Creamy Lemon Wine Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes

This chicken was so super yummy. It had a nice mix of flavors: lemon, apple juice(had no wine on hand) and chicken broth. Not to mention the roasted tomatoes! It was just great! I got the recipe and picture from The Hungry Housewife is a wealth of delicious food! It took me a few minutes to cook up, but I can see getting much faster at it after doing it a few times. It is definitely worth it!

I cut the recipe in half, used whole grain pasta and 3-5 T lemon juice
1 pound of your favorite pasta, cooked and drained
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Pouond boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 onion, sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T butter
4 T flour
2 c. chicken stock
1/2 c. white wine
3-5 T lemon juice
6 oz baby spinach
2 T fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.
In a medium bowl, toss tomatoes with enough olive oil to coat and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place on baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes or until the tomatoes start to pop open, stirring occasionally. While the tomatoes are roasting... In a large pot, coat the bottom with olive oil. Over medium heat, saute the onions until starting to brown, stirring often. Add the butter. Add the chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the flour and cook while stirring for 2 minutes (to cook out the flour taste)
Stir together the chicken stock, wine and lemon juice. Slowly add the wine mixture to the chicken, stirring any brown bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Toss in the spinach to wilt. Once the spinach is wilted in the sauce, add the parsley. Salt and Pepper to taste. Serve over tomatoes and pasta.

Asian Chicken Salad

Yes, this can count as healthy because there are tons of veggies in it and white chicken. So there! Plus, if you want, you can cut down on some of the oil and such. This recipe is courtesy of my awesome cousin, Tricia. Mother of 5 girls. Busy as can be. Positive as all get out! My husband gets so excited when we go to family functions and this salad is there.

4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
6 c. shredded cabbage
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 pkg. chicken flavored Top Ramen noodles, broken
1 c. slivered almonds, toasted (opt)
2 tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted (opt.)
1 bunch green onions, sliced
Dressing:
2 Tbs. sugar
½ c. oil
¼ c. soy sauce
Seasoning packages from noodles
Salt and pepper to taste
In large bowl combine all the salad ingredients. Mix together ingredients for dressing, pour over salad, mix and serve soon after. (The longer you let it sit after dressing poured on, the softer the ramen noodles are.)
Also, I sometimes buy the bag of coleslaw mix from the store and just use that – carrots and all. Saves time cutting cabbage.

Chicken Lollipops

I found this in a Parenting magazine and it is by Melissa d'Arabian. She has tons of great recipes that are fast, easy and inexpensive. Plus, she is a mom and is just cute. She doesn't realize we are friends.=) My son liked these so much that he pretty much ate everyone's. They are juicy and I was pretty excited that I didn't dry them out, because I am not great at cooking meat.

Preheat oven 50 400 degrees. Cut 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts into 6 equal pieces. In a medium bowl, combine 1 T olive oil, juice from 1/2 lemon (I used lemon juice), 2 T bbq sauce (Sweet baby ray's is the only way to go!), and salt and pepper. Toss on chicken until coated. Marinate for 15 minutes, then bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes, turning chicken once at 7 minutes. After cooked spear with a bamboo skewer. Make a dip with 1/4 c ranch and 1/4 t. chili powder.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

This is seriously yummy! It is from The Sisters Cafe, one of my favorite stops for awesome recipes! It is sweet and cheesy and crunchy and gooey. And super easy to make. I made it for a family I tutor and should have made double! My husband isn't a big fan of Mexican anything, but I can get away with these. Enjoy!

6 Tb honey
4.5 Tb lime juice
1 Tb chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 lb cooked chicken, shredded
flour tortillas
colby or monterey jack cheese, shredded
10 oz. can green enchilada sauce

Mix first 4 ingredients together and toss with shredded chicken. Let it “marinate” for at least a half hour. Pour some green enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 10×10 casserole dish or 9×13 pan. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese. Pour the rest of the can of green enchilada sauce over enchiladas then sprinkle with more cheese. (When using a 9×13 I like to use 1 1/2 10 oz. cans) Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. (Put it under the broiler at the end to make the cheese brown and crispy on the top.)

Sweet and Sour Chicken

My college roommate, Mikaila, used to make this for us all the time. It is sooo delicious! It is sweet and tangy and saucy.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

4-5 chicken breasts, chop into chunks. Put into a plastic bag with 1 c. flour, salt, pepper, garlic salt. Shake.

Boil sauce:

¾ c. sugar

1 T. soy sauce

½ c. white vinegar

Pinch of salt

5 T. ketchup

¼ c. pineapple juice and some chunks

Add chicken to a 9 by 13 dish and cover with sauce. Cook 2 cups rice.

45 minutes at 350.

Happy Birthday to Me: Mexican Chicken Casserole

Today is my whopping 31st birthday and I am ok with it. At least I better be, because I can't go back! lol As Pablo Picaso said, "It takes a long time to grow young."

I decided for my birthday, I would make myself my favorite meal, Mexican Chicken Casserole. My husband doesn't "love it", per say but my brother and sisters and my kids love it, so I thought I would make it for myself to celebrate my birth! Hubby is taking me out for a delicious Italian meal this weekend, so we're both happy.=)

This casserole is just delicious and I am a not a casserole person generally. But I love this stuff! I could eat it the second day. I could eat it for days! So enjoy!

(I borrowed this picture from this site because I haven't made it yet, but this is close enough to what it looks like!)

And here is the recipe!

Mexican Chicken Casserole

Boil 4 chicken breasts. Mix together 2 cans cream of chicken soup. 1 sauteed onion, 1 7 ounce can green chilis and 8 ounce sour cream, Tear up 12 corn tortillas and mix in. Pour into sprayed 9 by 13 pan. Sprinkle cheese over top. 350 for 30 min.

