Chicken Divan

Ah, Chicken Divan... when I was little I must admit that I threw a little bit of a fit when mom said this was for dinner. I guess I had a picky palate-- at least when it came to broccoli. I hadn't eaten it for a few years when my sister made it once while I was in college. I was so surprised! How could I not have liked this? How can anyone not like something smothered in cream of chicken soup and mayo and topped with cheese? Needless to say, I've been converted to Chicken Divan. 

Before we start you'll want to boil or bake your chicken breasts (I generally use this method) and chop them into little 1" by 1" squares.

You can see the full recipe below. All right, here's what you'll need:

Spray the bottom of a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and spread our your broccoli as the bottom layer. There is no need to have previously thawed the broccoli, just put it in frozen.

As your second layer, spread your chopped chicken over the broccoli. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika.

Now lets make the sauce! Combine all your cream of chicken soup, mayonnaise, curry powder and lemon juice in a medium bowl.

Spread that mixture over the chicken and broccoli.

Now, top it with your cheese. Mmmm, cheese.

Baked at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Voilà! This goes best served over rice!

Ingredients:

5 chicken breasts, thawed, cooked and chopped
2 (10 oz) or 1 large bag frozen broccoli
3 cans Cream of Chicken soup
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt
pepper
paprika
2 cups monterey jack cheese

1. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray and spread frozen broccoli on the bottom.
2. Cover broccoli with chopped chicken and sprinkle salt, pepper and paprika.
3. Combine soup, mayo, curry powder and lemon juice in a medium bowl.
4. Spread mixture over chicken and broccoli.
5. Top with cheese.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve over rice.

REVIEW: Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce

I did not make this recipe, I only reaped the benefits. Well, I suppose I helped mince the garlic and grate the ginger. We went to Bryan's mom's birthday party yesterday and his sister made this dinner for us. It was unbelievable. When she told me what blog she had found it on I immediately looked it up. I'm going to be looking for more delicious recipes from here in the future but I just wanted to share this first!

Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce

P.S. Sorry for my long absence. I will try to make up for it! Life sure can get hectic!

Tortilla Soup

This recipe is easy, easy, easy. Kudos to Bryan's mom for finding something so simple and delicious! You don't even use the stove top-- everything is done in the microwave! Well, I suppose you need to have cookedchicken so you might have to bake that or you can just use leftovers from a rotisserie! Bryan loves this and said, when I made it the other night, "I want to keep eating this forever!" I must say it is pretty delicious, especially with toppings. So first, get your chicken cooked and shredded or diced, your preference. I like mine shredded best. See below for full recipe.

I didn't take a picture of all the ingredients with the chicken but you can see that above. Other than that, here's what you'll need:

Mince your garlic and chop your onion and put them in a large microwave safe bowl. Cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add the diced/shredded chicken, chicken broth, chili powder and tomato sauce and stir it all up together.

Microwave this for 10 minutes or until boiling.

Pile on the toppings and enjoy! Did I mention this was easy?

Ingredients:
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. chili powder
15 oz. can tomato sauce
2 cups cooked, diced or shredded chicken

Optional Toppings:
grated cheese (I used Mexican mix)*

sour cream*

crushed tortilla chips*

sliced black olives

green onions

avocado

guacamole

1. Chop onion and mic garlic. Place them in a large bowl and microwave for 3-4 minutes.
2. Add chicken broth, tomato sauce, chili powder and chicken and microwave for 10 minutes or until boiling.
3. Use any of the above toppings, those marked with a * are recommended.

Cheesy Potatoes

Okay. Christmas came and threw me off my schedule and so I've had the pictures for this recipe sitting here on the computer for about a month... woops. I love these cheesy potatoes! My mom makes them for all our big holiday dinners: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. So good and so easy! See below for full recipe. Here's what you'll need:

Okay, first you need to melt your butter and then chop your green onions.

Then mix melted butter, soup, sour cream, cheese and green onions together.

Add the frozen hash browns to the cheesy mixture.

Place in a 9 x 13 pan. You will also need to process/smash your cornflake crumbs if you are using it from the cereal instead of buying the crumbs pre-processed. I have done it both ways. To smash, you can put the cornflakes in a big Ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them to crumbs. I much prefer the food processor.

Pour the cornflake crumbs over the cheesy potatoes and then pour the 2 Tbsp. of melted butter over them.

Cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour. This is so cheesy and delicious!

Ingredients:

32 oz. bag of frozen shredded hash browns
1/2 C. melted butter
2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
1 pt. sour cream
1 1/2 C. shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 C. green onions, chopped
1 C. cornflake crumbs
2 Tbsp. melted butter

1. Mix 1/2 C. melted butter, soup, sour cream, cheese and green onions together.
2. Mix frozen potatoes in with this mixture.
3. Pour in to a 9 x 13".
4. Sprinkle cornflakes over top and then pour 2 Tbsp. butter over top of cornflakes.
5. Cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
6. Devour.

