Recipes I'm trying soon:

Three recipes from Skinny Crockpot that I will be trying soon:

Easy Roasted Rosemary Chicken
Herb Roasted Chicken
Lemony Chicken And Rice

And other to try soon:
MEXICAN CHICKEN 
Chicken Adobo Filipino Stew

Lemon Zucchini Bread
If I really like it, I'll post it on this blog!

Quick Orange Chicken (Lower Sugar!)

Got this recipe from Best Recipes Diabetic Cooking magazine, the May/June 2004 issue.

2 tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate
1 tbsp no sugar-added orange marmalade
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (abt 1 lb)
1/2 C fresh orange sections
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Microwave Directions

1. For sauce, combine juice concentrate, marmalade, mustard and salt in 8-inch shallow round microwavable dish until juice concentrate is thawed.

2. Add chicken, coating both sides with sauce. Arrange chicken around edge of dish without overlapping. Cover with vented plastic wrap.  Microwave at HIGH (100%) 3 minutes; turn chicken over. Microwave at MEDIUM-HIGH (70% power) 4 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center.

3. Remove chicken to serving plate. Microwave remaining sauce at HIGH (100%) 2-3 minutes or until slightly thickened.

4. To serve, spoon sauce over chicken; top with orange sections and parsley.

Makes 4 servings.

Dietary exchanges:
3 lean meat, 1/2 fruit

Nutrients per serving:
Cal - 157
Total Fat - 2 g
Carb - 8 g
Chol - 65 mg
Fiber - <1 g
Cal from fat - 16%
Sat fat <1 g
Protein - 26 g
Sodium - 234 mg

Southwest Pork & Sauce

To use some pork I had for a Sunday dinner, and since we'd had one of the old standby's recently and I wasn't in the mood to hunt up a recipe..I made one up. (I do that periodically - sometimes it works, sometimes not so much!) Since it was such a hit with the family, I had to write this one down.

Pork carnitas or boneless ribs (about 2 lbs?)
1 tbsp cumin
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 C chopped cilantro (I had some in the freezer*)
1 can cream of chicken soup,  (or use some from the mix recipe like I did)
Salt & pepper to taste
(Oh, I did add about 1/2 tsp Knorr's Tomato bouillon

Place in slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on high. We served it over brown rice, with veggies & salad on the side, and everybody raved over it...mmmm! Successful Sunday dinner!

*Got that idea from my friend's blog, Frieda Loves Bread.

Cranberry Apple Muffins Recipe

My sister introduced these to me when our family visited them recently. I'm including it here, because I couldn't risk losing this recipe - it was SO good, and I had a bit of trouble finding it on the internet. Here's the recipe link where I finally found it. I included the byline from Esther Bowers, because she was the name of the original recipe creator, according to my sister's recipe. 

We did make it with 2/3 parts whole wheat flour and only 1 cup sugar to lighten it up a bit. We could have tried applesauce instead of oil, but we haven't yet. Oh, and I wouldn't make this without using fresh/frozen cranberries - they are the best part!



It's sometimes difficult to get our daughter to eat healthy foods, but she gobbles up these fruit-filled muffins. Although these are a "must" around the holidays, I keep cranberries in the freezer so I can whip up a batch any time of year. —Esther Bowers, Westland, Michigan

• Prep: 20 min. Bake: 25 min.
• Yield: 18 Servings

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Ingredients

• 2 cups shredded peeled apples
• 1-1/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup chopped fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander, optional
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

• In a bowl, combine apples and sugar; let stand for 10 minutes. Add cranberries, carrots, nuts, eggs and oil; mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, coriander if desired and salt; stir into apple mixture just until moistened. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.
• Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield: 1-1/2 dozen.

Nutritional Facts1 serving (1 each) equals 241 calories, 11 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 24 mg cholesterol, 282 mg sodium, 33 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 4 g protein.

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

You may never fry chicken again after tasting this baked crispy chicken.



2 lbs chicken tenders or 4 large chicken breasts 
2 sleeves Ritz crackers
1/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup whole milk
3 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1 teaspoon dried parsley

Sauce:
1 10 ounce can cream of chicken soup
2 tablespoon sour cream
2 tablespoon butter

Crush crackers. If using chicken breasts and not tenders, cut each chicken breast into 3 large pieces. Pour the milk, cheese and cracker crumbs into 3 separate small pans. Toss the salt and pepper into the cracker crumbs and stir the mixture around to combine. Dip each piece of chicken into the milk and then the cheese. Press the cheese into the chicken with your fingers. Then press the cheesy coated chicken into the cracker crumbs and press it in.

Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and lay the chicken inside the pan. Sprinkle the dried parsley over the chicken. Cover the pan with tin foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove the tin foil, bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden brown and crispy.

In a medium sized sauce pan combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream and butter with a whisk. Stir it over medium high heat until the sauce is nice and hot. Serve over the chicken.

(Couldn't add this to my Pinterest account, because the recipe was on facebook only. Here's that link.) 

Homemade Granola (Low Sugar Version)

(Original recipe was one of my favorite recipes from Jil Abegg's "How to Save Big Money Grocery and Household Shopping Savers' Seminar", and Marie Rick's homemaking class)

6 c. regular oats

½ - 1 c. toasted wheat germ

1 c. unsweetened shredded coconut

1 c. unsweetened ribbon coconut

1/4 c. sesame seeds

1 c. chopped nuts

½ c. shelled sunflower seeds

1-2 tsp. cinnamon

¼- ½ tsp. nutmeg

1 c. vegetable oil

¼- ½ c. honey (regular recipe called for 1 C)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. raisins (optional)

METHOD

Pour honey, oil and vanilla mixture over oat mixture, and stir until well mixed. Turn onto lightly oiled cookie sheet and bake in 300° oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown, turning over occasionally. May stir in one cup raisins and bake for an additional five minutes.

Bisquick's Coffee Cake

2 cups Bisquick baking mix

⅔ cup milk or water

2 tbsp sugar

1 egg

Streusel topping (below)

Heat oven to 375°. Grease round pan, 9X1½. Stir all ingredients except Streusel Topping in medium bowl until blended. Spread in pan. Sprinkle with Streusel Topping. Bake 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. 10 servings.

Streusel Topping:

⅓ cup Bisquick baking mix

⅓ cup packed brown sugar

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp firm margarine, butter or 65% veg oil spread

Mix all ingredients in small bowl until crumbly.

Homemade Bisquick Mix recipe here.