Recipe #31: Bacon Chicken Corn Chowder

Source:  Pinterest via www.bunsinmyoven.com

Ingredients:

6 ears of fresh corn, husked and silks removed (or 1-30 ounce can of corn and 1-15 ounce can of cream corn)
6 slices bacon, chopped
8 scallions
3 medium potatoes
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
2 cups chicken stock
2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 small can chopped Green chiles
2 cups roasted chicken, shredded (a Rotisserie chicken from the deli works great for this!)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Handful of grated cheddar cheese, for garnish

Instructions

In a large stock pot, fry the bacon pieces until crisp. Remove from the pan, leaving the drippings, and set aside.
Peel and chop the potatoes into bite sized chunks. Slice the scallions very think and separate the greens from the whites.
Place the potatoes and white scallion pieces in the stock pot and cook over medium heat until the scallions have softened, 2 or 3 minutes.
Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 1 minutes.
Pour in the milk, chicken stock, Old Bay, thyme, parsley, cayenne, salt and pepper, stirring well.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Reduce heat to low and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Add corn. (If using fresh corn, cut from the cob with a sharp knife. Use the back of your knife to release the pulp from the cob.) Add chicken and green chiles. Cook over low heat until heated through, about 5 minutes. Garnish with scallion greens, bacon and cheddar cheese.

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Variations:

I didn't have green onion, so I just used some finely chopped white onion.
We also don't have Old Bay seasoning - due to a period of time when my husband was convinced he was allergic, which he is not - so I used Cajun seasoning.

Folks - we have a winner!  This is our new favorite!  It appears that we are a soup kind of family, I guess.

Here is a picture of how much cheese and bacon I consider to be garnish.  I might have a cheese problem.

This soup has a bit of a kick to it, probably due to the Cajun seasoning.  But it's quite good and filling.  I look forward to many bowls of this soup on cold wintery evenings!

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:  Maybe Old Bay or Cajun seasoning?  And I don't usually have green onions on hand.
Ease of preparation:  Easy. It didn't take very long to prepare either.
Taste:  Delicious!  Everyone loved this in my house.
Overall:  A strong 10 out of 10.

Recipe #30: Crab Rangoon Dip

Source: Pinterest via www.recklessabandoncook.com

Ingredients:

2 cans crab meat
16 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
4 green onions, chopped
1-1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. lemon juice.

Directions:

First, soften the cream cheese in the microwave for about a minute.

Chop green onions.  Add them and your two cans of crab meat (drained).

Add the sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, powdered sugar, garlic powder and lemon juice.

Mix all ingredients and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Serve hot with chips or fried wontons.

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Variations:

None


This had all the makings of a successful dip. Cream cheese - check! Crab meat - check! Eat it with Wheat Thins (my preferred dip vehicle) - check!

Yet, this didn't quite do it for us.  We all agreed that we could really taste the powdered sugar, which was more a distraction than a flavor enhancer.  I'm not sure what the purpose was in adding it, but if I were to try to make this again, I would definitely leave it out.

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Ratings:
Special Ingredients Needed:  None
Ease of Preparation: Easy. 
Taste:  Too sweet for us - probably due to the powdered sugar.
Overall:  3 out of 10

Recipe #29: Cream Cheese Crockpot Chicken

Source:  Pinterest via http://thelarsonlingo.blogspot.com/2011/05/easiest-dinner-ever.html

Ingredients:

Bag of frozen chicken breast tenderloins (2.5-3 lb. bag)
8 ounce block cream cheese
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of corn, drained
1 can of Rotel

Directions:

Put frozen chicken in the crock pot.  Put cream cheese on top of chicken. Dump in black beans, corn and Rotel.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Sit every 2 hours, if you can.

Shred chicken and return to pot.

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Variations:

None

I also apparently did not take any pictures of this. Sorry!  Look on Pinterest - there are quite a few variations of this on there and the pictures you'll see are what mine turned out like.  (I love it when something turns out exactly like the picture!)

This was very good.  It was pretty soupy, which I wasn't expecting.  I served it over rice.  There are recipes that will say you could mix the rice in and use it as burrito filling, but I think you'd have to use a lot of rice to make it the right consistency.

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed: None
Ease of Preparation: Easy. Crockpot.
Taste:  Very good. You could maybe add some taco seasoning to spice it up if you wanted, but we thought it was good without it.
Overall:  7 out of 10

Recipe #28: Chicken Spaghetti

Source:  Pinterest via www.boomerbrief.com

Ingredients:

8 oz. angel hair pasta
2 cups chopped, grilled chicken
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 10-ounce can Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
8 ounces sour cream
Sprinkling of Parmesan or Mexican blend cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil pasta as package directs and drain.  Mix all other ingredients (except cheese), add to cooked pasta and put in a 9x13" baking dish. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Sprinkle with your choice of cheese and return to over to melt.

