Super Yummy Appetizer

Recipe name: Chicken Enchilada Dipp
Source: Simply Tasty
Servings: 8-10 (as an appetizer)
Cookbook date: November 15

Chicken Enchilada Dip

2 boneless/skinless chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded
2 8oz packages of light cream cheese, softened
4 green onions, chopped
1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chiles
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp chopped dried cilantro
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp paprika

In a non-reactive bowl, combine all ingredients. (Stacey recommends a food processor so the chicken pieces are really small, making it easier to dip. Or you can just shred with forks if you like the chicken pieces bigger.) Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Serve with tortilla chips or crackers.


This is yet another fantastic recipe from Stacey over at Simply Tasty. We made this at our election party a few weeks ago. It was great to serve a heavier appetizer that was out of the ordinary. I would definitely recommend this for your next dinner party, any large family gathering, or a Super Bowl party! If you are the host or hostess, the dip is especially great because it comes together quickly, and you can make it a few hours (or even a day) ahead of time.

CrockPot Chicken Noodle Soup

Recipe name:
source: adapted from Weight Watchers
servings: 4
Cookbook date: November 8

Chicken Noodle Soup

3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped

2 medium stalks celery, chopped

1/2 of 1 medium onion, chopped

3 cans chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 small bay leaves

10 ounces frozen green peas -- (1 pkg.)

6 oz angel hair pasta or spaghetti noodles, broken in half.

Put frozen chicken breasts in microwave. Cook on full power for 5 minutes to allow the chicken to thaw and mostly cook. Meanwhile, mix remaining ingredients (except peas and pasta) in a CrockPot. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces. It is ok if it is not cooked all the way through at this point. Add the chicken to the CrockPot, cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or until chicken is no longer pink in the center. Add the peas and noodles and cook 10 minutes longer, or until noodles are al dente.

Tim and I thought this was a super yummy and easy to make chicken soup recipe. It had plenty of flavor, and the veggies were a great addition (I've always been a chicken soup purist, so adding celery and peas was like a walk on the wild side for me)! The only thing I would change next time is that I would add the peas 15 minutes before dinner time, and the pasta 10 minutes before dinner time. Adding the peas 10 minutes before didn't give them quite enough time to cook.

This makes enough to feed 4, and since we are a family of 2, we had it again as leftovers and loved it just as much the second time.

Grilled Chicken with Edamame Skordalia

Recipe name: Grilled Chicken with Edamame Skordalia
Source: Bon Appetit August 08
Servings: 4-6
Cookbook date: Oct 25

1 16 oz bag frozen shelled edamame
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup evoo plus additional for brushing
3 cloves garlic, peeled
6 tbsp freshly grated parm cheese
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
4 large skinless boneless chicken breast halves

Cook frozen edamame in large saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender, about 10 minutes. drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid for skordalia. Meanwhile, combine basil, 1/3 cup oil, and garlic in processor; blend until basil and garlic are finely chopped. transfer 2 tbsp basil oil to small bowl and reserve.

Add edamame, 1/2 cup reserved cooking liquid, parm, and lemon juice to remaining basil oil in processor; puree until mixture is almost smooth, adding more cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls if mixture is dry. Season generously with salt and pepper. Set skordalia aside.

Prepare barbecue on med-high heat. Brush grill with oil. brush chicken breasts on both sides with reserved basil oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. grill until chicken is just cooked through, about 6 minutes per side. Slice chicken breasts crosswise. Spoon warm or room temperature skordalia onto 4 plates. Top with chicken.

Tim here. This dish was very easy to make and super tasty. No substitutions this time so I followed the recipe to the letter. The first time we made it was with chicken fillets rather than chicken breasts and I think we both liked it better with the fillets. Both the chicken and the base taste great and compliment each other.

Bacon Chicken Melt

Recipe name: Bacon Chicken Melt
Source: Recipe Zaar
Servings: 2
Cookbook date: August 26

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon or turkey bacon
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  
• 1 cup shredded low-fat cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped tomato

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Wrap two bacon slices around each chicken breast.
3. In a small skillet, place the chicken breast with the bacon and cook until the bacon is done.
4. Place the chicken into a baking dish and bake for 10-20 minutes until done.
5. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 2-3 minutes until cheese melts.
6. Top with tomatoes.
7. For different versions, try adding a sauce like ranch or barbecue or add more toppings like mushrooms, green onions, etc.

