Currently Browsing: chicken
Oct 22, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Oct 22, 2011 in chicken, lunch | 4 comments
I think the biggest benefit of me cooking all these years and my kids being in the kitchen with me is that I am teaching them such a great life skill. I know lots of people who don’t cook at all and have to rely on packaged meals, cans, and take out to survive. Since my Dad was a chef growing up I spent lots of time in the kitchen with him and since my Mom made homemade food all the time, we rarely had fast food for dinner.
My husband, daughter and I were about to run errands when my son Mark who is 13 proclaimed he was starving. I hadn’t gone to the store yet, so I was looking to see if there was anything he could make. I had a package of thin chicken breasts so I quickly defrosted it for him and he stayed home to cook while we took off.
While we were coming back from errands I texted Mark to ask how his “sammich” was… this was his text back to me:
“It was yummy. It was roasted garlic and herb chicken with a butter sauce.”
I am not going to lie, I was so impressed with what he came up with. And, to boot he took a picture of it to show me when I got home, so how can I not post this? 
Mark’s roasted garlic and herb chicken with butter sauce
Serves 1
1 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 tablespoon butter
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp. garlic and herb seasoning by McCormick
Directions
melt butter in a skillet
add chopped garlic
add the chicken breast and cook 3 minutes on each side
sprinkle with the seasoning
Serve on tortillas or serve on a bun.
Sep 12, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Sep 12, 2011 in chicken, crock pot recipes, Dinner Idea, pasta, soup | 4 comments
Earlier this week, I made a few things with soy chorizo. It was so good, but by the end of the week, I still had half a tube left and wasn’t sure if I could freeze it, so I decided to make a soup with it! I just used things I had leftover at the end of the week, and you can do the same thing.
Ingredients I used:
1/2 tube of Soy chorizo
1 chicken breast (mine was frozen)
3 large carrots. sliced
2 baby green peppers
1 jalapeno – seeds removed, and chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
2 stalks green onions (white and green part) chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed
1/2 cup uncooked macaroni
fresh cilantro
6 cups water with 6 tsp. chicken broth
Directions:
In a large pot add the chorizo and cook for several minutes, breaking up the pieces. Next I took the green pepper and jalapeno pepper and added 6 cups of water with 6 tsp. chicken stock mix into a blender and blended that altogether.
I poured that liquid mixture into the pot with the chorizo. Next I added the frozen chicken breast, it was pretty big, so I just added the one. Bring the broth to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes until the chicken is done. I took the chicken out of the broth, shredded it with 2 forks, then added it back to the broth.
The vegetables come next WITH the 1/2 cup of elbow macaroni, add the rest of the veggies into the pot and cook on low for another 20 minutes or so until the veggies are tender and the pasta is done.
I actually didn’t put any other seasonings into it because the seasonings from the soy chorizo gave the broth such great flavor I didn’t think it needed anything else!
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On another note, I wanted to let you know of my blogger friend Amie of The Healthy Apple. She and Silvana Nardone have launched a new online magazine called Easy Eats. If you have to follow a gluten free or restricted diet, this magazine is for you! Check it out when you get a moment.
Aug 20, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Aug 20, 2011 in a day in the life of me!, bread, chicken, Dinner Idea, general ideas | 5 comments
As I type this, its totally pouring outside right now. 
Last night the weatherman said it would rain, but only a little bit and late afternoon. The rain started around 10:30 and over an hour has gone by and its still pouring
It always bums me out when the weather is bad on the weekend, because I think of the gorgeous days during the week, when I am stuck inside at work, and then when you get a day or 2 off and the weather sucks – that is no fun.
PLUS, it’s the air and water show in Chicago this weekend! I don’t know if it will go on today or what?
And, my local farmers market was hosting a corn roast today too, but I didn’t want to go out and stand in the rain to do that.
So, I may have to get busy in my kitchen
Over the last week, I’ve helped my two sons completely over haul and deep clean their rooms in preparation for the school year starting next week. Have you ever cleaned teenage boys rooms? Its gross. My older sons way of cleaning his room is shoving as much stuff under his bed and in his closet.
So now my daughter asked if we could do the same thing to her room this weekend! I do enjoy purging stuff and becoming more minimalistic. I occasionally read a quirky and cute site called Fly Lady who has great tips on being organized.
Andrea has some great back to school tips. And Robin Sue of Big Red Kitchen always has great tips for back to school and packing lunches – her newest thing? Using small mason jars for packing her kids lunch!
So last weekend, I made another batch of artisan bread in 5 minutes. All you need is a big bowl, flour, water, salt and yeast, and a wooden spoon!
You can’t mess this bread up. So I made 2 loaves, and then I made chicken breast sandwiches for dinner. How cool is that?
