Honey-Lime Grilled Chicken

Pretty good marinade.  I wanted a dish to help use up my leftover Cinco de Mayo limes and I found it!  Salty, a little tangy and a little sweet.  This flavor reminded me of Teriyaki sauce. It was super easy and I already had everything on hand. Almost as an afterthought I added a little bit of garlic to the marinade.

I oven roasted both fresh Brussels Sprouts and cubed Russet Potatoes to go with the chicken.  Next time I may marinade the meat a little longer. Again, I used what I had on hand so I used boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of breast. I grilled this on the indoor counter top grill.

Rating: 3 forks
Source: Chicken-Lime Grilled Chicken

White Bean Chicken Chili

Last week I broke out the crock pot!  White bean chicken chili! It was delish.  I didn’t really like any of the recipes I found, so I worked one out myself, and it was wonderful.  The jalapenos provide a slight kick when you eat it on the day that it’s made…even more heat the next day when you reheat it.  Be careful with the heat, because it increased over time.  Here’s what I did.

Throw all of the following ingredients into the pot, stir, then cook on low for 10 hours.

1 pound of raw chicken breast, cut into bit size cubes

2, 15 oz cans Northern Beans

1, 1.7 oz an of green chilies

1, 4 oz can of jalapenos (I used half the can)

1 ½ cups of low sodium chicken broth

1-2 cloves garlic, minced (I eyeballed it)

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 cup of frozen whole kernel corn

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 Tbsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

Salt & pepper to taste

Tip: To help thicken the chili a little bit, I rinsed and mashed 1 of the cans of beans.

Source: Me!, Original Recipe

Rating: 4 forks

Chicken with Creamy Chive Sauce

This past Sunday I was looking to cook chicken, but I wanted to try something new.  This recipe was decent. Honestly, it was a little bland to me.  I don’t really like chicken breast, so I wanted to substitute with chicken tenderloins. Went to the store, and guess what?....they were out! So instead I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I trimmed the fat and cut them in half.  The chicken is soggy because it’s sitting in the sauce. If I were to make this again, I will fully cook the chicken separately, then leave the sauce on the side to pour on top or not flour the chicken at all.  If you just cook it plane without any kind of coating, it would get rid of the mushiness.  Also, I would cut the recipe in half because in my humble opinion, it’s not so good as leftovers.  Lastly, for some reason my sour cream did not break down 100%, there were little dots of sour cream floating around….strange. 

I served this with hot crash potatoes and broccoli.  Unfortunately for me, I had to eat this three times myself and threw out one serving to get rid of it. The hubby didn’t eat it again (apparently he didn’t really like it)… Beside the oniony blandness it should be noted that it taste better the first night.  I believe that this could be tweaked into tasting more flavorful, but I’m not sure it would be worth the effort..thus 2 forks.

Source: Chicken with Creamy Chive Sauce
Rating: 2 forks

Baked Ranch Chicken & Philly Creamy Squash & Pasta

Ranch Chicken 101...I tried a recipe I found before that I couldn't taste the ranch flavor at all.  That one dipped the chicken in ranch dressing....the flavor was totally lost.  This time I basically took a envelop of the Ranch Dressing Mix (dry) and added a twist to it.  I loved how it turned out, dipping the chicken in butter raised the calorie count, but I swear this baked chicken was really crunchy! Just like fried.  The Panko even browned (which didn't happen before).


Baked Ranch Chicken
6 bone in chicken thighs
1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix
1/4 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbsp melted butter

Combine Dressing Mix with Panko and Parmesan Cheese in a plastic Ziploc storage size bag.

Melt the butter in the microwave in a wide mouth bowl.

One piece at a time, dip the clean and trimmed chicken into butter then into the dry mixture.  Shake the chicken in the dry mixture bag until completely coated.

Place the chicken on a raised rack (to allow the fat to drip off of the meat) on a foil lined cookie sheet.  (Tip: lining the cookie sheet with foil makes for easy clean up,

Bake for 50 minutes on 375 or until no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear.

