A Mexican Concoction

Tonight I made chicken quesadillas and topped them with black beans, sour cream, and salsa. They were delicious.

Pepper Jack Cheese
Grilled Chicken Breast
Tortillas
Margarine
Sour Cream
Salsa
Seasoned Black Beans

Here is the play by play.



Spread margarine on one side of 4 flour tortillas. Place two, margarine side down, onto a medium-high griddle and top with cheese and chicken.


Top with the other tortillas, margarine-side up, and flip (carefully) over.


While the tortillas are browning, heat the black beans. Once the quesadillas are done, serve topped with the beans, sour cream, and your favorite salsa!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

There are plenty of delicious recipes for Chicken Tortilla Soup online and in my friends' recipe books but I opted to use a mix because I had one.
I added some Simply Salsa Seasoning, a can of seasoned black beans, and some of the Grilled Chicken. I fried up my own tortilla strips (whole wheat, of course) in light vegetable oil over medium high heat in a skillet.
Top the soup with the tortilla strips and serve the soup with a dollop of sour cream.

I made quesadillas for the boys.

Either way, it was delicious!

Grilled Whole Chicken and Grilled Beef Roast

Low and Slow is the name of the game here. For 2 hours, I let the chicken and beef hang out in the middle of a grill with the far left and far right burners on medium low. Indirect heat means no turning required.

The Chicken was seasoned with Garlic Pepper seasoning and the Beef Roast was seasoned with Everyday Grilling Seasoning. I use Tastefully Simple spices and mixes but you can use any seasoning you like.

Grilled Chicken Pesto Pasta with Peas

I made this double for a friend who broke her arm. It was a good dish to double since it was as easy as making one. I would double it again and freeze the second for a future meal. This is also good cold as a pasta salad - I can attest to this since mom and I had the leftovers pool-side on Friday!

Here is the recipe including the amounts to make two casserole dishes full:

4 Large Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 T Garlic Seasoning (I use Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic but you can also use fresh or canned chopped garlic, along with Italian Seasoning)
1 Box of Pasta (I used a new shape but you can use any shape that will hold up against the chicken chunks)

4 T Pesto (I used my Tastefully Simple Garlic Pesto mix which made it super simple but you can buy pesto or make some from scratch with pine nuts, salt and pepper, basil, parmesan cheese, garlic, and olive oil)
3 C Frozen Peas
1 C Grated Parmesan Cheese (optional)

So, here is a tip for when you buy bulk chicken (or any meat for that matter). When I come home with an Extreme Value Pack of Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, I separate them, leave some naked, and season separate packets of 3 breasts with different seasoning combos. Some of our favorites are Salsa, Lemon Pepper, Garlic, and BBQ. Be careful not to use too much citrus because the acid breaks the chicken down too much if it is left to marinate. When you are ready for a quick meal, thaw it out and throw it on the grill, in the skillet, or under the broiler. Nuke some sides (Green Giant even does one with rice and another with potatoes) and call it dinner!

I am telling you all of this because I had some Garlic Garlic chicken in the freezer and used it for this. If you don't have such a thing in your freezer, just season your chicken before you put it on the grill.

The Play by Play:
Preheat Grill to medium high, preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and prepare a large pot of salted water for pasta boiling.
Grill chicken breasts until done. While the chicken is grilling; boil the pasta and make the pesto, if necessary.

Once the chicken is cooked through, cut into bite-sized pieces. In a large bowl gently fold together the chicken, pasta and pesto until everything is coated well. Add the peas and stir carefully so as not to end up with mushy peas.


Separate into two casserole dishes and top with the parmesan cheese. If you are cooking one ahead of time, you can go ahead and wrap that up now and put it in the freezer. When you are ready to serve this meal, place the casserole dish in the oven until the cheese is melted. Serve with a side salad.

Since my little one can't do the cheese, we just added the cheese to our individual servings and left it off his. I did melt the cheese for my friend's family, though.

Chopped Chicken Salad

Last summer, I got into making chopped salads and with the recent warm weather and a refrigerator that includes some baby spinach that needs to be used, I decided to whip one up tonight. As a note, when I make salads, I deconstruct them for the boys and make a plate of cut veggies, cheese, and protein - tonight, the protein was the rest of the salsa chicken from Friday night.

