Easy Chicken with basil cream sauce

This was a very fast and tasty dish. It came from my Wymount ward cookbook. Submitted by MaryAnne U* I used two chicken breasts and a little less than 1/2 c. of Parmesan. I also used more garlic salt.

1 pkg (12 oz) bow tie pasta
1Tbsp. butter or margarine
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 c. milk
1 pkg(3 oz) cream cheese, cubed
1/2 tsp. dried basil leaves
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to pkg directions. Meanwhile, in large skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt; cook 2 minutes on each side or until it is no longer pink. Add milk and heat just to boiling; stir in cream cheese and basil. Reduce heat, stirring constantly until cream cheese is completely melted and chicken is thoroughly cooked. Remove from heat, stir in Parmesan cheese. Toss hot pasta and sauce; serve immediately.

Chinese Chicken

I could have sworn I'd posted this one too. But I guess not. I am making this tonight. This is from our HP ward cookbook, submitted by Tara B. You can use a whole chicken cut up, or boneless skinless chicken breasts.

1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. margarine
1/4 c. water
1/2 tsp. dry mustard

Whole fryer chicken

In a small sauce pan, combine ingredients, mix well. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Let cool for 3-4 minutes. Pour into 9x13 baking dish. Place skinned chicken, breast side down in sauce. Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour at 350 F.

So easy, so good. It goes great with streamed rice or fried rice.

Cheddar biscuits

This is supposed to be similar to the one biscuits at Red Lobster. My MIL found it in the newspaper. They are very yummy, and very fattening.

2 1/2 c Bisquik
4 Tbsp cold butter
1 heaping cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 c. cold whole milk (we just used skim)
1/4 tsp garlic powder

To brush on top. Mix together:
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. dried parsley
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 F
Cut butter into bisquick. There should still be little clumps of butter about the size of peas. Add remaining ingredients. Mix by hand. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet - about 1/4 c. of dough per biscuit - an ice cream scoop works well. Bake 15-17 minutes until the tops are light brown, but not too dark. Brush the butter mixture over the tops.

Cream puffs

This recipe comes from my MIL's ward cookbook. It is so easy. You can fill it with pudding, for a dessert, or for a lunch or dinner- tuna or chicken salad.

1/2 c. butter
1 c. boiling water
1 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
4 eggs

Add butter to boiling water; stir until butter is melted. Add flour, salt and mix together. Cook stirring vigorously, until smooth and forms a soft ball. Cool mixture slightly (2-3 minutes). Add eggs one at a time. Beat vigorously after each egg. Beat until smooth. Drop onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 F for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 325 F for 25 minutes. Cool, clean out and fill.

I tried to make mine small, but they turned out bigger than I had planned. I made 17. Random I know. I probably makes 12 huge ones, or 18 smaller ones. I filled mine with cookies and cream pudding and banana cream pudding.

Fruity swirl coffee cake

Aaron made this to take to work, but there was plenty enough for us too. It was pretty yummy. He used cherry pie filling. He made it on a 12 inch pizza pan and my 10 inch spring form pan. They were a little thick, but turned out fine. We don't have any Bisquick, but we got a recipe for that from my MIL. I'll have to post that when I find it again.

Fruity Swirl Coffee Cake

4 c. Bisquick baking mix
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract
3 eggs
1 (21 oz.) can cherry, apricot, or blueberry pie filling
Glaze (below)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease jelly roll pan, 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1 inch or 2 square pans (9 x 9 x 2 inch). Mix all ingredients, except pie filling and Glaze; beat vigorously 30 seconds. Spread 2/3 of the batter (about 2 1/2 cups) in jelly roll pan or 1/3 of the batter (about 1 1/4 cups) in each square pan. Spread pie filling over batter (filling may not cover batter completely). Drop remaining batter by tablespoons onto pie filling.

Bake until light brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Drizzle with glaze, while warm. Serve warm or cool. 18 servings.

Glaze: Beat 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 to 2 tablespoons milk until smooth and of desired consistency.

Peanut Noodles

I thought I had posted this a long time ago. But I couldn't find it. So this may be a repeat. We have this often. It's really easy, the kids love it. We usually do it when Aaron isn't home because he gets tired of Thai food. He's gets a lot of it at lunches, journal clubs etc. I do it pretty much as written, only I use the whole green onion and just a dash of red pepper.

Peanut Noodles

• 8 ounces spaghetti
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced (white parts only)
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until done. Drain.
2. Meanwhile, combine oil and onions in a small skillet. Saute over low heat until tender. Add ginger; cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes. Mix in peanut butter, soy sauce, water, vinegar, sugar, and red pepper flakes. Remove from heat.
3. Toss noodles with sauce, and serve.

Devil's Food Cake Cockaigne

This is the cake Aaron made for my birthday on Sunday. It is from the Joy of Cooking.
The directions are a bit confusing so hopefully I can write this so you can follow. I'll do the ingredients first (even though that's not how it is in the book). And yes, sugar and buttermilk are listed twice, on purpose.
As for the buttermilk -we just used milk with lemon juice to sour it (1 cup milk to 1 tsp lemon juice). And cake flour can be made by adding 1/4 c. cornstarch to 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour (to make 2 cups)

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened nonalkalized (whatever that means) cocoa
1/2 c. buttermilk or yogurt
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. buttermilk or yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
8 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 c. sugar
2 large eggs


Have all ingredients at room temperature. Grease and flour 0ne 9-inch tube pan or 2 9x2 inch round cake pans. Preheat oven to 350 F. Whisk together 1 c. sugar, cocoa, 1/2 buttermilk. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl combine 1/2 buttermilk and vanilla.

In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy, about 30 seconds. Gradually add 1 c sugar, on high speed, until lightened in color and texture. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in cocoa mixture. Add flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the buttermilk mixture in 2 parts ( i.e add 1/3 of the flour, 1/2 of the buttermilk, 1/3 flour, 1/2 buttermilk and then remaining 1/3 flour). Beat on low speed or stir with a rubber spatula until smooth and scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary. Scrape the batter into the pan(s) and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes in round pans, 45-55 minutes for the tube pan.
***important. Know your oven. Go the full 55 minutes in a tube pan unless you think it's done. We checked ours at 45 minutes and it fell :( But it still tasted good!***
Let cool in the pan(s) on a rack for 10 minutes. Slide a thin knife around the cake to detach it from the pan(s). Invert the cake. Let cool right side up on the rack.

Aaron glazed it with a Chocolate Ganache, also from the Joy of Cooking. It would have been really rich if we'd had heavy whipping cream. But even using skim milk, it was great! And I don't think he used this much chocolate, probably 1/2 of the recipe.

3/4 c heavy cream
8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Bring cream to a boil in a small sauce pan. Remove from heat and add chocolate, Stir until most of the chocolate is melted. Cover and let rest of 10 minutes. Stir or whisk very gently until completely smooth. Stir in 1 Tbsp liqueur (optional) - we used vanilla. For a pourable glaze, let stand at room temperature stirring occasionally, until mixture cools to 85 to 95 degrees. F. For frosting, let stand until spreadable. It can be soften again slowly if necessary.