Quesochunga!

Everyone loves a nice, fried, chimichanga! This recipe came from a few different sources. The base for it is from someone in my ward at Church from a cookbook that was put together. I asked daniel if he would make them, because I really hate frying things (I'm not gonna lie, sparking grease freaks me out!), so he put his own twist on them, styling them semi-after a Queso Chimichanga at Hacienda Colorado. These were absolutely delicious!! They were nice and crispy on the outside, and the insides were blended just perfectly. Daniel made half beef, half chicken, but if you want just chicken or just beef, just double the amount of the meat you wantI took some pictures of Daniel making them, so I'll put those after the recipe!

QUESOCHUNGA

1 can canned chicken

1 lb. beef, browned and drained

8 large tortillas (if you want smaller chimichangas, you would probably use about 16 tortillas, give or take)

About a cup of shredded cheese

1 jar salsa

1 jar of queso (your favorite brand works!) (warm it up)

1/2 can green chili sauce

1 pot of oil about 1 1/2 inches deep, heated.

Brown beef and cook chicken (in seperate pans). Mix in about 1 cup salsa with each meat. Add a couple spoonfuls of green chili sauce into chicken and beef. Put 1/4 cup of the queso into the beef, and about a tablespoon of queso into the chicken. Set aside. Heat oil. Warm tortillas in microwave. Put some of the mixture (chicken or beef) into center of tortilla, a spoon ful of queso and a little bit of green chili sauce, and a little bit of shredded cheese. Fold the tortilla so it is secure (use toothpick if needed). Place chimichanga fold down into the oil for about 10 seconds (or until brown), flip it, and repeat. Remove from oil and place on paper towel to drain and let cool BUT put slather top of chimichanga with queso immediately after putting on paper towel. Repeat steps until all meat mixtures are gone. Serve with sour cream and salsa! Enjoy!

Yummy Wheat Bread!

I really love to bake! Cookies, breads, anything...It's just so fun! Recently, I have started making this excellent recipe for wheat bread! My little brother, Michael, made the recipe at school last year on Colonial day, and we found the recipe a few weeks ago. This is some of the easiest bread I have ever made, and it doesn't take much time at all to make! I love eating it with raspberry jam..yummy! Definitely try this one out!

WHEAT BREAD
2 C. warm water
1 Tbsp. yeast
1/4 C. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 C. vegetable oil
1 1/2 C. whole wheat flour
About 4 C. white flour (I actually only end up using about 3 cups)

Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Stir in sugar until dissolved, let stand 3 minutes. Add salt and vegetable oil. Stir in wheat flour. Beat 1 cup whtie flour. Add flour 1/4 c. at a time until dough is stiff enough to knead (but not flaky). Turn dough onto floured surface. Knead a couple of times. When dough springs back after lightly touched, shape into ball and place in well greased pan to raise until about double in size (it took about 15 minutes for me!). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Remove from pan and cool

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies!

So i'm sure everyone has a cookie recipe that they think is the BEST...but well, this really is the best :-) My mom got it from an Enrichment Night at Church, and they are definitely often made in our home! I definitely can't get enough of them, which is definitely not good! he he. They are really simple, but VERY delicious!

BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1 cup butter flavor Crisco
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp. soda
1-12 oz. milk chocolate chips

Cream first 5 ingredients until light and fluffy. Add dry ingredients and mix into creamed mixture. Add milk chocolate chips. Drop from ice-cream scoop 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Baket at 345 for 11 minutes. Cool before serving.

Honey Mustard Chicken with Vegetables

This is a recipe from "Great Taste-Low Fat" cook book. There are a lot of tasty recipes in here that you wouldn't even guess were low in fat! This is one of my very favorites. I recommend serving it over rice.

