Cashew Chicken Casserole

So, I think it's been long enough since I've been a member and not posted a thing so here it comes...
I've not made this myself, but I helped a friend this past week and I intend to use this often as a regular. And, since I observed, I don't have specific amounts of the ingredients, or a picture :).

3-4 chicken breasts
diced onion
diced celery
cashews
1 can Cream of Chicken soup, plus one can water
Chow Mein noodles

Cook and cut up chicken. Add onion, celery, cashews, soup and water. Mix well. Pour into 9x13 pan and top with Chow Mein noodles. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes (long enough for the onion and celery to soften as desired). I intend to serve this over rice, although that's not how we ate it at my friend's. Enjoy!
Monica

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cookie Cups

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 2/3 cups peanut butter & chocolate morsels
2 large eggs
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini-muffin cups. Beat butter and sugar in small mixer bowl until creamy. Add flour and beat until mixture is evenly moist and crumbly. Roll rounded teaspoon of dough into a ball, press onto bottom and halfway up side of muffic cup. Repeat with remaining dough. Place a couple (5 or so) morsels in each cup.
Beat eggs in medium bowl with whisk. Stir in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Spoon into muffin cups, filling almost to the top of each cup. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven to wire rack. Gently run knife around edges of cookies. Let centers flatten. While still warm, top cookies with morsels. (they will soften and retain their shape.) Cool completely in pan on wire rack. With tip of knife, release cookies from cups.

Manicotti

Ingredients:
16 oz. Ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg
1 Tbsp parsley (or add spinach)
2 tbsp Parmesan Cheese
Salt & Pepper
8 oz. pkg manicotti shells
1 bottle favorite spaghetti sauce


In large bowl, mix first 6 ingredients, only using 1/2 the mozarella. Cook manicotti shells, rinse with cool water and drain. Fill manicotti shells with mixture. Place in 9x13 inch dish. Pour spaghetti sauce over; cover with remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes.

(I made this for dinner last night and it was really easy and I thought it was good. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture.)

Zucchini Parmesan

The garden is coming on and you probably have lots of zucchini like me. So I found a new recipe:

Zucchini Parmesan
From Cooking Light

1 pound zucchini, cut lenghtwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
6 garlic cloves, peeled
Olive oil-flavored cooking spray
1/2 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1/2 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat broiler. Lightly coat zucchini and garlic with cooking spray; place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Broil 5 minutes or until garlic and zucchini are lightly browned. Remove garlic from baking sheet; mince. Set zucchini aside. Combine the garlic, breadcrumbs, and parmesan cheese; set aside. Combine milk and next 5 ingredients (milk through egg) in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine tomatoes, basil and oil in a bowl; set aside.
Preheat oven to 400º.

Spread 1/2 cup milk misture in bottom of an 11x7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrance zucchini slices over milk mixture to cover the bottom of the dish, and top with 1/3 cup breadcrumb mixture and 1/2 cup milk mixture. Repeat layers, ending with the zucchini. Top with the tomato mixture, and sprinkle with the remaining breadcrumb mixture. Bake at 400º for 45 minutes or until bubbly and brown.

Yield: 6 servings

CALORIES 135 (31% from fat); FAT 4.6g (sat 1.8g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.4g); IRON 1.1mg; CHOLESTEROL 45mg; CALCIUM 176mg; CARBOHYDRATE 15.4g; SODIUM 486mg; PROTEIN 9.8g; FIBER 0.9g

Rolled Fondant Icing

So did anyone know that you could make little people out of edible icing? Although, I wouldn't recommend eating it since it's only ingredients are raw egg and two forms of sugar.

2 tbsp. corn syrup

1Lb. 2 oz. confectioner' sugar (powered sugar)

1 egg white

Place the confectioner's sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the center. Pour the corn syrup and egg white into the well and stir using a wooden spoon. Finish mixing everything together by hand. The icing should feel silky and smooth (although I had to add a lot more powdered sugar for mine to feel silky and smooth). Double wrap until required in two food bags. It will harden when exposed to air. Use within a week.

Blackberry Cobbler

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened whole blackberries (if frozen, thawed and well drained)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter in 9-by-13-inch baking dish and put in the oven to melt. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk and vanilla until combined. Remove the hot baking dish from the oven and immediately pour batter into it. Spoon blackberries evenly over batter. Return hot dish to oven and bake 40 to 45 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.


Makes 6 to 8 servings.


Source: Debbi Fields' Great American Desserts, published in Salt Lake Tribune, July 16, 2008

This is really yummy. I used frozen fruit, a raspberry, blueberry and blackberry mixture. It was a little buttery for my taste and so I would probably just use 1 cube (8T.) next time. Can be served with ice cream or cool whip on top, but it is good without it.

Pistachio Pudding

16 oz cottage cheese

20 oz can crushed pineapple

small box pistachio pudding

8 oz cool whip

Mix cottage cheese, dry pudding mix, and crushed pineapple with juice* and stir until blended together. Fold in cool whip until mixed well. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

*If desired, you can drain off about 1/4 c. of the pineapple juice before you add it to the other ingredients to make the recipe thicker.

This is a Taylor family favorite and we almost always take it with us to family parties.

The ingredients sound like a weird combination, but it tastes really good!