Chicken Pasta Salad

cjaneinthekitchen.blogspot.com

1 lb. cooked, shredded chicken (or 1can of Costco chicken)
1 lb. cooked rotini or bowtie noodles


2 heads broccoli, finely chopped


1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1/3 onion, chopped
1 can sliced olives
1 cup shredded cheese


1/3 - 1/2 cup ranch dressing (don't skip this--it's what holds it all together)

Dressing:
2 envelopes dry Italian dressing mix
6 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
4-1/2 Tbs. water
1/2 cup olive oil
Combine cooled chicken, chopped vegetables, and olives. Set aside. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over vegetables and chicken. Mix together. Add ranch dressing and cheese and fold together. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving Serves 8 - 10.

Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad

yourhomebasedmom.com

1 lb. chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp cilantro, chopped fine
1 tsp salt and pepper

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 C olive oil
1/4 C fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp grated lime peel
3 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp chili powder
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt and pepper

Combination of shredded Napa Cabbage and baby spinach (about 5-6 cups)
1 C shredded carrots
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 C chopped peanuts


Cut chicken breasts into thin strips. In a bowl combine 3 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp lime juice, 1 Tbsp cilantro, salt and pepper. Add chicken and marinate for 30 minutes. Heat pan and saute chicken until cooked through. Set aside to cool.

In a bowl mix together the 1/2 C olive oil, 1/4 C lime juice, lime peel, vinegar, chili powder, sugar, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp black pepper.

In a large bowl, add together cabbage, spinach, carrots, cilantro, chicken and peanuts. Add in dressing mixture and toss.

Texas Roadhouse ® Sweet Yeast Rolls

Recipe found on mysisterskitchen2009.blogspot.com

1/2 solid cake of yeast or 1 pkg of active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
(It was suggested that you use 1/2 cup sugar AND 1/2 cup honey to be closer to the rolls served in the restaurant.)
*( also suggested to try 4t. vital wheat gluten)*
2 quarts all purpose flour (8 cups)
2 TBS melted butter
2 whole eggs
2 tsp salt

Directions:
Soften yeast in warm water with a teaspoon of sugar. Scald milk; cool to lukewarm. Add yeast, sugar and enough flour to make medium batter. Beat thoroughly. Let stand until light and foamy. Add melted butter (which has been cooled), eggs, and salt. Beat well. Add enough flour to form soft dough. Sprinkle small amount of flour on counter and let dough rest. Meanwhile, clean and dry bowl; grease clean surface of bowl. Knead dough until smooth and satiny. Put in greased bowl; turn over to grease top. Cover, let rise in warm place until double in bulk. Punch down. Turn out on floured board. Divide into portions for shaping; let rest 10 minutes. Shape dough into desired forms. Place on greased baking sheets. Let rise until doubled. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes; reduce temperature to 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes more. Cool on rack. Makes 5 to 6 dozen.
***** ***** *****

Like Texas Roadhouse Cinnamon Butter
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
1/2 cup Honey
1 tsp Cinnamon
Blend all ingredients at room temp.

Blue Ribbon Brownies

~Susan (Nolan) Spencer
from her mother

1 cup shortening
4 eggs
4 squares unsweetened baker’s chocolate
2 cups sugar
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup nuts
1 ½ teaspoon salt
Melt shortening and chocolate together. Sift flour, salt and baking powder. Beat eggs, add sugar and beat until creamy. Add chocolate mixture and blend. Add flour mixture, vanilla and nuts. Bake in greased 9x13x2 pan. Bake at 350˚ for 25 to 30 minutes. Check with toothpick.

Quick and Easy Breadsticks

www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com
Yield: 36 small breadsticks
Time: 45 minutes start to finish
Recipe from my cousin Pam Corry

1 1/2 C warm water
2 T sugar
1 T yeast
1/2 t salt
3 1/2- 4 C flour
1/4 C butter (not that nasty margarine crap)
3/4 C grated Parmesan or mozzarella cheese
Johnny's Garlic Seasoning

1. Mix the water, sugar and yeast together in a measuring cup or in the bottom of your mixer. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
2. Add the salt and the flour, one cup at a time, until it is well incorporated. Mix on high for 5 minutes. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
3. Melt the butter and pour half of it into a jelly roll pan (large cookie sheet).
4. Place the dough in the center of the pan. Let it sit for 2 or 3 minutes. Letting the dough rest makes it MUCH easier to shape.
5. Spread the dough out flat onto the pan until it reaches all of the edges. Doing all of the spreading and cutting of these bread sticks, in the pan makes cleaning up your counter so much easier!
6. Pour the other half of the butter onto the dough. Spread it around with your hands. Sprinkle the Johnny's Garlic Seasoning all over the dough, and then the Parmesan cheese.
7. With a pizza cutter cut the dough into three rows lengthwise, and then into about 12 little height wise rows.
8. Put the pan into a 170 degree oven for about 7-10 minutes. The breadsticks should rise about 1 inch.
9. Turn you oven up to 350 and bake for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
10. When they come out of the oven let them sit and rest again for about 5 minutes. Then redefine your cutting lines with the pizza cutter.
11. I use a pair of cooking scissors to cut the edges where the pizza cutter can't reach.
That's it! They are wonderful. I have played around with a variety of things that can be put on the top. I will post those recipes in the days to come! Johnny's Garlic Spread seasoning is one in a million. I buy it at Costco, and keep several in my long term food storage. It's really great to have on hand. ENJOY!

Pretzel Turtles

from real mom kitchen


•50 pretzels from a bag of waffle type pretzels like Snyder’s of Hanover Butter Snaps or Rold Gold Butter Checkers
•1 (11 oz) bag of Rolos, unwrapped (the is around 50 in a bag)
•50 Halved Pecans or M&Ms
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.If using pecans, spread the pecan halves on a baking sheet and bake for 4 minutes. Give them a stir and cook them for another 4 minutes.
3.Place pretzels on another baking sheet. Top each pretzel with 1 rolo candy, place it right in the center of each pretzel.
4.Place in oven and bake for 3 minutes. You want the candies to soften but not completely melt.
5.Remove from oven and immediately place a pecan half (or candy) on top of each candy and lightly press. You want to flatten the candy to cover all of the pretzel except to outer outline and secure the candy on top.
6.Allow to cool. Makes 50 turtle candies.

Chocolate Peppermint Ganache Cupcakes

3 eggs

½ C water

¼ C milk

½ C oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 box devil’s food cake mix

1 C sour cream
Peppermint Ganache:

1/2 C butter

5 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa

6 Tbsp buttermilk (or 5 ½ T milk, ½ T lemon juice)

3 C powdered sugar

½ tsp peppermint extract
Peppermint Buttercream:

8 oz cream cheese

½ C butter, softened

2 C powdered sugar

½- 1 tsp peppermint extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the eggs, water, milk, oil and vanilla together. Add in cake cake mix and sour cream until well blended.

Fill cupcake liner ¾ full and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While cupcakes are baking, make the peppermint ganache.

In a bowl, sift 3 cups powdered sugar. In a small pan, melt butter and add cocoa and buttermilk and bring to a boil. Pour mixture over powdered sugar and, add peppermint extract and stir until smooth.

Dip the tops of the warm cupcakes into the warm ganache and let cool before frosting. You can also poke a hole in the middle of the cupcake with a wooden spoon and fill the whole with ganache. So good!! Extra ganache will keep fine in the refrigerator.

Frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar. Add extra sugar if needed for right consistency. Add peppermint extract and beat again.

Pipe frosting onto cupcake and then top with candy cane kisses, crushed candy cane or even mint M & M’s.