Cheesy Chicken, Bacon and Avocado Quesadillas

So now that Thanksgiving is over, are you ready for something other than pumpkin?

 These quesadillas are some of my FAVORITE to make now! I love this recipe and I know you will too! All you need is some cooked and cut up chicken (I love having grilled chicken cut and in my freezer for easy use), cooked and crumbled bacon, grated cheese and 1 avocado cut up.

Preheat your pan with a dollop of butter til its nice and toasty! Throw a tortilla in and roll it around in the butter, load up your tortilla with chicken, bacon, cheese and avocado and then put your other tortilla on top and press down. Flip it over once its browned and crispy and let the other side get the same way.

Pull out of the pan and cut up into quarters to eat. Eat it right away. We LOVE these. They have so much flavor and are just so yummy! Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Pasta in a Tomato Cream Sauce

You know how you have a recipe bookmarked FOREVER on your computer and you just don't try it... and then you finally do try it and it is easy and delicious? Seriously. Why have I not tried this meal before now? I have had it printed and sitting on my counter for probably 6 months and just tried it a few weeks ago. I don't even know where this recipe came from anymore... its just been that long. (So if anyone knows where this recipe came from, let me know and I'll give them credit!)

Unfortunately... I was having company over when I made this, so I was trying to hurry and all the pictures I got were the ingredient shot and then the final product... Whoops!

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts

Montreal Steak Seasoning
1/2 pound penne pasta
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup chicken broth
1 (8-ounce can) tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/2-1 tsp salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. parsley

Rinse chicken breasts in cold water. Layer between 2 sheets of wax paper and pound to even thickness. Season both sides with Montreal Steak Seasoning. Preheat grill and grill chicken breasts for 6-8 minutes per side. In a large pot, boil water with 1 Tbsp. salt. Add 1/2 lb. penne pasta noodles and boil according to package directions

Heat 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over med. heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is tender, but don't let the garlic turn brown. Add the chicken broth and let the broth reduce down by half. Once the broth has reduced, stir in the tomato sauce. Add the heavy cream and stir well to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Add the parsley and basil to the sauce and mix well. Drain pasta and add to sauce. Slice the chicken. Serve pasta with sliced chicken on top.This was so delicious... creamy, flavorful. So yummy. Try it. Its very easy and so absolutely delicious... How could it not be delicious... Did you look at the ingredient list? Heavy cream, butter, olive oil... hello...YUM!

Cheesy Chicken Lasagna

This is a recipe I have had bookmarked FOREVER and I finally got around to making it...

And it did NOT disappoint. YUM!

2 cans evaporated milk
1 packet (1 oz.) dry Ranch dressing mix
1/8 tsp pepper
enough lasagna noodles for a 9x13 pan (this is usually 6 for me)
2 cups cooked chopped chicken
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese

Boil noodles according to package directions and set aside.

Mix together evaporated milk (don't use the fat free kind) and the ranch dressing packet in a 3 qt. saucepan over medium heat stirring frequently. Let simmer 25 minutes and then add chicken and pepper. Cook an additional 10 minutes. Grease your 9x13 well before layering your ingredients. Layer your pan like this: Noodles, sauce then cheese- then repeat. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes until bubbly. Let rest 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

The last time I made this, I had tons of squash from my garden, so I added in some cut up squash to my layers. I just added it after the sauce and put the cheese on top. It was a yummy addition to the meal and made it more hearty and filling (and healthy!)

Spanish Rice Wraps

This is a recipe I got from a cookbook from my sister. Her Relief Society put together a cookbook and this was in it. It was delicious, but made WAY too much for our little family. I ended up making up many more wraps and freezing them for future use.
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. butter
1 pkg. Spanish Rice (Rice a Roni)
2 cups water
1 16 oz jar salsa (or to taste)
12 oz. boneless skinless chicken breast
1 cup black beans
1 cup corn
1 pkg. flour tortillas

Melt butter in pan and brown Spanish Rice mixture until golden brown. Add 2 cups water, salsa, chicken and Spanish Rice seasoning packet. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low, simmering 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and chicken is cooked through. Stir in beans & corn. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm in tortillas with grated cheese, sour cream, guacamole and anything else you want! Also good with corn chips as a dip.

