Chicken

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 ounces cream cheese
¹⁄₄ cup green salsa
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
¹⁄₂ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
¹⁄₂ teaspoon onion powder
¹⁄₄ teaspoon garlic powder
3 teaspoons fresh cilantro, chopped
2 teaspoons green onions, sliced
4 ounces pepperjack cheese, chopped or shredded
12 taco size flour tortillas

Instructions
1. Heat oil in large skillet and cook chicken 5-10 minutes a side, or until cooked through.  Remove from skillet, allow to cool, and chop or shred. 

2. Heat oven to 425*F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and spray with cooking spray. 

3. Place cream cheese in microwave safe bowl and cook for 20-30 seconds, or until soft and easy to stir.  Add salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic powder. Stir to combine.  Add cilantro, green onion, chicken, and pepperjack cheese.  Stir until well combined. 

4. Working one tortilla at a time, place ¹⁄₄ cup chicken mixture on the lower third of tortilla then roll as tight as you can.  Place seam side down on baking sheet.  Repeat process with all remaining tortillas and filling, leaving space between taquitos. Spray tops lightly with cooking spray. 

5. Place sheet in oven and bake 15-20 minutes or until crisp and turning golden brown. 

Comments
This recipe is from the blog The Girl Who Ate Everything.  I bookmarked it a while back and just recently decided to give them a try.  We were all thrilled with the results.  I used some Salsa Verde from my parents’ local market and the flavor was fantastic.  I was especially happy that these were baked instead of fried as the taquitos in restaurants usually are. 

Shown here with Pico de Gallo.

Internet - The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients
For the dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
4 teaspoons cider vinegar (or any other vinegar, I use red apple balsamic.)
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
Salt and pepper, to taste
_
For assembly_
³⁄₄ cups walnuts, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds)
1 cup dried cranberries
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced

Instructions
1. Mix together all dressing ingredients and refrigerate until ready to assemble salad. 

2. Heat large skillet over medium heat.  Add walnuts and toast, stirring occasionally, until fragrant.  Remove to bowl. 

3. Add oil to skillet.  Once oil is hot, cook chicken for 5-10 minutes a side, or until cooked through.  Remove chicken to cutting board, allow to cool, then cut into small pieces.  Transfer chicken to bowl with walnuts, add cranberries and celery.  Stir in dressing until combined.  Refrigerate salad to meld flavors and chill.  Serve cold. 

Comments
Some years ago, while at the house of a friend, I had some delicious chicken salad that she’d gotten at Costco.  Even Art, who claims to hate anything with mayonnaise, loved it.  After some googling, this was the recipe I found to replicate the Costco salad and I’ve been making it off and on ever since – at least when Lance is out of town!  The sweetness of the honey and cranberries pair very well with the other flavors in the salad.  I tend to serve it on store bought croissants as shown here.

Person - Gwen

Ingredients
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ginger, minced
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon turmeric
Pinch saffron
3 teaspoons black pepper, coarsely ground
5 tablespoons olive oil
4 onions, 2 sliced and 2 processed in food processor until pureed
1 cup water

Instructions
1. Place chicken, garlic, ginger, salt, lime juice, turmeric, saffron, and 1 teaspoon pepper into bowl or container.  Stir well to coat chicken, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. 

2. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add sliced onions and remaining pepper. Cook, stirring, 10 minutes or until onions are softened and golden.  Add onion puree and continue cook until golden brown, about 10 more minutes. 

3. Add chicken and marinade to skillet and cook, stirring, until meat has started to brown and chicken is well coated.  Add 1 cup water, bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes until chicken is tender.  Season with salt and serve with rice, if desired. 

Comments
This recipe is from Almost Bourdain and, since I’m always looking for good, new curry recipes, I decided to try it out.  Oh my gosh is it peppery!  I actually had a hard time eating it due to the amount of pepper and lack of anything to mellow the pepper flavor.  That said, I really like the concept of this curry which is to use onion puree as a sauce, there’s a lot of potential there. 