This dish was surprisingly delicious. The only thing we'll change when we make it again is that we'll add the tomatoes at the same time as the cheese so that they can warm up a bit.

chicken meatballs

Recipe name: chicken meatballs
Source: Meet me in the kitchen
Servings: 4-6


Finger-Picking Chicken Balls adapted from Annabel Karmel's Lunch Boxes and Snacks

Makes about 20 chicken balls

1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated

2 small, skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

1 onion, chopped

1 Tbsp parsley

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 cup unseasoned bread crumbs

1 chicken bouillon cube dissolved in 1 Tbls boiling water

salt and black pepper

flour for coating

1 Tbsp canola oil

cooking spray

Using your hands, squeeze out some of the excess liquid from the grated apple. Put the apple, chicken, onion, parsley, thyme, bread crumbs, and chicken bouillon into a food processor. Process until a smooth mixture forms a ball. Season with a little salt and pepper.

With your hands, form the mixture into about 20 balls, roll in flour, and fry in the oil for about 10 minutes, until lightly golden and cooked through. Serve with your favorite condiment, such as ketchup or honey mustard.

Thanks to Meet Me in the Kitchen for posting this dish. I thought that these were good overall, though the next time I make these I'll only use half of an onion. The sweetness from the apple took a little getting used to, but I'm always a fan of finding ways to sneak in an extra fruit or vegetable serving. My only other complaint about the meal was that I thought they were a little pungent. I noticed that my entire refrigerator smelled like these meatballs the next day! While these aren't making my OMG list of recipes, I'll keep this especially in mind the next time we have guests with children.

Curried Chicken and Mango Sandwich

Recipe name: curried chicken and mango sandwich
Source: Closet Cooking
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked chicken
1 small mango (peeled, stoned and cut into bite sized pieces)
1 green onion (chopped)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon mango chutney (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
2 slices of bread (optionally toasted)

Directions:
1. Mix everything but the bread in a bowl.
2. Assemble sandwich.


This is yet another successful recipe that I got from Closet Cooking. I am a huge mango fan, but I'll be honest, I was a bit skeptical about this dish. I thought the curry would taste kind of weird and perhaps overbearing. But no, it was perfect! This is definitely a keeper. Give this a try the next time you are able to get your hands on a ripe mango. The taste in beyond belief for something that comes together so quickly.

Amazing Chicken Pilaf

Recipe name: Amazing Chicken Pilaf
Source: Tim's brain (based on 30 minute cookbook recipe)
Servings: 2-3
Cookbook date: August 21

2 tsp butter
3/4 cup onions
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic
can of chicken
1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds
1/3 cup raisins
mango chutney

They say necessity is the mother of all inventions. That and laziness is what lead to this recipe. The original recipe called for a few things I didn't have and following the recipe would have taken a lot longer than I wanted so I decided to use the recipe as a guide. So here is what I did. (Read the next section with a Julia Childs' accent in your head, it helps.)

First I melted the butter and sauted the onions until they started to turn brown and slightly caramelize. I then added in the cinnamon, cumin and garlic. I let that cook for minute or two and then took out the onions and garlic. I drained the chicken and cooked it a bit in the pan to gather the flavor of the onion, garlic and spices in the chicken. I then placed the chicken on the same plate as the onions and then added a little bit of olive oil to the pan to cook the almonds. I cooked the almonds till they started to brown.

Meanwhile I had a package of instant rice cooking in the microwave. When it was done I opened it and added it the almonds. I added in the onion and chicken and the raisins and mixed it all up. I then added in a few tbsp mango chutney and mixed that in as well.

Tiffany and I both enjoyed this dish. While it might sound involved from my description it only took a few minutes to put together. I think we are on to something with this rice haugpaug dish thing.

Kung Pao Chicken!

Recipe name: Kung Pao Chicken
Source: RecipeZaar
Servings: 3-4
Cookbook date: August 1

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons light sesame oil or vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons green onions, chopped with tops
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4-1 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes(to your own taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger (can use fresh grated if preferred)
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/3 cup dry roasted peanuts
• 4 cups cooked rice, hot

Directions

1. Combine chicken and cornstarch in small bowl.

2. Toss to coat.

3. Heat oil in large non-stick skillet or wok on medium heat.

4. Add chicken.

5. Stir fry 5- 7 minutes or until no longer pink in center.

6. Remove from heat.

7. Add onions, garlic, red pepper and ginger to skillet.

8. Stir fry 15 seconds.

9. Remove from heat.

10. Combine vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in small bowl.

11. Stir well.

12. Add to skillet.

13. Return chicken to skillet.

14. Stir until chicken is well coated.

15. Stir in nuts.

16. Heat thoroughly, stirring occasionally.

17. Serve over hot rice.

This is the best DIY Chinese food recipe I have ever tried. I LOVED this! It has a lot of ingredients, and the kitchen gets messy in the process of making this, but it is worth it.

