4th of July

So I just thought I'd give some suggestions of 4th of July dishes and I'm also hoping someone has suggestions for me. When I was in St. George a lady told me she was going to take big marshmallows and dip them in chocolate and roll them in red, white, and blue sprinkles for smores which I thought was a cute idea. I've also seen several trifles using strawberries and blueberries and cream for the red white and blue. I was also thinking it would be cute to make lemonade and make either a big ice cube in a bundt cake pan with strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries or just use a regular ice cube tray. I also saw a recipe making red white and blue popsicles. All they did was use yogurt and food coloring and layered it according. I think it would be fun to use different flavored yogurts and food coloring. If your needing a dish to take to a barbecue the raspberry pretzel salad, or macaroni salad are both good choices or my new favorite lately has been bringing a fruit tray with fruit dip. I've tried a couple now, but my favorite has been from realmomkitchen.com I think it was called orange cream dip, next time I want to try it using banana cream yogurt. Anyway those are my ideas if anyone has some other ideas let me know:)

MY Hawaiian Haystack

So this is just my version of Hawaiian haystacks, nothing fancy but I like it for a quick last minute meal. The only change really from the typical Hawaiian haystacks is that I've added carrots and celery just for a little added flavor and veggies. We don't really add any of the extras that you usually do with haystacks other then occasionally tomato, but you definitely can go for the chow mein noodles, pineapple, green onion, or whatever other things your family likes on their haystacks. Hopefully if anything this is just another idea of something to make for dinner.


2 cooked chicken breasts (I throw mine in the crock pot usually, but I've even just cut it up and cooked it in the pan before and that works just as well)
2 T. butter
1 c. minced carrot- I just use my chop chop for all the veggies
1 c. celery minced
1 onion minced
1-1 1/2 c. chicken broth (I use the chicken bouillon granules)
1 t. chicken bouillon granules
2 cans cream of chicken or 1 can cream of chicken and 1 can cream of celery
4 c. cooked rice

In a 10-in. skillet saute vegetables in butter on medium high until almost tender 7-8 minutes (you can also cook your chicken with your vegetables.) Add broth and continue cooking until vegetables are cooked to your liking- personally I keep mine slightly crisp otherwise it takes forever to cook the carrot. Add extra bouillon, cream soups, and cooked chicken. Cook until completely heated through.

Raspberry Pretzel Salad

Ok so I know a lot of you probably already have this recipe, but if there are some out there who don't have it, here it is. And if you have no idea what I'm even talking about, it's probably because you don't live in utah:) If that's the case let me just tell you that this salad is awesome! If you love sweet and salty, this is for you. I'm sorry I don't have a picture, I hunted for my camera and couldn't for the life of me find it until just this afternoon. My husband has a habit of moving things on me and usually not in a place I would ever look, so when I found it on the refrigerator I knew it wasn't me who put it up there. Anyway needless to say, I have no picture and we licked the dish clean so there's no leftovers to take a picture of either, but take my word on it this is really good.

First Layer:
2 c. crushed pretzels
2 T. sugar
1/2 c. chopped nuts (you cann't even taste the nuts, so unless someone has an allergy I wouldn't worry about someone not liking nuts)
3/4 c. melted butter

Second Layer:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 c. sugar
2 c. cool whip

Third Layer:
6 oz. pkg strawberry or raspberry Jell-O
2 c. boiling water
1 16 oz pkg. of frozen strawberries or raspberries, depending on what you want

First layer: combing all ingredients and press in 9x13 pan. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool.
Second layer: Beat cream cheese and sugar. Stir in Cool Whip and spread on top of cooled pretzel layer.
Third layer: Mix jello and boiling water until Jello is completely dissolved. Add Frozen fruit and stir until thawed. Let Jello set up slightly (you may need to put into the fridge for a minute or 2, but if you have enough frozen fruit it shouldn't take too long) Spoon over second layer and refrigerate until completely set up, at least a couple hours.

Tex Mex Chicken and Rice Casserole

This recipe was simple and good, but beware because it makes a lot! I think if I were to make it again I would only use the rice vermicelli and keep out the extra rice or at least cut it in half. Also when I make it again I will use a can of tomatoes with green chilies instead of fresh tomatoes and canned green chillies I wasn't a fan of the fresh tomatoes in this, maybe because they were store bought tomatoes with not much flavor but it just wasn't my favorite, and if your family is sensitive to spicy food just cut back on the chili powder to maybe 1/2-3/4 Tablespoon. Other then that this is a super easy delicious casserole. Sorry I forgot to take a picture, we were so hungry and it looked so good we just kind of dove in, hopefully if I'm good I'll take a picture of the leftovers.

