Chicken

Ingredients
For the chicken
3-4 boneless skinless chicken  breasts, cut into pieces
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
Juice of one lime
¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground coriander
³⁄₄ teaspoon paprika
¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground red pepper
³⁄₄ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons plain yogurt (Greek or regular, both are fine.)

For the tikka masala
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 inch fresh ginger, peel and roughly chopped
28 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground red pepper   
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cinnamon stick, approximately 2 inches long
4 tablespoons butter
Juice of one lime
1 cup heavy cream

Instructions
1. Mix all chicken ingredients in container or ziptop bag, ensuring even coating.  Refrigerate for 1 to 24 hours. 

2. Heat oven to 450*F and spread chicken over baking sheet.  Bake 8 minutes, stir and bake another 7 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. 

3. Heat 6 tablespoons olive oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion, garlic, and ginger.  Sauté until onions become golden brown, about 6 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium-low and add tomatoes, cumin, coriander, paprika, red pepper, salt, black pepper, and sugar.  Simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes, stirring frequently. 

4. Remove from heat.  Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth.  (Or, carefully blend in a regular blender.) 

5. Stir in cinnamon stick, butter, lime juice, and heavy cream.  Turn heat to high and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  Add chicken and simmer 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Comments
This recipe is from Use Real Butter and, yes, it uses real butter.  It also uses a slew of other delicious ingredients which make for a very tasty curry.  This one is a cinch to throw together and the immersion blender makes sauce creation a snap.  It’s got a great spice level – not too hot, but full of flavor. I served it with Potato Samosa Cups and rice.  Leftovers were devoured.

Internet - Use Real Butter

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
6-8 boneless skinless chicken breasts
²⁄₃ cup cilantro, chopped
2 cups frozen corn kernels
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
¹⁄₂ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
¹⁄₂ teaspoon kosher salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon black pepper
4 cups onion, chopped
12 cloves garlic, minced
2 ¹⁄₂ cups chicken broth
1 ¹⁄₃ cup salsa verde
1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno pepper
18 (6-inch) corn tortillas
¹⁄₂ cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 425*F. 

2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken and cook about 15 minutes per side or until cooked through.  Remove from skillet, cool slightly, then chop or shred. 

3. Mix chicken with 3 tablespoons cilantro, corn, cream cheese, cayenne, cumin, salt and pepper.  Stir well to combine. 

4. Return skillet to medium-high heat and cook 1 cup onion and half of garlic until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add onion mixture to chicken and stir to combine. 

5. Meanwhile, combine remaining onion, garlic, broth, salsa, and jalapeno in medium saucepan over high heat.  Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat, cool slightly, add remaining cilantro, then blend with immersion blender.  (Or cool longer, transfer to blender, and puree.) 

6. Wipe out large skillet and heat over medium-high heat.  Working 2 to 3 tortillas at a time, cook each for 90 seconds per side.  Remove tortillas from pan and cut into quarters. 

7. Spread 1 cup salsa mixture in 9 x 12-inch baking dish.  Arrange 24 tortilla quarters over salsa.  Spoon half of chicken over tortillas.  Repeat, ending with remaining chicken.  Top with remaining tortilla pieces, pour remaining salsa over top, and then sprinkle with cheese.  Bake for 15 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned. 

Comments
This recipe is from First Look, Then Cook.  The original recipe called for a teaspoon of cayenne and we all felt that this made the dish just a bit too spicy.  Next time, I’ll reduce it to ¹⁄₂ teaspoon or even none at all.  Otherwise, this was scrumptious.  We all loved it and are looking forward to leftovers later on in the week.  Great recipe and don’t let all of the steps scare you.  It really came together quite easily!  (It was also quite a bit tastier than the picture would lead you to believe.)

Internet - First Look, Then Cook

Ingredients
1 (6 ounce) container pesto (or homemade pesto)
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 whole chicken, giblets removed

Instructions
1. Prepare grill for grilling at a temperature around 375*F. 

2. Combine pesto and butter in small bowl. 

3. Loosen skin of chicken and, with clean hands, spread pesto butter between skin and meat.  Pat exterior of skin dry with paper towels then place chicken on upright roaster.  (Such as the Sittin’ Chicken.) 

4. Place chicken and upright roaster on baking sheet to catch any fat drippings and cook in grill until internal temperature reaches 165*F, about 45 to 60 minutes. 

5. Remove chicken from grill, cover in foil, and let rest for 10 minutes before carving. 

Comments
This recipe is inspired by Kayotic Kitchen.  The chicken turned out moist and full of delicious pesto buttery deliciousness.  Chickens are super easy to roast with the Big Green Egg and we were pretty pleased with how this one turned out. 

Shown here with tomatoes and mozzarella with Basil Vinaigrette.

