Crispy Cheddar Chicken

It seems, like lately, the only thing my 2 1/2 year old will eat is chicken nuggets. I have now found that if I make my plate first, he wants a bite of mine and then says he likes the food :) These were a hit for him, and one of the best things, it is a freezer friendly meal!! Looks like I will be making these for the freezer pretty soon.

Thanks to Jamie Cooks It Up for this recipe. 

*My only suggestions is that if you like your chicken really crunchy, put it on a wire rack to bake so that the bottom gets crispy as well. I usually do, but didn't this time.

Pre-bake

Ingredients:

4 large chicken breasts

2 sleeves of Ritz crackers

1/2 cup milk

3 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

1 tsp. dried parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for sauce:

10 oz. can of Cream of Chicken soup

2 Tbsp. sour cream

2 Tbsp. butter

What To Do:

• Preheat oven to 400F
• Cut chicken breasts into 3 large chunks (you will have 12 total)
• In a small food processor, grind up the ritz crackers
• Pour the milk, cheese, and ritz crackers each into their own bowls
• Season cracker mixture with salt and pepper
• Dip the chicken into the milk followed by the cheese and then the crackers. Each time, make sure you press ingredients into the chicken to really coat it
• Spray a 9x13 baking dish and lay chicken down inside (*This is where I would use a rack so that chicken fully gets crispy)
• Sprinkle the chicken with parsley
• Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes
• Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes for chicken to get crispy
• In the meantime, combine cream of chicken soup, butter and sour cream
• Whisk together and cook over medium heat until sauce is hot (*I added in some milk to make the sauce a little bit creamier bc it was a little too thick for me)
• Serve chicken with sauce on top

**Freezer meal**

Assemble chicken and put in a freezer pan. When ready, remove pan and let it thaw for 24 hours. Cover with foil and bake as above. If you want the sauce, it's best to make it fresh.

Garlic Alfredo Tortellini

It's been awhile, but I have been busy trying out new recipes. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to take pictures. My most recent one was the Christmas girls party that I had at my house. Every finger food was a new recipe. I will have to make again to get some pictures!

Last night Kyle was home and I wanted to make him a new recipe, but I also was craving Tortellini.

Thanks to Damn Delicious for this great & easy recipe.  

The sauce

Ingredients:

1 package Tortellini (I choose Cheese & Prosciutto) 

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

2 Tbsp. all purpose flour

1 cup milk

1/2 cup half and half

2 oz. cream cheese, cubed

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp. chopped parsley

What To Do:

• In a large pot of boiling water, cook Tortellini according to package directions
• In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat
• Add in garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute
• Whisk in flour until lightly browned
• Gradually whisk in milk and half and half (constantly) until sauce lightly thickens
• Stir in cream cheese and Parmesan cheese until melted
• *If sauce is too thick, you can add a little bit of milk to make it thinner
• When all cheese is melted, add in tortellini and toss until coated
• Top with parsley & serve

Baked Ziti (Freezer Meal)

I recently joined in on a freezer meal exchange. I mean why not? I cook 8 meals and in exchange, I receive 8 meals. Dinner is done with me throwing it in the oven or the crock pot!!

I will post these recipes as my family eats them :) One is already on here, but will post in a separate category. 

The 1st of the 8 is actually the Baked Ziti that I made. I had recently seen this recipe on Six Sisters Stuff and it was voted their favorite freezer meal! This meal lasts for 30 days in the freezer.

It makes 2  8x8 baking dishes. You can make one to eat and one to freeze if you are making for yourself. Big group coming over, no problem, pour entire recipe into a 9x13 baking dish and watch it fill to the top.

Sorry for the picture. We all dug in and I forgot to get a good picture. This corner was all that was leftover after my hubby, MIL, FIL, my son and myself attacked it.

Ingredients:

1 lb. dry ziti pasta (or any kind that you prefer)

1 onion, chopped

1 lb. lean ground beef 

2 (26 oz.) jars spaghetti sauce

8 slices provolone cheese

1-1/2 cups sour cream

6 oz. Mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese; grated

What To Do:

• Bring a large pot of slightly salted water to a boil and then cook pasta about 7-8 minutes or until almost done (pasta will continue cooking in the oven)
• In a large skillet, add onion and ground beef. Cook until beef is done
• Add spaghetti sauce and any other seasonings you would like at this point. Let simmer for about 15 minutes
• Preheat oven to 350F
• Spray 2 8x8 baking dishes with cooking spray (9x13 if you want to make one great big dish)
• Layer each pan as follows:
• 1/4 of the ziti
• 1/4 of the sauce
• 4 slices of Provolone cheese
• 1/2 of the sour cream (3/4 cups)
• 1/4 of the ziti
• 1/4 of the Mozzarella cheese (1.5 oz.)
• 1/4 of the sauce
• Top with 1 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese and the other 1/4 of the Mozzarella

**When you bake the pasta, it is best to put dish on top of a cookie sheet because it might overflow a little when it cooks

BAKING RIGHT AWAY:

• Bake covered for 30 minutes

FREEZER:

• Thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours and then bake covered for 30 minutes
• If you bake straight from freezer, cook for 90 minutes-2 hours

Chicken Parmesan Roll Ups

In our household, we love Chicken Parmesan and there are so many ways to cook it. The one thing I love about these is that you have the cheesy goeyness all rolled up in the center.

