Marvelous Mini Meatloaves

Another great recipe from the Kraft Food and Family Magazine, Fall 2005 issue. This recipe was great and easy to make. It was also the first recipe I've made in my new oven! I used the BBQ version of the recipe but you can make 4 different kinds of meatloaves depending on the seasoning, add-in choices and cheese you use. The link shows you the different variations. I give this recipe a 4

1lb ground beef
1 pkg(6 oz.) stuffing mix
1 cup water
1 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 cup BBQ sauce
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375. Mix meat, stuffing mix, 1 cup water and garlic powder until well blended. Press into 12 muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray. Make an indentation in the center of each with spoon.
2. Spoon BBQ sauce into center of each meatloaf.
3. Bake 30 min. or until meatloaves are cooked through. Top with cheese; continue baking 5 min. or until cheese is melted.
Makes 6 servings.

Catalina Chicken

Tonight's meal again comes from the Food and Family Magazine, holiday 2005 issue. It turned out great. The only alteration I made was on the sauce. I didn't want to have to use just 1/2 a packet of dry onion soup mix and I really didn't think that was enough sauce for 6 pieces of chicken so I used the whole packet and a full cup of the catalina dressing and apricot jam. Here's the recipe:

2 tsp. vegetable oil
6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1-1/2 lb.)
1/2 cup KRAFT CATALINA Dressing
1/2 cup apricot jam
1/2 pkg. dry onion soup mix (about 3 Tbsp.)

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 4 min. on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from skillet; place in 3-qt. baking dish.

MIX dressing, jam and soup mix in small bowl. Pour over chicken.

BAKE 45 min. or until chicken is cooked through.

Key Lime Margarita Pie

Tonight's meal was ordinary...just some shrimp, noodles and vegetables. But tonight I made a dessert! That's right. It is Tim's last day of classes for the semester so I thought this would be nice. It was awesome! This recipe was again from the Kraft Food and Family magazine summer 2005 issue. It has such an awesome lime flavor to it. The kool-aid really gives it a kick. I give this recipe a 5!

1-1/4 cups crushed pretzels
1/4 cup sugar
6 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lime juice
1 env. KOOL-AID Lemon Lime Unsweetened Soft Drink Mix
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

MIX crushed pretzels, sugar and butter. Press firmly onto bottom and up side of 9-inch pie plate.
Refrigerate until ready to fill.
COMBINE condensed milk, lime juice and drink mix in large bowl until well blended. Remove 1/2 cup whipped topping; set aside. Gently stir in remaining 2-1/2 cups whipped topping. Pour into crust.
FREEZE 6 hours or overnight. Let stand at room temperature 15 min. or until
pie can be cut easily. Garnish with reserved whipped topping before serving.
Store leftover pie in freezer.

We'll see if it makes it in the freezer for 6 hours. All I did was taste the mixture of the ingredients and I almost ate the whole thing right then.

Easy Feta Chicken Bake

Tonight's menu again came from the Kraft Food and Family magazine Winter 2006 issue. This recipe was basically part of an ad for Athenos Feta cheese so I'm not sure if it will be on the Kraft website or not. It was amazing! So much flavor on chicken! I definitely give this recipe a 5!

Prep: 10 min Total: 50 min.

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (I just used 4 chicken breasts)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice, divided
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup (4 oz) Crumbled Feta cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped red pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley (I just used dried)

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Arrange chicken in a 13x9-inch baking dish (I used 9x9 dish since I only used 4 pieces of chicken).

Drizzle with 1 Tbsp. of the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Top with feta cheese; drizzle with remaining 1 Tbsp. lemon juice.

Bake 35-40 min. or until chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle with red pepper and parsley.

Makes 6 servings.

I actually didn't read the last part of the directions closely so I actually cooked the chicken with the red pepper and parsley already on it and it turned out great!

Mini Ham and Cheese Calzones

Tonights dinner was once again taken from the Kraft Food and Family magazine, the winter 2006 issue. They were completely easy to make and turned out great! You can basically put whatever you want in them (I'm not a fan of ham). I give this recipe a 3.

Prep: 15 min. Total: 30 min.

1 can (11 oz.) refrigerated soft breadstick dough
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
12 slices Honey Ham cut in half
2 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400F. Unroll dough; separate into 12 breadsticks. Cut each breadstick crosswise in half; flatten dough to 2-inch width.

Spoon 1 tsp. cheese onto center of a ham piece. Fold ham piece over cheese to create a tight roll. Place ham roll near the end of a piece of breadstick dough, leaving a border. Fold dough over ham, pinching edges to seal. Repeat process for all ham pieces. Place calzones on baking sheet.
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake 12-15 min. or until golden brown. Makes 24 servings.

