Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Well I'm back, with a new computer - a laptop, which is proving to be WAY more convenient than the tower I had. Still have, but it's been demoted to just games and things for the younger 2. And the DH. Because this laptop is MINE darn it.
No, really, I DO share...
I'm not going to make any promises that I'll be posting often. I THINK I'll do better now that I can chill on the couch and type, but you know. I may still be Lazy.

On to the recipe. This is one that I really thought I would like, was pretty sure the kids would like, but really didn't think the hubby would like. Turns out I was wrong, we ALL really liked this one.

Here is the list of ingredients:

*2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
*bread crumbs
*1 egg, mixed with 1/2 cup milk
*8 ounces Swiss cheese, cubed
*8 ounces ham, diced
*1 can (10 ounces) cream of chicken soup
*1 cup milk

And it's pretty easy to throw it all together:

First, dip the chunks of chicken into the egg and milk mixture, then into the bread crumbs; coating well. Brown in a little oil until golden. Place chicken chunks in baking dish. Add cubes of Swiss cheese and diced ham. Mix the soup with 1 cup of milk and pour over all.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degreees, or until tender and bubbly.

I did small red potatoes in the microwave with this: rinse potatoes; pierce each potato a few times with a fork. Place in microwave safe dish and add about 1/4 inch of water. Cover and microwave until done. I usually do 10-12 small potatoes in about 10 minutes. Eat them like a baked potato, smothered with butter and/or sour cream. Yum!!

*thank you Chevy for this recipe.

Chile-Chicken Enchiladas

1 can (19 oz) enchilada sauce
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 ½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (6 oz.)
1 cup sour cream
1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chiles
8 – 8 inch flour tortillas
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 350°. Spray bottom of 13x9 inch (3 quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. Spread ½ cup enchilada sauce in bottom of baking dish. In medium bowl, stir together chicken, Monterey Jack cheese, sour cream and chiles.
Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas; arrange, seam sides down, in baking dish. Top enchiladas with remaining enchilada sauce. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese. Spray sheet of foil with cooking spray; cover baking dish with foil, sprayed side down.
Bake 35 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 to 10 minutes longer or until hot and cheese is melted.
If desired, serve with avocado, green onions, lettuce, chopped tomato and additional sour cream.

White Chili with Chicken

I love chili. I could eat it almost daily. As a matter of fact, when I was pregnant for my second child, I went through a phase when I did eat it daily. He still loves spicy food to this day. But not chili. Go figure. I guess it's the beans. But you can't very well have chili without beans, now, can you?
Well anyway, he did manage to eat a bowl of this white chili and said it was "Okay". The rest of us liked it, and I'll definitely be making it again.
With that, let's begin...
Here's what you'll need:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped* (optional) (and I skipped this. The cumin gave it a little bit of a spicy flavor, and that was enough for us.)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 4 cups chicken broth (I had about a cup of drippings left from the chicken I made on Sunday which I used, to that I added 3 cups of water and 3 chicken flavored bouillon cubes. Wasn't sure what would happen, but it worked out.)
• 2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) great northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (which I don't ever have, so I poured about a teaspoon and a half of dried parsley into my palm, decided that looked reasonable, and threw it in. It worked. I know, SO Rachael Ray. If I'd used 'EVOO' you'd be thinking I was her, wouldn't you? No, I know...not in a million years....)
• 1 tablespoon lime juice (why, I don't know, but I used it, and it was fine. Honestly not sure if I'd notice if it was gone. But maybe...)
• 1 to 1-1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken (I actually ROASTED A CHICKEN yesterday just so I'd have some for this recipe. No, really, I did. My husband thinks I did it so he would have a nice meal, but NO, it was for THIS recipe.)

Let's get started...

In a large saucepan, or dutch oven style pot, cook the onion, jalapeno (if you're more daring than me) and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in the broth, beans, parsley, lime juice and cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Combine the cornstarch and water until smooth. Stir into chili. Add the chicken. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. I think I went with three minutes myself.

