Chicken Salad Sandwich

Here is the best Chicken Salad recipe ever.
What you need is the following:
3 cups cooked chicken
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 apple, chopped
1/3 cup of dried cherries
1/4 cup of chopped pecans
1/3 cup of mayo
1 tbs. buttermilk
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Chill in the fridge for half hour.  Serve on a croissant or in a multi-grain sandwich pocket as a healthier option.
I often substitute grapes (cut in half) for the apples and use a rotisserie chicken for ease.
Enjoy!  Perfect for lunches or to take on a picnic or day outing.

Another Chicken Recipe.

If you haven't noticed yet, we eat a lot of chicken in our home.  It's most likely because I am the cook and it's my fave protein, so I have the final say.  Isn't that wonderful?

Well here is a go to recipe that our family loves.  It's so simple and easy and requires so few ingredients, it is genius. 

I have no pictures to post because when we had this for dinner last week with mashed potatoes and gravy with corn--we devoured it all too quickly to snap even one photo. 

All you need is (3) chicken breast, flattened, half of a brick of cream cheee, softened, (2) tbs. of finely chopped onion and (3) green onions, chopped.  You may sprinkle with a little bit of seasoned salt if desired.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Mix the cream cheese, onions and green onions in a bowl.  Place equal amounts of the mixture in the center of the chicken breasts.  Wrap the chicken around the cheese mixture and place in baking pan with seam down.  Sprinkle with seasoned salt.  Bake for 45 minutes.

This turns out so yummy and delicious.  It is so economical to make as well.  Really, it's maybe about $4-$5 to serve three people!  Yould never would never know it because it looks so fancy on the plate.

If you are craving a little more punch, I have in the past chopped leftover bacon and added it to the mixture.  If I just have defrosted bacon, I wrap the chicken as the last step with a strip of bacon before baking.  Yummy to my tummy!

As a side note--this is a recipe that I have made in a batch and frozen as well.  I follow all the same steps but when it comes time to bake, I place the chicken in a freezer bag and freeze for upto 2 months.  You can secure the chicken shut with a toothpick or wrap in plastic wrap if desired.

Yummy Italian

Here is another go to recipe for all of you looking for an easy quick meal. 

It is really so easy and the way that it is set up makes the prep and clean up easy peasy.  This recipe is for (4) servings so make adjustments accordingly.  I almost always make my meals to serve 4-6 even though there is only three of us.  Clint loves leftovers for lunch the next day and Jude is the same so it saves me a prep for the following day.  On this day, I only made enough for three since I knew Clint was going to have a snow day the following day.  (Yay)!

Let's get started.

Ingredients:
(1) tbs. of oil
(4) chicken breasts
(2) eggs
(2) cups of bread crumbs (I use Italian flavored)
(1/2) cup of parmesan cheese
(1) jar or your fave spaghetti sauce
(1) ball of fresh mozarella cheese, sliced
(1) Angel hair pasta (or your favorite kind)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Start out by beating the eggs in a shallow bowl.  Mix the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese in another shallow bowl or plate.  Heat a the oil in a pan over medium high heat.  Dip the chicken breast in the eggs and then coat with the bread crumb/parmesan cheese mixture.  Place the chicken in the pan and brown for approximately 4-5 minutes on each side depending on the thickness of your chicken. 

While your chicken is cooking, pour the pasta sauce in a 9 x 13 baking pan.  Once the chicken is complete place on top of the sauce.  Then top with a slice of the mozarella cheese.  Bake for 20-25 minutes. 

In the meantime, cook your pasta.  Once the chicken is complete, plate your pasta and top with sauce and a piece of delicious chicken covered in yummy melted mozarella.

