Bacon-Wrapped BBQ Apple Chicken

Oh. My. Yummy!  This is definitely one of those meals that ranks super high on the tastiness and crowd-pleasing scales, and super low on the amount of time and effort required.  Gotta love that!

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts 
• 1 cup BBQ sauce, I LOVE Sweet Baby Rays 
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ⅛ cup lemon juice, fresh or from a bottle 
• 5 small apples, peeled and chopped
• 8 slices bacon 

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, combine BBQ sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice and peeled/chopped apples.

2. Wrap each chicken breast with two slices of bacon and place in a greased slow cooker.

3. Pour BBQ-apple mixture over chicken and cook in a crock pot on low for 6-8 hours or until chicken is done. (I cooked mine on high for 4 hours and it turned out excellent as well!)

Easy and Creamy Corn Chowder

Creamy Corn Chowder Recipe by Our Best Bites 

• 2 Tbsp. butter 
• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour 
• 1 c. water 
• 2 1/2 c. milk (skim or 1% work just fine and lighten it up considerably) 
• 2 regular-sized chicken bouillon cubes, 1 Knorr chicken bouillon cube, or 2 tsp. chicken base 
• 1/2 lb. bacon (optional) 
• 1 small onion, minced 
• 2 red potatoes, diced into small cubes 
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 can corn, drained or about 1 1/2 C frozen fresh corn
• Salt and pepper to taste 
• A few dashes of hot sauce (like Tabasco or Cholula) 

Fry bacon until crisp. In the meantime, melt butter over low heat in a soup pot. When melted, add flour to make a roux and whisk until it comes together in a little ball. Add water and whisk until completely combined and there are no lumps. Add milk and chicken base or bouillon and bring to a simmer. Add potatoes, onions, and garlic, and simmer (but don’t boil!), stirring very frequently, for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add crumbled bacon and corn and heat through. Add a few drops of hot sauce and then salt to taste. The reason why I don’t have an exact measurement is that while the soup REALLY needs salt, bacon also really differs in its saltiness, so it can be super easy to make this soup waaaaay too salty. Start with about 1/4 tsp., give it a few minutes, and then add more if you need it. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with extra bacon and/or cheese if you want. Because, you know, if there’s anything a perfectly healthy bowl of soup (it’s only 3 Weight Watchers points!) needs, it’s some extra bacon and cheese! Serves 6-8.

Chocolate Waffles with Berry Sauce

We like to make special breakfasts on General Conference weekends, and we tried this new and delicious recipe today!  It was a hit as breakfast, but you could easily turn these waffles into a dessert by topping with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. 

This recipe comes from Our Best Bites.  Click here for full instructions, photos, tips, etc. 
 
Double Chocolate Waffles

• 2/3 C flour 
• 1/3 C corn starch 
• 1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 1/2 t baking powder 
• 1/2 t baking soda 
• 1/4 t salt 
• 1/8 t cinnamon 
• 6 T granulated sugar 
• 1 C milk 
• 1/3 C vegetable oil 
• 1 egg 
• 1 1/2 t vanilla 
• 1/2 C mini chocolate chips 

Berry Sauce & Topping

• 3 C berries, fresh or frozen, diced if large 
• 1/4 C raspberry or strawberry jam
• 2 T hot tap water 
• optional: powdered sugar to taste, sweetened whipped cream, or cocoa powder for dusting

Start by making the berry sauce since it can sit while you make the waffle batter. Combine jam and warm water and whisk until combined. Add in the berries and gently stir until combined. Gently smash with a fork to break up larger berries an leave as chunky as you like. Depending on the sweetness of the berries, you can add a little powdered sugar if you’d like. I don’t add any; I think the jam adds plenty and I prefer it on the tart side to balance the sweetness of the waffles. However my husband likes it sweeter, so go with what you like! You might want to try the sauce on the waffles first and then just sprinkle powdered sugar on top if you’d like it sweeter. Set berry sauce aside and make waffle batter.

Waffles: Preheat a waffle iron. Combine flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon. Use a whisk to combine. In a separate bowl whisk together sugar, milk, oil, egg, and vanilla. Whisk for a minute so it gets a little frothy. Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry a little at a time, whisking to combine. Just stir until they’re combined and don’t overmix. Stir in the chocolate chips. This is a pretty thin batter, so don’t be expecting something that looks like a pancake batter. It’s supposed to be thin. Lightly butter waffle iron. I have one with non-stick finish and I actually don’t grease mine at all. You may not need to. Place batter in and cook according to your iron. A tip: Instead of pouring batter, use a ladle and spoon it in, making sure to stir the batter each time. Otherwise the chocolate chips won’t be distributed. It’s a little harder to tell when chocolate waffles are done because you can’t go so much on color. Go by smell and touch and realize that they will crisp up after they come off the iron.

