When I saw this recipe for Mozzarella Cutlets in my 1001 Community Recipes, Easy Everyday Favorites cookbook I had ever intention of following the recipe and using chicken breast halves and flattening them. Every time I intended to make them, something came up and I postponed it.
Then one day, I got to thinking (I know, that could be dangerous!) about making the recipe truly easy. (The cookbook is called Easy Everyday Favorites.) A couple of weeks ago I bought a package of frozen breaded chicken tenderloins. I really thought they were going to be chicken strips, but when I opened the package to cut two for us one night, we saw they were larger fillets. I baked them as directed on the package and we ate them as a fried chicken sandwich. I decided I would make it easy and just use two of the tenderloins and save beating and coating two chicken breast halves as the recipe directed.
Well, it worked out great. The chicken was so moist and tender and the breading wasn't crispy. I'm sure the recipe would taste just as great if you used chicken breast halves, but if you want to take the easy way out, use frozen breaded chicken fillets. The good thing is you can easily prepare it for just one or two people instead of four as the recipes states.
If you want to print the recipe, scroll down to the bottom of the post and use the print icon on the left. You will have to option to omit the pictures if you like.
MOZZARELLA CUTLETS
Boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, fresh or frozen breaded chicken fillets
1 cup Italian seasoned dry breadcrumbs, if using fresh chicken
1/4 cup prepared spaghetti sauce for each breast half
1 slice mozzarella cheese for each breast half
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking dish big enough for the chicken halves.
If using fresh chicken, pound each chicken breast to flatten slightly. Coat chicken well in breadcrumbs. Arrange chicken breasts in dish.
Place 1/4 cup of sauce over each chicken breast.
Place one slice of cheese over each and garnish with remaining breadcrumbs.
(I just sprinkled some Italian breadcrumbs over the top of the cheese.)
Bake for 45 minutes.
This is the dessert that Friend Barb served to the Farkle group last week. She also served the Cowboy Salsa which was a big hit. This Lemon Cake Dessert was so light tasting. The only added sugar was in the cake mix as everything else in the cake, was sugar-free. If you want to print the recipe, use the print icon at the end of the post. You will be given the option to print without the pictures.
LEMON CAKE DESSERT
Cake
1 Duncan Hines Lemon Cake Mix
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1 11 oz can of mandarin oranges (undrained)
Topping
1 pkg sugar-free instant vanilla pudding
1 20 - oz can crushed pineapple (undrained)
1 8 - oz container of lite whipped topping
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan. Set aside.
Combine cake mix, eggs, oil, and oranges in large mixing bowl on low until moistened. Then increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Pour and spread in cake pan.
Bake for 30 minutes or until done.
Cool in pan on wire rack.
Mix the pudding mix with the crushed pineapple; stir til thoroughly mixed. Fold in whipped topping. Spread over cooled cake.
Cover and refrigerate.
Cut into squares to serve.
We have been getting so much rain this spring. I just saw from the Kansas City Star newspaper that we are just one inch from setting a record for the wettest May on record. Fortunately for us in Kansas City it has just been rain and the storms have not brought any damage. All of Missouri and the midwest have not been so lucky though. There have been so many tornadoes and areas are dealing with so much flooding. The good news is everything is so green without having to water the lawn. I'm sure later this summer, we will be wishing for some rain, but right now, I'm ready for more sunny days. Our family in CO is still having snow storms. I know they are ready for a change.
One thing that hasn't changed is my weekly volunteering at HPC Thrift Shop (Hillcrest Platte County). It is my second family. After volunteering there for seven years, it is a really big family made up of not just the volunteers but the shoppers. We have shoppers who come in every day. I know some of their names but not everyone's - just like I don't know the name of all of the volunteers. We have over 200 different volunteers, but it is also because I always worked downstairs in the old shop and wasn't ever introduced to the volunteers upstairs. They are the ones I know their faces but not necessarily their names. Some of them call me "the lady who brings the good things to eat".
I usually take what I consider the easy way out and make treats that don't need to be iced. But last week I felt a little more industrious and chose this Easy Applesauce-Spice Cake that called for a frosting. It actually called for a canned frosting with a little cinnamon added, but I only had a chocolate one; so I just decided to make a buttercream frosting and added a little cinnamon to it. Amazing what a difference the little cinnamon makes. But anyway, the volunteers really enjoyed it and there were only a few crumbs left in the pan (that I quickly scooped up and enjoyed).
I found the recipe in a cookbook, 1001 Community Recipes - Easy Everyday Favorites that I bought at the last estate sale Friend Janice and I went to. I have marked quite a few recipes to try from this cookbook so you will probably be hearing about it a lot.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
EASY APPLESAUCE CAKE
1 box spice cake mix
3 eggs
1-1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup oil
1 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray and lightly dust with flour a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan. Set aside.
