Cheez-It Chicken

The Dish Washer and I had this several weekends ago, but I am just now getting around to posting it. I had lots of Cheez-Its left from the Cheesy Ranch Chex Mix that I made. This recipe from his aunt is in my handwritten cookbook, so I decided to give it a try. The Dish Washer really liked it. It wasn't bad to me, but think I actually liked it better the next day. Who knows why? Maybe it is because I had too much coating on it. I'm going to give the recipe as it is written. It isn't exactly user-friendly for just two people, so you can decide (like I had to) how much of each thing to use.

Cheez-It Chicken

10 pieces fillet of chicken breasts

4 c. crushed Cheez-Its

1 stick butter, melted

Wash chicken. Drain. Dip in melted butter, then in cracker crumbs. Place on foil-lined bake pan. Cover tightly with foil. Bake at 350 for 40-60 minutes, lowering heat to 300 after the first 30 minutes.

Chicken Wing Soup

Yesterday, mom treated us girls (plus My Buddy) to an afternoon with these ladies! This was the most incredible show that I have ever seen. If you ever get a chance to see it...YOU MUST! The Smiler for Movies *inside joke* in our group referred to them as The Rockers. So funny! And if the most popular Christmas show in New York City is the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, where they remind us of the TRUE meaning of Christmas, then we should all be shouting "Merry Christmas" instead of this "Happy Holidays" politically correct mumbo jumbo!

It was so much fun to get to spend the afternoon with family. I knew they would be joining me for lunch, and I had already planned to make soup. I also made up a batch of Symphony Brownies for our sweet treat. I knew the little kids wouldn't care for soup, so they snacked on Cheesy Ranch Chex Mix and M&Ms. I offered them grilled cheese sandwiches, but they were much more interested in Christmas tree ornaments and my new gingerbread house. We then ate popcorn and pink cotton candy at the show, so I don't guess they went hungry.

This is such a simple soup. Tossie is pregnant so she is who I worried about with the hot sauce, but she said I should have added more. I added the minimum, but add as much as your taste likes. Here are the details (sorry the picture isn't that appetizing...it's the only one I have):

Chicken Wing Soup

3 c. shredded cooked chicken (I just boiled in some water)
3 cans cream of chicken soup
6 c. milk
1 c. sour cream
1/4 - 1/2 c. hot sauce (I use Frank's Red Hot)

Mix all ingredients very well in a crockpot. Cook on low 3-4 hours until heated through.

I served with some tortilla chips because I happened to have them. They got a little too soggy for me, so next time I might use Frito's because they are thicker.

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Hey SuperSW, like the name of the soup?? (Another inside joke...I can't stop myself tonight!)

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

Last night, we had some friends over for dinner. Four of us went to high school together and it is always fun to catch up. Next time we see each other, it will likely be to celebrate the birth of a baby girl and we are so excited for this new little family. Of course, I had to try another recipe that I have never tried before but it was simple and seemed tasty. The Dish Washer and I enjoyed it! I cut the recipe for Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin out of the Southern Living April '08 issue. There are three ingredients: pork, steak seasoning and bacon! I had to use more bacon than the recipe called for because I think I cut my bacon in half the wrong way. Next time, I will cut in half longways and wrap.

I also made twice baked sweet potatoes, corn salad, Lady's green beans (do you think I like these, or what?) and ranch bread.

Our guests brought chips and salsa for an appetizer and key lime pie for dessert.

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

I first had these for Thanksgiving with The Dish Washer's family. We loved them, so I decided to make them for a dinner at our house. I always get a little nervous when cooking what could be considered "out of the ordinary" things for friends. You never know who will like what, but I went with it anyway. Maybe I should stick with something like Championship Potatoes?!?!

The recipe for Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes came from Kraft. You can use from the recipe whatever you would like. I chose to omit the nuts. After I added the cinnamon, I believe I remember my mother in law saying she didn't use that when she made them at Thanksgiving. It wasn't bad, but it tasted more cinnamony than I remembered. Is that even a word?

And don't be concerned with Neufchatel cheese...it's just the 1/3 less fat version of regular cream cheese. Who knew? Since company was coming, I just used the real deal because that is what I had in the fridge!

Ranch Bread

Last weekend, I was supposed to help with a couples baby shower. At the last minute, The Dish Washer and I got a great opportunity to go to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game. It was an offer too good to pass up and the soon to be parents are both Alabama fans, so we knew they would understand me bailing out at the last minute. Unfortunately, I had already bought all the necessary items that I was asked to bring. I was asked to make corn salad and bring BBQ bread. Since I didn't go, I had tons of stuff to make corn salad and tons of BBQ bread. This will explain to you why I have been making the corn salad so much this week. Don't worry! My mom came to the rescue and made the corn salad and bought bread to take in my place. Thanks again for doing that!

I was able to give some of the bread away yesterday to one of the families that my company worked with and still had plenty to be able to make bread for our dinner. I didn't want to give just a plain piece of bread, so I made Ranch Bread. The picture above is before it baked and the picture below is after.

Ranch Bread

1 loaf of bread (French or, in this case, BBQ bread)
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix (the dry stuff)

Mix butter and dressing mix well. Spread over bread and broil until browned.

Cheesy Ranch Chex Mix

I had so much leftover chex mix from when I made the White Trash, so I decided to try another easy snack that I could turn into a gift. This one is right off of the back of the box. Cheesy Ranch Chex Mix really can be made however you want. I did half rice chex and half corn chex. The recipe also calls for pretzel twists but I prefer pretzel sticks. As you can see from the picture below, I packaged it up in airtight containers. I don't know how airtight they really are, but these cute things came from the Dollar Tree so this is another economical gift!

I still have a good bit left, so I plan to bag it up for two of the cutest three year olds that I know who will be coming to visit me this weekend. I know My Buddy and May-May like to have these kinds of snacks. Instead of the store bought, they'll have to settle for the homemade variety at Diney's house!

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Isn't that Gingerbread house the cutest?! I won it last night at our office's dirty Santa. When you "ring" the doorbell, the gumdrops light up and "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" plays. I love it!

Cookies in a Jar

Here's another easy gift idea:

Several years ago, I cut this idea out of The Montgomery Advertiser. I made this about 3 years ago, and it turned out to be a success. One of the people I gave it to was The Dish Washer's Granny. She never made them, but always saved the jar. Last year before she died, my mother in law decided to bake them. By three years later, the sugars at the bottom were rock solid so she had to replace them with fresh. You may want to give this as a gift to folks you know will bake them right away.

Country Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 c. white sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. rolled oats
1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips*
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)
3 dashes cinnamon (optional)

Directions:
In a 1 quart or 1 liter jar; layer the ingredients in the order given. Pack down the jar after each addition. Attach a tag to the ribbon with the following instructions-

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, cream together 3/4 c. softened butter with 2 eggs and 1 tsp. vanilla. Add the entire contents of the jar and mix by hand until combined. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto an unprepared cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

*I always use milk chocolate instead of semisweet chips in all of my recipes.


This is the jar before I added the topper. As you can see, it is very packed. I wouldn't have been able to get nuts in this jar if I tried, so I ended with the chocolate chips in the above recipe. I thought I had some burlap that I was going to use as a topper with some red raffia ribbon, but I couldn't find it when I went looking. I must have used it already to wrap another gift. Luckily, I save all of my scrap fabrics and this was some from when I re-covered my kitchen table chairs. I thought it would pass for this Christmas season.