Turkey Surprise

Around the holidays most of tend to have tons of leftovers, especially turkey! Here's a recipe I came up with last week with the leftover turkey and ingredients I already had.

Turkey, shredded into pieces (as much as you want)

6-8 oz angel hair pasta

5 oz frozen broccoli florets (thawed and drained) 

10 cherry tomatoes, cut in half 

2 oz Feta cheese 

Mediterranean seasonings 

Salt to taste 

1 tbs olive oil 

Cooking Spray

Directions 

1. Cook pasta accordingly to the package

2. Spray a skillet with cooking spray and heat to medium-high heat

3. Add turkey and broccoli and saute for about 3-5 minutes 

4. Add the tomatoes, salt, and some mediterranean seasonings and saute for an additional 1 minute 

5. Add olive oil to cooked pasta and add extra mediterranean seasonings 

Place pasta on a plate, saute mixture next, then sprinkle with feta cheese. Not bad for a last minute meal! 

Fiery "Fried" Chicken

From MyRecipes 

So about 75% of the dinners I make include chicken. It's somewhat cheap, easy to cook, and I like it. I'm always looking for chicken recipes, especially quick ones! Honestly when I get home from work the last thing I want to do is spend hours in the kitchen cooking, so I tend to find recipes that I can make (start to finish) in about 30 minutes.

1 tbs chili-garlic sauce 

3 tbs pineapple juice 

4 6-ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup bread crumbs

Kosher salt

3 tbs canola oil

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450F 

2. In a large bowl, combine the chili-garlic sauce and pineapple juice. Add the chicken and toss to coat,

3. In a separate bowl, combine the bread crumbs, salt, and oil. Working with 1 piece at a time, coat the chicken in the bread crumb mixture and transfer to a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining breasts. Bake until cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes.

I used about 3 tbs of the chili-garlic sauce, 6 tbs of pineapple-orange juice, and Panko bread crumbs instead of regular bread crumbs b/c that's what I already had in our pantry. I also cooked the chicken on 350F instead of 450F for the same amount of time. I served it with a feta tomato spinach salad with homemade garlic croutons that I made with bagels that were about to expire. I'm trying to be less wasteful with food. :)  

I think the chicken turned out pretty good. It was tasty, but I think I can make some improvements. Next time I plan on marinating the chicken in the sauce & juice mixture and then cooking at 450F like the recipes says. The Panko crumbs didn't seem to brown at all at 350F, but a higher heat should help that. I think at 450F I will only need to cook the chicken around 10 minutes, but I guess that just depends on the thickness of your the breasts. Oh and adding the oil to the crumbs works wonders! I had never tried that before and it's awesome! The crumbs stuck to the chicken with little effort! 

*Sorry I haven't been adding pictures, my camera is dead right now and I'm having trouble finding the battery charger LOL. I'll add pictures the next time I make the recipes.*

Crunchy Lime Tilapia with Almonds

Adapted from Kellogg's Website and taken from "Janet is Hungry" blog.

I think tilapia is one of the easiest fish to cook. I like to buy the frozen fillets b/c they keep for a long time and thaw very quickly. Tilapia seems to be the least fishy smelling and tasting fish there is so I keep some on hand most of the time.

1 pound Tilapia fillets
2 cups Rice Krispies (crushed to about 1 cup)
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1 tbsp parsley
1/4 cup flour
2 egg whites
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
cooking spray

Directions
1. In one bowl mix together Rice Krispies, almonds and parsley
2. In another bowl mix egg whites, lime juice, salt, pepper and ginger
3. Dredge fish fillets with flour, dip into egg/lime mixture and press into Rice Krispies. Press crumbs on firmly so the fish gets well coated.
4. Place fish on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Spray a little more cooking spray on top of the fish. Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes, turning halfway, until browned and cooked through.
5. I served this with a Chipotle Ranch Sauce (Ranch mixed with smoked chipotle sauce)

I love this recipe, it's delicious! I served it with a simple seasoned parmesan rice.

Cheesy Bacon & Chives Dip

I first had this dip last year at a "girl's night in" party, where my friend Angela made it. She had gotten the recipe from a friend at a different party she had attended earlier in the year. Well we all LOVED IT so needless to say, Angela passed the recipe down to many of us at the party. It's one of the easiest dips you can make and I have yet to find one person that doesn't like it! If it was up to my husband, I'd make it every week! LOL :)

16 oz container sour cream
8 oz cream cheese
2 cups finely shredded cheddar cheese
4.5 oz package of real bacon bits
1/2 cup chives

Directions 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Melt cream cheese in the microwave for about 45 seconds in a mixing bowl, then mix all other ingredients together with the cream cheese. Mix well.

3. Pour into a 8 x 8 baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.

Now I have many friends that do not like onions so they like to leave out the chives, but I completely disagree. I love onions and think the chives are a great addition to this dip!

Broccoli Rice Casserole

This is another popular dish at the holidays and it's my first time making it. The recipe is from All Recipes website and I made just a couple changes.

20 oz frozen chopped broccoli

16 oz Velveetta cheese, cubed (or other processed American cheese)

3 bags instant rice
10.75 oz can condensed cream of mushroom soup

10.75 oz can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 cup milk

1 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Directions

1. Cook broccoli and rice accordingly to package directions. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Mix the cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, and cubes of cheese in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Heat in oven until cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.

3. Add broccoli, rice, milk, and salt & pepper to the mixture. Mix well and sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese on top.

4. Bake for about 30 minutes

Spinach Artichoke Dip

This seems to be a popular holiday dip so decided I must make it! Now most of the recipes seemed to have mainly a mayo base, but since I'm not a huge fan of mayo I decided to change it up a bit.

10 oz frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
14 oz can artichoke hearts (chopped)
6 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup mayo
3/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cup italian four cheese blend (mozzarella, mild cheddar, provolone, & asiago)
1 tsp garlic powder

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Combine spinach and chopped artichoke hearts in a small baking dish
3. In a mixing bowl heat the cream cheese in the microwave for 1 min 30 secs
4. Add the mayo and sour cream to the cream cheese. Mix well.
5. Add this mixture to the baking dish (with the spinach and artichokes), add the garlic powder and cheeses (saving 1/2 cup of each cheese).
6. Mix all ingredients well in the baking dish
7. Top the dip with the rest of the cheese (1/2 cup parmesan, 1/2 cup italian blend)
8. Bake for 30 minutes

Enjoy! This dish went over very well at my in-laws, it was gone in a matter of minutes! It's incredibly easy and very yummy, you can't go wrong!

Banana Pudding

I needed to bring a dessert to our Thanksgiving dinner so I decided on Banana Pudding a family favorite. I found the recipe at the All Recipes website. I use the same ingredients, but I layer mine differently.

1 8 oz package cream cheese
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 5 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups cold milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 8 oz frozen whipped topping, thawed
4 bananas, sliced
1/2 package vanilla wafers

Directions
1. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in condensed milk, pudding mix, cold milk and vanilla until smooth. Let set in fridge for 5 minutes. Fold in 1/2 of the whipped topping.

2. Layer the pudding mixture, wafers and bananas. Top with remaining whipped topping, add a few wafer crumbs and chill.

This is a very rich dessert, but it is oh so good! Yum!