Combine the cake mix, eggs, applesauce, and oil in a large mixing bowl on low for about 30 seconds.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and
increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl again.
Stir in the nuts.
Pour into pan and spread out evenly.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Cool cake in pan on wire rack.
CINNAMON BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, room temperature
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1-3 teaspoons milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Beat butter until soft and fluffy.
Slowly add the powdered sugar. Beat until smooth.
Add vanilla and milk and beat to spreading consistency.
Add cinnamon and
stir til blended.
Spread over cooled cake.
Cut into squares to serve.
Friend Barb just about outdid herself for our Farkle gathering this past Monday. One of the dishes she served was this Cowboy Salsa. Everyone raved about it. Friend Janice isn't really fond of avocado but she said it tasted really good in this. (I can't eat peppers so that's why I didn't eat any.) I would make this for guests that we were entertaining even though I wouldn't be eating it.
Click here for printable version of just the recipe.
COWBOY SALSA
1 can black beans
1 can corn (can use frozen corn)
1 large red pepper chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup oil,
1/2 cup sugar (Barb used Splenda)
3 tablespoons Hot Sauce (Barb used 1 tablespoon)
1-2 avocados, chopped
Combine the beans, corn, red pepper, and onion. Set aside.
Combine the vinegar, oil, sugar, and Hot Sauce. Pour over bean mixture. Cover and refrigerate to marinate 8 hours.
Drain most of the liquid off and add avocados.
Serve with chips.
I always love when I don't feel like cooking and I ask my husband Wayne if he wants to cook some fish and he always says, "Yeah, I can do that." Sometimes he says he will fry me some and bake some salmon for himself. The other night he fried some flounder for both of us. I decided to take pictures while he did it so I could share it with you.
He mixes up a cornmeal mixture that he stores in the closed container that he found in a 1992 Southern Living Annual Recipes cookbook. He says the cookbook opens naturally to the page. (I should check the cookbook out; I might find some other good recipes to make in it.)
Click here for a printable version of just the breading mixture.
CORNMEAL BREADING FOR FISH
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon paprika
Combine all ingredients well with
a whisk and
store in a closed container.
To fry fish pieces or fillets:
Thaw fish, if frozen, in a large bowl with cold water. (You can also thaw it in the refrigerator, but it takes longer.)
Heat 3 or 4 inches of oil in a (3 - quart) electric pot (deep fryer) to 400 degrees F.
Measure out some of the breading mixture in a flat dish. (If it is a "fishy-smelling" fish, he will dip the fish pieces first in a bowl of milk) Dip fish pieces one at a time in the mixture making sure it is covered well.
Carefully drop coated pieces into
oil no more than a couple of pieces so they are not crowded and form a single layer.
Fry them 3 or 4 minutes depending on the thickness or til done.
Remove to a pie plate or sheet covered with a folded paper towel.
Store in an oven or microwave on Keep Warm until ready to eat. (My Aunt Virginia puts them in a paper sack and closed the top of it when she fries fish for the family.)
Serve as soon as you can.
Friday morning when Friend Janice and I were at an estate sale, younger son Patrick sent me a text message asking me if I were busy Saturday. My immediate response? No. Not until 4. Playing handbells in church at 5. He answered back - Do you want to hang with the kids while I'm at work, Lori wants to take a class. I don't ever babysit; I "hang out" with the kids. That's so much more fun!
I thought we might take them to the KC's Train Day Celebration 2019 at a nearby park with a community center that houses an ice skating rink and has a small train you can ride around the park. They had lots of fun activities planned (face painting, Jump House, etc). The only problem was storms were forecasted for the whole day. Well, almost the whole day. My weather app showed it would not be raining between 10 and 12 so I told the kids we would go then. (It opened at 10.)
The time went by quickly as they were playing with our older son Jeffrey's Western Town that hubby Wayne brought in from the garage to see if Jeffrey wanted us to bring it to them when we visit this summer. Grandson Tyler spied the box as soon as he walked into the family room and before I knew it was attempting to bring it up the stairs to play with it in the living room.
Granddaughter Madison asked if we could make some cookies because they always have so much fun baking with me. I told her we could after we got back from the train ride and that satisfied her. (Madison is 8 -1/2 and Tyler is 7.)
Tyler was reading a book to me when I noticed it was 10. It was cloudy and sure enough not raining but I could hear thunder. We have so many trees around us, that it is hard to see the sky from the living room. I didn't think they would be open and told the kids so. Madison immediately said then we could make the cookies.
