Chicken Lettuce Cups

I've recently become a fan of the show "Guy's Big Bite" on the Food Network. Okay, I became a fan after I watched it once and he happened to make this recipe and I really liked it. I got on the website and it had great reviews and I tried it and we thought it was pretty tasty. So...here ya go. (Here's the link to the recipe on the actual Food Network website just in case you don't trust me... http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/chicken-lettuce-cups-recipe/index.html)


Chicken Lettuce Cups

Recipe courtesy Guy Fieri

Prep Time: 40 min
Cook Time: 2 min
Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 small carrots, diced
1/2 celery rib, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
5 snap peas, diced
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup mung beans, cut in 1/2 (I just used bean sprouts chopped up)
2 chicken breast, diced
6 ounces Apricot Sesame Sambal Szechwan Sauce, recipe follows
5 fried wonton skins
6 iceberg lettuce leaves
2 tablespoons diced green onions
2 tablespoons crushed, unsalted peanuts
Black sesame seeds, for garnish

Directions
In a medium saute pan over high heat, add oil.
Add vegetables, and chicken, saute for 45 seconds. Deglaze with sambal sauce for 30 seconds.

Add wonton to lettuce cup, pour chicken and veg mix into cup, top with green onions and peanuts. Garnish lettuce cups with black sesame seeds.

Ingredients
Apricot Sesame Sambal Sauce:
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons minced ginger
3 tablespoons sambal hot sauce (I couldn't find this so I left it out as suggested by some of the reviews)
3 tablespoons apricot preserves
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon minced cilantro
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions
Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Shake before serving.

Ranch House Crockpot Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

I saw this recipe on picky-palate.com and decided to give it a go. I must say it got two thumbs up from all who reside in my house. I guess that would actually be 8 thumbs up but whatever. Just try it. It may not be the healthiest recipe but it is worth it! ;)

I stole this picture off the Picky Palate website because my picture didn't look quite as tasty as hers. I hope that is okay and I don't get arrested or something. Ranch House Crockpot Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

6 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick

1 packet dry Ranch Dressing Seasoning

10 oz can Cream of Chicken Soup

4 lbs peeled, cubed potatoes

5 Tablespoons real butter

1 Cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

6 cloves roasted garlic (directions how to roast garlic below)

1- 1 1/2 Cups warm skim milk (any milk will do, I just happened to use skim)

1 Tablespoon salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper, or to taste

1. Place pork chops, Ranch seasoning and soup into a medium sized crock pot over high heat for 4 hours or low heat for 6 hours.

2. Place potatoes into a large pot of cold water. Place onto stovetop over high heat and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling, cook for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain and transfer to the work bowl of a stand or electric mixer. Mix on low until potatoes are mashed then add butter, parmesan, garlic, milk, salt and pepper. Season to taste if needed. For thinner mashed potatoes add more milk, slowly until your desired consitency.

3. Scoop mashed potatoes onto serving plates and top with pork chops and soup gravy from crock pot. Eat!

Roasted Garlic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place bulb of garlic with skins on, wrap lightly in tin foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove from foil and let cool for 15 minutes. Remove garlic from skins, place in a bowl and mash with a fork until completely mashed.

Banana Split Salad

Light, fluffy and full of yumminess. Healthy? Maybe a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. But if you want to try something different, this would fit the bill. It makes quite a bit, so be prepared.

Banana Split Salad

1 (14 oz.) can sweented condensed milk
1 tub of Cool Whip (12 oz. but 8 oz. will work too), thawed
1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling
3 medium bananas, sliced
1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced

Garnish: peancs, coconut, strawberries and chocolate fudge (all optional)

In a large bowl combine milk and cool whip until well blended. Fold in the cherry pie filling, bananas, pineapple, pecans, coconut and strawberries. Garnish as you wish. Serve chilled.

Note: we didn't add the pineapple because I didn't have any. I also omited the coconut because I had to many eyes watching me to add it. Sorry my picture isn't all garnished and pretty, but I am in a time crunch and sometimes... You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!

