Veggie Casserole

With several fresh vegetables in the fridge one week, I had to figure out some creative ways to eat them up before they went bad.  What resulted was a vegetable casserole that my husband loved!

First I boiled chopped broccoli, carrots and cauliflower until it was cooked.  After draining the water out of them, I mixed in 2 cups of crushed crackers, half to one can of cream of chicken and half to 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.  You can add salt and pepper to taste as well.  After mixing everything together, I poured the mix into a casserole dish and cooked at 350 until the cheese was melted and the top started to look a little crunchy. 

This dish is a delicious side to baked chicken or pork chops!

Herbed Chicken Bites

I stumbled across this recipe for Herbed Chicken Bites from www.cooks.com.  First, I cut the three pieces of boneless, skinless chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces.   I then mixed together a 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, 2 tbs of Italian seasoning (the recipe called for thyme and basil, but I didn't have thyme by itself, so I just used the Italian seasoning) and 1 cup of crushed stuffing.  (Instead of stuffing, the recipe called for crushed bread crumbs or crackers, which I didn't have either.)

I melted 1/2 cup of butter, and then dipped the pieces of chicken into the butter before coating them in the dressing mixture.  After laying the chicken on a cookie sheet (with foil in the bottom), I placed them in the oven at 400 degrees F for about 25 minutes.  It's important to watch that the chicken is cooked through, but it's also easy for them to get too dry. 

My end result was some rich tasting chicken bites, which I served with garlic potatoes.

Lemonade Pie

After seeing the recipe for lemonade pie, I just had to try it! 

 First blend a softened block of cream cheese until it is smooth.  Next, add a can of condensened milk, and mix until the two are well blended.  Add a defrosted can of frozen lemonade, and then lastly fold in a container of cool-whip. 

Pour the mixture into the graham cracker pie crust.  (This mixture is enough to make pies.)  Let the pie set in the fridge (it takes maybe 2 hours or so.)  If you want, add some sliced strawberries on top.  Enjoy this sweet and tangy pie any day, or maybe even to celebrate the 4th this weekend!