Rating 4 forks
Source: Me!, original recipe

Philly Creamy Squash & Pasta - An experiment gone good! At first I was leery about Philadelphia’s Cooking Crèmes…I was very nervous to try it. My friend, Denise had made a dish with it and she kindly brought me some for lunch. There was my chance to taste it. So…(drum roll please!) surprisingly, it was pretty good! I decided to get some myself. When I brought the container home, I wasn’t really happy with the recipes provided so, I made up my own.

I  needed a veggie side dish to go with the ranch chicken that I made (above). I wanted to cook zucchini and summer squash. My husband doesn’t really care for either of these veggies, BUT, he liked this! He even ate leftovers of it! So, I would consider this a clear “win”!

I’ll be making this again, I may even do some variations, possibly with broccoli & pasta.

Here’s my recipe for Philly Creamy Squash & Pasta

2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup dry Ditanili Pasta
1 Tbsp of EVOO
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 small Zuchinni, sliced
2 small Yellow Squash, sliced
2 med Roma Tomatoes, diced
1/2 container of Philly Garlic Cooking Creme
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
Kosher Salt to taste
Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Boil pasta in chicken broth until al dente.  Drain pasta, but retain 2 Tbsps of broth liquid.

Use medium heat.  In a large sauce pan, heat1 Tbsp of EVOO.  Add onions & garlic. and saute for 2 minutes.  Add zucchini and squash, saute 3-4 minutes.  Then add tomatoes & pasta and 2 Tbsp of broth. Add 1/2 container of Philly Creme.  Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.  Add Parmesan, stir and serve while hot.

Rating 4 forks
Source: Me!, original recipe

Orange-Honey Glazed Chicken Thighs

I made this early last week and it turned out great.  If you ever get a craving for something a little bit different, yet still has a good cohesive flavor, this is it.  My husband and I both really enjoyed this dish,  I'll definitely be making this again.  Next time I will  tweek the recipe a little bit to be a bit more healthy.  I served it with brown rice and collard greens.



Source: http://traceysculinaryadventures.blogspot.com/2011/06/orange-honey-glazed-chicken-thighs.html
Rating: 4 forks

Dijon Chicken, Asparagus Pasta & Pineapple Cake?

Don't let the title fool you. I did not eat all three of these things together! I have been so bad about blogging lately. I can't believe its been more than a month since I last posted. Terrible, I know. I've still been cooking, but no time to update the blog. My friend Denise gave me motivation to get back into it by calling me out on my slacking.

Anyhow, there are a three things that I've cooked in the last few weeks that really stood out and were yummy enough to post about, so I'm going to do a quick summary with links.

Dijon Baked Chicken Thighs – Very good flavor and easy to make. This used boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  I could easily see us eating this once a month I made this with some brown rice and baby broccoli.
     Source: Dijon Baked Chicken Thighs
     Rating: 4 forks

Roasted Asparagus Pasta Salad –  Courtesy of The Neely's on the Food Network. I never had a pasta salad with asparagus. Really good. I don't care for goat cheese, so I swapped it with feta.  Next time I would make more of the dressing to mix in, it was a tad dry for all the pasta they wanted you to use.  I served this with some quick seafood scampi that I threw together. Very good!
     Source: Asparagus Pasta Salad
     Rating: 4 forks

Pineapple Dream Cake -  I have to say, it was pretty good. The recipe was so simple, but had a few ingredients I never used in a cake before. Like sour cream and instant vanilla pudding. Trust and believe, it’s really good! This has made the cut to be made for one of my desserts for our housewarming party next weekend.

     Source: Pineapple Dream Cake

     Rating: 4 forks

Easter Sunday Menu

On Easter Sunday we ate very well… everything was amazing!

Brunch: Baked French Toast Casserole, Turkey Bacon, Fresh Fruit Salad & Mimosas
Afternoon Snack: Deviled Eggs
Dinner: Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast, Garlic Parm Oven Fries
Dessert: Birthday Cake for my nephew

I could eat this French Toast every day! After reading the reviews I changed a few things. I cut up the bread into 1 inch cubes; I used 1 French baguette and ½ a loaf of Challah bread. I also used 6 eggs instead of 8. I also used fat free half and half and skim milk. Lastly, on the topping, I cut the amount of butter down to 1 ½ sticks. Also, this recipe very sweet, so sweet that nobody even used the maple syrup. It would have been too sweet with it.