Spicy Chicken and Melon Kabobs

Recipe name: Spicy Chicken and Melon Kabobs
Source: Better Homes and Gardens
Servings: 4

Cookbook date: July 27

1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground coriander
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
dash ground red pepper
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 skinles, boneless medium chicken breast halves
1/2 cantaloupe, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
16 green onions, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 tbsp peach or apricot preserves

In a small saucepan heat oil. Add garlic, rosemary, cumin, salt, coriander and pepper. Heat and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Stir in vinegar. Set aside. Rinse chicken; pat dry with paper towels. Cut each breast half into 1 inch pieces. On four 12-15 inch skewers, alternately thread chicken with cantaloupe and green onion. Brush all surfaces with vinegar mixture. Place skewers on the unheated rack of a broiler pan. Broil kabobs 4-5 inches from heat for 5 minutes. Stir preserves into remaining vinegar mixture. Brush on kabobs; turn kabobos and brush again. Broil 3-5 minutes more or until chicken is tender and no longer pink.

Tim posting once again. I took the lead on this recipe and found it to be dishes heavy. Despite making the kitchen look like a bomb went off, I think the recipe turned out great. I made a few changes to the recipes. The first being that I substituted green peppers for green onion. I remembered making this once before and I swear that the recipe called for peppers not onions. Tiffany thought otherwise and eventually we just agreed to disagree. I made Tiffany's kabobs with green onions and mine with green peppers.

The other major change was that I didn't have the brush washed so I drizzled to cover the kabobs instead of brushing. I think this may have resulted in losing some of the flavor so next time I will make sure I have the brush cleaned and prepared. Overall, both Tiffany and I liked this meal. One thing I will say is that the leftovers are no good so only cook enough for one sitting. I think any meal where you get to layer things on a kabob is a good one and this recipe is no exception.

Chicken Crescent Rolls

Recipe name: Chicken Crescent Rolls
Source: unknown cookbook
Servings: 4
Cookbook date: July 9
Date prepared: July 9

chicken Crescent Rolls

2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
1/2 cup (4 oz) cream cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 tbsp milk
1/2 chopped onion
uncooked refrigerated crescent roll dough

Mix together cream cheese, milk, and salt & pepper. Add chicken and onion.
Separate crescent rolls into 4 rectangles and seal perforations.
Put 1/2 cup chicken mixture in center of each rectangle.
Bring 4 corners of dough to center and seal.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Substitutions: I didn't have crescent rolls, but I did have my favorite biscuit in a can, Grands! So I just made 8 smaller pockets instead of 4. I also completely forgot to add the onion. I didn't miss it, though!

This dish was cute and tasty, but it isn't anything to write home about. I found it to be a bit heavy. I don't know, it just tasted Southern! I did like it (Tim barely liked it) and I would eat it once a year. I would definitely serve this to kids, though, because it makes for a great hand-held meal.

value: ***
time: ***
taste: **

Chicken Burritos

Recipe name: Chicken burritosSource: somewhere online
Servings: 8
Cookbook date: June 13
Date prepared:


3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 undrained 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp lime juice
1 14.5 oz can water
1 medium chopped onion
1 8 oz bag black beans and rice
8 large flour tortillas

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. place chicken in slow cooker. pour undrained can of tomatoes over chicken. In a small bowl, combine taco seasoning, cumin, lime juice, water, and onion; pour into slow cooker. cover and cook on low 7 hours (or high 3 1/2). remove chicken and shred with fork. lace chicken back into c rockpot and mix in bag of black beans and rice. cover and cook another hour, until rice is tender. serve in tortillas with cheddar cheese and sour cream, if desired.

I love when I find a crockpot recipe that actually works. This one does, I'm happy to report. I made this on my day off, though, which in some ways is counter intuitive. Isn't the point of a crockpot to make dinner for you while you are gone (generally to work?). The problem is that I'm at work for more than 7 hours, which is typically the upper limit of how long a dish can simmer in a crockpot before it starts to burn.
Anyway, the main thing I did for this recipe was cut back on the amount of chicken it called for. I didn't see a reason to have burritos that were so intense with the amount of chicken. I mean, they are burritos...the genius of which is in the amount of rice and beans you can add to help out your budget!
My can opener totally broke while I was trying to open my can of tomatoes. You don't want to know what words were spoken in my kitchen while I wrestled with the can, but I did take a picture to show you the aftermath. I won, but just barely.


