Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

I received this recipe from one of the ladies that I serve with in our church's Relief Society women's activity committee.  We made it for one of our activities and it was so good!  I accidentally boiled the rice too long and all of the broth disappeared; thankfully I had a 32 ox box of broth in my pantry so I just poured that in and added some water to it to make up the difference and lessen the saltiness.  Even with this mishap (or, who knows, maybe because of) this soup was so delicious.  I have another chicken and rice soup recipe on here that I made in the fall, and it was good too, but this one might be the close winner.  Though, that could be because I'm a sucker for a creamy soup.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

1 (49.5oz) can of chicken broth (6 cups)

1 lb chicken breast, diced

½ cup uncooked wild rice

½ cup uncooked brown rice

½ lrg onion, finely diced

2 carrots, grated

2 ribs celery, finely diced

¼ cup sliced almonds (can substitute with diced water chestnuts)

¼ cup butter

½ cup flour   

1 cup half & half

-Cook chicken and dice it.

-Boil broth & rices in a large pot.  Watch for the rice to split and curl, about 45 minutes.  In the meantime prepare the vegetables- grating, dicing, etc…

-In a large skillet sauté in butter, onion, carrots, celery and almonds until onions are translucent.  Then stir in and evenly coat veggies with flour.  Do not let the flour brown.

-Slowly blend the diced chicken and veggies into the pot of broth & rice, stirring constantly.  Let simmer for about10 minutes.

-Add salt & pepper to taste.

-Slowly add the half & half stirring constantly so it doesn’t curdle.

-Reheat the entire mixture, but do not boil again.

-Optional: Garnish with grated cheddar cheese and sliced almonds.

Asparagus Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I saw these in  a grocery store  and wanted to try to make them myself at home for our Easter dinner.  They turned out sooo good.  Jon was complementing every bite.  Once you figure out the chicken pocket method ( I use this when making Chicken Cordon Bleu as well) this is actually a really easy dish, but comes out so impressive and delicious.  Sine i was only feeding our small family I made three breasts, but this could probably be stretched to four, just cut up more asparagus.  SInce I just kind of made this up as I went, feel free to make any adjustments to your own taste.  I think it would be good to add fresh diced tomato or sun dried tomatoes to the stuffing as well.

Asparagus Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Leah Matthews

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

6 stalks asparagus, cut in half (washed and ends cut off)
3  boneless chicken breasts, thawed
4oz cream cheese, room temp
1/2 tsp minced garlic
2-3 Tbs fresh grated Parmesan cheese
seasoned bread crumbs
margarine
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix together cream cheese, Parmesan cheese and garlic. Set aside.

Take a chicken breast and a  large, sharp knife; I use my chef's knife.  Starting in the thickest part of the breast, cut through making a pocket carefully edging the knife deeper through and widening the sides without cutting through the sides or bottom.  I am terrible at explaining this!  Essentially you are making a pocket i the chicken to stuff the yummy things into.  The bigger the pocket (w/out cutting through) the better so that you will have the stuffing in each bite when it is baked.  I don't seal the end, but you can use tooth picks to do this if you want.

Now, take a third of the cream cheese mix and stuff it into the chicken pocket with your hand trying to spread it out as evenly as possible.  Then stuff in four of the raw asparagus halves.  Repeat with each chicken breast.

Place them in a greased baking dish.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then bread crumbs.  Place a dollop of margarine on top of each.

Bake, uncovered for 20-25 minutes.  Some of the sauce will have spilled out, just spoon this over the top of the chicken when serving.

Roasted Asparagus

Simple, amazingly delicious.

Roasted Asparagus

Place trimmed asparagus into baking dish.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and chili powder.  Bake in 450 oven for 20-25 minutes.

Baked Cinnamon French Toast

I made this for our Christmas morning breakfast.  It was dense and yummy all on its own or smothered in  cream cheese icing!  You make it ahead the night before, refrigerate and then put it in the oven the next morning.  It baked while we opened gifts and was ready when we were done!

Baked Cinnamon French Toast

The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• FRENCH TOAST
• 1 loaf Crusty Sourdough Or French Bread
• 8 whole Eggs
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• ½ cups Whipping (heavy) Cream
• ¾ cups Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
• Topping
• ½ cups All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces
• Fresh Fruit (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Grease 9 x 13-inch baking pan with butter. Tear bread into chunks (or cut into cubes) and evenly distribute in the pan.

Mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Pour evenly over bread. Cover tightly and store in the fridge several hours or overnight.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add nutmeg if desired. Add butter pieces and but into the dry mixture until mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a Ziploc in the fridge.

When you’re ready to bake the casserole, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove casserole from oven and sprinkle crumb mixture over the top. (If you’re using fruit, sprinkle on before the crumb mixture.) Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture. Bake 1 hour or more for a firmer, less liquid texture.

Scoop out individual portions. Top with butter and drizzle with maple syrup.