Copycat Recipes
Friday, April 25, 2008, by Leigh Anne
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“Feeding the people we love”
This Friday’s Favorite was not on the original meal plan for the week but when I received the phone call that our friends, The Kangs, had just had their SIXTH baby girl and asked if I could take dinner in - I knew what I would make.
This is my favorite meal to make when I am asked to take dinner into someone; first, because it is so good and second, because it makes a TON - and I mean a TON!!
I halved the recipe and had enough to fill two 9 x 13’s!! One for us and one for them.
LA Notes: When precooking the pasta be sure and cook it “al dente” so that it doesn’t get too soft after baking the dish in the oven. Don’t let the amount of cream used scare you too much (this is not a low calorie dish) - remember it makes a TON!
The Kangs loved it and asked for the recipe so I thought I’d share it with all of you.
Just had to share a picture of the darling Kang girls with my two girls - this was taken before Baby Lilly was born but you will know exactly what Lilly looks like when you look at her sisters - DARLING!
I found the recipe on the food blog Pimp My Dinner - remember I halved the recipe!
Ingredients:
12 oz. grilled chicken breast (marinate in olive oil and garlic salt overnight, then grill on barbecue for best flavor)
½ pack thick bacon
48 oz. (3 boxes) penne pasta
2 large red bell peppers- diced
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
½ tsp paprika
Gratinata Sauce:
2 tsp butter
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 cup marsala wine OR 1/3 cup apple juice + 2 tbsp red wine vinegar +enough chicken broth to equal 1 cup
1 tsp dijon or dry mustard
1 tsp salt1 tsp chopped rosemary
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
8 cups heavy cream
Directions:
Sauté garlic in butter in large pan. Add marsala wine, mustard, salt, rosemary, cayenne pepper, and heavy cream.Cook pasta according to directions. Cook bacon. Slice chicken into medium-bite size pieces.Combine sauce, cooked pasta, diced chicken, cooked bacon, bell peppers, parmesan cheese, and paprika and mix thoroughly. Spread in pans. Top with chopped rosemary and mozzarella cheese.
Bake @ 475 for 10 minutes. If frozen, thaw in refrigerator the day of. Cover with foil and bake @ 375 for 1 hour. Remove foil during the last 15 minutes.
Number Of Servings: Yields one 8×8 and two 9×13 casserole dishes.
Preparation Time: More than an hour
Popularity: 53% [?]
Categories: Copycat Recipes, Friday Favorites, Nourish, Recipes
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Tuesday, March 18, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Easter is sneaking up on me this year - it’s next Sunday!
One of my favorite things about Easter is Easter Brunch/Breakfast. Because of our church schedule this year (we go from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.) we will be having breakfast before church and Easter Dinner after church.
Whether we are having Easter breakfast or Easter brunch - a good coffeecake is a must-have on the menu.
I recently found a Copycat recipe for Starbucks Coffee Cake on a food blog I like to visit http://pickypalate.blogspot.com/
This is a simple and easy coffeecake that uses a yellow cake mix. I don’t know how it compares to the real Starbucks Coffee Cake because I have never had it. If you give this recipe a try and you’ve had the real thing - let me know how it compares.
Starbucks Coffee Cake will be part of our menu for Easter breakfast. I’ll share what’s for Easter dinner on Thursday!
Starbucks Coffee Cake
1 box yellow cake mix 9plus ingredients on back of box)
2 sticks cold, salted butter
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla
Powdered sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 350
Prepare cake mix in large bowl according to directions on box. Spray 9 x 13 pan with non-stick spray. Pour batter into pan. bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until center is just barely set.
While cake is baking, prepare crumb topping. In large bowl of electric mixer combine butter, flour, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla until all crumbly.
Immediately after cake is removed from oven, break crumb topping into marble size pieces with fingers, sprinkling over top. Put back in oven and bake an additional 10-15 minutes (topping will begin to look a less less wet/raw) let cool fully then dust with powdered sugar using a sieve.
Cut into squares and serve.
Popularity: 54% [?]
Categories: Copycat Recipes, Recipes
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Wednesday, January 23, 2008, by Leigh Anne
I am not a breakfast fan - I never have been. I know, I know - breakfast is the most important meal of the day but I just don’t get it. Growing up, my breakfast repertoire consisted of one thing - Chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast - every morning - that was it. My sister ate Pop-tarts every morning. O.K., so we weren’t much into nutrition in the 60’s and 70’s! (my entire senior year of high school all I ate for lunch every day was a package of Cheetos and a carton of chocolate milk- please don’t tell my mom!)
Then I married a man whose mother would get up every morning (no matter what the time) and fix him a nice, hot breakfast before he would go to school or off to move pipe in the potato fields of Idaho. Well, he learned really quickly that I didn’t do that. As a result, my husband has become a great breakfast cook. Most of the time, if there is a hot breakfast to be found at our house, dad has fixed it.
