Cathy's Grilled Chicken Marinade

Here's another awesome recipe from my fabulous, gorgeous, talented, youthful, vibrant, funny, caring and all-around wonderful sister, Cathy
Thanx Cath!

Joe,
Here's my chicken marinade. It doesn't have a name. And it just sort of evolved from trying different combinations of things I had in the pantry. Anyway, here's what I finally came up with, and I must say, it's tasty.
C.


Large package boneless chicken breasts

Whisk together the following:
1/4 cup Kraft Zesty Italian dressing (or whatever Italian dressing you like)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp. Montreal Steak seasoning
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. soy sauce (low sodium)
Optional: a couple of splashes of orange juice

Either pound chicken pieces to flatten them out a bit, or cut them cross-wise so they are half as thick. Pour marinade over chicken (either in a shallow dish or in a ziploc bag) and let sit in fridge for as long as you can. Overnight is great, but a couple of hours is fine, and even 1/2 to 1 hour will work, although chicken won't be quite as flavorful.

Remove chicken from marinade (discard marinade) and grill chicken pieces on outdoor grill or inside on a good grill pan. Serve with your favorite side dishes.

Note: This is also really good cold, sliced into strips & served in your favorite pasta salad.

Tip:
Goes great with Roasted Asparagus and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes, as shown in the picture.

Chicken Francaise

Tom and Amy came over to my place for dinner a few weeks ago and they asked if I could show them how to make Chicken Francaise. Frankly, I had never made it before, but as always, I thought "How hard can it be?" Well, I found a recipe for it and gave it a try. It was FABULOUS! The sauce was super easy, it was quick to prepare, and it's so flavorful that someone might think you went to a lot of trouble. I think this recipe now falls into the category of "go to" dishes when you want to impress someone. Give it a try!


1 egg, beaten
1 lemon, cut in half
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
5 or 6 tbs butter (plus more, if needed)
1 (10.75 ounce) can chicken broth
fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper

In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the egg and juice of 1/2 lemon. In another shallow dish or bowl mix together the flour, garlic powder, and paprika. Slice each piece of chicken breast horizontally so that you have twice as many pieces that are half as thick. Dip chicken breasts in egg mixture, then flour mixture. Shake off excess flour. Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken breasts and saute until golden on each side and almost cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside. Repeat until all chicken is cooked, adding butter if necessary. Add 1 tbs of the seasoned flour and one more pat of butter. Whisk together to make a paste. Add chicken broth. Using a spoon or whisk, scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add juice from the other half of lemon, a handful of chopped parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Add chicken back to the pan. Reduce heat to medium low and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Tip:
The key to this recipe is the freshness that you get from the lemon juice and the parsley. Whatever you do, do NOT use anything but freshly squeezed lemon juice and fresh parsley. Using that stuff in the bottle and also dried parsley just wouldn't cut it.

Cherry Cheese Tarts

Here's an easy cheesy dessert that you can make if you're in the mood for cheesecake, but you don't have the time. It only takes a few minutes to whip up a batch, so give them a try! You'll love 'em!
By the way, my fabulous, gorgeous, talented, youthful, vibrant, funny, caring and all-around wonderful sister, Cathy, left a comment with a few more tips, but they're such good ideas that I figured they needed to be included as part of the recipe, not just in the comments section. So, I moved them!
Thanx Cath!

18 foil or paper muffin cups
18 vanilla wafers
2 8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 can cherry pie filling


Place muffin cups in muffin pans. Place 1 vanilla wafer in each muffin cup. Blend all ingredients except pie filling. Spoon filling into cups over wafers, dividing the filling between the 18 cups, (about 3/4 full). Bake 15 minutes at 350F degrees. Chill. Spoon pie filling over each tart.

Joey's Tips:
Clearly, you can use any favorite pie filling instead of cherry. Blueberry tarts are fabulous! You can also switch up the cookies as much as you like. Try adding some pumpkin pie spice to the cheese mixture and substitute gingersnaps for the vanilla wafers. YUM!

Cathy's Tips:
You can also skip the fruit topping, and just mix in mini chocolate chips into the batter before baking. A chocolate wafer cookie as the "crust" makes it extra decadent. This is also really good with fresh fruits, and makes a pretty presentation if you use a mixture of fruits (like strawberries, blueberries & kiwi).

