Jalapeno Popper Chicken Chili

I made this last night and it was excellent.  I will definetely make it again - although it is HOT.  I wasn't going to add the full brick of cream cheese but I needed too otherwise it would have been too hot to eat.  I did it in the crockpot and made a few changes which I will note below.

Jalapeno Popper Chicken Chili
http://sweettreatsmore.com/2012/12/jalapeno-popper-chicken-chili/

Ingredients

1. 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil -eliminated
2. 1 small onion, diced - eliminated
3. 5 jalapeno peppers diced, seeds removed (leave some seeds for extra heat) - I used 3.
4. 3 cloves garlic, minced - eliminated
5. salt and fresh ground black pepper
6. 1 + 1/4 pound boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces - I used one whole chicken quarter
7. 2 teaspoons chile powder
8. 1 teaspoon ground cumin
9. 1 teaspoon oregano - eliminated
10. pinch of crushed red pepper
11. 1 (10 oz) can dice tomatoes with green chiles
12. 1 + 1/2 cups chicken broth
13. 1 (14 oz) can cannelloni or navy beans, drained
14. 1 (14 oz) can corn, drained - I used frozen corn
15. 8 ounces cream cheese - I used reduced fat
16. 1 pound bacon, cooked crispy and crumbled, divided - I eliminated

         Instructions

1. In a large saucepan (deep enough for soup) heat 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil over medium heat and sauté onion, jalepeno, and garlic until tender.
2. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, then add to the saucepan adding another tablespoon of olive oil as well. Add cumin, chili powder, oregano, and crushed red pepper. Toss chicken and seasonings together and lightly brown chicken on all sides.
3. Stir in can of diced tomatoes, chicken broth, corn, and cannelloni beans and increase heat to bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Stir in cream cheese and stir until completely melted. Stir in 1/2 of the crumbled bacon. Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper as needed. **Add more chicken broth if too thick.
5. Serve and garnish with cheddar cheese and the rest of the crumbled bacon.

Tiger Bread

In a search to find a recipe for alligator rolls, I decided to try another tiger bread recipe.  The roll of these was fantastic.  The only change I made was I used bread flour (3.5 cups) instead of all purpose.  I really wasn't that crazy about the topping on these.  It needed to be a little bit sweeter.  I made the dough in the bread machine so I didn't necessarily follow the directions for mixing the dough.

Tiger Bread
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/221802350370844146/

Ingredients

Soft White Rolls
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 3 1/2 - 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
Dutch Crunch Topping
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 - 1 cup rice flour*

            

Instructions

1. Combine the milk and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for about 1 minute, until the milk is warm and the butter has melted. Stir together, and set aside to cool until lukewarm.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together 3 1/2 cups flour with yeast, sugar and salt. Add the lukewarm milk and butter mixture and fold in with a spatula until everything is combined in a somewhat sticky dough. If it is very sticky, add a bit more flour. Otherwise, turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead, incorporating the remaining 1/2 cup flour only as needed, until the dough is elastic, tacky, and smooth.
3. Shape the dough into a ball with a smooth top surface and place in a greased bowl roughly double its size. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise until doubled in size (for me this took about 2 hours).
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Punch down the dough and divide it into 6 equal pieces**. Shape each piece into a ball by tucking the outer edges underneath and pinching them together as you would a twist-tie. Place the balls of dough pinch-side down on the prepared baking sheet, spaced apart from each other. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise for another 30-45 minutes, until puffy.
5. Preheat oven to 425°F. Prepare the dutch crunch topping by combining the yeast, warm water, sugar, vegetable oil, salt, and 3/4 cup rice flour in a medium bowl. Beat together well to form a smooth, thick "batter" that drips off your whisk in thick clumps. Add up to another 1/4 cup rice flour if needed to achieve the desired consistancy. Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes.
6. Spoon the topping in equal amounts over the fully risen rolls. As you do so, it will start rolling over the sides of the rolls. Once you've used it all up (it will seem like a lot, but use it all), scoop up any excess topping that has dripped onto the baking sheet and use it to cover any areas of the rolls left exposed.
7. Bake the rolls in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, until golden-brown on top. Cool briefly before serving.

Baked Honey Sesame Chicken

I made this this weekend and we really enjoyed it. I thought I had a full bottle of soy sauce thanks to the black label when I didn't have enough to make the receipe so I had to use teryaki baste and glaze. I'm not sure if would have made much of difference. The kids didn't like it, but my husband and I did. I think I still prefer the firecracker chicken, but I did enjoy this too.