A couple of hints:
-If you don't have Italian bread crumbs, use regular and stir in some Italian seasoning.
-If you don't want to get a ball of cheese, you can use shredded mozarella.
-Wash your prep dishes while your chicken is in the oven and your pasta is cooking.  That way after dinner you are not overwhelmed.
-I make a salad with the left over mozarella.  I slice the remaining and pair it will sliced roma tomatoes and chopped fresh basil.  I drizzle with Italian dressing!  YUM!
-Here is my biggest pasta prep secret.  Are you ready?  I PRE-prepar pasta in advance.  I boil a huge pot of water, cook the pasta, drain the pasta and let it cool.  Once cooled I seperate the appropritate serving size for our family in freezer bags and freeze.  You can either refrigerate for three days or freeze for three months..  On the day that I know I am cooking pasta, I take it out in the morning and let it defrost and just put it in a colander and run it under hot water when I am ready for it.  I cannot tell you what a time saver this is.  Also, less dishes on eating day!  Can't beat that.  Plus, I, nor Clint are able to tell the difference,

This is what I mean by a "ball" of fresh mozarella. 

Here is the chicken all golden brown and place on top of the pasta sauce.

Here is the pasta topped with sliced cheese prior to baking.

We love love love this recipe! 

Tonight's quick meal: Chicken Quesadillas.

I decided to make a simple, easy meal tonight. I had flour tortillas left over from making Cilantro Lime Tacos yesterday so I decided to make Quesadilla's. It's a recipe that I use when I am trying to get a meal done from start to finish in very little time and yet, it needs to be healthy.

I simply add a little oil to a pan. Add diced chicken and cook til no longer pink. I then added half of a diced onion and a medium diced bell pepper. I added a little but of salt, pepper and cumin to taste. I set this aside in a small bowl as pictured below.

I lay (1) flour tortilla in a pan and top with shredded cheese.

I top with chicken mixture and lay another tiny sprinkle of cheese on top of the chicken mixture. Then add a second flour tortilla on top. The reason I add the second bit of cheese is because as it melts, it makes the top tortilla stick which makes for easier flipping. You just cook the quesadilla on medium heat intil browned and cheese it melted.

Last, I cut Jude's into a heart shape.

Here is Jude with a mouthful of Chicken Quesadilla. He ate the entire thing!

Chicken Fried Rice

I love to make fried rice because it reminds me of special occassions in our home growing up. My mom would only make it once in awhile at a family members request and it was only for potlucks or holidays. I have taken cues from my mom and have always just used what I had on hand for the vegetables but I always use chicken and my mom always uses beef. I am just a huge chicken fan and use it the majority of the time for the protein in my dishes.



The first step is to chop - chop - and chop some more.



Here are the ingredients I used:

(2) cups of potatoes, peeled and diced.

(1) cup of red onions, diced. (you can use any type of onion--but all I had was red).

(1) small green bell pepper from the garden, diced.

(1) cup of frozen edamamme (so healthy for you)!

(1.5) lb chicken breast, diced.

(3) cups white rice, steamed and cooled.

(2) eggs, beaten with (2) tbs water.

(2) tbs butter.

salt and pepper to taste.

(1/3) cup soy sauce.

Here are all my veggies cut up! I love the colors!

Next, after beating (2) eggs mixed with (2) tbs of eggs, I fry it flat in (2) tbs of butter. You make it similar to an omellette and fold it in order to cut it into bite size pieces.

Next, I diced (1.5) cups of chicken breast and cooked it in (2) tbs oil and set aside.

In the same pan that the chicken was cooked in, I added (2) tbs more of oil and cooked potatoes til done. Remove from pan and set aside.

Next, saute the onions and edammame in oil til soft.

Mix in (3) cups of cooled white rice to the onion and edammame mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now add the cooked chicken, egg and potatoes. Cook till all ingredients are heated through. I like to let some parts of the rice get a bit more fried so there are a few crunchy bites in there and mix them in. Next, add soy sauce to taste. I tend to use about 1/3 cup and keep some on the table for others to add to their liking. Cook with the soy sauce for about 2 more minutes and serve.

And here you have the finished product! A big bowl of yummy fried rice!