Here is the basic idea along with the ingredients for this Mexican flavored chopped salad.

Serves 2 with components for 2 child plates

1 Grilled Salsa Chicken Breast, chopped
1/3 C Corn
1/2 C Chopped Carrots (about 5 baby carrots)
4 Grape Tomatoes, quartered
2 Celery Stalks, chopped
1/4 C Chopped Colby Jack Cheese
2 C Chopped Baby Spinach

Toss all of the above ingredients together in a bowl.

In a separate small bowl, combine 2 T Light Ranch Dressing with 3 T Salsa Verde or your favorite tomato salsa.



Add dressing to the salad and toss to cover completely. Serve alone or with bread, chips, or crackers.

Other components that would do well would be black beans, avocado, cilantro, lime juice, and tortilla strips.

Nacho Heaven

One of the very best foods in the whole wide world is Nachos. I truly believe that it unites people and is so varied in its interpretation, it can satisfy all tastes. It is universal, honestly, I believe it! Making a large plate of nachos is one of the stay-in date-night rituals in our house. Served alongside some cold beers or cocktails in front of a flick with my main squeeze...heaven!

Friday night turned into Nacho night and I broke into the stockpile of leftovers and devised this beauty:

Nacho Components:

Store-bought Tortilla Chips
Shredded and chopped Grilled Salsa Chicken (Recipe Below)
Cheese Sauce (Recipe HERE)
Refried Beans (Recipe Below)
Guacamole (Recipe HERE)
Store-bought Sour Cream
Store-bought Salsa
2 T Fresh Cilantro from my garden - chopped and optional

Grilled Salsa Chicken:
Before I froze some chicken breasts, I sprinkled them with 2 T Simply Salsa from Tastefully Simple along with 1 t Olive Oil. I covered them completely with this mixture and froze them. When they thawed, they were ready to go onto the grill. Voila! Grilled Salsa Chicken. If you don't have any Simply Salsa, you can use any seasoning mix that you like or actually toss in some jarred salsa or salsa verde...your call! If you don't have any already marinated, just marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes. If your mixture has vinegar or citrus, don't marinate overnight because that acid breaks down the chicken and makes it mushy.

Refried Beans
If I had known that nachos would be among the menus for this period, I probably would have bought a jar of fat free refried beans. Well, I didn't...so, I didn't. Necessity is the mother of invention and this project has born a lot of homemade things that otherwise would have been store bought. I either make it from scratch or we go without. I decided NOT to go without this time and really wanted refried beans. I also decided to "wing" it. It turned out really good. I guess I am lucky that I stock these things in my pantry. Here is how it went down.

1 Can Light Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
2 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo (they come in a small can with a flip top)
1 t Olive Oil
1/2 t Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic (you can use real garlic or garlic seasoning)

Mix all of these together and use an immersion blender to puree. It will be the consistency of hummus. Heat in a saucepan over medium heat until some of the moisture is evaporated. Serve warm.

Build a better Nacho Platter:

I always build in layers because I don't like getting to the bottom of a platter of chips to find naked chips with no topping. Spread a layer of chips, drizzle with cheese sauce and some dollops of beans. Make another layer of chips and continue with the cheese and beans but sprinkle some chicken as well. Keep going until you have all of the cheese, beans, and chicken covering many layers of nachos. Finish with rows of guacamole, salsa, and sour cream. If you have cilantro, sprinkle it on top. If not, you can skip it.

BFF Fried Chicken

We are fortunate enough to have a long list of really wonderful friends in our lives. True friends...the ones that love you (warts and all) and I couldn't be happier to have them, honestly! It is because of these friends that I know life is good for me now and always will be.

I always want to treat these friends with the very best, healthy, and tasty food that I can produce from my kitchen. We Southerners love with our food and I hope that my friends know about the love that went into the fried chicken and green beans that I made for this pot luck. I thought about each person who would be eating the chicken as it fried and I put the love in every time I turned a piece over. Anyone can make fried chicken, the best fried chicken is made almost ritualistically. Here are my rituals as prescribed by the best Fried Chicken Cook - aside from Mama and Grandma - that I know, my BFF, Kelly. Incidentally, Paula Deen and my Mama have confirmed this process of frying and steaming.