The Spinach stuffed chicken breast was delish, but very messy to assemble. I also used light sour cream here instead of regular.  I'll have to find a way to make this a little easier to put together.



Sources & Ratings:      Baked French Toast Casserole ~ 5 forks
                                           Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast ~ 5 forks
                                           Garlic Parmesan Oven Fries ~ 5 forks

White Cheese Chicken Lasagna

Tuesday: White Cheese Chicken Lasagna

Pretty good! I was pleased with how this turned out. I made a few adjustments to attempt to lighten up the dish. Just a little something was missing, but I can't pin point what it is.  The Mister even picked up on it.  To the dish's credit, at least he ate half of it before he brought out the hot sauce.   The next time I make this I'll probably add something more...not sure what yet.  I'll have to think on that some more.  Here’s the recipe with my changes shown below in parenthesis.

Adapted from White Cheese Chicken Lasagna

Ingredients:

9 lasagna noodles (Barilla no boil lasagna noodles)
1/2 cup butter (¼ cup)
1 onion, chopped (med yellow onion)
1 clove garlic, minced (pre-minced)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chicken broth (16 oz container of low sodium chicken broth)
1 1/2 cups milk (skim milk)
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided (½ c: ¼ c in cheese sauce, ¼ c in ricotta/spinach cheese mixture)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups ricotta cheese (15 oz container of low fat ricotta)
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat (rotisserie chicken, 2 breast and 1 thigh, skinned and cubed)
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (1 pack of spinach)
1 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I used an extra 1 Tbsp in my ricotta mixture)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese for topping (1 cup of Italian blend shredded cheese, reserved for the top)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and rinse with cold water.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic in the butter until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in the flour and salt, and simmer until bubbly. Mix in the broth and milk, and boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Stir in 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Season with the basil, oregano, and ground black pepper. Remove from heat, and set aside.

**(I mixed the spinach, ricotta, ¼ c Parmesan and 1 Tbsp fresh parsley together to make a cheese mixture before layering.)

Spread 1/3 of the sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer with 1/3 of the noodles, the ricotta, and the chicken. Arrange 1/3 of the noodles over the chicken, and layer with 1/3 of the sauce mixture, spinach, and the remaining 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Arrange remaining noodles over cheese, and spread remaining sauce evenly over noodles. Sprinkle with parsley and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

**(I layered in the following way: 1/4 sauce, 3 noodles, 1/2 ricotta/spinach cheese mixture, 1/2 chicken, 1/4 of sauce, 1/3 of remaining mozzarella cheese, 3 noodles, ricotta/spinach cheese mixture, rest of chicken, 1/4 of sauce, 1/3 of remaining mozzarella cheese, 3 noodles, rest of sauce, rest of mozzarella cheese and extra Italian blend shredded cheese, sprinkled with fresh parsley.)

Bake 35 to 40 minutes in the 350 degree preheated oven.

**(I baked covered w/ foil for 50 minutes because of the no boil noodles)

Source: White Cheese Chicken Lasagna
Rating: 3 forks

Baked Ranch Chicken

Tuesday – Baked Ranch Chicken, Loaded Mashed Potatoes w/ Salad

I was searching for another way to season baked chicken and found these two recipes. Since I didn’t like either recipe in its entirety, I took the recipes and modified them by taking a portion from each.

What I didn’t like about the original recipes:

recipe 1:
melted butter as a binder
cornflake crumbs

recipe 2:
fying the chicken
regular bread crumbs

To start, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts. Per recipe 2, I used bottled Hidden Valley Ranch dressing as the binder. From recipe 1, I coated the chicken in a mixture of ¾ c breadcrumbs (I used Panko breadcrumbs instead) w/ ¾ c grated Parmesan. In addition, I seasoned the mixture with pepper, cayenne and garlic powder. I decided to go with the cooking instructions on recipe 1 and bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes on a rack.

