Happiness- a dinner the whole family ate!

Mom's Melt in Your Mouth Chicken Rolls

• 8 Rhodes Texas Rolls or similar, thawed but cold
• 2 cups diced (very important!) cooked chicken breast (I used 2 medium cooked in the crock with a little ranch)
• 1/3 c. diced onion
• 3/4 c. fresh mushroom, chopped (I skipped this per hubby's request)
• 1/2 t. pepper
• 1 t. salt (I just sprinkle)
• 6 oz. cream cheese, softened (I used neufchatel)
• 1/2 c. ranch dressing (I use light)
• 3-4 T. melted margarine (for dipping the rolls into)
  
• half-sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed (for dipping rolls with butter into)

1. Combine cooked chicken, onions, mushrooms, salt, pepper, cream cheese and ranch. Mix well.
2. Flatten each roll into a circle, stretching it out at the same time. Place a rounded T. of chicken mixture in the middle. Bring each side of the roll to the middle and seal well.
3. Dip each roll into the melted butter, then roll in the cracker crumbs.
4. Place on sprayed cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

What an accomplishment! All the kids raved. I have made these before, but they like them so much better when the chicken is diced to the point they can't really tell it's chicken. That also helps the flavor be better distributed. This is the only recipe, along with spaghetti and orange chicken, that these guys all eat successfully.

Another addictive treat..

White Chocolate Gorp
(allrecipes.com)

• 2 pounds white chocolate
• 6 cups Rice Chex ™
• 3 cups toasted oat cereal
• 2 cups thin pretzel sticks (I wanted more to add to the salty-sweet flavor)
  
• 2 cups cashews (I skip)
  
• 1 (12 ounce) package mini candy-coated chocolate pieces

1. Melt chocolate in a large saucepan over low heat or in microwave until just until soft. Stir until melted. Combine all the other ingredients in big roaster pan or bowl. Stir chocolate into mixture. Turn out on waxed paper. Of course anything you like can be added or substituted, but this recipe is a great combination!
2. Combine the crispy rice cereal squares, toasted oat cereal, pretzels, cashews and candy in big roaster pan or bowl. Stir chocolate into mixture. Turn out on waxed paper and let cool.

Make sure to lay these out flat so they don't clump! A very tasty treat. I often just melt a bag of white chocolate chips in the microwave instead of buying white chocolate.

A great Christmas treat or gift

picture from familyfun.com

Oreo Cookie Bark

• 1 (20 ounce) package chocolate sandwich cookies with creme filling
• 2 (18.5 ounce) packages white chocolate

1. Line a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan with waxed paper. Coat paper with non-stick vegetable spray and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, break half of the cookies into fourths with fingers or the back of a wooden spoon.
3. In a microwave safe glass or ceramic mixing bowl, melt one package of the white chocolate according to package directions. Remove from microwave and quickly fold in broken cookie pieces. Pour mixture into prepared pan and spread to cover half the pan.
4. Repeat process with remaining chocolate and cookies, spreading mixture into the other half of pan. Refrigerate until solid, about 1 hour.
5. Remove bark from the pan and carefully peel off waxed paper. Place bark on a large cutting board and cut with a large chef's knife. Store in airtight container.

We gave these as gifts last Christmas and though it takes a little practice to make the pieces look more like art than an odd-looking homemade treat, presentation can help a lot. So put them in Christmas cellophane paper and add a nice ribbon for the finishing touch. It should be a given but the taste is wonderful! Mix it up- mint oreos w/milk chocolate, candy cane cookies (do they make those?) in white or milk chocolate...the possibilities are many!

Can't stay away...

