Veggie Crescent Squares

Have you ever been so wiped out that you could feel every single inch of your body--because all of it hurt? Yeah, that was me about 2 am yesterday morning after spending every spare moment of the past week preparing to cater a big party at my church. The guest list went from 60 to 100 overnight and the actual turnout was even higher. My menu was a little intense for a party of 60 and absolutely overwhelming for 110. but this was one dish that was no big deal to double and then quadruple as the guest list grew. I love this for parties because, besides being easy, it's fresh and pretty and everybody loves it.  Feel free to substitute whatever vegetables you prefer, but I like the color palette this variety provides.

Veggie Crescent Squares

Prep time: 15 min  Cook time: 15 min
Serves 24

2 (8 oz) cans crescent roll dough
2 (8 oz) blocks cream cheese, softened
1 cup mayonnaise
1 (1 oz) package dry ranch dressing mix
1 cup fresh broccoli, chopped
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll out the crescent roll dough onto a 9x13 inch baking sheet, and pinch together edges to form the crust. Bake crust for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Once finished cooking, remove crust from oven and let cool 15 minutes without removing it from the baking sheet.

In a small mixing bowl combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, and dry Ranch dressing. Spread the mixture over the cooled crust.

Arrange broccoli, tomato, green bell pepper, cauliflower, shredded carrots, and cheddar cheese over the cream cheese layer. Chill for one hour, slice and serve.

212 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

BBQ Chicken Burritos

April has been an unusual month for our family, menu-wise. I knew the doctor I work for was going to take a week off when his wife gave birth to their baby, and I knew I was going to go visit my parents in Indiana when that happened, but babies are notorious for not coming exactly when you expect them, so I had no idea when I was going to be gone. In preparation, I made the entire month's menu as simple as possible so that no matter when I left, my husband and daughter would be able to handle preparing their own meals.

Don't get me wrong, some of my favorite meals are super simple, but they don't really make for great blog content.  This recipe, however, has way more flavor than it has ingredients. Now, you can make this with any BBQ sauce you like and it will be great, but I have to admit that I use a secret special sauce that takes these burritos over the top.  Years ago, my husband brought home a bottle of "Pig Out Sauce" that a coworker had purchased from a BBQ joint in Spartanburg, SC. He claimed it was the best sauce ever and insisted we try it. We made these burritos for the first time with that sauce and now I can't imagine them without it. Once a year or so, when his coworker takes a trip to Spartanburg, my husband has him pick up a gallon of it and we divide it up into smaller bottles and freeze it so we always have some on hand. If you really want to taste the ultimate version of these burritos, come on over to my house the next time I make 'em and I'll let you try my special sauce, but until then, any tangy BBQ will be fine.

BBQ Chicken Burritos

Prep time: 5 min  Cook time: 10 min
Serves 4

1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken, cubed
1 green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 Tbs oil, divided
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1-1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
4 large flour tortillas, warmed

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil then cook the chicken, green peppers and onion over medium heat for 6-8 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Stir in barbecue sauce and heat through.

Sprinkle cheese down the center of each tortilla; top with chicken mixture. Fold sides and ends over filling and roll up.

In a large skillet, brown burritos in remaining oil on all sides over medium heat.

626 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

Rainbow Fruit Tacos

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody! Today is the day I try to pretend I actually know something about my Irish heritage. My maiden name was Shannon, and I'm a Notre Dame fan, but otherwise I'm not much more Irish than a box of Lucky Charms.  Plus, I recently read a Buzz Feed article listing 7 myths about St. Patrick's Day that essentially negated everything I thought I knew about Ireland. Corned beef and cabbage as Irish staples? Totally bogus. That was sort of a relief, though, because I don't like either one of those.  What I do like are these adorable fruit tacos! This rainbow needs no pot of gold at the end, any little leprechaun would find these to be a perfect treat all by themselves.

Rainbow Fruit Tacos
Prep time: 30 min  Cook time: 7 min
Serves 7

Shells:
7 large flour tortillas
1 Tbs sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
nonstick cooking spray

Filling:
8 oz light cream cheese, softened
1 Tbs honey
1 Tbs sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ cup chopped strawberries
½ cup chopped mandarin oranges
½ cup chopped pineapple
½ cup peeled and chopped kiwi
½ cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

To prepare the taco shells, use a biscuit cutter (or an empty can) to cut 3" circles out of your large tortillas. Lay the cut tortillas out flat and very lightly spray them with the nonstick cooking spray. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle tortillas evenly with the cinnamon sugar.

Gently fold each tortilla in half and hang them upside down on the rungs of your oven rack (a slight fold will yield a wider taco shell that is easier to fill). Bake for 5 - 7 minutes and then remove and gently set aside.

For the filling, beat the cream cheese, honey, sugar, and cinnamon until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Spoon 1-2 teaspoons of the filling into each shell. Top with the chopped fruit.

