Baked Jalapeno Poppers

Couldn't wait to make these poppers....Thanks SkinnyTaste!!  First, I love Jalapeno Poppers & second, they are LOW-FAT since they are baked! Never thought of baking them before. When I was home for Father's Day weekend and Dad's Birthday with my family, we decided to try them out. Make sure you don't over cook them if you wan't them a little bit crunchy & it called for Panko crumbs and we used just regular bread crumbs...not sure if that makes any difference.

Ingredients:

12 Jalapeno Peppers; sliced in half lengthwise

4/5 oz. Light Cream Cheese

5 medium Scallions, green part only & sliced

2 oz. shredded low fat Sharp Cheddar

1/2 cup Egg Whites; beaten

1/2 cup Panko Crumbs

1/8 tsp Paprika

1/8 tsp Garlic Powder

1/8 tsp Chili Powder

Salt and Pepper

Spray oil

WHAT TO DO:

• Preheat oven to 350 F
• Cut peppers in half lengthwise and take out all the seeds and membrane
• Combine cream cheese, cheddar and scallions in a medium bowl
• In another bowl, combine panko, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, & salt and pepper to taste
• Fill the peppers with cheese mixture

• In a small bowl, whisk your egg whites
• Dip peppers in the egg whites & then in the season mixture to coat

• Spray a baking pan with oil spray and then line the peppers up on your pan
• Lightly spray the tops of the peppers with the oil spray
• Bake in oven for about 20-25 minutes, until golden!

Remove & serve while HOT!

Strawberry Salad

I absolutely love this salad especially for the summer! My friend, Amie, made this one night & now I am constantly making it for ourselves and for other people. It is a light, fresh salad & you can add other ingredients to it to make it fit your style!



Half eaten salad :)

*Well the best part is....You mix however much you would like of each ingredient

Ingredients:
Romaine lettuce
Fresh Baby Spinach
Fresh Argula (Optional...I added this on my own)
Fresh Strawberries; quartered
Strawberry Vinaigrette/Dressing (I buy this at Super Target all the time, but of course I can't remember the brand & I gave to my neighbor so she would know what to buy)



What to do:

• Clean and rinse off all the the ingredients (except for the dressing of course)
• Cut up strawberries and set aside
• Mix all your greens in a bowl (as much as you desire)
• Add in your strawberries and toss the salad in the strawberry vinaigrette

Herb & Wine Chicken

This recipe is so simple and you can either make it right away or put all the ingredients in a freezer bag & save it for another day! Perfect chicken to go with our green beans & Strawberry salad.

Ingredients:

1 cup Red Wine

2/3 cup Vegetable Oil

2 Cloves Garlic; minced

1/2 Lemon; thinly sliced

2 Tbsp. Minced Parsley

1 tsp. Thyme

1 tsp. Basil

3 to 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

Salt and Pepper to taste

What To Do:

• Preheat oven to 350 F
• In a baking dish, combine your ingredients except for the chicken
• Put chicken in liquid mixture and flip a couple of times to coat both sides of the chicken
• Bake for 25 min. or until chicken breasts are cooked all the way through

**If you want to freeze this so you can pull it out for another day, place all your ingredients in a freezer bag and lay flat in freezer. Take out the night before to put in fridge to thaw out. Bake for 25 min. at 350 F.

Squash Chips

I saw this recipe for Squash chips. The picture made me want to make them right away & plus, I am always looking for other ways to cook vegetables. Although I didn't care for these as much, I said I would post everything I tried. If you find this recipe to fit your style or you change anything, let me know how it turns out...I would love other suggestions!

Ingredients:

Spray Oil

2 Yellow Squash

Salt

Any other seasonings (I used a Southwest Chipotle seasoning)

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 200F
2. Slice the squash as thin as you can
3. Spray a cookie sheet a couple of times
4. Line the squash slices on the cookie sheet(s) (I overlapped some and then spread them out after an hour when they started to shrink)
5. Sprinkle with salt & then add any other seasonings you would like
6. Bake for about 2-3 hours (I kept them in for 3 hours because at 2 hours, they still weren't very crunchy)

Brooke's Chili

My Pop makes the best chili and we know at some point when we go to the lake or have a family get together, we are going to have Pop's Chili. This chili actually comes really close to the taste of his. I call it Brooke's Chili because it came from Tim's side of the family! Of course, in our family, chili is not complete without our peanut butter crackers :)

*Kyle and I like our Chili spicy and sometimes extra spicy...I will give the original recipe and then our additions underneath!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

2 cans Ranch Style Beans*

1 can Rotel

1 packet of McCormick Chili seasoning

2-3 MINI cans of V8 juice* (depending on how juicy you like it)

*For the Ranch style beans, I use the ones with Jalapenos mixed in

*Sometimes we use the Hot & Spicy V8 juice

What to do:

1. In a skillet, brown and drain your ground beef
2. Put the beef back into the skillet & add the remaining ingredients
3. Cook on low until warmed through (about 5 min)

ENJOY!! AND...don't forget your peanut butter crackers :)

Breakfast Casserole

This casserole had easy preparations that you do THE NIGHT BEFORE, but it took longer in the oven It ended up being perfect because I could just throw it in and get ready for work. I wasn't thinking when I added the eggs & milk (I really dislike eggs)...next time I won't add the eggs!

Ingredients:

4 cups Southern-Country style hash brown cubes (*Completely thawed)

1 package bacon

1 1/2 cup Pepper Jack Cheese

1 1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese

1 bunch Green Onions, chopped

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

black pepper to taste

Preparations:

• Begin cooking bacon
• While bacon is cooking, place the thawed potatoes in a 9 x 13 dish
• Mix the cheeses together and sprinkle it over the potatoes
• After bacon is done, drain on a paper towl & let cool
• Use the bacon drippings to cook the green onions in for about 2 minutes
• Spread the onion over the cheese mixture
• Crumble your bacon and then spread over the top
• In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper
• Pour evenly over the top of your casserole
• Refrigerate overnight

• Bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes at 350F
• Allow casserole to stand for 10 minutes before cutting into and serving

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

Kyle loves Chicken Pot Pie, but I have never cooked it for him. I found this recipe for Mini Pot Pies and decided this would be perfect. We could eat what we wanted and then freeze the rest for a day when we just needed to grab something on the go.

Ingredients: (For the Filling)

1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil

1 lb. boneless skinless Chicken breasts (cut into bite size pieces)

1 medium Onion, chopped

1/2 cup Chicken broth

1 cup frozen Peas & Carrots (mine also had corn)

1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt

1/4 tsp. Black Pepper

1/4 tsp. ground Thyme

1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

For the crust:

3/4 cup Bisquick

3/4 cup Whole Milk

2 large Eggs

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray
3. Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat
4. Add bite size chicken pieces and cook until no longer pink inside
5. Add onion and chicken broth (bring to a simmer)
6. Add frozen vegetables, salt, pepper and thyme
7. Heat until warmed through
8. Remove from heat and let cool for about 5 minutes then stir in cheese
9. In a medium bowl, combine bisquick-milk-eggs and whisk
10. Spoon a Tbsp. of mixture into each muffin cup
11. Top with about 1/4 cup of chicken mixture
12. Spoon another Tbsp. of bisquick mixture onto chicken mixture

• Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown

It is best to let these sit in the pan for 5 minutes after coming out of the oven and then cool another 10 minutes after you remove them from the pan.