White Chicken Chili

This was sooo yummy and different than your usual chili - we will for sure make this again because it came together so easily!

1 lb chicken breast, cut into ½” cubes
1 med onion, chopped
1 ½ tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 (15 ½ oz) cans Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14 ½ oz) can chicken broth
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 C sour cream
1 C whipping cream

Sauté chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is cooked.
Add beans, chicken broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and whipping cream. Serve immediately.

Cheesy Beef Popovers

This is not the healthiest recipe but the the kids LOVE these (they eat 2 each!) and it's very easy and fast.

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1 can of refrigerated biscuits

BBQ Sauce of choice (I use about 1/2 of a small bottle)

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Preparation

Brown the ground beef. While this is cooking open the can of biscuits and flatten each biscuit (making them larger) and place in Ramekins or muffin tin (At home I use Ramekins because you can fit more meat into the biscuit, if you use a muffin tin there will be meat left over to add on the side). After draining the beef mix with BBQ sauce (I prefer KC Masterpiece for this recipe). Sprinkle a tad of brown sugar if you want a sweeter flavor. Spoon beef and BBQ mixture into the biscuits. Sprinkle cheese on top. Cook until biscuits are done, about 12 minutes. Enjoy!

THAI CHICKEN STIR-FRY WITH SPICY PEANUT SAUCE

This recipe is super easy and delicious! And if you're not into the spiciness, just leave out the cayenne pepper.

INGREDIENTS

2 whole chicken breasts, skinned, boned & cut into bite-size pieces

1/4 c. peanut butter

1/4 c. water or broth

2 tbsp. soy sauce

1 tbsp. brown sugar

2 tsp. orange juice

1 tsp. white vinegar

3 tbsp. nonfat plain yogurt or sour cream

2 tbsp. peanut or vegetable oil

2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 medium carrots, cut into thin strips

1 small cucumber, seeded and cut into thin bite-size strips

3 to 4 c. sliced broccoli or spinach

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl, blend peanut butter, yogurt, water, soy sauce, vinegar, juice, cayenne pepper, and sugar; set aside. In a wok or large skillet, heat oil over high heat. Add garlic and carrots; stir-fry 30 seconds. Add chicken, stir-fry until firm and white, about 5 minutes. Add broccoli or spinach, stir-fry until bright green, about 3 minutes. Stir in peanut butter mixture. Cook, stirring constantly until sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes. Serve over rice or noodles. Serves 4.

Corn bread and sausage stuffing

This is my family's stuffing recipe. I know Thanksgiving is far away, but I just made it for C.J.'s birthday last week and thought I'd share. It's never too early to start thinking about turkey day, right?

• One batch of cornbread (I have used Jiffy and it's good, but I prefer a non-sweet mix or recipe)
• An equal amount of bread (I like to use whole wheat or something more "rustic" than plain white bread)
• One pound of pork sausage fully cooked, drained, and crumbled (sage preferred)
• Fresh celery and onion, diced
• Sage (if not in the sausage already), poultry seasoning, salt and pepper to taste (you can play around with the seasonings - I don't have poultry seasoning so I don't add it)
• Chicken stock for liquid

In a large bowl, after the cornbread cools, crumble it into small pieces. Add an equal amount of bread cut up or torn apart to approximately the same size. Then mix in the sausage, vegetables, and seasoning. Then add enough of the chicken stock to the dressing to moisten it. Be careful not to add too much liquid or it will get mushy.

Bake in a covered oven dish at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes. If you want the top browned you can take the lid off for the last few minutes of cooking.

{Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies}

What an awesome Valentine's Day Cookie Exchange party we had here on the island!!
I'm still high from sugar overload but I hope the rest of you will post your amazing recipes on the blog for us to enjoy :)

These should just be called, "death by chocolate cookies"...

Cream together:
1 ½ cups softened butter
1 ½ cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
Add and beat until fluffy:
2 large room temperature eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla
Add and beat well:
1 large package of Instant Chocolate pudding mix
Combine just till well mixed:
2 cups oats measured and then ground
2 1/3 cups flour
1 T. baking soda
2 cups white chocolate chips

Shape into perfect little balls and bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes. Then, enjoy your warm cookies! I even like them better the next day :)

Grenadian Spice Cake

Ingredients
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup unsalted butter - chilled, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lime zest
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the lime zest, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, stirring after each addition. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 75 to 90 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.

*I left out the lime zest and I used a shallow oval pan instead of a loaf pan so it only took about 40 minutes to cook. This is more like a sweet bread than a desert cake. We liked it!

Weeknight Lasagna Toss

(image and recipe courtesy krafts food website)

This is one of our favorite recipes. It is super easy and very delicious.

1 lb. lean ground beef
2 green peppers, chopped (I usually just use one pepper)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (26oz) jar spaghetti sauce
1-2/3 cups water
¼ cup Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
12 oven-ready lasagna noodles, broken into small pieces
1cup of Mozzarella Cheese

Brown mean in a large saucepan and drain.
Add peppers, garlic, spaghetti sauce, water and dressing. Bring to boil.
Add noodles; cover and cook in medium-low heat for 10-15 min. Or until noodles are tender, stir occasionally.
Remove from heat. Sprinkle cheese and cover. Let stand for 5 min or until cheese is melted.

Delicious Cajin Chicken Salad!

I have been craving a yummy salad, and since those are hard to come by on the island, I decided to make my own up! So here it is! ( we had it tonight, and even Chase liked it! And he is not much of a salad boy! :)

1 head of Romaine lettuce
1 red or green bell pepper
1-2 tomato
bacon bits
4 chicken breasts (boiled first, and then fried with olive oil and Cajun seasoning!)
salt
pepper
crumbled blue cheese
Italian dressing

Add a warm baguette as a side dish, and Voila!

Easy Pasta Salad!

This is a yummy recipe I always turn to when I can't figure out what to make for dinner! Its one of my favorites!

1 box of swirly pasta
1 cucumber
1-2 tomato
1-3 scallions
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1-2 kielbasa sausage
pine nuts
Havarti cheese
1 dry package of italian dressing
red wine vinegar
balsamic vinegar
vegetable oil
salt
pepper
yellow mustard

Make your pasta as directed and let cool. Chop up your peppers, tomato, cucumber, scallion (this can be optional if your all don't want or like onion!) chop up your Havarti cheese too (this is a bit pricey down here in Grenada, so I've just left it out since we've been here, but it really adds to it, so when your back in the U.S. I'd recommend using it! :)

Roast your pine nuts until golden brown, let cool. Add to veggies!
Add your cooled pasta to the nuts and veggies!

Grill or pan fry your kielbasa sausage until hot through and through.
Add to pasta, veggies!

Mix everything together and then add the dressing!

Dressing:
ok, so I always just eye this, sorry its not perfect measurements!

Mix your dry Italian packet, with about 1/2 cup vegetable oil. Add some water, add salt and pepper, then add a few squirts of yellow mustard (around 5 tablespoons) Then add to taste around 5 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, and around 7 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Add a few dashes of salt and pepper, and mix well! Then pour on your pasta salad and enjoy! ( I usually let my whole dish sit in the fridge with the dressing for about 15-20 min before we eat so the pasta is cold and the dressing has coated everything! :)

Hope it works for ya!!