Swiss Chicken

This is yummy!  My friend suggested it one day when I was complaining about not knowing what to cook for dinner.  I have made it a few times since. It's very quick and easy to throw together and I usually have everything on hand, so it's a no-brainer.  I have made it with provolone cheese and it was just as yummy.

I don't cut up my chicken into smaller pieces. I just put in one breast for each person I am serving and put a piece of cheese on top of it. I guess if your chicken breasts are HUGE, you may want to cut them up.

Tyler loves it because he is a sucker for Thanksgiving dinner and it makes him feel all "Thanksgiving-ish" anytime of the year. 

Original post can be found here.



SWISS CHICKEN

3 chicken breasts, cut into smaller pieces

3-4 slices Swiss cheese (or pepper-jack cheese)
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
1 box Stove Top Stuffing, chicken flavored (shake to redistribute seasonings)
1/4 cup melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a casserole dish, close to 9x13. 

2. Place chicken breasts in a greased casserole dish.

3. Top chicken with slices of Swiss cheese. 

4. In a small bowl, mix soup and milk until blended.

5. Pour soup mixture over chicken and cheese.

6. Top chicken with dry stuffing mix.

7.  Drizzle stuffing mix with melted butter.

8. Baked covered with foil at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Remove foil and bake 5-10 minutes longer. Serves 6.

*note~ I have accidentally left off the foil cover and the breading will over-brown and get too crunchy.  Don't forget to cover it:)

Slow Cooker Hawaiian Chicken

Delicious and easy!

My crockpot broke, so I didn't make this in a slow cooker. I just cooked up the chicken first then added everything else and let it simmer for an hour or so.  Don't be in too much of a hurry. Let it simmer. I tasted it as it was getting warm and thought it was going to be terrible, too sweet!  After it simmered, it really did taste so much better.

I highly suggest adding red onion (I love red onions) and the extra pineapple slice when you are serving.  I don't like cilantro so I didn't buy any, but Kenny said he would have liked that as well.

My family ate it on buns last night. I just made it into a salad for lunch today and it was delicious.

The original post is here.

• 1 pound boneless chicken breasts
• 1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple in juice
• juice of one lime
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 or 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (adjust to your heat preference)
• 8 whole wheat buns
• for serving, optional: pineapple rings, diced red onion, chopped cilantro

Place chicken into crock pot. Cover chicken with remaining ingredients, through the red pepper. Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. Shred chicken and serve on buns; top with additional pineapple, red onion and/or cilantro.

Meredith's Chicken Enchiladas

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed or shredded
1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup
1 (10 oz) can green chili enchilada sauce
1 cup sour cream
1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles
1/4 tsp. cumin
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed well (or whatever kind of beans you like. White beans                    hide better if you have picky kids, like me)
1 1/2 cups grated cheese (I usually use a taco blend, but pepper jack would be good too.)
Flour tortillas (soft taco size)

In a small bowl, combine cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and 1/2 the can of enchilada sauce. Add half of this mixture to the cooked chicken. Set the rest aside for the topping. To the chicken, add the remainder of the enchilada sauce, green chiles, cumin, and beans. Mix and heat through. Soften tortillas by heating them individually on a frying pan. Spoon chicken mixture onto each tortilla and roll to close. Place rolled tortillas fold-side down into lightly greased 9 x13 baking dish (you will need two baking dishes). Top with remaining sour cream mixture, covering the enchiladas completely so the don't dry out and harden, and then the grated cheese. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and heated through. Garnish with olives, tomatoes, green onions, salsa, avocado, or whatever. Serve with rice or salad.

Makes 10-12 enchiladas

Italian Chicken

 

This is probably one of my very favorite things I have ever made! It was so easy and so yummy.  I have leftovers and I can't wait until tomorrow to eat them.  I found this recipe on pintrest and the original posting is here.  I made a few adjustments when I made it myself.  It took probably less than 10 minutes to get in the oven.  This will be going in my meal rotations for awhile.

Italian Chicken

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Salt and Pepper

1 can diced tomatoes with Garlic and Olive Oil (I believe I used the Western Family brand)

Additional fresh tomatoes and chopped garlic if preferred. (I added 2 Romas and a couple globs of chopped garlic from a jar)

1 can of artichokes, drained

2 tablespoons flour {since the chicken will produce so much liquid}.

Shredded mozzerella cheese

Chopped fresh basil

Lightly grease 9x13 pan. Place chicken breasts in pan and season well with salt and pepper.  In a bowl, mix together tomatoes, garlic, artichokes, and 2 tablespoons of flour.  Spoon mixture over chicken.

Bake at 350 degrees until chicken is no longer pink. 30-40 minutes.  Sprinkle shredded cheese and chopped basil over chicken.  Put back in the oven under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is melted and yummy.

You can serve over pasta, but I didn't want the carbs and I don't think it's necessary.

Dijon Grilled Chicken Thighs

I make this a couple times a month and Justin always tells me I should have made a bigger batch.  Even my picky kids scarf it up. This is so easy to put together, especially since I just eyeball most of the ingredients.

Dijon Grilled Chicken Thighs

1 1/2 - 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I've used bone-in)
4 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried parsley
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/3 cup dijon mustard
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp dried rosemary

Combine all ingredients except for chicken. Mix well. Pour over chicken (I use a ziplock bag) and let marinate for 1 hour or up to overnight. Remove chicken from marinade and grill until done (165 degrees - this takes us around 10-12 minutes).
from http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/08/dijon-grilled-chicken-thighs.html

White Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken enchiladas with green chili sour cream sauce. This was so easy to make and delicious. Justin wanted it spicier so next time I'll add jalepenos to the sauce. I also added a can of white beans to the filling because I add beans to anything I can.

