Smothered Chicken

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion
1 large green bell pepper
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Salt & pepper to taste
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Grill chicken until cook thoroughly.
Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Warm olive oil in pan, cook onion, bell peppers, and mushrooms until soft. Add in garlic and Italian seasoning and mix together and set aside.

Slice up chicken breasts and place in bottom of 8x8 baking dish. Spread dijon mustard across the chicken. Top with cooked vegetables and then add on mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 10 minutes until cheese is bubbly and melted.

Easy Southern Banana Pudding

Ingredients:

3 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
30 vanilla wafers
3 bananas, sliced
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed

Directions:

Beat pudding mixes and milk with whisk 2 min. Let stand 5 min. 

Arrange half the wafers on bottom and up side of 2-qt. serving bowl; top with layers of half each of the banana slices and pudding. Repeat all layers. Cover with COOL WHIP.

Refrigerate 3 hours. 

Smoked Chicken Rub

Ingredients

2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 tablespoons cayenne
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoon black pepper

Directions

This recipe should be seen as a base and can be tweaked depending on your liking. For instance, if you like a little more kick to your chicken, feel free to add a little more chili powder and cayenne to give it some heat. It can be simply made by combining all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. It can also easily be combined with a ¼ to a ½ cup of olive oil if you want to turn it into a paste so it will stick to your chicken. Rub it on any cut of chicken from wings, breasts, thighs or legs. 

Baked Jalapeño Poppers

Ingredients:

30 jalapeños
2 packages bacon
1 block Colby jack cheese
1 (2 cup) bag shredded Colby jack cheese

Directions:

Slice top and ends off jalapeños. Slice jalapeños, long ways, and remove all the seeds. Place jalapeños in a bowl of water ranging from 1 hour to overnight.

Line baking sheet with foil. Preheat over to 400.

Cut block of cheese into 15 slices and then cut each slice into 4 small chunks.

Drain jalapeños and place 2 chunks of block cheese inside jalapeño and wrap in slice of bacon.

Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of all jalapeños and bake for 20 minutes.

One Pot Mexican Skillet Pasta

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound hamburger
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
2 cups salsa, homemade or store-bought
2 cups cooked elbows pasta
1 Roma tomato, diced
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup canned black beans, rinsed
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 avocado, halved, seeded, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add ground turkey and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat.
Stir in tomato sauce and salsa until well combined. Add pasta, tomato, corn and black beans, and gently toss to combine.
Stir in cheese until melted through, about 1-2 minutes.
Serve immediately, topped with

Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
8-10 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 TBS. freshly ground pepper
1 TBS. paprika
2 TBS. garlic powder
6 TBS. hot sauce

Topping:

2 c. Fiesta Blend Cheese or a mix of Cheddar & Monterey Jack
1 c. crumbled bacon
1 c diced green onion

Directions:

Preheat oven to 500F (This is NOT a typo, 500F is correct!)  In a large bowl mix together theolive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder &hot sauce.  Add the cubed potatoes and stir to coat.  Carefully scoop the potatoes into acooking spray coated 9 x 13 inch baking dish, leaving behind as much of the olive oil/hot sauce mix as possible.  Bake the potatoes for 45-50 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes, until cooked through and crispy & browned on the outside.  While the potatoes are cooking, add the cubed chicken to the bowl with the leftover olive oil/hot sauce mix and stir to coat.  Once the potatoes are fully cooked, remove from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 400F.  Top the cooked potatoes with the raw marinated chicken.  In a bowl mix together the cheese, bacon & green onion and top the raw chicken with the cheese mix.  Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the topping is bubbly delicious.  Serve with extra hot sauce and/or ranch dressing.

Oven Fried Okra

Ingredients:

16 oz bag frozen sliced okra, thawed {about 3 1/2 cups}
1 tsp Cajun or creole seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 C yellow corn meal
Canola oil spray
1 gallon zip lock bag

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Turn the zip-lock bag inside out and spray with canola oil spray.

Pour the okra in the bag along with the Cajun seasoning and garlic salt. Seal bag and shake vigorously. Let rest for 10 minutes so the juices extract  from the okra.

Add the cornmeal to the bag and shake up again. Let rest 10 more minutes. Give the bag one more good shake. Pour okra over a strainer or colander {either over the sink or over a bowl} so the extra cornmeal will fall off. Spread the okra over a foil covered baking sheet and spread out evenly. Spray okra with canola oil spray.

Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven, flip okra over, lightly spray again and return to oven for 20 more minutes. And that's it!