Tomato Caesar Skillet

This is a super easy chicken recipe that has tons of flavor. You can't go wrong with any recipe containing bacon.

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 lb.)

1/4 cup chicken broth

Classic Caesar Dressing

1 t. dried basil

2 T chopped parsley

4 plum tomatoes, seeded, chopped (I used a hand full of grape tomatoes...it's what I had on hand)

2 T. crumbled bacon

Cook chicken in hot oil in large skillet on medium-high heat 5 minutes on each side or until browned. Stir in 1/4 up Caesar dressing, broth, basil and parsley until well blended. Bring to simmer; cook an additional 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and bacon; stir to combine. Cook 2 to 4 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Cha Cha's white chicken chili (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
• 3 (15 ounce) cans white beans
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

I leave out the jalapenos and it's just spicy enough :)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir the onion until tender. Mix in the garlic, jalapeno, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano and cayenne. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in the chicken broth, chicken and white beans. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove the mixture from heat. Slowly stir in the cheese until melted. Serve warm.

Mixed Berry Tartlets

Getting to be with most of you this past weekend was so wonderful (even though we missed Erin and Tab!) and it reminded me about dinnerchatt -I love this website and have been far from faithful to keep it going. Looking at it again today reminded me of how awesome it is and how many new things I can make to try and get myself out of my ever-widening dinner rut.

Here's a recipe from some magazine I get - credit to family circle or bhg most likely. I used Aldi's pre-made rolled out pie crust and Aldi frozen mixed fruit and it was perfect - just in case you felt a little nervous like I did. Also, I was a little intimidated to make the lemon curd stuff so I just used a recipe I had for cream puff filling and added extra lemon juice. Not trying to go "all-recipes comments section" on you guys - now you just have options for the fancy and non-fancy days.

1 15-oz pkg rolled refrigerated unbaked pie crusts (2)
nonstick cooking spray
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 12-oz pkg frozen mixed berries
1 tbsp lemon juice

Tartlet filling
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
fresh mint sprigs (optional)

1. Let pie crust stand according to pkg directions. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly coat twelve 2 1/2 in. muffin cups with cooking spray.

2. For pastry shells, unroll pie crusts on lightly floured surface. Use 3 1/2-4 in. round cutter (I used a big coffee mug) to cut 6 rounds from each crust. (I rolled out the excess and used it too) Press rounds into prepared muffin cups, pleating to fit.

3. For tartlet filling, in medium bowl combine the 2 tbsp sugar and cornstarch; stir in mixed berries and lemon juice. Spoon filling into pastry shells. Bake about 20 minutes or until pastry is golden. Cool in muffin cups on wire rack for 5 minutes. Carefully remove tartlets from muffin cups; cool completely on wire rack.

4. In medium mixing bowl combine whipping cream, lemon curd, the 1 tsp sugar, and vanilla; beat with wire whisk or with electric mixer on medium speed until cream mixture mounds and is fluffy. Spoon on tarlets. Garnish each with a mint sprig. Makes 12 tartlets.

Ok, if you'd rather do the cream puff way (no pun intended) here are the directions (credit to Mrs. Crocker or Ms. Crocker):

1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups milk mixed with 1/4 cup lemon juice
2 large egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla

Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in 2-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Gradually stir at least half o the hot mixture into egg yolks, then stir back into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir 1 minute; remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla. Pour into bowl. Press plastic wrap on filling to prevent a tough layer from forming on top. Refrigerate at least 1 hour until cool.

Now that I write all that out, it seems like the original recipe is a lot easier, but I was intimidated by finding "purchased lemon curd" - I can be such a wimp sometimes. Just for fun I made a bunch of apple pie tartlets this way (just put a top crust on them) for Thanksgiving and froze them - I'll let you know how they turn out.