Let me make note now to all of you "OMG, FRIED Chicken!? That will clog my arteries!" people: Fried Chicken is comfort food and celebration food. It used to be only Sunday Dinner food because chicken was not so easy to come by. It is soul food. Brought from Scotland to the South by immigrants and perfected by slaves from Africa, it is good food. It is NOT particularly good for you. Neither is Birthday Cake but I doubt anyone who is reading this blog has ever gone too long without a piece of Birthday Cake. Think of Fried Chicken the same way. Making your own fried chicken is rewarding, relaxing, and a sensory experience that shouldn't be missed. You should try it sometime, you might just like it, you will probably even love it.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 T Hot Sauce (like Tobasco or Franks)
2 C All Purpose Flour
2 lb Chicken - I used boneless, skinless, breasts cut into thick strips
Salt and Pepper
Garlic Powder
Vegetable Oil (enough to come half way up the side of the chicken pieces in the pan)

In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil to 375 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer, use the end of a wooden spoon. If bubbles form around the spoon when you dip it into the oil, you ready to cook!


While the oil is heating you can get your breading station ready. In a shallow bowl, beat the eggs with 1/3 C water and add the hot sauce. In another shallow bowl, mix the flour, salt and pepper, and garlic powder. I would say about 1 t Salt, 1/2 t pepper, and 1/2 T Garlic Powder but you can use more of any if you don't think it is enough.


Roll each piece of chicken in the egg and then into the flour and then into the oil. Cook, covered for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the cover and turn the chicken when the undersides are well browned.
That could be right away if you are doing chicken strips like me. If you are doing a whole bone-in chicken, this would take longer. Cook, covered for another 5 minutes.
Remove the cover and cook until the chicken is well browned. An entire chicken will take 20 to 25 minutes to cook (making sure to put the largest pieces and dark meat into the pan first!)

Place the chicken onto a cloth or, if you insist, paper towel, to drain.


I followed a friend's green bean recipe that can be found here. GIANT Shout out to Amy for the tip on the seasoning. I NEVER had it before and it is delicious.

Chicken Stuffed with Sundried Tomatoes, Pine Nuts, Goat Cheese, and Basil

This is a delicious recipe that I got from Cooking Light Magazine when I commuted on the train from Baltimore to DC in 2003. I actually remember finding the recipe and making plans to cook it while I was on that train.

This is another meal that the kids aren't warming to so they enjoyed simple grilled chicken with the orzo tonight.

Chicken Stuffed with Sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese, and pine nuts
Serves 6
Ingredients
1T olive oil
1.5 C sun dried tomatoes (not in oil) – sliced
1/4 C toasted pine nuts
6T goat cheese
1 T Freshly chopped fresh basil
1 ENORMOUS boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced down the center. Seriously, check out this giant chicken breast!

Instructions
Soak the sun dried tomatoes in hot water until soft. In a skillet, toast the pine nuts.
Once toasted, remove from heat and add the drained tomatoes, goat cheese and basil.
Honestly, you could stop here, grab a cracker, and eat this while washing it down with a glass of red. I wouldn't be angry but your family may. Go ahead with the recipe for tonight by consider spreading this stuffing on some toasted bread for your next appetizer party.

Slice the chicken from the thick end to the thin end and stuff with a spoonful of the tomato mixture.
Press to secure the stuffing in the chicken. If necessary, use toothpicks to secure.

Place chickens in a greased skillet over medium heat covered. The chicken will release a lot of juice and when they are almost done, open the lid and allow some of the liquid to cook out. They are done in about 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the breasts.



Orzo with Pine Nuts, Basil, and Parmesan Cheese

Serves 6
Ingredients
1T Olive Oil
2C Orzo pasta
1/4 C toasted Pine Nuts
1/4 C freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
3C Chicken Broth (or water)
4 Basil leaves
Salt to taste

Instructions
In a large skillet, heat olive oil and pour in about 2 cups of Orzo. Saute until the orzo just starts to turn golden.
Add the pine nuts and gradually add the liquid, stirring until it is absorbed by the orzo. Continue to stir and add the broth until the pasta is al dente.
Incorporate the cheese and top with the shredded basil. Season with Salt to taste. Note: You may need more or less liquid for the pasta to cook completely depending on the brand you buy.

