Chicken Bacon Ranch Macaroni & Cheese

Misti made this for our family after Camille was born. Everyone thought it was delish!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Macaroni & Cheese
From Cooking Light March 2010 Issue

Ingredients
 16 ounces  uncooked elbow macaroni
3-4  slices pre-cooked bacon, chopped
2  skinless, boneless chicken breasts cooked, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2  tablespoon  butter
2  tablespoon  all-purpose flour
3  cups  milk
2/3  cup  condensed 45% reduced-sodium 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 ½ c shredded six-cheese Italian blend (such as Sargento)
1  teaspoon  onion powder
1  teaspoon  garlic powder
1  teaspoon  dill
1  teaspoon  salt
Cooking spray
1/2  cup  shredded colby-Jack cheese
1-2 slices precooked bacon (for top)

Preparation
1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.
2. Cook chicken either on the grill seasoned with salt and pepper or on the stove top with a bit of olive oil.
3. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat; sprinkle flour evenly into pan. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Combine milk and soup, stirring with a whisk; gradually add milk mixture to saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 4 minutes or until sauce cools to 155°. Add Italian cheese blend, onion powder, garlic powder, dill, and salt, stirring until cheese melts. Stir in pasta, chopped bacon and chicken.
4. Preheat broiler.
5. Pour into a 9x13 pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with reserved bacon and ½ cup cheese. Broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts.

Easy Breadsticks

1 T yeast
2 T sugar
1 1/2 c. warm water
1/2 tsp salt
3 c. flour
1 cube butter
Sprinkle with garlic and Parmesan cheese or cinnamon and sugar.

Mix first four ingredients in a bowl.  Add 3 cups flour, mix and knead for 3 min.; let dough rest 10 min. While dough is resting, melt butter and pour on jelly roll pan. Roll out dough and cut with pizza cutter.  Cut dough into 1/2" wide strips.  Roll in butter on the cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with seasonings.  This can set in the fridge covered.  Let rise until doubled and bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes.  (I never let them rise the second time and they turn out great for us.)

How many ounces in a cup of....

One Cup of .. Weight in Ounces Almonds (ground) 3½ Almonds (whole) 5 Breadcrumbs (fresh) 2 Butter 8 Cheese (grated) 4 Coconut (dessicated) 3 Cornflour 4 Flour 4 Fruit (dried) 5 Honey 12 Jam 10 Lentils (raw) 6 Nuts (chopped) 12 Margarine 8 Molasses 8 Oatmeal 5 Peanuts 5 Peanut Butter 8 Rice, long grain (raw) 5 Rice, short grain (raw) 6 Rolled Oats 3 Semolina 6 Sugar 8 Sugar (Icing) 4½ Treacle 12 Walnuts (chopped) 4 Water (milk, etc.) 8

    

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Chocolate Chip Toffee Scones

Much to my surprise, I really enjoy baking and eating scones.  The real traditional kind of scones.  I grew up eating Utah's version of a scone which is basically a yeast bread dough deep fried and served with honey butter.  Those are great too, but there is just something a little more refined about a real scone and there are so many ways to make them.  I got this recipe from Leigh Anne at myhomebasedmom.com  These scones even won Robert over.  Fresh from the oven they are pretty hard to stop eating.  :)

Chocolate Chip Toffee Scones

3 1/4 C flour

1/2 C sugar

1 Tbsp plus 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 C semisweet, milk or dark chocolate chips – I used milk

1/2 C walnuts, toasted and then chopped into small pieces – I  left these out

1 C Toffee bits or chop up a Heath or Skor bar

2 C chilled heavy whipping cream

Topping:

2 Tbsp butter, melted

granulated or coarse white sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly butter two heavy large baking sheets.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips, nuts and toffee bits.

In a large, chilled mixing bowl (chill bowl and beaters in freezer for 15 minutes or in fridge for an hour), whip the cream until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold whipped cream into dry ingredients; combine well.  It will be sticky.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Knead gently until a soft dough forms; about 2 minutes.  Form dough into 2 balls.  Pat each ball out into a circle.  Place each on a cookie sheet and cut pie like into 8 wedges.  Pull each wedge out a little bit to create about 1 inch space between each wedge. 

For topping:  Brush scones with melted butter.  Sprinkle each scone with a bit of granulated or coarse white sugar.  Bake until golden brown, about 18 to 20 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Store in airtight container at room temperature.

I didn't make the Devonshire Cream to go with the scones.  Maybe someday....

Devonshire Cream

3 oz. cream cheese

2 Tbsp powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 C whipping cream

With hand mixer beat together well, it will thicken a bit and get fluffy. Chill one hour (I didn’t and it was fine) Serve with jam or lemon curd with your scones

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

I got this recipe from Leigh Anne at myhomebasedmom.com  It's super yummy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

1/4 lb. butter (1 stick or cube), melted and cooled

1 C sugar

1/2 C flour

2 eggs, well beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 C walnuts or pecans, I left these out

1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

9″ unbaked pie shell

Mix all ingredients and pour into pie shell.  Bake 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees.  It will still be nice and gooey.  Serve warm or at warm temperature.

Substituting Wheat Flour

Whole-wheat flour will make your baked products denser and heavier than all-    purpose flour does. Substituting whole wheat flour for white flour takes a little experimentation, but you will almost always be successful if you use ¾ cup of whole wheat flour to replace 1 cup of all-purpose flour.

    When making cookies with whole wheat flour, reduce the butter or shortening by     20 percent. When making cakes with whole wheat flour, add another tablespoon or two of liquid. When altering a white bread recipe to become whole wheat bread, you may need another ¼ cup or so of liquid.

If you like the texture of baked goods made with white flour but wish to add more whole grains to your family’s diet, be sure to try white whole wheat flour. This flour—milled from albino grains of wheat—behaves almost exactly like white flour, but provides all of the whole grain goodness of wheat flour.  

White whole wheat flour is beginning to be available in supermarkets, but if you cannot find it, check a natural foods or health food store. You may also purchase this flour at online sources, such as kingarthurflour.com.

One Step Wheat Blender Pancakes

Soak 1 cup wheat and 1 1/2 cups water in your blender overnight.  Add:

1/4 cup powdered milk
1 T oil
2T honey
1 egg
1 T baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

Blend well.  Makes 8 pancakes using 1/3 cup batter.