Tin Foil Dinners

Okay, I know this might be obvious to some, but the Elder's Quorum Activity Committe members (aka my husband) asked me to do it. If you have any delicious ideas or tips, feel free to add them here or add a comment. Thanks!!

Use heavy duty foil and add your favorite ingredients.
Some favorites are:
potatoes (red ones are good too) (slice very thin so they cook quickly)
carrots
ground beef, chicken, or any kind of meat
onions
mushrooms
garlic
peppers
any favorite vegetables

Add some spices. Some options are:
Garlic powder
Season salt
Onion powder
Italian seasoning

Other delicious things to add are:
cream of chicken (or mushroom) soup
olive oil
lemon juice
BBQ sauce

TIPS:
Write your name on the foil with a Sharpe.
Wrap the ends tightly and make sure it is completely enclosed, but leave a little bit of air inside the foil so that you can shake it occasionally so that it will cook evenly.
Good luck everyone, we hope to see you all at the camp out and we hope your tin foil dinners are delicious!!

BBQ Chicken Calzones

INGREDIENTS

• 4 slices bacon
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 3 cups shredded, cooked chicken breast meat
• 2/3 cup barbeque sauce
• 1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Fry bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove from the pan to drain on paper towels; crumble. Add the onion and shredded chicken to the hot bacon grease in the pan. Fry over medium heat until onion is tender. Stir in 1/3 cup of barbeque sauce, and remove from the heat. Mix in the cooked bacon.
3. Roll the pizza crust dough out onto a greased cookie sheet. Press out to an even thickness, and then cut in half. Divide the chicken mixture between the two pieces of dough, spreading on only half of each piece to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Drizzle the remaining sauce over the filling. Sprinkle the cheese and cilantro over the top. Fold the uncovered portion of dough over the filling, and press the edges together with a fork to seal.
4. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until browned to your liking. Cool for a few minutes, then cut each calzone in half. Each serving is half of a calzone. These can be served with additional barbeque sauce if you like.

Molten Cakes

So this can be done in any flavor...well any kind of chip (butterscotch is amazing!)
This is very similar to the desert at Applebees, SOOOO good, I seriously could make them everyday all day and not get tired of them. Plus they look kinda fancy so you can impress people when really...too easy.

6 Tbsp crushed gram crackers (or really anything, I have used girl scout thin mints)

1 Cup chips (chocolate, butterscotch, white chocolate...)

2/3 Cup butter

3 Whole eggs

3 Egg yolks

3/4 Cup brown sugar (packed)

1/2 Cup Flour

Heat oven to 450*

Spray Bottom of muffin tins (you can also use ramekins), and dust with flour, put one Tbsp of crushed grams at bottom.

Melt chips with butter, nice and slow cause you don't wanna burn this!

separately, beat all the eggs, add brown sugar, then the melted chips and butter, then finally the flour.

pour into the tins/ramekins and bake for 12 minutes, let stand for 3 to cool.

Makes 6

once I was short on chocolate chips, so I added peanut butter...A-MAZE-ING

Greek Chicken Pasta

I made this last week and it was pretty good! One thing I would have done differently is to add the entire can of artichoke hearts, including the marinade so that the pasta wasn't so dry.

INGREDIENTS
1 pound uncooked pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 pound skinless, shredded boneless chicken breast
1 (14 ounce) can marinated artichoke hearts
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.

2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion, and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in the chicken. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 5 to 6 minutes.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low, and add the artichoke hearts, tomato, feta cheese, parsley, lemon juice, oregano and cooked pasta. Stir until heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, season to taste with salt and pepper.

Popcorn balls

12 cups popped popcorn
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1 pkg. (4 serving size) JELL-O Brand Gelatin, any flavor

Place popcorn in large bowl.
Mix syrup and sugar in saucepan; bring to boil. Boil 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Add gelatin; stir until dissolved.
Pour over popcorn; mix well. Cool about 5 minutes (texture will be weird if you don't). Shape into 18 balls, each about 3 inches in diameter, or larger if you would like.

So sinful, so delicious!

Chalupa

This is own of my favorite meals from childhood. It is such an easy tasty Mexican dish. It does make a ton of food so if you want to cut the recipe cut everything but the oregano, green chilies and pimentos to keep the flavor. It does freeze well so we usually make the whole recipe and freeze half for a day we don't want to cook!

