Soul Smothered Chicken

1/2 cup butter
1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups chopped yellow onions
1 cup chopped celery (omitted)
1 med yellow bell pepper - chopped (any color bell pepper)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups chopped carrots (omitted)
3 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons salt (1t sea salt)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
To taste Mrs Dash Onion & Herbs
To taste Mrs Dash Garlic & Herbs
A pinch of poultry seasoning

DIRECTIONS:
1. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken pieces with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper (and any other seasoning you choose). Dredge in 3/4 cup flour, place in the skillet, and brown on all sides. Set chicken aside, and drain skillet, reserving about 1 tablespoon butter.
2. Reduce skillet heat to medium-low, and stir in onions, celery, garlic, and carrots. Cook 5 minutes, until tender. Stir in the flour, and cook 5 minutes more. Pour in the chicken broth, season with cayenne pepper, remaining salt and pepper, and other seasonings. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low.
3. Return chicken to the skillet, cover, and continue cooking 30 minutes, until chicken juices run clear and gravy has thickened.  Serve over rice with a side of cornbread.

Mom's Chicken & Rice

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 package french onion soup mix (onions and teaspoon of the powder from a package of french onion soup mix) 
1 can diced fire roasted garlic tomatoes (drained)
3/4 C rice (uncooked)
1 1/2 C water
Mix together and pour into a 9x13 baking pan
3-5 chicken breasts** (skinned, left on bone)
Place chicken breasts on top of the mixture (allow mixture to wash over chicken pieces)
Season chicken breasts with pepper and Mrs Dash Garlic & Herb
Bake at 350 first hour covered, remaining 30-45 minutes uncovered*** (until chicken is done)

**any cut of chicken will work
***or remove foil and lay it back over the chicken without pressing it along the sides of the pan allowing the chicken to brown up a bit and the rice to release steam and finish cooking

15-Minute Creamy Balsamic Chicken

1 lb chicken tenders
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Chicken seasoning (Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb)
salt and pepper, to taste (salt omitted)
1 15-oz. jar light alfredo sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar {do not substitute any other vinegar!}

DIRECTIONS:
Lightly spray large, deep skillet with nonstick cooking spray and place over medium heat. Sprinkle chicken tenders on both sides with thyme, Mrs. Dash, salt and pepper. Place into hot skillet and brown each side. Chicken does not have to be fully cooked, but probably will be. Remove chicken from pan. Pour in alfredo sauce and balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine, then add in chicken. Coat chicken in sauce, cover pan and reduce to medium low heat until ready to eat.

Serve plain, over pasta, steamed veggies or rice.

www.laurenslatest.com

Perfect Eye of Round Roast

Eye of Round Roast (2-8 lbs. preferred, we used a 3 lb. roast)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper (coarse-ground preferred)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp smoked paprika 
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped finely

Mix together your seasonings and set them aside.
Take out your roast, rinse it and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the seasonings all over the roast, and let it sit out on the kitchen counter for 30 minutes. This allows the roast to reach room temperature, plus it lets the seasonings settle onto the roast. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees.

Place the roast in a roasting pan or dutch oven and put it in the oven, fatty side up. Roast at 500 degrees, uncovered, for 7 minutes per pound then turn off the oven completely and leave the roast in there for 2 1/2 hours. Don't open the oven door at all during this time!
After 2 1/2 hours, take the roast out and check its internal temp with an instant read thermometer. The temperature should be between 130-150 degrees. Put the finished roast on a plate and cover it with tin foil, and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

Carve it into 1/2″ slices and enjoy!

As a quick reference, here are the standard temperature/doneness levels for roasts:

120°F to 125°F, (49°C to 52°C) = Rare
130°F to 140°F (55°C to 60°C) = Medium Rare
145°F to 150°F (63°C to 66°C) = Medium

Sloppy Joes

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup minced carrots (can sub chopped bell pepper) (any color bell pepper chopped)
1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium onion)
1/2 cup chopped celery (omitted)
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt
1 1/4 lb ground beef
1/2 cup ketchup
2 cups tomato sauce (or 1 15-ounce can whole tomatoes, puréed) (15 oz Fire Roasted diced tomatoes with garlic, puréed) 
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
Pinch ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 turns of freshly ground black pepper
4 hamburger buns

My directions
1. In a large skillet brown hamburger meat, drain off fat
2. While meat is draining use the same skillet heat olive oil - saute onions and peppers until onions are translucent then add garlic, cook for additional minute
3. Mix sauteed vegetables, ground meat, and remaining ingredients together in the skillet - adjust to taste
4. Simmer on low for 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally 
5. Serve over a toasted hamburger bun with chips on the side
6. Enjoy!

Their Directions
1 Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan on medium high heat. Add the carrots and sauté for 5 minutes. (If you are using bell pepper instead of carrots, add those at the same time as the onions.) Add the chopped onion and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent, about 5 more minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 more seconds. Remove from heat. Remove vegetables from the pan to a medium sized bowl, set aside.

