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©Life of a Foodie and Her Family 2008-2013, Lynn Tabor

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1/23/2015

Strawberry Cheesecake Trifle

I found this lovely trifle on Pinterest.  The original recipe is on Taste Of Home and you can always find great recipes there.  I did tweak it and used Cool Whip.  I normally don't like to, but time got away from me this week.

2 pints fresh strawberries, sliced
1 cup sugar, divided
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 large tub of Cool Whip
1 loaf (10-3/4 ounces) frozen pound cake, thawed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I used the larger one and it kind of overfilled the trifle bowl.

In a bowl, toss strawberries with 1/2 cup sugar; set aside.

In a bowl, beat cream cheese, orange juice and remaining sugar until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream; set aside.

Drain strawberries, reserving juice; set the berries aside. Gently toss cake cubes with reserved juice.

Place half of the cake in a 4-qt. trifle dish or serving bowl. Top with a third of the cream cheese mixture and half of the strawberries. Repeat layers. Top with remaining cream cheese mixture. Garnish with sliced strawberries if desired. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Yield: 14-16 servings.



This was incredibly yummy!!!!!!

1/16/2015

Chicken Parmesan Casserole

I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought it looked interesting.  The original recipe can be found at Thriving Home Blog.  Again this is one of those "freezer meals" if you like to prep dinners ahead of time.  Me...not so much.

4 cups of shredded, cooked chicken (I roasted a few chicken breast the other night and used three chopped up for this recipe)
1 jar (23-28 ounces) of marinara sauce (I love Newman's Own Marinara) 
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup panko 
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Italian dried herbs
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease an 8x8 casserole dish with cooking spray.

Layer the chicken in the bottom. Pour on the marinara sauce and gently wiggle the pan so that the sauce and chicken combine.

Top with cheeses until all the chicken and sauce mixture is covered.

In a small bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, olive oil, herbs, salt and a bit of pepper.

Sprinkle the seasoned breadcrumbs on top.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden on top and bubbling on the sides. (I let it bake for 30 minutes so the top would be good and crispy)



This came out pretty good.  I think I would double this and make it in a 9 x 13 pan for our Alpha Course this spring.  I am glad that I baked it a bit longer.  The Panko was nice and toasty.

1/15/2015

Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta

I am back on a mission to try lots of new recipes this year.  I found this yummy looking recipe on Pinterest of course.  The original recipe can be found at Lovely Little Kitchen.  I did kind of tweak it and here is what I did.

1 12 oz box of medium size bow tie pasta
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon Better Than Bullion Chicken Base
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 chicken breast, cooked  and cubed (I roasted 4 or 5 the other night)
3/4 cup cooked cubed ham (I just used some sliced deli ham and chopped it up)
6 slices swiss cheese

1 cup of Panko Bread Crumbs



Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare a 13 x 9  baking dish by spraying with nonstick spray. Set aside.

Boil your pasta in salted water according to directions on the box.  Drain, return pasta to the pot and set aside.

In a medium pan, melt butter over medium high heat.  Whisk in flour and cook until the roux is a light brown color, about 4 or 5 minutes. 

Gradually whisk in the milk and be careful it does bubble up quickly.  Cook your sauce until it is thicken up, about 5 minutes.

Whisk in chicken base, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire Sauce, and salt.

In the large pot that the pasta is in, stir in the sauce, chicken, and ham. Stir gently to combine.

Pour half of the pasta mixture into your prepared baking dish. 

Place slices of Swiss cheese evenly over the pasta. Pour the rest of the past over the cheese and spread evenly.

Sprinkle the Panko breadcrumbs over the top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until it is bubbly and the Panko is starting to brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.






This came out FABULOUS!!!!  I will definitely make this one again!!!

1/07/2015

Eggnog Muffins

Since I had a little Eggnog leftover from last night's dessert, I went to Pinterest to find ways that I could use it up.  After a quick search I found a yummy looking recipe for Eggnog Muffins.  The original recipe is from Better Homes and Garden.

So I quickly went back into the kitchen to whip them up.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup eggnog
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon rum extract

1 recipe Nutmeg-Streusel Topping

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease twelve 2-1/2-inch muffin cups or line with paper bake cups; set aside. In a medium bowl sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and nutmeg; set aside.

In your stand mixer combine eggs, eggnog, butter, vanilla, and rum extract. Add dry ingredients all at once to liquid mixture. Mix just until moistened (batter should be thick).

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each two-thirds full. Sprinkle Nutmeg-Streusel Topping over muffin batter in cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm.

Nutmeg-Streusel Topping

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter

In a small bowl stir together all-purpose flour, sugar, and nutmeg. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  I personally like using my food processor for streusel toppings.





Oh my word!  These came out FANTASTIC!  They are light, flavorful and very tender.  Hopefully I won't eat all 12 of them today.

Swiss Cheese Chicken

So now that we are trying to get back into our regular routine and making dinner more, I found this recipe on Pinterest.  The original comes from Or So She Says.  This is supposed to be a pre-made freezer dinner.  Which means it is meant to be made in a smaller than 13x9 dish.  Luckily I do have a glass 11 x 7 pan.  If you do want to make these as freezer meals, the original blogger has links to the correct size foil pans and lids.

4 Chicken Breasts cut into bite sized cubes
6 Slices Swiss Cheese or 2 cups of shredded Swiss Cheese
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 cup milk
Chicken Stuffing mix (about 1/2 box)
¼ cup unsalted butter melted

Preheat oven to 350.

Lightly spray an 11x7 pan with cooking spray.

Place the cut up chicken in the pan.

Next layer the cheese over the chicken.

In a bowl nix 1 can cream of chicken soup, poultry seasoning and milk.

Pour mixture over chicken.

Top with 1/2 bag (or more to your liking) of Chicken stuffing mix

Drizzle 1/4 cup butter on top.

Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes.






The original recipe calls for this to be served over rice and I chose not to do that last night.  I served it with steamed broccoli.  This came out really well and I would definitely make this again.  I think if you wanted to make it for a crowd and use a 13x9 pan, I would double the ingredients.

Eggnog Quick Bread

So I made this for our Alpha Course a few weeks ago and never got to take a picture of it.  Then after Christmas I wanted to make it again and the stores were out of Eggnog.  Finally I found a store that had plain Eggnog, not pumpkin spice.  I made it for dessert last night and it is really good.

2 medium eggs, room temp
1 c sugar
1 c dairy eggnog
1/2 c butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp rum extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg (fresh, not pre-ground)

Eggnog Glaze
3/4 c powdered sugar
Eggnog added and stirred into the sugar until your desired consistency.

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9 inch loaf pan and set aside.

Sift the dry ingredients, flours, baking powder and nutmeg and set aside.

In a stand mixer combine eggs and sugar until well combined.  Add the eggnog, butter and extracts.  Then gradually add in the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.  Do not over mix or the bread with be tough.  This is a thick batter.

Pour and spread the batter into the prepared loaf pan.  Bake for 50 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out dry.

Remove from pan and place on a wire rack until cool.

Mix the glaze and pour over the bread and allow to set for a few minutes.