2 ½ pound pork roast
2 ½ cups pinto beans
8-10 cups water
½ cup chopped onion
2 gloves of garlic
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
2 Tbsp cumin
4 oz can green chilies
1 large jar pimentos

Cook in a crock-pot on high covered for 5 hours and then cook ½ hour uncovered to thicken. Serve over Frijtoes with cheese, lettuce, sour cream, salsa, black olives or any other toppings.

Smothered Steak

1-2 pounds ground steak cut into strips
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 onion sliced
1 cup green pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
4 oz mushrooms (optional)
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 can green beans or two cups frozen green beans

Cover the steak with the flour then put in the bottom of the crock-pot. Then add the remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on high for 5 hours. Serve over rice or baked potatoes.

Fabulous Lasagna

1 pound ground beef or sirloin
½ cup onion thinly sliced
1 clove garlic minced
1 Tbsp basil
¾ tsp salt
1 can diced tomatoes
2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
10 oz lasagna noodles cooked and drained
2 eggs
3 cups cream-style cottage cheese
½ cup Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp parsley
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 pound mozzarella sliced thin

Brown the beef then drain. Add the garlic and onion and sauté. Then combine basil, salt, tomatoes, and tomato paste to the beef. Cook on low until bubbly. Meanwhile add the eggs, cottage cheese, parmesan, parsley, salt, pepper, and half the cheese in a bowl. Once the sauce is bubbly 1/2noodles, 1/2cottage cheese mixture, 1/2left over cheese and 1/2sauce and then repeat with remaining. Cover pan with foil and cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. This is my mom’s lasagna and is by far my favorite recipe!

Meat Loaf

1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
2 Tbsp of Lipton onion soup mix
½ cup ketchup
1 egg
20 crumbled saltine crackers
1 large carrot grated
1 potato grated
½ large onion grated
Salt and pepper as desired
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp oregano

Combine and bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes.

Usually my husband doesn't like meatloaf but he loves this recipe!

Beefy Mexican Lasagna

1 ½ pounds ground beef
9 corn tortillas
2 cans enchilada sauce or 4 cups homemade sauce
1 can black beans rinsed
1 ½ cups frozen corn
1 tsp ground cumin
1 ½ cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

Brown meat and add 1 can sauce (2 cups homemade) beans, corn cumin and bring to boil. Then layer in pan 3 tortillas, 1/3 remaining enchilada sauce, 1/3 beef mix, and 1/3 cheese. Repeat 2 more times. Then Cover and cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Pad Thai

Ok, so not the easiest dinner, but soooo yummy if you like cultural food. It might sound weird with all the stuff that goes into it, but it is worth it!

3/4 pound bean sprouts
6 ounces rice noodles
4 eggs
salt
3 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce
3 tablespoons peanut oil (i used olive oil because really, who has peanut oil?!)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (you can add less if you don't like spicy)
2 cups grated carrots
2/3 cup chopped peanuts
1 cup green onions cut into 1-inch pieces
2 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bit size pieces


Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch the bean sprouts in boiling water for approximately 30 seconds, remove, and drain well. When the water returns to a boil, add noodles. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes until tender but firm; drain and rinse under cold water
Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Stir together the lime juice, ketchup, brown sugar, and fish sauce in a separate bowl; set aside.
Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the garlic for a few seconds. Add the pepper flakes and carrot, and cook for one minute, then remove. Add the beaten egg, and gently scramble. When the eggs have set, pour in the carrots, sauce, bean sprouts, noodles, peanuts,chicken and green onion; toss together.

**Note: we don't like fish sauce, so I elimated it and replaced it with peanut sauce (you can find it by the oriental foods in broulims). Also, I drizzled melted peanut butter just before eating.

Today's dinner and one of my favorites

CHICKEN TORTILLA CASSEROLE
2-3 chicken breasts
10.5 oz. can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom
10.5oz. can Campbells's Cream of Celery
10.5oz. can Campbells's Cream of Chicken
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can green chilis (or to taste)
grated Monterey Jack cheesepack
yellow corn tortillas
Boil chicken, until fully cooked
Meanwhile, as chicken boils, combine all soups, green chilis, and chopped onion in a large bowl.
Tear chicken into bite size pieces. Add to soup mixture.
Layer 1/2 of the mixture in 13 x 9" baking or casserole pan.
Cut the tortillas into fourths (or just layer as whole) and top the mixture with Monterey Jack cheese, then another layer of tortillas, another layer of cheese, then layer with remaining chicken and soup mixture, and layered tortillas, then top with remaining Monterey Jack cheese.
Bake in 375 F oven for 45 minutes or until lightly browned.
Let stand for 10-15 minutes. Cut into three or four serving sized portions and serve.
Enjoy- Heather Fa'anunu