Hot and Sweet drumsticks

These were very easy and a crowd pleaser. Would be a great chicken dish to bring to your next summer picnic!

Ingredients

• 1 cup apricot preserves
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons of tabasco or another hot sauce
• 3 lbs drumsticks

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a small saucepan, combine preserves, ketchup, soy sauce, garlic and hot pepper sauce. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until preserves are melted.

   Arrange drumsticks in a single layer on a 13 x 9″ baking pan. Pour sauce over drumsticks, turning to coat. Bake, uncovered, for 40-45 minutes or until chicken is done, spooning sauce over drumsticks while baking. Serves 6.

   
   

Creamy Spaghetti Chicken Casserole

I found this recipe and I'm always looking for something to do with the Costco roasted chickens. I usually buy one every couple weeks and make two different recipes out of one chicken. This week I made chicken enchiladas and this Spaghetti Chicken. I do like casseroles because they stretch during a busy work week for my husband and I. I was pessimistic that my husband would enjoy this dish because he usually does not like stuff that is "creamy". Well I was quite wrong, he loved this dish and couldn't figure out the unusual ingredient he liked so much....It was the pimentos. So if you love casseroles, recipes to make with Costco chicken, or simple comfort food, give this dish a go.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Cooked Chicken
• 3 cups Dry Spaghetti, Broken Into Two Inch Pieces
• 2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup
• 2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• ¼ cups Finely Diced Red Pepper
• ¼ cups Finely Diced Onion
• 1 jar (4 Ounce) Diced Pimentos, Drained
• 2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
• ⅛ teaspoons (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Directions

Cook 1 cut up roast chicken and pick out the meat to make two cups. Cook spaghetti until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar.

Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).

2nd chance dinner with pork tenderloin

The day after we made the pork tenderloin was the Academy awards. It is a tradition with my mom to watch it and have yummy food. I thought of making little sandwiches with the leftover pork on my way to the gym that morning. I bought little potato rolls, made caramelized onions, thinly sliced the leftover pork and put a little apricot marmalade on the roll. My mom, husband and me all loved this little sandwich. I will surely make these again, and they would be great for a party!

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Apricot Marmalade glaze

We bought some pork tenderloins from Costco the other night for our weekly saturday dinner. I hadn't planned on that so I had to find a recipe using the ingredients I already had in the pantry. I found this and thought it sounded good. It was originally with orange marmalade but I had apricot and pork really tastes good with any fruit so I thought I'd give it a try. It was really good and I did a second chance recipe the next night, which were little sandwiches.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup of soy sauce
• 1/3 cup apricot marmalade
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of rice wine vinegar
• Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 lb pork tenderloin
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, bring the soy sauce, marmalade, honey, rice wine vinegar, and red pepper flakes to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from the flame and let cool to room temperature. Distribute the glaze evenly in 2 bowls. Marinate the tenderloin roast for a min of 1 hour in the glaze.

2. Heat the grill to 350°F or medium. Put on the tenderloin. Grill 8 minutes on one side (check at 6 minutes), depending on size of pork loin. Then flip it, baste it. Grill another 6-10 minutes. Start checking with a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat, at about 6 minutes on the second side. Cook until internal temperature reaches 140°F. Remove from heat.

3 If you have let the temp get above 140°F, you may need to slice the pork immediately or the meat will continue to cook as it rests and become overcooked. If you have taken it out in time, let the pork rest 10 minutes. Thinly slice, sprinkle with the remaining glaze and scallions.

Serve with rice.

Easy asian dumpling soup

Found this recipe in a magazine and knew instantly I had to try it! It was quick and easy but I actually liked it better as leftovers than when it was first made!

1. Saute 1 diced onion, 2 diced carrots, 2 sliced celery stalks, and 8 oz of sliced mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until tender.

2. Add 5 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock, 2 cups of water, and 1 bay leaf; bring to a boil.

3. Add a bag of gyoza (you can get a bag at Trader Joes's or Ling Lings at any grocery store); simmer 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley.

4. Enjoy!!!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

I really love this dish. This time it was more unusual than I normally make it. This time it was made with Elk, which is an extremely lean meat. I usually use ground turkey meat, and it is what I still prefer but when someone gave us Elk meat to try I thought I'd use it on this dish. If you like a comfort meal that will give you some leftovers for the week, make this dish.

Ingredients

• 6 large bell peppers (I prefer red or yellow)
• 1 lb ground turkey (but you can use a pound of any ground meat you prefer)
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 can (15 ounce) tomato sauce
• 3/4 shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Cut thin slice from stem end of each bell pepper. Remove seeds and membranes, rinse peppers. Cook peppers in enough boiling water to cover about 5 minutes, drain.
2. Cook turkey and onion over medium heat 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until turkey is brown, drain. Stir in rice, salt, garlic and 1 cup of the tomato sauce, cook until hot.
3. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Stuff peppers with mixture. Stand upright in ungreased baking dish. Pour remaining tomato sauce over peppers.
5. Cover and bake 45 minutes. Uncover and bake about 15 minutes longer or until peppers are tender. Sprinkle with cheese.
6. Enjoy!

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Brian and I have made it a tradition to make a special dinner together on saturdays. We put the babes down to bed, open a bottle of wine, put on some tunes and cook together. It is special time together to reconnect after another hectic week. It is so nice to cook in the kitchen together too. Usually he has been bbq'ing but a real rainy saturday ruled that out this week.

This is just a idea on a method you can do with whatever you want to stuff your mushroom with. I love the earthy, meatiness of a portobello. For this dish I made some sauce and then mixed in a half pound of my favorite spicy italian chicken sausage from whole foods. So the filling should be more on the meaty side versus saucy side, you don't want it to be too runny. If you don't make your own sauce, use your favorite jarred one.

1. We took out the gills of the portobellos first.

2. Drizzled the portobellos with some olive oil.

3. Broil for 5-6 minutes.

4. Stuff with your filling.

5. Put some cheese on top (I did mozzarella slices).

6. Put back under the broiler until cheese melts and is bubbly!