Cinnamon Rolls

Here is a new twist on an old favorite. I was really intrigued by these since they have vanilla pudding in them. They went together fast and my family loved the flavor. The dough is pretty soft, but after rising, is a little easier to work with. I added an additional 1/2 cup of flour because my dough was a little on the sticky side. This ended up being the perfect amount.

Vanilla Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Rolls:

1/2 cup warm water

2 Tablespoons actvie dry yeast

1 Tablespoons sugar

3 1/2 ounce package instant vanilla pudding

2 cups milk

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs 1 tespoon salt

6+ cups flour (I added an additional 1/2 cup)

Filling:

1 cup butter, softened to room temperature

2 cups brown sugar

4 teaspoons cinnamon

Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese

1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups confectioner's sugar

2-3 Tablespoons milk (I didn't use any because my consistency was already good)

In a small bowl combine water, yeast and sugar. Stir until dissolved. Set aside. In large bowl, take pudding mix and mix with 2 cups of milk (per directions on package). Add butter, eggs and salt. Mix well. Then add yeast mixture. Blend. Gradually add flour; knead until smooth. Do not over flour the dough! It shold be very soft but not sticky. Place in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled. Then roll out on floured board to 34 X 21 inches in size. Take 1 cup soft butter and spread over surface. In bowl mix 2 cups brown sugar and 4 teaspoons of cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top. Roll up very tightly. With knife put a notch in every 1 1/2 inches. Cut with thread or serrated knife. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Cover and let rise until double again. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes. Remove when they start to turn golden (don't overbake).

Frost warm rolls with cream cheese frosting.

Combined butter and cream cheese, mix well, then add vanilla and sugar and mix again. Then add milk for desired consistency.

Makes 24 very large size rolls.

Southwest Chicken Salad

1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn

2 large chicken breasts or 4 regular sized (I used 4 frozen ones from Costco)

1 can black bans, rinsed and drained

1 jar of MEDIUM salsa (or hot, but not mild, mild will lose all flavor while cooking)

1 bag corn chips

Garnish with any of the following:

sour cream

shredded cheese

cilantro

avacado

salsa

tomato

onion

lettuce

Place corn on bottom of a crock pot. Follow with chicken breasts. Top with black beans and salsa. Cook in crock pot on high for 5 hours. Remove chicken and shred with forks. Place shredded chicken back in crock pot and mix with corn and beans. Place a handful of chips on plate and slightly crush with the palm of your hand. Place a good sized portion of chicken mixture on top of chips and garnish as you'd like. This really needs the chips to bring all the flavors together. The saltiness of the chips makes it so yummy! Reheats well. You can also you torilla chips instead of corn chips.

This was a once shot picture. Just as I was ready to try another angle my battery went dead. So hopefully the first one was good enough for you to get an idea of what this looks like. My family really enjoyed it, not to mention it was nice to throw together this morning and have something warm and substantial to feed them for dinner.

Brownie Pizza

This recipe is from Wendi. If you like bananas, peanut butter and brownies, this is the recipe for you. I posted this on my blog, but wanted to post it here to0.

Brownie Pizza

1 package brownie mix

1 package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

3 large bananas, peeled and cut into chunks

1/4 cup coarsely chopped peanuts2 packages (or 4 single) peanut butter cups

Dove ice cream topping

Prepare brownie mix as directed on package. Spread batter evenly on a greased 12 inch pizza pan (I put down parchment paper on a cookie sheet and marked a 12" circle then spread the brownie batter just inside the circle). Bake for 20 minutes (don't overbake). Cook completely on wire rack.

Mix cream cheese, sugar and peanut butter with an electric mixer until well blended. Spreak over cooled brownie.Arrange banan slices over cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with peanuts, peanut butter cups (or whatever other toppings your family likes). Heat ice cream topping until stirring consistency (you can heat in microwave with lid off at 20 second intervals, stirring in between). Drizzle chocolate sauce over the top of bananas, peanuts and pb cups. Cut into wedges and serve.