Spinach Chicken Salad

 Taste of Home Spinach Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

7 oz. spiral or elbow pasta, cooked

5 c. cubed cooked chicken (3 breasts)

2 c. green grape halves

1 c. snow peas

2 1/2 c. sliced celery

1 can artichoke hearts, drained

1 can mandarin oranges

2 c. packed torn spinach

1/2 large cucumber, sliced

3 green onions, sliced

Dressing:

1/2 c. canola oil

1/4. c sugar

2 Tbls. white wine vinegar

1 tsp. salt

1/2. tsp dried minced onion

1 tsp. lemon juice

2 Tbls. fresh parsley

Directions:

 

In a large bowl, combine the salad ingredients. . In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients. Cover and refrigerate.

The oranges added in are Heid's addition.  I don't use this dressing.  I use Skinny Girl's Poppy seed dressing.  I also love to layer this salad to take to work. Start with 1/8 cup of dressing then layer in order of ingredients listed

Cherry Fluff

 Ingredients:

• 21 oz. cherry pie filling
• 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
• 20 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
• 12 oz. whipped topping (Cool Whip)
• 10 oz. mini marshmallows

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl
2. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving
3. Serve as a salad or with graham crackers or mini Oreos for dipping. Alternatively, you can divide the mixture between two prepared Graham Cracker Pie Crusts and chill for 2 hours before serving.

***From Karen VanWinkle

Mickie's Cornbread

Green Chili Cornbread

 Ingredients:

• 
• 1 c. cornmeal 
• 1/3 c. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2. tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 5 eggs, beaten
• 12 oz. cottage cheese
• 1 1/2 c. grated cheese
• 1/2 c. chopped green chili
• 1/2 onion, chopped small
• 3/4 c. melted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the first five ingredients in a bowl. Mix last six ingredients in another bowl. Pour together. Spray a 9x13 pan and coat with 1 Tbls. of cornmeal. Place ingredients in pan and cook for 30-40 minutes until lightly browned.

***I found this recipe in Taste of Home cookbook, but they added broccoli instead of green chili. Who does that?

Balsamic Chicken

Balsamic Sauce:

1/3 C. Balsamic Vinegar
2 T. Honey
2 T. olive oil
2 Garlic cloves, minced
1 t. Italian seasoning
1 t. Dijon Mustard

Tomato Mozzarella Mix

8 oz. Grape Tomatoes, halved
8oz. Mozzarella balls (ciliegine or pearls)
2 T. Basil, fresh chopped

Chicken:

2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 T. avocado oil 
Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large oven-safe skillet.  (We use cast iron.) Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper to taste.  Heat oil in pan, then add chicken to the skillet and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side until lightly brown.  Pour the balsamic sauce mixture over the chicken. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and add the tomatoes and cheese mixture over the top. Bake uncovered for 18-23 minutes or until internal chicken temp reaches 165 degrees.  Remove from the oven and rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Peach Cobbler Muffins

 

Peach Cobbler Muffins

Aunt Coco’s recipe

Written by Heidi Harper

 

Makes 12 muffins

 

Ingredients for dough:

1 1/4c all-purpose flour or one-to-one gluten-free flour

1 1/2t baking powder

1/2t salt

2/3c sugar

1c chopped peaches, well drained if juicy

1/2c milk

1 egg

1/4c vegetable oil

1t vanilla

1/2c chopped pecans (optional, check for gluten-free certification)

 

Ingredients for Streusel topping:

1/4c all-purpose flour or one-to-one gluten-free flour

3T sugar

1/2t baking powder

1/2t cinnamon

4T cold butter

 

Directions:

To make dough:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin pan with paper liners and lightly spray them with Pam.

2. In large bowl, mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

3. In smaller bowl, whisk together wet ingredients: milk, egg, vegetable oil, vanilla.

4. Add peaches to dry ingredients and gently stir until peaches are individually coated. This helps them not sink to the bottom of the muffins.

5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just enough to combine with no dry flour pockets. Don’t over stir or you won’t get that classic crumb texture you want in muffins. (Over stirring is not an issue if you use GF flour.) Dough will be quite wet.

6. Optional: add pecans and stir two or three times to disperse pecans.

7. Let dough rest in bowl while you quickly assemble streusel. Resting the dough for 5-10 minutes is especially important for gluten-free muffins.

 

To make streusel:

8. Cut cold butter into 16 pieces and add to bowl. Cold is essential.

9. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon to butter bowl.

10. Using a pastry cutter (or use a fork or two knives), cut the butter until it forms a texture like large sand granules. Keep it cold and don’t mash. Cut.

 

Put them together:

11. Once streusel is ready, evenly drop dough into muffin pan, and follow up with streusel evenly dumped on top of the dough in each cup.

12. Bake in oven at 350 for 20 minutes.

13. For gluten-free muffins, drop temperature to 325 for 25 minutes.

14. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before eating.