Chicken, Brocolli, and Rice Casserole

I love me a good casserole! This is a good one that my mother-in-law cooks! It's a crowd-pleaser and the ingredients store for a good while, so it's nice to cook for playdates, pot lucks, and just about anything else!

Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Casserole

3 chicken breasts, raw and cubed
2 cups of minute rice
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of mushroom
1 regular sized bag of frozen broccoli florets
2 -2 ½ cups of water
Small bag of sharp cheddar, shredded (reserve some to sprinkle on top)
Garlic salt and pepper (a lot of both!)

Mix together and pour in casserole dish. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake at 350 for one hour.

(If I've already posted this here, sorry for the repost, I didn't have it in the recipe category, but it seems like I have posted this...)

Chicken Salad Recipe

Like always, I find something I like and make it into the ground! My latest offense, North Shore Chicken Salad. I first tasted this mixture of deliciousness when I was working at Children's. One of the dietitians brought it to a pot luck and holy moley, I was in LOVE! Another dietitian said really loud during the lunch, I'll never forget, "I love the way this feels in my mouth!" To which all the other dietitians laughed and replied, "That's called mouthfeel!" So bottom line, it has great mouthfeel, which is a dietitian tag word, so you might not totally appreciate that story, but I thought it was so funny!! It also has great color, so its presentation is beautiful!

OK, here's the original recipe online. http://www.chefonthegoinc.com/recipes/north_shore_chick_salad.htm

But here's how I make it, mostly the same, but with just a couple modifications. And I always make a big batch, so you could totally half this and be set! But it's a little bit of work, so I like to get my money's worth, so to speak.

6 chicken breasts, boiled and cubed
2 boxes of long grain and wild rice, cooked
2 bell peppers, red and yellow
4 green onions, chopped
1 bag of shelled edamame* (or two bags of edamame that you have to shell yourself)

*You could substitute sugar snap peas, cut in half. That's what the original recipe called for.

Dressing**, mix all in a blender:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2-3 garlic cloves
couple squirts of dijon mustard
LOTS of salt and pepper

**I usually don't use all of the dressing, there might be a little left over, but 1/3 cup each doesn't seem like quite enough. So just use enough to wet it all. (You'll be adding a few more things before serving, so keep that in mind, it will soak up a little more dressing. You can use any left over on chopped tomatoes and cucumbers as a side on another day.

It's good to let this all sit in the fridge and let the favors mix together, but if time is of the essence no big deal!

Before serving, add:
2 avocados, cubed (if you quarter, then peel the skin off, it's easier to cube)
3/4 - 1 cup roasted pecans, chopped (bake for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees)

I think that's about it. By the time it's all done, it takes about a good hour! This is my rule of thumb in the kitchen because I hate exact measurements, when in doubt, more is better - i.e. more pecans and more edamame, NOT salt. I always under salt because I'm scared to over do it, which can obviously ruin a good recipe. Plus, people can add that at the table. I know Hubby always does, and I NEVER take offense. (Read NEVER with sarcasm!)

Y'all let me know how it turns out!

Chocolate Chip Cake recipe

As requested, here is the Chocolate Chip Cake recipe.

1 yellow cake mix
1 cup milk
1 pkg instant French vanilla pudding
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1 6oz pkg chocolate chips
1 block German chocolate bar, shaved (reserve 1 tbsp)

Mix all ingredients except reserved tbsp of shaved German chocolate together. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 50 - 60 minutes. Cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes. Invert onto plate.

Icing:
1 tbsp reserved shaved German chocolate
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Mix together and sprinkle over cake.

This cake is a crowd-pleaser!! And I love recipes that basically you dump all in and bake. Easy prep time! It also travels well! Also, today, I made it from memory and left out the instant pudding (shows you how good my memory isn't) and it still tasted great!!

Happy Birthday, Hubby!

Price turned 29 yesterday. To celebrate, we had our Bean Supper group over for steak. It was delicious if I can say so myself. Oooooo, I'll share my shrimp cocktail recipe below. It got rave reviews!! Anywho, happy birthday Price, I love you tremendously!

Bean Supper took summer off since babies were being born and life was a little crazy for some of us. But last night started us back up again for bi-weekly rotations at every one's house. And with the addition of three babies, it was a mad house full. But everyone helped tend to the little ones and everyone got to eat at some point!

Shrimp Cocktail - I'm not one for recipes really. I like to throw it all in and call it a day. So use a +/- here and there. Mix the following together and put in the fridge to let all the flavors blend:

Shrimp (the more the better!), cooked, peeled, deveined, no tails - probably 2 pounds
2+ cups Ketchup (maybe 3)
bunch of cilantro, cut
3 jalapenos, seeded and diced
2 tsp Tabasco
2 limes (key ingredient)
2 avocados
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, grated (like cheese - ends of being more like juice and pulp)
salt and pepper

Serve with club or saltine crackers and enjoy!