Smith Chicken Enchiladas

Remember that post, not too long ago where I mentioned that Bryan and I grew up with different enchilada recipes that we both loved? Well, here is the recipe that I grew up with! I know this recipe like the back of my hand, I've made it so many times.See below for full recipe. You'll need:

You can find green chilies in the Hispanic food aisle. Canned chicken must be drained before use. Mix only one can of the Cream of Chicken soup, both cans of chicken, sour cream and green chilies together.

I have a little trick to make it easier to roll corn tortillas without frying them. About five at a time, put them on a little plate with a damp paper towel over them and heat in the microwave for 15-30 seconds.

I fill and roll the tortillas as each batch of five comes out of the microwave so they don't harden again. Spoon about a tablespoon of the chicken mixture onto the tortilla and roll. You will probably use 13-16 tortillas, depending on how tightly packed each roll is.

Place tightly next to each other in 9 x 13 casserole dish. After filling all of them, there should still be chicken mixture left over. There will be a little corner that I usually split a tortilla in half and put half the amount of mixture in, as pictured above. 

Mix the remaining can of Cream of Chicken soup with the rest of the chicken mixture.

Spread across the rolled tortillas.

Use the whole bag of Mexican mix cheese and cover the the enchiladas. Chop your green onions and sprinkle them over the top as well and then sprinkle the sliced black olives (these are my favorite part!).

Ta da!

We usually cut them like squares rather than serving by enchiladas. Because of this, Bryan calls it "Enchilada Casserole."

Ingredients:

2 cans Cream of Chicken soup

8 oz. sour cream

1 sm. can green chilies

2 cans diced chicken

1 pkg. small corn tortillas

1 bag (2 cups)  Mexican mix cheese

1 bunch green onions

1 sm. can sliced black olives

1. Mix one can Cream of Chicken soup, both cans chicken, sour cream and green chilies in a medium to large bowl.
2. Soften tortillas using the above method or frying.
3. Spoon about a tablespoon of mixture into each tortilla and roll.
4. Place tortilla rolls side by side, tightly in 9 x 13 casserole dish.
5. Mix second can of Cream of Chicken soup with remaining mixture and spread over the tortillas.
6. Spread cheese over top, followed by chopped green onions and sliced black olives.
7. Cook at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

REVIEW: Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

For Bryan's birthday I made a cake I had found on Pinterest. Everyone LOVED it. In fact, the reason I am updating with it right now is that one attendee of his birthday party requested I do so. This cake is so deliciously moist (due to the sour cream). The post I'm directing you to has a ton of peanut butter in it. I'm not a huge fan of peanut butter desserts so I just took out anything that said "peanut butter." You may leave it in-- that's your prerogative. It's just much better without, in my opinion. The frosting might need to be a little bit adjusted for the lack of peanut butter but that's about it. Bryan and I both LOVE cream cheese frosting so when I found this cake I thought it was perfect!

So, here you have it: Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

Sweet Potatoes

Happy Thanksgiving! What a time for delicious food. I helped out this year by making two pumpkin pies, an apple pie and sweet potatoes (Bryan made rolls). I got both pies off of the internet but the sweet potatoes are something my mom has made for every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner that I can remember (among a few other dishes). I love these sweet potatoes. It's really the brown sugar topping that makes it. After it was done cooking and I took it out of the oven, I leaned down and took in the aroma. Immediately it felt familiar and warm, accompanied by a rush of family memories. Anyway, onto actually making it. See below for full recipe. Here's what you'll need:

 This includes the entire recipe, filling and topping. We'll start by making the filling.

 The recipe calls for 3-4 cups of mashed yams or sweet potatoes (either is fine). What is really the difference anyway? I found that two 29 oz cans worked perfectly.

 The first thing you'll want to do is pour the yams/sweet potatoes in a larger saucepan with all the liquid. Bring the contents to a boil and then use a strainer or the lid of the saucepan to drain off the liquid and then put it in a bowl.

 The yams/sweet potatoes are pretty much covered by the rest of the ingredients here. Place all filling ingredients in a bowl to be mixed.

 Mix it up! You can use a hand mixer-- I used my KitchenAid. Maybe this picture wasn't necessary but I thought it looked pretty cool.

Place the filling in a 9x13" casserole dish and move on to the topping.

Chop your pecans..

.Mix all the ingredients together. It might be useful to mix all the dry ingredients first and then add the butter but I didn't and it turned out great!

Here is the result.

Crumble onto the filling and then bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Ah, delicious end result.

Ingredients:

Filling:
3-4 C. mashed yams or sweet potatoes
1/4 C. milk
2 eggs
1 C. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. butter

Topping:
1 C. pecans, chopped
1 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. flour

1. Pour yams/sweet potatoes into a saucepan with liquid and bring to a boil. Drain off liquid.
2. Mix yams/sweet potatoes, milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla and butter together with an electric mixer.
3. Place filling in 9x13" casserole dish.
4. In a small to medium bowl, mix pecans, flour, butter and brown sugar.
5. Crumble topping onto filling.
6. Cook at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.