HONEY MUSTARD CHICKEN WITH VEGETABLES

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp. olive oil (or vegetable oil)
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks (the recipe calls for green peppers, but i like red better!)
1 large red onion, cut in 1-inch chunks
2 gloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest (i left this out cuz we didn't have it, but i'm sure it would make the dish even more delicious!
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp. honey dijon mustard
1 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsps. cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp. water

Cut the chicken into 2-inch pieces. On a sheet of waxed paper, combine the flour, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. of the black pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil until hot but not smoking over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a plate. Add to the pan the bell pepper, onion, garlic, lemon zest, sage, remaining 1/4 tsp. salt, and remaining 1/4 tsp. black pepper to the skillet, stirring to coat. Add the broth, mustard, and honey and bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the pan, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook until the chicken is cooked through. Return to boil, stir in lemon juice and the cornstarch mixture, and cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce is thickened, about one minute.

Grilled Bacon Chicken

So i found this recipe awhile back when trying to find something a little different to make for dinner. It was pretty tasty and extremely easy to make!

GRILLED BACON CHICKEN

6 slices bacon
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil (or vegetable oil if your like my family and don't really want to spend all that money on olive oil..even if it is healthier :-D)
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or chicken tenders work just as well, just plan on about 3 for each person)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese


Cook bacon in a pan until crisp. Crumble and set aside. Pour the bacon grease out of the pan, but don't wipe out the pan. Add butter and oil to the pan. Saute the chicken in pan, turning once, until the chicken is cooked and not pink in the middle (5-10 minutes on each side). Put the chicken into an ungreased 12x8 cooking dish. Cook onion and garlic in the skillet until the onion is softened. Add in salt and pepper and crumbled bacon. Spoon over the top of the chicken, and then put shredded cheese on top of the chicken and bacon mixture. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes (or until cheese is melted)

Spaghetti Pizza

So, at first glance this recipe might sound slightly strange...But it's actually quite good. I found a similiar recipe on the back of a Hunts spaghetti sauce can, Macaroni Pizza, but my doesn't like macaroni so we changed it a little bit. I made this when my Grandma and Grandpa Park were visiting, and they liked it too :) I served it with garlic knots (see the recipe for these delicious items at the beginning of this blog).

SPAGHETTI PIZZA
1 package of linguni (my favorite type of pasta!)
1 package of sausage (or ground turkey if you wanted a healtheir rendition)
1 package lean ground beef
25 pepporonis cut into 1/4's
About 2 cups of shredded cheese
1 can of hunts spaghetti sauce (whatever flavor you want)
1 can of tomato sauce
2 tsp. sage
1 tbsp. bbq sauce
2 tsp. italian seasoning
2 tsp. cilantro
Parmesan Cheese (to top)

MAKE SURE TO HAVE A LARGE PAN WHEN COOKING THIS
Cook linguni according to package until tender and drain. Set aside. Cook the sausage and ground beef and drain if there is excess grease. After meat is cooked, combine with spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce and mix. Then put in the spices and bar b que sauce and let simmer. After simmering for a few minutes, put the linguini and the pan and mix around until all of this is well combined. Sprinkle half the cheese and all the pepporonis into the mixture and stir. After letting the cheese melt throughout the dish, put the remainder of the cheese on top and let it melt. When I cooked it on the stove, it didn't completely melt so i stuck it in the oven for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve!

BTS Cake

So seriously, this is definitely the BEST cake I have ever had. A friend of mine gave me the recipe after he had it at a Church activity, and I tried it out on my family, and i think it was a unanimous agreement that it was delicous. Brandon even requested that Diana make it for his birthday :-) I definitely recommend this delicious dessert for any occasion.

1 boxed german chocolate cake mix (or devils food cake works just as well)
1 jar of caramel topping
1 tub of whipped cream
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
About 2 cups of crushed heathe bars (or any other candy you might like more)

Bake the cake as directed in a 9x13 cooking dish and let cool. After it is cool, poke many holes across the top of the cake (make sure hte hole goes all the to the bottom of the pan). Pour the jar of caramel topping evenly over the top of the cake, making sure to let the caramel seap into all the holes. After this, pour the sweetened condensed milk over the cake in the same matter as the caramel, letting it seep into the cake. Spread one tub of whipped cream over the top of the cake,a nd then sprinkle with the crushed candy bars. Refrigerate till ready to serve