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Variations: 

None

Every pin you follow about this recipes raves about it. How great it is. How this is the best thing ever.  We did not have the same view here.  It was dull and bland.  I don't know if I did something wrong, but this was not a recipe we would make again.

This is might be the beginning of what turned me off about this dish. This did not look appetizing to me.

Ready to bake. I'm still hopeful at this point.

It didn't look much different after it was done baking.  You can tell I wasn't enthused by the extremely small portion I took. :)

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None. 
Ease of Preparation:  Easy. 
Taste:   Bleh. We found this to be bland and boring. No one ate more than one helping and a few days later, I pitched the leftovers.

Overall:  1 out of 10

Recipe #27: Chicken Tortilla Bake

Source:  http://homemakingchallenged.blogspot.com via Pinterest

Ingredients

2 10 3/4oz cans of cream of chicken

1 10oz can of dice tomatoes and green chilies 

12 6in corn tortillas

3 cups of cooked chicken

1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine the 3 cans and mix them up, then set aside.

 

 

 

 

Chop up the tortillas into bite sized pieces.

Layer 1/3 of the tortillas onto the bottom of a 3 quart pan.

Place half of the chicken on top of the tortillas.

Then spoon 1/2 the soup mixture on top of the chicken.

Repeat layers and top with the rest of the tortilla strips.

 

 

 

 

Cover and bake for 40 minutes.

 

Top with cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes until the cheese melts.

 

 

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Important notes:  I did not have the diced tomatoes, so I substituted an equal amount of salsa.  Also, I used flour tortillas instead of corn.

I don't like to post recipes when I changed any of the ingredients.  It drives me crazy to find a recipe and then read all the comments when people say "This was not good, even though I changed this and this and this."  But I'm posting this anyway.

It was a little soupy for my taste, but I'm going to say that's because I used jarred salsa instead of the the (Rotel) tomatoes.  I would make this again, using the correct ingredients, because it really does incorporate things that I really like.

My husband and kids weren't home for dinner so it was just me.  I will see how it heats up tomorrow.  Maybe it would be less saucy.

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None.
Ease of Preparation:  Easy.   
Taste:    Okay 
Overall:  7 out of 10

Recipe #26: Coca Cola Cake

Source:  http://mayflaum.com via Pinterest

Preheat oven to 350, and grease a 9×13 pan.

mix:
2cups flour
2cups sugar
1/2tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
1/2tsp cinnamon

In a saucepan over medium high heat stir this up good until it boils:
1 cup butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup coca-cola (from bottle is my preference!)
1/2 cup buttermilk

Now take off heat and add that to the flour mix & whisk until combined.

Then add:
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract

Mix, put in pan, bake it for about 30 minutes.

When cake is nearly done make the glaze by mixing in saucepan:
1/2cup butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup coca cola

Once that boils, remove and slowly stir in 4cups of confectioners’ sugar until nice and smooth. Then add in about a cup of chopped pecans, and give it a stir.

Once cake is done and out of oven (toothpick should come out clean), pour this warm glaze right over the top of the hot cake!

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Okay, a quick confession: I've actually made this cake twice before posting it here.  The first time, we were so impressed by how good this cake was.  We loved it.  Loved it so much, my husband took it to work in his lunch the next day. 

That's when his co-workers told him that their wives make this same cake with Dr. Pepper.

Dr. Pepper? I am a huge Dr. Pepper fan.  So I was all over that concept.

So earlier this week, I made this cake again, this time with Dr. Pepper.  I didn't notice much of a difference, I thought it was just as good the second time.

The glaze is delicious and really makes the cake.

Go make this cake.  No, seriously, go.  Now.

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None.
Ease of Preparation:  Easy.   
Taste:    Excellent 
Overall:  10 out of 10

Recipe #25: Lemon Butter Shrimp

Source:  Pinterest

1 stick butter, melted
1 lemon, sliced
shrimp
Italian seasoning

Place lemon slices on a baking sheet.  (I had lined mine with foil first.)  Pour melted butter over lemon slices and place shrimp on top.  Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

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This was very good.  Simple.  It had a strong lemon flavor, which isn't a plus for me, but the husband really liked it. 

I served it over rice, which is a huge plus for my daughter.

There was enough lemon butter left in the pan to make a little sauce for the rice.

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Ratings
Special Ingredients Needed:   None.
Ease of Preparation:  Easy.   
Taste:    Very good.  Overall:  7 out of 10