Category: MEMES & LINK PARTIES

TAILGATING TIME 2.0

IT’S OFFICIAL – FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE!
We have decided to make a change this year in the way Tailgating Time will work. Instead of a new linky for each week we will be using the same linky to keep all the great recipes in one place. This will provide easy access to the recipes and create one big awesome recipe index collection. There is no limit to how many you add – of course we hope you will add a new recipe each and every week! Tailgating Time will generally be posted each week on Sundays at noon.

It doesn’t matter if you are a football fan or not, great party food is always a good thing. Bring over your grilled goods, chips and dips, appetizers, chili and chowders, cocktails, or any recipes that would be great for the football party buffet!

If any of you would like to host along with us you can click –> get the InLinkz code to add the linky to your blog too. You can post it once in awhile or every week during football season, that’s up to you. The only thing we ask is that you leave a comment here to let us know you are co-hosting, and that you visit and comment on as many of the participants as you can. 
 
 We can’t wait to see what you will bring to the party. Let the games begin. Whoo-hoo!

HEALTHY CHICKEN TETRAZINNI

This is a hearty meal, though it’s very different from the chicken spaghetti my daughter-in-law makes with Velveeta and Rotel Tomatoes.  It may not taste as good as that, but it’s definitely better for me.

Here’s what you need:
Green onions, 1/2 cup chopped
Celery, 3 stalks, chopped
Mushrooms, (1) 8 oz. can sliced
Cream of Mushroom soup, 2 cans, 98% fat free
Chicken, 1 pound, cut into bite size pieces
Spaghetti noodles, 12 oz.
Olive oil, 1tablespoon
Cheddar cheese, 1 cup grated
garlic salt to taste
pepper to taste

Preparation:

  • Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add chicken, green onions, and celery.  Cook until chicken is no longer pink.  Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper and simmer for five minutes.
  • While chicken is cooking, prepare spaghetti according to package directions.
  • Combine soup, spaghetti, and chicken mixture in a large casserole or lasagna pan.
  • Top with grated cheese.
  • Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

Serves 6.
316 calories, 22 grams of carbs, 19 grams of fat, and 29 grams of protein.
Enjoy!

CREAM CHEESE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE–Save Room for Dessert

Hello Monday!

Have I got a great chocolate chip cookie recipe for you!
These are my favorite chocolate chip…hands down! I was once told that if Soft Batch cookies and the refrigerated pre-made Nestle Toll House cookies got married and had baby cookies, that these cookies would be their first born. I’ll let you judge for yourself!
Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
recipe from Jenn
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 oz bag of milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine; set aside.
  • In a large bowl mix cream cheese and the butter. Beat on medium speed until creamy and light, about 2 minutes.
  • Add the brown sugar and mix well, add the egg and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute.
  • Slowly, add the flour mixture a little at a time, until well combined.
  • Fold in chocolate chips. I refrigerated dough for at least an hour, but you can skip that if you want.
  • Spoon about 2 tablespoons of dough onto greased cookie sheet.
  • Place in oven and bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges are golden.
  • Let rest on cookie sheet for 5 minutes then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
    Please come visit me at at Paper Plates and Chin

    TIME TO TAILGATE!

    IT’S OFFICIAL – FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE!
    We have decided to make a change this year in the way Tailgating Time will work. Instead of a new linky for each week we will be using the same linky to keep all the great recipes in one place. This will provide easy access to the recipes and create one big awesome recipe index collection. There is no limit to how many you add – of course we hope you will add a new recipe each and every week! Tailgating Time will generally be posted each week on Sundays at noon.

    It doesn’t matter if you are a football fan or not, great party food is always a good thing. Bring over your grilled goods, chips and dips, appetizers, chili and chowders, cocktails, or any recipes that would be great for the football party buffet!

    If any of you would like to host along with us you can click –> get the InLinkz code to add the linky to your blog too. You can post it once in awhile or every week during football season, that’s up to you. The only thing we ask is that you leave a comment here to let us know you are co-hosting, and that you visit and comment on as many of the participants as you can. 
     We can’t wait to see what you will bring to the party. Let the games begin. Whoo-hoo!

    TAILGATING TIME 2.0

    IT’S OFFICIAL – FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE!
    We have decided to make a change this year in the way Tailgating Time will work. Instead of a new linky for each week we will be using the same linky to keep all the great recipes in one place. This will provide easy access to the recipes and create one big awesome recipe index collection. There is no limit to how many you add – of course we hope you will add a new recipe each and every week! Tailgating Time will generally be posted each week on Sundays at noon.