We did find that after a day or so in the fridge the extreme pepper flavor mellows out significantly.

Internet - Almost Bourdain

Ingredients
3-4 pound whole chicken
1 whole bulb garlic, broken into cloves and peeled
1 large lemon
3-4 pounds potatoes, cubed
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Handful fresh thyme
2-3 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
6-8 strips bacon

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375*F. 

2. Bring large pot of salted water to boil.  Tie garlic cloves in a piece of cheesecloth.  Add garlic, lemon, and potatoes to boiling water and cook for 12 minutes.  Drain and allow to steam dry for 1 minute.  Transfer potatoes into roasting pan. 

3. Rub olive oil over chicken and season well with salt and pepper.  Carefully cut the lemon 5-6 times and place in the chicken’s cavity along with thyme and garlic.  Put chicken into the roasting pan and cook for 45 minutes. 

4. Remove chicken to a plate.  Add rosemary leaves to potatoes and stir well.  Make a gap in the center of potatoes and return chicken to pan.  Lay bacon slices over chicken breast and cook for 45 more minutes or until the chicken and potatoes are cooked.  A meat thermometer should read 170*F. 

5. Remove bacon from chicken and crumble it over the potatoes.  Remove lemon and garlic from chicken.  Mash garlic and stir into potatoes.  Carve chicken and serve with potatoes. 

Comments
This recipe is from Perry’s Plate and it was delicious.  The chicken was fantastically lemony, the potatoes were extremely flavorful, and everything was lovely.  I’m still never quite sure why I used to be intimidated by roasting whole chickens when it’s really a very simple thing to do.

Internet - Perry’s Plate

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pound bacon, cut into pieces
2 cups Mexican cheese blend, shredded
2 bunches green onions, chopped
¹⁄₄ cup barbecue sauce
¹⁄₄ cup ranch dressing
10 burrito size flour tortillas

Instructions
1. Heat oil in a large skillet.  Add chicken and cook for 10 minutes on each side, or until fully cooked.  Remove chicken from skillet and chop or shred. 

2. Add bacon to skillet and cook until crisp.  Drain in colander or on paper towels. 

3. Mix chicken, bacon, cheese, green onions, barbecue sauce, and ranch dressing in a large bowl. 

4. Wipe out skillet and return to medium heat.  Spread 1 cup of filling onto tortilla.  Press second tortilla on top. Microwave quesadilla for 1 minute and then move to skillet.  Cook in skillet for 1-2 minutes a side, or until nicely browned.  Repeat process for remaining 6 tortillas. 

5. Cut quesadillas into wedges for serving. 

Comments
I’ve always had the problem, when making quesadillas, that the quesadilla gets browned and crispy before the cheese gets melty.  I’ve solved this problem by nuking the quesadilla for a minute before finishing in the skillet.  This yields deliciously melty quesadillas every time.  My nephew calls these Dillas and they’re always a great, quick meal. 

While I have these filled with chicken, bacon, ranch, bbq, and onions, you can easily fill them with flavors you’d like.

Person - Gwen

Ingredients
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 packet fajita seasoning
¹⁄₄ cup water
4 cups grilled fajita vegetables, chopped (I used the vegetables I had leftover from the last time I made fajitas.)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons flour
2 ¹⁄₃ cups milk or half and half
12 ounces shredded cheese (Cheddar, Mexican blend, Colby, jack, or some mixture.)
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes, drained
12 flour tortillas, sliced into 1-inch strips

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350*F and spray 9- by 12-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat and sauté until cooked through.  Add seasoning packet and water and continue stirring until liquid is gone.  (If you’ve got leftover chicken from making fajitas, you can completely skip this step.) 

3. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook, stirring, until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add flour and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Gradually add milk and stir until smooth.  Increase heat to medium-high and simmer until thickened.  Remove from heat and add 8 ounces cheese, stirring until melted.  Stir in Ro-Tel tomatoes. 

