Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin

While reading another blog today I came across this recipe for potatoes au gratin. This may be one of my favorite ways to eat a potato and her pictures were making me drool. These are on the menu for tomorrow night so I'm a little shy about posting early but look at those pictures! How could it go wrong? If you haven't read the Pioneer Woman's other recipes, I encourage you to check some others out, she also has a great blog to read! Let me know if you make the potatoes too!

Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin

Brown Rice

Ingredients
1 stick butter
1 cup long grain white rice
1 small can mushrooms (optional--we're opting out)
1 can Beef Consomme
1 can French Onion soup

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in an oven-safe baking dish. Bake at 350 for 60 minutes; stir and serve! So simple and so delicious!


It's on the menu for tomorrow evening and thought we'd share! Enjoy!

Salsa Sirloin Salad

This is one of our e-mealz from last week and it was delicious!
Ingredients:
1/2 lb to sirloin steak (pound to tenderize)
1/2 bag mixed salad greens
1/2 can chili beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1/2 large tomato, diced
1/4 cup salsa
1/2 cup oil&vinegar salad dressing (we used Italian)
package of garlic bread
Directions:
season steak with chili powder & garlic salt. Cook steak over a skillet on medium heat; 5 minutes per side or until desired doneness. Carve steak into thin strips. Combine salad greens, beans, corn to your liking. Mix salsa and dressing in a seperate bowl. You can either pour over the entire salad or serve individually. Top each with the steak strips and tomato. Serve with garlic bread and enjoy!

Bacon & Cheese BBQ Chicken

I know what you're thinking. Two recipes in one week?! Well I felt the need to share this recipe because I made it last night and it's delicious. The original recipe came from AllRecipes (which I adore). Here's the original and then I'll tell you how I modified it:
Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 Tbl. vegetable oil
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
2 Tbl. prepared mustard
4 slices bacon
2 cups shredded cheese
Directions:
Pour oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place chicken breasts in the oil and cook but don't brown.
Place chicken in a baking dish and cover with BBQ sauce and mustard. Then wrap each chicken breast with a slice of bacon. Cover with cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

Here's what I did:
I did not pre-cook the chicken. I skipped the skillet business as someone suggested on the website (which is why that site is so great!)
I mixed the BBQ sauce and mustard in a small bowl before pouring over the chicken. Also, I did 1/3 cup of BBQ sauce instead because we like our BBQ sauce around here. I also used Sweet Baby Ray's Honey & Brown Sugar BBQ sauce but use whatever you like. Before I poured that mixture on the chicken I seasoned each chicken breast with a little bit of Lawry's season salt. Just a bit.
I added about 3 tablespoons of butter, melted over the chicken too. Then I baked just the chicken with the sauce for 30 minutes (at 350).
When the 30 min. was up I added the bacon (I would've liked to use real bacon slices but I used the microwave-ready bacon since that's what I had on hand).
Then I put a slice of provolone and a 1/2 slice of colby jack on each chicken breast because I didn't have any shredded cheddar.
I put the dish back in the oven for 10 minutes to let the flavors meld and the cheese melt.
If I had used "real" bacon I would've cooked it along with the chicken like the original recipe but the other stuff worked just fine.
I've tried BBQ chicken in the crockpot before and I can never get it to stay juicy. Plus the sauce reduces and doesn't taste good to me. This dish was different--the chicken was incredibly juicy and the flavors all tasted well! I think I should've just used a full slice of colby-jack instead of the provolone but it was okay. I will definitely be making this again and I'll probably experiment with different cheeses and sauces.
Hope you enjoy it!

Valentine's Crockpot Cake

I stole this photo from CJane (along with the recipe). I tried out the recipe as my Valentine's gift for Nolan. I did take a picture of my own but my camera is not so great. Just imagine it looked like this with a scoop of ice cream, sitting in a cute I [heart] You bowl from Target.

Here's the recipe:
1 pkg chocolate cake mix
1 pkg chocolate pudding mix
1 8 oz. container sour cream
4 eggs
1 cup water
3/4 cup veggie oil
1 cup chocolate morsels
Directions:
Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl by hand then transfer to crockpot. Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours.

Nolan said he liked it a lot--plus we added ice cream. The mixture of cool vanilla ice cream with the warm chocolate cake was perfect! I think I'll add more chocolate or perhaps add some caramel drizzle next time. It tasted good but not the exact amount of richness I was expecting/wanting. It was my first experience with dessert in the crockpot and it all turned out perfectly fine!

Chicken Divan

I have no idea what the 'divan' part means but my Grandma always called it that so I do too. It's delicious! Enjoy!
Ingredients

• 2 large or 3 medium-small boneless chicken breasts
• 2 pkgs. frozen broccoli florets (10 oz. each; you can use one; depends on preference)
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
• 1/2 cup real mayonnaise
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• bread crumbs (I set out 2-3 pieces of bread to dry out and then tear them apart)
• grated parmesan cheese

Directions

• Place chicken in baking dish with 1 cup of water and some butter.
• Bake chicken at 350 for 1 hour then allow to cool and cut into smaller pieces
• Prepare broccoli and set aside to cool lightly
• In large bowl mix other ingredients until well blended.
• Put a bit of the mixture on the bottom of a baking dish. Arrange chicken and broccoli in layers. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top.
• Sprinkle with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.
• Bake at 350 for 30-45 min. or until bubbly and brown.

This dish can be made the day before, refrigerate and bake just before serving.

*I've also made it by combining the chicken and broccoli in the soup mixture without layering. It tastes the same and saves time!

Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 6 cups water
• 7 chicken bouillon cubes
• 32 oz. hashbrowns (you can use real potatoes too)
• 2 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese (you can use light)
• 1 lb. ground sausage
• 1 tsp. dill weed

Instructions

• brown sausage with garlic & onions
• mix all ingredients in large stock pot or crock pot until cream cheese is melted
• serve warm

This recipe is from my good friend Jill. It's delicious! Since she's told me about it, I've tried to make it at least every other week. Great for the cold season! Enjoy!