    It doesn’t matter if you are a football fan or not, great party food is always a good thing. Bring over your grilled goods, chips and dips, appetizers, chili and chowders, cocktails, or any recipes that would be great for the football party buffet!

    If any of you would like to host along with us you can click –> get the InLinkz code to add the linky to your blog too. You can post it once in awhile or every week during football season, that’s up to you. The only thing we ask is that you leave a comment here to let us know you are co-hosting, and that you visit and comment on as many of the participants as you can. 
     
     We can’t wait to see what you will bring to the party. Let the games begin. Whoo-hoo!

    Fire Day Friday: Wanton Wontons

    One of the wonderful byproducts of grilling and smoking is that I usually have a little extra cooked pork, chicken, or steak left over. This week I had a bit of hickory smoked pulled pork. It wasn’t really even enough for two bbq sandwiches but it was enough for 8 appetizer servings of these fried wontons.
    These slightly spicy wontons make great appetizers for a formal meal or as the star of a tailgating menu.
    Wanton Wontons
    8 servings (3 wontons each)
    ¾ cup shitake mushrooms, diced
    ¼ cup carrot, diced
    ¼ cup red bell pepper, diced
    1 Tbsp ginger, diced
    1 clove garlic, diced
    ½ cup napa cabbage, diced
    2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
    ½ cup pulled pork
    3 Tbsp sweet chili sauce
    ½ tsp fish sauce
    ½ tsp rice vinegar
    ½ tsp Sriracha sauce (hot chili garlic sauce)
    Teriyaki sauce
    24 wonton wrappers
    Preheat a saute pan or wok over medium high heat. Add a tablespoon of oil.
    Add the mushrooms, carrot and saute for 4 minutes.
    Stir the bell pepper, ginger, and garlic. Saute another 1-2 minutes.
    Turn off the heat and stir in the napa, cilantro and pulled pork. Let the residual heat of the pan wilt the napa and cilantro for a minute.
    Mix the sweet chili sauce, fish sauce, rice vinegar, and sriracha sauce. Stir that into the pan mixture.
    Place about 2 teaspoons of the mix on each wonton wrapper. 
    Wet two edges of the wonton wrapper. Pull one corner over to the other corner.   Seal one edge and work as much air out as possible. 
    Seal the remaining edge. Repeat with remaining wontons.
    Preheat a deep fryer or a deep skillet with oil to 350f. Add the assembled wontons 3-4 at a time and cook for 30 seconds. Flip them over and cook another 30 seconds or until golden brown.
    Drizzle with terriyaki sauce, red pepper flakes and serve with a cold beverage.
    The crispy crunchy shell and the spicy fillings will make you “wantin’ wontons”.  yeah, I know, that’s a bad pun.

    BLACK BEAN CHICKEN BURRITOS

    BLACK BEAN CHICKEN BURRITOS
    corn tortillas
    black beans, drained well
    KNORR creamy rice mix
    4 ounce green chiles, drained well
    2 cups rotisserie chicken pieces
    15 ounce can HATCH green enchilada sauce
    2 cups shredded cojack cheese
    sour cream

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    • Spray a large baking dish.
    • Prepare KNORR rice mix as directed.
    • In a large bowl combine chicken pieces, black beans, green chiles, rice and 1/3 of the cheese.
    • Spread sour cream on each tortilla.
    • Add a scoop of the chicken mixture.
    • Layer in baking dish seam side down.
    • When baking dish is full, evenly pour the enchilada sauce over the enchilads.
    • Sprinkle cheese evenly over all enchiladas.
    • Bake 30 minutes.
    • Enjoy.

    PUMPKIN BREAD, Molasses and wedding bands!

    Rain is pounding on the roof and the sun porch, darkness has invaded our evenings until daylight savings time comes to play. And since I received a request, the only thing left to do was bake. You know they* say “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” so tonight I am making pumpkin bread! When Jim requested pumpkin bread the first cookbook I thought of was “The Wooden Spoon Bread Book”. I have used this book time and time again through the years.
    Now you might be asking yourself how this could qualify as a “new” recipe for Make A New Recipe Tuesday, well let me explain. I had never made pumpkin bread with molasses before and let me tell you, it is wonderful! Second, this originally was a recipe that made one loaf and left half a can of pumpkin to be lost, so why not make 2 loaves and if that is too much for your family, you have a great surprise for the neighbor!

