Cranberry Marinated Chicken

Finally a new meal idea! I've posted several desserts lately but have had no new meals that I've really liked lately until this one. This one comes from one of those 5 Ingredients or less cook books. This is similar to the Russian chicken that a lot of people do (If you don't know what that is I'll post the recipe to that one as well and you can try both of them.) I wasn't totally sure if I'd like this one or not, too be honest I've never really tried cranberry sauce before it's just never appealed to me, but I love this and I hope you will too!


1 8 oz. Russian Dressing (I saw another one that used Catalina which is probably good as well)
1 16 oz. can whole berry cranberry sauce (definitely go for the whole berry, I was tempted not to but it was definitely necessary)
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
4-5 chicken breasts

Mix dressing, cranberry sauce, and soup mix together. Pour over chicken and marinate at least 1 hour. Cover and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, uncover and cook another 20-25 minutes (I just realized I forgot that step but it still turned out great, serve over rice and enjoy!

Russian Chicken

1 8 oz Russian dressing
1 c. apricot preserves (I've used peach, apricot-pineapple, all of which are good)
1 envelope onion soup mix
4-5 chicken breasts

Combine dressing, preserves, soup mix, and pour over chicken. Cover and cook at 350 for about 40-45 minutes.

FYI- I cut my chicken breasts in half you can also use chicken tenders just adjust cooking time for maybe 25-30 minutes.

Reese's Bars

If you love chocolate and peanut butter, you'll love these! The best part about these is that they require no cooking which is great in these hot months! I originally saw these on allrecipes.com, but when I saw that thegirlwhoateverything had posted them I knew they must be good, and they were every bit as good as I had hoped. Plus these are like no fail bars, I completely forgot to measure my graham crackers after crushing them and was just shy of 2 cups chocolate chips and they still turned out great! Sorry again I have no picture I made them for primary and was in a hurry so they were gone too quickly.

2 1/2 cups graham cracker, crushed into fine crumbs
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups milk chocolate chips
2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Combine graham crackers, peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar (you can use a mixer or if your lazy like me they stir up really quickly as well.) Press into a 9x13 pan. Melt chocolate chips in microwave and spread over top. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes or until chocolate it set, if kept in the refrigerator too long they become a little on the crunchy side, I prefer them room temperature.

Sugar Cookie Fruit Tart

So this is probably not a new recipe for most, but I had this a couple of weeks back at a barbecue and thought it was so good I'd make one myself. This recipe is super easy and this is the perfect time of year to make one because of all the fresh fruit and berries available. So if you want a quick and easy treat, one that you could almost say is healthy with all that good fruit, give this one a try!

1 tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
8 oz. cream cheese
1/3 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
fresh fruit of your choice such as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, kiwis..

On a lightly greased cookie sheet, pizza pan, or tart pan if you have one, roll out cookie dough to form large cookie to about an 1/8 of an inch. Cook at 350 for 15-18 minutes until slightly browned. Allow cookie to fully cool. In the mean time mix together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and until fully incorporated. Frost cooled cookie leaving about a half and inch around the edge. Top frosted cookie with fresh fruit.

Spanish Rice Wraps

So I found this one from a ward cook book, gotta love the ward cook books. The original recipe had no meat so if your husband isn't as picky as mine and it sounds good to you without by all means give it a try. I think next time I would add 2 cans of tomatoes because I really like them and on the meat I'll put a little taco seasoning for a little extra layer of flavor. The best part of this dish is it's so quick and has few ingredients, and if you do it without ground beef it's a one dish meal, and most of all it's delicious! Sorry no picture I hurried and packed it up and hauled it to my husband at work for dinner. Maybe I'll remember and take on at lunch tomorrow:)

1 lb. ground beef-optional
1 box Spanish Rice A Roni
2 T. butter
1 c. salsa
2 c. water
1 or 2 15 oz. can tomatoes with green onions
1 can black beans or kidney beans, rinsed- I used black beans
1 can corn, drained

Cook ground beef until no longer pink, drain and set aside. In separate pan melt butter and add rice. Cook until golden brown add tomatoes, salsa, and 2 c. water. Bring to boil and reduce heat cover and allow to simmer for 15. Add hamburger, corn, and beans. Serve in tortillas (I used sun dried tomato wraps) with cheese and sour cream.

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.