Chick-Fil-A Chicken

1 Egg

1 Cup Milk

1 Cup Flour

2 1/2 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar

2 1/2 Teaspoons Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

2 Chicken Breasts, cut into strips or nuggets

Cooking Oil

Mix egg and milk together and pour over chicken. Let sit 5 minutes. In a seperate bowl, mix flour, powdered sugar, salt, and pepper. Dredge the chicken pieces into the flour mixture, put back in milk mixture, then dredge in the flour mixture a second time. Heat oil to 375 degrees. Gently drop chicken pieces in the heated oil and cook until golden brown.

(From LeAnn and Under the Table and Dreaming)

Luscious Slush Punch

2 1/2 cups white sugar

6 cups water
2 (3 ounce) packages strawberry flavored jello
1 (46 fluid ounce) can pineapple juice
2/3 cup lemon juice
1 quart orange juice
2 (2 liter) bottles lemon-lime flavored soda

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water, and jello. Boil for 3 minutes.  Stir in pineapple juice, lemon juice and orange juice.  Divide mixture in half, and freeze in 2 separate containers.  (I used gallon sized Ziplock bags).

When ready to serve, place the frozen contents of one container in a punch bowl, and stir in 1 bottle or soda until slushy.

Makes 50 (4 ounce) servings.

(Served at Haley and Kalob's wedding reception)

Creamy Chicken Lasagna

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked and shredded
6 cooked lasagna noodles (I used rotini and just estimated on how much to use)
3 cubes chicken bouillon
1/4 c. hot water
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded, divided
1 26-oz jar spaghetti sauce

Preheat oven to 350.  Dissolve bouillon cube in 1/4 c. hot water.  In a large bowl, mix chicken, bouillon, cream cheese, and 1 c. mozzarella cheese (I added salt, pepper and garlic powder as well).  Spread 1/3 of spaghetti sauce in bottom of a 9" square dish.  Cover with half of chicken mixture; top with 3 noodles.  Repeat layers.  Top with remaining sauce and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Serves 9.

(Slightly adapted from the Worldwide Ward Secret Recipes Cookbook)

Grilled Potatoes and Onions

1 potato per person 

1/2 small onion per person
1 Tbsp. butter per person, cut into pieces
1/4 tsp. salt per person
Freshly-ground black pepper
Smoked paprika
Aluminum foil

Tear sheets (1 per person) of aluminum foil into about 16″ pieces. Fold each in half into a sqaure-ish and set aside.  Preheat grill. Slice potatoes into pieces about 1/8-1/4″ thick.  Slice onions about 1/8″ thick.  Place 1 potato in the middle of each foil square and dot with butter pieces.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then sprinkle generously with smoked paprika. Remember, paprika is super mild, so it’s hard to add too much. Top each pile with onions.  Fold edges in and secure tightly. It’s important to get a good seal because the moisture will cook the potatoes and onions and you want all those yummy juices, so if it seems like there’s not quite enough foil, wrap packet in another layer.  Turn heat on grill to low. Place each packet on the grill. Close lid for 15 minutes. Turn and allow to cook for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully open each packet.  These can also be cooked in the oven at 400 for about 15-20 minutes (just check on them to see how they’re doing) or in a panini press for about the same amount of time.

(From ourbestbites.com-can you tell this is my favorite site?!)

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a large bowl, beat oil and honey together. Add eggs, and mix well. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Stir in flour and salt. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter. Blend in chopped nuts. Spread batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.  Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 1/2 hour before slicing.

We made these into muffins and cooked them for about 15 minutes.  They were super moist and fluffy for whole wheat bread.  We also added cinnamon and extra bananas (we used 3 medium bananas).  Other people suggested using 1/4 c. honey and 1/4 c. brown sugar instead of all honey and 1/3 c. applesauce instead of the oil.


(From allrecipes.com)

"Alambre" Tacos or Burritos

My Dad loves a restaurant called La Parilla Suiza and they serve some delicious alambre tacos.  I tried to recreate them the other night and while they didn't taste the same as the restaurants, I think we discovered something yummy.

Bacon, diced
Onion, diced
Bell Pepper, diced
Chicken or beef, cooked and cubed or shredded

Season to taste with:
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Chipotle chili powder (I'm sure you could use regular chili powder)
Seasoning salt

Cook bacon in a frying pan until crispy, then add onion and peppers and cook in bacon grease until desired softness.  Add meat and seasonings; cook until heated.  I used home canned chicken with the juice drained and it turned out really yummy and moist.  Serve in taco shells or flour tortillas for a burrito.  Add sour cream, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, etc.

Sorry, there's a reason I don't write recipes down for my made up meals very often...I'm not a great recipe writer, but I hope it made sense. : )

Molten Lava Cakes

Discovering this recipe was a sin.  It made the perfect Father's Day treat, though, and reminded us of the delicious chocolate molten cakes on the cruise we took back in the day. : )  They are super easy to make and ridiculously rich. 

4 T  real butter
1/3 C sugar

3 large eggs
1/3 C flour
1/4 t salt
8 oz bittersweet chocolate*, melted 

*8 ounces is about 1 1/3 C of bittersweet chocolate chips.  Make the 1/3 cup a little over-full and you should be good 

Additional Ingredients:
conf. sugar for dusting
sweetened whipped cream for serving 

butter and sugar for preparing pans  

You can either bake these in a muffin tin, in ramekins, or even a oven-proof mug.  If you use a muffin tin you'll get 6 cakes and depending on the size of the ramekins you'll get 4-6.  

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.   

To prepare pans, use your fingers (or the butter wrapper) to rub butter in the muffin tins or ramekins.  Sprinkle in some granulated sugar to coat the entire inner surface and tap out any extra and discard.  

In a bowl with a mixer beat butter and sugar until fluffy.   Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.   Combine flour and salt and slowly add it into the butter mixture just until combined.   Stir in melted chocolate by hand, just until combined.  Don't over mix.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups or ramekins and then place them on a baking sheet.

Bake just until tops of cakes no longer jiggle when pan is lightly shaken, about 8-10 min for a muffin pan, and 10-12 for ramekins.   Remove from oven and let stand 10 min.   

If using muffin tins, invert the tin and place an idividual cake on each serving plate.  You can do the same with the ramekins, or just serve them as is.   Dust with powdered sugar and serve with a dallop of sweetened whipped cream.

(From ourbestbites.com)