    Pumpkin Bread
    adapted from:  The Wooden Spoon Bread Book
    350 degree oven
    makes 2 loaves

    The intro:  Some of my friends take a pumpkin from the field and cook it themselves. Starting from scratch has it’s virtues, but I personally make pumpkin bread with canned pumpkin. This is one case where I prefer for someone else to do the work.  (my thoughts, canned pumpkin is great to be able to make this wonderful bread, long after fall is gone.)

    3 1/2 cups flour
    1 1/2 cups sugar
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    2 teaspoons baking soda
    2 teaspoons salt
    1 teaspoon cinnamon
    1/2 teaspoon each cloves, nutmeg, ginger OR 3 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

    • In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients, whisk to mix well. Set aside.

    2/3 cup oil
    2/3 cu8p molasses
    4 eggs
    2 cups canned pumpkin

    • In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients, beat well.
    • Mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
    Divide between 2 loaf pans, bake 1 hour, or until tests done in your oven. Let cool 10 – 15 minutes, turn out to cook completely.
    I do want to take this moment to apologize for being absent from here. Getting married has a ton of chores that need to be done, even if the ceremony will be small and family only. One of the chores we did get done, was to purchase our wedding bands.
    My band has 3 diamonds, and Jim’s band is on order for size, with this one going back to stock, when we pick his up. One month and one day and counting………….

    As always, thanks for taking a moment to stop by.  I appreciate your time and your wonderful comments.

    * do you know who they are?

    You can also find me at MomsSundayCafe!

    GREEN CHILI CHICKEN ROLL-UPS

    GREEN CHILI CHICKEN ROLL-UPSadapted from Shay @ Paper Plates & China Jalapeno Popper Chicken Roll-ups

    1 1/2 pounds of chicken tenderloins
    8 ounces of cream cheese**
    1 (4 ounce) can of diced green chilies, well drained
    2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
    Bacon slices (same amount as tenderloins)
    About 2 teaspoons of liquid smoke
    toothpicks
    Salt and Pepper to taste

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    • Mix cream cheese, green chilies, liquid smoke and Worcestershire sauce together until well blended.  You can roast your own jalapenos if you’d like.
    • Spread about 1-2 Tablespoons of cream cheese mixture over one side of chicken tenderloin.
    • Roll each piece of cream cheese layered chicken up like a sleeping bag and then roll a bacon strip around it, securing it with a toothpick.
    • Spray a casserole dish with PURE. 
    • Layer any remaining cream cheese mixture in the bottom.
    • Top the chicken roll-ups.
    • Salt and pepper as desired.
    • Bake 25-30 minutes until chicken is cooked through and bacon is crisp.

    **I used philly cream cheese savory sauce because I was out of plain and it worked well.

        TAILGATING TIME 2.0

        IT’S OFFICIAL – FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE!
        We have decided to make a change this year in the way Tailgating Time will work. Instead of a new linky for each week we will be using the same linky to keep all the great recipes in one place. This will provide easy access to the recipes and create one big awesome recipe index collection. There is no limit to how many you add – of course we hope you will add a new recipe each and every week! Tailgating Time will generally be posted each week on Sundays at noon.

        It doesn’t matter if you are a football fan or not, great party food is always a good thing. Bring over your grilled goods, chips and dips, appetizers, chili and chowders, cocktails, or any recipes that would be great for the football party buffet!

        If any of you would like to host along with us you can click –> get the InLinkz code to add the linky to your blog too. You can post it once in awhile or every week during football season, that’s up to you. The only thing we ask is that you leave a comment here to let us know you are co-hosting, and that you visit and comment on as many of the participants as you can. 
         
         We can’t wait to see what you will bring to the party. Let the games begin. Whoo-hoo!

        PEANUT CRUSTED PORK CHOPS ~ Fire Day Friday

        I think it might actually be starting to cool off here.  Seriously… It might finally feel a bit like fall…. Wednesday was only a high of like 79!!  That’s huge considering that last week we were still at 100!!!  The excellent thing about living in Arizona is that I get probably some of the best weather for grilling all year long.  I definitely appreciate that fact.  And thanks to the wonderful weather, I tend to do as much grilling as I can throughout the year, not only to not heat up my kitchen in 110 degree weather OR just the fact that I can… no, I tend to do it because most meals made on it, are simple and ever so fast.  Yes, you can do things nice and slow on the grill… but with the kind of weeks I’ve been having lately… speed and simplicity (along with deliciousness) are what it’s all about it.  And this recipe does not disappoint… Trust me 🙂