I started my 12 week shred yesterday so Sunday was my last meal to be able to eat breads, pastas, processed food, etc. so why not make my last dinner full of things I will miss for awhile. I served ours over garlic and butter noodles. I also made my own marinara sauce instead of using the canned tomatoes and all that listed below.

Thanks to "The Girl Who Ate Everything" for posting this wonderful recipe.

Rolled up and topped with tomato sauce

Top with cheese/basil mixture

Top with breadcrumbs and bake

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 onion, chopped fine

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 can Italian style diced tomatoes, canned

1/2 cup fresh chopped basil

1-1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

6 thin cut boneless chicken cutlets (I used chicken breasts and cut them in half and pounded them out)

salt and pepper

1/2 cup Italian seasoned Panko breadcrumbs

*I used my own marinara sauce that I make instead of making a tomato mixture

What To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 475F
2. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a cooking pan
3. Add onion and cook until it has softened
4. Add garlic and cook until fragrant
5. Add tomatoes and cook until it has thickened (about 5 minutes)
6. Remove from heat and stir in basil
7. Transfer half of the sauce into a baking dish to coat the bottom
8. Combine mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and basil in a bowl. Make sure you save half of the cheese mixture
9. Season chicken with salt and pepper
10. Top chicken with cheese mixture, leaving about 1 inch from the bottom of the chicken
11. Roll up tightly and place seam side down into the baking dish
12. Toss breadcrumbs with remaining oil
13. Top the chicken that is rolled up with the remaining sauce mixture, cheese mixture, and the breadcrumbs
14. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. If your chicken is thick, it might take a little bit longer. If the breadcrumbs start to get too brown, cover with foil and continue cooking

Chicken & Pasta w/ Tomato Cream Sauce

It's been so long that I feel like I don't know how to begin posting again. I have made lots of new recipes, but always seem to forget about taking pictures so that I can post. This recipe is one that I recently watched on the cooking channel. Who doesn't love watching Ree as the Pioneer Woman?!

I've made lots of pasta recipes and I have made lots of different tomato sauces, but this one just hit the spot. I cooked some chicken with seasonings to top it off. The recipe below is just for the pasta w/ tomato cream sauce.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

2 Tbsp. butter

1 medium onion, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans tomato sauce

Salt and Pepper 

Dash of sugar

1 cup heavy whipping cream

grated parmesan, to taste

fresh basil, chopped

1-1/2 lb. pasta (I usually love fettuccine, but had regular spaghetti in the pantry)

What To Do:

• Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and reserve 1 cup of pasta water
• Heat olive oil and butter over medium heat
• Add onions and garlic 
• Saute for about 2 minutes
• Add in tomato sauce, salt and pepper, and sugar to taste
• Stir and cook over low heat for 25 minutes
• Remove from heat and stir in heavy cream
• Add cheese and then check the taste; add more if necessary
• Stir in pasta and mix
• If sauce is too thick for your liking, pour in a little bit of the reserved pasta water to thin it out
• Once it is how you like it, stir in the basil
• Serve immediately

Chicken Alredo Baked Ziti

Gimme Some Oven posted this recipe and it looked delicious. Kyle is not that big on Alredo, but he said this recipe is a keeper for him :).

For the chicken, you will need to pre-make the chicken or you could use rotisserie chicken.

 

 

Ingredients:

12 oz. ziti

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 batch alfredo sauce (Recipe below)

1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

Chopped fresh Parsley for topping

 

 

Alfredo sauce:

1 Tbsp. olive oil

4 cloves garlic; minced

3 Tbsp. flour

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup low fat milk

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

 

 

What To Do (SAUCE):

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet
• Add garlic and saute for 1 minutes
• Sprinkle with flour and stir to combine
• Saute for another minute to cook the flour
• Slowly add chicken broth and whisk until smooth
• Mix in milk and stir
• Let cook for about 1 minute until it has thickened
• Stir in cheese, salt and pepper until the cheese has melted
• Remove from heat and set aside

 

What To Do:

• Preheat oven to 375F
• Cook pasta according to directions
• Add in alfredo sauce and chicken
• Toss until combined
• Grease a casserole dish with cooking spray
• Pour pasta into dish
• Top with Mozzarella cheese
• Bake for 20-25 minutes until pasta is slightly turning a golden brown color
• Remove and top with fresh parsley

 

• 



Taco Pasta

As I was going back through my recipes to see what I needed to add on here, I realized that I am missing a lot of my pasta dishes. Be ready...the next 3 or 4 posts are pasta recipes.

This one is called Taco Pasta. After making it, it is basically like making hamburger helper. We weren't to keen on this recipe, but maybe I can change it up and have it fit our taste.

Found on Plain Chicken.

 

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

8 oz. small dry pasta shapes

1 small onion; chopped

1 clove garlic; minced

1 cup salsa

1 packet taco seasoning mix

3 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

salt and pepper

shredded cheese for topping

 

 

What To Do:

• Start cooking pasta according to directions
• When you get ready to drain, reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water
• In a skillet, cook the ground beef and onion until beef is no longer pink
• Drain the fat
• Add in minced garlic and cook for about 30 seconds
• Mix in the salsa and taco seasoning mix
• Let simmer for about 5 minutes
• Stir in cooked pasta, cream cheese, sour cream and reserved pasta water
• Continue cooking until all the cheese is melted and blended in together
• Season with salt and pepper
• Top with shredded cheese and serve!