Chicken and Noodle Stir Fry

Here is a little change from the normal stir fry and it is adapted from the Sonoma Diet Cookbook so it is GOOD FOR YOU!

The original recipe called for Soba Noodles or Multigrain Spaghetti. I went with the spaghetti and used my usual Barilla Plus and it was delicious! The original recipe also called for Turkey but I used Chicken. Finally, the original recipe called for Snow Peas. My store didn't have any fresh or frozen so I opted to use cabbage instead (not to mention that it was $.39/head at my grocery store and I couldn't resist!

Without any further delay...here goes:

Chicken "Soba" Noodle Stir Fry


6 oz Dried Multigrain Spaghetti
2 t Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 C Shredded Cabbage
2 Medium Red Bell Peppers cut into strips
2 t Fresh Minced Ginger
4 Cloves of Garlic, minced (2 teaspoons minced)
4 Green Onions, bias-sliced into 1-inch pieces
1 t Extra Virgin Olive Oil
12 oz Chicken Breast cut into short strips
1/2 C Bottled Plum Sauce
1/4 t Crushed Red Pepper

Cook the pasta according to box directions.
While the pasta cooks, heat the oil in a large skillet or wok and add the cabbage, peppers, garlic and ginger.
Cook for 2 minutes and then add the onions for another minute or so. Toss regularly so that all of the veggies have a turn next to the heat. Remove the veggies to a bowl and add the chicken to the hot pan.
Add 1 more teaspoon of Olive Oil to the pan and cook the chicken until it is no longer pink. Add the Plum Sauce and Pepper and incorporate the veggies back into the pan with the chicken. Toss together to coat everything with the sauce. Add the drained pasta to the pan and toss all of this together.
Serve immediately.

Chicken Pot Pie

My Chicken Pot Pie is easy as, well, pie.

2 C Chopped Chicken Breast
1 T Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 T All Purpose Flour
2 C Chicken Broth
1 t Poultry Seasoning
3 C Frozen Mixed Vegetables

Drop Biscuits:
1 2/3 C All Purpose Flour
1 T Baking Powder
1/2 t Salt
1/3 C Vegetable Oil
2/3 C Chicken Stock

Cook the chicken in the oil.
Whisk the flour, broth, and poultry seasoning in a small bowl. When the chicken is done, add the flour mixture to the pan and bring to a simmer for the "gravy" to thicken. Add the vegetables, stir well.


Pour this mixture into a round casserole dish. If you think the gravy is too thin, you can add more flour (whisk another Tablespoon of flour with 1/4 C water or chicken stock, pour it into the mixture, stir and bring to a boil). Preheat oven to 425 degrees and prepare biscuit topping below.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the oil and chicken stock. Add the chicken stock and oil to the flour and mix until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Using a small icecream scoop or two spoons, dip the biscuits onto the top of the chicken mixture.

Cook in a preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits are brown. Serve!

Update with a week of menus and "recipes"

I haven't abandoned the blog, I am just living my life without so much time in front of the computer. I can't believe it has been a week since I posted ANYTHING at all!

Anyway, I am sorry and here is the rundown from last week.

Monday:
I was still feeling sick from the stomach bug and didn't have it in me to cook so I put something together for the kiddos and ate a bowl of cereal myself. The hubby also was fending for himself.

Tuesday:
I decided to make a pot of chili.

Chili which consisted of a can of Bush's Beans with Chili Sauce, a can of Black Beans, leftover taco turkey meat, a can of chopped tomatoes with green chilies, a little less than 1lb of ground beef (put into the crock pot raw), 2 T Chili Powder, and 1T ground Cayenne Pepper. I stirred it all together and cooked it in the crock pot all day. The boys had pasta with sauce and we topped the pasta with our chili.

Wednesday:
The weather was beautiful so I cranked up the grill and made kabobs.

Beef Kabobs:
I cut up a bottom round roast into cubes and marinated it all in Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing but sealed and froze half for another time in the future. I skewered the meat along with cherry tomatoes, button mushrooms, red bell pepper segments, and onion segments and cooked them on the grill until the meat was done. I served this along with saffron rice and come freshly cut pineapple.

