Grandma Sandy's Chicken Broccoli Casserole

This was a family favorite when I was growing up. Now my family loves it. Dallin and Amanda cheered last night when they found out what we were having. Emily doesn't like anything with sauce, so she was only excited when I picked the broccoli and chicken out of the sauce. Serve this with brown rice and a nice green salad. I have modified my Mom's original recipe to make it a little more healthy.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Cover the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan with bite size pieces of broccoli (about 2 cups) (I buy the big bag of pre-cut and washed broccoli from Costco. You still need to cut it up a bit.)

Put about 2 Cups, or 2 chicken breast of cooked chopped chicken on top of the broccoli

Mix in a bowl:

1/2 Cup lite Mayo
1 Can cream of chicken
1-2 teaspoons curry
1 T lemon juice

Put mixture on top of broccoli and chicken

Sprinkle with 1/2 Cup grated cheddar cheese

Sprinkle 1/2 bread crumbs on top of the cheese (just cut up some bread)

Drizzle 1 Tablespoon melted butter on top

Bake in 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Do longer if you like your broccoli mussy.

Serve over Brown rice

Spinach Salad with pears, pinenuts and white cheddar

2 Cups baby spinach

1 pears diced

1/4 Cup pinenuts toasted lightly (in a frying pan til you see brown on them)

Couple Tablespoons of roughly chopped aged white cheddar

Balsamic dressing

3 T olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix well and drizzle over salad just before serving (you may not need all of the dressing)

The week of meal ideas!

Are you tired of thinking of food ideas for your family? I am here to help! This week I am going to post each meal we eat, and along with it, I will give you tips on how to make your meals healthier for your kids. To start out, I wanted to share with you what we had last night. Orange Chicken and brown rice with stir fried veggies, and Asian salad.

First, the orange chicken. This is from a frozen box. It is from Costco, and it contains 2 packs of chicken. Just heat in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes and put sauce on top. It is called Mandarin Orange Chicken, By Crazy Cuizine. It is less than 30% fat (if you bake and not fry it). The ingredient pass my test (no trans fat or high-fructose corn syrup).

Before you cook the chicken, be sure you start your brown rice. Remember that brown rice takes a whole hour to cook! Do twice as much water as rice. I have tried brown rice in the rice cooker, and I have not gotten it to work. Any ideas?

Stir Fry

• carrots
• purple cabbage
• purple onion
• green beans (mine were frozen)
• other veggies you have on hand (broccoli, asparagus, zucchini . . .)

Heat 1 T of canola oil in non-stick pan. Add carrots and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Then add onions and cook 2 more minutes. Add green beans and cabbage and cook for 2 more minutes. Add about 1 Tablespoon of the orange sauce from the chicken packet.

Asian salad

• Baby spinach (or any lettuce)
• can of mandarin oranges
• grated or slice carrots
• purple onion (green onion is even better)
• purple cabbage sliced thinly
• (other things that go well are broccoli in small pieces, snow peas, and red pepper)

Make a dressing with about 3 T canola oil, 1 T rice wine vinegar, 1 T sugar, 1 t soy sauce, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Tip of the day:

When your kids want seconds of the yummy orange chicken, have them eat 3 bits of veggies first. Explain to your kids that you can eat something you don't like, and that it is good to try foods to be sure that you still don't like that food. Remember, you are in charge. Most of all, the parent also needs to finish their veggies before taking seconds of something. If your kids are out of the habit of asking before they take seconds, keep the non-veggies off of the table and up at the counter so you have more control.

Cheesy Vegetable Soup

This has been a family favorite for years. It is a great way to get your kids to eat veggies that they normally don't like (unless they are like Emily, she only likes veggies plain with no sauce on them). I got this recipe from my mother-in-law. It is very fast and easy to make.

Vegetable Cheese Soup

1 small bunch broccoli, cut in small pieces

1 onion, diced

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced potato

1 cup cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces

2 10 ¾ ounce cans chicken broth

2 tsp or cubes bouillon

2 cups milk

¼ cup flour

3 cups grated Cheddar cheese (or less)

1 tsp dry mustard

1/8 tsp cayenne

In a large pan, combine diced vegetables, bouillon and broth (I reserve broccoli tops and add towards the end). Simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. In a medium bowl, mix milk with flour; blend until smooth. Gradually add milk mixture to vegetables, stirring constantly. Add grated cheese, dry mustard and cayenne pepper. Simmer until cheese melts.

I usually double this recipe

Sorry there is no picture. I will make it again this week and add it.

Healthy Fries

I love these Potato Fries. They are easy to make, but they do take some time to bake. Tonight we are having Turkey burgers and these homemade fries. The recipe isn't exact, so feel free to use your imagination.

