Thai Chicken

Ingredients:

Sauce:

4 chicken breast halves - steamed and cubed or shredded

1 c. chicken broth

2 T. soy sauce

4 T. chunky or creamy peanut butter

1 garlic clove, crushed *

red pepper flakes to taste (usually about 1/4 t.)

Condiments: (whatever you would like)

chopped peanuts

coconut

crushed pineapple

red, green, yellow diced peppers (Melissa's favorite!)

canned Mandarin oranges (my favorite!)

raisins or Crainsins

chow mein noodles (are those the crunchy ones?)

cilantro, chopped

* I usually just used minced garlic

Recipe:

1. Combine and heat chicken broth, soy sauce, peanut butter, garlic, and pepper until peanut butter is dissolved.

2. Add pre-cooked chicken.

3. Serve over steamed rice with your choice of condiments. *

*I like to make my rice chicken flavored by adding a bouillon cube to the water. So. Much. Better.

Rating: 5 of 5

This is one of our absolute favorite recipes! We love it....so good. The great thing about this dish is that it's new every time you have it because you can make it taste so different depending on what you put on it! And, if you don't like too much kick you have total control over that and can experiment with just the right amount. We, however, like the kick. Oh, and I usually don't have all the favorite condiments on hand, but I usually have enough to make it work! Another perk, this is quick!

Also use the sauce can be used for Satay Chicken Pizza.

Source: Melissa Black

Basil Pasta

Ingredients: (I actually don't know what the measurements are, so I'm winging it)

8 oz. angel hair pasta

3 T. butter *

2 T. basil

1/3 c. Parmesan cheese

* I actually like this better with olive oil instead of butter.

Recipe:

1. Cook pasta al dente. Drain. Add butter until melted.

2. Add basil and Parmesan cheese.

3. Serve alone as a side or under a delicious sauce!

Rating: 3.7 of 5

I like this pasta a lot, but I don't think it does that much for LaDon. It's easy and feels pretty light as long as you don't go too heavy on the butter. Delicious under Corn Sauce Spaghetti.

Source: Vickie Roy's own concoction

Corn Sauce Spaghetti

Ingredients:

1 can Italian diced tomatoes

1 can corn

1 can cooked chicken (like the fatty ones from Costco)

2-3 T. olive oil

small palm full of onions

4 shakes of garlic, minced

3 T. Italian seasoning

Recipe:

1. Dump all ingredients into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and continue boiling 3 minutes while stirring.

2. Turn to medium heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

3. Serve on top of Basil Pasta.

Rating: 4 of 5

This was a good one. I think maybe 1/2 to 3/4 can of corn would be better, but I like corn. I would make this again.

Source: my own concoction

Pear Salad

Ingredients:

2 T. pecans, chopped*

2 T. sugar

3 c. green leaf lettuce

3 pears, cored and chopped**

1/2 avocado, chopped

1/2 c. green onion, thinly sliced

* I really like the pecans, so I double them. Candied pecans...doesn't get much better.

**I definitely don't use 3 pears! Talk about a pear salad with a little bit of lettuce on the side! I usually only use 1-1.5 pears.

Dressing:

3 T. red wine vinegar

1 1/2 t. sugar

1 1/2 t. mustard

1/2 t. salt

1 clove garlic

pinch black pepper

Recipe:

1. Over medium heat, cook pecans with sugar. Stir until sugar melts and caramelizes. Pour pecans onto wax paper to cool and break in small pieces. Set aside. *

2. For the dressing, in a blender, or small bowl and whisk, mix together red wine vinegar, 1 1/2 t. sugar, mustard, 1/2 t. salt, and pinch of pepper. Set aside.

3. Layer the remaining ingredients in a salad bowl. Top with pecans and drizzle dressing on top of salad. (For better leftover results, pour dressing over individual servings of salad.)

* I usually double the caramelized pecans....they're my favorite part!

Rating: 4 of 5

A good batch of this is so addicting!! I love it! This is, what I consider to be (when things aren't in season), an expensive salad, so we don't make it a ton. But, we had it this week! When my mom was here this week, I had her make the dressing and I think she actually put in 3 T. of sugar (not 3 t.) and I think I like the extra sugar version better.

Source: I'm not really sure where this particular recipe comes from, but it's inspired by Emily Jones' delicious pear salad that we had at her place a few years back.

Strawberry Bread

Ingredients:

2 c. fresh strawberries *

2 t. white sugar **

3 c. + 2 T. all-purpose flour

2 c. white sugar

1 T. ground cinnamon

1 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

1 1/4 c. vegetable oil

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/4 c. chopped pecans (optional)

* I actually doubled the amount of strawberries called for which led to a doubling of the 2 t. of sugar

** Doubled the sugar because of the double strawberries

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees. Lightly grease 2 5x9-inch loaf pans.

2. Slice strawberries and place in a medium bowl. Sprinkle with 2 t. sugar, and set aside. *

3. Combine flour, 2 c. sugar, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl; mix well.

4. Blend oil and eggs into strawberries. Add strawberry mixture to flour mixture, blending until dry ingredients are just moistened. Stir in pecans. Divide batter into pans.

5. Make in the preheated oven for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely.

Rating: 5 of 5

At first glance this bread does not look appealing at all! I would describe what first popped into my mind when I sliced the bread, but then no one would want to try this recipe. Anyway, the best way that I can rate this bread is by saying: it's a strawberry version of banana bread. Basically, it's much more delicious than it looks. Oh! I also think this would look good, possibly taste good, with powdered sugar sprinkled on top.

Source: AllRecipes: Dinner Tonight, pg. 282

* So, I had started making this before I realized I had no eggs. So, the strawberries actually sat over night in the fridge. The bread still turned out fine, but as this was a first time recipe, I really didn't have anything to compare it to.

5 Can Taco Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, chopped

2 pkgs. taco seasoning

1 large can tomato juice

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 can kidney/red beans, drained

1 can garbanzo/navy beans, drained

1 can corn, drained

Recipe:

1. Brown ground beef with 1 chopped onion. Drain. Put in crock pot and add the remaining ingredients. *

2. Allow soup to simmer for several hours then serve with grated cheddar cheese and tortilla chips. Feel free to substitute the vegetables with ones you like best.

* Instead of browning the beef before hand, I just threw it in the crock pot and mushed it with a spoon after a few minutes. Worked for me, but if you're going to be gone all day I would brown it before hand.

Rating: 3.75 of 5

We really liked this soup. And talk about easy! I love crock pot meals. If you liked the Chicken Tortilla Soup, then you'll probably like this. It tastes very similar to the Chicken soup, but with beef! We also added sour cream to the garnish list. Cilantro also would have tasted good, but the cilantro in the garden has gone to seed.

Source: Jamie's Cookbook, Recipe by Mickey Pulsipher

Golden Sweet Cornbread

Ingredients:

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. yellow cornmeal

3/4 c. white sugar

1 t. salt

3 1/2 t. baking powder

1 egg

1 c. milk

1/3 c. vegetable oil

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 400-degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan. *

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk, and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

* Rather than using a 9-inch round cake pan that I don't have, I just divided the batter into 12 cupcakes and adjusted the bake time to 15-20 minutes.

Rating: 3.75 of 5

I really liked this recipe. Most cornbread recipes I've tried turn out kind of dry, but this one is moist and sweet! I loved it! This is now my staple cornbread recipe for chili and soups.

Source: AllRecipes: Dinner Tonight, pg. 282