Feta-Topped Chicken

We love, love, love this tasty dish. Quick, easy, yummy, healthy, and pretty too. What more could you ask for? We eat this once every few weeks. Serve with salad, pasta or rice. It's good with everything!

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (we usually use chicken halves)
• 2 Tb. balsamic vinaigrette dressing
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/4 tsp. seasoned pepper blend
• 1 large Roma tomato cut into 8 slices
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. Set oven control to broil. Brush both sides of chicken breasts with dressing. Sprinkle both sides with Italian seasoning and seasoned pepper. Place on rack in broiler pan.
2. Broil with tops 4 inches from the heat about 10 minutes, turning once, until chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut. Top with tomato and cheese. Broil 2 to 3 minutes longer or until cheese is lightly browned.

Servings: 4
Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 15 min. Ready in: 25 min.
Amount per serving: 220 calories, 8 grams fat

- Mindy

Grilled Pesto Chicken Sandwiches

This delicious sandwich recipe originally came from the Something Extra magazine offered by Bel Air and Raley's. I've made a few changes to make it more economical. It is full of flavor and quick to make.

Prep: 10 minutes Cook time: 10-12 minutes Serves:4

8 boneless, skinless chicken tenders
8 (1/2 inch thick) slices sourdough bread*
butter for spreading
8 slices mozzarella cheese
8 thin slices tomato
2 Tbs pesto

Cook chicken tenders. For added flavor, add several tablespoons of oil to a pan. Sprinkle some chicken seasoning onto the olive oil and stir together. Grill Mates Chicken Rub by McCormick is an excellent choice. Cook with lid on for several minutes per side until no longer pink. The chicken tenders can be placed in the pan directly out of the freezer. Just add a few extra minutes cooking time per side.
Grill Bread. Butter one side of each slice of bread. Placed buttered side down in large skillet. Top with mozzarella slices. Cook over medium heat until cheese is melted and bread is golden brown on the bottom.
Assemble Sandwiches. Top half the bread slices with tomatoes and cooked chicken. Spread pesto over chicken and close sandwiches.

*If using a very large loaf of sourdough, cut the slices in half to make sandwhich sized slices.

Nutrition per serving: 380 calories, 23 g protein, 20 g total fat (8g sat.), 28 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 7 g sugar, 65 mg cholesterol, 460 mg sodium

Cherry Cream Cheese Pie

This dessert is a Hogge favorite for birthdays and all holidays.

Cherry Cream Cheese Pie

Makes one 9" pie

1 graham cracker crust (recipe follows)
1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 can cherry pie filling

Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add sweetened condensed milk and mix thoroughly, scraping sides of bowl often. Add lemon juice and vanilla extract. Stir until combined. Pour into prepared pie crust. Chill for several hours before topping with cherry pie filling.


Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/2 cups (about 20 squares) graham cracker crumbs
1/3 c. melted butter
3 Tbs sugar

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Place butter in a glass pie plate. Microwave butter until melted. Swirl butter in pie place to coat bottom and sides. (If using a metal pie plate, melt butter, then pour into pie plate.)

Place graham crackers in large zip-lock bag. Squeeze air out and close. Use a rolling pin to crush crackers. . . or crush crackers in food processor. Put crumbs in pie plate with melted butter. Add sugar. Stir with fork to combine. Press crumbs evenly across bottom and up sides of pie plate. A soup spoon is helpful when smoothing crumbs.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool completely before filling.

Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle

I got this recipe from the Taste of Home magazine - my favorite cooking magazine!  The recipe made a huge batch, so I halved it to be able to fit in my 3 quart, 8 inch trifle bowl (you can get one at Bed Bath & Beyond by Anchor Hocking for $9.99).  If you don't have a trifle bowl (but I suggest you get one because they are great multi-taskers) you can put the dessert in a large bowl, it's just not as pretty.  The fun things with trifles is that you can put in more of one ingredient than another, so you can make it your own.  Here's what I did:

Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle
1 brownie mix (the 9x13 size) with all the other ingredients the box calls for (oil, eggs, water)
1 cup peanut butter chips (Winco has them in the bulk section for less)
1 package (13 oz) peanut butter cups
2 cups cold 2% milk
1 package (5.1 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large carton (12 oz) frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip), thawed

Make brownie according to box instructions, but mix in peanut butter chips before you put it in the pan.  After it's done baking, let cool.  (You are actually going to use 3/4 of all the brownies it makes.  I found using the whole pan to be too much and half too less, but you can use how much you want).  Cut brownies into 3/4-inch square pieces. 

Cut peanut butter cups in half and set aside; reserve 1/3 cup for garnish.  In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding together for 2 minutes.  Let stand for 2 more minutes to set.  Add peanut butter and vanilla, and mix well.  Fold in half the whipped topping.

Place 1/3 of the brownies in the trifle bowl and 1/3 of the peanut butter cups on top.  Spread 1/3 of the pudding mixture.  Repeat the brownie, peanut butter cup, and pudding mixture layering twice.  Top with remaining whipped topping and garnish with reserved peanut butter cups.  Refrigerate until chilled.

Enjoy!