Christmas Baking

I have spent the last few days baking away in the kitchen!  For some reason this really gets me in the Holiday Spirit!!  My MIL and I had an entire baking day Monday.  We have done this for about 3 years now and started to make this a tradition, but it was nice to be so close this year!!!  Here are some of our creations:)
First....I'm not sure what to call these??? They are a lot like rice crispy treats, but made with corn flakes not rice crisps.

Then we made peanut butter pretzel truffles....

These truffles are so good.  I actually usually keep them refrigerated until time to serve.  Here is what the inside looks like...

Lace cookies....

and my favorite Almond Cream Cheese Coffee Cake!

I also had a cookie swap with my book club!  I always have a little too much fun with this group of girls!

Here are all the goodies I came home with!  Excited to try out some new recipes:)

I still have to decorate cookies with my brothers and make my yearly batch of chex mix!  Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

When I go to the grocery store I am always looking for new products that are gluten free friendly.  I of course always buy them and immediately go home and figure out how to use them.  Recently I found a Progresso Soup that I used to make a Chicken Enchilada Casserole.  I turned out great!

Ingredients:
1 Can of Progresso Chicken Enchilada Soup
3/4 cup of Water
1 cup uncooked rice
1/2 tsp cumin
Pinch of Salt and Pepper
A few shakes of Franks Red Hot Sauce
1 can black beans- drained
1 bag frozen corn- we used roasted corn from Trader Joes
1 lb boneless skinless Chicken Breast
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

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Directions:

1.  Turn oven to 375.  Grease a casserole dish.

2. Combine soup, water, rice, cumin, salt, pepper, beans, corn and hot sauce in casserole dish.

3.  Top with raw chicken.  Cover and bake for 30 min (or until chicken is done).

4.  Now stir mixture around and on top of chicken.  Top with cheese and bake for another 5-10 min uncovered.

Now just enjoy:)  I also love making casseroles and crock pot recipes that do not require pre-cooking...just dump all ingredients and bake!

"Fig"tastic!

As many of you may know we have had several fruit trees over the past 6 years.  At our old house we had both a cherry tree (read about that here and here) and a peach tree.  Well a few days after we moved into our new house we notice we now have a Fig tree:)  So I immediately starting trying to think of ways to use figs...I have never cooked with figs before so this was quite the challenge!  I ended up making a huge batch of fig jam!
First I had to pick the figs and wash them.

I have actually used the fig jam a lot!  Gave it away to some new neighbors and friends...

Put it on a sandwich...

Made an appetizer.....Gluten Free baguette, spreadable cheese, fig jam and prosciutto.

I made thumbprint ginger cookies, covered them in powdered sugar and filled with fig jam!  A friend said "They taste like Chirstmas":)

Ryan grilled a juicy pork tenderloin and during the last 5 minutes of cooking we slathered some of the fig jam on top....you could also do this with pork chops or chicken!

We hope to try some more fig recipes soon!  Let me know if you have any good ones:)

Emily's Crispy Stuffed Chicken

Don't you love it when you go to a friends house for dinner and go home with a new recipe to try! Well recently we went to a dinner party and got lots of new recipes.  The main course was this crispy chicken breast that was stuffed with yummy goodness!  I asked Emily to share the recipe so here it is...

CREAM CHEESE-PESTO-STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS
Filling of your choice, (see below)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, (1-1 1/4 pounds total)
1 egg white
1/2 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

CREAM CHEESE-PESTO FILLING:
2 tablespoons reduced-fat cream cheese, (Neufchatel)
1 tablespoon basil pesto, (store-bought or homemade)
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
Combine cream cheese, pesto and pepper in a small bowl with a fork.

Cut a horizontal slit along the thin, long edge of a chicken breast half, nearly through to the opposite side. Open up each breast and place one-fourth of the filling in the center.

Close the breast over the filling, pressing the edges firmly together to seal. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts and filling.

Lightly beat egg white with a fork in a medium bowl. Place breadcrumbs in a shallow glass dish. Hold each chicken breast half together and dip in the egg white, then dredge in the breadcrumbs. (Discard leftovers.)

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts; cook until browned on one side, about 2 minutes.

Place the chicken, browned-side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the chicken is no longer pink in the center or until an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F, about 20 minutes.

I of course used Gluten Free bread crumbs for this, but when at Emily's house for dinner she made me a special piece of chicken with Gluten Free break crumbs as well....so sweet!...and delicious!!  I have to say this was one of my favorite things at the dinner, but with this group there was a lots of other wonderful food to eat!

So if you have a new recipe that you want to try out or an old recipe that you want to share...invite some friends over!