Evil Chicken

Serves 6

1 pound bacon, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped into bite-sized pieces

3 tablespoons chili powder (we usually use 2 T.)

1 cup brown sugar

Up to 1/2 cup water, as needed

Cooked rice

In a large pan, cook bacon over medium-high heat until nearly done. Do not drain. Stir in chicken and chili powder.

Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until bacon and chicken are fully cooked. Add brown sugar and cook until sugar

is dissolved and sauce begins to thicken, about 4 to 5 minutes. (Be careful once the sugar is added not to let the

sauce turn into toffee.) Add water if necessary to thin the sauce, but keep in mind the sauce is more of a coating.

Serve mixture over hot rice.

* Bacon is easier to cut if it’s partially frozen

Garlic Lover's Rub

Recipe from Eating Well

Use on: shrimp, scallops, salmon, chicken, pork, beef, lamb, or vegetables

Combine 8 cloves minced garlic, 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 2 teaspoons ground mustard, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest in a small bowl. Using your hands, spread the rub evenly onto 1 1/2 pounds (6 servings) of your chosen protein before grilling.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

recipe from Our Best Bites

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken (for extra yumminess, use grilled taco chicken!)
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

Uncooked tortillas
cooking spray

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or are coming unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.


Then roll it up as tight as you can.


Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray.


Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.


Dip ‘em in salsa, sour cream, guacamole, or this dressing.

1 pack (1oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix, ignore directions on the packet
1C mayo
1/2 C milk
1 lime
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 C green salsa*
hot sauce

Place milk, mayo, and ranch mix in a blender. Juice the lime in there too, you should get about 2T juice. Toss in the garlic, cilantro and green salsa. Blend ‘er up. Sample it and add hot sauce to taste. Make it several hours ahead of time to allow it to thicken.

Cake Bites

1 cake mix, made according to package directions
1 can of frosting
1 box of pudding
almond bark

This is just a general idea of how to make them. You can combine many different flavors. Bake cake (adding entire box of pudding to mix) according to package directions. When cake is done, take a fork and crumble the cake. After the cake is cooled, mix in frosting adding just enough to hold the cake together. Set in fridge for a couple of hours. Roll into small balls and freeze. Then dip in chocolate. I also like to drizzle chocolate on top for aesthetics.

Some of the flavors I have done:
-Devils food cake, chocolate pudding, mixed with peanut butter frosting, dipped in chocolate

-Strawberry cake, strawberry pudding, mixed with strawberry frosting, dipped in white almond bark, drizzled with pink candy melts

-yellow cake, vanilla pudding, cherry frosting, dipped in white almond bark,drizzled with pink candy melts

-red velvet cake mix, chocolate pudding, cream cheese frosting, dipped in chocolate

Give it a try and let me know if you come up with a good combination!!

Oreo Truffles

1 bag Oreo cookies
1 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
Almond Bark

Crush your entire bag of oreos. Mix in cream cheese. (I don't add all of it at first because I don't want to much. I gradually add cream cheese until it is a consistency that will stay together.) Set in fridge for about 30 minutes. Roll into balls, then freeze. Then dip in melted chocolate almond bark. (there are many different dipping chocolates, this is just the cheapest and it tastes pretty good)

**For Tanzi's baby blessing I used the cool mint oreos and actually did 2 bags with the 1 (8 oz) cream cheese

Cinnamon Streusel Pancakes

recipe from Two Peas and their Pod


2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cinnamon Streusel:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks


1. First, make the cinnamon streusel. In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Mix together with your hands or a fork, until you have a crumbly mixture. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Do not over mix, batter will be slightly lumpy.

3. Heat a griddle or pan to medium low. Coat with cooking spray. Drop batter onto heated skillet. Add a spoonful of the cinnamon streusel. Cook on the first side until bubbles begin to form, about 2-3 minutes. Carefully flip pancake over and add more cinnamon streusel. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Continue this process to make the rest of the pancakes.

