Alfredo Lasagna

Congratulations, Keith and Marcie!  My little brother is getting married!  We couldn't be happier to have Marcie as part of our family!

To celebrate their engagement, Derrick and I had them over for dinner.  I struggled with deciding what to make.  They had us over soon after we were engaged and Marcie made DELICIOUS chicken and steak fajitas and homemade salsa paired with margaritas!  Hard to top that!!  I decided on this Cordon Blue Lasagna from the Tast of Home Almost Homemade cookbook I got at the Sunset Ridge Book Fair.  I love this cookbook because the recipes are easy, quick, and delicious with a low number of ingredients - just my style!  Many of the recipes use Alfredo sauce from a jar which is an easy way to make everything more delectable!  I tweaked the recipe a little using all chicken instead of cubed ham since Derrick is not much of a ham fan unless it is like Easter ham.  And it calls for 2/3 mozzerella cheese and 1/3 swiss cheese to make it more like Cordon Bleu.  I decided to use an Italian blend shredded cheese which included mozzerella, provolone, parmesan, and asiago.  Here's my version of the recipe:

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 carton (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
1 cup (8 ounces) cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tabelspoons minced fresh parsley, divided
2-4 cups cubed cooked chicken (depends on how much meat you want in your lasagna)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
6 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained (I always cook a couple extra in case they break)
3 cups Itailian cheese blend (or just mozzerella)

Combine eggs (don't forget to lightly beat first), ricotta, cottage cheese, Parmesan, and 1/4 cup parsley.  Set aside.  In another bowl, combine the Alfredo sauce, chicken, and garlic powder.

Spread 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture in the bottom of a greased 13x9 inch baking dish.  Layer with half the noodles and ricotta mixture.  Top with half of the remaining chicken mixture and half of the cheese.  Top with the rest of the noodles, ricotta, chicken mixture and cheese.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Uncover, bake 10 minutes longer.  Let stand a few minutes before serving.  Sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

This is one of our favorite quick and easy dinners.  Derrick first made this for me back when we first started dating.  We both love Chinese - and the sweet and sour sauce makes it soooo good!  Next time we make it I'm going to try a crab ragoon recipe I got from Pinterest.

1 tablespoon oil
1 pound boneless skiness chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 bag (16 ounces) frozen stir-fry vegetables - we leave this out and just do the pineapple
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple chunks in juice, undrained
1 can (10 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
2 cups MINUTE white or brown (or mixture) rice, uncooked
1/2 cup sweet 'n sour sauce

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken.  Cook and stir until cooked through.

Add vegetables (optional) and pineapple with juice.  Mix well.  Stir in chicken broth.  Bring to a boil.

Stir in rice.  Cover and remove from heat.  Let stand 5 minutes or until almost all of the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.  Stir in sweet and sour sauce.  We drizzle a little extra on top, too.

Makes 4 servings.

Cheesy Potato Rice Soup and Beer Bread

Both of these recipes are from SOUPer Friday (the Friday before the Super Bowl at work where we brought in soups, breads, etc. for lunch).  The soup is from Becky Keith who is an excellent cook.  I have tried several of her recipes.  I made this one night that my brother, Keith, came over for dinner.  He really liked it and so did Derrick.  I was worried Derrick wouldn't like it because he usually isn't a fan of wild rice.  I'm glad I gave it a shot because he liked it a lot!  The beer bread is very interesting because it is so simple.  The beer acts as the yeast and allows it to rise.  I'm sure the butter on top is part of what makes it delicious - it has a very unique flavor and is very dense and filling.  I will be making this bread more often!  Thanks, Martha Vyhanek, for the recipe!

Cheesy Potato Rice Soup
1 box Uncle Ben's Fast Recipe Wild Rice
8 ounces Velveeta (I use white velveeta)
4 cups milk
1 can cream of potato soup

Make rice as directed in a large pot.  Add other ingredients, melt over medium heat, stirring frequently.  Total cook time 30-45 minutes.  Some variations are to add some vegetables (shredded carrots, diced celery, onions, or 1-2 diced potoatoes).

Beer Bread
3 cups of self-rising flour
5 tablespoons sugar
1 beer at room temperature (oops mine was straight from the fridge - wonder if that made a difference?)
1 stick butter (I used half a stick to cut SOME calories)

Mix first 3 ingredients together.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.  Melt butter and pour on top.  Bake for another 10 minutes.  Store in a zip lock bag.

Chicken a la Mer by Derrick!

Valentine's Day!

I have the best fiance in the world!  He had an amazing Valentine's Day planned for me.  I knew he was going to cook dinner for us, but I had no idea the extent of planning and thoughtfulness he went through to make this day the best Valentine's Day of my life!  It was just one surprise after another!

When I walked in from work the table was set with cloth napkins and candles and gorgeous red roses and a box of chocolates.  You don't know me if you don't know that I LOVE chocolate.  

He immediately poured me a glass of wine, and then joined me in the living room with a plate of appetizers!  Then he left to cook dinner while I was left with my wine, appetizers and romantic music.

It was a complete surprise what he was cooking that night.  In fact, I wasn't allowed in the kitchen.  I was amazed to find out that he had found the recipe for the delicious Chicken a la Mer we had been blown away by the previous weekend at Jazz.  How thoughtful of him!  It was DELICIOUS!  I LOVE crab and shrimp, and all the flavors with the cream sauce on top of the bed of Cajun rice make it amazing.  I sure hope he makes this again for me!!