384 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

5 Spice Cream Cheese Chicken

I work in a small optometrist's office, and apparently my ability to use ctrl+alt+del effectively qualifies me as the office computer expert. I have become the de facto IT consultant, responsible for solving all our office technology woes. Mind you, I don't have the faintest idea what is wrong most of the time, but I usually manage to poke my way through enough settings menus to chance upon a solution. You know what I've learned from all this experimenting?  Computers are way too complicated! As complicated as they are, you'd think they'd be sophisticated enough to fix themselves when we screw them up!

Today's tech problem was a little more complicated than most and called for the ultimate simple solution--buy a new computer.  Unfortunately, that means tomorrow will be spent setting it up and transferring all the important stuff from the old to the new--another complication in the making. Good thing I had an amazingly simple supper planned for tonight. Just a few basic ingredients made a delicious piece of chicken and an incredible sauce that was also great as a gravy on mashed potatoes. Next time, I'll make a double batch so I can have leftovers for dinner the next night. Now that would be a simple supper!

5 Spice Cream Cheese Chicken
Prep time: 5 min  Cook time: 15 min
Serves 4

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp adobo seasoning
½ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp ground mustard
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs butter
2 Tbs heavy cream
¼ cup milk
¼ cup cream cheese

Pat the chicken dry.

Combine the salt and spices in a small bowl.  Sprinkle the seasoning onto both sides of all the chicken pieces, rubbing it into the meat.

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  When hot, add the chicken.

Cook for about 3-5 minutes per side, until golden brown.

Once cooked on both sides, reduce the heat to medium-low and add the heavy cream, milk and cream cheese. Stir to combine and coat the chicken in the cream mixture.  Let the sauce thicken for about 3 minutes before serving.

282 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

Huli Huli Chicken

A week ago today, we got six inches of snow and I got a day and a half off work for the weather. Today, it was 73 degrees, sunny, and beautiful! I wish I could've gotten a day off work today instead.  But, at least my menu was perfectly apropos. This incredible chicken could be baked in the oven, but it was soooo yummy seared on the grill! I'm sure we made the neighbors salivate from the smell of delectably charred meat, especially since we took the opportunity to eat out on the back deck.

This is not my typical quick and easy type of recipe: it calls for overnight brining then a lengthy amount of time on the grill, but it was totally worth it. I suppose you could skip the brining, but it adds great moisture and flavor to the inside of the meat that you really don't want to miss. Don't get lazy with the basting, either. Multiple coats every 5 minutes or so creates an amazing crust that's practically like candy.

The story of Huli-Huli chicken is kind of interesting. In 1955, a guy named Ernest Morgado cooked up a big batch of chicken for a farmer's group. It had been marinated in his take on the classic Japanese teriyaki sauce, and painted with the sauce on the grill. It was such a hit that, by the time he died, it had become a signature dish beloved throughout Hawaii, served mostly by shade tree cooks from roadside stands, parking lots, and parks at fundraisers. Drive around Oahu and if you see smoke rising and smell something sweet, it is likely Huli-Huli chicken. The locals keep napkins in their glove compartment just in case!

Rather than turn scores of chicken pieces one by one when he was catering an event, he sandwiched the meat between two mesh grates, and, with the help of an assistant, flipped the whole contraption. Sort of like Hawaiian rotisserie. When it was time to turn, he would shout "huli" which is Hawaiian for "turn" to his assistant who would shout "huli" back, grab the handles on the other side of the grates, and turn the chicken over, lickety split. Thus, Huli-Huli Chicken was born!

Huli Huli Chicken
Prep time: 10 min (plus 4+ hrs brining)
Cook time: 30 min
Serves 6

For the Brine:
6 chicken leg quarters, cut up
1 quart of water, or to cover
2 Tbs of kosher salt
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Chicken Seasoning:
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Creole or Cajun seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder

For the Sauce:
1 cup pineapple juice
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce or ketchup
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs of olive oil
1 tsp of hot sauce
Juice of one lemon


Whisk together the brine ingredients. Place the chicken in a non-reactive bowl or zippered bag and pour the brine over. Seal tightly and place in a bowl in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. Remove chicken from brine; drain, but do not rinse. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and rub in a light dusting of black pepper, Creole and Cajun seasoning and garlic powder on both sides. Let rest while you preheat grill to high.

When ready to grill, whisk together the sauce ingredients. Leave one grill zone (one or two burners) on high, turn all other burners down to medium. Oil the grates, and quickly sear the chicken on the hottest part of the grill, with the lid closed, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Move the chicken to the cooler part of the grill, apply a generous basting of the sauce on both sides, and grill covered, about 25 to 30 minutes, turning and basting every few minutes, until thoroughly cooked through. An instant read thermometer should register 165-175 degrees F in the thickest part of the thigh.

560 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!