Velveeta Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Rice

Tonight was a new recipe I found at kraftfoods.com. Both Scottie and I enjoyed it so I thought I'd share.


Ingredients
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 can (14 1/2oz) chicken broth
2 cups instant white rice, uncooked
1/2 lb (8oz) Velveeta cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 pkg. (10oz) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed

1. Cook and stir chicken in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat 5 minutes or until done.
2. Stir in broth. Bring to boil.
3. Add rice, Velveeta and broccoli; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand 10 min. Stir until Velveeta is completely melted and mixture is well blended.

Makes 6 servings, 1 cup each.

I seasoned the chicken a bit while cooking and we also added pepper to give it a little more flavor.

Baked Apples

I made baked apples tonight for a treat after a yummy chicken dinner.  Didn't take pictures, but you can find some on the direct link to the recipe I used.  I baked them for about 35 minutes and one of the apples skin split, but the apple retained its shape.  Guess that was a little too long!  I had only two golden delicious apples on hand, but still made the entire filling recipe and will use it in oatmeal tomorrow. Also added extra cinnamon because it's my experience that apples cannot have too much cinnamon.  These were so yummy. Easy too!

Baked Apples Recipe

4 large good baking apples
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup currants or chopped raisins
1 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 375°F. Wash apples. Remove cores to 1/2 inch of the bottom of the apples. Make the holes about 3/4-inch to an inch wide.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, currants/raisins, and pecans. Place apples in a 8-inch-by-8-inch square baking pan. Stuff each apple with this mixture. Top with a dot of butter (1/4 of the Tbps).

Add boiling water to the baking pan. Bake 30-40 minutes, until tender, but not mushy. Remove from the oven and baste the apples several times with the pan juices.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on the side.

Makes 4 servings.

Free Stuff!

So, below is the Tschida's 2011 Christmas Card. Shutterfly, being the generous people they are, offered a $25 credit towards my next offer if I embeded the card in my (well, our...) blog. I do have to admit, it was pretty dang easy to make the thing.

Another short cut for all you busy ladies, the post office will ship your postage to you. This also means you get to pick what stamps you want. It seems every time I go they only have the ugly ones left at the post office! The shipping only costs $1. I don't know about you, but a buck is worth not having to stand in line for 20 minutes at this time of year!

OK, back to the recipies :)

Christmas Card

Four Wishes Christmas

Create modern Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Christmas Goodies: Cereal Date Treats

One of the staples on the Mueller Christmas Cookie Tray is these little guys. They give a little dimension to the same-old (but delicious) sugar cookies and other flat treats. The flavor is mild, a little nutty, and chewy-crispy delicious. Disclaimer: not for those that hate coconut, but these are seriously worth at least a try!

Cereal Date Treats

2 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 cup chopped dates (found boxed in the baking section)
1 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups rice krispies
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp. vanilla
flaked coconut

Put butter in cast-iron (or any type) frying pan and melt on medium-low heat.  Add dates, sugar, eggs, and salt.  Cook about 10 minutes, stirring constantly until mixture bubbles.  Remove from heat and add cereal, nuts, and vanilla. Mix.  Form into small balls (walnut sized or smaller -smaller is better) and roll in flaked coconut. Place on wax-covered baking sheet. Refrigerate.

Rolling tip: to prevent sticking, keep a bowl of cold water nearby and dip fingers as needed.

The batch last night made about 40, but they were sized too large (I was in a hurry!). Should probably be closer to 50 or so.


Prep tip: when opening the bag of rice krispies, use caution or the bag will rip and half the box will fly all over your kitchen.

Bonus tip: If having sushi takeout that evening, also use caution when opening the soy sauce packet, or it will fly all over your kitchen.


Now, chime in with your favorite holiday treats!

Pizza Hotdish

I just won first place at the family hotdish bake-off this weekend with this recipe.


Pizza Hotdish
2 cups pizza cheese (we used Kraft Italian shredded cheese)
Browned hamburger (or sausage)
Pepperoni slices (or whatever pizza ingredients you would like to add)
1 jar of pizza sauce
2 tubes of buttermilk biscuits

1. Brown and drain the meat.
2. Take the biscuits out of the two tubes and cut them all into quarters.
3. Put the biscuits into a bowl and add the jar of pizza sauce.
4. Add the meat and any other toppings and mix together.
5. Pour into an ungreased baking dish.
6. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
7. Take it out after 20 minutes and add your cheese. Put back in oven for 10 more minutes.
8. ENJOY!!!

Pizza Luce has Nothing on Me

Hi Ladies - I stole this post from my personal blog but it's a great recipe!

One of Scottie and I's favorite pizzas from Pizza Luce is the Garlic Mashed Potato pizza. Well I tried recreating it and it turned out to be DELICIOUS!!!


I didn't follow a recipe which is why the the ingredients and directions are sort of vague. First I made the garlic mashed potatoes. This was my first time making homemade mashed potatoes (besides the crock-pot potatoes I made for Thanksgiving last year). I diced and microwaved about 6 small red potatoes (won't use this many next time). Mashed the cooked potatoes with the roasted garlic head, adding milk and butter to make them smoother and salt and pepper to taste. Spread the potatoes on a pizza crust, I used a pre-made crust by Boboli and added a little more flavor with Athenos Basil and Tomato feta cheese. Made a couple strips of bacon and crumbled them on top along with some larger pieces of red onion that had been sauteed. Baked for 15 minutes at 410 degrees because the crust wanted to be baked at 450 for 8-10 minutes. Went at a lower temp for longer so the potatoes could heat up nicely. It was pretty easy to make and FABULOUS and cost less than Pizza Luce!