Chicken and Summer Squash Skillet

   A few weeks ago I took my Wife and Daughter to a small farmers market that's close to our home. While there my daughter picked up a nice big round summer squash, it was very nice looking. So when it came time to make our biweekly menu, I made sure to choose a recipe that included the specially selected squash. I found this recipe from Kraft that fit the bill perfectly, I mean it was a perfect match, so it should of been at them point that I should of figured out something would go wrong. When it came time to for dinner, I began slicing the squash and it was incredibly tough. It was like it was preparing to become a gourd and just needed to be hung up to dry. I tried cooking a few pieces to see if they would soften up, but no such luck. But despite the lack of squash the recipe was great and earned a Tot approved. My picky little girl loved this dish, so I'm sure I will be repeating it next year when summer squash and zucchini is in season.

Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 tub (10 oz.)Philadelphia Italian Cheese
2 zucchini, cut lengthwise in half, then sliced
2 yellow squash, cut lengthwise in half, then sliced
2 cups cooked orzo pasta
2 tbsp. thinly sliced fresh basil

Directions
Melt butter in large skillet on medium heat. Add chicken; cook 4 to 5 min. on each side or until done (165ºF). Transfer to plate; cover to keep warm
Place 1/4 cup cooking creme in small microwaveable bowl; set aside. Add vegetables to skillet; cook 5 min. or until crisp-tender, stirring frequently. Stir in remaining cooking creme; cook and stir 2 min. Add orzo; cook and stir 2 min. or until heated through.

Spoon orzo mixture onto 4 plates; top with chicken. Microwave reserved cooking creme on HIGH 15 to 20 sec. or until heated through. Spoon over chicken, top with basil.

Creamy Chicken &Broccoli Casserole

My wife chose this recipe from Kraft while working on the grocery list on a day I was at work. This dish is lives up to it's name as it's creamy, loaded with flavor, and has a veggie in it. Now broccoli is on of my toddlers favorite veggies, believe it or not, and she loved this dish because it had cheese melted onto the broccoli.

This recipe was in the spring edition of Kraft Food & Family and we fixed it smack in the middle of the dog days of summer, while delicious it was incredibly heavy for a hot day. But this recipe will definitely be making its way into our rotations come this fall and winter when we need a good healthy comfort food.

Ingredients
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 pkg. frozen broccoli florets, thawed, drained (it is very important to make sure their thawed as it will add more cooking time if they are not)
1 1/2 cups Kraft 2% milk shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 tub Philadelphia Savory Garlic Cooking Creme
1/2 cup milk
24 Ritz Crackers, crushed (about 1 cup)
1 tbsp. butter, melted

Directions
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Combine first 5 ingredients in 13x9-inch baking dish; cover
3. Bake 25 min. Meanwhile, mix cracker crumbs and butter
4. Stir chicken mixture; top with crumbs. Bake, uncovered, 10 min. or until topping is golden brown.

New BBQ Rub!

While attending the Festival of Smoke I had the fun opportunity to mix together a very basic all purpose KC Dry Rub. It's a sweet rub with a very subtle bite and salt making it great for pork and poultry, in my opinion. I used it the moment I got home on some pork chops I had set out for grilling that night. It gave them a real nice color and balanced well with the pork flavor. Now here's the funny thing, my little girl absolutely loved it! So I now have a BBQ Rub that has been Tot Approved! How cool is that?

My wife picked out these pork chops, I had no idea they sliced pork chops so thin. It looks like some one ran over it with steam roller.

I also tried something new with my mashed potato recipe, I added just 1 tsp of garlic powder to the mix and it came out wonderful!

Ingredients
3 tbsp superfine sugar
2 tsp seasoning salt
2 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp celery salt
2 tsp onion salt
4 tsp paprika
2 tsp chili powder, dark
1 tsp black pepper, table grind
1 tsp lemon pepper
pinch sage, ground
pinch dry mustard
pinch thyme ground
pinch cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients together and store in an airtight container until needed
Makes 1/2 cup.

Mashed Potatoes
5 lbs potatoes
butter 1 stick
milk, about 1/2 cup
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder

Peel and cube potatoes, place in large pot filled with water and boil until chunks are easily sliced with a kitchen table knife. Remove potatoes from the stove and drain water. Place Potatos in a mixer bowl with butter. Turn on mixer to stir and slowly begin adding milk till potatoes are creamy. when most of the chunks are mashed work the mixer up to high. Add the salt and garlic, allow to be well mixed and then serve.