Like I said, the surprises didn't end.  I won't share ALL his secrets :) but another surprise was dessert - he had previously made and frozen yogurt covered strawberries which were all cut to look like little hearts!  Could I be any luckier to be marrying him??



Chicken a la Mer

4 chicken breasts cut into strips

8 ounces lump crab meat

8 ounces shrimp

1 pint heavy cream

8 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon garlic

1 tablespoon butter

4 ounces seafood stock or water

2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning

1 egg

1 cup flour

Dredge the chicken in egg and then flour.  Cook in skillet and set aside.

Place butter, garlic, shrimp, and crab into a 2 quart saucepan, and saute until lightly browned.  Add seafood stock and cook until shrimp are pink.

Lower heat and add heavy cream, stirring constantly until gently boiling.  Slowly add all the Parmesan cheese.  Stir in the Cajun seasoning to taste.

Serve over Cajun rice.

Cheesy Potato Soup

This is another recipe from my coworker, Jessica.  We had SOUPer Friday at work right before the Super Bowl, and she brought this soup - I had to track down who made it to get the recipe.  I wasn't surprised it was Jessica!

I adjusted her recipe a little bit, and I like it much more than the Crock Pot Potato Soup recipe that is also on this blog.  It takes more time and effort of course.  However, I think Derrick still prefers the crock pot one.  This soup is very cheesy with all the velveeta which makes it more filling.  I love the creamy taste and the fresh potatoes.  You'll have to try it and make your own decision...

4-5 medium potatoes
1 can cream of mushroom or cream of potato soup
1 can chicken broth
water
1/2 a block Velveeta Queso Blanco
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
Lowry's seasoned salt, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder- whatever you like- to taste

Chop ptatoes into approximately one inch chunks.  Put potatoes, cream of mushroom soup, and chicken broth into a large pot.  Add some Lowry's and onion powder.  Add enough water to completely cover potatoes by at least an inch or so.  I only just covered the potatoes, and with all the added cheese it was pretty thick.  Next time I will add more.  Allow the mixture to come to a low boil.

When a fork can slide through the potatoes easily, turn burner to a simmer.  Add velveeta and cheddar cheeses and allow to melt.  Add salt and peppar to taste.

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Last night I woke up at 4am and my face and nose were freezing, so of course I woke up poor sleeping Derrick to tell him I think there is a problem with the heater.  Wonderful guy that he is, he got our of our nice, warm bed to check things out.  Sure enough, the thermostat said 49 degrees!  I was extremely worried.  I do not handle cold very well.  And of course this would happen on a Saturday when we are both off the next day.  Derrick went into the basement and magically fixed it!  About 10 minutes later we were up to 50 degrees and there was definitely heat coming out of the vents.  What would I do without him??
I was already planning on cooking breakfast since we were both off and Derrick took me out for an amazing Cajun dinner at Jazz the night before.  And after fixing the heater at 4am, making breakfast was the least I could do!

I found this recipe on Pinterest.  I halved it and made it in an 8x8 pan.  The cream cheese layer makes it truly delicious!  Derrick likes it better than the Cinnamon Roll Cake.

CAKE
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

FILLING
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 egg yolk
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

TOPPING
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
3 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with oven rack set to second lowest position.  Grease a 13x9 inch pan.

Cream butter with sugar (3-4 minutes), add egg and sour cream and continue to beat (about 3 minutes).  Sift together flour and baking powder.  Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture.  Beat well until combined.  The batter will be very thick.  Spread a little more than half the batter into the prepared pan. 

In another bowl, cream together all filling ingredients, then carefully spread over the first layer of the cake batter.  Spoon the remaining cake batter over the top of the cream cheese mixture.  I tried to spread it around, but it really is too thick to spread too much. 

Mix all topping ingredients with a pastry cutter or fork until the consistency is like crumbs.  Sprinkle over the top.  Bake for 50-55 minutes until the middle feels set and not jiggly.  I halved the recipe and baked it in an 8x8 pan.  In our convection oven it only took 42 minutes.  I suggest storing leftovers in the fridge because of the cream cheese.

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

I love sharing recipes with my coworker, Jessica, since she is an excellent cook.  She told me about this easy chicken taco recipe which is similar to a couple of my other crock pot taco recipes, but creamier.

2-3 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can Rotel
1 can corn
cumin
Chile powder
4 oz (half block) cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
Tortillas
cheese
salsa

Place chicken breasts in crock pot (I just put them in frozen).  Pour cream of chicken soup and Rotel on top and add spices.  This is all the recipe calls for, but since the chicken was not covered with liquid I was afraid it would dry out while it cooked all day.  So Derrick had the brilliant idea of adding a can of corn.  I am sure an extra can of cream of chicken soup, Rotel, or a can of black beans would have worked as well.  But the corn turned out really good!

Cook for 7 hours on low.  Shred chicken and return to crock pot.  Stir in cream cheese and sour cream. This is optional - I just thought it would make it creamier which it did!  Continue to cook another 30 minutes to an hour or until the cream cheese and sour cream is melted in.

Spoon on to tortillas.  Top with extra sour cream, salsa, shredded cheese, and any other taco fixings you prefer.