Unfortunately, we barely could taste the ranch dressing and we didn't taste the Parmesan at all. It was very strange. Maybe the bottled dressing was not strong enough to hold up against the chicken? Possibly all the Parmesan offered was saltiness? Next time I will use something else to bind the coating to the chicken. The coating mixture will be in 1c Panko breadcrumbs and 1 dry ranch dressing mix packet instead.

The final verdict is that the chicken it turned out good…nothing special. This is an easy and quick protein to make up on a week night so I’m not ready to give up on it yet. I believe with more modifications I can get this to taste much better.

I served this with loaded mashed russet potatoes and a salad.


Sources:
Recipe 1: Hidden Valley Ranch Chicken
Recipe 2: Ranch Chicken
Rating: 3 forks

Colleen's Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Sunday – Colleen's Slow Cooker Jambalaya w/ Crusty French Bread

This was pretty good! As it cooked the house smelled amazing! The Mister and I really enjoyed this meal.  I did change a few things, as you'll see below.

Gotta love spicy food!  It had a nice kick to it that we enjoyed.  We also loved the 3 meat combo.  Instead of following the recipe, I took into account the comments that were made about the recipe on the allrecipes.com website.  The most repeated thing was that the chicken breast was dry.  So, I decided to use less chicken breast and to substitute some boneless and skinless thighs to help off set the dry breasts.  The 2nd most popular comment was that it was too watery, so I decided not use any broth.  Both turned out to be a good decisions.  The store that I went to didn't have any andouille sausage, so I went with beef kielbasa instead.  The last change was that I increased the amount of cayenne pepper for our taste, including some jalapeno. 

I served this over brown rice with a chunk of crusty French bread.

Jambalaya adapted from: Colleen's Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves boneless & skinless: 2 chicken breast and 2 chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 pound andouille sausage 14 oz package of beef polska kielbasa sausage, sliced
• 1 (28 ounce) 2, 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 large medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 large green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup 3 stalks, chopped celery
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced (**addition)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
• 1 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 pound 12 ounce bag of 31-40 count frozen cooked shrimp without tails, thawed

Directions

1. In a slow cooker, mix the chicken, sausage, tomatoes with juice, onion, green bell pepper, celery, and broth. Season with oregano, parsley, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, and thyme.
2. Cover, and cook 7 to 8 hours on Low, or 3 to 4 hours on High. Stir in the shrimp during the last 30 minutes of cook time.

Source: Colleen's Slow Cooker Jambalaya
Rating: 4 forks

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf and Veggie Marinara Sauce

Sunday: Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf w/ Rigatoni, Salad & Garlic French Bread

One word. Delicious! We will be eating this meal once a month for sure! It was super easy to make and very tasty. Full of flavor and it seems healthier than traditional Chicken Parmesan. The one thing I did notice is that if you like your meatloaf to fill up the dish you need to use a smaller than normal meatloaf pan to bake it in. The pan I used was a standard size, which was pretty big for only 1 lb of meat. So it wasn’t shaped perfectly and didn’t fill the pan…but that’s not a big deal.

In addition to the meatloaf, I made an awesome veggie marinara sauce and tossed it with Rigatoni. Topped it with fresh parsley and some shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano. Added a nice salad full of veggies and some warm garlic bread. Perfection!

Sources w/ Ratings: Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf  ~ 5 forks
                                 Veggie Marinara Sauce (Me!, original recipe) ~ 5 forks

Veggie Marinara Sauce

8-10 servings

Ingredients:
1 med yellow onion, finely diced
1-2 Tbsp pre-minced Garlic (to taste)
½ large green bell pepper, finely diced
½ large red bell pepper, finely diced
1 ½ cups chopped fresh mushrooms
4-5 Tbsp of Italian Seasonings (to taste)
Salt & Fresh Cracked Pepper (to taste)
3, 14.5 cans of diced tomatoes
2, 14.5 cans of tomato sauce
2 Tbsp of Tabasco Sauce (to taste)
Handful of Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley, roughly chopped

Directions:
Add onion, sauté for a few minutes, until onions soften. Add garlic, and sauté for a 1-2 minutes. Add finely chopped green bell pepper and red bell pepper and mushrooms. Sauté for a additional 3-4 minutes. Add Italian seasonings, salt and pepper.

