Parmesan-Crusted Chicken

12 mulitgrain saltine crackers
1/4 cup parmesan
2 TB fresh parsley (or 1 TB dried)
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp each salt & pepper
1/4 cup buttermilk
4 bonelesss skinless chicken breasts

1. Crush crackers in a resealable bag, add parmesan and spices. Shake to combine. Pour into shallow pie plate.
2. Place buttermilk in another shallow pie plate. Pat the chicken dry, dip in buttermilk, then coat both sides of chicken in cracker mixture.
3. Place chicken on rack on baking sheet and bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes. Serve immediately

What I did: make the buttermilk, instead of buying it. (to make 1 cup buttermilk you put 1 tsp vinegar in measuring cup and fill with milk to 1 cup. let stand a few minutes) so for 1/4 cup buttermilk use 1/4 tsp vinegar & fill to 1/4 cup with milk. If you didn't have saltines you could probably use any other cracker

Source: Family Circle magazine nov.1.08

Roasted Broccoli

This is the best way to have broccoli! Even Logan says, "I want more blocky"

Get a full head of fresh broccoli. Wash it & cut off only an inch or 2 of the stem. Then cut it longways so it looks like a bunch of tall trees. Spread them out on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. So good, the florets get all crispy and nutty-flavored.

Microwave Brownies

(This is another dangerously quick and easy microwave recipe)

2/3 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
- melt the butter, mix in the sugar and let it cool a little

Add:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Sift together and add:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup instant hot chocolate mix
1/2 tsp baking powder

Stir in chopped nuts, if desired
Put in a greased 9 inch glass or stone pie plate

Microwave on high 4 1/2 - 5 minutes

What I do: its a lot of butter - you can cut down on it...and if your microwave doesn't have a turntable, you will need to rotate the pan a couple of times. we don't usually have hot chocolate mix, so i use the Nesquick chocolate milk mix

Source: my mom had a microwave cooking cookbook - this was a regular at FHE growing up

Microwave Caramel Popcorn

2 bags microwave popcorn (3.5 oz bags)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda

1. Pop the popcorn, dump into a bowl, then transfer the popcorn by hand to a second, large bowl. (this leaves all the unpopped kernels behind in the first bowl)
2. Combine the sugar, butter & corn syrup - microwave on high for 2 minutes, stir and microwave again for 2 minutes.
3. Whisk in baking soda, keep whisking until its all mixed well.
4. Pour over popcorn and stir to coat evenly

**Two bags of popcorn is too much, but one is not enough - so set aside about half of one of the bags for anyone who doesn't want caramel on their popcorn

Source: We had the Young Women make this super-easy recipe for personal progress and Angela provided the recipe

Chicken Won-ton Salad

1/4 cup oil
4 tsp vinegar
4 TB sugar
1 tsp salt
2-3 chicken breast cooked and cubed or shredded
1/2 head of iceberg, chopped
1/2 head of romaine, chopped
10-15 fried won ton wrappers
1 can Water Chestnuts
1 bunch of green onion
chopped peanuts

1. To make the dressing, whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar and salt.
2. Combine remaining ingredients in large bowl.
3. Pour dressing over and mix well, serve immediately after adding dressing.

What I did: Instead of frying the won ton wrappers, I sprayed them with Pam, and baked them on a cookie sheet at 350 until they were crispy. Just keep an eye on them b/c they will look fine one second and be burned the next. I also just used a bag of chopped romaine from the store and left out the water chestnuts.

Source: another yummy salad from Angela