Chicken Marsala

This is one of my favorite dishes to order when we go out to eat Italian. So when I saw this recipe in my Phyllis Hoffman Celebrate Spring 2012 magazine I knew that I had to try it. I never knew it was so easy to make. We all loved this recipe! It was just as good as what I order at our favorite Italian restaurant! Will be making this many many more times to come. Here are the ingredients:

• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups sliced white button mushrooms
• 8 thin chicken breast cutlets
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup Marsala wine
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 Tablespoon butter

Garnish: chopped parsley

1. In a large nonstick saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil on medium-high heat. Cook mushrooms, stirring occasionally, until tender. Remove from pan, and set aside.
2. Season chicken breasts on both sides with garlic salt and black pepper. Dredge in flour, shaking off excess. In same pan, heat remaining 1/4 cup olive oil on medium-high heat. Cook chicken breasts, in batches, 3 to 5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. (If browning too quickly, reduce heat to medium, and add oil if needed.) Remove chicken from pan; set aside.
3. Deglaze pan with wine, using a wire whisk and stirring briskly to loosen brown bits from bottom of pan. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add chicken stock and butter, whisking to combine. Return chicken and mushrooms to pan, and cook until heated through. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired. Serve with pasta!

Ghost Brownies

Here is a super fun and easy dessert to make for Halloween! It’s so easy you don’t even really need a recipe. Just make a 9 x 13 pan of your favorite brownies (boxed or homemade it doesn’t matter). Cut them into squares, unless you have a brownie pan like me and then it does that for you (thanks dad I love my brownie pan)! Place a large marshmallow on top of each square. Get a container of vanilla frosting, take the tops off and microwave for 20 seconds. This makes the frosting looser so that you can drizzle it over the marshmallow. Drizzle about a tablespoon of frosting over the marshmallow. Allow frosting to set for about 10 minutes and then with black decorating gel pipe on eyes and mouth. That’s it, nothing fancy. The kids were so excited when I brought these over to dinner the other night. they loved them!

 

Apple Pie Bars

I made these yummy Apple Pie Bars the other night when the family came over for dinner. I found the recipe in an old Taste Of Home magazine. It won the grand prize for their Dessert bar contest and I definitely now know why. These Apple Pie Bars had all of the delicious goodness of a home-made apple pie in the form of a bar cookie. This is a very good way to serve apple pie to a larger crowd. My very bad picture-taking skills does these no justice, (to dark) sorry! Anyway……. Here’s the recipe..

• 4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup shortening
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 8 to 10 Tablespoons cold water

Filling:

• 7 cups finely chopped peeled apples
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• dash ground nutmeg

Glaze:

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 Tablespoon milk
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1. In a bowl combine flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks, lemon juice and water; gradually add to flour mixture, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Divide in half. Chill for 30 minutes.
2. Roll out one portion of dough between two large sheets of waxed paper into a 17-in. x 12-in. rectangle. Transfer to an ungreased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Press pastry onto the bottom and up the sides of pan; trim pastry even with top edge.
3. In a bowl, toss the apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg; spread over crust. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pan; place over filling. Trim edges; brush edges between pastry with water or milk; pinch to seal. Cut slits in top. Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Combine glaze ingredients until smooth; drizzle over bars before cutting.