4. Place half of the chicken and vegetables in prepared baking dish.  Top with half of the tortilla strips and half of the cheese sauce.  Repeat layers, ending with cheese sauce. 

5. Top with remaining shredded cheese and bake 20 to 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese has melted.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving. 

Comments
I made entirely too many vegetables the last time I made fajitas and I needed to figure out what to do with them.  I figured that I should be able to make some sort of casserole with the leftovers and this is what I came up with.  Lance and I both enjoyed this quite a bit – fajitas in a casserole dish with queso sauce to bring it all together.  Next time I end up with too many vegetables after fajita night, I know what I’ll be doing with them! 

I didn’t have leftover chicken from fajita night, so I had to cook some more.  If you have leftover fajita chicken, you can skip step 2.

Person - Gwen

Ingredients
1 bottle Italian salad dressing (I used Marie’s Creamy Italian Garlic since it has no HFCS.)
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup panko bread crumbs (Or regular bread crumbs, or a mixture of both.)
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded
Salt and pepper

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350*F. 

2. Place chicken in a large ziptop bag or sealable plastic container.  Add salad dressing and marinate chicken in refrigerator for 8 hours.

3. Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in shallow dish.  Season with salt and pepper.   Press each piece of chicken into bread crumb mixture to adhere. 

4. Place chicken on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake 45-60 minutes or until done.

Note: Not all of Marie’s dressings are HFCS-free.  In fact, I’ve found that salad dressing is one of the hardest things to find HFCS-free.  ²⁰⁄₂₀ hindsight, I could have always made my own.. but any Italian dressing you like will work for this.

Comments
I was looking for something to serve with a pasta dish and remembered a something a friend of mine had said the other day about super simple chicken marinated in Italian salad dressing.  I thought might work well breaded and then baked so that’s what I did.  The chicken was moist and flavorful, although I probably did overcook it by a few minutes.  I like the way the cheese melted with the breadcrumbs and formed a great crust around the chicken. 

Shown here with Pasta with Sicilian Green Tomato Sauce.

Person - Gwen

Ingredients
For Chicken
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon garam masala
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 cup plain yogurt, whole or low-fat
Juice of 2 limes, divided
2 teaspoons salt
5-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

For Butter Cream Sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1-inch stick cinnamon
2 bay leaves
2 black cardamom pods, crushed lightly to break the pod (If not available, use extra green cardamom pods)
5 to 7 green cardamom pods, crushed lightly to break the pod
10 whole cloves
3-4 cloves fresh garlic, coarsely chopped
6-8 quarter-size slices peeled fresh ginger
1-3 fresh green chili peppers, such as Serrano or jalapeño, coarsely chopped
5 large tomatoes (about 2 ¹⁄₂ pounds), coarsely chopped OR 2 15-ounce cans of tomato sauce
1 teaspoon ground paprika
¹⁄₂ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 ¹⁄₂-3 cups water
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 cup half and half

For Assembly
1 1-inch piece peeled fresh ginger, cut into thin matchsticks
2-4 fresh green chili peppers, such as Serrano or jalapeño, split into eights
1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions
To cook chicken:
1. Heat oil in small skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add garam masala, cumin, and chili powder; continue to cook until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds longer. Transfer half of garlic-spice mixture to medium bowl; stir in yogurt, juice of 1 lime, and set aside.

2. In large bowl, combine remaining garlic-spice mixture, juice from remaining lime, and salt. Using sharp knife, lightly score the smoother side of each piece of chicken, making 2 or 3 shallow cuts; transfer to bowl. Using hands, gently massage salt-spice mixture into chicken until all pieces are evenly coated; let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

3. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325*F. Pour yogurt mixture over chicken and toss until chicken is evenly coated with thick layer. Arrange chicken pieces, scored-side down, on wire rack set in foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet or broiler pan. Discard excess yogurt mixture. Bake chicken until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 125*F, 15 to 25 minutes. (Smaller pieces may cook faster than larger pieces. Transfer chicken pieces to plate as they reach correct temperature.)

