Fancy Chicken and Rice Casserole

     I recently invited the women involved in our last women's Bible study at church over to my house for breakfast.  Two sweet ladies that attended had gone the previous day to a luncheon and were so thoughtful to bring me one of the hand-outs they received.  It was a pamphlet which included all of the  recipes of the meal they were served that day.  The main dish was called Chicken and Wild Rice, but since I didn't use wild rice I changed the name.  I have eaten many versions of chicken and rice casseroles, but this one was different and really good.  Hope you try it soon and enjoy!

Ingredients:
6 oz box of rice
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cooked and diced
4 oz jar chopped pimentos, drained
2 - 16 oz cans French style green beans, drained
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can cream of celery soup
8 oz can water chestnuts, drained and sliced
1 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese


Directions:
1.  Cook rice according to package instructions.
2.  Mix together with the next 8 ingredients.
3.  Place in greased 3 quart casserole.  Top with cheese.
4.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

                                                  It's that easy!

onions, green beans, cream of celery, pimentos, mayonnaise

right out of the oven

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice

   

     This recipe is by far my family's favorite.  My husband describes it as "his favorite meal ever" and "the meal he would choose if he knew it were his last."  Those are pretty strong words.  It doesn't take too terribly long to make, but it's not one of those "whip it together really fast" type meals.  The longest step is baking the chicken in the oven for an hour.  My two year old has a cast on his right leg due to a broken tibia from a playground accident, so I was very relieved when my sister-in-law (who lives in town for college) offered to come over and play with my kids while I cooked this meal for dinner last night.  When I'm menu planning, I don't typically think of asian dishes off the top of my head, but I found this recipe on Pinterest and I'm so glad I did.  I found my recipe at Life as a Lofthouse, and tweaked it a little.

Chicken
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup canola oil

Sweet and Sour Sauce
Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbsp ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp garlic salt

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2.  Cut chicken into cubes.  Roll chicken pieces in cornstarch and then dip them into eggs to coat.
3.  Heat 1/4 cup oil over medium high heat and cook two of the chicken breasts until browned.  Place chicken pieces in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish.  Heat remaining 1/4 cup of oil and cook the other two chicken breasts the same way.
4.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over chicken in dish.
5.  Whisk together ingredients for sweet and sour sauce and pour over chicken.
6.  Bake chicken in oven for one hour.  Remove every 15 minutes to turn chicken in sauce.


Fried Rice
Ingredients:
3 cups cooked white rice
3 Tbsp sesame oil
10 oz. frozen peas and carrots (thawed)
1 small onion, chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup soy sauce

Directions:
1.  Heat the sesame oil over medium high heat in a large skillet.
2.  Add the peas/carrots, onion, and garlic and saute until tender.
3.  Lower heat to medium low, push mixture to one side, add eggs to other side and cook until scrambled.
4.  Add rice and soy sauce.  Blend together and heat through.

This is how my chicken looked before adding sauce and baking

Push the veggies over to scramble eggs

Squash Casserole

 

   No need to save this recipe for the holidays.  It's easy to make and good all year round.  I like it better than the Ritz cracker version, but may be that's because this is the recipe I grew up on.  Or because I love the taste of French Fried onions, and they make your house smell so good.  I hope you'll try this soon and let me know how you like it.

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp butter
8 squash
2 eggs
2 slices of bread
large container of french fried onions
salt and pepper

Directions:
1.  Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2.  Cut up squash, place in pan, and cover with water.  Cook on stovetop for 12 minutes or until tender.
3.  Mash (I use a potato masher), add butter, eggs, bread (break into pieces), salt and pepper (to taste), half of the onions and mix.
4.  Pour into 9 x 13 baking dish.  Bake 30 minutes.
5.  Add other half of onions and bake another 5 minutes.

*You could easily half this recipe and prepare it in an 8 x 8 dish.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Dumplings

 

   Crock pot recipes are great, but especially for church-goers on Sundays.  You can quickly put all the ingredients in the slow cooker before church and arrive home after church with lunch already cooked and smelling great.  We like chicken and dumplings in our home and I found a great recipe on polishthestars that I've tried a few times and adapted to our needs and liking.

Ingredients:
5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp butter
2 cans (10.5 oz) condensed cream of chicken
1 can (14 oz) chicken broth
1 medium white onion, diced (I buy the frozen bag of diced onions and put about a cup in there)
8 large flaky refrigerated biscuits

Directions:
1.  Place chicken in the crock pot (no need to thaw) and top with butter.
2.  Add cream of chicken soup, onions, and chicken broth.
3.  Put lid on and cook for 4-6 hrs on high or 8 hrs on low.  Do not stir while cooking.

