Category: Recipes

Recipes

Alice Springs Chicken

Nicole




On one of my many visits to Amy’s finer things I came across this recipe. Oh I couldn’t wait to try it! Chicken, Bacon, Cheese!!! YES Please!! All of my favorite things in one pan… Add a pizza to the pan and I would have had everything I loved in one.  HAHAHHA!

When I first realized that this recipe has a honey mustard sauce I was a little leery. I like honey mustard, but I wasn’t sure I liked it THAT much, but I decided to give it a try anyway, and wow am I happy I did!!

This recipe is very easy to make. Dinner was literally done in less than 1 hour. I followed the directions exactly the way they are listed with no problems at all.
Dinner was phenomenal. I can’t tell you how many compliments I received. We had this at a get together of a few friends and it was a HIT!

The honey mustard, chicken, bacon, and cheese combination works incredibly well together. The chicken was tender enough to not need a knife, and the flavor was the die for. If you want to make a really good impression as a cook, and you are someone who likes honey mustard this is a recipe for you!!
 Ingredients:
  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness (each breast was 6oz. for me)
  • Seasoning salt
  • 6 slices bacon, cut in half 
  • ¼ cup regular mustard
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
  • 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
  • 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
  1. Sprinkle and rub the chicken breasts with seasoning salt.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp.  Remove bacon. Do not discard grease. Sauté chicken in the bacon grease for 3 to 5 minutes per side, or until browned.  Move chicken to a 9×13 pan.
  3. In a small bowl, mix the mustard, honey, mayo and dried onion flakes.  Apply the honey mustard to each breast, then layer with mushrooms, bacon, and shredded cheese.
  4. Bake in a 350° oven for 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and chicken is done. 

Original Recipe Source


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Recipes

Silhouette Thanksgiving Ideas! @silhouetteam

Nicole
I know I am jumping the gun a bit, but I am already thinking ahead to Thanksgiving and how I want to decorate the house. Taking down the Halloween decorations will be so sad if we don’t have something to go up before all the Christmas decorations go up. I hate the transition time between holidays. The house always looks naked.

I have decided that one of the many things I would like to do it make a Thanksgiving themed garland to hang over my dining room table. Not only will it make a nice decoration leading up to Thanksgiving, but it will also look wonderful while everyone is eating Thanksgiving dinner around the dinner table.


I have been using the Silhouette machine to make small leaves out of card paper check them out. Aren’t they cute? When I get the garland made and hung up I will post pictures of it. This afternoon I will be heading to the hobby store to find some ribbon to attach all the leave to. I have no doubt it will turn out cute!

I also made this cute little Thanksgiving box. I am thinking about placing one at each persons dinner place setting with nuts, or candy, or something else in it as a take home and a thank you for coming. What do you think? Cute huh!

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Recipes

Pepper Steak

Nicole


This is honestly one of the best recipes I have made in a long time. Tops on my list that’s for sure. The flavor is fantastic! It’s super simple to make and makes a beautiful presentation, certainly restaurant quality and more than anything you get a lot of bang for your buck!!

I really didn’t know if my family would enjoy this recipe. My aunt makes a killer pepper steak which my husband adores so I wasn’t sure he would be too happy with this recipe. You know it’s one of those things when you love something it’s hard to be excepting of something similar.

He was over the moon for this recipe and actually had seconds because he loved it so much. The worst part of making this recipe was taking the time to cut the meat nice and thin. The original recipe calls for round steak. I actually ended up using roast meat because I got it on sale and planned on using the other half of the roast for something different so it worked out well for us. 

Ingredients:
  • 16 oz. round roast
  • 4 tsp. plus 3 tbsp. soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp. rice wine
  • 3 tsp. cornstarch
  • 5 tsp. vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion, sliced into thin strips
  • 1 green bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper

Directions:

  1. Slice meat into thin slices with the grain. Cut each strip across the grain about 1″ long so you have small thin slices. Place in a bowl and add 4 tsp. of soy sauce, 1 tbsp. of rice wine, 1 tsp. cornstarch and black pepper.
  2. In a small bowl, mix 3 tbsp. soy sauce, 1 tbsp. water and 2 tsp. cornstarch. Set aside.
  3. Heat the skillet on medium high heat. Swirl in 1 tbsp. oil and add the beef spreading evenly. Cook undisturbed for 20 seconds letting the beef brown. Using a spatula, stir meat, cooking another 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
  4. Add remaining 2 tsp. of oil to the skillet, add peppers and onions and cook about 2 minutes. Return beef to the skillet, add the sauce and stir fry about 30 seconds until slightly thickened.

Original Recipe Source

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Recipes

Olive Garden’s Gnocchi With Spicy Tomato and Wine Sauce

Nicole


I had never had gnocchi before, but I have heard so many great things about it that I wanted to try it. I was at World Market a few weeks ago and came across it so I decided to pick up a bag.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I knew gnocchi was potato pasta so to speak, but I wasn’t sure if I would like it. I thought it was really great and I thought this recipe was excellent. The only thing I would do differently next time is I would go low salt everything. Low salt broth and I would not add salt to the gnocchi while it’s cooking. In the end everything was just extremely salty to all of us.

Other than cutting out as much salt as possible this recipe is a true winner and something I look forward to making again in the future. I have no idea if it’s even close to Olive Garden’s Recipe but its great regardless! 

Ingredients:
  • 1 lb gnocchi  (potato dumplings)
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 6 fresh garlic cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup sweet creamy butter, cut into 1 inch cubes, chilled
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (to taste)
  • salt, to taste
  • freshly crushed black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Sauce Preparation:.
  1. Place the olive oil, garlic and chili flakes in a cold pan. On medium heat, stir and cook the olive oil, garlic, chili flakes until garlic turns slight golden brown.
  2. To this mixture, add the white wine and chicken broth. Simmer about 10 minutes.
  3. Reduce the wine and broth by half, add the tomatoes and basil, and continue to simmer for 30 minutes.
  4. Puree the sauce in blender with the butter and Parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Gnocchi Preparation:

  1. Prepare pasta when sauce is complete. Use a large pot to boil pasta. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until they float (approximately 3 minutes or 160 degrees F internal temperature).
  2. Remove pasta from boiling water and lightly mix with sauce.
  3. Top with Mozzarella cheese if desired. 

Original Recipe Source

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