Cafe Rio Shredded Chicken Recipe

This was such a super easy and absolutely delicious meal! I highly recommend it to MOST of you... I wouldn't recommend nursing mothers eat this. It was a little spicy and my little one was VERY upset the day after I ate this. But it was absolutely delicious and I can't wait to make it again... in 9 months when I'm done nursing... **sigh**
Okay.. onto the recipe:

1 small bottle of Zesty Italian dressing
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. cumin
3 cloves minced garlic
2 lbs. chicken breast

Place chicken breast in crockpot covered with water and sprinkle with onion (I always use dried onion). Cook on low for 5-6 hours until cooked. Drain the water, shred the chicken with a fork and add the dressing and spices about 1 hour before you want to eat it.

Serve on tortillas with cheese and mexican rice and any other toppings you want. YUM! We ate this without the rice because I didn't have time to make it before heading to work and it was still absolutely delicious. But... if you want it to be more like Cafe Rio, then make some rice to add to your burrito. Serious deliciousness!

Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

Is that recipe title long enough for you?

I got this recipe from the Kraft Foods magazine that I used to receive in the mail... until I moved and I couldn't get the subscription changed over for some reason...Sad.

This recipe makes 4 servings and each serving is only 460 calories! This was delicious- especially for being under 500 calories!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups multigrain penne pasta, uncooked
9 oz. fresh spinach leaves
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 tsp dried basil
1 jar (14 1/2 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
2 oz. Neufchatel cheese, cubed (you could use cream cheese if you aren't worried about the calorie content)
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
2 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese

Right after I took the picture of my ingredients, my little cheese-monger stole a whole bunch of cheese and I had to grate more.
Heat oven to 375. Cook and stir chicken and basil in large skillet. Add sauce and tomatoes; bring to boil. Simmer 3 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked. Stir in Neufchatel cheese.
Cook pasta according to package directions
Add the spinach to the boiling water for last 1 minute. Remember that spinach will boil down to almost nothing when you put it in the water, so put in WAY more spinach than you think you should... TRUST ME!

Drain pasta mixture and add to skillet of chicken, tomatoes and sauce. Add 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and stir until mixed well.
Transfer to a baking dish. I used an 8x8 pan. Bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese. Bake 3 more minutes.
You could easily make this vegetarian by just leaving out the chicken and it would still be delicious! Enjoy!

(Picture from Kraft Foods magazine, pg. 22 Holiday '08/Winter '09 Magazine)

Sweet N Sour Chicken

This is one of my favorite dinners... but I have to admit that I don't make it very often because it is kind of time intensive... Here are the ingredients:
Heat a pan of vegetable oil. Then cut up your chicken (4-6 chicken breasts) into small pieces or strips. Dip in beaten egg and then cornstarch or flour. Transfer directly into your hot oil and brown the chicken.
Put cooked chicken into 9x13 pan and add frozen vegetables. I like just broccoli, but you can also do a mixed vegetable bag as well. Pour sauce over the top (sauce recipe below) and bake for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes at 325.
Sauce: I like to double my sauce recipe... I like mine EXTRA saucy... Here's the single recipe:
1 cup sugar
1 T soy sauce
4 T ketchup
1/2 c. vinegar
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Serve over rice... DELISH!

Easy Orange Chicken with Broccoli

Sorry for the lack of posts... but I've been trying some new recipes and they haven't been worth sharing... just ask my husband! He's been such a good sport about my recent cooking.

But this one we really liked. From start to finish I had this ready in under 25 minutes. Sounds like a winner to me!

First of all, we served this over rice, and since I always do my rice in the microwave, I started it first- 20 minutes to cooked rice in the microwave and that's how long this dinner took me to make!

Ingredients:
4 tsp. vegetable oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 cups broccoli florets
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup orange juice
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch, mixed with 1 Tbsp. water

In a medium skillet over medium heat, heat the oil. Saute the chicken until cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer to another bowl and cover to keep warm. Combine broccoli and water in skillet. Cook, covered until tender-crisp. I used frozen broccoli, so I had to cook mine a little longer. If you use fresh, you should only need to cook it about 5 minutes. Return the chicken to the skillet. Stir in the broth, orange juice, and soy sauce. I didn't have any mixed up orange juice, but I did have OJ concentrate, so I just used a 1/4 cup of the frozen concentrate. Let mixture heat to a slow boil. Add the dissolved cornstarch and cook, stirring frequently until the mixture thickens slightly. Serve over rice.
A couple note:

• I had to add more cornstarch/water in order to get mine to thicken.
• I would also add more broth, OJ and soy sauce next time. I would have liked it to be "saucier" than it was.

