Chicken with Creamy Mustard Herb Sauce

This recipe comes from Frenchs.com. This was another very easy recipe with few ingredients. The sauce was a little thicker then I expected, but the taste was excellent. Next time I will soften the cream cheese more, I still had several lumps when finished. In the recipe they add the garlic last, I just added it right in when making the sauce. As for the tablespoon of herbs, I used 1/2 Tbsp parsley and 1/2 Tbsp basil. I served it with baked potatoes and corn. I put a little sauce on my potato and it tasted good on that also.

Chicken with Creamy Mustard Herb Sauce

1/2 cup chicken broth
6 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/3 cup cream cheese spread, softened
1 Tbsp minced herbs (parsley, basil or chives)
1 Tbsp oil
4 (6 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp minced garlic

Mix broth, mustard, cream cheese and herbs until well blended, set aside. Cook chicken in hot oil in nonstick skillet until browned on both sides, about 15 minutes. Stir in mustard sauce and garlic. Simmer over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes until sauce thickens slightly and flavors are blended.

Chewy Brownies

I was looking for a dessert that was quick and easy tonight. Corey always seems to want sweets on the weekends. Anyway, I came across this one in my recipe box. I have everything on hand so gave em a try.

Chewy Brownies

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix all until well blended. Pour into a 9 x 13 pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

**These were very thin. I would suggest doubling the recipe or using an 8 or 9 inch square pan.
**I added some milk chocolate chips and walnuts. I can't give measurements, I just poured until I thought there was enough.

Onion Dipping Sauce / Caesar Dressing

This week I have made two new things. Tonight I made some onion dipping sauce to go with my onion rings. It is a very easy recipe. Just put everything into a small bowl and mix well. There has been a few recipes where I try a few different ones before I find THE ONE. But with this one I found it on the first try.

Onion Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp ketchup
2 Tbsp horseradish
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp dried oregano
dash pepper
dash cayenne pepper

Combine all in small bowl and mix well.

**You may want to give it a taste before serving. The only thing I may change next time is add a tiny more horseradish.
**This is the horseradish I used, not the sauce in the squeeze bottle. I found this at my grocery in the aisle by the mustard.

The next new recipe I tried this week was Caesar dressing. Corey loves Romaine lettuce. Back in the days when we would go out he would order a Caesar salad without the dressing but with ranch. The wait staff would look at him like he was crazy. I would just say he wants the Romaine not iceberg lettuce. But then he started eating it with the Caesar dressing. Last week I had a coupon for a salad kit, so I picked the Caesar kit. The dressing was creamy and really tasty. I still had plenty of Romaine left so searched for a dressing recipe. I found this one at hillbillyhousewife.com. It is really good. I didn't let it get as creamy as I would have liked, but soon I hope to have a blender that works right so next time it should be perfect.

Caesar Dressing

2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dry mustard
3 to 4 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 oz can anchovies OR 1 Tbsp anchovy paste (optional)
1 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (optional)

Put garlic, mustard, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and anchovies (if using) in blender until smooth. With blender still running add oil. Turn blender off when creamy. Add pepper, Parmesan cheese (if using) and salt to taste (if didn't use anchovies)about 1/2 to 1 tsp. Blend to mix in seasonings.

Mountain Bar Bars

I haven't made a dessert in a long time. I found this one at bakerlady.wordpress.com. It is really simple and quick to put together. The only thing I changed was I had milk chocolate chips, so used those instead of semi sweet. The flavor is really good. I will for sure make these again. Next time I may double it and make it in a 9 x 13 pan.

Mountain Bar Bars

3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chip0s
1/2 cup peanut butter

Grease a 9 inch square pan. Melt butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Mix in the oats. Cook over low heat 2 to 3 minutes, or until ingredients are well blended. Reserve 1/2 cup of this mixture for topping. Press remaining mixture into the bottom of prepared pan. Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Pour this mixture over the crust in the pan. Spread evenly with a knife or the back of a spoon. Crumble reserved oat mixture over chocolate layer, pressing in gently. Cover and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours or overnight. Bring to room temperature before cutting into bars.