Add all of the sauce and tomatoes. Add Tabasco sauce. Stir everything together.

Bring to low boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 30-45 minutes.  At the end of cook time, add a handful of fresh flat leaf parsley and stir in.  Toss a pound of your favorite pasta with sauce and serve.

**If you use my recipe in your blog, please cite appropriately.

Mediterranean Chicken Packets, Mock Risotto

Tuesday - Mediterranean Chicken Packets, Mock Risotto w/ Salad

My main issue with making these two recipes were the cost of some of the ingredients.  If you don't make Greek food on the regular you will end up buying a few somewhat pricey items.  When I spend more money on a meal, I want that "Wow" factor.  These dishes didn't have that and I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, this meal was good...but lacking in something.  I won't be making this again. 

On the good side, my husband actually liked it, which sort of surprised me.  Of course first he eyed it suspiciously.  Probably because all of the veggies on top of the chicken!  This dinner was beautifully colorful.  I'm going to be working on taking better photos...unfortunately for now, the pictures don't do it justice.

I didn't make any modifications to these dishes, so I won't repost the recipes. Please click the links below to check them out.

4 Servings

Sources: Mediterranean Chicken Packets, Mock Risotto
Recipe Rating: 3 Forks

Cheesy Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Sunday – Chicken and Cheesy Rice Casserole w/ Salad

We really enjoyed this meal.  Very easy to make and is good when you don’t feel like cooking a complex meal.  The longest part is the prep time spent chopping veggies and chicken.  It took me 45 minutes from prep to serve. 

Ultimately, I ended up making several changes to the recipe.  The changes began because I had a very hard time finding the wild rice without a ton of seasonings in it.  Then as I started making the dish I changed things as I went along.

Next time if I can find the wild rice, I’ll follow the recipe exactly and see how it comes out. 

My changes:

~         I used all brown rice instead.

~         2 cups of breast meat wasn’t enough meat for us so I ended up using all of meat from the rotisserie chicken (except the wing meat, it was too tough). 

~         Used garlic powder instead of garlic salt.

~         I used freshly cracked ground black pepper.

~         I also used shredded Three Cheddar Mix in the cheese sauce.

~         Less butter in cheese sauce. I used 3 Tbsp.

~         I wanted to make a little more cheese sauce so I used ½ cup more chicken broth in the sauce.

~         Topped it with a ½ cup more cheese. We like things cheesy!

Chicken and Cheesy Rice Casserole (Adapted from Picky Palate):

Prep time:  10 mins       Cook Time:  35-40 mins

3 Tablespoons EVOO

1 medium red onion, finely diced

3 stalks celery, finely diced

½ cup of shredded carrots, diced smaller

1 Tablespoons pre-minced garlic

Meat from 1 whole rotisserie chicken (no skin and no wing meat), chopped

4 cups steamed brown rice (made in rice cooker w/ low sodium chicken broth)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Cheese Sauce:

3 Tablespoons butter

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked ground black pepper

2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth

2 cups shredded Three Cheddar Mix

Top with 2 Cups shredded Medium Cheddar Cheese

1.     Prep all vegetables and put into bowl.  Prep chicken and place into a bowl.

2.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Heat oil in a oven proof deep skillet over medium heat.  Sauté onion, celery and carrots until softened, about 10 minutes.  Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in chicken, rice, salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Reduce heat to low.

3.     To prepare cheese sauce melt butter into a medium saucepan over medium high heat.  Whisk in flour, salt and pepper then slowly pour in chicken broth whisking continuously.  Whisk until thick and nearly boiling then stir in cheese until melted.  Pour cheese sauce into rice mixture in the same pot. Top with additional cheddar cheese and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted through.  Serve.

6-8 servings

Source: Cheesy Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Recipe Rating: 5 Forks