Chicken bacon ranch braid

1 cup chicken, diced

6 bacon slices cooked and diced 

8 oz cream cheese

1 T ranch dip powder

S&p

Cheddar cheese

Pillsbury crescent sheet dough or 1 batch of Mel's French bread roll dough 

Mix cheese, meat and seasonings together. 

Spread out dough into a rectangle. Smear filling out down the center. 

On the left and right sides of the filling make 1" cuts down the dough. Cris cross the dough "tabs" to make a braid effect. Tuck the 2 ends under and seal it up. 

Bake 350 for 15-20 min until golden brown. 

Easy cordon blue

This recipe is on Mel's kitchen cafe. I haven't tried the white sauce recipe she has with it. Check out her website to make it. 

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2011/06/chicken-cordon-bleu-the-easy-way.html

This was one of my freezer meals I made when prepping for the baby being born. So easy to throw together! Already had everything on hand and now I've got a great meal in the freezer waiting to be cooked up!  

2 chicken breast, cut in half so you have 4 thin slices of whole breasts

Ham slices

Swiss slices or any white cheese, I used shredded mozzarella 

1 cup bread crumbs, I blended up a bunch of frozen heels of leftover bread I saved. 

2 T melted butter 

Lay out your chicken in a grease 8x8 pan. Layer on your choice of cheese. Cover the Cheese with ham slices.

Mix melted butter and bread crumbs together. Cover over the top of the ham. 

Bake 350 for 30-35 minutes. 

Ham & veg pasta

This is one of those "what needs to get out of  the fridge" dish. I just used whatever veg and meat I already had in the fridge. If you have other things you need used add it in. Pasta and cheese sauce are the perfect vehicles for meat and veggies. 

Favorite tube pasta, cooked 

Ham, diced

Peas

1 carrot, diced

1 celery, diced

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

1 cup chicken broth

4 oz cream cheese

1/4 c Parmesan cheese

1/2 c mozzarella cheese

In big skillet Sauté carrot, celery, onion, pepper until tender. Season with s&p and garlic powder.

Stir in broth, cream cheese, and Parmesan cheese until it gets creamy and smooth. Add in pasta, and peas. Top with mozzarella cheese. If your sauce gets too thick you can always stir in a couple tablespoons of your pasta water. 

Coconut oil

Here is a post from Mel I found helpful and it was a big factor in converting me to use coconut oil. 

Along with the coconut cinnamon muffins I posted with this. 

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2013/10/coconut-oil.html

If that doesn't convert you try it:

Toasting some bread, spread on some coconut oil and sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on top. Or honey would be good. 

Make rice crispy treats with the coconut oil instead of butter. Wow!!! I added a couple heaping TBS of oil to a bag of mini mallows, melted and added in cereal. It tastes amazing!! I won't go back to butter. 

I also love to use it for frying. The best I've had so far was chicken dipped in egg and breaded in a mix of panko crumbs, garlic, onion, s&p. It made the chicken so crispy and flavorful!! Wow. Delish! Serve it with your favorite sauce. Sweet sour, wingers copy cat. Or dice over a salad (my favorite) 

Coconut cinnamon muffins

Coconut cinnamon muffins from Mel's kitchen cafe! So amazing!!!!

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup canned coconut milk (light or regular)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• Cinnamon and sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray (or you can line them with paper liners).
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and coconut oil.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.
4. Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir the batter together until just combined. Don't overmix or the muffins will be tough and dry. It only takes a few stirs to incorporate the batter well enough. The batter will be lumpy and that is ok.
5. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and sugar.
6. Bake for 16-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out dry or with a few moist crumbs. Don't overbake.