Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

"Buffalo Chicken at it's finest!"

2 chicken breast cutlets

salt and pepper

1/4 cup hot wing sauce (We love Frank's Hot Wing Sauce)

2 hamburger buns

2-4 Tablespoons Bleu cheese dressing

Bake chicken cutlets at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until completely cooked.  Remove from the oven and dip chicken into hot wing sauce.  Return to the oven and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes or until sauce is heated through.  Place chicken on hamburger bun and top with bleu cheese dressing.  YUM! 

Chicken Salad Two Ways

"With a few changes this recipe can go from a Traditional Chicken Salad Sandwich to a Southwest Chicken Salad Wrap!"

Scrumptious Chicken Salad Sandwich!

Zesty Southwest Chicken Salad Wrap!

Basic Chicken Salad

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

salt, pepper and poultry seasoning

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-50 minutes, depending on how large the chicken breasts are, or until thoroughly cooked. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Cut into chunks and set aside.

4 green onions, minced

2 celery ribs, minced

1/3 cup sweet pickle relish

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Combine ingredients and add to cut up chicken.

To make Traditional Chicken Salad Sandwiches:

Add 1/2 cup mayonnaise to the chicken mixture. Serve on Texas Toast topped with crumbled bacon, shredded lettuce, halved grape tomatoes and sliced avacado.

To make Southwest Chicken Salad Wraps:

Add 1/3 cup chipoltle mayonnaise (We used Kraft brand.) and 1/3 cup ranch dressing to chicken mixture. Serve in Jalapeno Cheddar wraps (We used Mission brand.) topped with shredded cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, shredded lettuce, halved grape tomatoes and sliced avacado.. 

Frothy Fruit Smoothies

"I love to prepare this Smoothie for lunch, especially in the Summertime when it's so hot outside.  It's a light and delicious way to cool off!  It's also a great recipe for breakfast."

"What a SWEET way to begin your day!"

Smoothie Ingredients

Place all ingredients in blender.

Blend until well incorporated and frothy.

Ready for SIPPING!

Smoothie Ingredients:

1 cup orange juice

1 cup mixed frozen fruit for smoothies; includes strawberries, mango and pineapple 

1/2 cup chopped fresh pineapple

1/2 cup strawberries

1 cup vanilla yogurt

1 Tablespoon honey

Blend ingredients together and Enjoy.  Makes 2 servings.

 

TIP:  By substituting different fresh and frozen fruits and changing the flavor of yogurt, you can create any number of different Smoothies.  Here are just a few that I have come up with, but feel free to make up your own!

 

Berry Yummy Smoothie:
1 cup orange juice

1 cup frozen mixed berries; raspberries, blueberries and blackberries            

1 cup fresh strawberries

1 cup strawberry yogurt

1 Tablespoon honey

 

Tropical Smoothie:

1 cup orange juice

1 cup mixed frozen fruit for smoothies;  pineapple, mango, strawberries

1 banana

1/2 cup kiwi 

1 (6 ounce) container of Pina Colada, Mango or Pineapple flavored yogurt

1 Tablespoon honey

  

Melon Smoothie:

1 cup orange juice

1 cup mixed frozen fruit for smoothies; pineapple, mango, strawberries

1 cup chopped melon;  honeydew and cantaloupe

1 cup vanilla yogurt

1 Tablespoon honey

Cherry-Berry Smoothie:

1 cup orange juice

1 cup frozen cherries

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 (6 ounce) container cherry yogurt

1 Tablespoon honey

I could go on and on!  Have fun inventing your favorite!

Banana Fluff

Think Banana Split meets yummy layered pudding dessert!!! 

3-4 bananas

2 sticks or 1 cup butter, softened
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups powdered sugar
2 eggs or 1/2 cup egg-substitute (The original recipe calls for regular eggs, but for safety reasons I use pasteurized eggs or Egg-Beaters Original egg substitute.)
1 (16 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained very well
1 (8 ounce) container non-dairy whipped topping, for example Cool Whip, thawed
1 (9 ounce) jar maraschino cherries, drained
1/2 cup package of chopped pecans
Chocolate syrup

Crust
Melt 1 stick or 1/2 cup of butter and mix with graham cracker crumbs.  Press into a 13x9-inch pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Set aside. 

Filling
Prepare the filling by beating together the other stick or 1/2 cup of butter, eggs or egg substitute and powdered sugar until fluffy.  

To assemble dessert, spread filling over graham cracker crust.  Slice the bananas lengthwise and layer over filling.  Top with drained pineapple.  Cover with Cool Whip, nuts and cherries.  Refrigerate for 4 hours.  Before serving, pour chocolate syrup over dessert.