4. After removing chicken from oven, turn oven to broil and heat 10 minutes. Once broiler is heated, flip chicken pieces over and broil until chicken is lightly charred in spots and instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 165*F, 8 to 15 minutes. Transfer chicken to large plate, tent loosely with foil, and rest 5 minutes. 

To cook cream sauce:
1. Heat the butter in a large nonstick wok, skillet or saucepan over medium heat and cook the cinnamon, bay leaves, black and green cardamom pods, cloves, garlic, ginger, and green chili peppers, stirring, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes (or tomato sauce), paprika, nutmeg, and water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pan, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are very soft and the volume reduces by about half, 20 to 25 minutes.

3. Let cool and pass through a food mill or fine-mesh strainer and discard the fibers. (Add an additional ¹⁄₂ cup water to extract maximum pulp.) Return to the pan, add the salt, and cook, stirring as needed, over medium-high heat about 10 minutes. If there is too much spluttering, cover the pan, reduce the heat, and cook an extra 5 to 7 minutes.

4. Add the half-and-half and simmer over low heat another 5 minutes to blend the flavors.

To assemble Butter Chicken Curry:
1. Cut or shred chicken into bite size pieces. 

2. Add chicken to the butter cream sauce and stir to coat.  Cover the pan and simmer about 10 minutes to blend the flavors.  Transfer to a serving dish. 

3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and cook the ginger and green chili peppers, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer to the chicken and swirl lightly to mix. Serve hot.

Comments
This recipe is a combination of two (recipes – my favorite butter chicken recipe and a newer recipe for tandoori chicken that I tried out earlier in the year.  While I love my standard butter chicken recipe the idea of being able to make butter chicken all in the same day was an appealing one. 

The combination turned out very well!  It is worth noting that this chicken turns out a tidge saltier than the chicken for the original recipe, so be careful with the salt in the sauce.  If I ever need butter chicken without the overnight wait, this is the way I’ll do it.

Person - Gwen

Ingredients
2 slices white bread, torn into pieces and processed until coarsely ground in food processor
¹⁄₂ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
Pepper
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
¹⁄₄ cup fresh basil, minced
¹⁄₄ cup mayonnaise

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425*F. Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan, garlic, oil, salt, and pepper to taste in bowl.

2. Place chicken in 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Combine basil and mayonnaise in small bowl and spread mixture evenly over chicken. Sprinkle bread-crumb mixture over mayonnaise, pressing lightly to adhere.

3. Bake until crumbs are golden brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 160*F, 20 to 30 minutes depending on thickness of the breasts.

Comments
This recipe is from the 2006 Cook’s Country Annual and it was extremely flavorful and moist.  My chicken breasts were pretty thick so I had to cook them for 30 minutes.  I avoided using my food processor for the bread and just used the small chopper attachment for my hand blender.  I had to do each piece of bread separately, but it’s nice not to have to clean the actual food processor. 

Shown here with Pasta Caprese.

Cook’s Country 2006

Ingredients
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₄ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
¹⁄₄ cup white wine
¹⁄₂ cup half and half
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
¹⁄₂ teaspoon dried thyme or 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme

Instructions
1. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sauté until cooked through, 5-10 minutes a side depending on thickness. Transfer to a plate and keep warm.
2. Pour wine into hot skillet and cook, stirring, until reduced by half, about 1 minute. Stir in half and half, mustard, and thyme. Cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes.
3. Pour any accumulated chicken juices into sauce, stir, and serve over chicken. 

Comments
This recipe is from the blog Framed and it looked pretty and simple.  Simplicity is always a plus with cooking.  I certainly enjoy complex (recipes that take hours to prepare, but nothing beats a quick and simple chicken preparation on a busy day.  The mustard flavor was great yet not overwhelming.  Delicious. 

Shown here with Rice Cooker Riz au Parmesan.

Internet - Framed