Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Again, yum.
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/04/baked-creamy-chicken-taquitos/

The directions and pictures are on their blog, so it would be easier for you to just click on the link.  But here's what you'll need, ingredient-wise.

And no, I don't use sliced green onions.  Ew.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos
print recipe text only

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken (for extra yumminess, use grilled taco chicken!)
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

small corn tortillas (and actually, flour ones are really good as well)
kosher salt
cooking spray

Chicken'n'Cream

This is an old family favorite.  My mom's made it ever since I can remember.  There's not really a recipe, per se, but I'll do my best.

You'll need:
Cubed chicken
Garlic (or garlic powder, if you don't have fresh garlic)
A few bouillon cubes
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
Rice

Sauté garlic and cubed chicken.  Cook until chicken is done (juices are clear).  Add enough water to cover the chicken and chicken bouillon for flavor (I usually use about 3).  Bring to boil.  Add whipping cream and let cook for a few minutes.  Thicken with cornstarch/water mixture (or flour/water mixture).  Serve over cooked rice.  Yum!

Makes good leftovers, too.  When Spencer's in one of those "moods" (where all he wants to eat is cheese), this is the one thing he'll eat.

Chicken Pozole Soup (Mexican soup)

Okay I know that the weather is finally getting warm and soup isn't always the greatest idea, but if you have a cold day this is not hard to make and has refreshing garnish ideas.


Chicken Pozole Soup
 3 chicken breasts

1 medium onion-diced

2 Tbsp diced garlic

2-3 Red chili peppers soaked in hot water

2 cans diced tomatoes w/oregano and basil

(or add some more of these spices to the soup)

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

1 large can hominy drained and lightly rinsed

3-4 c. chicken broth (I use hot water and bouillon)

garnish with cilantro, sour cream, avocado or guacamole

Serve with tortilla chips

Sorry I forgot a few items that are featured below.  I am sometimes really lazy and don't want to  dice up my own garlic and keep this jar of garlic in the fridge.

Dice up dried (I use fresh) chili’s and let soak in about 1 cup of hot water (warmed in the microwave).

Dice chicken and brown in large pot with a little bit of oil.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Sauté onion and garlic until onion is soft. 

Add cumin and oregano

Add chicken broth/water and bouillon (I usually do 3 c water and 4 tsp bouillon and add the other 1 c from the soaked red peppers), hominy, tomatoes, and heat until hot.

Add soaked red peppers, add more salt and pepper as need

Garnish with these items or anything else that sounds great. 

And here's the end result!!  So yummy!

Santa Fe Chicken

A friend sent this to me as one of her "food storage" recipes -- something you eat when it's the end of the world and you don't have anything else more worthwhile to eat. But it's delicious, and (especially if the chicken is precooked) it's super fast.

In a large skillet, boil

• 2 cubed chicken breasts*
• 1 cup of salsa**
• 1 cup water
• 1 packet taco seasoning***

*I used precooked shredded chicken.
**I always throw my salsa in the blender and whirl it up. I don't like chunks and neither do some of my kids, but if it's blended we'll lap it right up on its own or in recipes.
***We use taco seasoning in several recipes, so instead of dropping 70 cents each time, we bought a big container of it from Costco for $3.50. If you do the same, you'll use about 2.5-3 Tbps of seasoning.

Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked (or warmed in my case). Stir in

• 1 can black beans
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice

Heat through. If you have to cook the chicken, this whole thing can take maybe 20 minutes start-to-finish. But if your chicken and your rice are already cooked, you're looking at 5-10 minutes total.


You can top this with sour cream and cheese and eat with corn and tortilla chips, or you can throw these in a wrap like we did last night. Might I recommend getting super fancy and buying a pack of jalapeno cheddar burrito shells and garnishing with lettuce, cheese and sour cream. Amazing.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

If you've ever lived in Rexburg, this kind of reminds me of the Sweet and Sour sauce at Fongs. It's certainly closer to the Eastern Idaho take on Chinese food than the sauces I get here in northern Idaho.

For the sauce, boil

• 1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 6 Tbsp ketchup
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 can pineapple juice

At first the ketchup will look globby and gross like this.


But don't worry, when it boils it gets better.

Pour the sauce onto some precooked chicken, about three chicken breasts-worth. I like to use shredded chicken, since I always have cooked shredded chicken in my freezer. But you can cube and cook it over the stove or whatever you want. (You can also coat the chicken in an egg, flour, cornstarch and garlic salt concoction, but that's way too much work in my mind.)


Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. In the meantime, make yourself some perfect rice in the microwave. Top the rice with the chicken and sauce and enjoy.