        Peanut Crusted Pork Chops
        Adapted from BHG Grillin’ & Chillin’
        Printable Recipe 
        Ingredients:
        1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
        1/4 cup pineapple juice
        1 Tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
        1 Tablespoon honey
        1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
        1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
        1/2-1 teaspoon hot sauce (I used Cholula)
        1/3 cup finely chopped dry roasted peanuts
        2 Tablespoons dry bread crumbs
        1-2 Tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
        1 garlic clove, finely minced
        4 pork chops (I used bone-in; about 1/4-1/2 inch thick)

        Directions:
        In a bowl, mix together peanut butter, pineapple juice, soy, honey, ginger, mustard, and hot sauce until well combined.  Place the pork chops in a resealable bag or shallow dish.  Pour the peanut butter mixture over, seal or cover, and place in refrigerator for 4 hours.

        Preheat grill to 375-400 degrees F.  In a small bowl, mix together peanuts, bread crumbs, parsley and garlic.  Remove pork from the bag/dish and discard marinade.  Place the pork directly on oiled grill grates over direct heat.  Allow to grill 4-7 minutes depending on how thick the chops are.  Flip pork and carefully (and evenly) sprinkle crust mixture on top, and press down with a spatula.  Cover and grill another 4-6 minutes or until the pork is cooked through.  Carefully remove from grill and enjoy!

        PAN SEARED CHICKEN TENDERS & TRI-COLOR COUSCOUS with COCONUT LOBSTER SAUCE ~ MARX FOOD CHALLENGE

        I ran across a MARX foods Recipe challenge – what fun!  I signed up and they sent me a box full of yumminess.  My box included tri-color couscous, coconut sugar, dehydrated lobster mushrooms, DeArbol chilies and Pasilla Negro Chilies.

        The rules are that I had to use at least two ingredients from my box to create a new recipe.  I really wanted to try and use all five ingredients, but was only able to work in four of them.

        Now for full disclosure. hubby hates mushrooms, especially cooked mushrooms.  He goes out of his way to avoid mushrooms.  He declared he would hate this recipe before its inception.  Seeing a pattern here?  I HAD to use the mushrooms just to prove him wrong, plus I LOVE mushrooms even more than he hates them.  This recipe is proof that you can mount your dislikes and change them with the right combination of ingredients.

        PAN SEARED CHICKEN TENDERS & TRI-COLOR COUSCOUS with COCONUT LOBSTER SAUCE

        2 pound chicken tenders
        3/4 cup chardonnay
        1/2 cup chicken broth
        2 tablespoons MARX coconut sugar
        1 dried MARX Pasilla Negro Chilie, chopped
        safflower oil
        salt and pepper to taste
        4 tablespoons butter
        3 tablespoons flour
        5-7 tablespoons heavy cream

        • Whisk together the chardonnay and chicken broth until well blended.
        • In a medium bowl combine mushroom pieces and chile pieces.  Pour the chardonnay mixture over the mushroom mixture.  Allow to set for 2-3 hours to rehydrate the mushrooms and chilies.  Stir them around every now and then so all surfaces are able to absorb the liquid.
        • When ready, drain mushrooms and chiles through a sieve, reserving the liquid.
        • Whisk coconut sugar into reserved liquid.  Set aside.
        • In a small food processor pulse mushroom and chile pieces into a fine grind.
        • In a medium sauce pan, melt butter.
        • Add flour 1 tablespoon at a time until roux is a golden brown.
        • Gradually add the reserved liquid until well blended.
        • Add in the mushroom and chile pieces, stirring until well distributed.
        • Add cream 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency.
        • Simmer gently while preparing couscous and chicken.
        • Coat a large skillet with safflower oil.
        • While oil is heating, wash and pat dry chicken pieces.
        • Pan sear chicken pieces, salt and peppering as needed until golden outside and cooked through.
        • Pour 1 cup of couscous in a large bowl.  Pour 1 ¼ cups boiling water over top.  Cover the bowl and let it sit for five minutes, then fluff with a fork to separate the granules. 
        • Plate couscous in the in the center of serving platter.
        • Arrange chicken pieces around the couscous.
        • Spoon sauce over couscous and chicken.
        • Serve immediately.

        By the way, hubby who was so dead sure this recipe would suck gave it 2 thumbs up and then proceeded to eat it 2 nights in a row.