My kids have learned how to pour a bowl of cold cereal in the morning or grab a bagel and cream cheese. Now, lest you think I am a terrible mother, I will cook a nice breakfast on Sunday mornings, birthdays, holidays or for the occasional dinner. I do like breakfast for dinner and I love brunch, I’m just not a big morning breakfast person.
The one time I will eat breakfast though is when we are in Utah visiting our sweet college boys. They love to have breakfast at a local restaurant called Maglebys. I go for the syrup - it is amazing!! Whether you order the french toast or the pancakes - the syrup is the best part. I have pancakes just so I can have syrup.
I was excited when a friend gave me the recipe for Magleby’s Buttermilk Syrup so this past week I made french toast (from the Barefoot Contessa, I did not use challah bread but just some nice thick sliced bread) and smothered it in syrup!
1 cube butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. corn syrup
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Bring first five ingredients to a boil. Add baking soda. Boil 10 seconds and remove from heat immediately to avoid boil over. I use a fairly deep, heavy pan.
Popularity: 67% [?]
Categories: Copycat Recipes, Dinner Time Helps, Recipes
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Thursday, January 17, 2008, by Leigh Anne
On each of our children’s birthdays we always celebrate by going out to dinner (Yeah! - no cooking for mom). The birthday child gets to select the restaurant. For years, it never failed, all four children would select Applebee’s for their birthday - I think it was because they got a balloon, a free dessert and they would sing to them.
Now that the children are older and their palettes are a bit more sophisticated, Applebees is usually not the restaurant of choice. But there is one thing on their menu that I love and every time I have eaten at Applebee’s I have ordered it. My family calls me boring but I figure, why mess with a good thing. Don’t you hate it when you go to a restaurant and instead of ordering the thing you know you love, you try something new and are disappointed!?
Well, I love their Oriental Chicken Salad and I ALWAYS order it. I was so excited when I discovered the recipe for the salad.
LA Notes: The salad is served with a sliced, breaded chicken breast on top and the recipe I found gives you instructions on how to do it, but I cheat. I use the frozen, breaded chicken tenderloins from Costco. They taste just as good and it makes the salad super easy and fast to put together. You can also use regular white vinegar in place of the rice wine vinegar if you don’t have it. I buy my toasted almonds at Trader Joe’s or you can toast them yourself in the microwave or oven. Also, if you want a lower calorie version just used a grilled chicken breast.
Please note the new “Print This” feature at the bottom of each post for your convenient recipe printing!
Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad
Dressing: (serves 4)
6 Tbsp. honey
3 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup mayo
2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. sesame oil
Salad:
1 frozen, breaded chicken tenderloin per person
2 cups green cabbage, chopped
2 cups red cabbage, chopped
6 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
1 carrot, shredded
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup toasted, sliced almonds or just throw a handful in like I do.
2/3 cup chow mein noodles
Popularity: 65% [?]
Categories: Copycat Recipes, Dinner Time Helps
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Wednesday, January 9, 2008, by Leigh Anne
One of my “hobbies” is collecting recipes for some of my favorite restaurant foods - I call them Copycat Recipes. I love to search for recipes that duplicate some of my favorite “eating out” foods.
One of my other favorite “hobbies” is shopping/exercise. Now you need to understand that my definition of exercise is “anything that makes you tired or hungry” and shopping definitely does both. When I am shopping at Nordstroms and I get hungry I love to visit the Nordstrom Cafe. One of the things that use to be available at the Cafe was “Nordy Bars” - they were so yummy (unfortunately they no longer make them).
Last summer I was at a gathering of our neighborhood ladies and there they were - Nordy Bars!! My neighbor Sheri had been given the recipe for them - I think I ate half the plate that night and of course demanded she give me the recipe, which she did! They are now a family favorite and when sweet college boy Logan was home for the holidays he asked Sheri when she was going to make him some Nordy Bars. Well - one day before the end of the break Sheri came bearing gifts - Nordy Bars. They are definitely NOT low calorie but oh so good!
Nordy Bars
1/2 cup butter
1 pkg. butterscotch chips
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 pkg. semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups miniature marshmallows
In medium sauce pan melt butter, add butterscotch chips and brown sugar. Stir until melted (this may look a little strange but it will be o.k)
Remove from heat, add eggs, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add vanilla and set aside and cool.
When cool stir in chocolate chips, marshmallows and nuts if desired. Spread in an ungreased 9 x 13 pan. Bake 25 minutes at 350. Remove and cool - they will be soft and gooey when you take them out - they will set up as they cool. Enjoy!
Popularity: 52% [?]
Categories: Copycat Recipes, Recipes
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