By the way, this also makes fantastic leftovers.

Lemon Basil Chicken

I made this in the crock pot, it was so easy and very good. My husband LOVES lemon, and that's an understatement. So if you don't want the lemon as strong only 1/2 it.

4 servings
Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breasts
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/4 C. Water
1/2 C. Lemon juice
1t. Basil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Put all ingredients in the crock pot. Cook on low 6-8 hours, or high 3-4. If the sauce seems to thin just add about 1T. corn starch. I shredded my chicken. If you want to leave the breasts whole you could, but you might need to add more.

Serving Suggestions:
Cous cous, rice & Asparagus, broccoli, Salad

7-Up Chicken-Dutchoven turned oven recipe.

Got this awesome recipe from my Aunt Verla years ago and my Mom figured out how to do it in the oven.  Easily a family favorite, Home style meal.

Makes a lot, so you may want to half it.  Serves 8-10 depending on how much chicken you want.

Basic ingredients: 

1/2-1 pound bacon

little flour

8 chicken breast or 12 thighs

Lawry's seasoning salt

Garlic powder

pepper

Carrots 

potatoes

onions

1 can of 7-UP

Butter/margarine

Fry up bacon.  I cut mine before with my kitchen shears to make it easier. 

Then  place your bacon in the roasting pan.  Save the bacon grease to brown your chicken.

Flour your chicken breast and then pan fry them in the bacon grease.  Add more oil if needed.

Then placed browned chicken breasts  in roasting pan.  Season LIBERALLY with Lawry's seasoning salt, garlic powder, and pepper.  This is where it gets most of the flavor.  I do it over board and then do some more.  You can always add it later in your cooking if it isn't flavorful enough for you.

I just use baby carrots so I don't have to cut them.  (I go for easy) And then I quarter a large onion when I'm making a half batch, but quantities all depend on your own preference of vegetables.

Then I peel the potatoes and throw them through my Bosch food processor french fry cutter (Love my Bosch)  A whole post in itself I'm telling you!!

Add 1 cube of butter/margarine, 1 cup of water, a can of 7-up and into the oven at 350 degrees.  Now depending on the size of your potatoes it can take between almost 1.5-2.5 hours .  With my potatoes cut like this 1.5 hours is usually sufficient.  If you are still in a dutch oven, it cooks over hot coals for about 45 minutes -1 hour. 

NOTE: this is not a meal that freezes well for later,unless you removed some for freezing before all the vegetables are done.  Otherwise you loose all the texture once you freeze it.  I suggest just halving and eating leftovers for a small family.

Sloppy Chicken

This is much like many chicken crockpot dishes out there. But somehow this was so stinking easy (I made it while on bed rest) and really, REALLY yummy.

Into the crockpot, toss:

2 chicken breasts (I threw mine in frozen 'cause I hadn't planned ahead)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Cook on low for 5-6 hours, stirring once in a while (I think I remembered once, maybe twice). We pulled the chicken into lots of pieces (basically shredded it) and served all of it over rice.

I had low expectations for the Ritz -- I thought they would turn into gross mush. But they dissolved entirely into the mixture -- you wouldn't even know they were there. Yet I swear they did something for the overall texture and taste. Delicious.

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Man, people are really slacking on posting on this blog (and by "people", I mean me!) Here's a really easy and delicious recipe for bbq chicken sandwiches.

4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup ketchup
2 T mustard
2 t lemon juice
1/4 t garlic powder
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t chili powder
1/8 t cayenne pepper

Place chicken breasts into the bottom of a slow cooker. In seperate bowl, stir together remaining ingredients (*I always forget to do this-- I just throw everything into the crock pot*) Pour the sauce over the chicken, set cooker to low and cook for 6 hours. Shred the chicken with 2 forks and cook for 30 more minutes. Serve on hamburger buns.

Grandma Roy's Creamy Chicken Soup

2 chicken breasts
3 carrots diced
2 onions, chopped
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1 1/2 cup celery, chopped
water to cover
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour

In large kettle, place chicken, carrots, onions, parsley and celery. Add water. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer 45-50 minutes or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken and vegetables and boil liquid until you have 3 cups* remaining. Stir in milk. In a bowl, cream butter and flour into a paste. Stir into water and milk. Simmer and stir over low heat until soup bubbles and thickens. Dice or shred the cooled chicken and return it and vegetables to the soup.

*Before adding the milk, flour and butter, you can freeze half of the soup to use next time. If so, half the milk to 1 1/2 cups, the butter to 1/4 cup and the flour to 1/4 cup. With the frozen half, just thaw and warm then add milk, butter and flour.

