Chicken Scampi (Olive Garden copycat)

This is my favorite meal at Olive Garden so I searched it online and found this recipe posted by a lady that used to work at Olive Garden. I wanted to know what scampi means so searched it and found that it is: "a large shrimp sauteed in oil or butter and garlic". Hmmm .. no shrimp in the recipe but definetly alot of butter!

1 cube butter

1 1/2 tbsp garlic puree * see note

1 1/2 tbsp chicken base

2 Tbsp flour

5 ounces white wine * or white grape juice

5 ounces water

10 ounces heavy whipping cream

3/4 tsp Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tbsp fresh chpped parsley * or dried

Angel hair pasta

Melt butter over LOW heat; do not let it brown. Add garlic puree and let sweat for 2 minutes, quickly whisk in flour and chicken base then add wine/juice and water. When all smooth slowly add the whipping cream while whisking and then all of the spices. Let simmer for about 10 minutes and keep warm while cooking the noodles and chicken.

* You can buy bottled garlic puree or you can make your own. To make your own slice off the top of 2 heads of whole garlic until you see cloves. Spread cloves apart a little and pour approzimately 1 tbsp olive oil over each head. Put in oven at 325 degrees for about 1 hour or until they smell sweet. After they cool, squeeze cloves out of the papery stuff and smash to a puree with the flat side of a knife.

Chicken and veggies for top of pasta: (this is a side recipe, Olive Garden orders pre-cooked chicken for this dish)

Marinade chicken for about 1 hour in:

1 cup Italian-style salad dressing

3 tsp honey

juice from 1 fresh lime.

Grill or sautee chicken with sliced green, red and orange peppers, and red onion.

Serve pasta with sauce, chicken and veggies over top.

Strawberry Romaine Salad

Romain Lettuce - washed and torn into pieces.

*Toss with dressing before adding other toppings. I like to just barely have a hint of dressing on it - others like a dripping salad so do it to your own preference.

Strawberries - sliced

Manadarin Oranges

Chopped Almonds

Craisins

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Dressing:

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 cup sugar

1/2 chopped onion

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp mustard

*Mix in blender until smooth. Then slowly add while blender is on:

1 cup oil (Olive or Vegetable)

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**For variations you can use spinach or a combination of spinach/lettuce. Instead of almonds use carmeled walnuts or pine nuts. You can also add sliced green onions for a more tart taste.

Hints - Frozen Fruit for Smoothies

Posted Earlier . . . A hint for always having fruit on hand for smoothies is to buy it at Sam's Club/Costco in bulk and freeze it. This is especially great for strawberries, pineapple and kiwi. Just peel the kiwi and pineapple and slice them in about 1/2 inch slices, place in large freezer bag and they will be great to toss in for smoothies. Even bananas can be frozen, just peel and stick in a bag.

Update . . . I have recently found that rather than have all of my fruit in seperate bags and needing to open a bunch of them and then seal them and then put the all bag in an organized way in the freezer . . (whew, it's extra work just to type it) . . . that I can put a variety of fruits in one freezer container and then pull out only one container to make smoothies. It is saving me alot of baggy mess in the freezer and is causing alot less frost on the fruit from all of the opening and closing of the bags and extra time with the freezer door open trying to organize.

As you can see from the picture, I need another container as I still have some fruit in bags but you can also see the organizational difference between the bags and container.

* Smoothie Recipes *

Veggie Tortilla Pizza

This is my 'disgusting, healthy" version of pizza. Thank you for your opinion kids!

Keep in mind that all of these toppings are optional, these are just the ones that I use. The day that I took this picture I didn't have any olives or pineapple opened so it may look a little plain, but the color and flavor of this pizza is one of my favorite ways to eat veggies.

Tortilla(s)

Pizza Sauce

Zucchini

Canadian Bacon (if I have it on hand)

Peppers (green and red are my favorite)

Onion

Pineapple

Olives

Cheese

Put tortilla(s) on a baking sheet and spread sauce on top. Layer your favorite combination of toppings, ending with cheese.

Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes or until veggies are cooked to your preference.

The easiest way I have found to eat these is to fold them in half, use a knife and fork and eat away!

Hints - Zucchini

Cami called me because she had been given some zucchini and wanted to know what to do with it so here are a couple of hints that I gave her.

Zucchini freezes really well so don't feel like you have to use it all this week. For zucchini pancakes I cube the zucchini and put 2 cups of cubes in a freezer bag and freeze it. This way I can take the bag out of the freezer the night before and it is already measured and ready to go by morning. Also, you can freeze grated or chopped zucchini. I freeze that in 1 cup measurements.

