Spanish Rice Wraps

This is a recipe I got from a cookbook from my sister. Her Relief Society put together a cookbook and this was in it. It was delicious, but made WAY too much for our little family. I ended up making up many more wraps and freezing them for future use.
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. butter
1 pkg. Spanish Rice (Rice a Roni)
2 cups water
1 16 oz jar salsa (or to taste)
12 oz. boneless skinless chicken breast
1 cup black beans
1 cup corn
1 pkg. flour tortillas

Melt butter in pan and brown Spanish Rice mixture until golden brown. Add 2 cups water, salsa, chicken and Spanish Rice seasoning packet. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low, simmering 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and chicken is cooked through. Stir in beans & corn. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm in tortillas with grated cheese, sour cream, guacamole and anything else you want! Also good with corn chips as a dip.

Sweet N Sour Chicken

This is one of my favorite dinners... but I have to admit that I don't make it very often because it is kind of time intensive... Here are the ingredients:
Heat a pan of vegetable oil. Then cut up your chicken (4-6 chicken breasts) into small pieces or strips. Dip in beaten egg and then cornstarch or flour. Transfer directly into your hot oil and brown the chicken.
Put cooked chicken into 9x13 pan and add frozen vegetables. I like just broccoli, but you can also do a mixed vegetable bag as well. Pour sauce over the top (sauce recipe below) and bake for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes at 325.
Sauce: I like to double my sauce recipe... I like mine EXTRA saucy... Here's the single recipe:
1 cup sugar
1 T soy sauce
4 T ketchup
1/2 c. vinegar
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Serve over rice... DELISH!

Easy Orange Chicken with Broccoli

Sorry for the lack of posts... but I've been trying some new recipes and they haven't been worth sharing... just ask my husband! He's been such a good sport about my recent cooking.

But this one we really liked. From start to finish I had this ready in under 25 minutes. Sounds like a winner to me!

First of all, we served this over rice, and since I always do my rice in the microwave, I started it first- 20 minutes to cooked rice in the microwave and that's how long this dinner took me to make!

Ingredients:
4 tsp. vegetable oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 cups broccoli florets
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup orange juice
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch, mixed with 1 Tbsp. water

In a medium skillet over medium heat, heat the oil. Saute the chicken until cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer to another bowl and cover to keep warm. Combine broccoli and water in skillet. Cook, covered until tender-crisp. I used frozen broccoli, so I had to cook mine a little longer. If you use fresh, you should only need to cook it about 5 minutes. Return the chicken to the skillet. Stir in the broth, orange juice, and soy sauce. I didn't have any mixed up orange juice, but I did have OJ concentrate, so I just used a 1/4 cup of the frozen concentrate. Let mixture heat to a slow boil. Add the dissolved cornstarch and cook, stirring frequently until the mixture thickens slightly. Serve over rice.
A couple note:

• I had to add more cornstarch/water in order to get mine to thicken.
• I would also add more broth, OJ and soy sauce next time. I would have liked it to be "saucier" than it was.

Enjoy. It has a really mild orange flavor to it and we really liked it.

Easy Rice Pilaf

This is a yummy rice pilaf recipe that I got from my oldest sister a while back. It is super easy and really good. I make this a lot when I realize that I need a side dish and don't have much time. It only takes about 20-25 minutes from start to finish.

1/4-1/2 cup butter (depending on how healthy you are feeling!)
1/2 cup broken spaghetti noodlesBreak up the spaghetti noodles into about 1/2 in pieces. Brown spaghetti noodles in butter- Watch closely because that butter gets really hot reall quickly and I have really burned my spaghetti noodles before. Once browned add remaining ingredients:
1 cup long grain rice2 1/2 cups chicken broth1/2 packet onion soup mix
Simmer on medium heat until rice is tender and water is gone- Add more water as the process goes if you think the rice isn't getting tender enough... It really is a pretty no-fail recipe. Good luck!