Easy Peasy!

Breaded Garlic Chicken in Lemon Butter Sauce

Wow! This stuff was absolutely yummy. My sister in law, Kellie, sent it over to me saying that her husband said it was "restaurant worthy" and yes, it was! It was eggy and breaded and the lemon was a delicious touch. I paired it with a lemon rice (that I'll post tomorrow), which I semi burned, but was able to salvage. I am not great at cooking rice without a rice cooker. Hence, the purpose of this blog.=) Here is the recipe and HERE is where I got it:

BREADED GARLIC CHICKEN IN LEMON-BUTTER SAUCE

*Note: if you prefer more sauce, since this makes a lighter, smaller amount of sauce, consider doubling the sauce ingredients.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup seasoned flour (1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper)
5 cloves of garlic, finely minced (see garlic tutorial here)
1 tablespoon parsley flakes or 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, from about 1 lemon
3 eggs
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 tablespoons butter


Place the seasoned flour in a large gallon-size ziploc bag. Set aside. In a shallow pie plate, beat the eggs until mixed and add the Parmesan cheese. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

In a large skillet, melt one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Let it begin to heat and sizzle while you prepare the chicken but be careful not to let the butter burn and turn brown.

Put the four chicken breasts in the bag with the seasoned flour, close the bag, and shake to coat the chicken in the flour. One by one, take the chicken out of the bag and dip into the egg/Parmesan mixture. Place the chicken carefully in the skillet with the hot oil/butter. Repeat with the other chicken breasts. Let the chicken cook on the first side, without moving or flipping the chicken, for 1-2 minutes until a nice, golden crust has formed. Carefully, using a wide spatula, flip the chicken and let it continue to cook for 1-2 minutes on the other side until it is golden brown. The chicken will flip easiest if it has had time to sizzle and cook to form a nice crust.

Remove the chicken to a 9X13-inch pan. Set aside while you make the sauce.

In the same skillet that you browned the chicken, melt the remaining four tablespoons butter. Add the minced garlic, lemon juice, and parsley. Simmer the sauce for 1-2 minutes, stirring and scraping up any browned bits that were on the bottom of the skillet.

Pour the sauce evenly over the chicken breasts and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Serve over noodles, rice or potatoes.

Pizza Heaven, here you come aka BBQ chicken pizza

What is better than homemade pizza? No store bought/delivery/etc. pizza can compare! And I have found the best pizza and dough recipe. The dough recipe on accident from my cousin, Rebecca, the pizza recipe from my sister-in-law! The best part about the dough is that it makes a little too much so that you can make breadsticks after! The first time I made this my oldest daughter (picky Ms. Pickerson) kept saying, "This is the best crust I have ever had!" So, enjoy! And be sure to have some kind of salad to cut the guilt in half. And while we're at it, what pizza combos does your family enjoy?

Pizza Dough

1 ½ c. water 2 T. sugar 4 t. yeast

4 T. oil 1 T. garlic salt 4 c. flour

2 t. salt 1 T. Italian season 375 for 15 min.

Seems like a lot of garlic salt, but it is right!

Let hot water, sguar and yeast sit for 10 minutes. Add the rest and knead for 10 minutes (or so) Let rise till double. This recipe takes longer to rise for some reason. Put cornmeal on the pan or spray it. I just recently bought my first pizza stone, thanks to my sister-in-law, Kellie, and yes, I did ask the pizza stone, "Where have you been all my life?!"

The pizza is simple and healthy and delicious and heaven!

Rotiserrie chicken or sautee a mixture of dark and white chicken. I find if you cook the red onion (1/2 cup) with the chicken first, it makes everything a little softer and more flavorful. Squeeze out as much as you like of Sweet Baby Rae's bbq sauce. You have to use this kind! It is the best!! It is at Smith's or anywhere,I think and you can get it for $1 on sale. One of the best kept secrets out there! Thank you, Mindy! Mix and put on pizza crust. Add cheese on top. Really, you can do it to your taste. I do half and half because my kids won't touch the chicken side!Cook 350 for 12-15 min.

Comfort me, comfort food!

I know, I know, this blog is terribly out of order. But I had to start with where I started taking pictures of my creations, so here we are with chicken noodle soup and rolls.

Actually, chicken noodle soup can be had anytime in my opinion!! And I did make up this recipe myself and have tweaked it over the years, which makes me feel pretty excited! And it's a crockpot recipe. What more can you ask for?

These rolls. These rolls I would just love to take credit for, but alas, they are from a woman in my church from my growing up days. She had 8 kids and when you have 8 kids, you best know how to make a su-weet roll! And she does. These are the best ever. Flaky, soft, crusty, yummy, don't even need butter. So good my brother in law had 8, yes 8!!!

Chicken Noodle Soup

3 cups water

1 can chicken broth

2 bouillon cubes

About 8-10 chicken legs

Cut up one onion

4 celery stalks

Cook on crockpot on low for 6 hours or so, till meat is falling off of bones

Take meat off bones and replace into broth. Add about 1 cup of carrots and wait till soft. Then put in curly egg noodles, I use no yolks, but you can use whatever floats your boat. 1 Tablespoon thyme. Must you thyme!!! Wait till soft. Oh, it's yummy!!!

Vicki Deaver’s Rolls

½ c. warm water

2 T. yeast (Let the water, yeast and sugar sit together for 10 minutes. They will start to bubble. It will make everything fluffier!)

½ c. sugar

Let sit for 10 minutes.

1 stick soft butter

1 c. warmed milk

2 eggs

1 t. salt

5 c. flour

Turn into a knot aka make into a snake and then a knot.

400 for 12 minutes