I had planned on taking the leftovers in my lunch tomorrow. Well, there aren't any leftovers to take! This was delicious! And easy (okay, not 'easy-peasy', but still...). It took just over 30 minutes to make, and that included the time spent chopping the onion and taking my 2 year old to the bathroom.

Enjoy!!

*a note on the chopped jalapeno. Now, I don't really know much about them, except they're hot, hot, hot, mon. I've never actually worked with a raw jalapeno, but I do know that you have to be very careful handling them. You should always wear rubber or plastic gloves while handling them, and avoid touching your face.

Easy Parmesan Chicken Fingers

Well, when I started this blog I never intended for it to be a 'once-a-month' kind of thing, but sadly that seems to be what it's becoming. I'll try to do better in the future.

I know, I say that or something like that pretty much every time I post, don't I?

Well, to make up for it, I'm giving you one of the most easy-peasy recipes I have. And they're good too, which is a bonus.

Did I just say 'easy-peasy'?

Gather together the following:

• 2 lb. chicken tenders or boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips


• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese


• 1 pouch extra crispy seasoned coating mix (like Shake N Bake)

And that's it! THREE things! Could it possibly get any easier?? No! Unless you just want to go through the drive-thru, but these are much better, and you know it's real chicken. Really. Do you really know what you're getting when you go through the drive-thru? No. I recently got a fly in my salad when I went through the drive-thru at a restaurant that shall remain unnamed. Unnamed because they took care of me nicely when I told them what they'd done.

Anyway...enough fly talk. Gather your three ingredients and let's get busy...

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Moisten your chicken with water, shake off excess. I'm not sure what the point is of this particular step, unless it helps the cheese and coating stick to it better. Ours is not to reason why....

Place the coating mix in the shaker bag that came with it and add the parmesan cheese. Kind of mix it together.

Kind of. No...mix it good. Give it a couple extra good shakes, just for fun.

Add 2 or 3 chicken tenders to the bag at a time. Shake around until evenly coated. Place on nonstick baking sheet or a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Repeat until you've coated all your chicken. Discard any remaining coating mix.

Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

---

That's it. How simple. Serve this with ranch dressing and/or barbeque sauce for dipping. I also made up a box of mac & cheese and heated up a veggie to go with it.

And everyone loved it.

And here's a tip - use the leftover chicken in a salad. Yum. Just watch out for flies.

Zesty Chicken Tortilla Bake

Yes, I know, it's been a MONTH since I posted a recipe. I have a whole STACK of them here waiting for me to have time to enter them. At work, they're making me, well, work, and at home we're in the throes of potty training. You wouldn't think that would make life chaotic, but it does.
Make that extra-chaotic.
And then there are nights like tonight. According to this recipe, it should take 35 minutes plus whatever time you need to cook your chicken, if you're not using leftovers (which I wasn't). So like, 45 minutes, tops. And I really think, in a perfect world, it would have. But it is not a perfect world, and it took nearly 2 hours. Well, the recipe itself didn't take 2 hours, but once you add in LIFE, all together we're talking 2 hours.
We ate way later than I like to, but I will say, when we finally did eat, the food was darn good. I had every intention of taking a picture before we scarfed it down, but by then we all were so stinkin' starving there was just no time to find the camera; by then the hubby and the boys would have inhaled it and I would have got nothing!
Enough of that. Let's get on with the food....

Your ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Miracle Whip dressing
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups milk (Problem #1...we were out of milk. The Boys, who were home all day, knew this, but didn't think that maybe I should know. I didn't discover we were out until well after I'd dealt with Problem #2, below.)
• 1 package (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese (divided)
• 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts, cooked and cut into 1-inch pieces (Problem #2...when I called The Boy to get chicken out of the freezer, he couldn't find it, so didn't. Apparently I hid it under the bucket of ice cream. And his arms don't work so he couldn't lift it up and check underneath it. So I had to wait for the chicken to thaw.) You could also use a bunch of leftover chicken.
• 1/2 cup salsa (slight Problem #3...I only had 1/4 cup. I substituted 1/4 cup taco sauce for the rest. I'm still trying to figure out what happened to my new jar of salsa.)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (Okay, that was Martha Stewart talking. I say, a palmful of dried parsley. Who has fresh parsley? Not me....)
• 16 taco-sized flour tortillas

Mix the Miracle Whip and flour in a medium saucepan with a whisk until well blended. I had to use a fork to get the gobs out from in between the wires a few times, which truly I wasn't too impressed with, but I think it may have been the whisk more than it was the gunk. Add about 1 cup of milk and stir until blended, then add the rest and continue stirring until well blended. Cook and stir on medium heat until the sauce comes to a boil and thickens, which at this point, seemed like forever but was probably, oh, 7 or 8 minutes. Stir in half the cheese. Reserve one cup of the prepared sauce.

