Zucchini Casserole

Ok, so I might be addicted to pinterest's recipes.  I've been trying a lot of new things lately and this was another.  I had a couple zucchini's that needed used, so this was the winner!! 

Most of us (in our family) liked this, but I thought it turned out delicious!  The cheese really makes it good.  And the bisquick made like a crust on the bottom even though it was mixed in with all the other ingredients. 

Tasty!!

Zucchini Casserole

A great recipe for zucchini lovers! Makes a great side dish. I am always looking for great recipes for zucchini since I have so many in my garden. I used one large zucchini to make this recipe. It is best to use a 9 x 12 casserole dish.


Zucchini Casserole
Gina's Weight Watcher RecipesServings: 12 servings • Old Points: 2.5 pts • Points+: 3 pts
Calories: 110.2 • Fat: 6.2 g • Carb: 10.6 g • Fiber: 1.2 g • Protein: 3.7 g  

• 4 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup bisquick (using heart smart)
• 1 small onion, grated
• 3 egg whites, 1 whole egg  (I actually used 2 whole eggs and the equivelent of 2 more eggs using an egg substitute (1 Tbs. milled flaxseed, 3 Tbs. water/ per egg))
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
  
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp parsley

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix everything together in a bowl. Spray a pie dish or a casserole with Pam and pour mixture. Bake approximately 45 minutes, until golden brown. Put a toothpick in the center to test if it is done. If it comes out clean, it is ready. Divide into 12 equal parts

As Good, or Better than 'New Star' cashew chicken

You'll have to try this one.  It's another recipe from pinterst!  We (including all the kids) loved this one!!  Definately a keeper. 

 

Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken

My brother-in-law lived in Thailand for a couple of years and introduced me to delicious Thai food! I have been making this recipe for a couple of years now and it is one of our favorites.

Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thigh tenders or chicken breast tenders*

1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger (I used ground ginger, and it still worked)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes  (I didn't use the pepper flakes cause I didn't have any, and I probably won't next time I make this cause another friend make it with the flakes and her kids wouldn't eat it.....TOO HOT!)
1/2 cup cashews

*I would probably add some veggies next time, like brocolli, carrots, or whatever is in my fridge
.

Directions:
Combine flour and pepper in large Ziploc bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with flour mixture. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. Place chicken in slow cooker. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over chicken. Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours. Add cashews and stir. Serve over rice. Makes 4-6 servings.
If you want like sauce and want to have some to pour over the chicken and the rice, double the sauce ingredients.

Chicken enchiladas with avocado cream sauce

Chicken enchiladas with avocado cream sauce

I found this recipe on pinterest and wanting to try a new kind of enchilada I thought I would try it out. It was delicious! The sauce sort of reminds me of cafe rio ranch without the ranch flavor. I halved the enchilada ingredients so we didn't have a ton of left over but did the full recipe for the avocado cream sauce and then freezed half of the sauce for future use. Mmmm mmm good! 

You will need:

Enchilada Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium white or yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 poblano peppers, stemmed and thinly sliced (I didn't use these because I didn't know what they were ha)
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
• 8-10 flour tortillas
• 4 cups shredded cooked chicken(rotisserie works best)
• 2-3 cups Monterrey Jack cheese
• optional garnish: fresh cilantro, sour cream, and/or shredded cheese

Avocado Cream Sauce Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 California avocados, peeled and pitted
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• juice of one lime

First make the avocado cream sauce: Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the flour, whisking until golden and bubbly, about 2-3 minutes. Slowly whisk the broth into the flour mixture. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the sour cream, cumin, salt, garlic powder and pepper, whisking if necessary to remove any lumps. Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a blender or food processor (I added it little by little and due to my blender being to small, I ended up mixing it all together in the pan in the end)  Add avocados, cilantro and lime juice, and pulse until smooth and well-blended. (Be very careful blending hot liquids — the heat will expand! So be sure to remove the lid occasionally so that the heat can escape.) Season with additional salt or pepper if needed.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, poblano and jalapeno, and saute for 5-6 minutes until the onions are cooked and translucent. Remove from heat.

To assemble the enchiladas, place a tortilla on a flat surface. Spread a tablespoon or two of the avocado sauce down the middle of the tortilla. Then layer on some of the vegetable mixture, shredded chicken and cheese. Carefully roll the tortilla and place it seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas. Drizzle the top with about half of the remaining avocado cream sauce, then cover the dish with foil and bake for about 20 minutes, or until tortillas are heated through and begin to harden. (If i did anything different it would be to add more vegetables or something of more substance besides just chicken cheese, onions and vegetables) They were good this way too though. 

Remove from the oven, then serve individual enchiladas drizzled with the remainder of the avocado cream sauce. You can also garnish with additional cilantro, cheese, and/or sour cream.

Aloha Banana Bread

Grandma Berg always has this whenever we go to visit (probably because I rave about it every time I am there). And since we were moving and not going to be there as often I asked her for the recipe.  I have a feeling Annalee's coconut loving family will love this!

Aloha Banana Bread

Ingredients: 

2 cups flour

1 tsp Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1 Cup Sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 cup mashed ripe banana

1 tsp grated orange peel

1 cup coconut

1/2 cup nuts

Directions:

Sift dry ingredients, add butter, eggs, milk, flavoring and mashed bananas. Mix well. Add orange peel, coconut and nuts. Pour into greased pan. Bake 350* for 1 hour

Serves 1 loaf- or 4 little loaves 

Enjoy! 

Homemade Granola

WARNING: this is very addictive! My mother in-law sent this home with Kevin and I could not stop eating it, plain or with yogurt. So I of course had to get the recipe from her. I made it yesterday and it is still addicting and did I mention really easy to make.

Ingredients 

4 cups Oats (not instant)

1 ½ cups nuts of choice

½ c ground flax seed (I could not find ground flax seed so I just used normal) 

½ c brown sugar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

1/3 c canola oil

1/3 c honey

                  1 tsp vanilla extract

              Directions

                      Warm oil & honey together, then mix in other ingredients. 

                          

                            Spread on lightly oiled cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 30-35 min. 

                        Stirring half way through. (If you don’t bake it long enough it is chewy)

 Enjoy!