Lime Chicken Picatta

Creamy lime sauce with tart capers over bow tie pasta with lightly breaded chicken...

This dish will impress!

This exquisite dish is one of the first meals I learned to cook as an adult.  I simplified it a bit and changed the normal "Lemon Picatta" into Lime Picatta.  I did not have any white wine, so I omitted that too. Made this with cute little farfalle or bow tie pasta. I also had a vegetarian dining with us, so I added sliced yellow squash.

Ingredients:

1 pound uncooked bow tie/farfalle pasta

3 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless

5 limes

3 sticks of salted butter

1 cup flour

2 eggs

1/2 milk

1 yellow zucchini squash, washed, halved and thinly sliced.

1/3 cup capers (1 jar, drained)

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Start boiling water for pasta.

2. Trim fat off of chicken breasts and slice into 1/2 inch thick medallions.

3. In a pie pan or bowl, whisk together 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of milk. Add a couple dashes of pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

4. In a pie pan or bowl place 1 cup of flour.

5. Melt 2 sticks of butter in a pan on low heat. 

6. Dredge sliced chicken through egg mixture then roll in the flour.

7. Place chicken in the frying pan.

8. Once water boils, add pasta and cook until al dente and drain.

9. Cook chicken on both sides until golden and no longer pink in the center.  

10. Remove chicken and set on a plate.

11. Slice limes and squeeze the juice into frying pan.

12. Add 3rd stick of butter and sliced squash.

12. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of flour over squash in frying pan.

13. Once squash is cooked through, add capers.

14. Stir butter sauce to release all drippings from bottom of the pan and salt to taste.

15. Pour lime butter sauce over cooked bow tie pasta.  Top with chicken.

EASY Lime Cheesecake Squares!!

This is an easy creamy lime recipe that I adapted from a key lime pie recipe that I have made for years...and doubled to make an entire casserole dish!!

Ingredients:

4 packages of cream cheese, room temperature.

4 limes, quartered

2 whip cream tubs, thawed

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Graham crackers

Directions:

First, bring cream cheese to room temperature and thaw the frozen whipped cream.  

Then, rinse and slice 4 medium limes into quarters and squeeze over the cream cheese.  

Mix the cream cheese and limes with wooden spoon.  Add can of sweetened condensed milk.  

Stir in the whipped cream.

Line a casserole dish with graham crackers ( I do this because it's cheaper than the premade graham cracker crusts).

Add the filling to the "crust".

Refrigerate 2 hours or longer...

Enjoy!

Ham and Potato Skillet Meal

Meat and potatoes!!!!

This is one of those meals that you make when there is nothing to eat and you have nothing planned!  It can be varied to  use almost any leftover meat, lunch meat, or sausage.

This is a satisfying hot meal for your family!! I like mine served with ketchup and hot sauce...and a side of veggies.

Ingredients:

6 red potatoes

1 red onion

1 cup diced sliced ham

3 tablespoons of butter

1 teaspoon mustard

1/2 tablespoon steak seasoning

4 dashes of hot sauce

1 cup water

1 cup cheddar cheese

Instructions:

1. Place butter in a large frying pan on low heat, (about the second notch).

2. Dice red onion and toss into the butter.

3. Rinse the potatoes and slice off most of the skin and dice.  Throw those in the pan as you go.  Add diced ham.

4. Add steak seasoning, mustard, and hot sauce. Stir.

5. Add water and cover loosely, stirring up the bottom layer occasionally so it does not burn.

*be careful not to over-stir.  You want a nice crunchy later to form and you don't want it to all turn into mashed potatoes!!*

6. Once the potatoes are all soft, it is ready to be topped with cheese and served!!!  Salt and pepper to taste.

Cinnamon Toast!!!

Cinnamon Toast

Now this is one recipe I learned as a kid!!! You want to be liberal with the sugar so it melts with the butter and forms a crunchy layer!!

Cinnamon Toast

Ingredients:

Toast

Butter

Cinnamon

Sugar

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350'

2. Lay toast on cookie sheet. (I like to use parchment paper.)

3. Thinly slice a stick of butter and arrange on bread.

4. Lightly dust bread with cinnamon.

5. Using a spoon, shake sugar on top of bread. Be generous.  If you put too much, it will fall off anyway. * I wish I had used more butter and sugar than I did.*

6. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.

 7. Serve warm!

Easy Chili Recipe

Here is an easy way to make hearty chili!!!

This chili can be made with beans you cooked yourself or canned red beans.  I had some leftover beans that I cooked all day in the crockpot waiting in my fridge.  I also had some leftover ground BEEF from sine spaghetti I made.

I like to serve toppings with mine: 

-Sour cream

-shredded cheddar

- jalapeños

-black olives

-avocado slices or guacamole

Saltine crackers, corn bread, garlic bread, or Texas toast are good side options.

The specifics:

-1/2 lb. cooked ground beef

-4 cups (4 cans) beans

-3 Roma tomatoes, diced (1 can)

-1 packet chili seasoning

- toppings

- crackers or corn bread 

Directions:

Throw in a pot and cook on medium until heated through.  Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and black olives.

Fast and easy!!!

Enjoy!  

3 Ingredient Mac n Cheese

This is an easy dish if you want to make some creamy Mac n Cheese.  I served mine with a side of sliced ham.

Ingredients:

-1/3 of a block of velveeta type cheese (about 1 cup) 

-1/2 cup milk

-2 cups uncooked elbow noodles 

Directions:

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, place 1/3 of a block of velveeta style cheese (cut into 1/2 inch chunks) in a saucepan.  

3. Add milk to saucepan and turn burner on low heat.  

4. Stir with wooden spoon occasionally, so the sauce doesn't stick to the pan.

5. Once the pasta is cooked, drain water off and mix into sauce.

6. Stir until pasta is coated in cheese sauce.

Crockpot Beans

I want to get to some real money saving recipes to feed your family.  One of the greatest of these is a good ole pot of beans!!  What has worked for me for years is to cook them in the crockpot, on high, for 8 hours. 

Yum! 

Beans are so versatile.  They can be eaten alone with salt and pepper (don't forget the cornbread!), in chili, mashed up to make bean burritos, in salads, on nachos...  This is an underestimated food that is so versatile and used in many cultures around the world!!!

First, you want to rinse your beans in a strainer and pick out any rocks or shriveled beans.

Then put the beans in the crockpot and cover with water and a teaspoon of salt.

Cook on high for 8 hours.  Season to taste.  

Today, I chose to serve them with rice, sour cream, cheese, and salsa. 

Enjoy!  :-)

Let's eat SALAD!

I have a secret salad recipe that eats like junk food.  

I'm not kidding.  

Here is the secret combination: romaine lettuce, tomatoes, feta cheese crumbles and italian dressing. 

I cheated a bit here, because this was lunch.  So I added homemade croutons, ham, and olives (which was not as good as the original 4 ingredient secret salad, mind you.)