Coconut Chicken Strips

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts

1/2 c. flour

1/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 T. milk

1 c. chopped pecans

1 c. coconut

1/3 c. butter, melted

Sauce:

1/2 c. orange marmalade

1 T. cider vinegar

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

2 T. chili sauce

Mix all ingredients together.

Directions

Cut chicken breasts into strips. Mix together the flour and salt. Separately mix together the eggs and milk. Lastly mix together separately the pecans, cornflakes, and coconut. Dip the chicken in first, the flour/salt mixture second, the egg/milk mixture, and finally the cornaflake mixture. In a 15"x10" pan, put 2 tablespoons of the melted butter. Place the chicken in the pan and then drizzle the remaining butter over the top. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Serve with sauce.

*I have been making this recipe for a couple of years and we love it in our house. James and I both like the outside a bit crispy, so we cook it for about 20-25 minutes.

Copykat "Bajio" Sweet Rice

Servings: 6-8

Approximate Time: 50 minutes with prep and cook time.

Ingredients:

1/2-1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 of a white onion, chopped (add more or less to your taste)
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
1 1/3 cups white rice
3 cups chicken broth
1/4-1/2 cup white sugar

Directions:

Put a little oil in bottom of pan (maybe about 1/2-1 tablespoon).
Saute chopped onion until transluecent. Add the chopped cinlantro (no big stems) and saute a minute more. Add the rice, cooking until it is light brown (being careful not to burn).
Combine the chicken broth and sugar, letting sugar disolve. Then stir into rice until combined. Bring to a boil. Cover and let cook on low, med-low until rice is done, about 25-30 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

* I needed to make a dinner for my family the other night which was 13 people. I decided to make chimichangas but had some vegetarians in the group so I needed to come up with another way to them without the meat for those who didn't eat meat. I found this recipe online and if you have ever eaten at Bajio and had their sweet rice, it is so good. I decided to do beans and sweet rice in them for the vegetarians and was very impressed with the rice. I actually decided to add it to mine and I love it! I think I will have to make this rice everytime now. It is great as a side dish also. I posted the chimichanga recipe a while ago that you can pull up if you would like to maket them.

Greek Shrimp Scampi

Servings: 4

Approximate Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tsp. olive oil

5 garlic cloves (minced)

1/2 c parsley (chopped)

1 can diced tomatoes (28 oz.)

1 1/2 lbs precooked large shrimp

1 c herbed feta cheese (crumbled)

1/2 c fresh basil (chopped)

Juice of 1/2 lemon

4 c spaghetti cooked

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Heat oil in saucepan. Add garlic and saute 1 minute. Add tomatoes and 1/2 c parsley. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 10 minutes. Add shrimp and basil and pour into 9 X 13 baking pan. Sprinkle cheese over top and bake in oven 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with lemon juice. Serve over pasta topped with remaining parsley. Salt and pepper to taste.

*Sorry to those who don't like seafood, we eat a lot of seafood so I do a lot of things with shrimp. This is actually a recipe that you could easily take out the shrimp and add some veggies or do some olives and artichokes. I did not have fresh basil or parsley so I just used dried (don't use the amount that it calls for when doing this, when using dried, you can use a lot less.) I had crumbled feta cheese, but it was not herbed, so I added some italian seasoning and some basil to it and that seemed to work well. This was really quite easy and it was pretty darn good.

SUPER EASY Chocolate Pudding Raspberry Pie

Ingredients:

1 pie crust (bought from the store and baked)

1 (3 oz.) box of instant chocolate pudding

1 c. milk

1 container of raspberries

1 small carton of whipping cream, whipped & mixed with a bit of sugar and vanilla

Directions:

Bake pie crust according to directions and let cool. Mix chocolate pudding and milk together, beat for about 2 minutes or until thick and smooth. Take 1 cup of whipping cream and fold into chocolate mixture until completely blended together. Take half of chocolate mixture and put in pie crust. Spread raspberries on top of chocolate mixture, leaving a few out for a topping. Spread the rest of chocolate mixture on top of raspberries and top it off with the rest of the whipped cream and raspberries.

*I decided one day to create this pie and I absolutely love it!!! How can you go wrong with chocolate and raspberries :) This is not a fancy pie at all, but it sure puts a smile on my face when I eat it.