This recipe is for use in making party food but I used it as a dinner with adjustments. Instead of breadstick dough, I bought the french bread refridgerated dough and cut it in half to make 2 sandwiches. I then unfolded the dough and rolled the meat and cheese into it (I used chicken breast). You could also put in some vegetables. We used different mustards to dip the sandwiches in but you could use different things like ranch dressing or Dijon Mustard.

Chops-on-Top Pork & Stuffing Supper

Tonight's dinner was from the Food and Family magazine, the holiday 2005 issue. It turned out great! What's not to love? You get every food group (except dairy) all in one pan! Easy clean up too.
I give this recipe a 4

Prep time: 15 min. Total time: 35
min.

6 boneless center-cut pork chops. ( I used 4 and it worked just as well)
2 Tbsp. Honey Dijon Mustard
2 Tbsp. margarine (this is only to coat the pan while you cook the chops so I just used cooking
spray)
1/4 cup Catalina dressing
3 large carrots, thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 large red apples, unpeeled, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
1 pkg (6 oz.) Stuffing Mix for Chicken

1. Coat chops with mustard. Melt margarine in large deep nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add chops; cook 6 min. on each side or until browned and juices run clear. Remove from skillet; set
aside.
2. Add 1 1/2 cups water, dressing and carrots to skillet. Cook 6-8 min. or until carrots are tender. Stir in apples and stuffing mix.
3. Return chops to skillet; cover. Turn off heat. Let stand 5 min.

Makes 6
(or 4) servings.

Beef Rice Skillet

Last night I made a recipe out of the Kraft Food and Family magazine. Check out the link to sign up for this free magazine. There are tons of recipes and they're all easy! The best part is the magazine is FREE and it's not just a one issue type FREE. Anyway there's my plug for Food and Family. So this meal was really easy to make and I didn't have to cook anything ahead of time. I just put it all into the skillet and cooked it together. Here's the recipe:

1lb. beef steak, cut into strips
1 1/2 cups minute rice
1 can (14 1/2 oz.) beef broth
1/4 cup water
1 can (7oz.) sliced mushrooms, drained
2 cups thinly sliced carrots
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1. Spray large skillet with cooking spray. Add meat; cover. Cook on medium-high heat for 10 min. or until cooked through, turning meat over after 5 min.

2. Add liquids and rice; mix well. Bring to boil.

3. Stir in mushrooms, carrots and seasonings; cover. Bring to boil once more then turn off and let stand for 5 min.

Makes 4 servings.

Spaghetti Carbonara

Last night I made a recipe from the Everyday Food magazine I got in the mail. It turned out pretty good and was a good change from lugging out the big crockpot. Tim liked it...he had seconds, you know it's good when your husband has seconds of what you make. The recipe was in the March 2006 issue of the magazine. It's a spin off of the Martha Stewart magazine empire. It's actually a really good magazine, I got this one for free to see what it was like. I give this recipe a 3.

Here's the recipe:

Serves 4
Prep time: 30 min.
Total Time: 30 min.

1 lb spaghetti
8 oz bacon (8 slices). cut 1 in. thick crosswise ( I used turkey bacon)coarse salt and ground pepper (I just used regular salt and pepper)
3 large eggs
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
1/2 cup half and half

1. Set a large pot of water to boil (for pasta). In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat, stirring occansionally, until crisp, 8-12 min.; tranfer to a paper towel lined plate.

2. Salt boiling water generously; add pasta and cook until al dente, according to package instructions. (I'm guessing al dente means done).

3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together eggs, Parmesan, and half and half. Set aside.

4. Drain pasta, leaving some water clinging to it. Working quickly, add hot pasta to egg mixture. Add bacon; season with salt and pepper, and toss all to combine (heat from pasta will cook eggs).
Serve immediately, sprinkled with additional Parmesan cheese.

Chicken and Vegetable Chowder

This recipe comes from the Famous Brand Name recipe website and it turned out great! I figured I'd get one last hot winter meal in before it really gets warm outside....it went great with the bread bowls I made before. I give this recipe . For anyone who doesn't want to go through the link above, here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of potato soup
1 package (10 ounces) frozen broccoli florets, thawed
1 cup sliced carrots
1 jar (4-1/2 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup whole kernel corn
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/3 cup half-and-half

Slow Cooker Directions
1. Combine chicken, broth, soup, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, onion, corn, garlic and thyme in slow cooker; mix well.
2. Cover; cook on LOW 5 to 6 hours.
3. Stir in half-and-half. Cover; cook on HIGH 15 minutes or until heated through.

Variation Add 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Swiss or Cheddar cheese just before serving, stirring over LOW heat until melted.