Bran Muffins

I have been looking for a good bran muffin recipe, and found this one in Josi Kilpack's culinary mystery novel, "Rocky Road."  She called this recipe Mormon Muffins and said it came from The Greenery Restaurant in Ogden, UT.  We LOVE these!

• 2 cups boiling water 
• 5 teaspoons baking soda 
• 1 cup shortening 
• 2 cups sugar 
• 4 eggs 
•  1 quart buttermilk 
• 5 cups flour 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 4 cups All-Bran cereal 
•  2 cups bran flakes 
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped 

Add soda to boiling water and set aside. Whip shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs slowly; mix well. Add buttermilk, flour, and salt; mix again. Very slowly add soda water. Gently fold cereals and walnuts into the mix. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight or longer - this is a MUST.

In the morning, spoon 1⁄8 cup batter into greased muffin tins. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool 5 minutes.

The batter will last one week, covered and refrigerated, so you can bake fresh muffins every morning if you wish.  Or, we have found that these muffins freeze really well, so you can bake all the batter at once and then freeze the leftovers.  Pull out 1 or 2 for breakfast each morning. Coupled with a fruit smoothie this makes a delicious breakfast!

The recipe says it yields 3 dozen muffins, but it was more than twice that for me.

Beef and Broccoli

How is it possible that we haven't added a recipe for Beef and Broccoli on here yet?  We love beef and broccoli, and the recipe I use is from the "Essential Mormon Celebrations" cookbook by Julie Badger Jensen.  A basic, easy, delicious version of restaurant Beef and Broccoli.  We love this meal!

 
Ingredients:

• 1 pound top round beef steak
• 1/4 c. soy sauce
• 2 T. sugar
• 1/4 c. white grape juice or apple juice
• 2 T. cornstarch
• 1 c. water
• 2 C. fresh broccoli florets, stems removed
• 4 T. vegetable oil or olive oil, divided
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. sesame oil

Directions:

Cut beef into 2-inch strips; set aside.

Combine soy sauce, sugar, juice cornstarch and water in a small bowl.  Set aside. 

In a large skillet, stir-fry broccoli in 2 T. oil for about 5 minutes over medium heat.  Do not overcook.  Place  broccoli in another dish. 

Pour remaining oil in the same skillet and heat on medium-high heat.  Add beef steak and cook until well browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. 

Add garlic and cook until fragrant, not more than 1 minute. 

Pour soy sauce mixture over meat and cook until slightly thickened.

Stir in sesame oil. Remove from heat. 

Stir in broccoli. 

Serve over hot steamed rice.  Makes 8 servings.

At-home Rotisserie Chicken

We enjoy this super easy and inexpensive way to make a yummy dinner on a busy day - make your own rotisserie chicken in the crock pot!  It's tasty, everyone loves it, and takes me less than 10 minutes.  The best part?  You will probably have lots of leftover meat to use in another meal.  We're making chicken enchiladas tomorrow with the leftovers.  

• 1 broiler/fryer chicken (3-4 lbs.) 
• 2 Tbsp. paprika 
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper 
• 1 1/2 tsp. onion powder 
• 3 cloves of diced garlic (or 2 Tbsp. garlic powder) 
• 1 tsp. Kosher salt 
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper 

Combine all ingredients together in a small bowl and add water by the teaspoon until a paste forms. Stir until well combined. Place 4 tinfoil balls in bottom of crock pot for the chicken to rest on, so it won't stick to the bottom, and lightly spray inside of crock pot with cooking spray. Rub entire chicken with spice rub and place in the crock pot, on top of the foil balls. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or on high for 3 1/2 – 4 1/2 hours.

Creamy Chicken Lasagna

Make this.  You will thank me later.  And so will everyone you serve it to.

 

Ingredients

• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts 
• 1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained, chopped 
• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese with a TOUCH OF PHILADELPHIA, divided (Plain mozzarella can work, too.)
• 1/2 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese 
• 1/2 cup chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes 
• 2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened 
• 1 cup milk 
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 
• 1/4 cup tightly packed fresh basil, chopped, divided 
• 12 lasagna noodles, cooked 

Directions
HEAT oven to 350°F.
COMBINE chicken, artichokes, 1 cup mozzarella, Parmesan and tomatoes. Beat cream cheese, milk and garlic powder with mixer until well blended; stir in 2 Tbsp. basil. Mix half with the chicken mixture.
SPREAD half the remaining cream cheese mixture onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; cover with 3 noodles and 1/3 of the chicken mixture. Repeat layers of noodles and chicken mixture twice. Top with remaining noodles, cream cheese mixture and mozzarella; cover.
BAKE 25 min. or until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining basil. Let stand 5 min. before cutting to serve.