As with almost all of my recipes, you can easily make substitutions. I don't usually have a lot of edamamme on hand and often times use peas instead. Also, most people don't put potatoes in their fried rice, but I don't think I could make it an NOT put it in! I have always made it with them and love when I get a taste of it in a bite. Try it for yourself. Once you've had fried rice with potatoes, you will love it too!

Yummy to my tummy Chicken Pot Pie!

I personally love chicken. I also love a dish that offers everything you need in one meal. Who doesn't like "all inclusive"? That's the reason I love Chicken Pot Pie. There is a lot of substitutions that can be made in any pot pie recipe based on preferences in protein or veggies. I have often substituted the veggies for what I have had on hand.

Anyways, here is my super duper pot pie recipe.

Here are the steps.

Chop one cup of carrots.Chop 1/2 cup celery.

Chop 1.5 lb. chopped chicken breast.

Add the carrots, celery, chicken and 1 cup of frozen broccoli to a saucepan. Add just enough water to cover. Boil for 15 minutes.Drain.Chop 1/3 cup of onions. I always add a bit more since Clint, Jude and myself like onions.
Saute onions with 1/3 cup butter.
In the meantime, get out your prepared pie crusts.

Lay the first one in a pie plate. Pour in the chicken mixture.

Add 1/3 cup flour, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. black pepper and 1/2 tsp. of celery seed to the onion mixture.

Then add 1.5 cup of Chicken broth and 2/3 cup milk.

It gives you a gravy that looks like this.

Pour this gravy over the chicken mixture. Cover with the other pie crust and bake at 425 for 30 minutes!

Voila! Now you have a delicious meal!

Chicken Tacos---Yummers!

Over the weekend, I bought some ground chicken. I usually opt for ground turkey on most occassions because its leaner than beef...but for some reason--I went with ground chicken. I couldn't decide what I wanted to make with it at first. I was thinking a meatloaf at one point, then thought of adding it to a spaghetti sauce....but I wanted something different. Since I was craving something fresh---I went with tacos with fresh lime juice and cilantro.

I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com (which is my all time fave site for recipes), and made some adaptations.

The recipes calls for the following:

1.5 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast (I used 1 lb of ground chicken breast)
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 lime, juiced (I used an entire lime)
1 tsp white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano (I omitted this--someone tell me why oregano would be in this dish)?
10 flour tortillas
1 tomato, diced (I had some great on-the-vine ones)
1/4 shredded lettuce (I used red leaf lettuce)
1/4 cup salsa (we didn't have any--so we skipped this ingredient)

Directions state to:
1. Saute chicken in medium saucepan over medium heat for about 20 minutes. Add vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, green onion, garlic and oregano. Simmer for an extra ten minutes.

Sidenote - the chicken did not take 20 minutes to cook. While it was cooking though, I was mixing the ingredients that went into the saucepan in a small bowl. In lieu of the oregano--which I thought did not belong in the dish at all, I added cumin to taste and fresh, chopped cilantro. I did not measure since I just grabbed from my plant---but I'd say I used just under 1/4 cup. These two ingredients with the additional lime I added, made the dish very flavorful.

2. Heat and iron skillet over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the pan, warm, and turn over to heat the other side. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Serve lime pixture in warm tortillas topped with tomatoe, lettuce, cheese and salsa.

Sidenote - I nixed this whole step by placing my tortillas on a paper plate and warming them in the microwave for 10 seconds. It made them wam and perfectly soft. Also, for toppings we used chopped onions, guacamole and sour cream.

This recipe was AMAZING! Clint and I were both suprised at how delicious it was. The flavors were perfectly balanced and it was just the right meal for a hot, humid summer day. Jude loved it as well. He mostly ate the chicken which he dipped in guacamole. It was so good that there was not any left over--which made clean up much easier. (no packing things in storage containers, etc.).

PS. I used a picture that user, chibi chef posted to the AllRecipes site as everyone was hungry and I did not have time to snap any pics.