Cheese-It Chicken Strips

Cheese-It Chicken Strips

1/2 cup Cheese-Its, finely crushed
2 large chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into strips
2-3 tbsp oil

1. Put oil in frying pan over medium heat.
2. Put Cheese-It's in gallon zip-loc bag, followed by chicken strips, and shake until coated.
3. Place strips on frying pan and cook 3-4 minutes each side, until no longer pink in the center.
4. Serve hot and crispy.

Notes: This feeds 2-3 people, depending on how large the original breasts were. If your frying pan is small, cook in two separate batches. To crush the Cheese-Its, I put them in the gallon zip-loc and take a rolling pin to them until completely crushed. You can obviously add other seasonings, but the Cheese-Its already offer good flavor! We like eating these with corn on the cob.

Recipe Origination: It's your basic fried chicken recipe but instead of making a coating mix, I used stale Cheese-Its because I hate throwing food away. (Most types of crackers - stale or not - will probably work. I've made it with Goldfish, too.)

Sausage Kabobs

Sausage Kabobs

1 sausage link (that Kielbasa stuff), cut into 8 equal pieces
1 sweet potato, peeled, washed and cut into 1" cubes
1 apple, peeled, washed and cut into 1" cubes (Granny Smith works well)
4 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp honey
1/8 cup packed brown sugar
4 bamboo skewers

1. Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees.
2. Heat water to boiling in a medium sized sauce pan.
3. Add sweet potatoes, reduce heat, cover and cook for 6 minutes.
4. Add apples and recover, cooking for 6 more minutes, or until potatoes are slightly tender.
5. Combine butter, honey and brown sugar in a gallon sized ziploc bag.
6. Add potatoes, apples and sausage to bag and mix around. Let marinate for at least one hour.
7. Thread all food on skewers and place on a foil lined baking sheet. If any marinade remains, baste the kabobs. Bake for 8 minutes or until everything is sizzling.

Notes: If you overcook the sweet potatoes, they will mash into pieces while marinating, making it impossible to thread them on skewers.

Recipe Origination: I made it up, though the marinade is similar to one I've used with ham kabobs.

Stuffed Chicken

Stuffed Chicken

2 large chicken breasts, trimmed and pounded evenly to 1/4" thickness
2-4 thin slices ham
4 slices cheese (swiss or provolone work well)
4 oz cooked, seasoned wild rice (more if you want extra to serve along side)

1. Place ham slices on top of each chicken breast.
2. Place 1 cheese slice on each chicken breast.
3. Place half of rice on each chicken breast.
4. Fold over each chicken breast to make a "pocket," using toothpicks if necessary to keep it together.
5. Pan fry on medium heat for 1 minute per side.
6. Place one slice cheese on each breast and bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes, or until chicken is entirely cooked through. (If you didn't do a good job pounding, you may have to cook it longer.)

Notes: We forgot to season these the first time we made them, and they had great flavor as is. Obviously you can add seasonings, but I recommend holding off on salt, as the cheese and ham already have quite a bit in them. The key is really even pounding to allow for even cooking. You don't want to find out halfway through eating that the very center is still pinkish!

Recipe Origination: I'm sure something like this is in several cookbooks, but this was a made-up recipe using what we already had in the house.

DIY Ice Cream

DIY Ice Cream

1/2 cup milk (I recommend whole)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup rock salt
2-3 cups ice
1 quart zip loc bag
1 gallon zip loc bag

1. Add sugar, milk, cream and vanilla to the quart zip loc bag and seal.
2. Add ice and salt to the gallon zip loc bag.
3. Place the sealed quart bag into teh gallon bag and seal the gallon bag.
4. Gently rock the bag from side to side for 10 minutes, or until the ice cream has solidified. (Pretend you're milking a cow...it works, I swear.)
5. Remove the quart bag, rinse off any salt residue, and enjoy the contents.

Notes: This ice cream is gooooooooood. Technically this makes 2 servings, but I can certainly eat it all at once :) If you double the recipe, it's best to double the set up as well. Putting twice the ingredients in the same size bag could result in the ice cream not freezing.

Recipe Origination: The chemistry department at Warren.

BLT Bruschetta

BLT Bruschetta

1 loaf Italian crusty bread (the skinny loaf)
8 slices cooked bacon
2 roma tomatoes, sliced very thin
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees
2. Cut bread into 16 slices and place on a foil lined baking sheet.
3. Place tomato slices on bread.
4. Place half a slice of bacon on each slice of bread.
5. Sprinkle cheese over each slice of bread.
6. Bake for 7-10 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbling.
7. Serve warm or cold.

Notes: If you have extra time on hand, you can lightly oil each slice prior to putting any toppings on. Also, you can sprinkle each with spices, like garlic powder or oregano. They taste great without the extras though :)

Recipe Origination: I made it up as an appetizer for a party. It was a success!

Easy Punch

Easy Punch

1 2-liter Sprite or 7-Up
1 2-liter Ginger-ale (I have a home-made recipe I'll share sometime)
1 quart raspberry sherbert

1. Scoop raspberry sherbert into punch bowl.
2. Pour Sprite and Ginger-ale over top.
3. Serve and wait for people to ask how you made it.

Notes: I'd say this recipe serves about 12-15 people. It can easily be cut in half and doubled. I'm not a big pop drinker, but I still love it!

Recipe Origination: I believe this is Kathy Delzotti's recipe, or at least what I remember of it when she told me one time.