A little humor for Monday! :o)

I usually prepare just one chicken since that's enough for us but original recipe is for two. If you don't like this marinade, try creating your own and using the ginger-ale baking method... it creates a very moist chicken and is yummy!!

Ginger Ale Chicken

Prep: 10 min.; Chill: 8 hr.; Bake: 1 hr., 40 min.; Stand: 10 min.

Tips: Use oven mitts or a towel to hold and gently slide chickens off the hot cans. Buy reduced-sodium liquid steak seasoning if you are watching your salt in-take.

2 (3-lb.) whole chickens
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup liquid steak seasoning
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon pepper
2 (12-oz.) cans ginger ale

Remove giblets and necks, if necessary. Rinse chickens with cold water; pat dry. Place each chicken in a large zip-top plastic freezer bag.

Whisk together oil and next 5 ingredients. Pour evenly over chickens. Seal bags, and chill for 8 hours, turning occasionally. Remove chickens from marinade, discarding marinade.

Using a can opener, carefully remove lids from cans of ginger ale. Remove one-fourth ginger ale from each can, and reserve for another use, leaving remaining ginger ale in can. Place cans in a lightly greased large roasting pan. Place each chicken upright onto a ginger ale can, fitting can into cavity (like the chicken is sitting on the can--yes... it looks funny!). Pull legs forward to form a tripod, allowing chickens to stand upright.

Bake, uncovered, at 325° for 1 hour and 40 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into thigh registers 170° and chickens are golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes; carefully remove cans before serving.

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Apple Cobbler Cake



2 (21-oz.) cans apple pie filling
1 (18.25-oz.) pkg. Butter Recipe or Yellow Cake Mix
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
Vanilla ice cream

Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, combine cake mix and butter; blend at low speed for 45 to 60 seconds or until crumbly. Place 1 1/2 cupscake mixture in medium bowl; stir in walnuts or pecans and cinnamon until well mixed and set aside.

Add milk to the remaining cake mixture in large bowl; stir until dry particles are moistened.

Spoon pie filling into ungreased 13x9-inch pan. Top with heaping spoonfuls of cake batter. Sprinkle with nut mixture.

Bake at 375°F. for 30 to 40 minutes or until topping is golden brown and cracks appear dry. Cool 30 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.

Memories of your mother or grandmother cooking with their pressure cookers probably bring to mind being told to "Stay out of the kitchen", "Don't touch the jiggy-thing" or you might even can tell a story or two of the time dinner exploded all over the kitchen! Today's pressure cookers are much safer and easier to use. I purchased an electric one and it's pretty much goof proof and a great way to get dinner on the table in no time at all without heating up the kitchen. Forget to take dinner out of the freezer? No, problem! With a pressure cooker, you can still have dinner done in just a short time.

Here's a pressure cooker recipe that is one of our favorites:

Barbecued Beef
Yield 6 to 8 servings

1 TBSP vegetable oil

3 to 4 pound boneless, trimmed chuck or rump roast

1 large onion

1 1/2 cup prepared BBQ sauce

1 can (12 oz.) beer --- If you are like me and don't drink... bum one off of your neighbor--or in my case, brother-in-law! They may give it to you with the understanding that they get some BBQ, of course! ;o) You could also probably use a dark cola.

1 1/2 teasp. chili powder

Heat the oil in the pressure cooker over med-high heat. Add the roast and brown evenly on all sides. Add the onion. Cook for 1 minute. Remove roast to a plate and add the BBQ sauce, beer and chili powder. Stir well. Place roast back in sauce. Cover and bring to high pressure over high heat. Lower the heat to stabilize the pressure. Cook for 60 minutes. Remove from heat. Release the pressure and when pressure has dropped, unlock and remove cover. Test with fork; the fork should penetrate easily. If not tender, cover and cook under pressure for an additional 10 minutes.

Serve with a salad and/or veggie and dinner is on the table in no time!

Zesty Italian Crescent Casserole

1 lb. lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup of your favorite tomato pasta sauce
6 oz. (1 1/2 cups) shredded mozzarella or monterey jack cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 (8-oz.) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 375°F. In large skillet, cook ground beef and onion over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until beef is thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently. Drain. Stir in pasta sauce; cook until thoroughly heated.

