Lemon Greek Chicken

Ingredients

2 tsp lemon zest

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 Tbs olive oil

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1 Tsp oregano

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

6-8 medium red potatoes (the size of a lemon)

1 green pepper, cut into strips

1 red onion, wedged

8 oz mushrooms, cleaned

4 bone in chicken breasts OR 24 oz boneless chicken breasts

Combine the first seven ingredients and set aside.  Spray a 10x13 dish with cooking spray and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Clean potatoes, cut into fourths, place in pan.  Add bell pepper strips, onion wedges, and mushrooms.

Drizzle half of the seasoning mix over the veggies and toss.  Place chicken on top and drizzle the rest of the seasoning mix.  Brush or rub the mix into the chicken.  Bake until chicken is no longer pink in the center, basting after 15 minutes.  (Bone-in chicken takes 1 hour.)  

Note:  If potatoes aren't done when the chicken is, remove the chicken and cover it with foil.  

Our Review

Another recipe that didn't cook the potatoes all of the way.  I ended up pulling out the chicken with veggies to serve that while the potatoes stayed in the oven.  Overall it was good.  Left overs the next day, not so much.  

Source

Southern Green Beans

Ingredients

6 slices of bacon

3 Tsp butter

1 red onion

2 lb fresh green beans, trimmed and snapped

8 small new potatoes, diced

1 large clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 and 1/2 tsp white balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

Cook bacon, and drain on paper towels.

Melt butter in a skillet with a lid over medium-low heat with onion, until onion is translucent.  Stir in the bacon, green beans, potatoes, garlic, and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer over low heat until the green beans are tender (about 10 minutes.)  Sprinkle with vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Our Review

I'm not sure why I keep finding recipes that claim potatoes will cook quickly.  I ended up cooking it for over 20 minutes and even then, some potatoes weren't done.  Overall, it was good, it just needs to have much smaller potato pieces or to cook longer so they are finished.

Source

Roasted Butternut Squash with Rosemary, Pecans, and Gorgonzola

Ingredients

1 butternut squash of about 2.5 pounds (peeled and cubed)

1 tbsp olive oil

Fresh rosemary (2 tsp, finely chopped)

Salt

Pepper

1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup Gorgonzola cheese (or blue cheese)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  

Toss the squash, oil, rosemary, salt and pepper together.  Grease the baking sheet and then arrange squash in a single layer and roast for 20 minutes.  Turn squash over and then bake for 15 more minutes.

Turn the squash again and spring pecans over the top.  Roast for 10-15 more minutes until the nuts are fragrant and the squash is soft and caramelized.  Put squash into a bowl and toss with the cheese.  Season with salt and pepper.

Our Review

Overall, it was good.  No complaints.

Source

Stuffed Zucchini (Zucchini Boats)

Ingredients

4 medium zucchini

1 lb pound ground beef

1 lb Italian sausage

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 cup dried bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)

1 can condensed tomato soup (10.75 oz)

1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 13 x 9 baking dish.

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise.  Scoop out the seeds, chop and save about 3/4 of the seeds for the stuffing.  (Feed the rest to your chickens).  In a medium bowl, mix together the ground beef, sausage, onion, bread crumbs, egg, and zucchini seeds.  Place the mixture equally into all of the zucchini boats.  Mixture should be piled up over the top.  Place boats into the baking dish.

In a bowl, stir together the crushed tomatoes, tomato soup, and water.  Spoon the mixture over the zucchini boats, liberally.  Bake for about 45 minutes.

Our Review

There was a lot of liquid in the tray.  We used a cookie sheet, and it overflowed with the juices.  Besides that, it was pretty good.  I did use all of the zucchini seeds and used 5 zucchini's and there was still a lot of stuffing.  In the future I need to either use far less meat (maybe half a pound of each kind) or do 10 zucchini boats.  I also thought the tomato topping was good, but too washed out so next time I won't add the water.

All in all, we'll have it again.

Source

Martha Stewart Pancakes

Ingredients

3 cups of flour

6 Tbsp sugar

6 tsp baking powder

1 and 1/2 tsp salt

3 cups of milk

6 Tbsp melted butter

3 large eggs

Mix all ingredients and cook.

Our Review

This recipe was actually 1/3 of the measurements above.  We tripled it so that I could make extra pancakes to freeze for breakfasts before school.  The original mix was a bit too thin so I added a little more flour.  They tasted good and everyone was happy.

Source

Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Basil Chicken

Ingredients

Chicken breasts

Olive Oil

3 cloves of garlic, diced

Salt and pepper

Several leaves of fresh Basil

Half a jar of sun-dried tomatoes (or more)

Pour oil in the pan and heat.  Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and then add it to the pan with the basil and the tomatoes. Cook until chicken is done.  

Our Review

I made this recipe up tonight because I wanted to use the sun dried tomatoes and had some fresh basil.  It tasted great and the kids asked for more.  Definitely making it again.

Zucchini, Mushrooms, and Onions Bake

Ingredients

One huge zucchini and one small zucchini

Two good size onions

2 cups of mushrooms

Olive oil

Cheese - Cheddar and Mozzarella 

Basil

Salt and Pepper

Slice all of the vegetables and put them into a baking dish.  Sprinkle olive oil and then sprinkle the seasoning.  Top with cheese.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and then uncover and bake for 10 more minutes.

Our Review

Okay so this was our recipe.  I had the oldest son look up some ideas on Yummly and he found something along these lines, but we changed things a bit as we were making it.   The directions above are what we did to make the meal.  We did add more oil and cheese as it was cooking.  It definitely smelled mushroom-y but it also tasted pretty good.  The onions could have used more time, but they weren't bad at all.  Final review, we will make this again.