I use the 1 cup measure/frozen/chopped zucchini to add to spaghetti and lasagna sauces. I don't change anything else in the recipe because the veggie carries enough water in it that it doesn't thicken it too much. If you already use green peppers in your sauces then the zucchini just blends in. I like to use 2 cups if I'm adding it to a meatless lasagna sauce because it gives a little texture of ground beef without the extra fat. Keep in mind that I add 1 cup/2 cups to a sauce large enough for a family of 7 to eat so you may want to add a little less.

Recipes:

Zucchini Pancakes

Veggie Tortilla Pizza

Broiled Zucchini

and of course Zucchini Bread which I am trying a new recipe for (zucchini-pineapple) so I may post that later . ..

Zucchini Pancakes

I was hesitant to try these because of the whole wheat flour. The recipe sounded heavy - and too healthy for my picky crew. I was very pleased when Levi came in after he ate and asked what kind they were because they were "dand good"'. I hesitated, then responded "zucchini and whole wheat". "Ah, mom, why'd you have to tell me, now I can't like them". Evidently, taste doesn't matter as much as whether they sound good.

The cinnamon and allspice make these pancakes great! The kids loved the apricot syrup on them and I also liked them with raspberry jam, no syrup, just eating them like bread. The leftovers were a little dry and unimpressive so eat them hot. This recipe makes 12-14.

1/3 cup milk

2 cups zucchini cut into 1" cubes

3 eggs

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

*Mix in blender until zucchini is chopped up and blended well. Then add:

1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour (you could use white)

2 tsp baking powder

*Blend just until flour is mixed in well

Cook on hot pan or griddle at 375

Surprise Brownies

20 oz package fudge brownie mix

12 Nilla wafer cookies

12 caramels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare brownies according to package instructions. Coat muffin tin with cooking spray and place one wafer cookes each in bottom of tin.

Spoon 3 tablespoons of brownie batter over each wafer. Unwrap caramels and place one in the center of each brownie, topping with small spoonful of batter.

Bake brownies 22 minutes. Cool for about 10 mintues, remove from tin, and serve warm (if you let them sit the caramel will be chewy again).

Derek's English Muffin Pizza

After Derek went to scout camp he tried to convince all of us how great these pizza's were. We were all a little skeptical based on his description of them but when he volunteered to make dinner one night I let him have at it. They were so yummy and I'm not a pizza fan. Making these is easier with the large Canadian Bacon slices and they are a little thicker and yummier but as you can see from our picture we used the small ones this time - the store was out of the big ones. It can be a little tricky to flip over but it still worked and tasted yummy.

english muffins (1 muffin =2 pizzas)

pizza sauce

pepperoni rounds

large canadian bacon rounds (as big as the muffin)

cheese

optional toppings (pineapple, olives, onion, peppers)

*cut open the muffin and spread both sides with pizza sauce, add the pepperoni rounds, cheese and any other toppings you want, then. . . add the large canadian bacon round last.

*in a hot pan sprayed with pan spray (you can also use the pancake grill if you are making alot of them) set your muffin pizza in to cook with the muffin on the pan. After 2-3 minutes, carefully turn the pizza over and cook on the canadian bacon side for about 2 minutes until lightly grilled.

Popeye Pancakes

or Hercules Pancakes - depending on who your kids would know. I believe these are also called German Pancakes but I grew up knowing them as Popeye's. In this picture they are topped with apricot syrup and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

Preheat oven to 400 and while it is preheating and you are mixing the ingredients, put the pan in the oven with 1/2 cube of butter on it to melt. *Be careful though, don't leave it to long, you don't want to start with burnt butter.

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar

Mix all ingredients with a mixer, it will be very runny. Spread melted margarine all over the pan and pour the mixture in. Bake for 20-25 minutes until all puffed up and lightly browned on the top. After removing from oven (as they cool the big bubbles will fall flat), top with jam or syrup and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Tip: These measurements make a very light and thin version of the pancake. Because my kids weren't getting enough in one pan I 1 1/2 times the recipe and still bake in the same baking sheet. (6 eggs, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 cup milk, 1/3 cup sugar)

Baked Chicken Chimichangas

I was excited to find a recipe for baked chimi's since I really don't like frying things but I was a little worried that the un-fried version wouldn't go over very well. I worry no more. These were great! (Sorry the picture is so dark, now I know not to take pictures on top of my black stove top.) I served it with a meatless taco salad - put crushed up doritos in the salad and it gets them to eat it :D

3 cups shredded cooked chicken

3/4 cup picante sauce or salsa

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/4 to 1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp oregano leaves

1/2 tsp salt

8 flour tortillas

1/4 cup melted butter

grated cheese

Combine cooked chicken, picante sauce, onion, cumin, oragano and salt in saucepan; simmer 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated and it is warm.

