Panko Cheddar Chicken

1 lb. boneless chicken tenderloins
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup (a little over,actually) Italian Style Panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp. dijon butter

Melt butter in microwave safe bowl. Add dijon to butter and mix well. In a large ziploc bag, mix both bread crumbs and shredded cheddar cheese, making sure everything is well blended. Dip each tenderloin in butter mixture, then place in bag and shake well, lightly squeezing tenderloins to ensure the bread crumbs and cheddar stick well. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, turning once.

Yesterday I put out some chicken for us to have for dinner. When we got home, we decided to make parmesan-dijon chicken, but I quickly realized that we didn't have any parmesan. Bummer! So I decided to try cheddar instead, and then thought I would add some panko bread crumbs to the mix as well to add a good crunch. Needless to say I was VERY nervous when I threw this in the oven because I didn't know how they would turn out. And to be honest with you, I didn't measure anything, I just threw it all together and went from there, so the measurements above are total guesses. Anywho, it turns out that they were WONDERFUL! The cheddar was a great addition, the panko gave them an amazing crunch, and the chicken was extremely moist. I also threw together some Homemade Guthrie's Sauce to dip these in.....oh yeah! It was awesome! I'm actually kind of sad that we've had these this week, because I would totally make them again tonight! I'm tellin' ya......delicious! Feel free to add more Panko and certainly more Shredded Cheddar!

Buffalo Wings

Wings:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
20 chicken wings

Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup hot sauce
Garlic powder, to taste
Black pepper, to taste

In a small bowl, mix together flour, paprika, cayenne pepper, and salt. Place chicken wings in a large bowl and sprinkle flour mixture over them until they are evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate for 1.5-2 hours. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray generously with non-stick cooking spray. Place wings on the cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, turning once. Broil for 2 minutes, turning once. Toss with sauce. For the sauce: combine butter, hot sauce, pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl and microwave until melted. Stir for a couple of minutes until well blended.

This is also another recipe that I found on food.com (I seriously have a problem). Vann and I had a couple of friends over for the Super Bowl last night, and when we talked about all of the appetizers we were going to have, I found this recipe listed as one of the best 10 wing recipes on the website. We had to try it. I have never made wings before, and these were wonderful! I actually prefer boneless wings over bone-in, but these really were awesome. We bought a 4 lb. bag of Tyson chicken wings (that were GIGANTIC by the way), and followed the directions pretty much as stated. I did add some cayenne pepper to the sauce, because the boys like their wings hot. And instead of just coating the wings in the sauce and serving them, we poured the sauce over them, lightly shook them, and then threw them back into the oven to allow the sauce to bake into the wings a little bit. It was great! We love having appetizer nights every once in a while, so this is something that we will make many more times to come!

Chili Mac

16 oz. uncooked elbow macaroni
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
2 tsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1-2 Tbsp. hot pepper sauce
2-3 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 pound Velveeta cheese (optional)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream, for topping (optional)

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet cook the turkey, onion, and jalapenos in olive oil over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Drain excess fat. Add beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, pepper sauce, and seasonings to turkey. Drain macaroni; stir into turkey mixture. Cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with cheese. Remove from heat; cover and let stand until cheese is melted. Serve with a dollip of sour cream if desired.

I got this recipe from an email sent to me by Taste of Home. Vann loves chili mac, and as soon as I saw the recipe I knew that we had to try it. We did not have any of the seasonings on hand except for the pepper and minced garlic, so the original trip to the grocery store to get everything we needed for this was a little more expensive than I thought it was going to be. However, we have made this so many times that it has more than made up for the cost! I add 1/2 lb. Velveeta cheese to the mixture and let it melt, which is wonderful! It makes it taste more like a chili mac and cheese, and it adds great creaminess to the meal. With this recipe alone, we easily get several meals out of it. It is absolutely incredible leftover! I will say that if you choose to add the Velveeta, you probably won't need the sour cream. However, it does add a great flavor to the recipe! This is a great quick and easy meal that is especially delicious on a cold night!

Stove Top Baked Pork Chops

1 (6 oz.) box chicken flavored stuffing
5-6 pork chops
2 eggs, lightly beaten with a dash of milk
Flour, for dusting
3 Tbsp. olive oil

Place stuffing mix in a bowl (I crush the stuffing a little bit so that it's easier to work with). Lightly salt and pepper pork chops. Dust chops with flour, dip in egg mixture, and coat with stuffing mix (make sure to really press the stuffing into the pork chops so it sticks). Place pork chops in a baking dish coated with the 3 Tbsp. of olive oil on the bottom. Bake at 425 degrees for 40 minutes, turning once halfway through.

My favorite website to get recipes from is food.com. I could literally spend hours searching for new recipes. It's sad, I know, but it's true. A couple months ago I was in Walmart and ended up getting a pack of beautiful pork chops. I have never made pork chops before, mainly because Vann doesn't like them and I didn't feel like fooling with trying them if he wasn't going to eat them. I was bound and determined to find a recipe that he would actually like, though, when I found these puppies in the store. I came across this recipe on food.com, and I KNEW that it was one that he would like. He was skeptical, but his attitude was quickly changed after trying these. They are incredibly quick and easy to throw together, and the stuffing is wonderful! Reviews for the recipe also said that this also goes well on chicken, which we are definitely going to have to try soon!