Italian Crusted Chicken

These last few posts have been few and far between! It seems like we've been avoiding the oven quite a bit lately by grilling a lot. We've also been at the lake for the past 5ish days, soooo no blogging for this gal. But don't worry, I'm back. This recipe is so incredibly easy to make. I feel like a bit of a broken record because I feel like I am always saying that every recipe is so easy. BUUUUT, most of them are! So anyway, quick, easy, moist, flavorful, crunchy, party-in-your-mouth chicken for you.

-1/4 c. Italian style cheese
-1/2 c.Italian Bread crumbs
-a spoonful of Fat free Sour Cream
-1 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast(s)
-seasoning of your choice, I used Lawry's Seasoning Salt and Pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If you are using a large chicken breast, cut it in half. Rinse each half and pat dry with a paper towel. Mix the cheese, bread crumbs, and seasonings together in a shallow dish. Rub the chicken with the sour cream until it's covered. Then roll it in the bread crumb mixture until it's pretty heavily coated. I did all of this with my hands and it was much easier than trying to use forks and spoons or whatever else you want to try and use. That's why we have soap and water, right? Bake on a stone or a baking sheet for about 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. The cooking time will depend on the size of the chicken pieces. If they're smaller, start checking around 20ish minutes.
This recipe is incredibly easy to convert into more servings, so don't be afraid of the "1 chicken breast" listed in the ingredients. I thought if I wrote it this way, it would be easier to multiply ingredients than to divide them and blah blah blah you're welcome.

Turkey Pesto Wrap

I was planning on posting a couple new recipes on here today. However, today is my birthday and we ended up going out to eat tonight at a new pizza place here in town. So you're getting one :) I've been eating these for lunch quite a bit recently. They're so easy to quickly put together and they're ooooh so good. I'm sure you could get more creative with what you put in them, but this picky gal is pretty content with the way I've been making them. But feel free to be wild and crazy with whatever you feel like adding.

-tortilla (any kind will do)
-Turkey lunch meat (or you could use leftover turkey from a smoked turkey or something like that)
-Pesto (I use Classico Traditional Basil Pesto in a jar)
-Mozzarella cheese
-Spray butter
Spread about a a tablespoon of pesto on one side of the tortilla. Lay however much turkey you want down the middle-ish of the tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese. Or, if you are using sliced cheese, cut the piece in half and lay each half on top of the turkey. Wrap your tortilla up (long side, ends, roll up). Spray each side with butter. Toast in a skillet over medium heat. Do each side for a couple of minutes or until golden brown. Then eat it up :)

Sorry!

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted a new recipe on here! We've been out of town and busy since we've been back. Check back later today for new recipes :)

Fettuccine Alfredo

I've had this recipe listed under the recipes tab for a while, but I hadn't done a post about it yet. There are so many variations you can do with this base recipe. You can add chicken, shrimp, or even nothing :-) You'll notice I used elbow noodles instead of fettuccine... it's what I had. We love all shapes of noodles around here. It truly doesn't matter which kind you use. I also used some left over grilled chicken. You can use chicken off of a rotisserie chicken, too. Or, throw some boneless skinless chicken breasts in a crock pot with some water or chicken broth and some Italian seasoning about 4 hours before you are wanting to prepare the meal. Boil a whole chicken and take the meat off; bake some chicken breasts; go buy some chicken from your grocer's deli and use that meat. SOOOOO many options for chicken! I'm not into shrimp so I've never made it that way. I know a lot of people like shrimp alfredo though. You can also add in broccoli, tomatoes, or mushrooms if you want. Oh! The possibilities!

-1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
-1 stick of Butter (not margarine!)
-8 ounces shredded Parmesan Cheese*
-2 or 3 (3, because I kinda sorta love garlic) garlic cloves, minced (you can use about a teaspoon of garlic powder instead if ya want)
-salt and pepper to taste
-pinch of nutmeg
-1 package of fettuccine noodles
-fresh, chopped parsley (for garnish, optional)
Put the stick of butter and the minced garlic in a large pot over medium heat. Keep moving the butter around to make sure the garlic doesn't burn! When the butter is completely melted, allow the garlic and butter to simmer for just a minute or two. Add in the heavy cream and whisk together. (This is usually a good time to get your pasta boiling! Make according to directions on the package or box.) Bring to a boil. Add cheese and reduce heat to low. Keep stirring to make sure the cheese melts evenly and doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot. This is where you need to have a little patience. It will take just a little bit to get the cheese melted and the sauce thickened. Once cheese is melted, season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. I usually add a pretty good amount of pepper, but we love our pepper here :) Once pasta is done, you can add the noodles to the pot of sauce if you want them combined, or you can just spoon sauce over your pasta!
If you will be using chicken or shrimp, you have two options. You can mix it into the sauce or serve it on top of the noodles. Serving it separate is a good idea if you have people with different tastes in your family.
*I think the best Parmesan cheese for this recipe is the wedge of it that you actually shred yourself. You can use whatever kind you want, but I think the wedge just melts and tastes best.