Brush one side of the tortilla with butter. Spoon 1/3 cup chicken mixture onto center of un-buttered side; top with grated cheese. Fold ends down.

Place seam side down in 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake in a preheated oven at 475 degrees about 13 minutes or until crisp. Top with desired toppings; guacamole, cilantro, picante sauce, sour cream, olives, tomatoes, cheese.

Tip: We were in a hurry to get to dinner because we needed to leave so for the last 3 minutes I turned the oven to broil - it crisped them quite nicely! Also, to save a little time, you can use 2 cans of canned chicken breast (Member's Mark or Kirtland work well) just be sure to drain the liquid before adding other ingredients.

Applebee's Grilled Club Sandwich

This is LeRoy's all time favorite sandwich so when I found the copycat recipe online and made it at home it became the most overused recipe of all time. He loves them hot off the grill, cold the next day and as many times as I will make them. We all enjoy them, but not as much as LeRoy. Since having them at our house Mom and Kara have also adopted this wonderful recipe, much to the tummy-satisfaction of Dad and James.


thick slices of bread (Texas Toast works best)
softened butter
mayonnaise
grated cheese
turkey slices
ham slices
cooked bacon
tomato slices (completely optional)
Bullseye barbecue sauce

*Heat pancake grill when you have all of your items ready to go . . this is a fast paced put together so the bread doesn't burn.

*Butter the bread on one side, the other side with mayo and have them all stacked and ready to go. Put all of your lunch meat on a plate and warm for about 35 seconds so that it isn't cold when you build the sandwich.

*Once you are ready, place 1/2 of the bread slices on the grill - butter side down, mayo up - and quickly layer cheese, 1 slice ham, 1 slice turkey, bbq sauce, bacon, tomato, 1 slice ham, 1 slice turkey, cheese and top with mayo side down piece of bread. Carefully flip sandwich over to brown other side.

**The picture shown above is without tomato and only 1 slice of each kind of meat.

**I'm not picky about the lunchmeat quantity. If I'm making enough sandwiches for the whole family or guests I use a little less (only 1 slice ham, 1 slice turkey)because they can get expensive. Also if you only have 1 kind of lunchmeat, it still tastes great with that.

Basically, this is a very flexible sandwich. However, we have tried it with regular breads and it isn't near as good - the Texas Toast makes a big difference.

Kiwi Cooler

A hint for always having fruit on hand for smoothies is to buy it at Sam's Club/Costco in bulk and freeze it. This is especially great for strawberries, pineapple and kiwi. Just peel the kiwi and pineapple and slice them in about 1/2 inch slices, place in large freezer bag and they will be great to toss in for smoothies. Even banana can be frozen, just peel and stick in a bag.

Here is one of our favorite smoothies.

1 (4-5 frozen slices) kiwi
1/2 banana
1 cup (5-6) frozen strawberries
1 cup (1 sliced ring) fresh pineapple
1 cup water
1 cup ice cubes

*If your fruit is frozen you can omit the ice cubes
*These measurements are flexible (since it is hard to measure a frozen pineapple round) and it works well to just use this combination.

Strawberries Wild (Jamba Copycat)

* Makes about 3 cups *

1 cup apple juice

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 frozen banana

1 cup vanilla frozen yogurt

ice to thicken if desired

Pour the apple juice in the blender. Add the strawberries, bananas, frozen yogurt and ice cubes. Blend until smooth with a thick consistency.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

3 1/2 cups mashed strawberries
1 box MCP pectin
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup corn syrup
4 1/2 cups sugar

*Stir pectin into strawberries and let sit for 30 mintues until pectin is dissolved. Stir every few minutes.
*Add lemon juice and corn syrup and mix well. Stir in sugar gradually so that it can all be dissolved. Stir until sugar is no longer grainy.
*Put into containers, leaving 1/2 inch at top to leave room for expansion when frozen. Let wit at room temperature for 24 hours.
*Jam can be left in the fridge for up to 3 weeks or can be frozen for up to a year.

** mashing the strawberries leaves a little texture to the jam, you can blend the berries if you want it to not have partial berries in it.
**I switch up the berry and sugar quantities because we like a little more berry flavor and for the jam to not be quite so thick. (3 1/2 cups sugar, 4 1/2 cups berries

Apple Pie Filling (Bottled or Frozen)

Back in about 2005-ish I had a neighbor bring me 4 buckets of apples. I stared at them, wondering if I should dump them before or after they all rotted because I didn't know what to do with them. Then another neighbor saved me with this awesome recipe. It is great for pie, apple crisp and to top ice cream with - I've even caught one of my kids eating it straight out of the jar.

