Chicken Curry

I adapted this recipe from my 29 minutes to dinner cookbook by The Pampered Chef.
I love curry, my family not so much. When every I have come across a new recipe for curry I just have to give it a try.
This recipe is not spicy like some of the other version that I have prepared in the past; it’s very mild with a nice curry flavor. If you have always wanted to try curry, but was always a little leery may I suggest you give this version a try?
And if you would like to know how to get your own 29 minutes to dinner cookbook by The Pampered Chef just send me an email at gogetzm@comcast.net and I will let you know!

Chicken Curry
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons curry powder
½ cup golden raisins
1 can (13-5 oz) coconut milk

Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and place into a medium size bowl. Combine salt and pepper in a small bowl; sprinkle ½ of the salt and pepper mixture over chicken in bowl toss to coat.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add seasoned chicken and cook until a golden brown about 2-3 minutes per side or until center is no longer pink. Remove from skillet: set aside.
Add carrots and onion to skillet and sauté for 5 minutes or until crisp tender, stirring occasionally. Stir curry powder, raisins, coconut milk and remaining salt and pepper mixture into skillet. Add chicken; simmer 3-5 minutes or until sauce begins to thicken.
Serve chicken curry over a bed of rice.Pin It

Easy Pasta Salad

This is an easy pasta salad that I have been making for years. I have never had a recipe before, I have always just threw everything together. This time however I decided to measure out the ingredients as I added them and to write them down as I went. This is what I came up with.

My family doesn’t like celery in their salads so I add celery seeds instead so that way I can still have the flavor of the celery. I also like to use the juice from the pickle jar, I think it gives the salad more flavor.
The best thing about pasta salad is that I think it taste even better the next day!

Easy Pasta Salad

16 oz. dried salad pasta or macaroni
3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 cup diced dill pickles
1 small red onion, diced
1 to 1 ½ cups mayonnaise
¼ cup vinegar or pickle juice
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon celery seeds
Salt to taste

Cook pasta according to the package direction, drain and cool pasta.
In a large bowl combine cooled pasta, chopped eggs, diced pickles, diced onions, mayonnaise, pickle juice, sugar, pepper, celery seeds and salt to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.Pin It

Margarita Grilled Chicken

When I made the guacamole a few weeks ago I asked Richard if he could run to the store and pick me up a lime; he came home with 12 limes. When I asked him why did he buy so many he replied that they were on sale 12 for a dollar, now what am I going to do with all these limes. So when I was a Costco the other day I saw the Margarita mix and I remember that I still had some at home and Richard did take chicken out for dinner and I still had all those limes, so my brain went into recipe mode and I came up with this marinade. The chicken turned out so tender and tasted just like a margarita. I served it with Spanish rice, beans and tortillas.

Margarita Grilled Chicken
4 to 6 boneless chicken breast
1 cup Margarita mix
¼ cup Tequila
Juice of 2 limes
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Combine all ingredients in a gallon size zip lock bag. Marinade in refrigerator for 2 hours. Grill chicken on a hot grill until done.Pin It

Easy Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

I have been making this dish for years. It is so easy and fast to throw together when you don’t have a lot of time to make dinner. It has always been a favorite of Richard and the girls. It doesn’t cost a lot to make because I usually buy the least expensive Alfredo sauce or whatever brand that is on sale. I believe that sometime the simplest dishes taste the best.

Easy Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
1 pound chicken breast, sliced into bite-size pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jar store bought Alfredo sauce
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 8 oz. box Fettuccine pasta
½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to the direction on the box in a large pot. Meanwhile in large skillet heat oil over medium-high heat, add cut-up chicken pieces and minced garlic; cook until chicken is a golden brown. Add Alfredo sauce and Italian seasoning; simmer for 5 minutes.
Drain cooked pasta return to pot add chicken- Alfredo mixture; toss with parmesan cheese; serve.Pin It

S’mores Bars

What a great and easy dessert to serve on the 4th of July! I have very fond memories of making S’mores on family camping trips. My two girls Brandy and Ariel loved s’mores so much that they would make them in the microwave at home, I have even caught them browning their marshmallows over the burners on the stove, and they would also start the grill when I wasn’t home. I guess you could say that my girls had a SMALL obsession with s’mores growing up!

I love finding new recipes on the back of boxes and packages. That is where I found this one, on the back of a box of Target brand graham crackers and I knew that I just had to make them, so I bought two boxes of graham crackers that day, one for the chocolate éclair dessert and the other for these bars.
The only thing different that I did was to add some chocolate chips, because I didn’t think that there was enough chocolate, because as far as I’m concerned you can never have enough chocolate.
They must have been a very big hit at my church’s barbeque because when I went to the dessert table the tray was empty!

S’mores Bars
12 (5x2 1/2 –inch) graham crackers
¾ cup butter
¾ cup brown sugar
3 cups miniature marshmallows
4 milk chocolate candy bars, broken into pieces
(1 cup chocolate chips)
Heat oven to 350⁰F. Line 15x10x1 inch jelly-roll pan with aluminum foil leaving a 1-inch overhang on ends; spray foil with cooking spray. Place graham crackers onto foil so that sides touch.

Melt butter and brown sugar in medium sauce pan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and mixture just comes to a boil, about 5 minutes. Pour evenly over crackers.

Bake 5 to 6 minutes or until bubbly.

Remove pan from oven; sprinkle with marshmallow and candy bar pieces. Continue baking until marshmallows begin to soften, about 2 to 3 minutes. Cool completely. Lift from pan using foil. Cut into bars.Pin It