Balti Butter Chicken

My friend Jess (from Hawaii) gave me this recipe from her stay in India when she was stationed there. This is a yumm-o dish and kid friendly! Serve on top of rice.

150 ml/ ¼ pint/ 2/3 cup plain or Greek-style yogurt

50 g/2 oz/ ½ cup ground almonds

1 ½ tsp chili powder

¼ tsp crushed bay leaves

¼ tsp ground cloves

¼ ground cinnamon

1 tsp garam masala

4 green cardamom pods (I omitted this b/c I couldn't find it)

1 tsp ginger pulp

1 tsp garlic pulp

400 g/14 oz/2 cups diced tomatoes (I used canned)

1 ¼ tsp salt

1 kg/2 lb/6 ½ cups chicken, skinned, boned and cubed

75 g/3oz/6 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp canola or corn oil

2 medium onions, chopped or sliced

2 Tbsp chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

4 Tbsp single (light) or double (heavy) cream, to taste

1.     Put the yogurt, ground almonds, all the dry spices, ginger, garlic, tomatoes and salt into a mixing bowl and blend together thoroughly.

2.     Put the chicken into a large mixing bowl and pour over the yogurt mixture.  Set aside.

3.     Melt together the butter and oil in a medium karahi or deep round-bottomed skillet.  Add the onions and fry for about 3 minutes.

4.     Add the chicken mixture and stir-fry for 7-10 minutes.

5.     Stir in about half of the cilantro and mix well.

6.     Pour over the cream and stir in well.  Bring to a boil.  Serve garnished with the remaining chopped coriander.
Serves 4-6

Chicken Monterey

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, divided
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 8 large mushrooms, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon celery salt (I omitted this because I didn't have it)
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded thin

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
2. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion, mushrooms and garlic. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons flour, chicken stock, celery salt, white pepper and white wine. Reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring frequently, until thickened and well blended, about 10 minutes. Mix 1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese into the thickened sauce mixture, and stir until melted.
3. In a shallow medium bowl, mix 1 cup flour with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken breast halves in the flour mixture to coat. Melt remaining 1/4 cup butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook chicken until lightly browned on all sides. Arrange breast halves in the prepared baking dish, and cover with the sauce.
4. Top chicken breast halves with remaining Monterey Jack cheese. Bake in the preheated oven 25 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.                

taco chicken bowls

I found this recipe on budgetbytes.blogspot.com and it is a SLOW COOKER recipe
INGREDIENTS

1.5 lbs. chicken breasts

1 (16 oz.) jar salsa

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained

1/2 lb. (8 oz.) frozen corn

1 Tbsp chili powder

1/2 Tbsp cumin

1/2 Tbsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp salt

to taste cracked pepper

2 cups dry rice

8 oz. shredded cheddar

1/2 bunch cilantro (optional)

STEP 1: Add everything except the rice, cheese, and cilantro to the slow cooker along with 1/4 cup of water (for good measure). Give everything a good stir and make sure the chicken is covered in the mixture.
STEP 2: Secure the lid on your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hrs.
STEP 3: Near the end of the cooking time, cook the two cups of rice according to the package directions (Bring the rice and 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot with a lid in place, as soon as it reaches a boil, reduced the heat to low and let simmer for 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving).
STEP 4: After 8 hours of cooking, carefully remove the lid of the slow cooker. Stir with a fork to shred the chicken (it should be super tender and will shred easily). Build the taco bowls by placing rice on the bottom, then the taco chicken mix, shredded cheese and fresh cilantro.

Orzo with Chicken and Lemon

Got this recipe from www.cookinghealthyforme.com
I put it here because it is easier for me to find! Haven't tried it yet but am going to this week
Ingredients
The juice of one lemon
1 large chicken breast, butterflied
1 ½ cup uncooked orzo
½ cup low-fat sour cream
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
Zest of one half lemon
½ pint grape tomatoes cut in half
5-8 basil leaves, chiffonade
Directions
Since you are going to use both the juice and the zest of a lemon, zest your lemon with a zester and set aside - you'll use the zest of one half lemon.
In a small bowl, squeeze the lemon juice over the chicken and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon salt. Let it sit for about twenty minutes. Heat a grill to medium high-heat (or a grill pan)
Cook chicken until just done (about 3 minutes each side) remove from grill to a plate, cover with foil and set aside.
Bring a pan of water to a boil and cook Orzo according to package directions.
Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl, mix together sour cream, Parmesan, garlic, olive oil salt and lemon zest.
When the Orzo is cooked, drain and put in a large bowl – add the sour cream mixture, tomatoes and basil.
Cut the chicken breasts into strips and place on top of the orzo!