Enjoy. It has a really mild orange flavor to it and we really liked it.

Honey Glazed Chicken

This is a recipe that we tried last week from my crock pot cookbook... and I have to be honest... Josh loved it and I'm still trying to decide if I liked it.

I think the flavor of the red pepper flakes was a little too much for me... so I will decrease the amount in the recipe here on the blog. But here's the recipe. Try it and tell me if you like it as much as Josh did (maybe he was just being nice!)

• 3 -4 Chicken Breasts
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/8 cup chopped onion (or 1/16 cup onion flakes)
• 1/8 cup ketchup
• 1 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes
  

Put chicken in crock pot (I put it in frozen) and salt and pepper it. If your chicken is frozen like mine is, just add the salt and pepper to the sauce. Make the sauce and pour over the chicken. Let cook on Low in crockpot for 3-4 hours. You can also do this in the oven if you didn't think to do this earlier in the day in the crockpot. I haven't done it, but I imagine you could just cook it for about 45 minutes on 350 (with thawed chicken) and you would have yourself a yummy dinner.

Cut into smaller pieces and return to sauce for a few more minutes. Serve over rice and drizzle sauce over the top.

Chicken and Dumplings Soup

YUM YUM YUM

I know many of you live in areas where the weather is very cold right now. We had a cold streak here in El Paso last week (the high was 42 degrees!) During that "cold" week here, I was really feeling like something warm to eat. I saw this recipe of Monica's over on Lick the Bowl Good a while back and had it bookmarked and I've been meaning to try it for a long time.

Finally, we had some cold weather and it was the perfect time. It was so delicious! So, from her blog, here is the recipe. (BTW... you should check out her blog... she has so many delicious recipes.)

Stew:

• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 bunch celery, chopped
• 1 whole chicken fryer (about 4 lbs.) (I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
  
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• 6 cups chicken broth or water
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot over high heat, saute onions, celery and bouillon cubes in butter til tender. Add whole chicken (or whatever chicken you are using!) to pot and cover with 6 cups water or chicken stock. Cook over medium heat til chicken is cooked through.

Once chicken is cooked through, pull out and place on a cutting board. Once cool enough to handle, take off all the meat and shred into bite sided pieces. Add chicken back to pot and season with salt and pepper to your liking. Bring to boil.

While the chicken stew is coming to a boil, make the dumplings:

Dumplings:

• 2 cups flour
• 4 tsps. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. dried basil (optional)
• 2 Tbsp. Crisco shortening
• 3/4 -1 cup buttermilk
  
• (I never have buttermilk! Check at the bottom for my tips on making buttermilk)
  

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and dried basil. Mix dry ingredients and cut in shortening with a fork or a pastry cutter. Stir dough while adding buttermilk. Start with 3/4 cup and add more til completely moistened and biscuit like but not wet.

Drop by the spoon full onto the boiling stew. Do not stir dumplings. Reduce heat to low and cover pot with a tight fitting lid. Allow dumplings to steam for 15 minutes. Once dumplings are cooked through, stir dumplings into the stew and serve. The flour from the dumplings will thicken the stew.

TIPS:

1. I knew this would make a TON of soup, and since we are a family of three, I halved the recipe. (the full recipe is listed above, but I just used half for my family)

2. The other thing I would suggest is to cut back the amount of basil just a little. I found the recipe to be really strong in that taste. It was delicious, but I think most kids wouldn't like the strong taste of basil. I would probably halve that amount again when I make this next time.

3. Buttermilk: I never have it! Just use 1 cup milk (I used whole, since I have a baby that drinks it...) with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar and let sit for 5-10 minutes to kind of "sour" your milk a little.... It makes perfect buttermilk!

Chicken Divan

Chicken Divan

This is one of those meals that I usually make a double batch, and freeze one so that we can have it later. Love this dinner!

1 1/2 lbs fresh broccoli steamed
1 1/2 c. cooked chicken, cut small

Sauce:
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 c. mayonnaise
2 T. chicken broth

Arrange broccoli in bottom of casserole. Sprinkle chicken pieces over broccoli. Combine sauce ingredients; spoon over top. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes- Makes 4 servings. Serve over rice.