Creamy Parmesan Italian Soup

1 lb chicken breasts,cut into bite size pieces
2 cups uncooked salad macaroni
3 Tbl olive oil
1/2 cube butter
1small onion chopped
1 cup sliced carrots (I used frozen)
1cup chopped celery
1/2 red bell pepper chopped
4-6 garlic cloves, minced. (A zester makes this go so much faster!)
1/3 cup flour
6 cups chicken broth ( I always use chicken bouillon... It adds so much more flavor plus you can buy it in bulk at Costco or SAMs club, 1 cube to 1 cup water)
2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes with the juice... Do not drain!
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
2 chicken bouillon cubes (or 1 Tbl)
1 tsp dried parsley (1 Tbl fresh)
1tsp dried basil (2-3 Tbl fresh)
Dash of red pepper flakes
Salt/pepper to taste
2 cups heavy cream, half and half or milk
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat butter and olive oil in large pot over medium heat. Add chicken, season with salt and pepper and cook until almost done. Remove chicken from pot. Add onion, carrots, celery, garlic and bell pepper and cook for several minutes or until onions are translucent. Sprinkle in flour and cook while stirring for a few minutes. Mixture will be thick. Stir in broth starting with a cup or two and stir well to dissolve the flour. Add in the tomatoes, juice and all along with the spices. Cover pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add chicken back in after about 15 minutes. You may have to turn heat up a little to resume boiling. While the soup is simmering, heat water with salt in a senate pan for pasta. Cook pasta until almost tender then add to soup. Finish off with Parmesan cheese and cream/half & half/milk. Stir until cheese melts. Enjoy!

Chocolate Eclair Cake

 

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 cup water
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs

Filling:

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 large box (5.1 ounces) vanilla instant pudding
• 3 cups milk

Topping:

• 1 8 oz. container cool whip or one batch of homemade whipped cream
• chocolate syrup or homemade chocolate sauce

Instructions

1. Instructions:
2. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9"X13" glass baking pan.
3. For the Eclair Crust: In a medium saucepan, melt butter in water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in flour. Mix in one egg at a time, mixing completely before adding another egg. Spread mixture into pan, covering the bottom and sides evenly. Mixture will be very wet. *If the sides of your pan are too greased you won't be able to get the mixture to stay up the sides so make sure to just lightly grease. No big deal but I like the crust to go up the sides a bit.
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown (Mine only took 25 minutes.) You may want to check it occasionally-you don't want to overcook the crust, it will ruin the cake! Remove from oven and let cool (don't touch or push bubbles down).
5. For the Filling: Whip cream cheese in a medium bowl. In separate bowl make vanilla pudding by beating the pudding mix and the milk for 3 minutes and put in the fridge until set. Make sure pudding is thick before mixing in with cream cheese. Slowly add pudding to cream cheese, mixing until there are no lumps. Let cool in fridge. When the crust is completely cooled, pour filling in. Top with layer of cool whip however thick you want it. Serve with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. *If you want to make this even better use homemade whipped cream.

Chili's Chicken Crispers and Honey Mustard Sauce

Ingredients:

Honey Mustard Dressing:

 2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
pinch paprika
pinch salt

Batter:

1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup chicken broth (Swanson)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup self-rising flour
6 to 10 cups shortening or vegetable oil (amount required by fryer)
10 chicken tenderloins
1/2 cup flour

Instructions:

1. Make honey mustard sauce by combining ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and chill until needed.

2. Heat shortening or oil in fryer to 350 degrees F. Or if using a skillet, fill 1/2- 1 inch deep and heat to medium.

3. Combine beaten egg, milk, chicken broth, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk for about 30 seconds to
dissolve salt. Whisk in 1 cup self-rising flour. Let batter sit for 5 minutes.

4. When you are ready to fry the chicken, coat each piece with dry flour (1/2 cup in a medium bowl), then dunk the chicken into the batter. Let a little batter drip off the chicken and lower it into the hot oil and fry for 7 to 9 minutes or until it's golden brown.

Depending on the size of your fryer, you should be able to fry 3 or 4 tenderloins at a time.Drain fried chicken strips on a rack or paper towels for a minute or so, and serve with the honey mustard dressing on the side for dipping.

Serves 4 as an appetizer or 2 as an entrée.


** For self rising flour mix 1 cup flour, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. of salt.
To re-heat leftovers, heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute in microwave then broil on middle rack of oven for 3-4 minutes!

Buttery Baked Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 can evaporated milk
• ½ C. flour
• 1½ tsp. salt
• ⅛ tsp. pepper
• ½ C. butter
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup
• ¼ C. water

Instructions

1. Dip each chicken piece in a bowl filled with about ⅛ of your evaporated milk. Coat well and then roll it in the flour seasoned with salt and pepper.
2. Melt butter in 9x13 pan and cook the chicken in the melted butter for 1 hour at 350.
3. Mix together water, can of soup, and the rest of your evaporated milk.
4. After chicken has been baking for 1 hour, turn chicken and pour soup mixture on top. Bake for 30 more minutes until golden brown. Serve as is. Creamy and Delish!!

I used chicken tenders for this recipe. I also mixed the flour, salt, pepper in a large ziploc bag and dropped all of the chicken in and shook it to coat. It worked perfect!