1 medium onion chopped
2 T. butter
1 pkg. chicken vermicelli
1 c. long grain white rice
28 oz. chicken broth
2 1/2 c. water
4 c. cooked chicken
4 medium tomatoes chopped, or 1 can tomatoes with green chilis
4 oz. can green chilies
2 t. basil
1 T. chili powder- or according to your family's taste
1/4 t. cumin
1/4 t. pepper
1 c. cheese- We didn't put this on, I think in order for this to be good it would have to be mixed into the casserole, but the recipe says to melt it on top at the end, so whatever sounds good to you

Saute onion in butter. Add rice and chicken vermicelli and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add broth and water (if your not adding extra rice I would cut out the 2 1/2 c. water.) Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover with lid. Allow to simmer on low for 20 minutes. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Mix in remaining ingredients. Bake covered at 425 for 20 minutes. Depending on when you add cheese the recipe says to remove the tin foil and add cheese and cook another 5 minutes, but again I think it would be better to mix in with the rest of the casserole.

Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins

As I write this me and Parker sit here eating these yummy little muffins. I found this recipe on Bakerella.com which is the same site to find those cakeballs. Anyway these are super yummy, like little bite size chocolate chip pancakes, so if you want something new and fun for breakfast try these little muffins!

1 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
2 T. sugar
2/3 c. buttermilk- If you don't already know you can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 t. of lemon juice or vinegar for every cup of milk so for this you would use 2/3 t. vinegar or lemon juice and just let it set for a few minutes
1 egg
2 T. pure maple syrup- I didn't have this so I just used regular syrup and it worked fine
2 T. melted butter
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Whisk together the first 5 ingredients. Then in the same bowl add all the remaining ingredients except chocolate chips. Mix just until moist, don't over mix. Stir in chocolate chips. So the only bummer with these muffins is that it requires a mini muffin tin otherwise I think in a regular sized muffin tin the chocolate chips would cook too long and melt. Fill each muffin tin 3/4 the way full. Cook at 350 for 8-9 minutes. Serve with syrup! Makes about 24 mini muffins.

Panko and Chili Encrusted Chicken Fingers

So I found this recipe on thehungrymouse.com. Most of her recipes are a bit fancy for me, I'm not big into gourmet cooking mostly because I can't afford to buy so many new ingredients and most of the time I use it once and then throw the rest away. This recipe on the other hand is super easy and uses things that most of us keep on hand, except for maybe the Panko bread crumbs. I have to admit this is the first time ever using them, not because of not wanting to but I've never been able to find them at Walmart until yesterday I was at Kohler's and just happen to see them there so I grabbed a box. You can find them in the Oriental section and I've heard sometimes with the other bread crumbs, but I've never seen them at Walmart. These bread crumbs worked just as good as I had hoped, part of which I think was because of the recipe. There's a couple of steps with this recipe, but still really easy and where you cook them at 425 you can easily roast your favorite vegetables at the same time. Anyway without further babbling here's the recipe.



Chicken
2 lbs chicken tenders or chicken breasts cut into thick strips
1 T. chili powder
1 t. kosher salt or sea salt or I'm sure regular salt works well too
1/4 c. flour

Batter
1 c. sour cream
2 eggs

Bread Crumbs
8 oz Panko bread crumbs
1 t. chili powder
1 T. parsley

First thing I have to say is I only used 2 chicken breasts and cut everything else in half and this was plenty for us with even a little left overs, after cutting my chicken I was worried it wouldn't be enough, but after they're battered and breaded they're very filling.
Preheat oven to 425. Mix together bread crumb ingredients in a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl whisk eggs and whisk in sour cream. Add chicken to a large ziploc bag. Sprinkle chili powder and salt over chicken. Close bag and squish bag to cover chicken in seasonings. Add flour and shake bag until chicken is completely covered. Remove chicken shaking off excess flour. Dip chicken into batter and then roll in bread crumbs until completely covered, lay chicken on greased cookie sheet. Repeat until all chicken is coated. Cook chicken for 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of chicken.
On thehungrymouse.com she had a bluecheese dipping sauce which I didn't make, these had plenty of flavor to eat plain, but if you need a dipper they would probably be good in ranch or try her blue cheese dip. If you want to roast vegetables with the chicken, toss the vegetables of your choice in olive oil and sprinkle with kosher or sea salt and any other seasonings you like, I chose chili powder since that's what the chicken was in but season salt works good as well in place of kosher salt. Spread on another cookie sheet and cook according to vegetables. I did potatoes and I threw them in 15 minutes before the chicken, when I put the chicken in I added broccoli to the potatoes and put them on the rack below and cooked another 15-20 minutes.