Chicken Divan Easy

For week night meals I am always looking for quick and easy, home cooked and healthy, and just plain good...all in one dish preferably. I am not hard to please.

Chicken Divan can be one of those dishes. Of course, it can also be one of those 5-star elegant dishes that you slave over all day, too. First of all to make it meet my week night criteria, I usually use chicken I cooked on the weekend or chicken I crock pot the same day. Then I combine canned soup, mayonnaise and spices for the sauce. It can really be put together in about 10 minutes and baked for 30 minutes while you unwind, check email, surf the web, or tend to your kids. It can really be that easy. Hope you enjoy!

• 2 cups shredded chicken
• 1 - 10 ounce package frozen broccoli, thawed
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• black pepper to taste

Spray olive oil on the bottom and sides of a 2-quart casserole dish. Layer thawed broccoli in the bottom. Top with the

shredded chicken. Sprinkle with sage, thyme, and pepper.  In a small bowl combine soup, mayonnaise, and lemon juice. Spread on top of chicken and spices. Top with shredded cheese.

Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Hope you enjoy this quick and easy weeknight supper!

Blueberry Cinnamon Tea Cake

A few years ago I wanted to come up with a special something to take to the ladies Bible study group I attended. It was springtime so I wanted to utilize some fresh berries. Given the mid morning time of our get together, the special something needed to go with hot coffee and tea for the regulars and with water for the health conscious getting in their 100 ounces of water a day and with the soda drinking group who needed the caffeine and sugar to "just get through".

I thought about coffee cakes, but I've never been a big fan. I've always found them to be too dry for my taste. So I looked over some recipes and through trial and error came up with this one I call Blueberry Cinnamon Tea Cake. It's lighter than a traditional coffee cake and more moist than most breakfast cakes with a nice cinnamon crunch on top. I hope you enjoy it!

Cake Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups fresh blueberries

Topping Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan.

In a large bowl combine the first four cake ingredients and mix well. Push the dry ingredients to the side leaving a hole in the middle. Pour the milk, oil, and egg into the hole. Mix well incorporating the dry ingredients.

Gently fold in the blueberries. Spread cake into the pan.

In a small bowl combine the first three topping ingredients and mix well.

Cut the butter into the dry topping ingredients until mixture crumbles. Sprinkle this mixture the cake.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Russian Tea

Russian Tea is something I can remember from childhood. I don't think it has anything to do with Russian culture other than maybe Russians love tea, too. This recipe was quite popular in the 1970s and '80s here in America. My mother and grandmother would whip us up a batch at home, and we also had it for special occasions at church. With so many specialty coffee and tea places and options around now, I think it has fallen out of favor. I hope you will rediscover the great flavor of Russian Tea. My husband really likes it so I made him a batch recently and thought I would share it with you all too.

A few years back I made gift baskets for our siblings and their families as Christmas presents and included a jar of Russian tea.

For the gift baskets I layered the ingredients in a clear wide mouth pint size jar which made it pretty. Then the recipient just needed to dump it into a bowl, stir it up, and pour it back in the jar before using it.

 For us at home I just mix all the ingredients into a bowl and pour them into a wide mouth pint size glass jar.

• 3/4 cup instant tea
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3/4 cup instant lemonade mix with sugar
• 3/4 cup instant orange drink mix

FOR AT HOME USE: In a medium size bowl preferably with a spout mix together all ingredients. Stir well. Pour mixture into a wide mouth pint size glass jar.

FOR A CUP OF RUSSIAN TEA: Mix 2 tablespoons of mix into 8 ounces of boiling water and stir well. Enjoy!

FOR A GIFT JAR: In a small bowl mix together the tea with the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Carefully add half of this mixture to the bottom of a clear wide mouth pint size glass jar. You may want to wipe off the inside of the jar if tea blew up on the sides. Measure out the lemonade mix and the orange mix. Add 1/2 of the lemonade mix to the jar on top of the tea mixture. Press down firmly with a spoon. Next add 1/2 of the orange mix on top of the lemonade mix. Press down firmly with a spoon. Repeat layers with the rest of the tea mixture, then the lemonade mix, and finally with the orange mix. Add a small cloth topper to the top of the jar along with an instruction label: "Empty contents of jar into a medium size bowl. Stir together thoroughly. Pour mixture back into jar. FOR A CUP OF RUSSIAN TEA: Mix 2 tablespoons of mix into 8 ounces of boiling water and stir well. Enjoy!"