Baked Honey Sesame Chicken
http://community.babycenter.com/post/a44727988/recipe_reviews_923-9292013

 

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 3 eggs
• salt and pepper
• ¼ cup canola oil
• Sauce:
• ¾ cup honey
• ¾ cup soy sauce
• ½ cup ketchup
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 t sesame oil
• 1 t minced garlic (I didn't add this)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.
2. In separate bowls, place cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip chicken into cornstarch then coat in egg mixture. I have also found that you can put the chicken pieces in a gallon size bag and shake to coat.
3. Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until browned. Place the chicken in a 9 x 13 greased baking dish.
4. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and minced garlic. Pour over chicken and bake for 1 hour.
5. I stirred the chicken every 15 minutes so that it coated them in the sauce.

Arby's Fries

I made these recipes off of Pinterest. There are supposed to taste like Arby's curly fries, but even though I didn't really think they tasted like Arby's they were good. The method worked really well. I may even try making regular fries out of them without the spice.  I didn't use the curly cutter, I just cut them into fries.  I also baked at 425 in my convection oven.  I used 1 large potato and 1/2 the spice recipe.

Oven Baked Curly Fries
http://lmld.org/2013/08/21/oven-baked-curly-fries-arbys-copycat/

3 large potatoes
2 tsp paprika
1.5 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3 TBS flour
3 TBS egg
1.5 TBS milk
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Bring a medium sized pot of water to boil.
3. Cut potatoes into curly fries using a curly fry cutter, or cut potatoes into regular fries. (You can peel the potatoes first if you want to)
3. Put potatoes in boiling water and boil for 3 minutes.
4. Rinse potatoes off in a colander with cold water.
5. Dry potatoes with paper towels and set aside.
6. Combine paprika, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper and flour in a small bowl.
7. Add in egg and milk and mix well.
8. Pour fries into a large bowl and pour seasoning mixture in and mix well.
9. Dump fries onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and spread around evenly (so they aren’t overlapping)
10. Bake for 30-35 minutes, flipping half way, until french fries are nice and crispy.

Lucious Slush Punch

I've made this for two parties and it was really good. The first time I didn't freeze and was ready to go. The 2nd time it froze solid and took awhile to defrost. I'm not sure what the difference was but it was definetely good. I used fruit punch instead of orange juice because that's what I had to use up.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups white sugar 6 cups water 2 (3 ounce) packages strawberry flavored Jell-O® mix 1 (46 fluid ounce) can pineapple juice

2/3 cup lemon juice 1 quart orange juice 2 (2 liter) bottles lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage

Directions:

1.	Bring the sugar, water, and strawberry flavored gelatin to a boil in a large saucepan; boil for 3 minutes. Stir in the pineapple juice, lemon juice, and orange juice. Divide mixture into 2 separate containers and freeze.
2.	Combine the contents of 1 container with 1 bottle of the lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage in a punch bowl; stir until slushy. Repeat with remaining portions as needed.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Bars

These were good.  I don't think I'd be in a hurry to make them again, but they were good.

http://www.momontimeout.com/2013/04/reeses-peanut-butter-oatmeal-cookie-bars/

 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 c light brown sugar
• 1/2 c creamy peanut butter
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 Tbls vanilla
• 2 c flour
• 1 c old fashioned oats
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 c Reese's peanut butter baking chips
• 2 cups Reese's minatures, chopped or Reese's minis

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a 9x13 inch baking dish with parchment paper.
3. Cream butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Add peanut butter and continue mixing.
4. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Add in vanilla.
5. Combine flour, oats, baking powder, and salt in a small mixing bowl.
6. Add the flour mixture slowly stirring until well combined.
7. Stir in the peanut butter chips.
8. Spread 2/3 of the dough on the bottom of the pan. Top with Reese's minis or chopped miniatures.
9. Drop the remaining dough on top by the teaspoon. It doesn't have to be perfect and it won't cover all the Reese's.
10. Bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool completely and then cut into bars

Maple Crackle

I made this for a party and although I don't think it is as good as my regular caramel corn, it definetely is good.  And I love the addition of the nuts to it.

Maple Crackle (http://www.pauladeenmagazine.com/recipe_results.php?id=627)

1. 12 cups plain popped popcorn
2. 11/2 cups walnut halves
3. 11/2 cups pecan halves
4. 11/2 cups salted dry-roasted peanuts
5. 1 cup butter
6. 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
7. 1/2 cup maple syrup
8. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
9. 1/2 teaspoon salt
10. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 250°.
2. In a large bowl, combine popcorn and nuts. Pour popcorn-nut mixture into a lightly greased roasting pan and spread evenly; set aside.
3. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat on stovetop. Add sugar and maple syrup, stirring to combine. Bring mixture to a boil and boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add baking soda, salt, and vanilla, stirring to combine.
4. Pour syrup mixture over popcorn-nut mixture, stirring to coat as much of the popcorn and nuts as possible.
5. Bake for 2 hours. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container