Chicken with mushroom sauce and green bean casserole

                                     

Chicken with Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients:

• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup fat free milk
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 medium onion, sliced and sparated into rings
• 1 Tbs butter
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a cmall bowl, combine cornstarch and milk until smooth; set aside. Flatten chicken to 1/4 in thickness. In a large skillet, cook chicken in oil over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, or until juices run clear. (I am super picky about my chicken so I actually boil it first until it is cooked and then brown on each side). Remove and keep warm.

2. In the same skillet, saute mushrooms and onion in butter until tender. Stir in the broth, salt and pepper; bring to a boil. Stir cornstarch mixture and add to the pan. Bring to a boil; Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add chicken and serve.

                                        
                                                              recipe courtesy taste of home

Green Bean Casserole
Ingredients:

• 1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed cream of mushroom or celery soup
• 1 cup (8oz) reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 package (16 oz) fozen green beans
• 1/4 cup crushed ritz crackers or those dried onion things (Ha!Ha! I forget what they're called)

Directions:
1. in a large bowl, combine the soup, sour cream, cheese and onion. Stir in the beans. Transfer to a 2-qt. baking dish that has been coated with cooking spray. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 25 min.

2. Uncover; sprinkle cracker cumbs or dried onions around the edges. Spritz several times with spray. Bake 10-15min. longer or until heated through and edges are lightly browned.
                                         
                                                       recipe inspired by taste of home: guilt free cooking

Busy Day Pork Chops with Never Fail Scalloped Potatoes

Well,  had a busy day yesterday. Much busier than I anticipated! So I needed something that didn't take too long to prepare.

Busy Day Pork Chops
Ingredients:
1/4 cup fat free milk
1/4 cup grated pamesan (or the stuff in the plastic shaker works!)
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I made 2pcs of toast and then crumbled it up)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
4 boneless loin chops (although you can really use any cut)
cooking spray

Directions:
1. Preheat over to 375. Place milk in a shallow bowl. In another sallow bowl, combine the cheese, bread crumbs, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Dip pork chops in milk, then coat with crumb mixture.

2. Place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spra: sprits chips with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40min  or until meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.

Now I only had 3 chops but this recipe is for 4 and can be doubled as well. Also I can always find good deals on chops. Our local store often has family packs on sale and I divide and freeze as necessary and they've even run a buy one get one free sale at times.



My mom brought me some potatoes from her garden and I wanted to use them so I decided to make Never-Fail Scalloped Potatoes.

Never-Fail Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients:
2 Tbs butter
3Tbs all-purpose four
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (or to taste on salt and pepper)
1-1/2 cups fat-free milk
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
1-3/4 pounds potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced, (about 5 medium) and you can leave the peel on if you like
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small nonstick sillet, melt butter. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper until smooth; gradually add the milk. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes oruntil thickened. Removefrom the heat; stir in cheese until blended.

2. Place half of the potatoes in a 1-1/2-qt. baking dish coated with cooking spray; layer with half of the onion and cheese sauce. Repeat layers.

3. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Uncover; bake 10-15 minutes loger or until bubbly and potatoes are tender.

TIP: to shorten bake time boil potaoes for 2-3 min then place in dish to bake. While I sliced the potatoes I had the water on so it would be boiling and I could simply put the potatoes in right away.



I quickly prepared the chops (mine were frozen and I microwaved them on high for 4 minutes to slightly dethaw) and put them in the oven. I then started the potatoes. They baked together for about 20 minutes then I removed the chops and finished out the potatoes. My chops kept hot.

Here is the final product with green beans from the garden to finish it off.