Baked Chicken with a Swiss Cheese & White Wine Sauce

Baked Chicken with a Swiss Cheese & White Wine Sauce

Over the Christmas holiday we joined my parents for dinner and my Mom made this chicken that I hadn't had in years.  Oh. My. Goodness.  SO good.  I got the recipe from her and it is an absolute must in the menu rotation!!

I actually made this last minute the other evening, so I used frozen chicken.  Place 4-6 chicken breasts in a prepared 9x13 pan - less chicken just means more sauce, which is never a bad thing!

Cover the chicken with about 1 1/2 c chopped onion.  Slice an 8 oz pkg of swiss cheese and lay on top of the chicken as well.  

In a bowl, mix together 1/2 c white wine with 2 cans cream of chicken soup.  Pour over the chicken as well.  In another bowl, mix together 1/2 c melted butter with about 1 c bread crumbs.  Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on top of the chicken and bake.

If the chicken you began with was thawed, bake for 1 1/2 hrs at 350 degrees-  If you used frozen chicken bake for about 2 hours at 375 degrees uncovered. 

As this bakes your home will smell fantastic.  We enjoyed this with a side of green beans and rice pilaf.  Using more chicken for this recipe also provides yummy lunches for the hubs the next day too!

Thanks to my Momma for passing along another family favorite!!

Caramelized Topping for Breads, Cakes and Ice Cream

Caramelized Topping for Breads, Cakes and Ice Cream

Coffee Cakes and Banana Breads are made all the time in our house and sometimes it is nice to have a little something to change up a recipe, taste and texture to the usual.

SUPER simple and always tasty- 3 ingredients and 3 minutes is all you need.

In a saucepan melt 1/2 c butter.  Add 1 c brown sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon to melted butter.  Constantly stir until a thick caramelized sugar is created.

I have used this to top coffee cake batter and when using it for banana bread, be sure to wait a bit into your baking to add.  I typically bake my banana bread for 70 minutes at 325 degrees, so with about 20 minutes remaining, add the topping.  By waiting, you can be sure that the topping doesn't bake into the bread and it remains the topping you desire.  Also, be sure to cover with foil during the remaining bake time to prevent burning.  

If you find you have a little extra, it is a great ice cream topping as well!

Buttermilk-Raspberry Cake

Buttermilk-Raspberry Cake

I read a recipe recently that sounded super yummy, but I didn't have all the ingredients and since I was baking with my boys, I had to adapt to a minor mishap- in the end, we had a delicious Saturday morning breakfast.

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.  Cream 1/2 c butter with 2 c sugar ... when I bring out my beaters, the boys arrive at my side with their little step stools and the helping begins!

Add 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla until well combined.

In a separate bowl, place 2 c raspberries.  Mix in 1/4 c flour to lightly coat the berries.  By doing this, the berry coloring will not bleed into the cake. 

Mix together 2 c flour, 2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt and then add to the raspberries.  At this point my little helper turned the beaters on high and we had a beautiful, bright red batter.  No problem, tastes the same.  The number one rule in baking with your kiddos after safety is ADAPT!  

At this point mix in 1/2 c buttermilk to the batter.

Prepare a 8x8 square baking pan and pour the batter in.  

Sprinkle some sugar on top and bake for 45 minutes.  Let it cool for a few moments and then serve!

Coffee Cake in a Pinch

Coffee Cake in a Pinch

It has been quite a while since I have blogged and shared some recipes.  This holiday season was rough to say the least.  Between injuring my foot in the beginning of November to just recently seeing healing finally take place to a loss of a job in our home, things just haven't been the same.

We are praising God that a job has come with growth potential, but in the mean time I am learning to cook and bake on a smaller budget, causing me to use the very last of each and every ingredient before shopping again.  Regardless of family income, I think this is a great frugal way to bake anyway!!  Why waste what is still good and useful??  It may take meal repetition at times, cooking for a few days at a time and LOTS of creativity, but it's a good challenge and I am up for it, are you?  

Well, this morning I looked into our fridge to find myself in the exact situation I just described.  I had just a little bit of some staple items so I went with it- the best thing about this recipe is that it was like it was made for our exact morning's time allowance and ingredients on hand.  Most coffee cakes take a bit of time to prepare and/or bake- this had about 5 minutes prep and 25 minutes to bake and even better ... right out of the oven I could slice it and it didn't crumble so it was perfect for Jeremy's breakfast on the way to work.

ok, enough rambling- here is how you do it-

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Oil a 8 inch square pan and set aside.

In a bowl stir together 1 1/2 c flour, 2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.  Add in 3 tbsp melted butter and mix with an electric mixer.  Add 1/3 c sugar with 1 egg and continue to beat together.  Finish by mixing in 2/3 c milk.  Pour batter into your prepared  pan.

For a sugary topping, melt 1 tbsp butter in a saucepan.  Once melted, add 1/2 c brown sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon.  Take off of the stove and scatter on top of the batter evenly.  

Bake 25 minutes and serve.

I love that there wasn't an absurd quantity of any one ingredient, it preps and bakes quickly and all the ingredients are what would be in a typical kitchen!