Monte Cristo Sandwiches

Recipe from Life as a Lofthouse

Makes 2 large sandwiches (serves 4)

1/2 lb sliced Turkey
1/2 lb sliced Honey ham
2 tbs Butter
2 tbs Honey
2 cans (8 oz each) Crescent rolls
6-8 slices Muenster cheese
1/2 - 1 cup Raspberry Jam/Preserves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Unroll your crescent roll dough and seperate into 4 rectangles. Melt your butter and honey together and spread on top of rectangle dough. Bake them for 8 minutes or golden. Then let cool. After cooled, Place 1st crust on pan.. add 5 slices of turkey.. then top w 2nd crust.. add 5 slices of honey ham.. on top of ham add 3 slices muenster cheese. Place 3rd crust on top of cheese. Spread raspberry jam on top of 3rd crust and then place the 4th crust on top. Bake the sandwich for atleast 8-10 minutes or when the cheese has melted! ENJOY!!
NOTE: I can only fit 4 rectangles on one baking sheet so you will have to do this process twice.. but once you have made all the rectangles, and then built your sandwiches you can bake both sandwiches together for the final heating. :)

Buttermilk Biscuits

recipe from Mommy's Kitchen

1/2 cup cold butter (1 stick real butter)
2 1/4 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
additional Self-rising flour
(for counter surface to knead dough)
2 tablespoons melted butter

Cut butter with a sharp knife or pastry blender into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Sprinkle butter slices over flour in a large bowl. Toss butter with flour. Cut butter into flour with a pastry blender until crumbly and mixture resembles small peas. (I used my hands) Cover and chill 10 minutes. Add buttermilk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 3 or 4 times, gradually adding additional flour as needed. With floured hands, press or pat dough into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle (about 9 x 5 inches). Sprinkle top of dough with additional flour. Fold dough over onto itself in 3 sections, starting with 1 short end. (Fold dough rectangle as if folding a letter-size piece of paper.) Repeat entire process 2 more times, beginning with pressing into a 3/4-inch-thick dough rectangle (about 9 x 5 inches). Press or pat dough to 1/2-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface; cut with a 2-inch round cutter, and place, side by side, on a parchment paper-lined or lightly greased jelly-roll pan. (Dough rounds should touch.) Bake at 450° for 13 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven; brush with 2 Tbsp. melted butter.

** If you do not have self rising flour, you can make your own using all purpose flour. To make your own self rising flour, simply add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt for EACH Cup of all purpose flour.

** If you do not have buttermilk, you can make your own using vinegar or lemon juice. 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice plus enough milk to make 1 cup. Let mixture stand for 5 minutes before using.

Amish Breakfast Casserole

1 pound sausage
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 medium onion, chopped
1 ½ cups small curd cottage cheese
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ¼ cups shredded Swiss cheese
4 cups frozen shredded hash brown, thawed

In large skillet cook sausage and onion until sausage is cooked through. Drain. In a bowl combine remaining ingredients. Stir in sausage mixture. Transfer to a greased 13x9 baking dish. Bake, uncovered at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until set and bubble. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Buttermilk Syrup

recipe from Our Best Bites

¾ cup buttermilk
1 ½ cup sugar
1 stick real butter
2 TBS corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Combine buttermilk, sugar, butter, corn syrup and baking soda in large pot. (It may boil over) Bring ingredients to a boil and reduce heat to low (as long as it’s still bubbling). Cook stirring frequently for 8-9 minutes. When its done, it should take on a golden-brown color. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Buttermilk Pancakes

recipe from Our Best Bites

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 TBS sugar
1 TBS baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
3 cups buttermilk
½ cup milk
3 eggs, separated
1/3 cup (5 1/3 TBS) butter, melted

In a large pitcher, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another container, whisk together buttermilk, milk, and the egg yolks. With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Whisking constantly, add melted butter to the milk mixture. Pour this mixture into the pitcher and stir until just combined. When the flour has been combined but the batter is still a little lumpy, heat a non-stick skillet or griddle to medium-low heat. While the skillet is heating, gently (but completely) fold beaten egg whites into the batter. When the skillet is hot, spray it with a little non-stick cooking spray and then just pour the batter from the pitcher straight onto the hot skillet.