It's not easy to share the responsibilities when trying to mix up and bake cookies with two kids who each want to do everything. The solution? Madison would do the measuring and Tyler would add them to the mixing bowl and operate the stand mixer (Tyler is very observant and a fast learning.) I took lots of pictures of the afternoon so hope you enjoy them all.
The recipe I quickly found was simply called Cookie Mixes in a Jar (Tasteful Treasures from the Horse and Buggy Country of Conewango Valley, New York). I wanted one that I felt they would be able to do everything. The recipe was intended to give as a gift, but the directions included what was necessary to add to actually make them. I told Madison we would double the recipe since it didn't seem like the recipe was going to make very many cookies. (That also gave me an opportunity to have a math lesson or two. 😍) I forgot to double the eggs, but alert Madison asked me if we didn't need another egg.
I am going to share the recipe as it is in the cookbook. You can fill a jar and give it as a gift or do as we did and make them and even double the recipe as we did.
You can see from the pictures, we took a few liberties with the final product because "you have to decorate the cookies" and Madison wanted to add color to the cookie dough. I gave her a small amount of the dough in a bowl and she did the rest. She even used the cookie scoop and measured out each amount. When we realized we needed to spray the cookie sheets because the baked cookies wanted to stick to the sheet, she remembered and reminded me to spray the cookie sheet. (I can tell she is going to be a good cook.) Oh! I almost forgot. I didn't have any white chocolate chips so I used butterscotch. Tyler doesn't eat peanut butter so that's why I didn't use peanut butter chips. I think they would have tasted good, also.
COOKIE MIXES IN A JAR
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon soda
1/3 cup Rice Krispies
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
(1 egg)
(1/4 cup butter,softened)
Layer in jar in order listed (except egg and butter). When ready to bake, add 1 egg and 1/4 cup butter. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes.
Here are the pictures I took of them ...
Measuring out the brown sugar. I put a plate under the measuring cup to catch spills.
Tyler dumped in the brown sugar with the white sugar and butter that we beat together til smooth. As I said, he quickly learned to lower the mixer, lock it, and then turn it on. He wanted to beat it at a higher number, too, but I vetoed that request.
Madison learned the correct way to use the knife to get rid of the excess flour when mixing the oats, flour, and soda.
Tyler was very intent when stirring the dry ingredients.
Madison insisted on cracking and adding the egg all by herself.
I didn't intend for them to add the chips to the dry ingredients but they worked quickly. I had them wait before adding the butterscotch chips though.
Done. Everything added.
While Tyler busied himself with scooping out the dough, Madison filled up my empty flour canister jar.
He managed to get the first sheet filled while Madison continued to fill the canister jar.
Making her blue cookies.
even bluer. I think she liked squeezing out the color. I finally had to tell her she had added enough.
I told you she did everything without any instructions from me.
All finished and so pleased with her effort. I couldn't have done any better.
First pan... Let cool a minute before removing. We also cooked them the full 12 minutes.
Now for the colored icing.. a little green and a little yellow. Okay, a lot of green and a lot of yellow.
and then the icing...
Had to add some sprinkles and also some chopped up chocolate candies. I said no to marshmallows (so Tyler just put the top back on the container while eating one).
Madison's blue cookies. Even though they didn't ask, I think they would have made some red if I had allowed it.
One other time when we made cookies, we took some over to the young men who lived next door. So before we even started, Madison told me we could take some to our neighbors. We made up two plates to take to neighbors. (They were quite surprised and very pleased.)
It was a fun day and I know many memories were made unfortunately all not good as Tyler accidentally touched the cookie sheet while the cookies were cooling a minutes and got a blister on a finger. Then in her excitement as we were leaving one neighbors' house and headed for the second one, Madison started running as she rounded their steep driveway onto the sidewalk and slipped on the wet pavement skinning her elbow and hand. I'm glad she wasn't hurt more; it really scared me. I gave her lots of tender loving care and she handled it well even though I knew she was shaken. I checked in with them yesterday morning to see how they were and they said they were "Good". Looks like rain for this evening and maybe even Tuesday evening. Tyler has a baseball game tonight and Madison has a softball game Tuesday night. If their games get cancelled, they will have more days to heal before Thursday when Tyler plays and Friday when Madison plays. Four nights a week for five weeks for ballgames, but I'm loving it!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking dish big enough for the chicken halves.
Place 1/4 cup of sauce over each chicken breast.
Place one slice of cheese over each and garnish with remaining breadcrumbs. 
(I just sprinkled some Italian breadcrumbs over the top of the cheese.)
Bake for 45 minutes.