Uses about 1 medium potato per person.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Wash potatoes

Slice potatoes length-wise into 8 wedges (leave skin on)

Put potato wedges in a bowl. Drizzle on about 2 Tablespoons olive oil or canola oil and toss to coat.

Sprinkle with the following seasonings:

• Garlic Powder
• Paprika
• Rosemary
• Onion Powder
• Season Salt
• Salt if you don't do season salt
• Pepper

Bake in 450 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes (until baked through). Serve with ketchup. My kids love these. Hope your kids do too!

Lay potatoes in a row on a baking sheet skin side down.

Halloween Candy

I imagine that your house is like mine right now. . . Candy everywhere! I came up with one fun thing to do with your Candy this year that does not involve hiding it, or eating it. I got this idea from one of my favorite magazines, Family Fun. What is it? You experiment with it! Use any candy that your kids don't like, or they are willing to play with instead of eat. We mostly microwaved them to see what they looked like melted (it reminded me of that baby shower game where you guess the melted candy bar in the diaper). Dallin added milk to his, and Emily added water to hers. They had fun doing it. Now I just need to come up with more games. Maybe I can see if they want to see who can throw the candy off the deck the farthest? What are some of your ideas. Leave a comment.

Cinnamon

I remember that as a kid I had a hard time saying the word cinnamon.  I also didn't learn how to spell it for years, but that is because I am terrible at spelling!

My old roommate Jennie (that really is how you spell her name, it isn't my terrible spelling:) commented on my last blog post about what she could eat with cinnamon in it.  I thought I would do a blog post with some of my favorite recipes with cinnamon in them.  

• Cinnamon and Sugar-  I have two of the Pampered Chef shakers.  I use one for my cinnamon and sugar mixture and the other one for my powdered sugar.  My husband likes his cinnamon and sugar mixture with a lot more cinnamon than I was used to, but now I like more cinnamon as well.  So my first recipe is to increase the cinnamon and decrease your sugar in your cinnamon and sugar shaker.  I use about 1 part cinnamon to 3 parts sugar (maybe more cinnamon than that).  I put cinnamon and sugar on toast, hot cereal, and a dash on top of my hot chocolate with fresh cream.  We also get out the shaker for crepes.
  
  
• Eat more Indian and Morracan food.  They use a lot of cinnamon in Africa, and India.  Some of my favorite recipes include, Morracan CousCous, and Spiced up Basmatti Rice.  My sister Candee (I bring her up a lot, she must be opinionated :) doesn't think cinnamon belongs in a dish unless it is a sweet dish, but if you can convince your taste buds otherwise, you will be grateful later on.  Most Indian food also has curry in it.  Curry is a blend of spices.  Studies have found that the spices in curry, especially turmeric,  are very good for you.
  

Moroccan Chicken Stew RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
	1 tablespoon oil
	1 small onion, chopped
	2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
	1/2 teaspoon turmeric
	1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
	3 whole cloves
	2 bay leaves
	2 cups chicken broth
	4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 3/4 to 1 pound)
	1 (14.5-ounce) can whole tomatoes with juice
	1 large carrot, sliced
	1 1/2 cups green beans, snapped into smaller pieces
	1 small summer squash, quartered and and cut into large chunks
	1 (15.5-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
	1/2 teaspoon salt
	1/3 cup golden raisins FOR THE COUSCOUS:
	2 cups chicken broth
	1 cup water
	2 cups couscous 1. In a Dutch oven or large (8-quart) pot, heat the oil over medium heat for 1 or 2 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and saute them until the onion is translucent, about 2 minutes. Stir in the turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, and bay leaves and cook the mixture for 2 to 3 minutes. (I have also done it all in a crock pot) 2. Add the chicken broth, chicken thighs, and tomatoes and bring the stew to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer the stew with the pot covered for 25 minutes.  3. Stir in the carrots, green beans, squash, chickpeas, and salt. Cook, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and using the edge of the spoon to break the chicken and tomato chunks into smaller pieces.  4. Add the raisins. Turn the heat back up to medium and continue simmering the covered stew until the vegetables are tender (10 or so minutes more). Add more salt, if desired. Ladle the stew into shallow bowls around a mound of couscous. Serves 4 to 6.  5. To make the couscous, combine the broth and water in a saucepan and bring them to a boil. Quickly stir in the couscous. Remove the pan from the heat and let it sit, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork before serving.  Sultana & Cashew Basmati Pilau I just bought a massive bag of basmati rice from costco that I’ve been dying to try out.  And this was totally experimental, because I made this dish in the rice maker.  Basically, I just followed the rice maker’s guidelines of 2 cups rice and 2.5 cups water: 2 cups basmati rice, rinsed and soaked for a bit, then drained of course 2.5 cups chicken broth 1 cinnamon stick 1 handful of cashews 1 handful of raisins (golden are best, but I just had regular and it was fine) 1 handful of slivered almonds (I chopped up some whole almonds) a couple spoonfuls of garam masala (from the store or make it yourself.. mine had coriander, tumeric, cumin, fenugreek and chillies) some more tumeric a little oil for good measure (I did a couple teaspoons of canola oil.. butter works too) That’s about it. I just threw it all in the rice maker and hit the white rice button, but you could accomplish this by throwing it all in a pot on the stove and cooking it like any old rice dish (although you may want to get fancy and saute the rice and some spices a little in oil or butter first)