White Chicken Chili

Finally!!! I am getting around to posting this recipe. Sorry to those who have asked, begged, pleaded, and given up!
Here it is...

1 rotisserie chicken
3 cans great northern beans
16 oz jar of mild salsa or Rotel
2 cans of chicken broth
2 tsp cumin
16-18 oz cubed pepper jack cheese

Cook on high in crockpot for 3 hours...Serve with tortilla chips (I like the blue corn chips for color!)
Enjoy!

Baked Mushroom Chicken

Hi girls, hope all of you are doing well. Just found this recipe and it is delish - you must be a mushroom lover, or at least not a hater....

Baked Mushroom Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (1 pound)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup sliced green onions (obviously I omitted that one)

Flatten each chicken breast half to 1/4 in. thickness (Pounding out chicken is a real drag to me and a gross mess so I just cut my chicken breasts in half to about that thickness). Place flour in resealable plastic bag; add chicken, a few pieces at a time. Seal and shake to coat.

In a large skillet, brown chicken in 2 tablespoons butter on both sides. Transfer to a greased 11x7x2 in. baking dish. In the same skillet, saute mushrooms in the remaining butter until tender. Add the broth, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil; cook for 5 minutes or until liquid is reduced to 1/2 cup. Spoon over chicken.

Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with the cheeses and green onions. Bake 5 minutes longer or until the chicken juices run clear.

Serves 4

** Not to go all "allrecipe.com comments" or anything, but I do add in a little lemon juice and white wine in with the chicken broth just because I like that sort of thing. Anyway, with some mashed taters and a veggie, this is really, really good. Enjoy!

Chicken Balsamic Bow Tie Pasta

I've made this a couple of times and the kids really like it! Of course you can supplement whatever for your family!

1 lb.or more of skinless, boneless chicken
lemon pepper to taste
1 box of box tie pasta
1 jar marinated artichoke hearts
1/2 bag thawed baby frozen peas
Balsamic dressing
1/2 container grape tomatoes

Coat chicken with lemon pepper, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 min (or buy a rotesserie like me! :) Cool chicken and chop in bite size pieces. Cook pasta to al dente. Drain well and refrigerate. Drain and chop artichoke hearts. Mix chicken, artichoke hearts and peas with pasta. Coat pasta mixture to taste with Balsamic dressing. Refrigerate several hours before serving. Just add tomatoes before serving! Sorry no picture! Use your imagination! :)

Southwestern Chicken Soup

For Ryan (and anyone else who wants to try this :)

You could play around with these ingredients. I probably never use the same ingredients twice.

-1 lb. chicken (you can use frozen or thawed)
-cup or two of frozen corn (I used mixed veggies that night we had it b/c that's what I had on hand)
-1 can of diced green chilies
-1 can of black beans (or one cup dry beans- soaked of course) I think I might have also put white northern beans in there too that night. You could also use kidney beans. The more, the merrier.
-2 tbs cumin, 1 tbs chili powder, 1 onion (or, you can just use a packet of taco seasoning)
-2 cloves garlic
-1 carton of chicken broth (or more if you want to stretch it- the night I made it for us, I used two taco seasoning packets and two cartons of chicken broth)

I just put all of this in the crock pot and let it go either on high for 4 hours or on low for 7-8 hours. When it's finished, I shred the chicken with two forks.
Use sour cream and cheese for garnish

Chicken Bog

I have been meaning to post this recipe for a while now. This is one of those things I remember having as a kid but hadn't eaten in years. And then one day a lady at my church had us over for dinner, and this is what she served. Mmmm...good! It's really easy too if you buy a rotisserie chicken and pull the chicken meat from that.

1 rotisserie chicken

1 kielbasa (I sometimes use the low fat version)

2 1/2 cups rice (I use brown rice--extra fiber)

5 3/4 cups chicken broth

pepper

Cook the rice in the chicken broth (instead of using water). Follow the directions on the rice package. (I added a 1/4 cup extra chicken broth above the amt of water the rice directions call for because this is supposed to be really moist rice--hence the name "bog".) While the rice is cooking, I slice the kielbasa into circles and then cut those in half (I hope that makes sense). Then brown the kielbasa in a saute pan. After browning the kielbasa and adding it to the finished rice, I pour about a tbs or two of chicken broth into the pan to get the kielbasa drippings to add to the rice. Pull the chicken off the bone and add to the rice mixture. Season with pepper to taste and serve.

Warning: This makes A LOT of food, so be prepared to have leftovers or share. This is a meal I make when I need to take a meal to someone b/c there's plenty for us and to take as well.

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.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

I modified this recipe a little bit to make it my own - it was SUPER easy and got rave reviews from the fam.