I have no idea what kind of apples we were given so all I can offer is the recipe. It seems that any crisp apple would do. Also, if you have the freezer space and would rather freeze the filling,

I found the same recipe but with a little different instructions - Go here!

Mix and cook (boil) until thick in a large saucepan:

4 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cornstarch
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp lemon juice
10 cup water
*after it has thickened, add 3 drops of yellow food coloring

Peel and slice apples, about 6 lbs. for 6 quarts. Pack apples into quarts-you'll want it packed tight because the apples reduce down as they cook. Pour mixture over apples and remove air bubbles with a butter knife. Secure hot lids on jars with rings. Water bath quarts for 20 minutes.

Apricot Syrup

5 1/2 cups blended apricots
5 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup corn syrup
4 tbsp lemon
2 tbsp butter

* Apricots are only pitted for blending, not peeled

Stir all ingredients in a large pan and continue to stir until it comes to a boil. Boil 1 minute, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour into 5 prepared pint bottles, place new lids and rings, water bath 20 minutes. Invert jars for 5 minutes after waterbath, turn right side up and they should seal.

Broiled Zucchini

1 zucchini sliced into 1/4 inch slices - don't measure, just approximate :)
olive oil
salt (fresh ground is super yummy)
sliced onions and peppers (optional)

Line broiler pan with foil. Drop sliced zucchini in a bowl and drizzle with a little olive oil. Grind salt over the top and mix all of it. Lay zucchini in a single layer on foil. Broil for 2-3 minutes or until lightly brown on one side. Flip over and do the same on the other.

OR

Only broil on one side.

** I like this with the Broiled Tilapia fish because I can broil it at the same time as the fish and they are yummy together.

Broiled Tilapia (Fish)

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (fresh)
2 tbsp mayonnaise
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp celery salt
2 pounds tilapia fillets

*I just do 2 fillets at a time because Erika always eats mine, and then save the rest of the dressing in the fridge for the next day.

Preheat broiler. Line broiling pan with aluminum foil.

In a small bowl, mix together the parmesan cheese, mayo and lemon juice. Add seasonings and mix well.

Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Season them with salt and pepper. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to over cook the fish.

** really yummy to eat with broiled zucchini **

3 Bean Chili

I was looking at a magazine while getting an oil change and found this recipe. I haven't actually tried it yet but I make a taco soup with the 3 beans that is similar. I figured this would be a good one with veggies (peppers and zuchinni) instead of meat.

1 TBSP Olive Oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3 TBSP chili powder
2 sweet bell peppers,(yellow or red)cored and diced
1 medium-size zucchini, trimmed and diced(not peeled)
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes (blend if you want)
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp oregano
1 15 oz can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 15 oz can small white beans drained & rinsed
1 15 oz can red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
Grated cheddar cheese

1 - heat oil in a large nonstick pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and chili powder and cook 3 minutes.

2 - add peppers and zucchini and continue to cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3 - stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, ketchup and oregano. Cook 8 minutes

4 - Gently stir in the beans. cover pot and continue to cook 3 minutes. Serve with grated cheese, if desired.

Crock Pot Lasagna

I have been intending to make lasagna all week long but just haven't been able to get to it. Well, today I decided to try a new recipe from the cookbook that I won at bunco and made it in the crock pot. I was a little unsure because my previous knowledge of crock pot cooking suggested not using dairy products like cottage cheese, cheese, sour cream, etc. However, I just needed to get something put together for dinner tonight so I followed the recipe. I also wondered if the pasta would be done in 4 hours and with only 1/4 cup water and the recipes states NOT to go over 5 hours of cooking.

It smelled wonderful by about hour 2, nice a bubbly and looking like . . . lasagna.



12 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 jar (28 oz) spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup water
1 carton (16 oz) cottage cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated

Break noodles in half. Place half of the noodles in bottom of greased 4-quart slow cooker. Sitr Italian seasoning into meat and spread half over the noodles already in slow cooker. Then layer half of the sauce and water, half of cottage cheese, and half of mozzarella cheese over beef. Repeat layers. Cover and cook on low heat 4-5 hours. Do not cook more than 5 hours.

My own adjustments

• I used 8 noodles, that's what I normally use when I make it because my family likes less pasta, more sauce.
  
• I only used about 1/2 pound of beef
  
• I quickly made my own spaghetti sauce because I didn't have a jar on hand and I also just added the beef to the sauce like I do with regular lasagna.
  
• Layered noodles, cottage cheese, mozz cheese, sauce . . . twice, ending with sauce