White Chili

White Chili

3-4 15 oz. cans of white chili beans

2-3 cups uncooked cubes of chicken

1 t. cumin powder

1 t. chili powder

1 t. garlic salt

1 cup white onion, cut up

2 T. butter

6 cup chicken soup stock, or prepared bouillon

1 c. salsa

Sauté onions and chicken in butter, add to rest of ingredients. Cook until hot.

*I made mine in the crock pot and it worked great. I had uncooked white chili beans (not canned), so I let them cook in the crock pot for a while before adding the rest of the ingredients. I didn’t measure exactly some of the ingredients; just go by taste. It was super yummy and made for good leftovers*

Easy Enchiladas

Whenever we make enchiladas, we make chicken ones, since that's what we both prefer. But we've got lots of frozen hamburger that needs to be eaten before we move in 2 months... so I went searching for an easy beef enchilada recipe and here's what I found. From cooks.com. It was pretty tasty... and so easy!

EASY ENCHILADAS

Flour or wheat tortillas
1 lb. ground beef or chicken
1 can green or red enchilada sauce
1 pkg. cream cheese
1 pkg. shredded cheese

Melt cream cheese in microwave until very soft. Add half of can of enchilada sauce to cream cheese, reserve remainder.

Cook beef or chicken and add to mixture.

Heat tortillas in microwave for about 20 seconds or until warm. Place mixture in tortillas and wrap.

Place enchiladas in baking dish.

Pour shredded cheese and remaining sauce over top.

Bake 20 minutes or until hot at 325˚.*

*We're almost at sea level, so I had to cook mine at a hotter oven temp*

The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Parmigiana

I made this tasty recipe for my anniversary and my husband thought (and still thinks I am) a gourmet cook. If you want to see her step by step directions with pictures click here. Mine looked like this:

Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 45 Minutes Difficulty: Easy Servings: 6

Ingredients
4 whole (up To 6) Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Trimmed And Pounded Flat
½ cups All-purpose Flour
Salt And Pepper, to taste
½ cups Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Medium Onion, Chopped
4 cloves Garlic, Minced
¾ cups Wine (white Or Red Is Fine)(I used Chicken Broth instead)
3 cans (14.5 Oz.) Crushed Tomatoes
2 Tablespoons Sugar
¼ cubes Chopped Fresh Parsley
1 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 pound Thin Linguine

Preparation Instructions

Mix flour, salt, and pepper together on a large plate.
Dredge flattened chicken breasts in flour mixture. Set aside.
At this time, you can start a pot of water for your pasta. Cook linguine until al dente.

Heat olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium heat. When butter is melted and oil/butter mixture is hot, fry chicken breasts until nice and golden brown on each side, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Remove chicken breasts from the skillet and keep warm.

Without cleaning skillet, add onions and garlic and gently stir for 2 minutes. Pour in wine and scrape the bottom of the pan, getting all the flavorful bits off the bottom. Allow wine to cook down until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.

Pour in crushed tomatoes and stir to combine. Add sugar and more salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cook for 30 minutes. Toward the end of cooking time, add chopped parsley and give sauce a final stir.

Carefully lay chicken breasts on top of the sauce and completely cover them in grated Parmesan. Place lid on skillet and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer until cheese is melted and chicken is thoroughly heated. Add more cheese to taste.

Place cooked noodles on a plate and cover with sauce. Place chicken breast on top and sprinkle with more parsley. Serve immediately.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Preparation Time: 30 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Servings: 6

1 package (6 ounces) long-grain and wild rice mix, prepared according to package directions
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 (about 8 oz. total) boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped (OR USE ½ ROTISSERIE CHICKEN INSTEAD)
2 cups (8 ounces) sliced fresh mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon, crushed (I left it out the first time, still good)
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
12 oz. can evaporated milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Sliced green onions (optional)
Toasted slivered almonds (optional)

HEAT vegetable oil in large saucepan. Add chicken, mushrooms, chopped onion and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender and chicken is no longer pink.

ADD rice, broth, tarragon, thyme, salt and pepper; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Combine small amount of evaporated milk and cornstarch in small bowl; stir until smooth. Add to saucepan with remaining evaporated milk. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 5 minutes or until soup is thickened. Garnish with green onions and almonds.

FOR FREEZE AHEAD:
PREPARE as above; do not top with green onions and almonds. Cool soup completely. Place in airtight container; freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in refrigerator.
HEAT in large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes or until heated through. Garnish with green onions and almonds.

Chicken Won Ton Salad

This is an easy to throw together salad that we use as a main dish or a side dish.  You can eat a ton of it, so get plenty of lettuce.  All the amounts are personal preference.  Hope you enjoy!

