Bacon-wrapped Chicken

Bacon Wrapped Chicken
(from the cookbook Goose Berry Patch 5-Ingredient Dishes in Minutes)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, flattened to 1/2" thickness
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 T. chive & onion flavored cream cheese, divided
2 T. chilled butter, divided
1/2 tsp. dried tarragon
2 slices bacon

Sprinkle flattened chicken with salt & pepper. Spread 1 T. cream cheese over each chicken creast, top with 1 T. butter and 1/4 tsp. tarragon. Roll up and wrap with one slice bacon. Secure with toothpick. Place chicken seam-side down on ungreased baking sheet (make sure to use a sheet that has a lip all the way around it because the chicken stuffing will ooze out some). Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until juices run clear when pierced with fork. Increase temperature to broil. Broil 8-10 minutes until bacon is crisp.

serves 2.

** I think next time, I would cook at 350 degrees for a longer time...that hot of a temperature got a little smokey in my oven with the bacon inside.

** This ends up looking like a "fancy" type dish for as easy as it was!

Creamy Jalapeño Ranch Dressing/Dip Recipe

I made slider burgers for the 4th tonight and was trying to recreate my favorite ones at Chilis. I remembered they serve them with jalpeno ranch so I googled and found this recipe. It was delicious and VERY easy! We ate it with the burgers tonight and with a bunch of fresh veggies as dip. Would be great on a salad too! Enjoy!


Creamy Jalapeño Ranch Dressing/Dip Recipe

1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream (more if you would like a thicker consistency)
1 cup buttermilk
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 jalapeño, seeded (add more along with a few of the seeds if you prefer more heat)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped


Put all the ingredients in a blender and combine until creamy.


Serve on a green salad, as a dip for chips or veggies, on top of a burger, next to some grilled chicken, drizzled over a taco, or however else you desire.

Spritz Butter Cookies (Half Recipe version)

Chantelle made some tasty butter spritz cookies @ our cookie exchange one year, they were great! I decided I wanted to make some, but I don't have one of the cookie press tools that make them turn out so pretty. I pressed the dough with a fork & made a criss cross design like you do on a peanut butter cookie. I also sprinkled them with sugar. They weren't quite as cute as they would've been with a press, but they tasted really good! I also didn't want to make a large quantity so below is the recipe that makes a half batch of this cookie.

Ingredients:

1-1/4 C flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 C butter, softened

1/2 C (+2 TBS) powdered sugar

1 egg yolk

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift flour & salt, together and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter & sugar. Stir in the egg yolk, almond & vanilla extracts. Gradually blend in the sifted ingredients. Fill a cookie press with the dough & press cookies onto a cookie sheet (or just do the criss cross fork press instead). If you like, decorate with sugar or sprinkles.

3. Bake for approximately 8 minutes

Breakfast Cookies

These are not gluten-free ;) but they are made with whole wheat flour and natural ingredients (plus they don't contain sugar) so I think they count as healthy!
Chantelle gave me this recipe and we make them regularly now--they're great especially when you get tired of the same ol' granola bars for breakfast on the go!

P.S. I halved this recipe today & they still worked great!

Ingredients:
1 C butter melted
3/4 C honey (might use 1 C if you want them sweeter)
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C buttermilk

2C whole wheat flour
2C whole rolled oats
1 C raisins (I used craisins)
1C chocolate chips


Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees
*Mix the first 8 ingredients and then stir in the flour, oats, raisins & chocolate chips (you can adjust the amount of raisins & chocolate chips to your liking--I think the original recipe might have been 1/2C of each?? may have to just play with the amount)
*Mix all ingredients together & drop onto a cookie sheet
*Bake for about 15 minutes

These make a very soft & chewy cookie!

Easy Chicken Fingers (Gluten-Free!)

I'm hearing lots of things these days about the benefits of a gluten-free diet. I found this easy chicken fingers recipe and made them tonight, they were great!

Ingedients:

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into strips

Corn or Canola oil for frying

1 C corn meal

2 tsp salt

1-2 tsp Lawry's season salt*

1-2 tsp garlic powder*

*I added these two extra spices into the mix on my own; they were not in the original recipe, but they worked well.

Instructions:

1. Combine corn meal & spices in a shallow dish

2. Place chicken strips in the dish & cover throughly with cornmeal mixture.

3. Fry in oil in skillet until chicken appears light brown.

4. Move from skillet to paper towel lined plate to drain oil & cool

Mashed Potatoes Disguised

We are trying to incorporate more veggies into our diet. I found this recipe for Creamy Cauliflower Puree and decided to try it. I did not tell Brad or the girls, I just served on their plate. They did not notice it was not the real thing!!!!

Creamy Cauliflower Puree

Steam until soft:

1 med head cauliflower

4 cloves crushed garlic

Drain and add:

1/3 c 1% buttermilk

Salt

Pepper

1 T light butter

Puree with a hand blender

Simply Seasoned Seared Mahi Mahi

I made this the other night and Presley ate almost two fillets. She loved it!

4 Mahi fillets

3 T canola oil

kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

1-2 t flour

place oil in large non stick pan over high heat.

Preheat until there are ripples in the oil but before it begins smoking

Liberally season all sides of fish with salt, pepper and then sprinkle a very small amount of flour over tops and bottoms of each fillet, tubbing in the flour and seasoning to evenly distribute. (The addition of flour will help for a crust and prevent fish from sticking to the pan)

Place fish in pan, sear for 3-4 minutes or until golden crust has formed and the fish releases from the pan. Flip and cook another 3 minutes until just cooked through. Remove from pan and let fish rest for 3-4 minutes. Serve immediately.

Hint: Fish will stick to pan until the moment it is ready to be flipped