Wooo-woooo is right!

BBLT Sandwich

My Hubby came up with a yummy version of a classic sandwich by topping it with a creamy and tangy sauce.  The Bacon, Bleu Cheese, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich was born!

Bacon, cooked to desired crispness

Creamy Bleu Cheese Dressing



Crisp lettuce leaves 

Sliced, ripe tomatoes

Sliced Sourdough Bread

On sourdough bread, layer bacon, lettuce and tomato and top with Bleu Cheese dressing.  Devour!

Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pie

 "This is a stick to your ribs comfort food dish.  I combined a homemade cream sauce and fresh vegetables with store-bought deli rotisserie chicken and packaged pie crust to make a Chicken Pot Pie that tastes like it took all day to make."

Cook carrots until tender.

Saute green onions, celery and mushrooms in butter until tender.

When vegetables are tender, stir in flour.

Vegetables will appear gummy, but that's exactly what you want!

Add broth and milk and stir to combine.  Cook until thickened.

Add shredded chicken and carrots.

 Fit bottom crust into deep-dish pie plate.

Spoon mixture into pie crust.

Place top crust on, crimp and cut slits for ventilation.

Almost there!

Golden brown and ready to slice!

"So Messy, but Oh So YUMMY!"

Recipe:
2-3 cups of deli Rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 (14.1 ounce) package of refrigerated pie crusts
1 (14 ounce) can or 1-2/3 cups of chicken broth
8 ounce package of sliced carrots
8 ounce package of sliced mushrooms
8 green onions, sliced (both white and green parts of onion)
2 ribs of celery, sliced
1-1/3 cups milk
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1 Tablespoon freeze-dried poultry herb blend (I used Litehouse brand.)*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a medium saucepan, add carrots; cover with water and bring to a boil.  Cook for 15 minutes or until tender; drain.  In a large saute pan, melt butter.  Add mushrooms, celery, green onions and poultry herb blend and saute until tender, about 10 minutes.  Sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir to combine (The mixture will look very gummy.); cook for 2 minutes.  Add chicken broth, milk, salt and pepper and stir well.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.  Add drained carrots and shredded chicken and stir to combine.  Fit bottom crust into a 9-inch deep dish pie plate.  Pour mixture into crust and cover with the top crust, folding top crust under bottom crust.  Crimp crusts together to seal.  Cut several slits in top crust to allow steam to escape.  Place pie plate on cookie sheet and place on middle rack in oven.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to sit for about 10 minutes before slicing.

 *I found the freeze-dried poultry herb blend in the Produce Department of my local grocery store.

TIP:  If mushrooms aren't your favorite, you can always substitute peas, broccoli or potatoes.

Bunny Banana Cheesecake

"I made this adorable cheesecake last Easter for my family.  It was a 'hoppy' ending to our holiday meal!"

Crust  

1-3/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

1 stick or 1/2 cup of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter.  Set aside 1/2 cup of mixture to sprinkle on top of cheesecake.  Press remaining mixture in bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before filling.

Cheesecake Layer

1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 (8 ounce) container of non-dairy whipped topping (Cool Whip), thawed and divided 

3-4 bananas, sliced

1-3/4 cup milk

1 (3.4 ounce) package instant banana cream or vanilla pudding mix

Beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Fold in 2 cups of Cool Whip.  Place half of the banana slices on the bottom of the cooled crust and top with half of the cream cheese mixture. Arrange remaining banana slices on top and cover with remaining cream cheese mixture.  Whisk together milk and pudding mix.  Allow to sit for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened.  Fold in remaining Cool Whip.  Pour over cream cheese layer and spread evenly.  Sprinkle top of cheesecake with reserved 1/2 cup of crust mixture.  Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

TIP:  Of course you can eat the cheesecake without decorating it and it will be DELICIOUS!  The following directions will show you how I decorated the cheesecake for Easter, but you could decorate it for any holiday, including Birthdays.

Easter Decorations:   

I used the following ingredients to decorate my cheesecake, but feel free to use any Easter candy to decorate yours. 

Easter Marshmallow bunnies (Peeps)

malted milk eggs

Pastel sprinkles

To decorate the cheesecake, I stood 4 marshmallow bunnies in a circle in the center of the cheesecake, pushing down slightly to help them stand.  I then scattered the malted milk eggs around the bunnies and placed the pastel sprinkles around he edge of the cheesecake.   

Visit my MooseCreek CheeseCakes page to see more cheesecake recipes.

http://kandyskitchenkreations.blogspot.com/p/moosecreek-cheesecakes.html