Mexican Layer Bean Dip

Mexican Bean Dip

2 cans of Refried Beans
1 large container of sour cream
2 avocadoes
1 pkg of McCormiks Guacamole mix
by produce partners located in the fresh produce area in the grocery store of Meijers
Salsa of your choice, I use Chi’s Chi’s
Shredded cheddar cheese ~ ½ cup
Chopped green onion (optional)

Spread refried beans in a 13x9 rectangle pan. Take the large container of sour cream and dump it in the center of the beans and spread out until you only see a 1 inch area of the beans around the beans. Take the 2 avocadoes in a separate bowl, peel, pit and mash them and add the McCormick’s mix to it. Now spread that on top of the sour cream leaving again an area around to see the sour cream. If this is for a party and you think there might be people there that don’t like guacamole then only do half of the sour cream and put salsa on the other half. To finish the bean dip sprinkle shredded cheese around, but not too much because you want to see the layers of the bean dip. Then sprinkle chopped green onion on top of that.

Enchilada's

Enchilada's

1lb ground beef browned
1 cup cooked minute rice
2 pkgs of mccormick enchilada mix
1 can of tomato sauce, 15 oz
3 cups water
2c. colby shredded cheese
tortilla's

Preheat oven to 350
In a sauce pan mix water, tomato sauce and two pkgs of mccormick enchilada mix. Bring to a boil, then shut it off. In another pan mix the cooked beef and rice. Add enchilada sauce but not too much, cause you don't want it soupy. Add 1 cup colby shredded cheese. Now spoon a couple spoon fulls on the edge of a tortilla and roll the tortilla and put it seam down in a baking dish. Continue to do this to each tortilla until the beef mix is gone. Take the remaining sauce and pour over the tortilla's. Take 1 c. of colby shredded cheese and sprinkle it over the top. Bake long to melt cheese. As a side dish I would recommend my bean dip recipe.

Herb Roasted Chicken

Herb Roasted Chicken

1 tbsp Dried Rosemary
1 tbsp Dried Thyme
1 tbsp Minced Garlic
1/2 c. butter or margarine softened
1 roaster chicken
olive oil
lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix the herbs and garlic into the butter. Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Now here is the tricky part and messy. On the end of the chicken by the cavity, pull up the skin from the meat, you will want to make a pocket because you will want to put the herb butter mixture under the chicken. Use your fingers to do this, for the legs just keep working towards the legs under the skin and continue to separate the skin from the meat, make sure not to poke any holes. Once you get butter mixture under all the skin you can work from the top and massage the butter mixture to where you want it to go. After that is done, here comes another fun part if you want to. By the legs on each side of the cavity the extra tough skin, cut one small hole on each side. Take the leg and stick it through the hole do that with both sides. This will act like a tie. Drizzle some olive oil on the skin of the chicken and rub it down. Then sprinkle some extra thyme and rosemary. Sprinkle some lemon juice on the chicken and squirt some into the cavity. Now if you have a fresh lemon on hand cut half of it and stuff it into the cavity. Bake for one hour or temp reads 160 degrees by the thigh. If the chicken is browning to fast cover it with foil.

Optional: you can put chopped carrots, celery and onions under the chicken for more flavor.

this is my own recipe :)

Oven Chicken Risotto

Oven Chicken Risotto

2 tbsp butter

2 2/3 c. chicken broth

1 c. uncooked arborio rice (short grained)

1/2 small onion, diced

1/2 tsp salt

2 c. chopped deli roasted-rotissere chicken

1 ( 8oz) pkg, fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2- inch cubes or 6 oz shredded mozzarella

1 c. cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1/4 c. shredded fresh basil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place butter in a 13x9 inch baking dish; bake 5 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir in broth and next 3 ingredients. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Fluff rice with fork. Stir in chicken, mozzarella, and tomatoes; sprinkle with shredded basil. Serve immediately. This recipe is from southern living cookbook, the thing I added was the shredded mozzarella since I forgot to get the fresh kind. Worked out just fine. This is a great recipe if you have a left over rotissere chicken. You can also add chopped sweet red pepper and mushrooms.

Italian Cream Cheese Chicken for the Slow Cooker

Italian Cream Cheese Chicken 

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons butter

1 package dry Italian salad dressing mix

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 a sweet red pepper diced

4 oz fresh slice mushrooms 

1/2 c. sweet vidalia onion diced

your choice of vegetable mix in:

a head of cooked broccoli

peas

zucchini

Directions:

Melt butter in microwave.

Add water and packet of Italian dressing to butter and mix well.

Place chicken in slow cooker.

Pour butter mixture over chicken.

Turn pieces over to coat both sides well.

Cook on High for 3 hours.

In separate bowl, mix cream of chicken soup and cream cheese together.

Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and cut into bite size pieces.

Return chicken to slow cooker and add the cream cheese mixture.

Whisk together to blend well.

Cover and cook an additional 1/2 hour while that is cooking in a medium pan cook onion, red pepper and mushrooms, season with salt, pepper and a pinch of garlic powder. Cook your vegetables during this time too. When the onion, pepper and mushrooms are cooked mix them into the chicken mixture and your vegetable.

I didn't give an amount on the the other choices being I haven't tried peas or zucchini I used broccoli. This recipe was from Crockin Girls but I added the mushrooms, onions, sweet pepper and vegetables, cause it really needed something else. 

Serve over pasta or rice