat goes off to strawberries this year. They have really made by belly proud!

Don't worry. It is really pretty easy.

Ingredients:
1 white cake mix. Make as directed.
8 oz pkg cream cheese room temp
Dream Whip made as directed
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups strawberries whole or cut in half if big
Danish Dessert, strawberry (in section with jello) made according to directions and cooled

Directions:
While cake is cooling from being baked as directed on box,
mix powdered sugar with cream cheese. Then
blend this mixture with Dream Whip mixture
Spread on cake
Place trimmed and sliced strawberries uniformly on cream cheese mixture.
Cover strawberries with Cooled Danish Dessert.
Place in fridge and replace in fridge with leftovers. Serve and Enjoy!

Tips:

• In case you were unable to find the Danish Dessert, you could also use the strawberry glaze found near the fresh strawberries in the produce section.

• You could also create your own mixing strawberry jello with corn starch. I have seen recipes for this on the internet.

• The Dream Whip comes in a box found in the cake mix/jello section as well.

Healthy Summer Salad

First off, let's give credit where credit is due. I stole this from Amanda's cookin, and I would do it again because this salad is a good find. The only thing I might change is the cheese next time. I liked the smoked gouda, but I wouldn't mind switching it up either. So if you want to impress your friends, try it!

Summer Vegetable Quinoa Salad

1 15-oz can chicken broth
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups frozen corn, cooked and cooled
1 medium cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 package grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup diced smoked gouda cheese
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley, packed (I didn't have this and it was still yummy)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon mayonnaise
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, about 4 turns

Directions:
Cook quinoa in chicken broth by bringing to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes covered. Remove from heat and cool completely. I placed in fridge while preparing the rest.In a separate bowl, whisk together olive oil, both vinegars and mayonnaise. Add salt to taste and pepper. Whisk to combine. Pour half of dressing over remaining ingredients and taste before adding more. Chill in fridge for at least two hours before serving. This was great the next day and the next! Serve and enjoy!

Grilled Romaine Hearts

Summer is for grilling. At least it is at my house. When it is 115 degrees outside, using the stove or oven seems like suicide. We often do the usual grilled steak or chicken, some fresh fruit of a sort, and a starch or grain. I found this little recipe in the Parade newspaper insert. I thought it tasted fresh with the lemon and warm crisp of the lettuce. I will say my husband did not care for it: "This is different, I don't know about warm lettuce!"

Ingredients:
2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 small garlic clove minced
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp. worcesteshire
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbs. freshly grated paremesan cheese
Olive oil spray
2 hearts of Romaine lettuce

Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, garlic, mustard, Worcesteshire, and pepper. Stir in the parmesan cheese.

Preheat the grill over medium-high heat. Oil the grill's surface. Remove any wilted outer leaves from the hearts, then cut the hearts lenghthwise down the middle leaving the ends intact so each half holds together.Spray them lightly with oilive oil spray.

Grill until grill marks from and the lettuce wilts slightly, about 6 minutes turning once or twice. Serve drizzled with above vinaigrette. Yum!

Hawaiian French Toast

If you have recently had french toast for breakfast your stomach is going to hide into the furthest corner of your abdomen in shame after reading this. French toast will never be the same again after adding coconut to its mixture. As Emmeril Lagasse would say: "let's kick it up a notch!" Hawaiian style.

Basically you need this:



and this:



Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 teaspoon sugar, optional
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup coconut creamer
10 to 12 slices Kings Hawaiian Bread sliced rather thick
maple syrup or other syrup (can you imagine the possibilities with this recipe?)

Directions:

whisk or blend just slightly all the ingredients together except the bread. Place a little butter or oil in your pan or griddle. Dunk bread in mixture and cook both sides on medium heat to your liking making sure the egg is cooked. top with butter and your favorite syrup. Serve and enjoy!

My Pretties

Ok, so maybe they aren't that pretty to you, but to me this ugly old jar full of homemade processed jam is so pretty to me. Whenever I make something like homemade jelly I feel truly happy. It only resulted in about 4 jars, but I open my pantry every day and stare at them with such pride. I will never be a great chef or gourmet cook, but I will always try. I often fail, but I can't say I never tried and that is truly satisfying.

Strawberries and raspberries have been on sale lately. Stock up and make some of this delicious jam!

Ingredients:
4 cups crushed strawberries
1 cup crushed raspberries (raspberries were not on sale, but blackberries were, the substitution was tasty if you ask me)
2 Tbs lime juice
package of pectin
4 cups sugar

Directions:
Mix strawberries, raspberries & lime juice. Gradually
stir in pectin. Bring to a full roiling boil that cannot be
stirred down over high heat, stirring constantly.
Add sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return to full boil. Boil
hard for a full minute stirring constantly. Remove from
heat. Ladle into jars & process in boiling water canner
for 15 min.

Serve and enjoy or just stare at them each day for one hour like I do.