Chicken and Veggies

ATTENTION!!!!  This is one of my favorite new recipes to date!!!

First, there’s bacon.

Then there is chicken cooked in bacon grease.

Plus fresh veggies.

HEAVEN.

Just the Two of Us is one of the best cookbook purchases I’ve ever made.  This dish was quick, easy and so delicious, I don’t have words to describe it.  WH wants it on the “rotation”.  I want it every night.  DONE.

Easy Chicken and Garden Veggies

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 chicken breasts (we used 1)
• 1/4 tsp. garlic salt (I have garlic powder and added some salt)
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 4 oz. fresh green beans, trimmed and left whole
• 1/2 medium yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 medium plum (Roma) tomato, cut lengthwise in half then sliced
• 1/4 c. Italian dressing (or balsamic vinaigrette)

Cook

1. Cook bacon in skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring until crisp.
2. Remove bacon and keep warm.
3. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with garlic salt and pepper.
4. Place chicken in skillet and cook 3 to 5 minutes until browned on both sides.
5. Discard excess bacon grease.
6. Add water and green beans to skillet.
7. Cover and cook on medium-low heat for 8 minutes.
8. Stir in bell pepper.
9. Cover and cook 3 to 5 minutes, turning and stirring occasionally.
10. Cook until chicken is done.
11. Stir in tomato and dressing until heated through.
12. Top with bacon.
13. Serve with rice if you like.

Source [19]

Grilled Chicken and Crazy Rice – Part 2

You received the recipe for Crazy Rice yesterday, now here’s Part 2!  The Grilled Chicken recipe also comes from My Italian Grandmother and is originally called Grilled Lemon Chicken.  I did not experience the true lemon flavor as much as I did the herbs because I forgot to zest the lemon… so if you want it really lemony, make sure you zest!  This chicken is easy to prep and grill in a grill pan, although it does need to marinate for about one hour.

The only problem I ran into was with my herb application.  I’ve been using these herb blends, which are like herb paste in a tube.  See:

The herb blends are super flavorful and quick, but when grilling the chicken, the excess burned very easily.  There was still plenty of flavor on the grilled chicken, but I had to pick off a lot of burnt herbs as I cooked.  Not the most appetizing looking stuff.

Grilled Chicken

[only slightly adapted from My Italian Grandmother]

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 chicken tenderloins (or chicken cutlets)
• 1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
• small clove of minced garlic
• 1/8 c. parsley blend paste
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning blend paste
• 1/2 tsp. Mrs. Dash Table Blend
• salt and pepper

Cook

1. Combine lemon juice and zes, garlic, parsley, olive oil, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper in a bowl.
2. Add chicken and coat each piece well.
3. Let marinate for one hour.
4. Heat grill pan and drizzle with oil or cooking spray.
5. Cook chicken on both sides until cooked through.
6. Chicken can be served whole or chunked and added to the Crazy Rice.

Broccoli Chicken Potato Parmesan

This past week’s dinners have been very successful.  Everything has turned out wonderfully and I tackled some new recipes and techniques that I’ll share in posts to come.  This recipe is one I have made several times, but always felt it could be better if I just had the right kind of skillet.  I used to cook this meal with a skillet/pan that had straight sides.  The pan was circular, but instead of gently sloping sides, it just became a larger pot.  I guess a kind of saucier, but not as cool as an actual saucier.  I always felt like it wasn’t shaped right and wasn’t big enough for this recipe, but it was all I had.  Now that we have our new Calphalon cookware, this recipe turned out fabulously!

It’s from a cute little cookbook I got a few years back when I moved into my first apartment and really started cooking.  I think my mom or grandmother gave it to and I have found some really simple recipes.  It is a book of recipes that use Campbell’s soups and usually have right around 5 main ingredients.  This recipe I really enjoy because I love potatoes, I love broccoli, and I love chicken.  It’s perfect!

Broccoli Chicken Potato Parmesan

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 lb. red potatoes; sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 10 oz. cooked chicken (or 1 pkg. refrigerated cooked chicken strips)
• 2 c. fresh or frozen broccoli florets
• 1 can Campbell’s Broccoli Cheese soup
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 c. grated Paremsan cheese

Cook:

1. Heat oil in skillet.  Add potatoes.
2. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in chicken and broccoli.
4. Mix soup, milk, and garlic in small bowl.
5. Add to skillet.
6. Sprinkle with cheese.
7. Heat to a boil.
8. Cover and cook over low heat for 5 minutes or until potatoes and broccoli are tender.