4.  Break uncooked biscuits into pieces and stir into chicken mixture.
5.  Cook 30 minutes on high.
6.  Remove chicken from crock pot and shred with fork.  Stir chicken back into mixture and serve.

Heath Bar Delight

 

   Yes, I will take full credit for naming this dessert.  It's original name was "Death By Chocolate," but who likes the name "death by" anything?  It has layers, chopped up Heath Bars, and it is really good, so I think it's the perfect new name.  I make this dessert when I need to serve a large group, and everyone always comes back for seconds!  It keeps well for a few days in the refrigerator also.  It's something I can whip up pretty quickly, store in the fridge, and pull out when it's time for dessert.  This recipe was given to me by a coworker in my dental hygiene days.  Thanks, Donna!

Ingredients:
1 large tub Cool Whip (thawed)
1 box Brownie Mix
8 Heath Candy Bars
1 large box Chocolate Pudding

Directions:
1.  Bake brownies as instructed on box (crumble when still warm).
2.  Make pudding as instructed on box.
3.  Chop Heath Bars into crumbs.
4.  Layer as the following: Brownies, pudding, Cool Whip, Heath Bars, Repeat once more

* I thought I would add that the original recipe called for 2 boxes of brownie mix, 2 large boxes of Fat Free/Sugar Free Chocolate pudding, and Fat Free Cool Whip.  My revisions make the perfect amount to fill my largest glass bowl.

Teaching Our Children To Give Thanks

   Sometimes we refer to the prayer we say before a meal as "giving thanks."  This is a great time to teach our kids how to thank God for our food and other things, and we are following Christ example who himself gave thanks before breaking bread.  But I want to teach my children a lifestyle of giving thanks.  I want them to be thankful all throughout the day and notice all the "good and perfect gifts that come from above" (James 1:17).


   If you haven't read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, you really ought to take the time.  It has been a life-changing book for me.  I think that God brings certain books (and I often pray that He will) into my life at just the right time to teach me what He wants me to learn in a particular season or circumstance.  This book has made me a more all around joyful and grateful person in the midst of everyday craziness.  The Bible says, "In everything GIVE THANKS" (1 Thess. 5:18), and this book encouraged me to do so.  I want my children to realize all that we have to be grateful for and to live joy-filled lives.  Paul Washer is one of my favorite preachers to listen to and I heard him say recently that a study was done on families that seemed to produce happy and God-honoring children.  Apparently, the one thing all these families had in common was that their houses were filled with joy.  That's something to think about.  For me, this requires slowing down, forgetting my to-do list, and enjoying my family.  


   The Bible also says that "A joyful heart is good medicine" (Prov. 17:22).  The question is, Are we born happy or do we have to learn how to be happy?  Take a look at this short video on some research linking gratefulness with joy.

   I've definitely been challenged by the new perspective on life offered in One Thousand Gifts and recognizing the beauty in the mundane.  My plan is to have my children tell me three things every night that they are thankful for from that day.  What a great way to begin incorporating this mindset at a young age.
                     
                            What are you thankful for today?

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Peanut Butter Syrup

   

   I mentioned that yesterday was my husband's birthday.  For a special birthday breakfast I made him these pancakes with bananas and chocolate chips (of course) topped with peanut butter syrup.  He thought they were delicious.  I think that next time we will just put a little of the peanut butter syrup on them and use some regular syrup also, because it tasted very rich.  I pinned this recipe from recipeshoebox.  The recipe calls for butter or cooking spray for the skillet, but I used canola oil to give the edges a nice crunch.  This is just our preference.  Sometimes I use butter for a softer version.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour

3 Tbsp white sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk (you can use any type of milk)

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp canola oil

1 large egg

2 ripe bananas

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (tossed with 2 tsp flour so that they won't sink to bottom of batter) 

For syrup:

1 cup syrup

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Directions:

1.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

2.  In a separate bowl, mix milk, vanilla, oil, and egg.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients until just combined.

3.  Mash bananas with a fork and fold in bananas and chocolate chips.

4.  Heat skillet to medium high and coat with butter, cooking spray, or oil.

5.  Add batter by 1/4 cupfuls.  When batter bubbles, flip pancake to cook other side.

6.  For syrup, combine peanut butter and syrup and microwave on high for 1 minute.  Stir to combine.