Backing up....This was from the day after the salmon

I forgot to put in a recipe that worked out pretty well and was really simple.  It is one that I got from Pinterest and we enjoyed it, though the kids thought it wasn't their absolute favorite.  I liked it because it was so easy!




This is a really simple recipe and of course I didn't follow it exactly.

1 package of stuffing
1 cup of water
Mix and moisten.

Take 4 pieces of tin foil and lay them out on the counter.  Spray with Pam.  Divide the moistened stuffing between them and kind of squish it down.  Then place a chicken breast over top of each blob of stuffing. 

Here is where the broccoli stems that I didn't use the other night in the roasted broccoli come in.  You cut off the outside tough part and then dice the stems, along with one head to get 4 cups of broccoli.  Divide the 4 cups between the 4 packets.

Cook 4 pieces of bacon till crispy and break one on top of each packet.

Top with 1/4 cup shredded cheese and a drizzle of ranch dressing.  Draw up the sides of the tin foil and tent it leaving just a bit of space for air to circulate before folding the sides in tightly.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the interior temperature of the chicken is at least 165.

Unwrap - be careful that the steam doesn't burn you - and slide onto a plate to serve. 

These can be made at breakfast time and stuck in the fridge until dinner but be sure your chicken is defrosted before assembling or you will have a soggy mess.

Here is the link for the real recipe from Pinterest.

http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/194728/foil-pack-chicken-and-broccoli-dinner-15

Easy lasagna-ish dinner

Yesterday I was very lucky to have a very old (or maybe I should say long-time) friend come visit with her kids.  We aren't old so she cannot be an old friend right?  We had a wonderful afternoon of visiting and the kids had a great time playing together.  Then we had dinner together and it was a pretty easy meal that went together quickly.

Easy lasagna type thing -
2 pounds of hamburger browned
2/3 of a package of small pasta shells cooked and drained
Spaghetti sauce of your choice, enough to make it good and moist but not runny.  I used about 2/3 of a large jar of Prego from Costco.

Filling - 2 cups of Ricotta cheese
3 eggs
1/4 cup of powdered Parmesan
1-2T Italian seasoning
Mix together

Put half of the meat mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 dish.  Spread filling in and then top with the other half of the meat mixture.  Top with Mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the center is baked and fairly firm.  This would freeze well too.  Just put it into 2 pans and eat one and put the other in the freezer before baking it.  Pull it out in the morning and let it thaw on the counter all day then bake for dinner.

We served with garlic bread and salad.

Desert was my easy brownies.

Brownies
1 box of cake mix (use chocolate or white but if you use white put in about 1/4 cup of cocoa powder)
3 eggs
1/3 cup of oil
Candy pieces!  I used about 1/2 bag mini M&Ms and 1/2 bag of the Kraft Caramel balls
Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, until firm in the center but not dried out on the edge.

These are the brownies I make for convention.  They are easy and they come out of the pan perfectly.  Of course, with the candy they are a big hit with the kids!

I didn't take any pictures of this either because I was busy talking! :)

And the meal was made so much better with the chatter of kids and visiting with someone I have been friends with my ENTIRE life!  It is so great to get together with someone and the years just fall away like they never passed!  The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Michelle's sisters and Jona had been there too!  Then it would have really been like old times!

Stuffed chicken

We liked the ginger/onion Salmon so much that I decided to give it a shot with chicken breasts.  That day I basically put together all the meals for the day while I was making breakfast.  I was getting ready to go to California so I had a lot to do that day and knew Kevin and the boys would be on their own.

I made our typical bacon and eggs for breakfast with some toast.  At the same time I sliced some tomato, onion, lettuce for hamburgers.  I pulled out a few patties from the freezer and some buns and they grilled their own burgers for lunch.  Conner made some baked beans with canned Van De Kamps but fixed up the way grandma does with some ketchup, mustard and brown sugar.

Then for dinner I took 4 chicken breasts, filleted them open almost in half.  Then I stuffed them with the same mixture that I had made previously for the salmon.  1/2 of a medium onion diced small, 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, 1T ginger finely chopped, 1T garlic, 2 T oil.  I spread that in the chicken breasts and closed them up then put them in a shallow dish and poured the marinate over the top.  The marinate is 2T honey, 2T soy sauce, 2T lime juice.   They marinated all day then we grilled them.  They were good but the flavors are definitely better with salmon.  To accompany it I took the left over Quinoa (about 3 cups) and mixed it with 2T olive oil, 1 cup diced tomato and 1 cup diced cucumber to make a salad like the Couscous salad that mom makes.  I added 2T Greek seasoning and a bit of green onion as well.  We had coleslaw as well. 

I didn't take any pictures of these meals though because I forgot!

BEST SALMON I HAVE EVER EATEN!

This afternoon I had to run to Hobby Lobby (AGAIN) to get more yarn (AGAIN)...and when I left I told Keenan to look up a recipe somewhere for a delicious salmon dish since we had a huge salmon fillet out on the counter thawing.  Well, he found a good idea but of course I didn't follow the recipe, it just gave me an idea....Imagine that!

Grilled Stuffed Salmon

4 salmon fillets or a whole large salmon fillet

Cut partially through

Stuff with:

1/3 of a medium onion chopped very fine

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1tsp of minced ginger paste

2T olive oil

What doesn't fit inside the salmon spread on top

Salt and pepper the tops of the salmon and place in a grill pan or fish basket

Make glaze of:

2T soy sauce

2T lime juice

2T honey

Spoon over the top, grill for 5 minutes, spoon rest of glaze over top and grill 5 more minutes

Baked Broccoli and onions

Take the rest of the onion and slice and separate

Cut up 2 heads of broccoli (save the stems for soup later on)

Sprinkle with seasoning of your choice and spray with Pam

Bake on a cookie sheet in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so

We also served this with Quinoa

4 cups of water

2 cups of Quinoa

1T chicken broth base

Boil for 15-20 minutes until water is absorbed

 

I won't lie, this is not an "easy" meal, but it went together quite quickly and we enjoyed it a LOT!

Hawaiian Haystacks

For special meeting I got the wild idea to make some nostalgic food!  And unfortunately I forgot to take pictures so here is a stock photo off the Internet.  This is a really basic meal that works up great for a crowd and the leftovers are excellent!



The base is Brown Rice cooked.  I did mine in the crock pot and it was great.  5 cups of water and 2 cups of rice and 1T chicken base.  Low for 4 hours. 

On top of that is a gravy.  All I did was boil some chicken breasts with rib meat until they fell off the bone but you could use leftover chicken or turkey.  Shred the meat.  Put in crock pot with 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, one can of mushrooms, and one can of water.  Simmer for 3-4 hours.  Thicken with cornstarch and water if it is too thin.

While this is going on then dice up bowls of the following:
Green onions
Green Peppers
Sugar Snap Peas
Celery
Tomatoes
Pineapple (canned)
Also use:
Slivered almonds
Crispy chow mien noodles
Marchino Cherries
Coconut

To serve up, this works great cafeteria style too -
A scoop or rice topped with chicken gravy.  Then layer with whatever toppings you want.  Put the Marchino cherries on top.  :)

Then we served it with a salad with:
Romaine lettuce
Diced Tomatoes
Chopped cilantro
Green onions
Sugar snap peas
Mandarin Oranges
Topped with a sesame ginger dressing and toasted sesame seeds.

This is the dressing that we get from Costco and love on the salad.

A yummy dinner and most of the prep was done ahead of time.