2 Using the same pan (or you can cook the meat at the same time as the vegetables in a separate pan to save time), generously salt the bottom of the pan (about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon). Heat the pan on high. Crumble the ground beef into the pan. You will likely need to do this in two batches, otherwise you will crowd the pan and the beef won't easily brown. Do not stir the ground beef, just let it cook until it is well browned on one side. Then flip the pieces over and brown the second side. Use a slotted spoon to remove the ground beef from the pan (can add to the set-aside vegetables), salt the pan again and repeat with the rest of the ground beef.  (Not real sure how tiny their skillet is that they can't get 1.25lbs of meat browned in one shot)

If you are using extra lean beef, you will likely not have any excess fat in the pan. If you are using 16% or higher, you may have excess fat. Strain off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat.

3 Return the cooked ground beef and vegetables to the pan. Add the ketchup, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and brown sugar to the pan. Stir to mix well. Add ground cloves, thyme, and cayenne pepper. Lower the heat to medium low and let simmer for 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Serve with toasted hamburger buns.

**from Simply Recipes**

Spicy Swiss Bliss Pork Chops (or Venison)

1 (10 ounce) can Ro-Tel tomatoes or any brand tomatoes and green chilies (omitted)
1 tablespoon cornstarch (omitted)
chopped fresh parsley (to garnish) (omitted)
1/4 teaspoon salt (omitted)
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes (diced tomatoes with onion & garlic)
1/2 large green bell pepper (1/4 green and 1/4 orange)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon A-1 Steak Sauce or steak sauce
pepper, to taste
2 lbs venison, cut into 1 inch thick chunks or pork chops (3 pork chops)
Instructions
1. Line a 13X9 inch casserole dish with foil- this foil has to be large enough to fold over and seal tightly
after the food is arranged in the dish.
2. Preheat oven to 350 F. (275 for pork chops)
3. Spread center of foil with margarine. (dropped in little bits across the bottom, 3 bits under each chop)
4. Cut steak into serving portions and arrange, slightly overlapping on foil. (3 chops, side by side)
Combined diced tomatoes, steak sauce, soup mix, diced peppers, black pepper, and several dashes of salt free garlic and herb mix instead of steps 5 & 6
5. Sprinkle with onion soup mix, green pepper, tomatoes and seasonings.
6. Mix the Steak Sauce with the reserved tomato juice and cornstarch.
7. Pour over meat and vegetables.
8. Bring foil up over and double fold edges to seal tightly.
9. Bake 2 hours. (or until fork tender then uncover and bake for 15 more minutes)
10. Roll back foil and sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley. (Roll back foil, serve, eat)

before cooking

after cooking

From Family Oven

Thai Lime Roast Chicken

1 medium (approx. 4 lbs) whole chicken (split fryer) 1/2 cup chicken stock Lime Marinade/Sauce: 1/2 cup lime juice 1/4 cup rice vinegar, OR substitute regular white or apple cider vinegar 1/3 cup fish sauce 1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar 7-8 cloves garlic, minced, OR 1 Tbsp. bottled pureed garlic 1-2 fresh red chilies, minced, OR 1 tsp. dried cayenne pepper 3 sliced green onions lime wedges
Preparation: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Empty cavity of chicken, rinse and pat dry. Place chicken in a deep roasting pan or casserole dish with a lid, or foil for cover. Place marinade/sauce ingredients in a sauce pan and stir over medium-high heat until it reaches a light boil and sugar dissolves. Reduce to minimum, stirring occasionally for several minutes, until sauce thickens slightly. Pour 1/3 of this sauce over chicken. Thoroughly coat the chicken by spooning it over. Reserve remaining sauce for later. Add 1/4 cup stock to the bottom of the roasting pan, then cover and place chicken in oven 1 hour. Remove from oven and use a ladle to spoon juices from the bottom of the pan over the chicken. Cover and return to the oven 1 more hour. Remove from oven and spoon 2-3 more Tbsp. of the lime marinade/sauce you reserved earlier over chicken (the sauce may have become thick by this time, almost like a syrup; this is fine - it will "melt" when it touches the hot flesh of the chicken. There should still be moisture (juices) in the bottom of the roasting pan - if not, add 1/4 cup more stock. Cover and roast until inner flesh is well cooked (30 minutes to 1 hour, depending how large of a chicken you're roasting). Finally, uncover chicken and return to oven 15 minutes, until skin has turned golden-brown. Using a ladle, scoop out 1/3 cup of the juices from the bottom of the roasting pan and add to the reserved lime sauce. Place over medium heat, stirring occasionally until sauce is warm. Taste-test it, adding a little more sugar, if desired, or a little more fish sauce if not salty enough. Add more fresh minced chili or cayenne pepper if more spice is desired. To serve, either place the whole chicken on a platter, and pour the sauce over or serve it on the side. OR, place chicken on a chopping board, and chop it into pieces. Place the pieces on a serving platter. Pour sauce over, then top with sliced spring onions. ENJOY!

Recipe from LAW