Spanish Chicken and Rice
Do you wish every meal could be as easy as Hamburger Helper? Do you hate measuring ingredients? Hunting for spices and herbs in your pantry?
I threw this casserole together with ease late yesterday afternoon and it turned out to be a “keeper.” With just FIVE ingredients, you can do so many things! Five seems to be a magic number, try making a good dinner with less than that — it’s pretty tricky.
This newly-formed recipe of mine was inspired by my thirteen-year-old daughter who suggested making something like a Mexican bean dip, except with chicken. With no real plan in mind, I bought a box of Spanish Rice Mix to go with it, but failed to buy the beans!
This is what we ended up with:
Spanish Chicken and Rice
serves 8
1 box Zattaran’s (or any brand) Spanish Rice Mix
1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 c. water
3 cooked chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces, about 2 c.
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
In a bowl, combine the rice mix, the tomatoes, the cream soup and water. Whisk to blend it all together. Pour this into a large saucepan or skillet. Put this on the stove and bring to a simmer, then turn it down to low and cover it.
The box of rice mix I used called to simmer for 25 minutes, so that is exactly what I did. When it was done, I transferred it to a greased baking dish, added the chicken, and topped it with cheese.
Bake for 10 minutes at 350 or until the cheese melts.
This can be served in a variety of ways… Wrapped in tortillas… with corn chips… with hominy or corn… or beside a fresh lettuce salad.
Also, I think this would make a great casserole to take to a sick or just-had-a-baby friend.
Cake mix, Soda, and Pudding
I got the idea for this recipe from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Ooh… it caught my eye right away. The pale green color of this cake was hard to ignore. And, at the time, St. Patrick’s Day was approaching, so I quickly decided that this was definitely going to be on my menu for Old St. Paddy.
The basic idea was to start with a boxed cake mix, add a box of pudding and a can of soda and turn it into a uniquely flavored cake. This one called for white cake, pistachio pudding (hence the green color) and lemon-lime soda.
I made my own changes, as I often do, and turned out a delicious cake that was probably the moistest I have ever had. (Is moistest a word?) I got really excited and knew I had to share it with you when I began considering all the potential flavor combinations…
white cake, vanilla pudding, root beer
chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, orange soda
cherry cake, vanilla pudding, Dr. Pepper
Just think of all the different kinds of soda…
Coke
Cream Soda
Red Pop
Cherry Dr. Pepper
Vanilla Coke
Lemon-Lime
Root Beer
And then all of the kinds of pudding…
Banana
Vanilla
Chocolate
Lemon
White Chocolate
And add the cake mix possibilities….
White
Yellow
Chocolate
Strawberry
Lemon
I think I could bake a cake every week and not run out of ideas! I could gain 20 pounds just trying different flavor combinations!
The changes I made were to use part applesauce in place of the oil - this is an old trick I use every now and then. It really helps lower the fat content. Also, I omitted the frosting completely and sprinkled the cake with powdered sugar. I figured the addition of the soda was enough extra sugar and I didn’t need to add any more.
Enough ranting… Here’s the recipe I used:
Pistachio cake for St. Patrick’s Day
1 white cake mix
1 small box pistachio pudding
1 (12 oz) can of lemon-lime soda
1/2 c. applesauce
1/2 c. oil
3 eggs
Into a large bowl, dump everything. Beat on low until moistened, then on medium for 2 minutes.
Grease your pan — I used a bundt cake pan, but a 9 x 13 would be fine, too. Pour the batter into the pan.
Bake according to the directions on the cake mix box. It’s done when you can insert a toothpick into the middle and it comes out clean instead of gooey.
Cool for 10 minutes before trying to remove it from the pan. If you are putting icing on it, allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
Enjoy!
The Easiest Cookies Ever
Maybe this is a recipe that you already have. But, like me, you have lots of recipes that you forget about and need a reminder. I have a file full of recipes but often I don’t bother to look through them and I just make whatever comes to mind. Needless to say, that can make things rather repetitive.
Last week, my kids had been nagging me for cookies. I wanted to make cookies for them, truly I did, but I kept putting it off because it seemed I didn’t have time, or if I found some time, I was pretty tired and didn’t feel like starting a kitchen project.
Finally, I said, “Why don’t you guys make cookies yourselves? Make some No-Bake Cookies.” When they stared at me like I was crazy, I realized that it had been so long since I made No-Bake Cookies that they didn’t even remember what they were.
Out came the recipe box. Hmmm… I couldn’t find it, although I’m certain I’ve made these cookies in the past. To the computer we went, where, without a doubt, if a recipe exists, it can be found.
To cut to the chase, below is the recipe for No-Bake-Cookies that we used. My daughters made this without any help from me and I’m sure my son could have eaten them all without any help! I made a minor adjustment, since the recipe we found called for baking cocoa and I didn’t have any…
No Bake Cookies
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
3 c. oats or oatmeal (quick) it doesn’t matter which you use
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
To begin, put the peanut butter and oats/oatmeal in a large bowl. Don’t try to mix it up, just set it aside.
Next, dump everything else except the vanilla in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and continue boiling for just ONE minute. Take this off of the heat and add the vanilla.
Pour this chocolaty mixture into the large bowl with the oats and peanut butter. The heat will make this very easy to mix up.
Lay out some waxed paper and plop by spoonfuls onto it. Let cool and then eat.
These are actually very tasty for as simple as they are to make. Enjoy!
Looking for something different? Try one of my other cookie recipes: