I'm back!

I'm back from my hiatus! 

I truly didn't mean to take a hiatus, but immediatly following Ryan's birthday party (actually sort of in the middle of the party), we started not feeling very well.  When I'm sick, I'm a baby.  I did nothing.  Literally nothing for a week.  I didn't even take photos at Ryan's birthday party.  I could tell the birthday boy wasn't feeling all that great and did NOT want a camera in his face.

The next week I was feeling better, so that meant catching up on all of the house stuff I let slide the week before.  Things like laundry and the dishes.  I filled the dishwasher, emptied it, and immediatly filled it again with the dishes sitting in our sink.  Yes, there were that many.

The first meal I made after not cooking for a week was...chicken fingers.  Yes, we've had them a lot since I first posted them.  What can I say?  We like kid food around here.  Heck, I sometimes even order off the kids' menu.  I had a waitress once ask me if I wanted my burger brought out in the car-shaped basket.  I told her a regular basket was just fine.

I did alter the breading a bit this time.  Ryan wasn't thrilled with the panko bread crumbs.  I happened to be out of them, so I found a packet of Shake N Bake and a bottle of Mrs. Dash Italian Seasoning in the pantry and made up my own breading.  :)

Crunchy Chicken Fingers

- Part 2 -

Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken tenders
• 1 packet of Shake N Bake for chicken
• 1 Tbls of Italian seasoning (I used Mrs. Dash)
• 1 Tbls of parmesean cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Lay a wire rack on a baking sheet and spray it with non-stick spray. In a separate bowl, mix Shake N Bake, seasoning, and cheese.  Dip the chicken tenders in the mix and coat thoroughly, then lay on the baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining chicken.
3. Spray each chicken piece lightly with cooking spray (it will help them crisp) and bake for 12 minutes. Flip and bake for 12 more. Let cool.

Ryan liked these a lot better than the first version I made.  I liked them too, but prefer the first version.  I will probably rotate the two types. 

I did not attempt to make french fries again.  We had garlic bread instead.  :)

Healthy chicken fingers

Sometimes I feel like Ryan and I are just two giant kids. 

We don't eat anything that's particularly fancy or out of the ordinary.  Neither of us eat seafood.  We like chicken, beef, potatoes, pizza, ketchup (me), ranch dressing (him), and chocolate.

A lot of those items aren't particularly healthy, so when I stumbled upon a recipe for crispy baked chicken fingers, I couldn't wait to try them.

Crunchy Chicken Fingers

Recipe courtesy of How Sweet It Is

 Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken tenders  (I used two chicken breasts, butterflied, and cut into strips)
• 2 cups low-fat buttermilk  (I used powdered buttermilk)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 cups panko bread crumbs
• 1 cup corn flake crumbs
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Note:  This amount of breading is enough for probably 3 lbs of chicken.  I will either half or third this the next time I make it.

Directions:

1. Soak chicken tenders in buttermilk for 2 to 24 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
3. Lay a wire rack on a baking sheet and spray it with non-stick spray.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, panko, corn flake crumbs, salt. and pepper.  Dip the chicken tenders in the panko mix and coat thoroughly, then lay on the baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining chicken.
4. Spray each chicken piece lightly with cooking spray (it will help them crisp) and bake for 12 minutes. Flip and bake for 12 more. Let cool.

I really enjoyed these.  After one bite, Ryan said he wasn't sure about the breading.  That didn't stop him from eating all of the chicken fingers, minus the three I ate.  After the last one, he declared them good.

I ate mine with a gallon of ketchup, and Ryan paired his with a gallon of ranch dressing.

We will be having these again.  And soon.

Crispy Herb Baked Chicken

I'm back with another recipe! 

The last two weekends have been wedding filled.  Last weekend was my cousin's wedding in Virginia, and this weekend was the wedding of our good friends Marcin and Jessica.  I feel like I haven't stopped since we left for our roadtrip last Friday morning.

I figured that since I haven't cooked or posted in over a week, that I would make something that hasn't been featured on the blog yet.  Tonight we had Crispy Herb Baked Chicken.

Crispy Herb Baked Chicken

Recipe courtesy of my Hungry Jack Mashed Potatoes box

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cups mashed potato flakes
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 chicken breasts - boneless, skinless
• 2/4 tsp garlic salt or powder
• 2 tsp parsley flakes
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Line bottom of 9 x 13 pan with foil.  Melt margarine and brush/dip chicken in margarine.  Mix parmesan cheese, parsley flakes and garlic salt together and dip chicken.  Coat chicken with remaining potato flakes.
3. Bake at 375 degrees F for 45 to 60 minutes or until chicken is fork-tender and juices run clear.

I love this recipe.  It's simple, quick, and tasty.

It Just Felt Like a Shish Kabob Kind of Day

Lately, I've been trying to be more diligent about not wasting food.  It's just the two of us usually, so we generally end up with leftovers that never get eaten.  I attempted to use an entire package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for two meals this weekend - and I succeeded!  Friday we had Bruschetta Chicken Bake (I halfed the recipe), and Saturday night we had Chicken Kabobs. 