Add the chicken, salsa and parsley to the remaining sauce and stir until well blended. Spoon 1/3 cup of the sauce/chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla and roll up. I just used a big spoon and eyeballed it; actually using a measuring cup just seemed like it would be really messy to me. Place roll-ups seam side down in baking dish. The recipe I have says to use 2 11x8 inch pans. I don't have 2, so I ended up using 3 pans all together. It also doesn't say to spray the pans, but I did, and I'm glad of it, so I would recommend you do too. Top evenly with the reserved sauce and remaining cheese.

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

I served this with corn. Everyone gave this a thumbs up. Not the corn, the tortillas.

Enjoy!

Crispy Baked Pesto Chicken

This recipe was my first foray into the world of 'pesto'. Turns out we like it....it is garlic-y, after all, and we all like garlic. This is a very simple recipe; only takes about 35 minutes. Perfect for a weeknight.
So, here we go. Here is what you will need:

• 4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts - about 1 pound (though I actually had about 2 1/2 pounds. It's an easy recipe to adapt to more chicken though.)
• 1 pouch chicken seasoned coating mix (like Shake 'N Bake, for instance. I used a store brand though because it was cheaper. Tasted fine.)
• 2 tablespoons pesto (no store brand here. They didn't have any. It was a little pricey for the size jar it was. But no worries, it'll go far. It doesn't take much. And I've already used more because it was so yummy.)
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat chicken evenly with coating mix. Place in baking dish.

Bake per directions on coating mix box, or until chicken is cooked through (when it registers at 170 degrees in the thickest part).

Top chicken evenly with pesto. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake an additional 5 minutes or so, until cheese is melted and lightly browned.

This was SO GOOD. I served it with green beans (the princess loves green beans!) and a rice dish.

Home-Style Chicken and Gravy

Did you know that Paprika is made from a pepper? I did not know this. All I knew, was that it was a spice. Now, according to what I've found online about paprika, it's not real spicy. Here is the link: http://www.mccormick.com/content.cfm?id=8225
Well, I am here to tell you, SOMETHING about it is spicy. This recipe was delicious - the only problem was, the outside was a bit on the spicy side. Okay, some bites were a lot. Now we use seasoned salt a lot - it's never been spicy. The garlic-pepper blend is black pepper, and I went light on that. But the PAPRIKA - now THAT I went a little crazy with.
So my tip of the day, before you go making this is, USE THE MEASUREMENTS BELOW. I did not - I 'eyeballed it'. Hey it works for Rachael Ray.
Didn't work for me though.
Paprika aside, this was some good chicken. On with the recipe....

Your ingredients:

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (I actually used 3 - but they were HUGE)
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika (trust me on this - do NOT use more)
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic-pepper blend (you can buy it all blended. If you don't want to, it looked to be about a 50/50 mix - just do it yourself)
• 1 - 12 ounce jar home-style chicken gravy
• 2 tablespoons half-and-half or milk (the recipe actually says "fat-free half-and-half" - I didn't know it came that way)
• 1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce (I shared with the husband what is in Worchestershire sauce. He was disgusted. But he enjoyed the chicken anyway.)

Let's throw everything together:

Spray a large skillet with nonstick cooking spray. I don't have a large skillet, so I used the medium one I have. They were crowded, but it worked. But then, I only had 3 pieces. But, like I said, they were HUGE. Anyway, back to the recipe. Heat skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Sprinkle chicken with seasoned salt, paprika and garlic-pepper blend. See, here's where I went wrong. I thought, "Why measure? I can sprinkle without measuring..." So I did. The hubby ended up with hickups because of it. It was kind of funny. He NEVER has hiccups.