Internet - Kayotic Kitchen

Ingredients
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 (14.5 ounce) can fire roasted tomatoes (Muir Glen is my brand for these.)
1 (10 ounce) container Philadephia Cooking Crème – Santa Fe Flavor
1 (14.5 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
Taco shells (soft and/or hand) and taco fixings

Instructions
1. Place all ingredients in slow cooker.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or until chicken shreds easily. 

2. Stir well and serve in taco shells with your favorite toppings such as lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, etc. 

Comments
This recipe is from A Year of Slow Cooking.  Slow cooker recipes tend to be ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ for me.  For some things, the slow cooker is amazing.  For others, not so much.  Sadly this recipe fell into the “not so much” category.  While this wasn’t bad, it didn’t seem very taco-y to us.  It seems like it worked better as a dip the following day and we also thought it might work as an enchilada filling.  But, regardless of those “it might works,” I doubt I’ll be making this again in the future. 

I don’t know what it is about slow cookers.  I’m pretty good at telling whether or not we’ll like a recipe just from reading it over, until you put a slow cooker into the equation!

Internet - A Year of Slow Cooking

Ingredients
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 (12-16 ounces) bottle Carolina-Style BBQ sauce (My SIL recommends Bullseye, I use Guy Fieri’s because we couldn’t find Bullseye locally.) 
¹⁄₂ cup brown sugar
¹⁄₂ c up white, or other, vinegar
1 teaspoon Montreal Chicken seasoning (The kind by McCormick.)
¹⁄₂ teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons cornstarch
¹⁄₂ cup water

Instructions
1. Place chicken in slow cooker.  Mix remaining ingredients together in bowl then pour over chicken.  Cook on LOW 6 hours. 

2. Remove chicken from cooker and shred. 

3. Mix together cornstarch and water in small bowl.  Pour cornstarch mixture into slow cooker, stir well, turn slow cooker to HIGH and stir occasionally while sauce thickens.  (I did this while shredding the chicken.)

4. Serve on rolls or other bread. 

Comments
This is another recipe that was passed on to me by my great sister-in-law!  It makes quite a bit of food, so be prepared for leftovers during the week or putting some in the freezer for later. 

I had to use a different brand of BBQ sauce than she recommended because I couldn’t find Bullseye in the store.  Guy Fieri’s was the only stuff that I could find which didn’t also have HFCS in it.  I believe that it’s probably a lot more vinegary than the kind she uses because we felt the end result was more vinegary than we would have liked it to be.  The moral of this story is to know your BBQ sauce!  If you’re using a sauce with a lot of vinegar, tone it down on the stuff you add! 

This was still very tasty and I’m sure I’ll make it again in the future.

Person - Nikki Little

Ingredients
For the chicken
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato, chopped
1 tablespoon flour
1 ¹⁄₂ cups chicken broth
¹⁄₄ cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons sour cream

For the noodles
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 pound egg noodles
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon sour cream
¹⁄₄ cup fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350*F. 

2. Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Brown chicken on both sides, about 4 to 5 minutes per side.  Remove chicken to plate. 

3. Add remaining tablespoon oil to Dutch oven.  Add onion and cook until soft.  Add mushrooms and continue cooking until soft, 3 to 5 minutes.  Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant.  Add tomato and flour.  Stir and cook for 1 minute.  Increase heat to high and deglaze Dutch oven with ¹⁄₂ cup chicken broth. 

4. Return chicken and accumulated juices to Dutch oven.  Add remaining broth.  Cover Dutch oven and place in oven.  Cook 45 minutes, removing lid after 23 minutes of cooking. 

5. Remove Dutch oven from oven, uncover, and remove chicken to plate.  Stir mustard and sour cream into sauce.  Return chicken to Dutch oven and let rest 5 minutes while flavors blend. 

6. Meanwhile, bring large pot of water to boil.  Add bouillon cubes and cook noodles as directed by package directions.  Drain noodles and return to pot.  Add remaining ingredients and stir until butter has melted and noodles are coated.  Season with salt and pepper. 

7. Serve chicken over noodles. 

Comments
This recipe is from Taste and Tell.  It’s a pretty simple braised chicken dish that is almost like stroganoff in some of its flavors.  The noodles were a great addition, the sour cream, butter and parsley gives them more flavor than just regular egg noodles.  I might make the noodle part of this recipe in the future when I’m making beef stroganoff. 

We all enjoyed this chicken, although I believe that 45 minutes might be a bit too long since the chicken was a tidge on the dry side.  But that can be rectified with future experimentation.

Internet - Taste and Tell

Ingredients
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

For the marinade
²⁄₃ cup balsamic vinegar
¹⁄₄ cup Dijon mustard
¹⁄₄ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried onion
1 teaspoon dried thyme
¹⁄₂ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1 teaspoon seasoning such as Montreal Chicken seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions
1. Make small cuts crosswise into each chicken breast to help marinade penetrate. 

2. Mix marinade ingredients together.  Place chicken in ziptop bag then pour marinade into bad.  Marinate at least 4 hours or up to 12. 