Individual Strawberry Trifles

Here's a little dessert that is absurdly easy to make and assembles in a snap. Who knew that something so simple could be this delicious and elegant??

2 pints strawberries
2-3 tbs sugar
1 Entenmann's pound cake (or other brand, or your own)
Redi Whip (or other brand, or fresh whipped cream)

Select 4 of the most picture perfect strawberries. Set aside.
Wash, hull, and slice remaining strawberries. Toss with sugar in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
Slice pound cake. Using a glass or a cookie cutter, cut pound cake slices into rounds. Set aside.

In four large stemmed glasses, layer ingredients like this: whipped cream, one cake round, strawberries, whipped cream, another cake round, strawberries, and whipped cream on top. Garnish each trifle with one of the reserved whole strawberries.

Tips:
Substitute any fresh fruit or combination of fruits for the strawberries. You could also use any kind of cake. Lemon cake with raspberries, chocolate cake with cherries, the combinations are endless. Yum!

How to Roast Peppers

If you've never roasted your own peppers, you seriously don't know what you're missing. They have a wonderful smokey flavor that you just don't get when you buy them at the grocery store. Not only that, store bought roasted peppers cost you an arm and a leg for a measly little jar. You definitely get more bang for your buck if you roast them at home. So, better flavor, more economical.....seems like a no brainer to me! Not only that it's quick and easy to do. Basically, you just char the outsides of the peppers, put them in an airtight container to steam for about 20-30 minutes and then the skins come right off. Serve them on some Italian bread with lots of garlic and olive oil, and that's all there is to it! They're so much better than the ones you buy in a jar. Try it! You'll be SO glad that you did because it's better when you make it!

BIG thanx, once again, to Trish and also Alana for making this video possible.
And thanx to Denny for supplying the peppers!

Broccoli Rice Casserole

My sister in law, Terri, found this recipe in the Taste of Home magazine. It's really simple to make and it's REALLY yummy. I made it a few weeks ago for some friends and they loved it! Your friends will love it too. You MUST try it!
Thanx Ter!

1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
2 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
2 tbs butter
1 lb. Velveeta cheese
2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
6 cups cooked rice

In a large pot, over medium heat, saute onion, celery, and broccoli in butter until softened. Stir in cheese, soup, and milk. Simmer until cheese melts and sauce is well combined. Meanwhile, place cooked rice in a greased 9x13x2 casserole dish. Pour cheese mixture over. Do not stir. Bake uncovered at 325F for 25-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. It will thicken as it sits.


Tips:
This recipe can be cut in half and baked in an 8x8x8 casserole pan.

Trish's Chicken Divan

Once again, my fabulous friend, Trish, has come through with another recipe that is nothing short of divine. This is one of those dishes that I have to stop myself from eating because I'll just keep going until it's gone. I'm serious! The last time she made this, I had to keep telling myself things like "Joe, you're done.....you're full.....you had enough.....you're not hungry anymore.....step away from the table." Well, I have to say that to myself any time Trish makes a fabulously creamy wine sauce. SO good!!!
Thanx again, Trish!

2 (10oz. pkg) frozen chopped broccoli
6 cups shredded chicken, cooked
2 (10 3/4oz) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs
2 tbs butter, melted

Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

Remove wrappers and open 1 end of each box of broccoli. Microwave full power for 2 minutes, until thawed. Drain the broccoli and put into large bowl. Add the shredded chicken.

In medium bowl, combine soup, mayonnaise, sour cream, cheddar, lemon juice, curry powder, salt and pepper to taste and wine. Whisk together to make a sauce. Pour over the broccoli and chicken, mix well with spatula.

Place the mixture into a 9x13 inch casserole dish sprayed with vegetable oil cooking spray. Smooth with spatula. Combine the Parmesan, bread crumbs and butter and sprinkle over top.

Bake for about 30 - 45 minutes. Serve over rice.

Tip:
If using fresh chicken, cut into bite size pieces. Put flour and paprika into a bowl. Coat the chicken with the flour mixture. Saute with butter until brown.