It takes a little adjusting to figure out where the temperature setting should be. If it's too hot, the bottoms will cook too fast and the insides will be raw, but if it's not hot enough, the outsides will get hard and dry. So the first round or two of pancakes might not be perfect, but just keep adjusting the temperature until you find the setting on your stove that works best for you.

Now...after you've poured the batter onto the skillet, keep an eye on the pancakes. When you start seeing bubbles, you're almost there. When the bubbles pop and leave a hole, it's time to flip. Gently slide a spatula/pancake turner/flipper (whatever you call it) under the pancake and quickly flip it to the other side. The other side won't take quite as long as the first side--just check here and there and when the pancakes are golden brown on both sides, you're good to go.

Big Al’s Bar-B-Q Sauce

1 cup ketchup
¼ cup unsulfured molasses
1 cup tomato sauce
2 tsp hickory flavored liquid smoke
½ cup and 2 TBS brown sugar
1 TBS butter
½ cup and 2 TBS red wine vinegar
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp chili powder
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp celery seed
½ tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

In a large saucepan over medium heat, mix together all ingredients. Reduce heat to low and simmer for up to 20 minutes. For thicker sauce, simmer longer, and for thinner, less time is needed. Sauce can also be thinned using a bit of water if necessary.

*we LOVE this BBQ sauce and use it for everything

Monterey Jack Chicken

1 lb chicken breasts
1 lb bacon
2 tomatoes, diced
BBQ sauce (Big Al’s BBQ Sauce)
Favorite cheese, we use cheddar and swiss

Marinade chicken in your favorite BBQ sauce over night. Then BBQ the chicken. While the chicken is on the grill cook bacon. I usually do mine in the microwave. Then when the chicken is done grilling, place on a cookie sheet. Place pieces of bacon on top of each chicken breasts, then tomatoes and your favorite cheese. We usually do Swiss on some and cheddar for the boys. Broil until cheese is melted. Serve.

**We served this at the Allen Family Reunion at Danny and Amber's house.

Tuna Salad Sandwich

1 can (12 oz) solid white tuna, drained
1/3 cup fat free plain yogurt
1 can (4oz) crushed pineapple, drained
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
¼ cup sweet pickle relish
¼ cup chopped pecans
1 tsp mustard
1/8 tsp cinnamon

In medium bowl combine all ingredients and serve on bread. You may add tomatoes and lettuce as well.

Texas Caviar

recipe from Home Run Recipes

2 cans black eyed peas
1 can shoe peg corn

Rinse and put in a bowl.

Add 1 can Rotel tomatoes

Chop and add the following:
1 green pepper
1 bunch green onions
3 jalapeno peppers
½ bunch cilantro
3 avocadoes (I add at the last minute)

Mix everything together with 8 oz Zesty Italian Dressing. Serve with Frito Scoops.

Honey Lime Ckn Enchiladas

Tammy found this recipe for me on one of her blogs, we tried it, and loved it!! If you like enchiladas, you NEED to try these!! I usually double the recipe to make a couple of pan fulls. Delicious both when you first make them and if you freeze them then cook them!

Honey Lime Enchiladas
1.5 pounds pork or chicken, cooked and shredded

Sauce:
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup lime juice
1 TBS chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder


Topping:
2 (10 oz) cans green enchilada sauce
equal parts mixed together of: Shredded Mozzarella cheese and Shredded Cheddar cheese
flour tortillas


Cook and shred chicken or pork ( I cook mine in the crock pot so it's nice and tender)


Mix together sauce ingredients, then add to shredded pork or chicken. Let the sauce soak into the meat for about 30 minutes.
Lightly spray 2 pans with non stick baking spray. ( I usually use one 9X13 and one 9X9, but may vary by how thick you stuff your enchiladas) Pour green enchilada sauce into pans to coat the entire bottom. Fill tortillas with shredded meat and desired amount of cheese. Roll and place in dish.
Pour remainder of enchilada sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle more cheese on top- don't be stingy. (Then cover and Freeze.)


Bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes. Then turn on broiler and place enchiladas near the top of oven. Let it broil until cheese is slightly brown and crispy.