I realize this is a terrible picture. It's supposed to be a picture of  the garlic and butter simmering

Add in seasonings

Mix up everything really well

YUMMMMMMMM

Pumpkin Pie Puppy Chow

Yes, I made something pumpkin flavored in May! No, it's not illegal. Even if it were, I'd still make this.. only if I could take a bag of this with me to jail. I may be exaggerating a smidge... Anyway, all the chocolate/peanut butter combo haters (they DO exist ;-) ) out there can now enjoy puppy chow!

-1/2 c. Spice Cake Mix (just the dry mix)
-1/3. c. powdered sugar
-2 t. pumpkin pie spice
-2 c. Crispex cereal
-1 c. white chocolate chips
-1 T. Canola Oil
Shake cake mix, powdered sugar, and pumpkin pie spice together in a large ziploc bag to make the coating. In a microwave safe bowl, stir white chocolate chips and oil together until the chips are coated. Microwave for 45 seconds. Stir. Melt another 15 seconds, if needed. Pour cereal into bowl. Stir to coat cereal in chocolate. Dump cereal into bag of coating. Shake to coat the cereal. You can eat it right away, but the longer it sits, the stronger pumpkin flavor it will have! SO pretty much what I'm saying is, eat it whenever you want :-)

the coating mix

mix chocolate chips and oil together

melted chocolate, don't eat this yet :)

Before shaking in the coating

Finished!!

You can SEE the pumpkin pie spice on this! Nom nom nom

Chili Cheese Burgers

It was somewhere around 90 degrees today. That means that we will avoid using the oven in any way possible. I jazzed up a traditional ol' cheeseburger tonight with some cheddar cheese, chili, and sour cream! I had made chili a while back (recipe is under the "recipes" tab) and froze what we didn't eat. It definitely came in handy tonight! I let it thaw all day today, and then it was ready by this evening. There is cheese in the middle of these burgers as well as on top. I love cheese.

-1 lb. ground beef
-Freddy's Seasoning, or the seasoning of your choice
-shredded cheddar cheese
-sour cream
-chili (my recipe found on this page- http://mrsbakersbites.blogspot.com/p/recipes.html. I had some that I had previously made and then froze)
-hamburger buns
Crumble beef in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle with seasoning. Mix well. Divide into 6 equal pieces. Mold into balls and then flatten into discs. Put some cheese on top of HALF of the beef pieces. Just do a little pile. Place the meat with no cheese on top of the meat with cheese. Carefully pick up and smoosh together to seal the edges so the cheese won't leak out. Grill until desired doneness. While hamburgers are on the grill, spoon some sour cream into a small ziploc bag. Spoon some chili into a separate ziploc bag. Butter insides on the buns and toast, if desired. I decided to smash my chili in the bag a little bit to get rid of some of the bigger chunks of meat and beans. Heat the chili in the microwave for about 15 seconds, if it's cold. As soon as burgers are done, sprinkle some cheddar cheese on top of them to let it start melting on there. Cut a small corner off of the bag of sour cream and the bag of chili. Place burger on top of bun. Squeeze out a pile of chili on top of the burger. Squeeze desired amount of sour cream on top of chili. Put the top bun on. Warning: these little fellas are messy, but amazing! Makes 3 Chili Cheese Burgers.

Beef with seasoning

6 equal(ish) portions

flatten into discs

add cheese

Seal in the cheese

sour cream

chili

butter your buns!

grilled

Put our buns on the grill, and then in the toaster because I was impatient and hungry!

Start assembling...

yum yum yum

I don't think there will be any confusion on this recipe, thanks to the thousands 14 pictures I took.

Roasted Rosemary Potatoes

This is just a side dish you can serve with so many things. I ate it with grilled chicken tonight. Austin ate it with a pork chop. These pretty much go with whatever. You'll notice in the ingredients pic that some sweet peppers are pictured....well, not everything always turns out as good as you think it will! haha! The peppers were not great. We tried em, but they were a big ol' FAIL! However, the potatoes were delish! Thankfully, I had stuff for salads so I threw one together and we ate that with our meal instead of the peppers :)

-1 c. sliced red potatoes
-1/2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-1/2 lemon
-Crushed Rosemary
-garlic powder, salt, pepper- to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse potatoes and slice thinly. Toss with EVOO in a small bowl. Dump out onto a stone or baking sheet. Squeeze lemon evenly on potatoes. Sprinkle with rosemary. Lightly season with garlic. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with desired amount of salt and pepper.

Before going in the oven

After roasting- I use a stone to bake mine on

(kind of) Proof that we tried the peppers. Thank goodness for potatoes