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Archive for the ‘Chicken’ Category

I love little kids this time of year….not that I don’t love little kids any time of the year, but this is just such a fun and magical time of year and the little kids are all looking forward to Christmas morning when they get to see what Santa has brought them and open the gifts that everyone else has given as well. Then to add to the excitement – being the Grandma that I am, a friend that I work with told me about Elf on a Shelf, so I got right on the ole computer and ordered one of those little elves to keep our home in order. The objective is that when you receive the elf, he doesn’t have a name yet – so the little ones get to name him, then kids aren’t supposed to touch the elf because he’ll lose his magic. Then each night while the kids are asleep, the elf flies back to the North Pole to report their behavior to Santa, then the elf shows up in a different location in the house each morning. Trust me, it’s been a great way to keep Londyn chilled out a little…..lol. Londyn named her elf Rosco – yeah, I know – Rosco P. Coltrain, hehehe, boy that brings back some memories, and never mind the fact that I’m totally dating myself.

I’ve posted some recipes for cookies this month, but I think that it’s also good to have some comfort food for some yummy dinners to go with the tasty cookie treats, just to keep up a healthy balance *wink, wink* so I figured that this would be fun to try out. I love chicken breasts and cheese and herbs, so that’s where the inspiration for this came from. It really doesn’t take that long to make this chicken either. Served up with a nice salad and it’s actually a pretty good winter time dinner.

Start with 2 oz prosciutto, chopped up fairly small and a little olive oil. Cook that for just a couple of minutes, then add 2 garlic cloves chopped up and some finely chopped fresh rosemary. Your family with thank you for those wonderful romas, and then your kitchen will. Cook for an additional minute then set aside to cool.

Grate some Fontina cheese and add the cooled prosciutto to it. Set that aside.

Take and cut a small pouch in each chicken breast. Then spoon the cheese mixture into the pouches.

In a separate bowl, pour 1 cup of plain bread crumbs and some salt and pepper, then in one more bowl combine 2 eggs and a little milk with a dab of Dijon mustard. Now dip the chicken in the egg wash, then dredge it in the bread crumbs and cook on both sides in a skillet with a little olive oil.

Then while those chicken breasts are cooking, in a separate skillet on the stove top, melt 3 tablespoons of butter and saute 1/4 cup of shallots. Then add 8 oz of mushrooms, roughly chopped. Cook until the mushrooms start to cook down and they start to release their moisture.

Then add 2 tablespoons of flour with some salt and pepper allowing the flour to cook for just a minute. Then add sour cream and whipping cream…..allow that to simmer for just a couple more minutes, until it’s thickened.

Serve that wonderful mushroom sauce over the chicken and watch your family fall in love. Then go ahead and savor, then melt and fall in love yourself.

Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Mushroom Sauce
Adapted from My Recipes.com

For the Chicken
2 oz chopped prosciutto
1 1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 C shredded Fontina cheese
4 skinless chicken breasts
1 C plain bread crumbs
2 eggs
1/4 C milk
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp olive oil

For the Sauce:
From Group Recipes
8 oz fresh mushrooms, roughly chopped
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 C minced shallot
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 C sour cream
1 C heavy whipping cream
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
In a non-stick skillet, spray with cooking spray and saute prosciutto for 2 minutes, add rosemary and garlic to the pan; saute for 1 minute longer. Set mixture aside and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in cheese. Cut a horizontal slit in each chicken breast half to form a pocket. Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of cheese mixture into each breast. Place bread crumbs in a shallow dish, combine eggs, milk and mustard in a separate shallow dish and whisk together. Working with one chicken breast at a time, dip each one into the milk mixture, then dredge in the bread crumbs, coating chicken completely. Heat non-stick skillet over medium heat, add oil to the pan and add chicken. Cook 10 minutes on each side or until browned and done through.

For the sauce:
Over medium heat, melt butter then saute shallot for 2 minutes. Then add mushrooms and saute for an additional 2 minutes or until the mushrooms start to release their moisture. Then add flour and salt and pepper and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add heavy whipping cream and sour cream and allow to simmer until thickened. Pour over chicken and serve immediately. Serves 4

Here in the local area, we have a very well known little Greek restaurant where the food is just phenomenal. I haven’t had a bad meal from our little Greek restaurant ever! One of my favorite things about Greek food is the lemon rice that is served with so many of their dishes, that fresh lemony flavor just slays me every time, so  for several years now, I’ve hunted for the perfect lemon rice recipe……well, finally my dream has been realized…….and I shed a little tear!