Thursday:
Leftovers were the name of the game since we had so much chili and turkey burgers from this week already.

Friday:
We invited our neighbors over and I made hot dogs, mac-n-cheese, and fruit salad for the kids and put together a chicken pasta dish for the adults.

Grilled Chicken Pasta:
I took 3 chicken breasts and cooked them on my grill pan until they were done and seared with the beautiful grill marks on both sides. I didn't season the chicken at all. Meanwhile, I cooked 1/2 box of penne pasta. When the pasta was done, I steamed a package of raw pre-cut stir fry vegetables that were not seasoned. (They were on sale at my store and I got them for $1) Once the veggies were steamed, I removed them and made a chicken gravy again (see this posting under the information on how to make dairy-free cheese sauce) and added 2 T Garlic Seasoning to the sauce.
Once the sauce was incorporated and thickening, I cut the chicken into cubes and added the chicken, pasta, and veggies to the sauce in the stockpot. The beauty is that I used one pot and did it all. If you want to make the actual cheese sauce from the linked posting, that would be good with this dish too but we kept it just to a garlic sauce with no cheese. Another alternative is to use a can of cream of chicken soup and add garlic to that. As with most of my recipes, it is a guide, not a rule.

Saturday:
We went out to dinner at Fogo De Chao on Saturday night and followed it with a show at Center Stage in Baltimore. It was a lovely date night and meant no cooking for me again.

Sunday:
Surprising that I got away with cooking so little this week and am rewarded with a dinner of frozen pizza cooked by my husband. We spent the day at the beach with the boys and between the driving and hanging out in the sunshine, I couldn't face the stove.

Chicken Enchiladas

This is a signature dish of mine that I have been making since we were afraid of the Y2K bug. That may not seem like too long ago but it has been a decade, so there. This is a favorite of mine and my husband but the kids haven't come around just yet. It doesn't meet my son's dietary restrictions so this one will be for the adults. It is a good thing, then, that it is mac-n-cheese night* in our house.

Without further adieu, here is the recipe for today.

Chicken Enchiladas
Serves 4-5
Ingredients
1 Small (4oz) Can Diced Green Chiles
1 Habanero Pepper, minced (optional)
2 12oz Cans of All White Meat Chicken or 4 Cooked Breasts of Chicken, chopped or shredded
1 8oz Package Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened and cubed
8 Large Flour Tortillas, though you may only use 7 depending on how generous you are with the filling
1 C Freshly Shredded Cheese (I usually use Pepper Jack Cheese but had a block of Mozzarella on hand and used that instead)
1 C Plain Yogurt
1 C Milk
1 Package Mahatma Saffron Yellow Rice
1-2/3 Water
1 T Olive Oil
1/4 C Sour Cream

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a large (10 inch) skillet with oil and over medium-high heat; combine the chicken, cream cheese, and peppers. Stir until the cream cheese is completely melted and all of the ingredients are fully combined.

Place 1/8 of the mixture into the center of a tortilla and roll it, folding in the edges.



Spray a 9X13X2 inch casserole dish with oil and place each tortilla roll into the pan, lining them up. They should fit snuggly into the pan. Top the enchiladas with the shredded cheese. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt and milk until fully combined. Pour the yogurt mixture over the top of the enchiladas to cover completely.

Place pan into oven and bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until the edges are brown and all of the cheese is fully melted.

While the enchiladas are cooking, prepare rice according to package directions

Serve the enchiladas on rice with a dollop of sour cream and a side salad (our favorite is Caesar)

Tips
For softer and gooier enchiladas, top with additional yogurt mixture so that all of the tortillas are covered completely. This is a very healthy dish and can be made low fat by choosing low fat or fat free options for the cream cheese, yogurt, and milk.

NOTE: This is the recipe as I made it tonight. I used chicken breasts instead of canned chicken and forgot to saute a chopped onion to add to the filling...not sure why I flaked on the onion. If you want my authentic recipe, you would start by sauteing 1 chopped medium onion with the peppers and then adding cooked chicken and cream cheese. SORRY!