Mandarin Pasta Chicken Salad

I recently had a pampered chef party and we made this salad, it was so wonderful everyone was asking for the recipe.  About a week later I needed to make dinner for our sister missionaries and seeing as how it was still 100 degrees outside I thought this would be perfect, it was it definitely did not disappoint!  I got the recipe from the pampered chef consultant.

Mandarin Pasta Chicken Salad Recipe

Mandarin Pasta Salad
Dressing
1 tspn. Finely chopped, peeled, fresh gingerroot
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/3 cup rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix
2 teaspoons sugar

Salad
8 ounces uncooked bow tie pasta
½ cucumber, scored, seeded and sliced
½ cup diced red bell pepper
½ cup chopped red onion
1 package (6 ounces) fresh baby spinach leaves
1 can (11 ounces) mandarin orange segments, drained
2 cups diced, cooked chicken
½ cup sliced almonds

1. For dressing, finely chop gingerroot. Whisk gingerroot, pressed garlic, vinegar, orange juice, oils, soup mix and sugar together in small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. For salad, cook pasta according to directions, drain and rinse under cold running water. Meanwhile, score cucumber using Lemon/Zester/Scorer. Remove seeds. Slice cucumbers and cut slices in half. Dice bell pepper. Chop onion. Add cucumber, bell pepper, onion, spinach, mandarin oranges, chicken and almonds to pasta. Pour dressing over salad and toss. Serve immediately.

Honey and soy sauce salmon

We eat salmon at least once a week and I get tired of eating it with lemon juice and lemon pepper seasoning so tonight I made it this way:

39. Honey Soy Salmon
Preheat the broiler and combine ½ tbsp. honey with ½ tsp. soy sauce. Season 1 5-oz. salmon filet with salt and pepper and broil for five minutes. Drizzle with honey-soy sauce and broil an additional 2-5 minutes. Serve with microwaveable rice.  ( only I made it with 4 fillets and I not only quadrupled the recipe for the four fillets I also doubled that!  So for four fillets I used 4 T. honey and 4 t. soy sauce.)  My kids gobbled it up and said it was really yummy.  It was a really nice switch up.  I did increase the cook time to 15 minutes on broil and I still added the sauce after 5 minutes. 

You can find this recipe and 51 other healthy recipes at this site.

Spaghetti Casserole

I made this yummy recipe tonight from Salad in a jar . The whole family loved it except for the one that doesn't like cream cheese. The frenchs fried onions on top were extra yummy too. I think next time I make this I want to try mixing the vegetables and cream cheese in with the meat sauce, just to make it a little more blended. The recipe was definitely a keeper and I'll be making it again.

Sesame Noodles

I made sesame noodles tonight using this recipe, they were really good and I will definitely make them again. We had them with marinated salmon and green beans, and had a ton left over for another meal. The only thing I would do differently is that I made these using whole wheat pasta and as you know wheat pasta has a strong taste so it mellows out the seasonings/sauce, so next time I will use regular noodles. The whole family seemed to enjoy them though and that is always plus!

Chicken Spinach Alfredo Pockets

I made this recipe a few weeks ago from A Chef in Training, it was delish, even my husband thought so. Brent does not like chicken pizza, a he really liked it.

SPINACH CHICKEN ALFREDO POCKETS

• 2-3 cups cooked chicken-shredded (I used a rotisserie chicken just to save on time)
• 1 (16oz) jar Alfredo sauce
• 1 (10 oz) bag fresh spinach
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 (8 oz) bag shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup mushrooms (optional) - I didn't use this because my hubby doesn't really like them
• I threw in about a 1/4 cup of sun dried tomatoes for more flavor, but it is completely optional
• 3 (13.8 oz) cans refrigerated pizza dough*

*I don't know that I'd use the pizza dough cans again, I think next time I'd use the homemade pizza dough recipe I like from Allrecipes.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix shredded chicken, alfredo sauce, spinach, salt, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and mushrooms together by hand in a large bowl.

I rolled out the dough and cut to make rectangles for pockets. Place some of chicken mixture on one half of the rectangle dough leavining a 1 inch border. Fold the other half of dough over and press edges together until sealed.

After stuffing and folding each pocket, place on baking sheet. Whisk egg and 1 Tbsp. water together and brush over the top of each pocket. Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes or until very golden brown on top. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

If you don't want little pockets, another option you could do is:

Unfold one can of dough onto prepared baking sheet. Gently stretch or roll into an 11-inch square; cut in half diagonally, forming two triangles. Place about 1 1/2 cups chicken mixture in the center of the triangle, leaving a 1 inch border on each side. Fold 1 side of triangle over filling, rolling up edges of dough to seal. Cut a small slit in top of calzone to allow steam to escape. Repeat with remaining dough and check mixture. Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes or until Golden Brown.

Comfort food- Chicken Zucchini Casserole

I originally found this recipe on Allrecipes and I LOVE it! It tastes like thanksgiving and its a fabulous way to use up your zucchini!

Ingredients

• 1 (6 ounce) package stuffing mix
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 3 cups diced zucchini*
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup sour cream

*I usually use 2 C. shredded zucchini instead

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine stuffing mix and butter. Set aside 1/2 cup for topping. Add the zucchini, chicken, soup, carrot, onion and sour cream to the remaining stuffing mixture. Transfer to a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with reserved stuffing mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Taco Seasoning

I have been using this fabulous taco seasoning recipe that I found on Kid Appeal for about a year now, a great way to save money and lose the sodium (when you leave out the salt) and preservatives.

Taco Seasoning Recipe (based on this allrecipes.com spice ratio)
2 TBSP Cumin*
5 TBSP, 1 TSP Chili Powder*
2 TSP Red Pepper Flakes*
2 TSP Garlic Powder*
2 TSP Onion Powder*
1 TBSP, 1 TSP Paprika*
2 TBSP, 2 TSP kosher salt
1 TBSP, 1 TSP black pepper

Add all ingredients to a small mixing bowl and combine. Return spice mix to an airtight container or empty spice jar. Per your taste, add 1/2- 1TBSP of this mixture to 1 lb of cooked ground meat. Add it in larger quantities to make taco flavored soups. You should get 8-16 servings assuming you're flavoring 1lb of meat. Add a label to your spice mixture with the amount to use "1/2-1 TBS per lb meat" so you don't forget!

Note: This mixture is forgiving. If you're out of something, leave it out. My grandma just used salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder to season taco meat, so that's all I usually use. It is a slightly different flavor than the packages, but your family will get used to it over time. Also, this doesn't contain flour or cornstarch, and it doesn't call for adding water, so this won't give you saucy meat, rather, flavored meat. That's the way we roll!