On with the recipe....

Add the chicken to the skillet. Cook 4 to 6 minutes or until browned on both sides. I did mine a little longer because they were so thick. More like 4 to 6 on EACH side. I really wanted to make sure the inside was done.

In a bowl, combine the gravy, half-and-half (or milk) and Worcestershire sauce, mix well. Poor over chicken. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 mintues or until chicken is fork tender and juices run clear.

Everyone loved this recipe, other than the spiciness of it, which really wasn't supposed to be there. We gave the peanut some chicken without coating so she could enjoy it too. I served this with the Roasted Vegetable Combo. We had NO leftovers, and we were all stuffed when we were finished.

Parmesan Chicken

This was good, good, good. Even the little peanut ate like crazy, having 2 helpings of everything. She's usually bored with eating and ready to be done long before that. This one is definitely a keeper.

What you need:
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, divided
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves. Okay, this is what the recipe says. I bought 4, but they were so big I could only fit 2 in my skillet. And they were THICK. I ended up only cooking the 2, and we'll be grilling the other 2 (which are currently in a bath of BBQ sauce in the fridge - oh yummy!) tomorrow.
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 cups meatless spaghetti sauce (per the recipe - I actually used a whole jar, which was about 3 cups)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt (per the recipe - since it's mixed with the spaghetti sauce, I increased it to 3/4 teaspoon)
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
hot cooked pasta of your choice - fettuccine, spaghetti....(I had spaghetti, so that's what I used)

It's a long list. Lots of ingredients. Trust me, it's WORTH IT.
Let's get started:
In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon of the oregano, the basil, salt and pepper. In another bowl, combine the egg and water. Dip the chicken in the egg mixture, then in the crumb mixture. Cook the chicken in the butter (melted of course) in a skillet, on both sides, until done. This took awhile for the chicken I had, because, like I said, it was THICK, and I had to be careful not to burn the outside while I was waiting for the inside to get done. Of course, when I say done, I mean the juices should run clear. This is chicken - we want it done THROUGH.
While the chicken is cooking, combine the spaghetti sauce with the garlic salt and remaining oregano. I added another 1/4 teaspoon of oregano since I had extra sauce and garlic salt. Heat through. I just did this in the microwave, covered, since we have a crappy stove with only 2 burners. Instead of 2 more, we have a grill on the other half of the stove. We use our outside grill, so I'd rather have the extra burners, but we didn't buy the stove - it came with the house, so we make do. Anyway, on with the recipe. Spoon some of the sauce on the finished chicken and sprinkle with mozzarella and the remaining Parmesan cheese. Mix the rest of the sauce with the cooked pasta. For kicks I sprinkled this with mozzarella and Parmesan as well.
I served this with green beans (in case the peanut didn't like it - but she did - as I said, a LOT) and garlic bread.
We did not have ONE BITE of leftovers. We were all stuffed and happy, too. Can't beat that!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Last night I made some really good baked mostaciolli and beef. Too bad I left the recipe at home. Since I did, I'm going back to my 'tried-and-true' recipes, and today I'm reaching in the hat and pulling out......

Chicken Noodle Soup! (hence the title of the post)

Your ingredient list:
* 3 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) chicken broth OR equivalent water and bouillon cubes (no, it doesn't look like it's spelled right - according to spell check, it is)
* 2 medium onions coarsely chopped (if you buy onions like me, this means about half a large onion)
* 2 carrots, thinly sliced (if you buy carrots like me, this means 8 to 10 baby carrots)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 2 celery stalks, sliced (if you buy celery like me, this means 2 celery stalks, sliced) (sorry, I couldn't help myself)
* 3/4 cup small pasta shells
* 2 cups cooked, diced chicken

In this is what you do with all of it:

In a dutch oven or soup pot, cover and heat chicken broth or water and bouillon to a simmer. Add salt, onions, carrots and celery to broth. Cover and simmer until veggies are almost tender (about 5 minutes). Add pasta shells and cook, uncovered, for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken and cook until pasta is tender, about 3 more minutes.