For the chicken sandwiches, I just grilled some chicken, made turkey bacon, and a little bbq sauce and cheddar cheese. SO good!
And with the leftover dough, I made garlic bread pizza (just rolled out some dough into a circle), added a little olive oil and fresh garlic and garlic powder, bake at 450 for 10 minutes, and cut into squares. I served that with pasta.
OR, you can make skillet bread pizza (just cook the pizza on a skillet) cook for 5 minutes on low, flip, cook another 5 minutes, add your toppings, top with a lid and let the cheese melt.
And, if you’ve made it down this far – check out a give-a-way on my friend Sueson’s blog for a VIP coupon to Mamma Chia Juice drink for free! Leave a comment on her site, or tweet about it, or link it to Facebook for more entries
What is Mamma Chia? A new health drink, low in calories (110 calories) 10 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein, 2000 mg of Omega-3′s, 9 grams of sugar (from Agave) and Gluten-Free and Vegan. You can buy these at health food stores or at Whole Foods in the refrigerated juice section. These taste amazing!
It’s still raining out – but I’m not going to let that prevent me from having an awesome weekend!
If you have kids, when do they start?
And I BIG SHOUT OUT to my brother Charlie’s daughter Sarah is leaving for college today. GOOD LUCK SARAH – your first care package will be arriving soon!!
The post was featured on Yeastpotting
Aug 13, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Aug 13, 2011 in chicken, Dinner Idea, general ideas, party food!, pasta, potluck, Side dish | 2 comments
Last weekend I used McCormick’s chipotle marinade to make grilled potatoes. which turned out great.
I didn’t really plan my dinners that much this week, I knew I just had things on hand to put something together. One night this week as soon as I walked in the door, my kids ran up to me and said like they normally do “What’s for dinner?”
I said “something with chicken!” I took 3 chicken breasts out of the freezer, defrosted them and cut them into chunks.
In a large skillet coated with a little olive oil, I started browning the chicken. I was looking in my pantry and saw the chipotle seasoning mix and decided to add that to the chicken.
I was thinking about what to make as a side dish, when I saw I had spiral pasta and was thinking if I could make a sauce, add the chicken and cooked pasta?
Once the chicken was almost cooked through, I added 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 cup of skim milk mixed with 1/4 cup of flour to thicken the sauce. Cook for a few minutes and then add the cooked pasta – reserving some of the pasta water if you want to thin out the sauce.
The result? YUM! No leftovers of this meal, which I always consider a success! Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese if you want.
If I had green onions, I think adding some chopped green onions on top and maybe a little bit of crumbled bacon would have made this even more deluxe!
Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, trimmed of all fat and cut into chunks
1 tb. olive oil
1 packet McCormick seasoning (chipotle)
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup flour
1 box spiral pasta
cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top
salt and pepper to taste
The seasoning is spicy – but it is less spicy making the sauce. My kids liked the heat, but it wasn’t too much where they couldn’t eat it.
Who loves watermelon? It’s my favorite summer fruit. Look at how pretty this melon was when I opened it up!
Have a great weekend? What are your plans?
*I just found a new blog – meet Rachel – she’s lost 85 pounds – check out her weight loss story and before and after pics here!! Great job Rachel!!
Jul 27, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Jul 27, 2011 in chicken, Dinner Idea, potluck, vegetables | 6 comments
Holy cow, I can’t believe this is my 800th post – that’s crazy! Time goes by so fast, it’s hard to believe I had that much to talk about
So, my dinner last night was inspired by Taste of Home magazine. For those of you who don’t know, I’ve inherited about 100 cooking magazines from people who were giving them away, so I’ve got dozens of Bon Appetit, Taste of Home, Cooks Illustrated, Rachel Ray, Food TV network, etc.. so I should never have an excuse to not know what to make.
When I read the recipe for this, I thought – I have all that stuff!
I will definitely make this again, everyone in my family loved it.
Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
2 baby red peppers, diced
2 baby orange peppers, diced
1 small can Mexicorn
1 jalapeno – you can leave the seeds in or take them out
2 cups cooked brown rice*
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 jar Paul Newman’s medium salsa
green onions as garnish
(can add shredded cheddar cheese on top too or sour cream would be good too!)
*I cooked the brown rice the night before since it takes 45 minutes, that way it was already done when I got home form work.
In a big skillet, add the peppers with a little olive oil and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken – when you cut it into small pieces, it only takes a few minutes for it to cook through. Add the cooked brown rice, the black beans, the mexicorn and salsa and stir together and cook for another few minutes until the rice is warmed up. Sprinkle with green onions.
So, you could either use tortilla chips as a spoon and eat it that way, or you could do what I did, which was tear off a little tortilla, fill it with the mixture, wrap it up and eat it! Delish!
This is a great way to get rid of leftovers in your fridge too.
What is your favorite store bought salsa??