8-10 flour tortillas

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 can white beans
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup sour cream
1 (4 oz) can diced green chillies

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan

2. Mix chicken and 1 cup cheese. Roll up in tortillas and place in pan.

3. In a sauce pan, melt butter, stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add broth and whisk until smooth. Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly.

4. Stir in sour cream and chilies. Do not bring to boil, you don't want curdled sour cream.

5. Pour over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.

6. Bake 22 min and then under high broil for 3 min to brown the cheese.

Baked Chicken Taquitos

I found this recipe on OurBestBites.com. They looked really good and relatively easy to make, but I got a little worried as I was making the chicken filling because it smelled a lot like tamales, and I HATE tamales. But the finished product was completely tamale free and delicious! Plus they're baked, not fried so they're healthy, right?Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

1/3 cup (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 cup green salsa
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
3 Tbsp chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp sliced green onions
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup grated pepperjack cheese
small corn or flour tortillas
kosher salt

I left out the cilantro because I hate cilantro. I used flour tortillas because I like them better. And I don't have kosher salt, so I just sprinkled them with regular salt. And we dipped them in our secret dipping sauce (sour cream and salsa mixed together).

Heat oven to 425.
Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.
Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir.
Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic.
Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions.
Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave (or on the stove) until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. Place 2-3 Tbsp of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges. Then roll it up as tight as you can. Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top. Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

Original post here: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/04/baked-creamy-chicken-taquitos/

Cheesy Chicken Pesto Pasta

This is from my new favorite food blog, www.plainchicken.com She has 22 brownie recipes. You can see her original post with pictures here. I used cottage cheese instead of ricotta because it's much cheaper. And next time I will bust the spaghetti in half before I cook it so that it's easier to stir.

Cheesy Chicken Pesto Pasta

2 chicken breast, cooked and chopped (I sprinkled my chicken with some garlic seasoning before I cooked it)
8 oz spaghetti
6 oz pesto
8 oz ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella or Italian cheese blend
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

Cook spaghetti for 2 minutes less than the package directions specify. Drain the spaghetti well and transfer it to a bowl. Stir in chicken, ricotta, pesto, 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese. Toss the mixture well and transfer it to a 9-inch square dish. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Bake until the cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Turn the oven to broil and broil for 1 minutes or until golden.

Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken BBQ (Or Pork)

This is my modified version of a recipe from Maceys. My modifications are in blue.
3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts I used country style pork ribs. I think a beef or pork roast would work too. Why not?
1 18 oz bottle BBQ sauce
1/2 cup Italian dressing or 1/2 packet Italian seasoning mix plus 1/8 c. vinegar. (Dry seasoning is like 20 cents and makes 1 cup of dressing.  There's plenty of fat in the meat so I omitted the oil from the packet directions and used half the vinegar required).
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs Worchestershire sauce

Place meat in crockpot.  In a bowl, mix BBQ sauce, Italian seasoning and vinegar or 1/2 cup Italian dressing, brown sugar and Worchestershire sauce.  Pour over chicken.
Cover and  cook 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. (I cooked my ribs on high for 6 hours)
Shred meat with 2 forks.  While you're shredding the meat, pour the liquid from the crockpot to a saucepan and bring to a boil to reduce. This will make a nice, thicker sauce. Return meat and sauce to crockpot.

Serve on toasted buns.

Bourbon Chicken - Updated

*which actually has no bourbon in it, but "Apple Juice Chicken" just doesn't sound good at all

*and yes, I stole this picture off of someone else's blog

2 lbs chicken, cooked and cubed chicken

In a small saucepan combine:

**UPDATE FROM ORIGINAL POST...You should really make a double batch of the sauce because there never seems to be enough of it. OKAY, CARRY ON**

1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp paprika (substitute crushed red pepper if you like it really spicy)
1/4 cup apple juice
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce

Heat until dissolved. Pour over chicken and bring to a boil. Simmer 20 minutes. Serve over rice with vegetables on the side.

Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese and Green Chile Chicken

The name pretty much says it all. Rachael Ray says to roll it up and cook on the grill but we lost a lot of filling that way and burned the bacon.

Serves 6

3 chicken breasts, butterflied and pounded flat (so now you have 6 pieces of chicken)
1 pkg cream cheese
1 can diced green chilies
6 strips of bacon

Mix cream cheese and green chiles in a bowl until smooth.  Put a big glob in the center of each chicken piece.  Roll the chicken up.  Wrap with bacon.  Secure with toothpicks if you need to and place in a baking dish. Bake at 375 until done. 

The bacon under the chicken doesn't get browned so I didn't eat it.  It might be better just to lay the bacon only on top of the chicken so it all gets nice and crispy.

Easy Creamy Pasta Sauce with Chicken

I'll be honest, I made this up. It's inspired by a few recipes, adjusted to how I like it.

2 T. olive oil
2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
8 oz cream cheese, cut into squares
1 can chicken broth
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes, drained (optional)
1/4 cup frozen spinach (optional)

Cook chicken in frying pan with olive oil. Remove from pan. On medium heat, add cream cheese and chicken broth to the pan, cook until cream cheese is melted. Add Parmesan cheese and stir until melted. Add tomatoes and spinach if desired. Return chicken to pan. Add milk if it's too thick or let simmer uncovered if it's too thin. Serve over angel hair or fettuccine.