Crunchy Onion Chicken Tenders

One of my friends told me about this recipe probably 6 months ago. I recently found a good deal on French's French Fried Onions, I knew it was time to make it.

The case:
Crunchy Onion Chicken Tenders from  FRENCH'S®
Ingredients:  

• 2 cups (4 oz.) FRENCH'S® Original or Cheddar French Fried Onions 
• 2 tbsp. flour  
• 1 lb. chicken tenders  
• 1/2 cup honey mustard

Directions:

1. CRUSH French Fried Onions with flour in plastic bag. 
2. DIP chicken tenders into honey mustard; coat in onion crumbs.  
3. BAKE 15 min. at 400 °F until chicken is cooked.

The ruling:
We absolutely loved this chicken!  The flavor of the honey mustard with crispy onion flavor was wonderful.  I will be making this again, and soon!

Spinach Tomato Tortellini

I had some cheese tortellini in the freezer that I needed to use, so I searched All Recipes and came upon this.

The case:
Spinach Tomato Tortellini (Adapted slightly from All Recipes)
Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package cheese tortellini
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with garlic and onion
• 1 cup chopped fresh spinach
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Corn starch mixed with water

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the tortellini, and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
2. While you get the tortellini going, combine the tomatoes, spinach, salt, pepper, basil and garlic in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir until the mixture begins to bubble. 
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, milk and cream. Stir this mixture into the saucepan along with the Parmesan cheese. Heat through, then reduce heat to low, and simmer until thick, about 2 minutes. (I added the corn starch mixture here because my sauce wasn't very thick.)
4. Drain the tortellini, but do not rinse, then pour them into the saucepan with the sauce. Stir to coat, and serve. 

The ruling:
This was good.  I will definitely add more spinach next time, at least double.  I think it would be good for kids in the future.

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

Here's another recipe from Our Best Bites.  Our Best Bites has officially become my favorite recipe blog.  (Pioneer Woman and Plain Chicken are close behind)  I love alfredo and am excited to try a low fat version.  By the way, I just pre-ordered My Best Bites new cookbook! Can't wait!!!!

The case:

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce from Our Best Bites

Ingredients:

• 2 C low-fat milk
• 1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
• 2-3 T flour
• 1 t salt
• 1 T butter
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 C grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. Place milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth.  In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat and add garlic. Let the garlic saute for about 30 seconds, you don’t want to burn it. 
2. Then add milk mixture to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more. It should be much thicker now. 
3. When it’s nice and thickened remove the pan from the heat. Add the cheese, stir it up and then cover immediately. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using. It will continue to thicken upon standing. Also, if you have leftovers in the fridge, the sauce will thicken almost into a solid. Just re-heat and add a little milk and it will be back to normal again.

The ruling: 
Love, love, love this!  This is my new go to alfredo sauce.  My search is over.  I can't believe it's low fat!  It's so much thicker than my usual alfredo, but doesn't have near the butter or cream.  Thanks again Our Best Bites!

Baked Pork Chops

We are moved in.  I'm over morning sickness.  (Well, mostly) And the school year has started.  I've run out of cooking and blogging excuses.  My friends have said they are tired of seeing the coconut soup recipe on my blog.  I've tried several recipes over the past couple months, but have pretty much been lazy about posting.  Thanks for the patience.  I'm officially ready to get back in the swing of things!

I was discussing pork chop recipes with some friends the other night when I came upon this recipes on All Recipes.  It's very highly rated and baked.  We basically only grill pork chops, so I'm excited to try a recipe we can make all year around.  I bought a lot of pork chops on sale recently so you'll probably be seeing a lot of pork chop recipes in the near future.

The case:
Baked Pork Chops (Adapted from All Recipes)

Ingredients:

• 6 1 inch thick pork chops
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 6 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 Tablespoons ketchup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix together soy sauce, vegetable oil, Worcestershire, lemon juice, brown sugar, and ketchup.
3. Season pork chops with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  
4. Place pork chops in baking dish and pour over half of marinade.
5. Bake 30 minutes covered.
6. Remove cover, flip pork chops, pour over additional sauce, and bake 20 more minutes.
7. Broil 3-5 minutes, until sauce thickens.

The Ruling:
Yeah, this has great reviews, but I'm just not a big fan.  They were cooked well, but the flavor wasn't good.  Michael said it tasted like it came off a buffet.  Not 100% sure what that means, but it's not a good thing.