In keeping with the whole "not wasting food" thing, I'm saving the half can of diced tomatoes from Friday night for the tacos we're having tonight and the other half of the stuffing package for the next time we have the chicken bake.  I just wrote on the pouch what it is and put it in a Ziploc baggie.

I hadn't made shish kabobs in a loooooong time and didn't have any skewers on-hand.  When we went grocery shopping Friday night, I picked up a package of bamboo skewers and almost put them in our basket.  At the last second (yes it was literally the last second - my husband pushes the cart and doesn't like to dilly-dally at the grocery store), I spoted some beautiful metal skewers with wooden handles.  In the basket they went!

We normally just marinade our chicken in Italian dressing, but I wanted to try something different this time.  My sister-in-law used a McCormick Montreal Seasoning marinade on steak one time, and I loved it!  So when I saw Montreal Chicken Seasoning, I knew we'd have to try it. 

I just used the marinade recipe on the bottle of seasoning.  I did have to make a run to Kroger to pick up the white wine vinegar it calls for, but other than that, I had everything on hand to make the marinade.

  

Italian Herb Marinade

Coutesy of McCormick

• MIX 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon Seasoning and 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Italian Seasoning.
• ADD 1 pound chicken; marinate 1 to 2 hours.
• GRILL.

That's basically it!  I added cut up green and yellow peppers and some onion.  Next time we are going to grab a red pepper (we missed it somehow) and some mushrooms.  They were pretty tasty, but I think we might go back to the Italian dressing marinade next time for the kabobs and just use the McCormick marinade when we grill chicken by itself.

Stay tuned for Taco Night!

"Make Yourself a Dang Quesadilla!"

Bonus ponits if you know what movie the title is from.  :)

Tonight I made quesadillas for the second time in about a week.  The first time, my photo didn't turn out so well, so I waited to post until I had a better one.  Ryan and I really like these and have decided to put them into regular dinner rotation.  I also think they'll be a great quick meal when/if we ever have children or have our nephews over when they're older.

Quick and Easy Chicken Quesadillas

Ingredients:

• 3-5 oz. can of chicken
• 1/4 cup salsa
• 4 8-inch flour tortillas
• 1 cup finely shredded cheese (I used a Mexican mix)
• Sour cream and extra salsa for serving (if desired)

Directions:

1. Mix chicken and salsa in a small bowl.
2. Layer two of the tortillas with 1/2 of the chicken mixture and 1/2 of the cheese.  Top each with the remaining two tortillas.
3. Cook each quesadilla uncovered over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until golden brown.
4. Cut quesadillas into wedges and serve with sour cream and salsa.

 

That's it!  I told you it was super simple!

Ryan actually prefers his with only chicken and cheese, so I made his and then mixed my portion of the chicken with the salsa.  I also found that I prefer to use less salsa than the recipe calls for.

Super Simple Chicken Alfredo

I made this recipe up all by myself!  Seriously though, it's nothing really to be proud of.  A monkey probably could have put it together, but the important part is that we enjoy it! 

Chicken Alfredo

Ingredients:

• 1/2 box of pasta (whatever kind you'd like.  I've used bow-tie and penne.)
• Jar of alfredo sauce (I use Ragu)
• 1/2 bag of frozen broccoli
• 1 can canned chicken, drained

Directions:

1. Prepare pasta as directed on box. 
2. While you're making the pasta, defrost the broccoli and then mix with pasta sauce and chicken.  Heat well. 
3. Drain pasta and mix with sauce. 
4. Serve.  :)

  

That's it!  I told you it was super easy.  :)  You could probably make it a little fancier with some mushrooms or sun-dried tomatoes, but all I had on hand was broccoli.  Oh, and some garlic bread would be good too!  I made this on Saturday for just me and Ryan.  We had no leftovers.  I'd say that's a successful meal!

Ryan's new favorite

I tried out a recipe to use up some chicken and mozzarella cheese I had in the fridge.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.  This one worked and is slowly becoming one of Ryan's favorite dinners.  I think it's just okay.  I don't mind eating it, and it will go into regular rotation, but I don't LOVE it quite as much as Ryan...

Bruschetta Chicken Bake
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/bruschetta-chicken-bake-65546.aspx

 

Makes: 6 servings, 1 cup each

300 calories per serving

Ingredients:

• 1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cloves garlic, minced  (I use 1/4 tsp garlic powder)
• 1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 tsp. dried basil leaves
• 1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:

1. HEAT oven to 400ºF.
2. MIX tomatoes, stuffing mix, water and garlic just until stuffing mix is moistened.
3. LAYER chicken, basil and cheese in 3-qt. casserole or 13x9-inch baking dish.
4. TOP with stuffing. Bake 30 min. or until chicken is done.