Mandarin Salad

Ingredients:

1/4 c. sliced almonds

1 T. plus 1 tsp. sugar

1/2 head lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces

1/2 bunch romaine, torn into bite-size pieces

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 T. green onion, thinly sliced

1 can mandarin oranges, drained

Dressing:

1/4 c. vegetable oil

2 T. sugar

2 T. cider vinegar

1T. parsley (dried or fresh)

1/2 tsp. salt

dash of pepper

Directions:

Cook almonds and sugar in saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is melted and almonds are coated; cool and break apart. Prepare dressing. Toss almonds with remaining ingredients and dressing.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients

1/3 cup honey

¼ cup lime juice (about 2 lg. Limes)

1 T chili powder

2 cloves finely minced garlic

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and shredded

12 corn tortillas

2 cups Mexican cheese blend

1 19 oz. can green enchilada sauce hot or mild

½ cup heavy cream

Non-stick cooking spray

1 T chopped cilantro

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the cooked and shredded chicken in a medium sized bowl. Set aside. In a small bowl, place the honey, lime juice, chili powder and minced garlic or garlic powder. Whisk together thoroughly to combine. Pour this mixture over the chicken and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to marinate while you prepare the tortillas, 30 minutes or up to 1 hour, in the refrigerator.

Heat a large griddle till a drop of water skitters across (about 350 degrees F). Spray the surface with non-stick cooking spray or oil it with a little bit of canola oil in between each round of tortillas. Heat tortillas about 20 seconds on each side till warm and flexible and some golden brown spots have appeared. Remove the tortillas from the griddle and keep them between a couple of paper towels until ready to use.

Spray the sides and bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish lightly with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine the enchilada sauce and the heavy cream. Spread about ½ cup of the mixture in the bottom of the oiled baking dish. Add a large spoonful (about 2 tablespoons) of the chicken mixture to the center of each tortilla in a line. Cover the chicken with a large tablespoon of cheese, then roll the tortilla up from one side to make a rolled enchilada. Place the enchilada seam side down in the baking dish starting at one end with the long edge parallel to the longest side of the pan so that you end up with two columns of six enchiladas each.

Repeat with the remaining chicken, cheese and tortillas. You will use about 1 ½ cups of the cheese for the filling and set the remainder aside for topping the enchiladas in the pan. Add the remaining marinade mixture to the enchilada sauce and cream mixture, if desired. Pour this mixture over the top of all the enchiladas. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake the enchiladas for 30 – 35 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly and starting to brown on top. Serve topped with sour cream and cilantro.

* This recipe looks long & time consuming but the directions are just really wordy, it is actually very easy and very YUMMY! It is a little bit spicy, so if you don't like spice, cut down the chili powder. I made this with a side dish of Lime Cilantro Rice (1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water, ½ of a lime, juiced and 1 T of cilantro leaves) and it was a great combo.

Restaurant Style Chicken Nachos

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, crushed

6 green onions, sliced, white parts and tops separated

3 T canola oil

1 shredded, cooked, whole chicken breast

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup salsa

1/2 (12 oz) package tortilla chips

1 (8 0z) package shredded cheddar/monterey jack cheese blend

1/2 large tomato, diced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a 12 inch skillet over medium heat, cook and stir the garlic and white parts of the green onions in canola oil until tender. Mix in shredded chicken, salt and pepper. Toss until well coated with oil. Stir in the salsa.

Arrange tortilla chips on a large baking sheet. Spoon the chicken mixture over tortilla chips. Top with cheese blend and tomato. Bake in the preheated oven 10 minutes, or until cheese has melted. Remove from heat and sprinkle with green onion tops before serving.

*James was craving nachos for about a week or so a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to get online and find a good nacho recipe for him. This is what I found that sounded the best to me and they were really good. They definitely filled his nacho craving.

Valentine Cookies

For Valentines I decided to make the Fair Drop Cookies, just the sugar cookie part, and top it with the Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting and it was AWESOME!!!! I highly recommend this combination for any occasion. You can add whatever fruit flavor and change up the frosting and the color of it.

Orange Glazed Salmon

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs salmon fillet

1/3 cup orange marmalade

1/2 cup orange juice

1 T Dijon mustard

1 tsp. ginger

2 tsps salt free citrus-herb seasoning

Directions:

Rinse salmon fillet under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Cut into 6 serving portions and place salmon fillets in a large zip-top bag; set aside.

In a small bowl stir together remaining ingredients. Pour into zip-top bag. Squeeze air from bag and seal. Marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking and bring to room temperature.

Light broiler and line baking sheet or boiler pan with aluminum foil.

Remove salmon from marinade and place on baking sheet. Discard marinade. Broil salmon 6 to 8 inches from heat source for 6 to 8 minutes or until cooked through. Do not overcook.

Serve immediately.

*This is a very good salmon that is a little bit different than any salmon I have made before. And it was very simple to make. I could not find the citrus-herb seasoning so I just made my own by adding some lemon zest, orange zest, thyme, oregano, basil, and rosemary to it.