Beth's Starbuck's Coffee Cake
(from pickypalate.com)

• 1 Box Yellow Cake Mix (plus ingredients on back of box)
• 2 Sticks cold salted butter (I used margarine and cut off a couple T)
• 2 1/4 Cups flour
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 ¾ Cups sugar (I used 3/4 brown, 3/4 white)
  
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla
• Powdered sugar (for dusting-optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Prepare cake mix in large bowl according to directions on box. Grease 9x13 pan. Pour batter into pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until center is just barely set.
3. While cake is baking, prepare crumb topping. In large bowl of electric mixer combine, butter, flour, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla until all crumbly.
4. Immediately after cake is removed from oven, break crumb topping into marble size pieces with fingers, sprinkling over top. Put back in oven and bake an additional 10-15 minutes (topping will begin to look a little less wet/raw). Let cool fully then dust with powdered sugar, using a sieve.
5. Cut into squares and serve.

I know I have another coffee cake recipe on here, but this one is different because of the cake mix and crumb topping that is a bit more thick. I love it. It's a great way to mix it up if you are a cake mix fan, and a great dessert if you love coffee cake/cinnamon-sugar desserts! Very moist and addicting. Don't let this keep you from making it, but I did have to blot a little of the grease off the top. Hey- that's what happens when you use 2 sticks of butter for a topping. It's a great cake worth making!

If you have extra Fruity Pebbles on hand-

Pebbles Cupcakes
(kraftfoods.com)

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
• 1 pkg. (10-1/2 oz.) mini-marshmallows (6 cups)
• 1 pkg. (13 oz.) fruit-flavored sweetened rice cereal (about 8-1/2 cups)
• 1 can (16 oz.) ready-to-spread frosting 1/4 cup colored sprinkles (optional)

1. Microwave butter in 4-qt. microwaveable bowl on high 45 seconds or until melted. Add marshmallows; mix to coat. Microwave 1-1/2 min. or until marshmallows are completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring after 45 sec. Add cereal; mix well.
2. Press cereal mixture firmly into 24 lightly greased muffin pans to form "cupcakes," using about 1/3 cup cereal mixture for each cup. Cool; remove from pans.
3. Spread with frosting just before serving. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired.

These are a sugar hit with kids. Cute, colorful, sweet, different...and they are easy to make.

Quick Sweet Pull-Aparts

Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread aka Monkey Bread

• 3 cans (7.5 oz. each) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
  
• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 c. butter or margarine, melted

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Cut each biscuit into quarters.
2. Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon in ziploc bag. Add dough quarters to bag and shake to coat.
   
3. Melt butter with brown sugar in the microwave, stir well.
   
4. Place the biscuit pieces in 12-cup fluted tube pan; pour the butter mixture on top.
   
5. Bake 40 to 45 min. or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean and top is golden brown. Cool in pan 15 min.; invert onto serving plate. Remove pan.

These are a really impressive treat using these biscuits. Kids won't notice the canned biscuit taste, and I am pretty sensitive to it and I only slightly taste it. Fun for kids to help with too, if you have some extra time to put this together.

Honey Glazed Chicken

Honey Glazed Chicken
(adapted from mykitchencafe.blogspot.com)

• 2 lbs of diced uncooked chicken breast (I used 2 breasts; next time I'll use 3)
• 1/3 cup flour (or as much needed to coat chicken pieces)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 5 T butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 3 T lemon juice
• 3 T soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1. Heat oven to 350. In a big ziploc bag combine the flour and seasonings. Throw the chicken pieces in the flour mixture and shake to coat.
2. Melt 2 T. butter and pour on cookie sheet or baking dish and place chicken pieces in a single layer. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes (or until cooked through) at 350 degrees.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt remaining butter and add honey, lemon juice, soy sauce and ginger. If you need more sauce, increase the honey, soy sauce, and butter.
4. Add cooked chicken pieces gently into the pan with the sauce. Heat through and serve with rice and your choice of steamed veggies.

We liked this! The kids did, too. It was sweet and not spicy at all, which the kids were happy about. I like the idea of more sauce, but I understand why that doesn't work so well with this recipe. It's because the honey makes the chicken sweet enough on its own that it would be overkill to have excess honey-sauce.