Quick Chicken Quesadillas

Don't you just hate it when you're hungry and don't want to wolf down a whole bag of Pringles by yourself? I usually hit this stage around 6 pm when the Bean is attached to my leg, the house is a wreck, and TJ's no where to be found. So what's an industrious girl to do? Create a new recipe, of course! Check out this remarkably tasty concoction. . .

1 12.5 oz. can cooked chicken in water, drained
1/3 white onion, finely chopped (I use my mini chop food processor and do the onion and mushrooms together)
1 small can mushroom stems and pieces, chopped
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 flour tortilla
palmful of shredded cheese
olive oil

Put the drained chicken in a small nonstick skillet and break it up with a fork. Add the onion, mushrooms and poultry seasoning, then heat over medium until onions are cooked and translucent, stirring every now and then. Remove chicken mixture from the skillet and wipe the skillet down with a damp paper towel. Put a teensy bit of oil or melted butter in the bottom of the skillet and swirl it around. Put the tortilla in there, spread some chicken mixture over HALF of the tortilla, then top the chicken mixture with the cheese. Fold over the other half of the tortilla to make a half-moon shape, and cook on one side until golden brown. Flip, and cook on the other side until it's equally golden.

* This would be GREAT with leftover Thanksgiving turkey, shredded, and a little cranberry sauce on top. Fancy, fancy!

Egg Muffins

We have recently discovered a wonderful, easy recipe for the most fabulous little Egg Muffins! Since TJ is limiting his carbs, these are perfect to keep in the fridge for breakfast on-the-go. They also freeze well for up to a month. Seriously, he loves them and they are very quick and easy, plus very adaptable to different flavor combinations. (Combos will be listed at the end of this post)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line a muffin pan with two foil muffin liners and spray generously with Pam or similar cooking spray.

Add fillings of your choice till about half full, then top with your choice of cheese to be 2/3 full.

Beat together 10-12 eggs with a little milk (like 1-2 T.), season with salt and pepper, and spoon into muffin cups. We fill about halfway, then let it settle a few minutes, and add more to fill to the very top.

Bake for 30 minutes. "Muffins" will be tall and poufy when you take them out, but will fall within a few minutes like a soufflé.

Store in zip bags in the refrigerator for up to a week, or freeze for up to a month.

Suggested filling combinations:
• crumbled bacon with chopped tomatoes and bleu cheese
• cubed ham with finely chopped apple and havarti
• taco seasoned shredded chicken with chopped onion and mexican blend
• pulled pork barbecue with a hearty cheddar
• smoked salmon with a little onion, cream cheese and capers
• tiny cubes of leftover steak with diced fresh mushrooms and swiss

Keep on mind that you can always add veggies and fresh herbs of your choice! See what unique flavor combinations you can come up with - and enjoy being a mad kitchen scientist!

Tortilla Pizza

We are having a hard time with vegetables at our house, mainly that the Bean won't eat them. In the absence of refrigerated pizza dough coupled with the lack of desire to make a whole pizza, we've started eating tortilla pizzas. They would probably be better if we had a pizza stone to crisp up the bottom, but are really tasty even without it.

1 10 in. flour tortilla
5 T. pizza sauce (We use Ragu cause that's what was in the pantry)
shredded cheese
toppings of choice (mini pepperoni, diced veggies, pineapple tidbits, whatever!)

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray and lay out your tortilla. Thinly spread the pizza sauce around the tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 in. away from the edges. Add cheese, pepperoni, veggies, etc. Bake for 5-6 minutes until cheese is melted and "crust" is crispy. Cut into 8 pieces - the Bean usually eats 3 small slices with pineapple on her favorite Princess plate. (Can't you hear me say "This dinner is brought to you by the letter P?")

Marshmallow Popcorn Balls

Combining the best elements of popcorn balls and rice krispy treats, Marshmallow Popcorn Balls are awesome at Halloween or any time of year. I even made them for one of TJ’s presentation meetings at work! We doubled the recipe and made one batch with peanuts and another with M&Ms. It’s a 2-man job, but LOADS of fun and really messy!

1 stick butter or margarine
1 large pkg. mini marshmallows
1 family size bag microwave popcorn
Lots of Pam or other nonstick spray
stir-ins of your choice: M&Ms, salted peanuts, Reese’s pieces, jelly beans, gummi bears

Melt the butter and marshmallows in a nonstick pot over medium-low heat, stirring to combine, until mixture is smooth and of an even color. Stir every few minutes or so to make sure it’s melting evenly, and to prevent scorching. While this is going, cover a section of your countertop with waxed paper and nuke the popcorn according to the package directions, throwing away any un-popped kernels. Spray a large pot or bowl with nonstick spray and dump in the popcorn. When butter/marshmallow mixture is ready, pour this mixture and any stir-ins over the cooked popcorn and stir with a large spoon to distribute evenly. Spray your hands with nonstick spray, and work quickly! Form balls with the popcorn mixture, pressing slightly to keep them together, and lay out on waxed paper to “congeal” before wrapping individually in cling wrap. You should have 8-10 baseball-sized popcorn balls when you get finished, depending on how big you want to make them.