We are headed to Target after I finish this post to find a new one.
This dish made a lot of servings, as promised, and Tim and I are currently enjoying them as tasty lunches at work. We give this dish two thumbs up and will definitely make it again.

value:****
time:*
taste:***

Garlic Chicken Pizza

Recipe name: Garlic Chicken Pizza
Source: Cooking Light Magazine
Servings: 4
Cookbook date: May 26
Date prepared: June 7


2 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard
4 Cloves Garlic Minced
1 Prepared Pizza Crusts
1 1/2 cups Cooked Chicken Breasts
1 cups Plum Tomatoes
1 cup Mushrooms
3/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/4 Feta Cheese
1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 Cup Green Onions


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine first three ingredients. Place crust on backing sheet or pizza stone; brush vinegar mixture over crust. Top with chicken, tomato and mushrooms; sprinkle with cheeses and green onions. Bake for 15 mins or until the cheese melts.

Tim here. Ok first with the substitutes. As noted previously, neither of us like mushrooms so they were cut out of the recipe. I didn't have any plum tomatoes so I had to used canned diced tomatoes. I think the plum tomatoes would have been a little bit sweeter and acidic which would have added more flavor to the dish. Other than that the recipe was kept pretty much the same.

We are a house divided over this dish. I didn't really care for the dish but Tiffany really liked it. You may be asking yourself, "What's not to like? It's pizza, one of my favorite foods, uses tons of cheese and is both simple and fresh." For me it all boils down to one thing, the red wine vinegar. This has been a long time coming and god knows I've tried. For the past six years I've tried recipes with red wine vinegar and dismissed my dislike. "It was the onions I didn't like, not the vinegar." "Its not really that bad, you can hardly taste the red wine vinegar." Well no more.

I don't like red wine vinegar.

There, I said it. There isn't a redeeming thing about it. I don't like the vinegar taste. I don't like the acidic red wine taste and I especially don't like those two things together. That being said, if you like the stuff you may actually enjoy the dish. What do you think Tiffany?

Tim, you are out of your mind. This dish is a tasty treat for weary travelers coming back home from Meadville, PA, land of really crappy food (no offense intended, Allegheny College, but your campus dining is truly awful). After having 4 days of bland, bleached, frozen and canned institutional junk this pizza was divine, vinegar and all. If you don't mind the taste of red wine vinegar, please give this a try and let me know what you think. I suppose it is possible that my taste buds were so desperate for some flavor that they were too quick to offer up their praises, but I don't think that's the case. Try it, Mikey...you'll like it.


value:***
time:***
taste:**

Chicken Satay Salad Sammies

Recipe name: Chicken Satay Salad Sammies
source: Rachel Ray (Food Network)
servings: 4
Cookbook date: May 19
Date prepared:

1 1/2 pounds thin cut chicken breast meat (cutlets)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Grill seasoning (recommended: Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick) or coarse salt and pepper
3 rounded tablespoons chunky peanut butter
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce, eyeball it
1/4 cup apple juice, eyeball it
2 teaspoons hot sauce, eyeball it
1 lime, juiced
1/4 seedless cucumber, thinly sliced lengthwise then cut into sticks
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups shredded lettuce, iceberg or hearts of romaine
4 crusty rolls, keisers or subs, split

Heat a grill pan or large nonstick skillet to medium high to high heat. Coat chicken in oil and grill seasoning and cook 3 minutes on each side in 2 batches. Pile up meat and shred it with a sharp knife.

Place peanut butter in a medium, microwave safe bowl and soften in the microwave on high for 20 seconds. Whisk soy, apple juice, hot sauce and lime juice into peanut butter. Toss chicken with satay sauce. Combine shredded veggies. Place 1/4 of veggies on sandwich bottoms and top with 1/4 satay chicken mixture. Set the bun tops in place and serve or wrap for travel.

Just a heads up, this is Tim, Tiffany's husband. We will be jointly posting on this blog with the "lead" cook taking the responsibility for posting about the dish. I made a few changes to the dish to make it work for us. Once again I used the George Foreman as it was faster and tastier than pan grilled chicken. In fact we had some left over grilled chicken left over so I didn't even have to grill the recipe.

