Southwestern Chicken with Black Beans and Rice

Tonight I wanted something with a zing to clear out my stuffed nose. I found a recipe that would do just that from the Kraft Food and Family magazine, fall 2005 edition. This little beauty combines my favorites, chicken, black beans and gives it a kick with some hot sauce. I chose tabasco sauce and even though it said to add just 1/2 tsp. I added about a full tsp. to make it even hotter. I also used white rice instead of brown...only because I didn't have brown. I used turkey breast lunch meat instead of ham as well. I'll have to say the recipe wasn't half bad and did have that extra kick I was looking for. The other good thing is that it was a recipe made for 2 people. I give this recipe a 4.

1/4 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 oz. each)
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 can (14 oz.) stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 cup rinsed and drained canned black beans
3 slices OSCAR MAYER Thin Sliced Honey Ham, chopped
1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce
1 cup MINUTE Brown Rice, cooked

HEAT dressing in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken and onions; cook 4 min., turning chicken over after 2 min.

ADD tomatoes, beans, ham and pepper sauce. Reduce heat to low. Simmer 10 min. or until chicken is cooked through, turning chicken over after 5 min.

SERVE over hot cooked rice.

Tuna and Green Chile Melt

Tonight's meal came from the Pillsbury Bake off. This recipe was the $10,000 3-a day dairy award winner. I'm always a little wary when a recipe calls for tuna but this one turned out great! There was hardly even a tuna taste! I didn't use the low fat mayo and I skipped the egg yolk sesame seed step since I didn't have sesame seeds. I also didn't have cajun seasoning so I used Essence of Emeril which I figured would give the same POW effect! Definitely one I'll make again. I give this recipe a 5!

Ingredients:
1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle refrigerated reduced-fat buttermilk biscuits
1 egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon water
1 tablespoon sesame seed
1/3 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise or salad dressing
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1 can (4.5 oz) Old El Paso® chopped green chiles
2 cans (6 oz each) albacore tuna in water, drained
2 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese (8 oz)
Chopped tomato, if desired
Shredded lettuce, if desired

Preparation Directions:
1 . Heat oven to 350°F. Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray. Separate dough into 8 biscuits; place 2 1/2 inches apart on cookie sheet. With bottom of flat 2-inchdiameter glass or with fingers, press biscuits into 3 1/2-inch rounds with 1/4-inch rim around outer edge.
2 . In small bowl, beat egg yolk and water with fork until well blended. Brush over tops and sides of biscuits. Sprinkle each with sesame seed. Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until golden brown.
3 . Meanwhile, in medium bowl, mix mayonnaise, cilantro, salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning and green chiles. Stir in tuna; set aside.
4 . Set oven control to broil. Spoon about 1/4 cup tuna mixture into indentation in each biscuit; sprinkle each with 1/4 cup cheese. Broil 4 to 6 inches from heat 1 to 2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Carefully remove biscuits from cookie sheet. Garnish with tomato and lettuce.

Cream Cheese Squares

I made dessert again tonight.....I just love dessert. The recipe comes from the Kraft Food and Family magazine, summer 2006 issue. Very yummy and very easy to make! I only had one can of crescent rolls so I just made half the recipe in a 9x9 square pan. I give this recipe a 5!

2 cans (8 oz. each) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls, divided
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar, divided
2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Unroll 1 of the cans of crescent dough. Press onto bottom of greased 13x9-inch baking pan to form crust, firmly pressing seams together to seal.

BEAT cream cheese, vanilla, egg and 1/2 cup of the sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Spread onto crust.

UNROLL remaining can of crescent dough onto large sheet of wax paper. Pat out dough to form 13x9-inch rectangle, pressing seams together to seal. Invert over cream cheese mixture to form top crust; discard wax paper.

BAKE 30 to 35 min. or until golden brown. Combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon in small bowl; sprinkle over squares before cutting.

Beef Enchiladas

Tonight's meal came from the 10th Edition Betty Crocker cookbook. Great enchiladas! Probably not so great for you but you can take shortcuts to cut out the fat. I give this recipe a 5!

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup sour cream (I used light sour cream)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (I used dry)
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
2/3 cup water
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 can (4.5oz) chopped green chiles, drained
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
8 corn tortillas (I used flour)
Shredded cheese, sour cream and chopped onions, if desired

1. Heat oven to 350 F

2. In a 10-inch skillet, cook beef over medium heat 8-10 min., stirring occasionally, until brown; drain. Stir in onion, sour crea, 1 cup cheese, the parsley and pepper. Cover and remove from heat.

3. In 2-qt saucepan, heat bell pepper, water, chili powder, oregano, cumin, chiles, garlic and tomato sauce to boiling, stirring occasionally; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 5 min. Pour into ungreased 9 in. pie plate.

4. Dip eat tortilla into sauce in pie plate to coat both sides. Spoon about 1/4 cup beef mixture onto each tortilla; roll tortilla around filling. Place seam side down in ungreased 11x7 inch glass baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas.

5. Bake uncovered about 20 min. or until bubbly. Garnish with shredded cheese, sour cream and chopped onions.

Rosemary Pork Roast

Today's recipe came from Allrecipes.com. I was looking through our junk mail fliers and actually looked at the grocery ads. I saw that Smith's has pork loin on sale for 1.69/lb. Which is pretty good since the other ad was for Albertson's and their pork loin was on sale for 2.99/lb. I have never made pork loin before so I thought this would be a good time to try it. So I ran to Smith's bought their smallest pork loin which was 8 lbs and came home and cut it into 4 pieces to freeze, because come on there's only me and Tim and there's no way we're eating 8lbs of pork loin in one sitting. This recipe came out great! The pork was really tender. I baked it on a broiler pan and didn't have to touch it while it cooked. I give this recipe a 5! PS. on Allrecipes.com you can change the amount of servings you want to make and it will calculate the recipe out for you. Very handy. This recipe is for 6 servings.

INGREDIENTS:
3 pounds pork tenderloin
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons dried rosemary

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Rub the roast OR tenderloin liberally with olive oil, then spread the garlic over it. Place it in a 10x15 inch roasting pan and sprinkle with the rosemary. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 2 hours, or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).