Meanwhile, in medium bowl, combine mozzarella cheese and sour cream; mix well.

Pour hot beef mixture into ungreased 9 1/2 or 10-inch glass deep-dish pie pan or a 2-quart glass baking dish. Spoon cheese mixture over beef mixture.

Unroll dough over cheese mixture. (If using pie pan, separate dough into 8 triangles; arrange points toward center over cheese mixture,crimping outside edges if necessary.) In small bowl, mix Parmesan cheese and butter. Spread evenly over dough.

Bake at 375°F. for 18 to 25 minutes or until deep golden brown.

Sometimes I'm at a loss at what to fix for dinner. Most times I can rely on my menu-planner, Zach, but even he will sometimes get stuck on the same dishes. He's pretty easy to cook for but sometimes I think he would be perfectly fine with chicken every night of the week so coming up with different ideas can be a challenge. If you are at a loss for what to have for dinner this week, here are a couple of our favorites:

Chicken Pot Pie (This Southern Living recipe can be made ahead of time and served with a salad)

1 (3 ½ pound) whole chicken*
5 cups water
2 celery ribs with leaves
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

3 to 4 bacon slices
3 green onions, sliced
2 large celery ribs, chopped
½ cup all-purpose flour
3 hard cooked eggs, sliced
3 carrots, cooked and diced
1 cup frozen peas or 1 8.5 oz can peas
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
½ (15 oz) pkg. refrigerated piecrust

Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil in large Dutch oven; reduce heat and simmer 1 ½ hours or until chicken is done. (See note below* for short cut)

Remove chicken, reserving 3 ½ cups broth in Dutch oven; discard celery tops. Let chicken cool; skin, bone and cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.

Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 3 tablespoons drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon and set aside.

Saute green onions and chopped celery in hot drippings in skillet over medium heat 5 minutes or until tender. Gradually whisk in flour until blended (it will look clumpy). Gradually add reserved broth; cook whisking constantly, 3-5 minutes or until thickened and bubbly (this will start out not looking like it is going to work, but keep stirring it will eventually mix well and thicken). Stir in chicken,
bacon, eggs and next 5 ingredients.

Spoon mixture into a greased 3-quart baking dish and top with refrigerated piecrust sealing crust to edge of dish. Cut slits in crust for steam to escape.

Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

Yields 6 servings.


*You can save yourself some time and use 3 cups of cooked chicken
and 3 1/2 cups chicken broth. If you used store bought broth you may want to decrease or eliminate your salt.

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Bacon Spinach Pizza

Ingredients:

1 (13.8-oz.) can refrigerated pizza dough
1 (9-oz.) pkg. frozen spinach
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 (6-oz.) pkg. refrigerated cooked Italian-style chicken breast
strips, chopped
8 oz. (2 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 (2.8 to 3-oz.) pkg. precooked bacon slices, cut into 1/2-inch
pieces

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Grease 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Unroll dough; place in greased pan. Starting at center, press out dough to edge of pan. Bake at 400°F. for 9 to 13 minutes or until edges are light
golden brown.

2. Meanwhile, cook spinach as directed on package. Drain well;
squeeze to remove liquid. Heat oil in small skillet over medium-high
heat until hot. Add onion; cook and stir 3 to 4 minutes or until
tender, stirring frequently.

3. Remove partially baked crust from oven. Top crust with spinach,
onion, chicken, cheese and bacon.

4. Return to oven; bake an additional 9 to 12 minutes or until cheese
is melted. Cut into squares.

I know this is probably a little strange, but this is yummy drizzled
with a little bit of ranch dressing on top!

Tip: Baking

For best results, ingredients for cakes, cookies, and breads should be at room temperature before mixing unless the recipe specifies otherwise. Most refrigerated ingredients will come to room temperature in about 20-30 minutes.

Eggs in their shells can be brought to room temp quickly by placing them in a cup or bowl of warm tap water for a few minutes while you are preparing your other ingredients!

Happy Baking!!!