Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or more)
1 egg, slightly beaten
¾ c Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs
1 jar (26-28 oz) Ragu Old World Style Pasta sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Dip chicken in egg, then bread crumbs, coating well.

2. In 9x13 pan arrange chicken. Bake uncovered 20 minutes.

3. Pour Ragu sauce over chicken, then top with cheese. Bake an additional 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink.

Serve with hot pasta


*  This was probably the most tender chicken I have ever made! Mike was like, WOW! He really liked it! I cooked 4 chicken breasts and only used half the jar of Ragu sauce. I used a Ragu chicken alfredo flavor (and it wasn't the Old World Style).
So easy and so yummy!

Creamy Baked Ziti

We ate green salad with this dish and it was really good. I think next time I'll throw in some chicken chunks or browned hamburger.
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4 cups ziti pasta, uncooked (I used whole wheat Penne pasta instead)

1 jar (26 oz.) marinara sauce

1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

6 oz. (3/4 of 8-oz. pkg.) Cream Cheese, cubed

3/4 cup Sour Cream

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Shredded Mozzarella Cheese 

1/3 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

HEAT oven to 375ºF.

COOK pasta in large saucepan as directed on package, omitting salt. Remove from pan; drain. Meanwhile, add marinara sauce, tomatoes and cream cheese to same pan; cook on medium heat 5 min. or until cream cheese is melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently. Return pasta to pan; mix well.

LAYER half the pasta mixture in 13×9-inch baking dish; cover with layers of sour cream, 1 cup mozzarella and remaining pasta mixture. Top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.

BAKE 20 min. or until heated through.

Make Ahead: The pasta dish may be covered and refrigerated up to 8 hours before baking. Increase baking time to 30 to 35 min. or until heated through.

Easy Chicken and Broccoli Pie

1 bag Broccoli, frozen, thawed and drained (9 oz.) 

              (Or use 1 small head of fresh broccoli and steam it beforehand.)

1 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese, shredded (6 oz.)

2 cans Chunk Chicken, drained (5 oz. each)

1/2 cup Bisquick

1 cup Milk

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/4 teaspoon Pepper

2 eggs

Directions

Heat oven to 400-degrees. Spray a 9-inch glass pie plate (or 9 inch casserole dish) with cooking spray. 

Mix together and then sprinkle the broccoli, the cheese and the chicken into the dish. 

In a medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients with a wire whisk or fork until blended. 

Pour into pie plate. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake

                                                                               *

1 1/4 sticks (10 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, softened

2 TBSP golden syrup (such as Lyle's) or dark corn syrup

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

2 eggs

Zest of 2 small oranges (1 TBSP) and juice of 1 small orange (3 TBSP)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9×5×3-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease sides of pan or line with a paper loaf-pan liner.

In large bowl, with electric mixer beat the butter, syrup (brush a little oil on your tablespoon measure before measuring the syrup to help remove it from spoon), and sugar until fairly smooth.

In a separate bowl combine; flour, baking soda, and cocoa powder. Beat 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients into the syrup mixture, then beat in one egg. Add another couple of spoonfuls of dry ingredients before beating in the remaining egg.

Beat in remaining dry ingredients, and then add, while still beating, the orange zest. Gradually add the juice. The batter may look slightly curdled.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 minutes (edges should look dry and center of cake may have dipped slightly). Cool in pan on wire rack. Carefully remove from pan and cool completely.

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*****PLEASE READ***** (BEFORE you make this recipe)

My Chocolate Orange Loaf did not turn out as pictured above. Please bake this recipe at your own risk.

This is what mine looked like: 

This is what I know happened:

As I was cooking the loaf it started rising above the edge of the pan. I wasn't too worried about it because I thought it would still bake ok. Next time I checked on it, it had overflowed the pan and large chunks were now baking on the bottom of my oven. I let it go a little longer until I realized the chunks on the bottom were really burning, and I wanted to avoid the whole smoke-coming-out-of-the-oven-because-the-food-is-on-fire scenario. SO I opened the oven, watched my loaf cake drastically deflate, and scooped out the burning piles on the bottom. After 45 minutes it was still extremely wet and undercooked, so I left it in for 10 more min. And you can see what I ended up with. I picked the burned parts off and as I tried to take it out of the pan it fell apart, hence the bowl. At least it still tasted good.

Now, on to the possibilities of what may have gone wrong: 

I may have put the wrong amount of baking soda in?

I used light brown sugar rather than dark brown sugar?

I should not have (over) mixed it in the Bosch and just used a hand mixer as suggested?

I should not have let the entire prepared batter stand while I zested and juiced the orange?

I haven't the heck of an idea what really went wrong?

So, if you decided to make this (and please do, since I won't be trying again anytime soon, and I'd like to know how to make it correctly):

Try doing the opposite of the things that I listed as possible wrongness. And good luck! And comment with your results! (Thank you!)

Easy Chicken Salad Sandwich

I am a big fan of Chicken Salad, but I do not always have the right ingredients on hand for it. So here is a simple variation to try. It is easy to make (as easy as using a can of tuna fish, but since I'm not a fan of tuna...)

Mix together:
1 can of cooked chicken, rinsed and drained (I've been using a 12.5 oz can)
between 1/4 to 1/2 cup miracle whip or mayo (until you get desired consistency)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
slivered almonds
sprinkle of salt

Spread mixture on a whole wheat bagel, whole wheat roll, bread, tortilla, croissant, or eat with chips.

It can be really simple, as shown in the photo, or you can mix in any of your favorites:

diced celery

sliced grapes
water chestnuts
pineapple
green onions

Enjoy!

Strawberries 'n' Cream Trifle

Strawberries 'n' Cream Trifle

Ingredients

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 (1 ounce) package sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix (I used cheesecake flavor, white chocolate also sounded good)
1 (8 ounce) container frozen (reduced-fat) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (9 inch) prepared angel food cake
4 cups sliced fresh strawberries (I didn't have quite that many...)
3 whole fresh strawberries


Directions

In a bowl, whisk the milk and water. Whisk in the pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set; fold in the whipped topping. Cut cake into 1/2-in. cubes.

Spoon a third of the pudding mixture into a 4-qt. trifle or glass bowl. Top with half of the cake cubes and sliced strawberries. Repeat layers once. Top with remaining pudding mixture. Garnish with whole strawberries.

No Bake Bars

These are really good and super easy!

Boil together for 1 min:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cube butter or margarine

Remove from heat and add:
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1/2 cup peanut butter (optional)
3-4 cups oats

Mix well. Spread in 8x8 (ish) cake pan. Smooth the top down. While in the pan, cut into squares while it is still a little warm. Cool. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

If you'd rather have 'cookies' instead of 'bars':
Once everything is mixed together, drop by the spoonful onto wax paper. Cool. Store in an airtight container. Tastes the same! :)