Chicken Club Salad

8 slices bacon
4 chicken breasts
3 small tomatoes, seeded (I especially like cherry)
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, plus leaves
1/2 cup mayo
1 T. white wine vinegar
lettuce

Preheat oven to 400˚. Line baking sheet with foil and arrange bacon. Bake about 10 minutes. Turn over and slide over to one side of the pan. Season chicken w/ salt & pepper and place on other half of pan. Bake 15 - 20 minutes.
While that is baking, combine tomatoes, onion, celery, leaves, mayo and vinegar in a bowl.

Transfer bacon to a paper plate and crumble. Let chicken cool. Cut chicken into chunks & add to bowl. Season with salt & pepper and toss to coat. Serve over lettuce and sprinkle bacon on top.

Tip: The celery leaves are a must have. Use all the leaves in the bunch, not just leaves on the two stalks. They have so much flavor packed in and - just trust me - you want them in there.

Lettuce Wraps

3 tablespoons oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water chestnuts
2/3 cup mushrooms
3 tablespoons chopped onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
iceberg lettuce leaves

Special Sauce:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon hot mustard
2 teaspoons water
(1-2 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste)

Stir Fry Sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Make the special sauce; dissolving the sugar & water in a bowl. Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve. Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well. At the table you can add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps.

Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until done. Remove chicken from the pan and cool. Keep oil in the pan, keep hot. As chicken cools mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas. Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl. When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are. With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil. Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan. Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and sauté the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce cups. Top with special sauce.

Pan Pizza

olive oil
3/4 c. + 2 T. milk, warm
1 T. sugar
2 1/3 c. flour
2 1/4 t. yeast
1/2 t. salt

Mix warm milk, sugar and 2 T. oil. Mix flour, yeast and salt in the mixer with the dough hook. Slowly add wet ingredients and turn mixer up to medium low. Mix for 5 minutes. Let rise in a warm oven until double in size, about 30 minutes.
Divide the dough in half. Roll out and shape the dough into 9 1/2" rounds. Place dough in a cake pan oiled with 2 T. olive oil. Let rise on counter 20 minutes.
Top with 2/3 c. sauce and 1 1/2 c. mozzarella and bake in 400˚ oven for 15 minutes.

Tip: If you are topping with pepperoni, bake them for just a couple minutes - it cuts down on the grease a little and you know they're better crunchy anyway.

Belgian Waffles

2 2/3 c flour
2 1/4 t yeast
2 T sugar
1 t salt
1 3/4 c milk
1/4 c water
1/4 c butter
3 eggs

Combine and mix dry ingredients. Heat milk, water, and butter until very warm. Add to flour mixture, add eggs - blend for a few minutes on low speed. Cover with plastic and foil (it will double in size) and refrigerate overnight.

Orange BBQ Chicken Cornbread Skillet

olive oil
5 cloves garlic
1 red onion
salt & pepper
3 T. tomato paste
1 1/2 T. paprika
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
4 T. Frank's hot sauce
1/4 c. brown sugar
juice of 2 oranges
1 1/2 c. chicken stock
3 chicken breasts

1 1/2 c. flour
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. corn meal
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 c. milk
2 eggs
1/2 c. melted butter

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Place a medium-size sauce pot over medium-high heat with a little olive oil. Add the garlic and onion to the pan, and cook until tender, 4-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and add the tomato paste and paprika. Cook the tomato paste until caramelized, 1-2 minutes. Add Worcestershire, hot sauce, brown sugar, orange juice and chicken stock to the pan. Bring everything up to a bubble then reduce the heat to medium and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
While the sauce is simmering, place a large, cast iron skillet over medium-high heat with about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, and cook until golden brown on all sides, 5-6 minutes. When the chicken is golden brown, pour the thickened barbecue sauce into the skillet.
Combine flour, sugar, corn meal, baking powder and salt and then mix in milk, eggs and melted butter. Pour on top the the chicken and bake until set in the middle.

Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

1 cup uncooked wild rice
1 chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups chicken broth
5 cubed peeled red potatoes
3 cups milk
10 slices Cheddar Kraft singles
2 chicken breasts
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
1/4 t salt

Boil 3 cups water. Add rice and bring back to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until cooked.

Heat oven to 425. Coat chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast about 9 minutes on each side. Let rest.

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add a little olive oil or butter, onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Add broth and potato; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until potato is tender. Combine milk and flour, stirring well with a whisk. Add the milk mixture to potato mixture; cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add cheese, stirring until cheese melts. Stir in rice, chicken, pepper, and salt.

I topped mine with crushed Ritz crackers.

We're having a pretty laid back week this week. I have a test in my skills class and I am going to have to study pretty hard for it.

1. Spaghetti Soup - I've had this recipe posted for a while. It's really good. Ask Stace. I made it for her once.

2. BBQ Pork - This one is super easy, cheap and de-lish. We had it tonight with some roasted potato fries.

3. Breakfast burritos - Does anyone else feel like Dad used to make us these all the time? Eggs, ground sausage, cheese and whatever else you like in it. I have a feeling Russ will be adding a little salsa to his.

4. Chicken and Wild Rice Soup - We love soup (as if you haven't already noticed). This is a new recipe. If it's any good, I'll post the recipe along with any changes I made.

5. BBQ Bourbon Orange Chicken - This one's new, too. Per Mom's suggestion I'm going to go ahead and sub in orange juice for the bourbon. I was looking forward to flaming that up...