Luscious Chicken Burritos

5 large chicken breasts
5 cans of beans *any but green*
4 cups salsa
slow cook all day till chicken tenderly falls to pieces (6 hours on high- 8+ on low)
1 box of cream cheese *fat free*
24 tortillas or use as a nocho chips
Mexican cheese to garnish top before serving

Crispy Orange Chicken Bowl

(Think Applebees!)

2 # boneless skinless chicken
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp oil
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup flour
Oil for frying
1. Cut your chicken into 2 inch pieces and put them into a large bowl Add in the egg, salt, pepper & oil. Mix it well, set aside.
In another bowl, stir the cornstarch & flour together & mix well. Roll the chicken in the flour mixture & coat each piece generously.
2. Pour about a 1/2 inch of oil into a heavy skillet. Fry chicken pieces in small batches for 3-4 min. until brown/crispy. Remove chicken, blotting oil with paper towels. set aside.

Glaze:
1 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp grated orange rind
1 cup orange juice
1/2 c hoisin sauce
Dash cayenne pepper
1/4 c granulated sugar
Salt & pepper to taste.

Saute the minced garlic for a minute in a bit of oil, ( don't burn!) Add the rest of the ingredients & bring the mixture to a boil, stir for 3 minutes & reduce heat & simmer until a saucy thick glaze is created. Pour the glaze over the chicken.

The other ingredients for the chicken bowl are as follows. (The amounts are totally optional, and depend on the amount that you want to make!
I served my glaze on the side, as I thought it would be better for refrigerated left-overs without the glaze.)
Almond rice pilaf
Mushrooms
Broccoli
Red peppers
Sugar snap peas
Shredded carrots
I also found a bag of shredded stir-fry or salad veggies I added to this.

The recipe is a bit time consuming because of the time it takes to fry the chicken. It works better with two people, or some do-ahead prep!

Here's some steps I did to put it together.
After when my rice was nearly done steaming, I dumped in the sugar peas & bag of shredded veggies to finish, as they needed very little "cooking" time.
Steamed the broccoli in the microwave,
Stir fried the mushrooms, shredded carrots & red peppers together.

Mix all together in large serving bowl & garnish with orange slices.
Top all with toasted almonds & crispy noodles. (I served these two things on the side too)

This got great reviews from my family & guests!

Jumping On The Chuckwagon and White Chili Recipe!

I've seen some posts lately about 'make ahead and freeze' meals. So, I'm jumping on the 'chuckwagon', so to speak. I think it's a great idea and whenever I take the time to do it, it always serves me well!

So far, I have these two meals frozen in the freezer. Gallon Ziplock bags of regular chili and white chili...
Here is the recipe for this wonderful White Chili...

White Chili
1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
1 med onion chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans
2 cans great northern beans
1 pound grilled or cooked chicken, cubed
1 14 oz. can chicken broth
1 14 oz. can niblet style corn
1 4 oz. can green chilis
1 teas cumin
1 teas salt
1/2 teas pepper

Saute onion and garlic in oil. Add all the rest of the ingredience. Stir and bring to a boil. Simmer 30 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in...

1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
parsley (optional)

Serve over frito chips and top with chopped avocado if desired.

*********************************

And here's what I have going on for tomorrow morning...
I thought I would start small with mashed potatoes and rice pilaf. So that way, I can take out one or the other early in the day and add it to my supper for the evening. You know what that means right? No rushing to peal potatoes at 5 o'clock and no stressing over the 45 minutes it takes to cook brown rice! It's all done and I just have to warm it up in the oven along with my meat. Then I throw together a fresh salad, cook some beans or corn from the freezer and voila! Supper's on at 5:30-right as my husband walks in the door from work! Chows On! Well, maybe...

Anyway, wish me luck. I will let you know how it goes and keep you updated on more recipes that I try. I have heard of several moms getting together and doing this all together in one day. Any of you local Mom's up for that sometime? Let me know! ;)

Have a super weekend,

Thick 'n Crusty Chicken Pot Pie

1 (2-3 lb.) broiler/fryer
1 onion, quartered
1 stalk celery, cut in large pieces
1 tsp. each of basil, thyme, and rosemary leaves
1 tsp. salt
1 bay leaf

Combine all in Dutch oven, cover with water and bring to a boil. Cover Dutch oven, reduce heat and simmer 1 hr. or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken from broth; strain broth, reserving 1 1/2 cups. Cool chicken, remove from bone and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Gravy filling:
Steam over medium heat until tender crisp, one cup each of diced celery, thinly sliced carrots, diced potatoes, frozen corn and onion. Add 1/2 c. flour, stir until smooth. Cook 1 minute stirring constantly. Gradually add reserved broth and 1 1/2 cups milk or half and half; cook over medium heat stirring constantly until thickened. Stir in 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper and cooked, chopped chicken.

