Grilled Island chicken kabobs

I love Kabobs! We don't have a grill so there's probably no point in putting it on skewers, but it makes it more fun that way! Here is a good marinade for the chicken.
-Ashley
4 Stars 

Grilled Island Chicken Kabobs

Ingredients:

2-4 chicken breasts, cut into large bite-size pieces

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup lemon juice (from about 1-2 lemons if want want to use fresh juice)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, finely minced
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large red onion, cut into large chunks
1 large green pepper, cut into large chunks
1 pineapple, cut into large chunks (you can also used canned pineapple chunks, but I love fresh!)

Directions:
Combine vegetable oil, lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper in a large ziploc bag. Place chicken in bag and make sure all pieces are covered. Put chicken in fridge and let marinate for at least 3 hours, but it tastes best when you let it marinate for 8-12 hours.
If using wooden skewers, let your skewers soak in water for at 15-30 minutes to prevent burning. Skewer chicken, onions, peppers, and pineapple on your sticks until you run out of ingredients.
Turn on grill to medium heat. Place skewers on grill and cook for 7-8 minutes per side or until chicken is no longer pink in the middle (if using a meat thermometer, make sure it registers 165 degrees). 
Remove from grill and serve!

Strawberry Avocado Salad

Submitted by Chris
Rating: 4
We love salads, especially salads with strawberries. Here's a quick salad that goes with everything.
Whisk together:
2 Tablespoons white sugar
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 teaspoons honey (I've substituted Agave a few times and it works just as well)
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Set aside.

2 cups salad greens or spinach
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and cubed
10 strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Mix and drizzle with dressing.

Chicken Empanadas

This was definitely a 5-star recipe! I love pie crust and it was perfect for this meal!

Submitted by: Jessica

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 1 (8-oz) package shredded Colby and Monterrey Jack cheese (or whatever cheese you like. All I had on hand was cheddar and that was still good).
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened 
• 3 oz green chilies
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped. *optional
• 1/2 Tbl ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 package refrigerated pie crusts. Should come with 2 crusts.
• water

Preheat oven to 400*F. Lightly grease a baking sheet. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except for the water and pie crust. Unroll 1 pie crust onto a lightly floured surface. Place half of the chicken mixture on one half of the pie crust, then fold pie crust over (in half) over the filling. Lightly brush the edge of the crust with water. Press edges down with a fork to seal. Do the same thing with the second pie crust and the other half of the chicken mixture. Put on baking sheet and sprinkle top with cheese. Bake for 25 minutes.

Mini Taco Pizzas

I love tacos so I knew I would like this recipe. It was easy and so tasty. I love to have Krew help me out with dinner as much a possible and this was perfect for that because he could add any of the toppings he wanted!

Submitted by : Jessica

4 stars

Ingredients

• 1 lb of pizza dough. I used the Walmart brand of pizza dough. It's in a little white bag.
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 package of taco seasoning
• 1 can refried beans
• 2 cups cheddar cheese
• shredded lettuce, for topping
• salsa or pico de gallo, for topping 
• guacamole, for topping
• sour cream, for topping

1. Preheat oven to 450 F
2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the ground beef.  Cook until almost no pink remains, then add taco seasoning. Continue to cook until the beef is cooked through/
3. Put the refried beans in a small pot over medium heat until warmed through.
4. Divide the pizza dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each out into an individual pizza. Top each with 1/4 cup of the refried beans, 1/4 of the beef mixture, then top with 1/4 of the cheddar cheese.
5. Cook in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or according to the pizza dough directions.
6. After it's done cooking, top with lettuce, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.

We served ours with chips and salsa! Delicious!

Homemade Corn Dogs

These brought back many memories of working at Montana Fair :)

I'm actually not a huge corn dog fan, but since Krew is I thought I would give these a try! Now I am a fan of corn dogs! 

Submitted by: Jessica

5 stars

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 1/8 cup milk
• 1 quart vegetable oil for frying
• 2 (16 oz) packages beef hot dogs
• 16 wooden skewers

1. In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, white sugar and baking powder.
2. Add milk and egg to the bowl and whisk well.
3. Heat oil in a large pot on stove top unit it reaches 350*
4. While oil is heating, insert wooden skewers into hot dogs.
5. Dip/roll skewered hot dog into batter until completely covered.
6. Cooking 2-3 corn dogs at a time, cook in oil until golden brown in color, about 3 minutes. Set on paper towels once cooked to drain off any excess oil.

Pizza Roll

We eat this one a lot! Because it is easy and so good! If you love pizza you'll love this one!

Submitted by: Jessica

5 stars

Ingredients:

• Rhodes frozen dough. Looks like this:

• Olive oil
• Pizza toppings such as, Pepperoni, ground beef, bacon, olives, canadian bacon,pineapple, anything you love on a pizza.
• Shredded mozzarella cheese. 
• Shredded cheddar cheese

I don't have measurements for cheese amounts, I just use a couple of handfuls of each.

• Shredded or grated parmesan cheese
• Italian seasonings. Basically dried oregano, parsley and basil. Be careful with the oregano, it can be strong.
• Garlic powder
• salt
• half a cube of melted butter

1. Place 2 or 3 frozen dough on a sprayed cookie sheet. One loaf equals one roll, and one roll serves about 3 people. But I always make more for leftovers.
2. Spray the top of loaves with pan spray and cover with plastic wrap. Allow loaves to thaw for about 3 hours at room temperature.
3. Roll dough out to approximately 11x11 square
4. Brush dough with olive oil.
5. Lay toppings on dough (except the cheese).
6. Now sprinkle with shredded cheeses and parmesan.
7. Lightly sprinkle with Italian seasonings, garlic powder, and salt.

    8. Roll up dough starting at one end of the square.

    9. Place rolls on a baking sheet, leaving space between.

   10. Brush some melted butter on top of uncooked pepperoni roll.

   11. You don't have to let rise. Bake it right away

   12. Bake at 375* for approx. 20-25 minutes

When done, top of roll should be golden brown and you should be able to make a tapping sound on the crust with your fingernail. Make sure you let cool before slicing and serving!

This is one roll that I cut in half.

We like to dip ours in marinara sauce!

Cinnamon Syrup

I wish I had a cute little syrup container to put this in. But honestly I didn't care once I tasted it because it is goooood!

Submitted by: Jessica

5 stars

• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a medium saucepan add corn syrup, sugar, cinnamon, and water. Stir well.
2. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once you have reached a nice rolling boil let it cook for 3-4 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and add evaporated milk.
4. Add vanilla.
5. Whisk to combine and pour over pancakes, waffles, french toast, or just drink it!! ;)

Baked French Toast

K. I didn't get a great picture of this. It tastes better then this picture, I promise! I made this on Easter morning and the fam loved it!

Submitted by: Jessica

4 stars

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf Kings Hawaiian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (this is good but any bread will do).
• 1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 5 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Place cubed bread cubes into a greased 9x13x2 inch pan. 

2. Beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. 

3. Mix in remaining ingredients until blended. 

4. Pour mixture over bread. Press bread into the liquid. 

5. Cover and refrigerate overnight. 

6. Next morning, bake uncovered at 350* for about 45 minutes, or until knife inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 20 minutes before eating.

7. We topped ours with butter, powdered sugar, and our yummy homemade syrup.

I loved that I could make this the night before and have little to worry about in the morning.