A friend at work shared these recipes with me and I’ve actually made them several times since – they’re just fantastic and so easy!

I started with a little mayo and some Greek salad dressing. Mixing them together and then pouring the entire contents into a 1 gallon ziplock bag……this sat in the fridge for a few hours.

When I was ready to finish my dinner……my mouth was watering as I was getting my ingredients together for this….I started with a half cube of butter (yes I said a half of a cube of butter) but hang with me okay?

Once the luscious butter was all melted, I added rice and just gave it a good stir a couple of times.

Ok, now some chicken broth, garlic salt and of course…..my favorite seasoning…..fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Once the lemon has been stirred into the mixture, be sure you don’t stir any more as it will make the rice mushy….eww! Cover it all and let it simmer for about 20 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.

While the rice is doing the happy dance on the stove, fire up the grill and cook your chicken. 4 – 5 minutes on each side for breast tenders…..or until they have a golden brown finish…..like these.

Throw it all on a plate and enjoy folks…….a wonderful, easy, Greek meal doesn’t require tons of time in the kitchen.

What’s your favorite Greek dish….I would love to know!

Grilled Greek Chicken
Ingredients:
1 C Kraft Greek Dressing
1/2 C Mayonnaise

Mix dressing and mayo together in mixing bowl, and place both the mayo mixture and chicken in a gallon ziplock back. Marinade for 3-5 hours.

Lemon Rice
Ingredients:
1 cube Imperial Margarine
1 cup reg long grain rice (not instant)
1 can Swanson’ chicken broth
1/3 C lemon juice
Garlic salt and pepper

Melt margarine in med sauce pan and add rice. Sprinkle on garlic salt (about 2-3 shakes) and pepper (2-3 shakes). Coat rice thoroughly, stirring frequently but not browning.

Slowly add can of chicken broth. Add lemon juice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until cooked through. DO NOT stir rice once you have covered it – this makes it mushy. Takes about 20-25 minutes total.

Weeknights at our house are usually busy, between taking care of a little one and finding something quick and yummy, yet nutritious to fix for dinner, things can get a little hectic. So in the past, I’ve made things during the weekends that we could reheat on the weekdays, and that works pretty good most of the time unless we have a weekend where we’re out of town or I just simply haven’t had any time to work on cooking those things, so what I came up with for a good way to fix something fresh as well is this….can’t believe I didn’t do it before now.

My family loves things that are grilled or cooked on the NuWave……if you ever have the chance to invest in one, I highly recommend doing so. Any type of meat that you want throw in there comes out so incredibly juicy and full of flavor, I can’t believe the difference. Shrimp cooked on the NuWave is the only way to go, I’ve never had shrimp turn out dry or rubbery, it’s always perfect! Grilling is a great way to go too, we grill even through the winter. Whether you’re grilling or NuWaving, these are just such great ways to go.

This past weekend, I thought of a way to marinate chicken and basically have it ready to go onto the grill or in the NuWave the minute I get home from work. This is also a great way to make sure the meat absorbs those flavors better too.

I like to buy the McCormick Grill Mates for a lot of the grilled meats that I cook. I also have some marinates that I make myself, but I’ll talk about that another day. The Grill Mates are fast and easy to mix up and you can do it all right there in the freezer bag you’re going to use. Just follow the directions on the back of the package, (personally use rice vinegar instead of cider vinegar for these) shake it up and add your chicken, pork or seafood and you’re done. Make sure to squish as much air out of the bad as you can before zipping the bag up and toss it in the freezer.

When you’re ready to use it, just place it in the fridge all day and whaala, it’s ready to grill, bake or NuWave by the time you’re home from work. Fix a veggie and some rice and you’ve got yourself a quick, yummy, satisfying and economical meal in no time. Just be sure to label each  one so that you know what it is that you’re going to thaw out.

Around here, we like BBQ just about any time of the day, night, or season so I make sure to keep plenty of BBQ sauce on hand whether it’s made right here in my kitchen or bought from the store, I always have some on hand just in case of that emergency when someone is just itching for that flavor.