Pastry:
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 c. shortening
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c. plus 1 tbsp. ice water
1 tbsp. vinegar

Combine flour and salt, cut in shortening. Mix remaining ingredients and sprinkle over top. Stir until all dry ingredients are moistened. Divide dough in half and roll out one half and place in a 3-quart oval baking dish.

Pour chicken filling into crust and top with remaining dough. Pinch edges to seal crust and cut air holes into top crust.

Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

quesadilla recipe

flour tortilla shells
one can refried beans
one can chicken meat
shredded cheese
salsa
sour cream

heat flat pan on burner over medium heat. place down one shell. spread with refried beans, meat and cheese. place second shell on top and let heat until bottom shell is lightly browned and crisped. turn with spatula and let heat until second side is browned and cheese is melted. cut in wedges with pizza cutter and serve with salsa and sour cream.

i do lots of variations to this simple recipe. you can use just beans and cheese, or deli meat layed out instead of canned meat, or just meat and cheese. you can also add salsa into the quesadilla. or try crab... enjoy!

Italian Suprize

I will give this a try -

Brown you choice of 1 pound ground meat with Italian seasoning and herbs.
Boil your choice of noodles till soft. Don't over cook.

When meat is done add 1/2 pesto, 1 cup sundried tomatoes, and lots artichoke hearts as desired. If it is dry add 2 T olive oil. Heat till all is warm and stir till well mixed. There were NO left overs last night. Tell me what your family thinks. There is not a distinct flavor to this.

Chicken variation

My army loved this one too!

Cheesy Manicotti

1 pkg. (8 oz.) sliced mushrooms


2 cloves garlic, minced


3 eggs whites


1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained


1 container (15 oz.) part - skim ricotta cheese


1 cup shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese divided


1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided


1 pkg. (8 oz.) Manicotti shell (14 shells,) cooked, drained


2 cups spaghetti sauce


1 1/2 cups of chicken chunks (if you desire)


Preheat oven to 350*. Spray large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Add mushrooms and garlic; cook 5 min. on medium heat, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. beat egg whites lightly in medium bowl. Add mushroom mixture, spinach, ricotta cheese and half each of mozzarella, Parmesan cheeses and chicken; mix well. Spoon evenly into Manicotti shells. **If you have a jerky shooter or some kind of a food gun they work the best**


Place in 9 x 13 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with spaghetti sauce.


Bake 40 min. or until heated through. Top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses; continue baking 5 min. or until mozzarella cheese is melted.


Makes 7 servings of 2 stuffed shells each.
Total time of preperation is about 1 hour 25 minutes. (not really a fast dinner, but yummy)


You may have to add a few things to your shopping list that you've bought very few times but it is so worth it! You can substitute; cottage cheese instead of the ricotta and or grated Romano cheese for the Parmesan cheese, Broccoli instead of spinach. While your preparing for this scrumptious Italian meal don't for get the french bread, & pesto, to top it all off.

Source unknown

Chicken Strip Salad

4 Chicken Breasts
1 cup of flour
salt
pepper
Garlic seasoning
Onion seasoning
Lowry
1/2 cup Olive oil (very good for you!)

Begin heating olive oil in a large frying pan. Take a clean large zip lock bag and add flour, salt, pepper, garlic, onion and lowry to it putting as much as you want in. I go pretty heavy on the salt and lowry. Shake the bag to mix the ingredience. Cut chicken breasts into 1/2 inch strips. Toss half in bag and shake to coat. Take the Chicken pieces out of the bag and lay in pan to fry. Do other half when you have room.

Now, we just dish up the chicken and then the salad on top and eat it. This makes a nice meal salad. You can use any salad but be like romain lettuce, fruit (manderin oranges, apples, craisins, etc), cubed cheese, and roasted nuts (pine nuts, slivered almonds, etc) The girls and I like poppyseed dressing on ours and Randy and Colter like Ranch. We just use whatever we have on hand at the time. Sometimes we also add tomatos, broccoli, cauliflour, cucumbers, etc.

So for cutting back and eating a lighter supper, this is a great option. Enjoy!