EASY CHICKEN POT PIE

1 package of 2 premade pie crusts dried minced onion 1 lb frozen mixed vegetables salt and pepper to taste 4 tablespoons water to steam the vegetables 1 can of cream of chicken soup store-prepared rotisserie chicken Choose diced vegetables for even cooking. Peas, carrots, and potatoes make good additions. In a pinch, canned Veg-All style mixtures may be substituted. Bake one of the pie crusts according to the packaging directions. Shred the rotisserie chicken with a fork and remove the skin and the bones. Set it aside. Pour the vegetables, water, the salt and pepper, and the dried minced onions in a microwave-safe bowl. Put the bowl in the microwave until tender. Once the vegetables are done, combine the shredded chicken, the vegetable mixture and the can of cream of chicken soup in a large bowl. Pour the mixture into the cooked pie crust. Place the uncooked pie crust on top of the pie and cook on 420°F for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 375°F and continue to bake until lightly golden (about 20-30 more minutes).

BBQ chicken pizza

One night last week Mallory ordered us pizza from Papa Johns - he ordered a bbq chicken pizza and it was so good! I think I liked it b/c it tasted different. Well I decided to try to make one at home...this is a recipe I found online. We shall see how it turns out! :) I am ready for lighter meals with spring here and summer on the way. I am tired of soups and casseroles - so I am just looking for anything different.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half
• 1/4 cup barbeque sauce, divided
• 1/2 cup marinara sauce
• 1 (16 ounce) package pre-baked pizza crust
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the sesame oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place the chicken breast in the skillet, and top with 1 tablespoon barbeque sauce. Cook 10 minutes, turn, and top with 1 tablespoon barbeque sauce. Continue cooking 10 minutes, until juices run clear. Cool slightly, and cut into chunks.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
3. In a small bowl, mix the remaining barbeque sauce and marinara sauce. Spread evenly over the pizza crust. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Arrange cooked chicken chunks and red onion slices over the top.
4. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from heat, sprinkle with cilantro, and let sit 10 minutes before slicing.

Chicken Enchiladas

This is one of those great recipes with few ingredients but lots of flavor (and very easy to make). Even my boys gobbled these down. (the picture is from the recipe card because they were eaten up before I could get a picture of mine)

1 jar or can of enchilada sauce

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided (I used cheddar and mozzarella because that's what I had and it still tasted great)

1/3 cup sliced ripe olives

1 1/3 cups chopped fresh tomatoes, divided

1/4 cup chopped green pepper (I left it out because of a picky husband)

2 T chopped green onion (I used dried onion and still really yummy)

8-10 flour tortillas (6 inch) - I used whole wheat tortillas

2 cups shredded lettuce

In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup sauce, chicken, 1 cup of cheese, olives, 1/3 cup of tomatoes, green pepper and onion. Place a rounded 1/4 cupful of chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in greased 13x9 baking dish. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over top. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Top with lettuce and remaining tomatoes.

Easy Cheesy Stuffed Chicken

This is actually from a Kraft Foods magazine that I would get free in the mail (not sure if they still send these). But these magazines usually had some good easy recipes. If you want to check it out and see if they still send the magazines by mail for free, check out their website kraftfoods.com. Anyway I hadn't made these in a while and forgot how easy and yummy these were...plus they look fancy. The picture is actually from the magazine...my chicken didn't look as pretty.

2 T butter

2 medium zucchini, shredded (about 2 cups)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 pkg. stuffing mix for chicken

1 cup shredded cheese blend (I use cheddar or whatever cheese is in the frig.)

2 pkg. chicken quarters (about 2 1/2 lb. each)

3/4 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter over medium heat in saucepan. Add zucchini and onion; cook and stir for 2 min. or until tender. Remove from heat. Stir in stuffing mix and cheese until well blended. Carefully insert fingers between meat and skin of each chicken quarter to form a pocket. Fill pockets evenly with stuffing mixture. Place, skin side up, in roasting pan. Bake 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Brush with barbecue sauce and bake an additional 5-10 minutes.

Did you know?

Did you know you can cook a whole chicken in a crock pot and get the same kind of goodness that a store bought rotisserie chicken offers? Well... it's true! My mom said that many of her friends in New Zealand cook their chicken this way and I thought I'd give it a shot.

It was SO EASY! All I did was buy a whole chicken, put it in the crock pot, sprinkled on some salt and dried basil, added 1/8 of a cup of water (which I'm not sure was really needed) and turned it on HIGH. Three hours later I had a completely cooked chicken that I can make several meals from. It was SO moist and had soaked up the flavor of the salt & basil perfectly! And a plus for the summer time ... there was no heat pouring from my oven! Hooray for crock pots!