• You can always stick with the sweet stuff.  I am going to share with you my all time favorite cookie recipe.  I can't believe I am doing this, but oh well.  They are called cinnamon crackle cookies, and I am sure that with all the sugar and butter found in them, that the health benefits of cinnamon is canceled out.  
  

Cinnamon Crackle Cookies from Taste of Homes

1/2 C butter
½ C shortening (I use butter)
1 C sugar
½ C packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla extract
½ t almond extract
2 ½ C all-purpose flour
1 Tbs ground cinnamon
2 t baking soda
2 t cream of tartar
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 t grated orange peel
1 t grated lemon peel
½ t salt
additional sugar

In a mixing bowl, cream butter, shortening and sugars.
Add the egg and extracts; mix well. Combine the next eight
ingredients; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Shape
into 1” balls; roll in sugar. Place 2 in. apart on un-greased
baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-14 minutes or until
lightly browned. Yield: about 6 dozen. These cookies freeze
well. (I only cook about 8 minutes because I like them softer)

• Anytime a recipe calls for cinnamon, add a little bit more.  As long as it isn't too much, I doubt you will notice.  
  

Hope this helps you out Jennie.  

Pumpkin Pancakes

Someone on facebook (thanks Corinne) gave me the idea of pumpkin pancakes.  I had made pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and I had left over canned pumpkin.  With one jar of pumpkin I made

• 2 loafs pumpkin chocolate chip bread
• baby food with pumpkin, applesauce and a dash of cinnamon
• baby food with pumpkin, plain yogurt and a dash of pumpkin pie spice
• pumpkin pancakes

I used a recipe from allrecipes.com.  It turned out really well.  I used 1/2 whole wheat, but I think next time I would just do all whole wheat.  

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 whole wheat)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar

The thing I love about making pancakes is that you just throw all the ingredients together and mix it up.  You don't need a mixer, and you really don't need to have any order to putting the ingredients in (I am sure some people would disagree:)

I was talking to my sister-in-law Katy yesterday, and I was telling her about the pumpkin applesauce baby food with a dash of cinnamon.  I mentioned that I did the cinnamon because it is so good for you.  She didn't know this, so I thought this blog post would be the perfect time to talk about the benefits of cinnamon.

Did you know?

• Cinnamon has some effects of how your body regulates blood sugar?  Several studies have shown improved insulin sensitivity and blood glucose control with as little as 1/2 teaspoon a day. Both test tube and animal studies have shown that compounds in cinnamon not only stimulate insulin receptors, but also inhibit an enzyme that inactivates them, thus significantly increasing cells’ ability to use glucose. It is great for diabetics, and for those of us that don't want to get diabetes.
• Cinnamon has also been shown to have positive effects on cholesterol.  One study had 60 people with type 2 diabetes take 1, 3, or 6 grams of cinnamon in pill form daily, an amount roughly equivalent to one quarter of a teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.After 40 days, all 3 amounts of cinnamon reduced fasting blood glucose by 18 to 29%, triglycerides by 23 to 30%, LDL cholesterol by 7 to 27%, and total cholesterol by 12 to 26%.
• Cinnamon has some anti-bacterial effects preventing food spoilage.
• In one fun (but unpublished) study, researchers found that sniffing cinnamon resulted in improved brain function -– subjects did better on memory and attention tasks when taking whiffs of cinnamon as opposed to other odors or no odor.  So maybe baking while your kids do homework would help.
  
• Cinnamon also has anti-fungal effects and can be beneficial in treating a yeast infection or thrush.  (I am not sure how true this one is, but I read it a couple times)
• Cinnamon has magnesium, fiber, calcium, and iron in it.  
• Cinnamon seems to have some anti-inflammatory effects as well.  In a study at Copenhagen University, patients given half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder combined with one tablespoon of honey every morning before breakfast had significant relief in arthritis pain after one week and could walk without pain within one month.
• People have traditionally used cinnamon for digestive problems, although I didn't find any studies to support this.  

The funniest part about this blog post is that the recipe doesn't even have cinnamon in it!  So I guess, throw some in for good measure!

I bought the big thing of cinnamon that is in the picture for $3.00 at Costco!  What a great deal.  Next time you are at Costco, be sure to pick some up.  

Final note.  So sorry I haven't blogged for so long.  I moved about 3 weeks ago and was just trying to settle into the new house.