**I didn't grease the pan. I put foil in the bottom, extending over the edge to lift it out.

Savory Salmon

This recipe is from Paula Deen off the Food Network site. This isn't my usual type of recipe. There are several ingredients, and more prep then I usually like to do. Corey has been on a healthier, more white meat and fish kick lately. With all there is to this recipe it will be a long time before he gets it again. He gave the flavor an A+. The recipe says to serve with rice, I served with broccoli. As you will see by the picture I served it with all the topping still on. But trust me there is salmon underneath all that stuff. For the House Seasoning, I saved a spice bottle that I emptied a few weeks ago. I cut the recipe for the seasoning in half.

Savory Salmon

1 (2Lb) salmon fillet

house seasoning (see recipe below)

1 small red bell pepper, julienne

1 small green bell pepper, julienne

1 medium onion, sliced thin

1 medium orange, sectioned and seeded

1 pint strawberries, cleaned and sliced

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup chopped fresh chervil or baby dill

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbsp chopped green onion

2 lemons, juiced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place salmon on foil lined pan. Season with house seasoning, then cover and surround with red and green peppers, onion and sectioned orange slices. Mix berries, water, honey, chervil, garlic and green onions together. Pour lemon juice over salmon. Ladle berry mixture evenly over salmon. Cover with foil and pierce foil allowing steam to escape. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Serve with rice.

House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix well. Store in shaker near stove for convenience.

**I couldn't find chervil or baby dill where I live. I found a substitute online. For 1 tsp of chervil substitute 1 tsp dried parsley and 1/8 tsp rubbed, dried sage.

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

I have seen this recipe on several sites but always passed it over. But while searching for new recipes it popped up on the Kraft website. I decided I would give it a try. Even though I don't like spinach, Corey loves it. I think he would have it several nights a week if he was in charge of meals. So this one was for Corey. When I served it to him he looked at it kind of funny. He saw that I had lasagna noodles out so that is what he thought we were having, of course I didn't tell him any different. After a couple bites he said it was delicious. I served it with a grilled chicken breast. Even though it could be a main dish, Corey is the type who wants meat at every meal.

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 1/4 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
2 cups spaghetti sauce

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix cream cheese, spinach, 1 cup mozzarella and Parmesan cheese until well blended. Spread onto noodles and roll tightly.

Place seam side down in a 9 inch square baking dish. Top with sauce and remaining cheese.

Bake 30 minutes or until heated through.

**The only change I made was the cheese I used was a mozzarella and cheddar blend.

Chicken Chimichangas

I posted a recipe before for Skinny Chimichangas, this is my little twist on that recipe. The original recipe calls for ground turkey breast. When I made these before I just used ground beef. Today I shredded chicken for the recipe. They turned out excellent. This is for sure a make again recipe. Corey really liked them with chicken instead of beef.

Chicken Chimichangas

1/2 Lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp chopped mild green chilies
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 (8 inch) flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray pan with non stick spray. Cook and shred chicken breasts. Add onion, garlic, chili powder, oregano and cumin over medium heat. Stir in tomato sauce and chilies, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in cheese. Warm tortillas in oven for about 10 minutes, wrapped in foil. Spoon about 1/2 cup filling into each shell. Fold in sides and roll. Place seam side down in baking pan. Lightly spray tops with non stick spray. bake until golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes. Top with salsa and sour cream.

**Once again I'm gonna praise my Pampered Chef micro cooker. I love it, well them since I have two. This is how I cooked my chicken. I put two breasts into the cooker and microwaved about 4 minutes. Took them out and rinsed off them off and rinsed out the cooker. Cut them in half lengthwise,then just used my fingers to shred. I then put the chicken back into the cooker. I just added the spices to the cooker and back into the microwave for about 3 minutes. Then added the sauce and chilies, stirred every together. Back into the microwave another 3 minutes. Added the cheese and began the rolling.
**The original recipe calls for 4 eight inch tortillas. I used 8 burrito sized tortillas. I used my spoon to roughly divide the meat while in the cooker into 8 portions. I think it gave a nice amount of filling with seeping out the sides.
**When I roll, I roll one side barely over the filling and pull it back toward me. Roll once, then fold in the sides and continue rolling.