My mom also suggested dividing the chicken pieces up into measured amounts (2 cups, 4 cups, etc) and freezing them for later casseroles/recipes that call for cooked chicken.

Thanks to my mom for a money-saver, time-saver, heat-free tip! :)

Spring greens and Rotissiere Chicken

OK...so I went digging for salad recipes and this is one I made last night. I know some of you don't like nuts and some of you don't like fruit in your salad...but I thought I would share anyways.
ingredients:
1 Rotisserie chicken (I bought it in the deli for convenience)
Spring greens
strawberries
blue cheese
honey roasted cashews (or peanuts)

All I did was pull all the chicken off the bone. Next I laid out the spring greens and put all the ingredients on top (just as much or little as I wanted). The recipe called for lemon juice as the salad dressing but I used a light raspberry vinaigrette and it was really good.
We even have enough chicken leftover to make chicken salad sandwiches or whatever else and the best part - it was easy!

Pecan-Crusted Chicken Salad

This is a salad at O'Charley's that I just love...so I decided to try and make it at home.

1 bag mixed greens
3-4 pcs. of skinless, boneless chicken
1 small can mandarin oranges
craisins (however many you want)
1 (4 oz.) container feta cheese
candied pecans
chopped pecans
buttermilk
flour
balsamic vinaigrette

First I cut the chicken up and dredged in the buttermilk and then the flour with the chopped pecans. I cooked the chicken in oil on the stove in a large non-stick skillet. Then you pretty much toss everything into a bowl - toss some more and serve. This would make about 3-4 servings.

To make the candied pecans I used a large non-stick skillet
first line a baking sheet with tin foil and butter the foil.
Put the following ingredients into the skillet
1 1/2 cups of pecans
1/2 tsp. of vanilla
2 tbls. butter
1/2 cup sugar
Cook over med-high heat, shake skillet occasionally, until sugar begins to melt. Do not stir.
Reduce heat to low. Continue cooking until sugar is golden brown, stirring occasionally. Remove skillet from heat. Pour nut mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Cool completely. Break into clusters. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

This turned out so yummy! I do wish that I had a fryer - I think that would have made the chicken taste more like O'Charleys...mine turned out pretty good.

Minted Melon Grilled Chicken

One of my friends here just had surgery and I took her family a meal. She asked for meals that were light, low-fat & with chicken. Hmmmm... I was going to have to search online. I found this one on Better Recipes (betterrecipes.com). It was a hit at her house & here in ours too! We really thought it was a great summer recipe because it was really refreshing with the relish. Hope you enjoy too!

Minted Melon Grilled Chicken
(by roxiechan submitted on Betterrecipes.com)

• Rub:
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 1 pound total
• Glaze:
• 1/4 cup mint jelly, melted
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• Melon Relish:
• 1 cup small dice cantalope melon
• 1 cup small dice honeydew melon
• 2 Tbsp minced red onion
• 2 Tbsp snipped mint leaves
• 2 Tbsp minced crystallized ginger
• 1 small stalk celery, finely diced
• 1/2 tsp grated lime peel
• garnish- mint sprigs

Method

Combine the ingredients for the rub and coat the chicken. Combine the ingredients for the glaze in a small bowl. Put 1 Tbsp of the glaze into a medium bowl along with the ingredients for the relish. Mix well and place on a serving platter. Place the chicken breasts on an oiled grill rack over medium high heat 4-6 inches from the heat source. Cook 5-7 minutes per side or till the chicken tests done (165 degrees). During the last 2 minutes of cooking brush each side of the breasts with glaze and cook 1 more minute per side. Arrange the glazed chicken on top of the relish. Garnish wit mint sprigs.

Notes:

Number of servings: Serves 4

Pesto Ravioli with Chicken

Jason announced last night that this is his favorite meal that I make...and if you knew how picky Jason is about food, you would know that really means a lot. People always ask for this recipe when I make it...so thanks to Betty Crocker Easy Weeknight Meals. And it's quick and easy to make...another plus.

• 2 t olive oil
• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast strips (about 2 chicken breasts)
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 package refrigerated cheese-filled ravioli (I use spinach or mushroom)
• 2 small zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 1/4 cup basil pesto
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if desired (I think this ingredient is necessary unless you just don't like Parmesan)
• *it also calls for a sliced red bell pepper but because we aren't fans I have never put one in.

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken about 4 minutes until brown. Remove chicken from skillet. Add broth and ravioli and heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 4 minutes or until ravioli is tender. Stir in zucchini (and bell pepper if you are adding it) and chicken into ravioli. Cook over medium-high heat about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are crisp-tender. Toss with pesto. Sprinkle with cheese. About 4 servings.