3. Heat grill and grill chicken until done.  This will be somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes a side, depending on the thickness of the breasts, heat of grill, and distance from flame. 

[Photo forthcoming]

Comments
This recipe is from Kalyn’s Kitchen and I thought the marinade was scrumptious.  The chicken had a ton of flavor and Art did a stellar job of grilling the breasts.  I believe it’s safe to say that he has mastered the chicken breast when it comes to the Big Green Egg! 

Sadly, I have no picture for this meal.  I guess I’ll just have to make it again!

Internet - Kalyn’s Kitchen

Ingredients
1 ¹⁄₂ cups rice
1 (12 ounces) can evaporated 2% milk
1 (10 ³⁄₄ ounces) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
¹⁄₂ cup mild or medium salsa (I used salsa fresco.)
¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (14-16 ounces) bag southwest-style vegetable blend (broccoli, corn, black beans, etc.)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into small pieces
¹⁄₂ cup cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese blend, shredded

Instructions
1. Cook rice as instructed by packaging.  Heat oven to 350*F.  Spray 13 by 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. 

2. Combine evaporated milk, soup, salsa and pepper in baking dish and stir until well combined.  Add vegetables, chicken, and rice.  Cover dish with foil and bake 35 minutes.  Uncover, top with cheese and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and dish is bubbly.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving. 

Comments
This recipe is from Very Best Baking.  I ended up doubling it and making it in the Dutch oven in order to use an entire package of chicken.  It was pretty tasty and the leftovers made great lunches for many days afterward.  I think you could easily use fat free evaporated milk if you wanted to and some sort of lower fat/healthy request condensed soup.  This is definitely more of a winter dish than a summer dish, but it was easy and tasty which makes it good for any time of year in my opinion.

Internet - Very Best Baking

Ingredients
2 cups buttermilk
¹⁄₄ cup sour cream
6 tablespoons ranch seasoning mix
1 tablespoon salt
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half widthwise
5 slices white sandwich bread, torn into pieces

Instructions
1. Adjust oven racks to lowest and middle positions and heat oven to 450*F. Whisk buttermilk, sour cream, 4 tablespoons ranch seasoning mix, and salt in large bowl until salt dissolves. Add chicken and toss to coat. Refrigerate, covered, 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.

2. Meanwhile, pulse bread and 2 tablespoons ranch seasoning mix in food processor until finely ground. Bake bread crumbs on rimmed baking sheet on middle rack, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to shallow dish.

3. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Remove chicken from bowl, allowing excess brine to drip back into bowl, and dredge in bread crumbs, pressing to adhere. Transfer coated chicken to prepared baking sheet and spray lightly with cooking spray.

4. Bake on lower rack until bottom of chicken is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Move baking sheet to middle rack and reduce oven temperature to 400*F. Bake until chicken is golden brown and white meat registers 160*F (or dark meat registers 175*F), 20 to 25 minutes. Serve. 

Comments
This recipe is from the 2010 Cook’s Country Annual and I’ve got to say that it’s the first time the crew at America’s Test Kitchen have let me down.  This recipe was supposed to answer the lack of buttermilk flavor in most buttermilk chicken and I found the chicken to be pretty bland overall.  The crunch of the coating was definitely nice thanks to the homemade bread crumbs and the initial high heat cook, but the flavor just wasn’t there.  I couldn’t taste the buttermilk, sour cream, or ranch seasoning even after marinating the chicken for an hour.  Edit: I increased the ranch seasoning the second time I made it and it was much better!

I’m not sure what this recipe needs to make it better, but it’s definitely not all it should be as it currently stands. 

Shown here with Zucchini Fritterwaffles.

Cook’s Country 2010

Ingredients
¹⁄₂ pound green beans, trimmed and cut in half
3 packages ramen noodles, seasoning packet discarded (I recommend Top Ramen.)
¹⁄₂ cup hoisin sauce
1 small lime, juiced
3 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 pound ground chicken
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions, chopped

Instructions
1. Bring large pot of salted water to boil.  Add green beans and cook 6 to 10 minutes, or until tender.  Add ramen during last 3 minutes of cooking time.  Drain well. 

2. Combine hoisin sauce, lime juice and chili sauce in small bowl. 

3. Heat oil in large skillet over high heat and cook chicken until no pink remains.  Add garlic and cook until softened.  Stir in hoisin mixture.  Cook until bubbly.  Add noodles, green beans and green onions and stir until well combined. 

Comments
This recipe is from Kitchen Simplicity and is the first time I’ve ever used ramen in cooking.  I was very pleased with the results!  The sauce was just a teeny bit too spicy, so I might use a little less chili sauce next time I make it.  I thought it was delicious and the guys enjoyed it as well.  Since I was only able to get ramen in 6 packs, I guess I’ll need to figure out something to do with the other 3 packs now!

Internet - Kitchen Simplicity