This is enough for the kids and I, but if I want enough for hubby's lunch or if he's home I need to double the recipe.

Enchilada Casserole*

Last night was “Kid’s Choice” – and since hot dogs wrapped in refrigerated biscuits don’t need a recipe, I’m reaching back into the files of the Tried and True Recipes, and finding my Enchilada Casserole to share. It’s pretty flexible – you can use turkey (I’ve used leftover from Thanksgiving and deli), chicken, or a pound of ground beef – whatever you happen to have.

And so, here is the list of ingredients:

* 1 can (16 ounces) tomato sauce
* 1 can (4 ounces) chopped mild green chilies, drained
* 1 garlic clove, crushed (or, like me, the equivalent in dried or powder form)
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
* about 8 ounces cooked turkey or chicken, cubed – I usually add more than 8 ounces but that’s enough if it’s all you have. OR brown ½ to 1 pound hamburger and use that.
* 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced (I hope you have better luck finding them than I have been lately – the last 2 weeks, the store hasn’t had any. None. Not even an empty space where they belong. What’s up with that?)
* 9 corn tortillas, cut in half
* 2 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese

Once you have everything together, here’s what you do with it all:

Preheat oven to 375. Combine tomato sauce, green chilies, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano and pepper. Line bottom of deep dish pizza sized pan with 6 tortilla halves. Spread a third of the sauce mixture over the tortillas. Cover with half the meat and half the onions. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Top with 6 more tortilla halves, half the remaining sauce and all the remaining meat and onions. Sprinkle with 1 cup of remaining cheese. Top with the rest of the tortilla halves, the remaining sauce, and the last of the cheese. Bake 25 minutes. Let stand about 5 minutes before cutting into it. Serve with corn and/or corn bread.

The DH likes it best with ground beef. I think I do too, but it’s good with both turkey and chicken as well. It’s a little too spicy for my little one, but she’s happy if I leave out some of the meat for her and give her some corn to go with it.

*adapted from Pampered Chef's Busy Mom's Cookbook

Tomato Chicken Italiano*

Yea, I know, it's been a few days. Things have been pretty crazy at the homestead so I haven't been cooking. So much for this blog giving me quick ideas.
Seriously though, I treated the kids to McD's on Monday - the first time they've been there in well over a month. You should have seen the little peanut's excitement when we drove in the parking lot. So cute.
Yesterday the DH was home for the day so he made dinner.
And it's been busy at work so I haven't had time to add any tried and true recipes. But I'm back! And today, we're talking Chicken.

The ingredient list:
* 3 tablespoons flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 garlic cloves, pressed (or, what I do, sprinkle in some garlic powder. I never buy cloves. Just make sure you don't get carried away)
* 1 cup cubed zucchini (about one small to medium zucchini)
* 1 cup red bell pepper chunks (about one medium pepper)
*2 teaspoons dried basil
*1 can (14 1/2 ounce) diced tomatoes with Italian-style herbs

With the zucchini and bell pepper this is a great recipe for late summer when the garden's in full swing. If you have one. I never do, but my parents do, and I get the overflow. Because you know there's always too much zucchini.

Anyway, once you get all your ingredients together, here is what you do with them:

In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, and black pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture (shake off excess). Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add chicken and cook, turning once, until golden brown. That'll take about 10 minutes. I always cook my chicken a little longer though, just because I'm terrified of biting into raw chicken.
Add the other 1 tablespoon oil and the garlic to the pan. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant - about 30 seconds. Add zucchini, bell pepper and basil. Continue cooking and stirring for about 2 minutes, or when the vegetables are crisp-tender. Add tomatoes and stir. Return the chicken to the pan and cook until the chicken is no longer pink in center and the vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes. Serve hot with buttered egg noodles.

It's delicious. The DH wasn't sure, when he saw all those veggies in there, if he would like it, but was pleasantly surprised.

*because unlike the other recipes, I have not really made any changes to this one, I feel like I better give credit where credit is due. This recipe is originally from The Pampered Chef Busy Mom's Cookbook.