I love to grill through the summer months, but it sure gets harder for me to get outside to light the grill in the winter months, so that’s when I move it into the kitchen. This was actually inspired by the Pioneer Woman, she’s really an awesome lady and I read her blog posts just about every day – I’ve tried several of her recipes and they’re all super good, the family thinks so too!

I started by browning some chicken breasts in a little olive oil with some salt and pepper sprinkled over it.

Then I set the chicken on a plate and chopped up some onions and garlic and cooked them in the oil. It’s starting to smell really good now.

Once the onions have softened a bit, I added some whiskey and let that simmer and reduce a bit.

Then I added some red current jelly to the mixture.

And finally some BBQ sauce and then stirred the mixture.

Now the star of the show…..the chicken. Just add that back into the sauce, cover and let it just simmer for a bit, until it’s no longer pink inside and really tender.

Serve with some rice pilaf and you’ve got yourself a pretty dang good meal!

Whiskey BBQ Chicken
Adapted from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:
2 – 3 Tbsp olive oil
4 chicken breasts
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, diced
1/2 C whiskey
1/2 C red currant jelly
1/2 – 3/4 C BBQ sauce

Directions:
In a dutch oven or non-stick skillet, brown chicken on both sides, set aside and add chopped onions and garlic and saute until onions are transparent. Add whiskey and allow to reduce, about 5 minutes. Add jelly and BBQ sauce, add chicken back into the pan, cover and simmer on low for 30 – 45 minutes. Serves 4

It’s been awhile since we were able to enjoy a nice warm day with BBQ chicken and I get a hankering for that BBQ spice taste every once in awhile. With the colder weather though, I still want the comfort type foods too, so it only makes sense that I put this together for a quick evening meal. It’s both satisfying and comforting.

I started with some chicken tenderloins, some BBQ sauce (I cheated and used some that I purchased), flour and some cooking oil.

I heated the cooking oil in a dutch oven, but this step can be accomplished in a skillet too. Dredge the chicken in a little flour and brown it on both sides, just a couple of minutes each side. If you’re using a skillet to brown the chicken, it can then be placed in an oven safe baking dish and covered.

Be sure to sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the chicken as you go, just to taste.

I don’t use any measurements here, just be sure that you add a little water with the BBQ sauce, and just some of the wonderful, delicious…….awesome smelling stuff over the top of the chicken. It’s making my mouth water all over again!

Pop that chicken in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes………Yum!

You won’t need a knife to cut this stuff, but you’ll need to have plenty of chicken for everyone to have a lot, because this stuff goes fast! I served it with some green bean casserole – as you can see in the background there…….who says green bean casserole is just for the holidays, right? Either way, you really have to try this stuff, it’s simple and delicious and did I mention easy?

Oven BBQ Chicken

1 Lb chicken tenderloins
1/2 C flour
BBQ sauce (your favorite flavor)
1/4 C cooking oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Dredge chicken in the flour, sprinkle salt and pepper over chicken and brown on both sides (about 2 – 3 minutes each side). Place browned chicken in an oven safe baking dish, add water and BBQ sauce and cover. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serve warm. Serves 4

Well, we spent our weekend getting ready for a storm that is moving in. That meant that Mr. was outside preparing our trailer for winter and blowing the sprinkler lines out, along with several other things on the agenda. The good news is that we completed many of the things that we wanted to, with the exception of the outside windows, that will keep for another weekend.

I found this chicken recipe while surfing around, I’ve made a couple of minor changes to it, but it was still super good and the family really liked every bit of it. This was so easy and I couldn’t believe that amount of flavor that this had.

I started with some chicken breast tenders, stone ground mustard maple syrup and flour.

I combined the mustard and the syrup and set that aside, sprayed the little covered baking dish with a little cooking spray and set that aside too.

Then using a non-stick skillet, I dredged the chicken in some flour and just barely browned it on both sides.

Then the chicken fit perfectly in my little baking dish, I poured the mustard and syrup mixture over the chicken.

This is what it looked like when it came out of the oven, and I will tell you this is delicious! Simple and Delicious!!!!

Maple Mustard Chicken
Adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:
8 – 10 boneless skinless chicken breast tenders
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup stone-ground mustard

Directions:
Place chicken in a 2 quart baking pan. In a small bowl, combine the syrup and mustard; pour over chicken. Cover and cook at 350 for 40 – 45 minutes, or until meat is tender. Serve with rice.  5 servings.