I noticed that the recipe suggested to "eyeball" the measurements so I did. Anybody who knows anything about how I cook knows how out of character this is for me. I like to do everything by the book, at least for the first time I do the recipe. I may have been tired or lazy, probably both, so I just put in approximations of the amounts. The only thing I cut out was the cucumber, yuck.

My overall impressions of this dish is that it was very fast and easy and didn't create a lot of dishes to be cleaned. The sauce wasn't that flavorful, although that may have been my fault not the recipe's That being said I liked the fact I could still taste the grilled chicken, bun and veggies instead of just the sauce. Tiffany on the other hand didn't really care for the sauce or the dish in general. I'm not sure if we will cook it again since only one of us liked the dish but take my advice and try it out.

expense: ***
time: ****
taste: **

Trying my hand at homemade chicken bbq

Recipe name: Smoky Orange Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches
source: Rachel Ray (Food Network)
servings: 4
Cookbook date: May 14
Date prepared: May 17 (lunch)

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
1 orange, zested and cut into wedges, for garnish
1 cup chicken broth
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
vegetable oil, for drizzling
grill seasoning
romaine lettuce
sliced red onions
4 crusty rolls, split, toasted and buttered
(note: RR's recipe includes instructions on making cole slaw, which I did not attempt)

Preheat a grill pan or griddle pan over medium-high heat. Heat a small saucepan over moderate heat. Add oil and onion. Saute onion in oil for 3-5 minutes or until onions are soft. Combine chipotle peppers in adobo, ketchup, orange juice, orange zest and chicken broth in a blender. blend on high until sauce is smoother. Pour sauce into saucepan with onion and heat to a bubble. Reduce heat to simmer. Coat chicken lightly with a drizzle of oil and season breasts with grill seasoning blend. Grill 5-6 minutes on the first side, turn. remove 1/2 of the barbecue sauce to a small bowl and baste chicken liberally with it. turn chicken after 4 minutes, coat with sauce again and cook another 2-3 minutes. To serve sandwiches, slice grilled chicken on an angle and fan out 1 breast on each bun bottom. Spoon remaining sauce from saucepan over the sliced chicken. serve open faced with the lettuce and red onions setting on bun tops to the side.

Well, this was certainly an adventure. First, I should tell you about my substitutions in light of what was hanging out in my fridge today. First, I had 5 chipotle peppers in adobo, not 3, and I didn't want to save 2 for later. So I used them all. This resulted in my mouth dying a thousand deaths, but we'll get to that in a minutes. Second, I used yellow onions instead of red, and I didn't have any romaine lettuce, but I did have spinach. Greens are greens, right? Furthermore, the recipe called for ketchup, but I actually had some half-used barbecue sauce in the fridge, so I added that instead.

While I was making this, everything was going along rather smoothly untilI reached the point where I had to blend all of the ingredients together. I realized then that I had not followed the instructions correctly. I added the peppers, bbq sauce, oj, zest and broth to the onions and they were already rather hot. "No big deal," I thought. I transferred everything to the blender, turned it on, and witnessed the mass destruction of everything within a 4 foot radius of the blender.

So evidently the steam from the sauce created pressure in the blender that could not be contained. Oops. After throwing out several choice words to the universe and quickly wiping up the mess, I proceeded with the recipe. I used the George Foreman to grill the chicken, which saved a bit of time.

The first picture is what my dish looked like when all was said and done. I observed that the sauce was of a most unfortunate consistency....very runny, and not reminiscent at all of a condiment that you would top any sort of burger with. But I have had many more winners than losers with Rachel Ray's recipes, so I thought I might as well dig in.

And that, my friends, is when I proceeded to take a handful of years off of my life. How can I describe the heat in this sauce? Words fail me here, so just try to imagine me chugging down my whole glass of water, then chomping as fast as I could on extra spinach leaves like a cow with indigestion. Finding no relief with these methods, I then went for the milk (oh yes, right out of the jug). And in a last ditch effort, I literally ran around the house hoping to sweat it out with exercise. I've been working on this post for about 10 minutes, and I'm just now starting to get the feeling back in my mouth. Perhaps I have a more British palette than your average Joe, and you may find this recipe to be quite satisfying. I will be taking a pass on this one. And now I have to go flush my eyes out because I just touched my eye, and now it is on fire. Smoky Orange Chicken BBQ sandwich, I officially hate you.

expense: ***
time: ***
taste: *