Source [7]

Garlic Chicken and Vegetable Pouches

Happy MLK Day!  If you are like me and don’t have to work today, count yourself lucky.  WH is at work, but I at least get to have lunch with him.  Something we really miss now that I work 30 minutes away.

Here’s an easy dish I found at MrsDash.com.  I was planning this week’s menu and, as I said, looking for easy and quick dishes that required minimal thought.  I wanted a chicken dish, and since I love Mrs. Dash seasonings, I searched the site.

The dish I found is very easy and the clean up is so simple (WH was happy).  It’s a chicken and vegetable dish you cook in a pouch of aluminum foil or parchment paper.  My chicken took longer to cook than the recipe said because I had larger chicken pieces.  The dressing also came out very thin and runny, and that may have been because of a prolonged cooking time.  But the chicken ended up being nicely cooked as were the vegetables.  Not too squishy, just enough crunch left.  This recipe would be really good with a side of white rice.

Definitely a quick dinner when you don’t want to think too much about what you are doing.  Warning: the bottled marinade called for is very zesty.  Definitely stick to the amount listed and don’t add extra (like I did) unless you like a lot of kick.

Garlic Chicken and Vegetable Pouches

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 4 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 small zucchini, sliced into 1/2 inch slices
• 1 red pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch squares
• 1 yellow pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch squares
• 6 Tbsp. Mrs. Dash Zesty Garlic Herb 10-Minute Marinade
• 2 pieces of heavy duty foil or parchment

Cook:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Arrange one chicken breast in the middle of each piece of foil or parchment.
3. Place 1/2 of the vegetables on top of each chicken breast.
4. Bring sides of pouch up around chicken and add 3 Tbsp. Marinade to each pouch, making sure to coat chicken and vegetables.
5. Wrap pouch loosely around mixture and seal edges carefully with double fold.
6. Cook pouches for 25 to 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Recipe Revisited: Tex-Mex Chicken & Rice Skillet

I’m so sorry I’ve been away!  Work has gotten incredibly busy and by the time I’m home, I crash.  I’ve been making a lot of repeat dishes because they require minimal thought.  But I’m getting my life together and soon there will be another installment of Tour de Food Blogs for our January stop, I promise.

Speaking of repeat dishes, a few months ago I attempted Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice Skillet.  I messed it up pretty badly.  But I decided to try it again, this time without acting like a spazz.  The dish came out really great.  WH actually ate the leftovers!

Warning: This dish can get very spicy.  I think it’s mostly from the canned salsa verde, but it could also be because in addition to the packaged taco seasoning, I gave the chicken a few shakes of Chipotle seasoning as well.  I enjoyed it though, and as long as you tweak your seasoning and use the intended amount of salsa verde*, you’ll be fine.

*The original recipe calls for a 1 & 1/2 cups of salsa verde.  Even when I half the recipe I usually pour in an 8 ounce can or about 1 cup.  I love it!

Tex-Mex Chicken & Rice Skillet

Serves 3

Get:

• vegetable oil
• 1 ears of corn; see substitution below
• 1/2 lb. skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 1/2 Tbsp. taco seasoning
• 1/2 c. uncooked instant white rice
• 1 c. chicken broth
• 1 cup salsa verde
• Shredded Mexican cheese
• cilantro (optional)

Cook:

1. Add oil to skillet and heat over medium-high heat until shimmering.
2. Meanwhile, cook corn on the cob according to directions below.
3. Cut corn off cob and add to skillet.
4. Cook without stirring for 5 minutes or until caramelized on one side.
5. Remove corn from skillet and set aside.
6. As corn cooks, cut chicken into bite size pieces.
7. Combine chicken and taco seasoning in a bowl.
8. Add chicken to skillet.  Cook over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes or until center of chicken is no longer pink.
9. Remove chicken and set aside.
10. Add oil to skillet.
11. Add rice and stir until well coated with oil.
12. Add broth and salsa; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
13. Cover skillet and reduce heat to low.
14. Simmer 7 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.
15. Chop cilantro if desired.
16. To serve, spoon chicken over rice mixture in Skillet.  Sprinkle with cheese and corn.
17. Cover, let stand 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
18. Sprinkle with cliantro if desired.

Cooking corn:

• If your corn is still in the husk, place each ear of corn (individually) into the microwave for 3 minutes.  Shuck.
• If your corn is already shucked, fill a microwave-safe dish with small amount of water.  Put ears of corn in the dish and microwave for 2 to 3 minutes.

Substitutions:

• Instead of using fresh corn, you can substitute a 5.5 oz. can of Mexican-style corn.  Drain the corn and pat dry with paper towels before caramelizing.

Source: [1]