Lettuce (green leaf/Romaine with iceberg)

Chicken breasts diced and sautéed

Sesame seeds-toasted with little oil

Won ton wrappers lightly fried

Tear lettuce to bite-sized pieces, top with sautéed chicken, and toasted sesame seeds.  Top with dressing and slightly crushed fried won tons.

Dressing-

½ c sugar

1/2 c white vinegar

2 Tbsp salt

Combine the ingredient in a pan and bring to boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Let cool, then add:

½ tsp pepper

½ c vegetable oil

Lemon Pesto Chicken

Super easy recipe. Here's what the original recipe calls for:

1 T. oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/4 cup uncooked rice
2 cans chicken broth
1 T. lemon peel
1/2 T. pesto
1/2 t. pepper
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, saute chicken and garlic in oil. Stir in rice, broth, lemon, pesto & pepper. Cover and simmer 20-25 minutes, or liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese just before serving.

K, now my variations:
I never have chicken broth, so I used water and bouillon cubes and made my own. I also never use a real lemon, I use lemon juice instead (still about a tablespoon, maybe a little more, depends on how lemon-y you want it). I also never use pesto, I just sprinkle some Italian Seasoning over the whole thing instead. I usually use real garlic, but I discovered I didn't have any this time, so I used garlic salt. This is really easy to make and it makes a TON. Cory and I both had generous helpings, and we've got enough leftovers for at least 3 more servings.

Almond Chicken

I love this recipe. It is my husband's favorite and whenever we make it for anyone, they always ask for the recipe. Its much better than restaurant chinese food.

Almond Chicken

1. Cut chicken breast into bite size pieces (one big chicken breast will easily feed two people) and coat pieces in egg and then cornstarch mixed with a little garlic salt.

2. Pan fry in a small amount of vegetable oil until barely brown. Put pieces in casserole dish.

3. Mix the following sauce and put in the casserole dish with chicken. This amount of sauce will work for one chicken breast. You will likely have to double it for two.

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c chicken broth (I generally put 1/4 c water and a bullion cube undissolved and it will dissolve as it cooks)

1/2 c vinegar

4 Tbs Ketchup

1 Tbs Soy Sauce

4. Cover with sliced almonds.

5. Cover casserole dish with lid or aluminum foil. Cook in 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Serve over rice.

Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 T. mustard
1 T. honey
1 t. apple cider vinegar
2 green onions, chopped
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Directions:
Mix mayonnaise, mustard, honey, vinegar and onions. Grill chicken breasts and brush with mixture.

My variation:
I used low-fat mayonnaise and it tasted fine. I also left out the green onions cause I don't like them. Some of the mixture kept falling of the chicken and making a mess on the grill... so next time we make this, I'm going to grill the chicken a little bit then brush on the mixture so it sticks better. Still, this was very, very tasty -- and very simple. I served it with brown rice and some veggies. It also tastes good warmed up, as leftovers.

Chicken Potato Casserole

This super simple and delicious recipe is perfect to freeze ahead of time, then thaw and bake on nights when you just can't face the kitchen.


Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes


Ingredients:
10 oz. can condensed reduced fat and sodium cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1-1/4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
3-1/2 cups frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1-1/2 cups frozen peppers and onions, thawed
1-1/4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1-1/2 cups crushed potato chips

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine soup, sour cream, milk, chicken and 1-1/4 cups cheese. Spread three-quarters of this mixture in a greased 2-quart baking dish.
Sprinkle hash browns and peppers and onions over the top of the casserole and press down lightly, then top vegetables with remaining soup mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and potato chips.
Bake casserole, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving. 8 servings
To freeze, assemble casserole as directed, except do not thaw potatoes, peppers, or onions and do not sprinkle with potato chips. Wrap casserole in freezer wrap or heavy duty foil and freeze. Reserve potato chips in pantry. To thaw and bake, let thaw overnight in refrigerator. Uncover and bake at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes until bubbly. Then top with crushed potato chips and bake 5-10 minutes longer.

Chicken on the BBQ

This is the easiest recipe ever (Jade, even you can make it!!)

You need:
chicken breasts
BBQ sauce (whatever brand you prefer)
Italian dressing

That's it. Oh, and a barbeque. Mix equal parts barbeque sauce and Italian dressing, and let the chicken marinade. We never have the forethought to let ours marinate for long... yesterday we let them marinate for about 20 minutes and then got really hungry and threw them on the bbq. I know it sounds like a random combination, but trust me, it's good. We served them with a baked potato and some rolls. Easy-smeasy ... and really yummy.